High School Senior Guy Sessions…
Senior Portraits are such a favorite of mine. I love the one on one interaction & posing. It took me lots and lots of practice to get the posing thing down, but I did and here we are! Senior guy’s can be a different animal if you’re not used to them. I like to have a meeting with my senior and get to know them a little bit before we take photos. What sports do they play, favorite hobbies, what do they do for fun. We talk about what to wear and what props to bring to the session, if they want. I always encourage them to bring a parent, friend or sibling along with on the shoot to make them feel more comfortable.
Depending on your senior guy, wether they are more of the masculine or feminine persuasion, it’s important to get it right. Posing him with the correct feel is going to be crucial to a great photograph that contains the personality of your senior. Hence, getting to know him well before hand. Not every pose you plan is going to work. Many times, I can give one guy a prompt for a pose and it looks great. Other times, it can make them look stiff and unnatural. At that point I just move on and suggest another pose. It’s completely normal for this to happen, I’m just always prepared for a variety of options ahead of time.
To give you an idea of what a session with me would look like, you can head over to my instagram page and watch some reels! I have a handful of Senior Guy sessions on video complete with results. I like to start off the session with walking poses. I’ll have him walk toward me and I photograph him at a couple of different angles, having him make each pass slightly different. I’ll have him do something different with his hands, or look in another direction. Then we move on to leaning, squatting and sitting poses. With each pose or prompt, I like to “Maximize” each pose and get several angles of the same pose. This helps to determine his best side and gives him lots of options in his gallery.
When picking a location (or locations) I like to consider how far we will have to walk and how many outfit changes he has. Keeping locations close will help us to stay on track with the time, and leaves more time for changing clothes. I pack a changing tent with me to make swapping outfits faster. I have 3 options listed for Senior portraits: 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours. My most popular has been the 1 hour, which has worked great! I had the opportunity to do a couple of 2 hour shoots and they’re actually my favorite! It’s cool how much more relaxed the subject gets after that extra hour. I get to see them come out of their shell a little bit and the pictures reflect it! :) Not to mention how many more photos they receive. Lots more! So may recommendation is the 2 hour slot. Take your time, no rushing around, and a nice, relaxed Senior.
