Why I'm Passionate About High School Senior Portraits
I feel very connected to that age and that time in my life. Even though high school was not always the easiest for me in terms of feeling like I was a part of a group or clique. I always felt like an outsider and unsure of what the next step holds or if you are ready for it. It’s the particular feeling that you have when you are 17 or 18 years old and you are about to break out on your own to discover your path and explore what you want to become. The feeling of hope, passion, and possibilities, as well as uncertainty and lack of confidence is something that I connect with on a deep level.
I still feel at times that I am an 18 year old girl, who is trying to carve my path in this life. I know that feeling of hope, but also of uncertainty that comes with trying to break out and do something on your own. It’s scary and can be crippling to deal with. So I feel I connect really well with the stage my high school seniors are in and those feelings that come with it.
I feel so strongly that this time in a high school seniors life is not a time to just “get through”. That taking senior portraits shouldn’t be looked at as just another thing, or something to skip all together.
To me, capturing senior portraits is taking that feeling, that moment, that time, and solidifying it and saying “hey, you are here! This is an amazing time in your life, this is worth capturing and worth documenting This is a chapter in your legacy and you shouldn’t overlook it.
Our legacy in this world, is our ENTIRE story of life. Not just what we leave at the end of it. We go thru different stages of our legacy as we go thru life. Being a high school senior is a piece in your legacy; in your story. It is just one chapter.
Being able to capture that, and turn it into something tangible to come back to later is priceless.
Going thru my parents home, they still have up our large wall portraits of my senior portraits as well as my two older sisters. Those photos have been up there now for 20-28 years! It gives us a sense of belonging and it makes me think “man, I am really really loved.” You get to see my photos of my sisters and I, up on their wall., Part of my parents legacy is us, their children, and they have chosen to display us up on their wall like works of art.
Subconsciously I don’t think I realized the impact this had on me growing up. But now being a photographer I can look back and see what having those images up and on display does to a child. Having sessions and images up from when we were growing up of our sports, dance, and our family as we grew, really gives a confidence boost. Now, looking at them, I can get transported back to a time, and I remember the sessions, I remember creating these images. I get to remember part of my legacy, and how I felt during those chapters of my life. One that always stands out to me is these amazing dance images taken in Petoskey, MI by an amazing photographer. We have a large 20x30 framed portrait up on our wall. I remember all the things about that session, and I may have been 9 or 10. I may not have danced all through high school, but I remember the love I had for it. How dance made me feel and how it shaped part of who I was then and who I am now. My parents give back to me a piece of my childhood when I look at these. Printing our photographs really is the only way to ensure that we can look back at our past for decades to come.
So for my seniors, I get it. You want to have great images to post on senior Sunday, or your instagram or snapchat. This is such a small fraction of it. Getting to capture all of the things that have been part of your high school career will have meaning later in life. You may not realize it right now, or think it’s not a big deal, but it is. I want my seniors to have beautiful images because I know the impact having good portraits of yourself can do to your self worth. But even more, I want them to keep this feeling, the feeling you have right now, before you head off to what your purpose in this life may be. . Having physical prints will ensure your legacy is in tact long after your phone is lost, or your instagram gets hacked and images all lost. Looking at those images year after year, will keep that feeling of excitement, hope, freedom, (and yes, even a little fear) on the top so you can draw from them when you need. Never lose that sense of hope or wonder by making sure those images are real life products that you will be able to turn to year after year.
I thank my parents for giving me that gift growing up. It means more than they could ever know.
1 Comments
Apr 14, 2022, 8:56:42 AM
Carrie Stadelman - Hello Paula, I'm sorry I"m just seeing this post. If you are still interested in a spring senior session you may contact me at Carrie@freelandphotos.com. That is the quickest way to get ahold of us here as sometimes this blog posts don't send us notifications that someone left a message.