May is such a bittersweet time. Spring is coming to a close, summer is just around the corner, seniors are graduating, parents are crying…it’s emotional.

But it’s also the most exciting time for Juniors because now, they’re Seniors! HUZZAH! It’s an exhilarating time. You’re nervous, you’re excited, you’re emotional. This is going to be the most amazing year of your LIFE! It’s the moment right before you’re officially an “adult”. There is no going back. Before you know it, you’ll be adulting all over the place. We want to encourage students and parents alike to remember how important this time is to your upcoming Senior…embrace it. Because this time flies by SO fast, and when we look back, all we have are the photos that we took to remember these moments by.

With my oldest having her open house in a couple of weeks and my youngest just finishing her first year of preschool, I know how you feel. So many things to plan. So much money to spend. It’s intense and sometimes we let things slip through the cracks. I encourage you parents, don’t let your Senior’s Senior Photos be one of those things that you just forget about, or don’t plan for.

I’m not saying that just as a photographer (although I’m saying it as one too!) There are few times in our lives and the lives of our children that we are going to want to have professionally captured. Things we want to be able to remember clearly for the rest of our lives; moments we want to tell our grandchildren about. Births, first birthday’s and most birthdays after that, engagements, weddings, families and yes…Seniors.

There is something so special about Senior photography that is unlike most other genres I photograph. While I believe that all moments in life are important and need to be captured and remembered, working with a Senior is a unique and special opportunity to me. You see, that Senior is 17, maybe 18. They’re facing adulthood. And lets just be real, it’s terrifying for most of them. They’re having to make all these HUGE life choices…Ya know? Like “What will you do with the REST OF YOUR LIFE?” Half of them don’t know what they want to for lunch, let alone what they want to do with their LIVES. It’s hard. They tend to be insecure, and nervous but excited to finally be done with school and have some freedom.

When I meet with these Seniors, I consider myself to have one job: make this Senior feel the most awesome they have ever felt about themselves.

It’s an interesting time. And what I love most about it is I get to work with Seniors and their parents to help capture the essence of who this crazy teenager is at this single moment in time. We do our best to cater our sessions to the Senior’s taste and style (since it is about them ) while making sure we get some of the nice smiling photos mom wants to send to grandma. But I want my Seniors to walk away from these sessions feeling amazing about who they are as a person and what they offer this world. For some reason, these sessions have that power. They have the power to invigorate and empower and that is why I love them so much.

We truly believe that an amazing Senior photo experience is a fantastic spring board into adulthood for our Seniors. They get to put a cap on this last 13 years of their lives. They end this season of their lives with amazing images that captures who they are, makes them feel amazing about themselves and often times gives them the self-esteem boost that most of them need just to make it through the school year.

There are no do-overs here. This is a small window of time to capture your teenager as such before they’re adults forever. Don’t take it for granted. Cell phone pictures do not do this phase of life justice. A “nice camera” doesn’t make it a professional experience. And while we know some are on budgets, we offer payment plans on all our collections and from NOW until October 1 we are offering 10% off of all of our collections!

We also offer a variety of collections that are jam-packed full of fantastic products to help preserve your images for a lifetime. We have some really interesting collections available that really cater to your Senior’s uniqueness including our new “Seasons Collection” which allows you to have your Senior pictures taken multiple times through the year so that you can capture all the amazing seasons Northern Michigan has to offer!

Give your Senior the professional photography experience they deserve and give yourself the professional images that will last a lifetime. You won’t regret it.