Category: Senior Portraits

Senior Pictures Spotlight: Pheasant Branch and Pope Farm Park

Senior year is a monumental time in any student’s life. It marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter. For high school seniors this milestone year is an opportunity to showcase their unique interests and talents. And that was no exception for Mount Horeb Senior Sasha Forbes. Our journey started at Pheasant Branch where Sasha showed her love for dance with some beautiful photos in the stream. We love hearing about Seniors interests and figuring out creative ways to capture them! Next stop was beautiful Pope Farm Conservancy. As the sun began to set, casting a golden glow over the park’s scenic landscapes, Sasha stood amidst the picturesque backdrop of rolling hills and vibrant sunflower fields. We think the pictures turned out amazing!!

July 2, 2023
Senior pictures at MMOCA’s rooftop garden

McFarland senior Olivia suggested we take some of her senior pictures at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s rooftop garden. We had never done a senior photo session there before, and we loved the vibe. Really unique look with downtown Madison as the backdrop and the glass stairwell inside was a great spot! We then headed over the Tenney Park for some sunset shots by the lake. Olivia rocked it and we love how the images turned out.

May 7, 2023
Senior Pictures Spotlight: Verona Senior Audrey at the Arboretum

We love it when we can work with a family over and over again. Especially when they’re as awesome as the Voss Family! 🙂 Verona High School senior Audrey decided to have pictures taken at the arboretum, which is a great choice for nature photos. With so many different environments, in one relatively small spot, it gives us a lot of different “looks” during the photo session. And it helps to have such a gorgeous subject like Audrey! Thanks Lori, Chris, Jared, and Audrey!

April 29, 2023
Senior pictures spotlight: Adriana – McFarland Senior!

We photographed Adriana at Epic’s campus in Verona. The campus provides multiple backgrounds like barns, verandas, wildflowers, and even a pool! Which was perfect as Adriana swims for McFarland high school and we were able to end our session with her jumping in!

July 4, 2022
What to Wear? Senior Portraits Outfit Ideas

One of the most common questions we get from seniors is “what should I wear?” The most important tip we can give is you should pick outfits that you’re comfortable in and make you feel good. Without a doubt, keep that in mind when picking your outfits. Here are some more senior portraits outfit ideas.

Keep it Simple

We usually recommend keeping your outfits relatively simple. We want you to be the focus of the photos. And keeping it simple will help “pull you out” from distracting backgrounds. When we’re shooting on location, “busy” outfits can compete for attention.

Casual/Fancy Combo

This is a popular combination for most seniors. Not only do you get a nice variety of images to select from, switching from casual to fancy (or the other way around) gives the photos a different feel.

Bring a Jacket

Adding a jacket is a quick and easy way to change the look of your outfit without having to change.

Dress to Move

One trait that defines our senior portrait photoshoots is movement. We’re going to ask you to stand, sit, lie down, twirl, twirl and then walk backwards while running your fingers through your hair and looking to camera 🙂 At least one of your outfits should let you move around a bit.

How many outfits should I bring?

We don’t have limits on the number of outfits or outfit changes, but what we’ve found is that 2 to 3 outfits is a nice number. And if you add jackets or accessories, you can change the look without changing clothes.

Interested in booking your senior portraits? We’d love to chat. Contact us to set up a phone consult.

July 21, 2021
Dynamic Duo: Senior Pictures at Schenk’s Corners and Epic

One of our favorite urban locations in Madison is Schenk’s Corners. It’s a vibrant spot on Madison’s east side with vintage buildings, great energy and lot’s of character. We also absolutely love Epic as a location. Amazing buildings and beautiful gardens. It has it all. For kids looking for both urban and nature shots, it can be a perfect combination. That was the plan for Sophie’s photoshoot and we love how the images turned out. Thanks Sophie and Stephanie for a great time. We loved it!

