Booking your senior photographer
It may still be your junior year but it is almost your turn to experience one of the best years of your life – your senior year! Senior year will be filled with big decisions and wonderful memories. To get started, here are 5 things to consider when booking your senior pictures with me – Nate. I take senior pictures throughout the Spokane region including Medical Lake and Cheney, WA.
These 5 things to consider when booking your senior pictures will help you see if we are a good fit. Why? because I want to make sure you’ll have a fun session experience and have beautiful images to last a lifetime!
1. What senior picture style fits you best?
Each photographer has their own style with variations in lighting, posing and backgrounds. My style aims for natural and comfortable poses with some movement. For lighting, I use available light both from the sun and from any light source available nearby which allows the pictures to have a natural color palate.
For backgrounds, I rely heavily on natural landscapes for the bulk of your photos. Think water, trails, gardens, grassy hills, dirt roads, rocks and flowers. I also like to incorporate places that include architectural elements such as your school, your school’s stadium, bridges or stairs. The best way to see how I incorporate my style into your photos is to check out the images I create. Flip through any of the categories on my website and you will see how my style plays out. If you loved certain pictures – let me know! I would love to help you plan the perfect senior portrait session.
2. What season do you want for your senior photos?
Natural scenes are my thing but there are many factors that play into how your background will be seen. If natural outdoor backdrops are your thing too, consider what the best time of year will be for you.
Summer Senior Pictures
If you want the spicy warmth of greens and golds paired with summery outfits, book your senior session for the summer before your senior year.
Spring Senior Pictures
If you prefer the fresh look of spring with its tender green leaves, air so fresh you can smell it through the pictures and budding to bursting flowers, book your senior session for the spring of your junior year.
Fall Senior Pictures
Fall can be tricky for senior pictures but totally worth it. To get that amazingly colorful palate of warm reds, yellows, browns and oranges, aim for fall senior pictures. With Fall pictures, consider your yearbook photo due dates. If your school accepts yearbook photos late into fall, you can schedule your session for the fall of your senior year. However, most fall senior pictures will need to be scheduled for the fall of your junior year.
Winter Senior Pictures
If you are looking for a unique season for senior pictures, try the winter of your junior year. Winter senior pictures require some flexibility because we are waiting for the weather to do its thing. Snow photos are beautiful and if you’re lucky enough to have snow and a clear evening for a sunset – you’ve hit gold. I would love to work with you on this but keep in mind you may need to be ready to do photos within a 1-3 day notice of snowfall.
My best tip for scheduling your senior pictures is to book a photographer sometime in your junior year.
3. What will you wear?
Style and color are two important things to consider for your senior picture outfits.
Style
If you book with me you will have the opportunity for several outfit changes in order to get a good mix of styles. At a minimum have an outfit that is super dressed up and a dressy casual outfit. Other outfits may be of your school sport, club, the college you plan to attend or just another pretty outfit that fits and flatters you.
Color
The other big decision is what colors you will wear. Look at your closet; do you prefer bold colors or softer, more subtle colors? Natural colors and pastels tend to work best for outdoor pictures and a bold pop of color pairs nicely with just the right scene. If you would like some help and have some outfit ideas for your senior pictures, I would love to see them!
4. Do you have any locations in mind?
If you participated in any extracurricular activities like sports, band or a club with your particular interest, you may be interested in incorporating some elements of that activity. Consider a physical item that you want to include or a special place such as your schools stadium or entrance. If you would like to include a particular location or prop – please let me know! Sharing your ideas helps me to plan ahead for poses and backgrounds to get your best shots.
5. What will you do with your photos?
Your senior picture session will be a fun experience and one I happily look forward to sharing with you but keep in mind that these photos are a legacy document of your life. These photos are not just something to post on social media (although you should definitely do that too). Senior pictures are a significant and beautiful record of the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood. Through the years to come you and those you love will look back at these images and remember who you were and how you looked at this point of life. Will those people be searching through ancient file folders on your computer to see your senior pictures? Not likely – if the photos even exist that long in a digital environment.
How to best preserve your photos
The best way to preserve your photos is by making sure they get printed. Get something tangible like an album, some wall art, and photographic prints. Having a digital copy of your images is nice for posting to social media and maybe even a backup but the reality is most people don’t use digital images for printing. Far too often those digital photos get lost, deleted, or the files get corrupted. As a photographer of legacy memories, I am excited to help you make decisions on your final product so you won’t need to worry about it.
Final Words
As a last step in a successful senior picture experience, I offer all clients a viewing session. At the viewing session we will see all the photos and decide how you will preserve, share and enjoy this special time of life.
I have come up with 5 things to consider when booking your senior pictures but are there other considerations you would have liked to see?
Learn More About Your Senior Pictures
If you’d like to learn more about the portrait process at Nate Robinson Photography, check out my senior page. I’d love to hear from you so we can create portraits that will last a lifetime.
