Senior Portraiture: Who are YOU?
by: Jared Wilson



Professional photography seems to have a lot to do with new beginnings. Weddings mark the beginning of a new family as do maternity and baby portraits. And then there are senior pictures (portraits) which signify a new beginning all their own. Most of us can remember graduating from high school and making preparations to head off to that foreign land called ‘college’; a place full of opportunity, mystery and exploration. And a land fully devoid of parents! If you’re old enough to have gone through it, then surely you can remember the excitement and the fear you felt as you entered this time in your life. And really, don’t you think that it was in this transition that you became an Adult, or perhaps even more true – wasn’t this the time that you truly became YOU?

Senior portraits today are about identity – who are YOU? And it no longer means just sitting on a big Zero and a big Nine and announcing “Hey World! I’m a Senior!” Why? Because the year you graduate is only one brief sentence in your story. A larger part of your story is who you’ve become, who you’re becoming – who YOU are! And at this moment in your life, you’re entering into a time of transition where all of these things are coming into focus as you prepare to venture out into the world as YOU. And that’s what senior portraits are all about, or should be…

Senior portraiture has, for quite awhile, been the realm where “cheesy” has been the dominant characteristic. Remember that picture of your buddy playing his oboe by a tree? Now, if when you think of that friend and the first thing that popped into your head was “Man, he sure could play the oboe! It was always ‘oboe this’ and ‘oboe that’, except of course when he was hiking…” If that’s what came to your mind, then those photos may have nailed who he was and is and who he went on to be. But if the photo says more about who they were (because your buddy only played his oboe to fulfill his elective) or more about being ‘pretty’ for Grandma (because really he hated the outdoors and had some serious allergy issues) then something here is not quite right. And we’ve all seen those photos that are just way wrong, haven’t we?

A great photographer will know how to let YOU shine through. With a new beginning just around the corner, senior portraits should tell the story of this beginning and who you are in the middle of it all. Sure, bring your oboe if that’s you, deep down, or bring your best friend if you grew up together and nothing will ever tear you apart. Go stand by a tree if that’s your favorite place to be but if every single weekend you’re at the movies, then work with your photographer to figure out how that can shine through – because that is who you are. Don’t settle for something that’s just not you. And look at different photographers’ work to see if their style matches who you are as well. If a photographer seems to live in a world colored with pastel crayons and you would rather paint with broad strokes of blacks and browns, then don’t assume that that photographer will somehow overcome his or her “penchant for pastel” to be able to help you communicate who you are to the world. It’s possible, but not very likely. Then again, if you’re known as the sweetest, cutest, most innocent person anyone has ever met – then your pastel photographer is probably the way to go!

Ultimately, you want your senior portraits to be something that you can return to ten or twenty years from now to reminisce and enjoy the nostalgia of your youth, your style, your haircut, your emerging identity as a high school senior ready to take on the world! Not because that “cheesy” photo reminds you of 2009 (and here we are in ‘29), but because of that look in your eyes, that story coming through the photograph. You want your senior portraits to bring you back to the adventures that you now know were right there over the horizon; to look at photographs that captured and revealed YOU.

DISCLAIMER : The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent the views of photographik or any member of the photographik organization.