We May Call Them Senior Pictures

but the funny thing is – They’re not FOR the senior…

Senior Pictures are for you – the Parents!

And for the grandparents; and aunts and uncles and other relatives.

They’re for special friends, and anyone who was involved in their lives while they were growing up.

You’ll NEVER see a wall portrait of a senior hanging on their own wall. They won’t have one up on display in their dorm room while they’re away in college.  They won’t carry one in their purse or wallet, and they won’t have one sitting on their nightstand.

But YOU will.

Because these are the portraits that fill the void in your life after they’ve flown the nest.  Senior pictures are what reminds you what your “child” was like as they were going through their teenage years after they’ve left home for the big wide world.

These senior pictures are what keeps them close, even when they’re far away.  We call them “visual hugs”, because they’ll give you a warm feeling every time you look at them.

When my daughters were in high school, their activities were our activities.  Our two kids were heavily involved in choir, theatre and gymnastics.  We couldn’t even begin to count the hours that we spent supporting them in their activities.  When they graduated and went on to college, these activities ceased for us too.  I’ll bet you experienced the same thing in your house.

Their friends hung out at our house.  We were surrogate parents, friends, advisors.  When our girls graduated and went on into life, their friends were no longer as evident either.  They were also on to the rest of their lives.

Senior Pictures are what reminds you of what YOUR life was like when your senior was in high school.

That’s why we place so much emphasis on creating a series of senior pictures that really tell the story of who your senior is, not just a pretty picture of what they look like.  Those may look nice, but they tell NOTHING about the person in the photograph.

Every time you look at the senior portrait hanging on your wall, we want you to remember VIVIDLY just what their lives were all about, and what your life was like as well.

My oldest daughter graduated 16 years ago now, but every time I look at the portraits we did of her with a theater theme, I’m back in the auditorium at South Salem High School watching a performance.  Every time I look at my youngest daughter’s portrait in her gymnastic leotard, I remember well all those evenings spent at practice and all those many Saturdays spent at meets, and all the life lessons that were learned through that experience.

That’s why it’s so important to create quality senior pictures;

something that really captures the essence of their very being, not just another Facebook style photograph that a friend takes while goofing around.

Being only seventeen, the kids don’t have a long-term perspective of just how important senior portraits can be.  They live for the moment.  They’re happy with a new, crazy Facebook photograph every couple of weeks, and some think these are perfectly fine as a senior portrait.

They don’t understand the importance of having something that will be treasured by those who love them for many years to come; long after they have seniors of their own.  They don’t understand that there’s a void to be filled when they’ve left the nest.

One Other Thought About The Importance of Senior Pictures

Whenever I talk to a family about creating senior portraits for them, I always ask “Have you ever been professionally photographed before?”

The answer is usually “No”.

And this added factor makes quality senior pictures just that much more important.

This is really your last opportunity to have then professionally photographed as a “kid“.  (Don’t tell them, but they really still are, no matter what they think).

Wouldn’t it be sad if for right now you “settled” and in a few years, look back and wish you’d had some really wonderful senior pictures  created that did for you all the things we’ve described above?

Now you understand why we take so much time to get to know them before we photograph them.  Most studios don’t bother.

That’s why we custom design each and every session to capture all the aspects of them that are an important part of their being.

And that’s why we emphasize that real quality senior portraits, specifically designed just for you are so important.  For more information on how we do this, see our page on the Senior Portrait Design Consultation Process.

If all this makes sense to you, then you’re exactly the type of family we work well with.  Click on the CONTACT button above and send us a message so we can get your consultation scheduled.  Or you can call us at 503-588-0902.

And make sure and become a fan of the Encore! Portrait Design Page on Facebook.  That’s where we announce some special opportunities available only for our Facebook fans.

That’s So You and Encore! Portrait Design – where we understand the true importance of senior pictures.