Back in May, my baby brother, Robert, had his Senior Prom. I still cannot believe how fast time has gone by! It seems like just yesterday he was in Kindergarten! Anyways, enough looking to the past …
Being the photographer of the family, he asked us to follow him from the Eldred School to the Riverview Inn in Pennsylvania where the dance was being held. I accepted (of course) and decided to treat him like a celebrity that day!
As the time came closer, we kept checking the weather as it was supposed to rain on and off during his entire trip to the dance. As we arrived at the school, things seemed to hold off long enough for us to grab a couple of shots before heading in for the announcement of the couples. So we picked out some locations around the front of the school and grabbed a couple shots before heading in. In this shot, we asked Robert and his date, Katie, for a little attitude …
After the announcement of each couple, we headed back outside and got everything ready to head to our next stop … a local playground. Utilizing the kid that is in all of us, we decided to play on the swings for a bit and grabbed this shot …
After being attacked by the all of the bugs, we decided to head down to the Hawks Nest and test out some shots there. As we headed down along the river, the rain could hold out no more and downpoured on us. Forging ahead, we grabbed our umbrellas and towels and decided to give it a try anyways.
Robert and Katie were already parked further down the Hawks Nest with a heavily modified Subaru WRX. As we closed in on them, the rain began to let up and we setup our shots as quickly as possible. We’d check the traffic and when all seemed clear, Chris would jump out into the middle of the road and grab a few shots before the next car would come along. Here was one of his shots …
As the rain moved in again, we decided to head out and down to the Riverview for his last few shots before dancing the night away! On our way down, the rain let up and the lightbulb went off. We wanted to grab just a few more shots before heading to the dance … so we pulled off the road and headed out onto the bridge between Matamoras, PA and Port Jervis, NY. We grabbed our umbrella just in case that downpour followed us.
We started playing around with some different ideas once we got onto the bridge and captured as many shots as we could before the weather got ugly again. As cars passed by, the passengers kept looking at us trying to figure out what was going on. After capturing these shots, we decided to wrap things up and let Robert and Katie head out to their dance …
After leaving them at the dance, we headed back and literally started working on the images. Playing with them inside of Adobe Lightroom was incredible and everyone loved the shots. Robert and Katie felt like celebrities for the day as they had their own paparazzi following them around!
Now I get to look forward to his graduation!
Kali became one of the latest teenagers to experience our custom Senior Portrait Session!
Kali’s mom originally contacted us as she was not happy with the quality of the images that were produced by the school photographer for Minisink Valley High School. Her original intention was to purchase a bunch of wallets to include in Kali’s graduation invitations and she wasn’t about to use what was produced by the school.
During my initial phone consultation with Kali’s mom, we discussed what exactly she needed and what she could expect with the Senior Portrait Session. We booked Kali’s session a few weeks out as they wanted to wait until she had her braces off.
The day of the shoot finally arrived and Jenny and I headed up to Kali’s house to setup everything. As we brought everything into the house, I secretly scouted their decor as I hadn’t had a chance to have an actual sit-down consultation with them prior. I took notes and knew that I could surprise them with something I knew would fit right in.
We started out with the traditional drape shots …
… and then moved on to some more traditional shots … but in non-traditional locations …
Once we captured enough shots indoors, we bundled up and headed outside for some “fun” shots around her house. We posed Kali in one area and photographed away. Jenny and I would often switch off and hold the reflector while Kali’s mom grabbed one of our cameras for some “behind the scenes” shots (which are extremely top secret 
)
Once Kali’s session was over, she told us that she felt like a “superstar” and couldn’t wait to see the images. Jenny and I packed up and headed out. Now the real work began!
We touched up a couple photos with different overlays and embellishments to give them a unique look that Kali would love.
In the mean time, we had a custom DVD Slideshow, assembled to music, created for our upcoming Sales-Order Session with everyone. I also worked on creating a custom 5×30 poster with a bunch of our favorite images of Kali. My notes finally came in handy as well as I talked to our custom framer and had something created that would fit the style their house perfectly.
When the night of the Sales-Order Session came, we showed everyone the DVD on their big screen and I uncovered the 5×30 framed composite poster of Kali. Her mom loved it so much that she purchased it from us. However, the best part of the night was when her mom told us that the composite poster frame was “her frame” and that she felt like it was specially made just for her. Paying attention to those details always pays off!
Now, we usually post our Image Of The Week on Sunday … but since this shoot wasn’t wrapped up until later in the day yesterday, we needed a little extra time to get it to press!Â
Starting in 2008, we began our marketing campaign for “Senior Portraits: Your Way!” with the premise that each high school senior is unique … and their images should be the same. Granted, most parents want the traditional cap and gown or tux or drape shots … but the seniors want something that is as unique as they are without looking the same as everyone else.
Roberta is the younger sister of our photographer, Loretta, who wanted just what we were offering and loved the end results! The entire shoot lasted a few hours and provided her with a couple different backgrounds and outfit changes to work with. We provided her with a hair stylist and she brought her own clothes and did her own makeup.
This image was shot with our Canon Rebel XTI, 28-105mm lense at F4 at 1/500 with the ISO at 400. This was zoomed into about 75mm and had some minor retouching, lighting levels and saturation adjustments done in Photoshop.
