Trending: Senior Photos That Make the Grade

Senior year. You’ve traveled a long way to get here. You’re poised on the boundary between childhood and adulthood – and the road ahead is full of possibilities.

We’ll capture exactly who you are at this waypoint along your life’s road.

This is a great time to look at how far you’ve come, and think about what path you want to set your feet on next. There is no better time to document the person you are right now. And that’s what senior portrait sessions are for.

If you can’t warm up to the idea of traditional, posed senior photos, you aren’t alone.

Although yearbooks often have fairly strict guidelines about what they’ll print – even sometimes dictating wardrobe – many seniors are opting for senior photo shoots that include a little variety.

And why shouldn’t your shoot have some variety? After all, you’re not just one thing or the other. You might glam it up at the prom on Saturday night and then kick butt on the soccer field on Sunday afternoon. There’s a lot to you, and your senior photos should capture it all.

Senior model Hanna rocks the prom dress.

As Steve Hendrix put it in his 2013 Washington Post article, “For some families, the senior portrait has emerged as a new milestone, a moment to be frozen as the young adult emerges from the grown child, and then hung on the wall between the baby and bridal portraits.” This is even more true today than it was when Hendrix wrote his piece almost two years ago.

A Portrait Among Selfies

You’d think it might be the opposite. With the rise of the “selfie” – and a good camera in every smartphone, which almost everyone seems to have – it sometimes seems like every moment has been documented to within an inch of its life already. And those selfies and candids and massive digital albums have their charm. But, if anything, they’ve made a truly professional, well-composed, living-room-wall-worthy portrait an even rarer thing. A photo session where it’s all about you is a special thing.  A quick cameraphone snap, or even a session with Mom’s digital camera at your most recent family gathering, doesn’t give you time to think through how you want to be showcased. We offer every senior a studio shoot and an outdoor shoot. We have some outdoor locations we love, but we’re always open to your suggestions, too.

Senior model Paige shows off her “don’t mess with me” side.

We take our time to get to know you, so we can make sure every facet of your personality has a chance to shine. And we schedule plenty of shoot time. You can get comfortable. You can bring your prom dress (or tux), your team uniform, and every outfit in between. You won’t feel rushed. We give you the experience of a high-end fashion shoot, without the cost of a ticket to NYC. We don’t want getting your senior photos taken to be just one more  chore to check off the list. We want to make it one of the highlights of this once-in-a-lifetime year.

Walter Schnecker, CPP, CPC, CCH

Walter Schnecker is the owner of C1M Photography, LLC in Amherst, NH. He loves senior photo sessions, because they give him a chance to experiment, play, and draw on his fashion photography background.