First Senior Portrait Session

I had my very first Senior Portrait session this afternoon. And I could not have asked for a better experience!

I was extremely nervous, thought I might have a panic attack, as the day got closer to the time to meet with Joseph (the senior), Jonathan (13-year old brother), and Maria (mother). I have been corresponding with Maria over the last two months or so to schedule a date to photograph her son’s, Joseph, senior portraits. She heard of me from a friend of mine, her niece, from high school named Maria (we will refer to her as Maria 2). Maria sounded so nice and sweet over email but one never knows. Knowing Maria 2, who is one of the sweetest and most genuine people I know, as well as I did I kind of assumed Maria would be pleasant to work with. And boy did I assume correctly.

We got to the location site right around the same time and I knew immediately meeting Maria and her boys within in the first 30 seconds this would be an easy gig. Maria was at first a little disappointed that Joseph, who has been playing the snare drum since 4th grade, did not want to bring his drum or drum sticks to have for the photo shoot. But what can you say, boys will be boys. I first asked Joseph what he had in mind. He said, “Nothing cheesy. No hand in my hair or looking off in the distance kind of shots. Just a small stoic smile.” So nothing Edward Cullen-ish? fair enough.

Joseph was such a great sport. He was pretty much up for anything I suggested and even added his own fun twists to my ideas that made me laugh. I also got a few photos of just the brothers and of the boys with their mother. The three of them seem to have a very good relationship, which is extremely nice to see. How a man treats his mother is a very good predictor of how he will treat females in the future. I can tell both Joseph and Jonathan will both be/are very respectful men one day.

Thank you again to Maria for taking a chance on having a photographer just starting out shoot her son’s senior portraits. Thank you Joseph for being such a great model and sport, I know it was not easy. Thank you Jonathan for also being a great sport and such a help to me. And last, but certainly not least, thank you Maria 2 for recommending me to your aunt.

Until next time, I will leave you with another quote I discovered today...
“The goal is not to change your subjects, but for the subject to change the photographer.” ~Author Unknown