Life moves fast and Time Flies!  I know how fast it moves especially with a High School Senior of my own and I scheduled many Fall of 2020 Senior Sessions for other Seniors but also for my Senior so I was wearing both hats as the photographer and the parent!  So now what happens after you do the same for your Senior?  You scheduled the session, maybe helped pick out some new outfits, walked with your Senior during the session to help make sure everything turned out great and you're done!  Almost...this is where I'll guide you through session proofs and then you can order from a wide selection of products like paper prints, canvas prints, metal prints, wood standout prints, acrylic prints, hardcover books and graduation announcements.

​I think we're all pretty good at hanging pictures on our walls, after all we've been doing that for as long as I can remember.  In the past, I blogged about the importance of getting your film developed and digital captures printed and I still feel that printing is important for the art to be truly finished.  I also know that we've gotten better at taking and storing all of our pictures in the cloud using services like Amazon, Google and Apple especially with how good phone cameras have improved.  External and thumb drives are more affordable and help us store digital images too instead of having an entire bottom half of a closet filled with photo albums (parents will know what I'm writing about). I highly encourage printing the best images from your digital collections as well as ones you proof after a photo session through a photographer like me.  In addition to ordering prints, book formats are popular making it possible to print an entire collection of images in one book that makes a great gift not only for your Senior leaving home but for other family members where you don't know what size prints they may want or can even display in their home. 

I offer traditional paper prints in many sizes and types of paper as well as book creation services and can guide you through the ordering process from start to finish.  Most products can be shipped directly to your home and even other family member's homes.

​There are some new print products out that update wall art with a modern feel, literally.  Metal and acrylic products have entered the print market and make for modern alternatives to traditional canvas prints.  I offer these products and can help guide you through the entire ordering process regarding sizes and pricing.

​

​Now onto one of the other important products for your Senior...Graduation Announcements!  High Schools typically have formal picture sessions offered in the summer or fall of the year before graduation.  These sessions typically produce formal picture packages that we can order print products for as usual and also one of the images is selected to be used in the school yearbook.  The formal session is a must if only to get into the yearbook but you may be shocked by the price of the print packages. 

I'm not in the habit of putting other photographers down but usually the school formals are done by one large company and you really don't have much of choice if you want prints.  Over the last few years, these companies have seen some resistance to the prices of print packages and have started offering digital downloads of untouched images from the formal session that as a parent, can pay for online and download with the intent of getting your prints done anywhere you desire.  Because of this digital download being offered with print release, I offer a service to retouch those images as well as subsequent print services at a much more affordable price.

I specialize in the Senior casual session as seen below in examples of graduation announcements.  The casual session and subsequent announcement is what I consider to be the fun part of senior pictures!  An announcement is typically mailed to friends and family in the Spring of the graduation year and it shows off the Senior in unique settings and poses that help friends and family members see what their hobbies, interests and outlooks are as they enter the adult world!  It's an exciting time for Seniors and parents, so expect to travel to locations and spend a few hours for this session.  Locations typically are predominantly "woodsy" or urban.  I love both types of locations and have many local suggestions for both but also love going somewhere new, so if you have a special location like a family farm or high school in mind, we can discuss during the planning stage of the Senior casual session.

In case you're wondering, boys like to have their picture taken as much as girls so don't hesitate to discuss a casual session with the boys too! 

​I have had an even balance of boy and girl sessions over the years and have a huge collection of pose examples that can help the girls feel pretty and the boys feel tough.  At the end of the session, usually the pictures not fully posed win anyway because candid pictures look the most natural. ​

As you've figured out by now, I guide you through the design and ordering process for announcements which are designed with you and your Senior after digital proofs are selected from the session and can be ordered with other print products which gives plenty of time before mailing out in the Spring of the graduating year.  I highly suggest getting announcement design done at the same time as print products are ordered or very soon after when your Senior is still involved in the session experience.  I'm also able to incorporate your formal session images on the announcement or include smaller formal prints that you can mail out with the announcement in the same envelope.  

Whew...you made it to the end with me.  Now you know the secret of my motto which is Time Flies, Catch it!  When we take pictures, we capture time at that moment and it's forever at that moment that makes us smile when looking at pictures.  Thanks for reading and send me a message with any questions or photography needs you may have for your rising Senior!

Looking behind the lens at how magic is made is always fun for me so I thought I would share including some outtakes too!

