This season, I’ve been getting lots of emails and phone calls about boys senior photography. Where girls usually embrace the multiple outfit changes, fancy hair and makeup and the general thrill of senior photos, boys can be a bit more of a challenge.

In most cases, senior boys hate (or like to act like they hate) getting their photos taken. So, when I get a phone call from Mom scheduling her son to get his senior photos taken, the conversation usually starts with something like, “Do you have a package that is only one hour long, because my son won’t want be in front of the camera for longer than that.” LOL

Well, I’m here to reassure Mom. Boys just need a bit of extra attention, but we can get them to nail their senior photo shoot and make sure you have some pictures to help you get through those quickly approaching empty-nest spells.

Some of my tricks…

1. Finding out what some of your son’s greatest interests and hobbies are. Boys don’t often like to pose for the sake of posing, so we like to find out what makes your son who he is. What does he do in his spare time? What are his passions and goals beyond high school? Making sure his favorite things are represented in his photos can make all the difference. And, we usually leverage this a bit. The conversation goes something like, “Okay. We’ll do the poses with your hunting rifle first, but then we have to do some in the blue shirt for Grandma.” This strategy works pretty well 🙂

 2. Focus less on the posing and more on the personality–and getting him to laugh is always a plus. Most boys don’t want to pose, and when we have a subject who really doesn’t want to be in front of the camera, it can make the pictures seem uptight or awkward. So, we like to meet with your son on a day before we ever do the senior photoshoot. This gives us an opportunity to get to know him. We’ll go through a list of questions and just get a general feel for one another so it’s less awkward when we meet up the day of the shoot. On the actual day of the shoot, we spend the first few minutes trying to break the ice a bit so your son relaxes. Meeting ahead of time gives us an idea of his sense of humor. Once they get used to the camera, everything goes more smoothly.

3. And finally, sometimes they just need a little help from their friends! I’ve had more boys bring their friends to their senior portrait session than girls. I don’t know if it’s the “Bro, look what I’m doing” thing or just the fact that they love looking tough in front of their friends, but I’ve found boys love to have their friends attend the session. Of course, we always like to sneak the friend in for a few shots. If you care enough to bring them, that’s reason enough for us to have them included.

Taking pictures of senior boys can be a challenge, but it’s one I love. Once they realize you’re not trying to get them in front of a backdrop and style their hair in a weird way they don’t like, the sessions end up being a lot of fun. If you’re interested in booking one of our senior packages, take a look at our senior photography page and fill out our contact form! We’d love to work with you.