by Kelly Fitzgerald Studio | May 20, 2020 | Front Door Sessions, High School Senior
I have always loved a front door portrait for families but this year I love them a little more as our homes have taken on a new appreciation. The front door is often a backdrop for the first photo you take when you bring your baby home from the hospital, it stands behind kids for countless first day of school snapshots and high school dances. It has welcomed family, guests and friends inside for many occasions and celebrations. This year I am even more enthusiastic about front door portraits. Our homes have transformed into schools, offices, hair salons, movie theaters and for families of high school seniors everywhere, this week we add graduation ceremony venues.
Parents of high school seniors everywhere have bought stores out of 2020 balloons, congratulation banners and balloons in school colors. Families gathered in front of their televisions or computers to watch the graduation ceremony together as a family. Families cheered from their house for the students they have known for years, even though they couldn’t hear them. Photos of graduates being handed their diploma were replaced with screen shots of their names flashing across the screen below their senior yearbook photo.
This home is sending off it’s last Maine West graduate. The last high school graduation photos were taken last week and I was happy to be apart of it. It was a way to add a little more enthusiasm to this 2020 High School Senior celebration.
She said she always takes a photo with her pup, Tonks, before school dances and celebrations. So naturally we had to get one portrait in front of the house together with her. She looks pretty excited to be apart of the front door session! A bonus to front door sessions, whether we are restricted to them or not, is that it is easy to photograph and bring your dog to a session at your own front door.
For our last part of the session I set up an outdoor studio to get a studio portrait of the graduate. Right now, getting into a studio is impossible with all the restrictions. Thankfully my lights and backdrops can travel easily and I can put together a studio right on the sidewalk. And here is the final portrait:
Congrats to all the High School Seniors of 2020! I hope everyone has found a unique way to customize their graduates’ ceremony and end of the year celebrations. If you are still looking for a portrait session to help with that, click HERE for the 2020 Social Distancing Portrait Magazine.
by Kelly Fitzgerald Studio | May 20, 2018 | Artwork, family, High School Senior, Outdoor Portraits, photography
I once heard someone with older kids comment that after the kids get into kindergarten the pedal hits the metal and boom, senior year is here. For me it was more like 2nd grade, after 2nd grade hyper-speed set in. If you took the same ride, chances are that your last family photo is a little outdated. You could fall into the category of never getting a professional portrait OR your last portrait doesn’t include the last born child, because you were busy juggling kids and schools and activities. Not to mention no one was ever free at the same time ……. you are not alone and you wouldn’t be the first family I have helped solve this problem.
1. This could be one of your last guaranteed opportunities to get a professional portrait with your kiddo(s).
Life gets busy and before you know it its time for college graduation or their wedding! We thought High school went by fast? I’ve heard it gets faster and the years get shorter.
2. This is your first or only graduate.
Your senior will no longer have the same school schedule. Their breaks and vacations may not line up with your schedule or your younger children. If you have younger children, take advantage and get some images together with them too as well as the siblings together, because before you know it, those kids will be seniors too!
3. This is not your first graduate
If you can lure everyone home, this is a great way to get your grown children back out for a portrait. If not everyone in the family will be home, this is a great opportunity to snag some special images of just you and your senior. If they are not the oldest, they may not have many special alone moments and memories of you, let alone professional portraits with just Mom (or Dad, grandparents, the family pet.)
4. You have never had professional portraiture or professional printed artwork.
If your last family photo is from when they were in elementary school, its time to update it with their current size, smiles and style. Don’t ditch the old one, just make the new one the focal point in your home and relocate the old one to a new location in your home or add it to the gallery wall and keep telling your story.
Your kids, grand kids and great grand kids will appreciate this more then you can understand today. Think about your own grandparents and great grandparents.
What images do you have of them that you love to look at? Its fun to imagine your grandparents at that age? Maybe one of them will realize how much they look like you at this exact age.
5. The family portrait hanging is missing your last child
Like I mentioned earlier, you are not alone. We all know we have grand plans when we have our first child. If you stopped at one you may of maintained those plans but if you had more kids, chances are you understand that those baby books are less and less filled out with each child you added. This probably also extends over to photo albums and displayed portraits. I am a photographer with only two kids and I know this struggle.
6. You should celebrate too.
We all know that you were a huge part of their success. All those early morning rides, late night study sessions, cheering from the stands, sitting in the audience for every play or band performance, running them something they forgot (even when you said you never would).
That empty wall you have been meaning to design, the gallery wall you want to finish or the current frame you want to update the family image in. You worked hard, it’s time to show off all your accomplishments 🙂
(virtual software helps decide design, style and size appropriate for your room. Actual images of client homes are used during design appointments.)
If you are worried adding the family won’t keep it special for your senior, that is never the case. The first portion is devoted to your senior only. Special locations to fit your graduates personality and multiple outfits to fit their style still happen. The rest of the family can meet up with us later, fresh and ready to go.
If you have a 2019 High School Senior, click here to get on the wait list and to receive reminders of Senior Portrait sign up
Fall Family 2018 Portrait sign up waiting list and reminder is here.
by Kelly Fitzgerald Studio | Oct 29, 2016 | High School Senior, photography
She already had her traditional senior school portraits done. Picking one for the yearbook. Mom really wanted a few out and about with the gorgeous fall backgrounds and in a more comfortable setting. A quick Simple Senior Session. One outfit and lots of looks and some gorgeous rich images to document her last year of high school.
