Featured Session: Sean's Senior Photos

I love photographing seniors! They’re so excited for the upcoming year and they have their entire future ahead of them. Though it may sound cliche to say, the world truly is their oyster. When walking to our first spot on a senior session, I’ll typically chat with them about their plans for after high school and what they imagine their future to look like. I love focusing an entire session around THEM. 

Some sessions are just a little different, and this was one that will always feel just a little extra special. When you have the honor of photographing a subject whom you’ve watched grow since they were quite young, it ‘hits different’, as they say.

We’ve been friends with Sean’s family for over twelve years, and my library has countless images of memories with him and his family, which I’ve shared a few of my favorites below. My daughter and Sean’s sister became friends, and a friendship organically grew between our families. There have been many Halloweens that we’ve celebrated with them, annual Father/Daughter dances - that undoubtedly left Sean’s Mom, myself, and Sean to hang out in their kitchen for hours on end. There were also many years that we stayed in their family cabin in Meredith, NH. Next week, Sean’s parents will be guests at my oldest daughter’s wedding. Though there are some friends that come in and out of your life….there are some that have been there with you through the highest of highs and some pretty low lows. They have staying power.

In Meredith, New Hampshire

Sean’s sneak attack to push the girls into Lake Waukewan

I’ve always classified Sean as one of my ‘favorites’. I appreciate his light and happy personality; he is quick witted and absolutely hilarious; he is quite introspective; and he is full of completely random facts (did you know the US Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy? I didn’t!) that I never want to believe, yet he is usually right! 

We spent SO much time trying to get this shot right to make it look like the fin on Sean’s back really was a shark on Lake Waukewan.

We got the perfect shot….but more than that, I can’t think of a more perfect evening. Enjoying a beautiful sunset, with great friends, spending the night with absolute foolishness and endless laughs.

In 2018 on Scarborough Beach in Narrangansett which, coincidentally, is the same beach where we shot his senior photos

I have a mean aunt that refused to hold a graduation party for her high school senior, stating ‘you’re SUPPOSED to graduate from high school…that’s the whole point! You don’t celebrate for doing what you’re SUPPOSED to do!’ And while I tease her regularly about this, and the whole sentiment makes me laugh…these graduates DO deserve to be celebrated. Whether it be with a party at the end of their senior year, or a photoshoot that is entirely focused on them to commemorate the end of their primary and secondary education.

Being a goofball

When you reflect on what their journey from K-12 looks like: they start with a backpack sitting high on both shoulders, holding mom’s hand and hesitant to walk into kindergarten for the first time; and they finish senior year with their personalities and their character developed, with their dreams for the future (even if those dreams may still change 25x), and a confidence to face the world as a young adult. And, by the way, throughout all those years between elementary to high school, there were tears when they didn’t make a team they tried out for, and there were huge celebrations when you saw them score a goal - and only Mom & Dad knew how badly they wanted it. There was drama with their peers, some friends moved on, but they made room for new ones; and there were countless firsts and lasts. They’ve gone through this incredible transformation and it’s one of the reasons why I love taking 30-40 minutes in the hour before sunset during a photoshoot, and capturing their senior photos that will forever be in their yearbook…but also capturing those images that show who they are, not just what they look like. 

Congratulations to the class of 2025. You all deserve to be celebrated, regardless of what my Auntie Linda says (she’s mean, but she’s also one of my ‘favorites’) and my wish for you is that in these last few months of your senior year, you sit back and take it all in. Because no matter what life looks like for you after high school, this year just ‘hits a little different’.