Because of the schools that allow you to use an outside photographer and different poses, the whole "senior pictures" thing has really blown up. My daughter had hers, but that photographer is out of business. It took some time to find a photographer near us. Because I believe most of the nearby schools do the same as us, use the set poses for yearbook, there are not as many senior specialty photographers as there was near our previous house. I made calls to several places found on the internet only to have them not return my call. Then I remember a nearby friend and went and looked at her daughters pictures and asked her whom she used. I made a call to the place. Friendly. And actually answered the phone! Success.
My son didn't see the big deal about the pictures. But the night before, he suddenly realized he had nothing to wear and he wanted to make this work. We raced over to Macy's and actually found some great clothes (he had only one pair of jeans before this) and lived in old t-shirts. He had fun clothes shopping. He walked out with 2 overstuffed bags looking sharp.
We came home and put together 3 outfits for his session the next day. Shoes were an entirely different matter and weren't too likely to show anyway. He likes to live a minimalist lifestyle until stuff like this comes up and he realizes that you actually do need more than a backpacks worth of clothes and shoes to look nice. Sigh...
Blake was a little stiff through the session. He didn't practice his facial expressions ahead and wished he had. It all worked out. I put this page together roughly in order they were taken. You can see by the last three poses he finally started to relax and then it was over. He was kind of bummed.
The green screen pictures are literally just that, a green screen. We had an image the photographer paid for (we paid him) of a Google server room (or one just like it) and superimposed Blake over it. Blake wanted that as a metal print. The effect is just amazing. With metal prints you get super depth and an interesting finish. Not shiny, not dull, just looks finished. Like when you varnish a painting. Yes, that is a thing...
He has since set up a LinkedIn profile and is using some of these, cropped, as professional headshots. The picture of him leaning on the chair we printed on canvas and cropped to just the chair and his head. It looks really nice on canvas. We do not use a lot of traditionally printed pictures anymore. The scrapbooks seem to be the place for that.
We are ordering a collage, likely on canvas, eventually. And we do a book style thing for the grandparents, of like the top 6-8 pictures. That way they can store it when they are not looking at it, instead of needing wall space. There are so many amazing print options for pictures today, why do the traditional 8x10 on photo paper when you can do cool things?
I did have to sneak the pictures of the photographer and Blake. As the photog said, only one camera allowed in here. I just wanted a pic of the experience. Not trying to take away his job.
Do you document these occasions, or just let the moment pass. Because as much as the pictures cost it is worth documenting!
His original senior yearbook session. He wasn't too ramped up about this one either. And when we got the pictures back he says he looks like some porn star! He was shaving in the car on the way to the shoot. So yeah kiddo, maybe a little...
Supplies: Project Life App and the Its a Man's World collection.
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