Senior High School Photographs to Reflect Your Personality

Hello!  I am Marianne Beel, owner and professional photographer at Beel Photography. I have been capturing senior high school photos for 25 years, and of course, I took my own four teenagers’ photos when they were seniors. 

     Although I haven’t shot a roll of film in almost 12 years, one of the biggest boons to portrait photography has been the digital image capturing potential for Senior High School Photography. I can take between 60 and 200 images, and everyone can really have an exciting time with the outdoor photography session, while still getting all the formal studio shots that some relatives seem to crave. 

    Since I offer Free Consultations, I am always happy to spend some time getting to know the senior and some of their family members, and to start strategizing a game plan for the photography session during the consult.  Plus, I can start thinking of times and places to shoot the image ideas shared in the consult that the senior sees in their mind’s eye or that they show me from their Pinterest boards. 

   Once the appointment is booked, I start watching the weather, maybe changing the date if weather turns ugly for outside photography. When the senior comes to the appointment, I have learned from experience to start in my studio just looking through everything such as clothing changes and props they have brought along.  Next, I tend to take formal images first for a number of reasons, although they are the most technical, it gives me a chance to study the senior under studio lighting, talking about their strengths to highlight, and developing a rapport to carry us through the whole photography session.  Plus, it gives everyone a chance to just slow down, relax, and take a deep breath, as gathering everything to pack for the session can be rather stressful.

  After about 30 to 40 studio shots, and a couple changes of clothing, and checking of images, then we are usually ready to head out to the my favorite part – outdoors photos! This is always my favorite part, because the challenge of working in the beauty of nature, and the changing sunlight, along with the senior’s style and personality is just plain fun – this is the part of my job that I live for - really!  Also, the hard part for the senior is over, they can just relax and trust that I am going to get great proofs for them so they can select their graduation announcements and prints from those proofs to enjoy and share with family and friends for years into the future. 

Next, I will be writing about: What to Bring for the Senior High School Photography Appointment.