Today we continue our series on what Senior Families can look for when hiring a Senior Photographer by highlighting two important things to look for when studying a photographer’s portfolio: consistency and variety.

Consistency:

I post a lot of images from each of my sessions, sometimes including a slideshow of all of the images I deliver my clients, so that potential clients can get a taste of what a full gallery looks like.

While I push my education and creativity so that my work doesn’t stagnate and I am always delivering my best, it is important for clients to be able to know what to expect from their photographer in terms of quality and style. In the last blog, I went into my editing style and philosophy, but potential clients can also look at my use of posing, lighting, shadows, and colors from past images to have a good idea of what their own portraits will look like.

My portraits have a sharp and vibrant, yet true to life look. My posing is dictated by the outfit, location, and the senior. Some are traditional and ageless, while others are a bit more trendy and edgy. I try to meet my Seniors where they are, understanding that they are not 13 and also not 30… so their portraits are appropriate to their age. A LOT of what I do is to direct and coach my seniors, tweaking what they do naturally to something that I know looks best on camera. It is my goal for my Seniors to look authentically like themselves… but in a way that is better than they could have imagined.

My portrait style does change a bit when I photograph athletes though, particularly during in-studio sessions. I want my athletes to feel larger than life, so in those sessions I am more creative with light and shadows, and edit for more drama instead of going for a true life look.

The idea is, that although no two sessions are ever alike, I have developed a style that potential clients can recognize. That consistency allows them to decide with assurance that my work will represent them in a way they want to be represented, even before we ever pick up a camera.

Variety:

While I strive for consistency in my work, I find it important to deliver client galleries with a wide variety of images that are different from the others in the collection. As potential clients look through my portfolio, they will see that I accomplish that by using a combination of composition, location, lighting, direction, client expression, posing, outfit… and a thousand other things I am constantly thinking about during a session to make sure that every single portrait is as unique as they are.

While artistic style is the first thing potential clients decide on when choosing a photographer, there are many more factors that play into deciding which photographer is right for a family. I talked about photographer availability and scheduling timelines in a previous post, and will blog about other things families can consider when making their choices in coming weeks.

If you are a client looking for a bigger sample of the work I produce, I frequently post to my business Facebook page, my Instagram feed, and my YouTube channel.

For more information, please email lymarie@lymariepjacksonphotography.com