Happy Friday y’all! Man, am I glad it’s almost the weekend! I am visiting my parents this weekend down in Texas to celebrate a late Christmas with my family (and another secret reason that I am not able to talk about this week but that I have so many thoughts about that I might write a whole blog post about in a few weeks!).
Now that the holidays are over, things are definitely settling down to a more reasonable pace. I am so ready to dive into updating a few things for my photography business and to try some new marketing tactics that I’ve been wanting to implement but simply have not had the time to for the last two or three months.
Today’s blog post is all about a high school senior photo session I shot last spring. A’s session was so fun because we got to take some photos with her horse, and I just know these will be treasured memories for years to come. The photos really turned out so beautiful, I’m just itching to do another session with horses!
Before the Session
Senior sessions are so unique and fun! I tailor each one to the person I am photographing, which means they are all completely different. I also know that senior sessions are documenting a huge milestone, and they deserve just as much preparation and effort as any other milestone session.
Before each session I send over a welcome guide which includes information on what to expect while working with me, how to get the most from the session, and a style guide with several photo examples. One of the most fun ways that senior sessions are different from many of the other sessions I book is the outfits. Clients who book solo portrait sessions of any kind have a little more freedom when it comes to choosing their outfit or outfits (yes, outfit changes are allowed!) since they don’t have to worry about coordinating their outfit with anyone else. More patterns, prints, and designs are possible without the worry of clashing. Of course I always say to all my patients that I will photograph you no matter what you are wearing; however, if you like the way my photos look on social media or my website, the easiest way to help me achieve that look is by following my style guide.
Another way senior sessions are different is that I always try to incorporate your hobbies. For A’s session, we had so many options! She played several sports in school, lives on a farm with several horses, grew up in a very small town, and loves spending time at the creek during the summer months. After consulting with her and her mom, we decided to get photos of A with her horse, in the downtown area of their town, and in the creek. And I could not be more obsessed with how the photos turned out!
During the Session
A’s session started out on her family’s farm with her beautiful horse. The lighting in their pasture was absolutely gorgeous that evening – it truly could not have been more perfect. I loved getting to incorporate her horse into the session! I love animals and am always so excited for any session where they will be included. I think it helps to put my clients a little bit more at ease while they’re in front of the camera, and then it is always so special for me to be able to photograph the human-animal bond.
About halfway through the session, we went to the downtown area of the small town where A lives. I love this for a senior session because, especially for people who have grown up living in the same town for their whole lives, looking back on these photos in ten or twenty years will bring up so much nostalgia for their hometown. And small, old downtowns like that one are always so fun to run around and photograph in.
Our last location for this session was the creek. A spent many happy hours of her childhood playing in the creek with her brothers, and I knew this would be the perfect place to end our session. Any time I am able to include a water location for a session, I jump at the chance. It brings a quiet beauty to the photos and is so fun to shoot in. Once we were done at the creek, A and I parted ways and were left with the memories of a beautiful evening spent in nature.
After the Session
Of course, we were left with more than just our memories of that session. I absolutely could not wait to start editing the photos I took of A. I love how they turned out, and I am so grateful to her for being willing to go along with some of my silly prompts. She killed it at her shoot, and the photos are total proof. I just know these will be such special memories for her and her family to look back on for years to come!
Final Thoughts
Senior sessions, and this session in particular, are so special to me and I am so grateful to have clients who trust me with their memories. I am going to be writing a senior session guide blog post in a few months as kind of a follow up to this one, so be sure to stay tuned for even more beautiful photos from A’s photoshoot with me. But in the meantime, if you or anyone you know is in search of a senior photographer, I would love to be of service! Just send me an inquiry and we’ll get it set up!
*All my blog posts contain a selection of images that I’ve taken. If you are interested in booking a wedding or session with me, I am more than happy to send you a full gallery upon request!
I’m a wife, a dog mom, a foodie, a wanderer, a registered nurse, and a couples/intimate wedding/elopement photographer … and this blog will cover it all! If you enjoyed this post, first of all thank you, and second of all please follow me on Instagram + Facebook and sign up for my monthly newsletter to get exclusive wedding planning advice and access to all of my new (and old) freebies! If you have any questions about elopement photography, my journey from nursing to photography, or my time spent as a full-time RVer, drop a comment and I just might write a blog post answering your question (but I definitely will)!
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