How To Choose a Photographer for Senior Pictures

Your senior year is about to begin!

You’ve chosen what colleges to apply to, where you’ll spend your gap year or what trade you plan to pursue.

You’ve collected all the materials for your memory quilt:

dance costumes, boy scout badges, softball uniforms, favorite tee shirts.

Now it’s time for another rite of passage: your senior photo.

Ask people who have already graduated whose photos you admire.

Consult photographer’s websites.  Subscribe to their social media feeds.  Contact the ones you’re interested in and see how quickly they respond.  You should hear back from them within 24 hours.  This process should be focused on you, not something squeezed into someone else’s hectic schedule.  Do they ask you for input? Do they seem willing to collaborate?

 Figure out your budget

It can be expensive to have a senior these days.  Make sure the photographer’s pricing is clear.  What is the basic cost?  What are extras?  If you have your heart set on photos at a specific site, is there a permit cost? Young women might want to splurge for professional help with hair and make-up.

 Know Your Timeline

If you plan to use these photos in your yearbook, find out when photos are due and schedule the session plenty of time in advance.  Find out the specifics of what your yearbook requires: black & white or color; file size; headshot or full body.  If your school uses its own photographers, photos are still great for graduation party invitations, or Summer is great when you have a tan, are getting lots of sleep and under less stress.

 

You will want to have your hair recently cut.  Choose a number of outfits, some fancy and some casual.  Be sure to iron anything that needs it the night before.  Add accessories for fun and variety.  Think about who you’d like to have with you: Mom, Dad, both?  Photos with parents can be very special.  But there are parents whose anxiety will rub off on you and make the process less fun.

 

Congratulations!

So much fun to be had before this year’s over.

A lot to take in, we know.