I've been wanting to produce this guide for awhile...and now you can download it and be ready for your next photo session.  Taking pictures is an everyday thing now with smart phones but getting our picture taken with the family, for special occasions, business needs, engagements or graduating high school can be overwhelming.  I've taken some of the best questions from over the years and turned them into a guide.  This guide is broken down into 2 sections....one section for how does this picture taking thing work and how much will it cost and one section for planning the day your images are captured.

Download and take a look...if you don't see your question answered within, simply send me a message using the Contact Me page or email me directly at [email protected].

A recent assignment led me to the top of Winchester hoping to capture her transition from day to night.  This transition is often called dusk or twilight and it's a great time to capture subjects at night without it actually being completely dark.  I have come to love moving out of my comfort zones for assignments or new location shoots because it seems that every time I do, I capture something amazing like Historic Winchester starting up her nightlife.

​Here are some examples of going against the rule of don't shoot in the middle of a sunny day because of the harsh lighting.  This shoot took me out of my comfort zone but also made me more confident about shoots that will be timed with mid-day because of what I captured the first time.  Sometimes you have to shoot during the middle of the day and that's when you find shade and get creative.

Here's another shoot that was going to start around the middle of a sunny day because of location travelling.  I wasn't worried since I had already been taken out of my comfort zone once before and was confident in capturing the best images possible.  The silhouette was spontaneous and possible since it was very sunny outside of the covered bridge.

I find myself wondering why we have comfort zones and why I wasn't comfortable at new locations and I suspect it's just the perfectionist in me that drives me to capture the best images and hoping that all the best poses and lighting reveal themselves to me.  What I've discovered is that when we're pushed out of our comfort zones, we don't hope for the best poses or lighting, we make them happen while sprinkling creativity throughout the project.

There is something about a silhouette that makes me stare longer than most images.  I'm sure it's the extreme contrast or the different "look" or maybe my imagination is trying to fill in the silhouette with what should be seen.  It's probably a mixture of all three elements that fascinate me and I've thrown my creativity at a few images below.

I created the patterned silhouettes by accident while learning how to work with backgrounds in Photoshop.  I reversed a Photoshop element called a mask and instead of changing the background, I changed the subject and the patterned silhouette was born.  I did recently capture an actual silhouette image (see below) and then added the patterned look to a variation of that image just to shake things up.
​
I looked up the history of the traditional silhouette and was surprised to learn the term is derived from a French finance minister named Etienne de Silhouette in the mid 1700’s.  He was rumored to cut profiles (the previous term used for silhouettes) in his spare time and when he imposed economic sanctions within France, items that were of lesser quality became synonymous with his name INCLUDING profiles, thus the renaming of profile to silhouette.

Read more about the history of the silhouette here!

Follow this link for tips from Nikon on how to shoot a silhouette!

Photos courtesy of Photographer Derrick Hudson (All Rights Reserved, 2015)

What is HDR?  High dynamic range post editing has been around as early as the mid 1800's as a way to blend three or more exposures of the same image into one image creating a new look that has a more natural luminous look that our brains are used to producing from everyday images we see with our eyes.  The result of seeing an HDR image is typically more pleasing and gives a 3D effect before our brains even start processing light and shadows of the image.   Great pioneers of HDR techniques are Gustave Le Gray and Ansel Adams, both of which had a passion for making captured images look more "real" as if you were witnessing the place in real time.  

HDR has also become it's own artform.  Take a look at some images taken by Michael Thornhill from Grayson Wolfe Photography.  I have known Michael for many years and recently discovered he was an avid landscape photographer and using HDR editing to create art with some of his images.

See more of Michael's work at www.facebook.com/GraysonWolfePhotography

Captured using three different exposures during an overcast day, Michael combined them to form this amazing image.  

This was the first image Michael showed me about a year ago and I have been awestruck since by his work, art, passion.

Learn more about the New River Gorge. 

Captured using three different exposures during a late afternoon shoot near the Black Sands beach area.

Michael and his family recently visited the islands of Hawaii for a few months where he captured this awesome image.

Michael was up early during a solar eclipse to capture this image which is comprised of three captured images at different exposure levels. Michael felt the images all lent more color to the scene when combined creating a higher dynamic range.  

A tripod can be a great tool when attempting HDR photography since all the images used to make one HDR image are post edited much easier when they look as similar as possible to each frame shot.

I love RED!  This image by Lisa McNiel captures a young lady prior to Rush and is designed to get her noticed before pledging to sorority life.  


These poses would be great for seniors too!