Today I am at a photography workshop run by Leslie Katz (look her up, she is fabulous!) and I’ll be attempting to mobile blog throughout. It’s a workshop focusing on high school senior sessions, a market I would like to break into. If you happen to be a senior in the Dallas area, or know someone who is, shoot me an email at Jenna {at} jennacole {dot} com because I suspect I’ll be putting together some intro specials to kick things off.
Were spending some time inside then we are heading outside after lunch for a group shoot. I’m excited to get out and play and spend some time shooting what -I- want to shoot today.
Today has me thinking how awesome my senior photos were (really, my mom did them and they were awesome!), and maybe I’ll scan some in and share them here. Did you have high school senior portraits taken? (Outside of the awful standard school shop with the cheesy backdrop of course!)
October 26th, 2009 on 9:55 am
Sounds like a fun day! Can’t wait to see what pretty pics you come up with.
I had senior photos done. They are - to date - some of my favorite photos of myself. I loved them so much, in fact, I had the photographer shoot my wedding!
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October 26th, 2009 on 11:00 am
I did have fun senior pictures done. My parents and I could not believe the price the “studio” that the school used was charging for senior pictures. A photographer from my church came over and took some pictures outside. Better pictures- better price!
The girl who did our engagement pictures is big into senior photography. She has various programs and stuff that she does for the kids. You should check her out to get some ideas: http://blog.emilyporterphoto.com/
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October 26th, 2009 on 11:12 am
Just the school portraits for me, and I had to buy them myself- as I did my invitations, and yearbook, and cap and gown, and cheerleading uniform, haha. I totally bought two 8×10′s and a page of 5×7′s, and then took them on down to a Walgreen’s that looked the other way as I made about 200 copies
It was so funny, I was like my parent plus the student, griping about how expensive they were because I was living on my own all through high school, and all my classmates were like “oh, we got the $500 package, and then I’m getting my other portraits done…blah blah blah”. So expensive. On the upside though I adore my senior pictures- even though it’s just the traditional black wrap my hair looks great and it’s a really good picture of me, so I’m ok with the way it all worked out. For college graduation, though the first in my family to graduate, I didn’t buy the diploma or the handshake shot from my school, and my graduation announcements had a picture of me my friend took in the park, also copied multiple times at Walgreens 
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JessicaMayBe Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Wow, what a tough cookie!! I complained about buying my lunch in high school, I would have thrown a fit about buying a uniform or school pictures. I DID have to buy my own car and the first year insurance before I was allowed to drive much, but that’s not a big deal.
I’m sure you appreciated your pictures more than a lot of students with the 500 dollar package did.
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Sophia Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I did feel a *bit* bad about making copies though- I hate breaking the rules, haha
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October 26th, 2009 on 11:26 am
I didn’t know until this past May that senior portraits are something that is “done”. I got the horrible studio pictures done and they were so insanely expensive that there was no way I would have bought them even if they were good and even if I hadn’t been going through a “cut my own hair” phase. I wish I had known about this as an alternative - I think it would have been really fun. Although I’m not totally sure what I would have done with the pictures.
I registered for my final semester of law school this morning, so maybe next May I will get some senior portraits done. Although we’re getting married shortly thereafter, so maybe it’s not a good investment.
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October 26th, 2009 on 11:34 am
I didn’t do much of a senior picture thing… I had school pictures taken and my parents ordered a couple, but they weren’t great by any means. I was itching from hives and a rash after wearing an angora sweater (if you’re allergic to rabbits, apparently you’re still allergic to their fur even after it’s been chemically processed and put into a soft sweater). It wasn’t very cute…. I tried to cover the spots as much as I could, but it wasn’t great.
We had family pictures done at a private studio when I was 21, and that was kind of cute, but I ended up hating the shirt I wore, and the way I’d styled my hair.
Now that I am married and so is my brother, I’d like to get a nice family picture of my folks and the two of us with our spouses. That would be nice.
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October 26th, 2009 on 11:39 am
I had pictures taken, but wow if I could go back I’d do some totally fun stuff. Mine was all in a studio with different backdrops and poses - some on the ground, some on a chair, etc.. with the exception of some outside with my puppy dog
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October 26th, 2009 on 12:19 pm
I had a friend’s dad who is a pro photographer take them-they were good, but kind of stiff. I cannot believe how much people pay for studio pics (Prestige Portraits is a big scammer!) when you can get a CD of beautiful pics for $150-$300
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October 26th, 2009 on 1:29 pm
I flew to Utah the summer before my senior year to visit my sister for a week, one afternoon my brother and I just walked around Salt Lake taking pictures. It didn’t cost me anything except the price to print them and the one that I used is definitely my favorite of me.
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October 26th, 2009 on 2:32 pm
Senior pics sound like a great market. AND you can do senior pics on weekdays (after school and during the summer) which is very hard for weddings
In 1998 when I had my senior pics, I was chosen as an “ambassador.” Basically the photographer chose 8 juniors every year and you would have your senior photos done at the end of junior year (which is fairly early). You got a free session and lots of free pics - which you then hand out to your friends and thus drum up business for the photographer. It worked really well. Best of luck with this new venture!
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October 26th, 2009 on 2:46 pm
Yeeeeah. I had ‘em done at Lifetouch. For canned studio photos, I like some of em. I didn’t care for any of the photographers particularly, but oh well.
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v38/202/74/1514220135/n1514220135_30003309_7557.jpg
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v38/202/74/1514220135/n1514220135_30003313_574.jpg
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October 26th, 2009 on 4:03 pm
I had great pictures taken. My official school one was actually pretty terrific too, happily. I knew the photographer (he’d graduated a year earlier), so he let me pick out which one I liked best for the yearbook.
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October 26th, 2009 on 4:07 pm
I never heard of senior portraits until I went to college and some of my midwestern and southern roommates had them. Are they a regional thing? I grew up in NYC and everyone just did the standard senior yearbook photo shoot — the pictures with the black thing draped around your neck, the wicker chair, the fake bookshelves filled with encyclopedias, etc.
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October 26th, 2009 on 7:14 pm
Definitely had the big senior shoot - wardrobe changes, bring the props, bring the dog! It was a blast - I had pictures taken with my little brother too - and if I had to give someone a favorite picture of me, it would be one of those.
The same photographer - 7 years later - shot my brother’s pictures as well - so I got to play again!
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October 26th, 2009 on 9:41 pm
Ok, so some of these aren’t really senior portraits, and one or two look photoshopped, but if you google “awful senior portraits” or “terrible, ridiculous, horrible” etc. you get some very interesting results, haha
http://thechive.com/2009/05/regrettably-awesome-senior-pictures-25-photos/
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October 26th, 2009 on 10:31 pm
I took mine, and didn’t quite love them, but oh well. The worst part was, though, that the witch who was in charge of the school yearbook left my picture out, so there’s not one single picture of me from my senior year, to this day it makes me so sad and mad when I think about it.
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