July 18, 2020
Senior pictures at Olbrich Gardens

No doubt about it, Olbrich Gardens is an amazing location for senior portraits. Beautiful, manicured gardens with awesome bridges, the rose garden, amazing trellises… It’s a great spot but there are some things to keep in mind if that’s where you would like to take your senior pictures.

First, there is a $30.00 fee to take senior pictures there. If you have your heart set on getting photographed at Olbrich it’s definitely worth the extra cost. We’ll coordinate with Olbrich Gardens to get the photography permit.

Second, there are always a lot of people there. That’s not a problem for us. We love shooting out and about and we’re used to working around the flow of people. It’s just good to be prepared for people to be around as we take your senior pictures. It can feel a little weird at first but after awhile you forget that they’re even there.

Lastly, because we’re shooting with a permit, Olbrich schedules a time that we can be there. Sometimes that can be when the sun is at it’s harshest. That’s OK, because we know how to get great light regardless of the situation but sometimes it’s in the middle of the day and can get pretty hot.

Photographing your senior pictures at Olbrich Gardens takes a little more coordination than other spots but it’s a beautiful location located right in Madison.

July 21, 2019
Senior Pictures Locations: Urban and Nature

One of the most important decisions to make for your senior pictures is what location to choose. We’ve discovered that 2 locations work well for our senior photoshoots. A popular option is to do an hour or so in an urban setting then go to a nature setting for the second half. That gives clients a nice variety of backgrounds to choose from. One of our favorite combinations is downtown Madison for urban and then the Epic Campus for nature. Pope Farm Conservancy in Middleton is also a really nice nature location. The Epic Campus in Verona is truly Epic and can work for both urban and rural with all the variety of buildings and grounds to choose from. We’ve done many shoots just at the Campus. And there’s many more in the area to choose from. Olbrich Gardens and Allen Centennial Garden in Madison are also wonderful but both locations charge an extra fee to photograph there.

With these senior portraits of Emily from Oregon we decided to go with the Downtown Madison/Epic Campus combination. Enjoy!

July 4, 2019
Senior Pictures Inspiration: Vintage Records at Sugar Shack

When we meet with seniors to plan their photoshoot one of the first things we want to know is what are their interests. If there is something that’s important in the student’s life they may want to incorporate that into the shoot. When I met with Emma and her mom and asked about her interests, Emma pulled out a vinyl copy of Tom Petty’s album Hard Promises. The one originally released in 1981! The cover art is Tom looking cool in a record store. Loved it!

We decided to do part of the photoshoot in a record store. We contacted the owner of Sugar Shack Records and he said we could use his store. The building has tons of charm and the store is a vintage jackpot. We spent a good amount of time shooting in and around Sugar Shack and then went down a few blocks for some outside portraits in Schenk’s Corners on Madison’s east side. A great neighborhood with authentic, local character and flavor. Schenk’s Corners provides a great backdrop for urban senior pictures.

If there’s time, meeting with our clients to plan the shoot is a great way to talk through locations, outfits and other creative elements you might want to include in your shoot. Remember, the senior pictures photo session is all about you so don’t be afraid to share your interests and loves with your photographer. It can turn into a great idea for a photoshoot.

Here’s some of the pics!

June 13, 2019
Senior Pictures Spotlight: Rustic Barn, Wildflowers and Beach Volleyball

We covered a lot of ground during this senior pictures photoshoot with Haley from Jefferson High School. We started at a beautiful rustic barn outside of Cambridge that provided a cool backdrop to Haley in her jeans, denim jacket and red flannel shirt. Next we were off to a field of beautiful wildflowers. Haley’s outfit choice of a yellow sweater works wonderfully with the purples and greens of the park. And finally it was off to the beach volleyball court for some pictures of Haley in her uniform. Haley did a great job giving us all these great candid and natural smiles to photograph.

Don’t worry if it’s a cloudy day on your photoshoot. Overcast sky creates a beautiful soft light that is perfect for portraits. And we always bring lights if we need to add a little pop! And we only schedule one senior portrait session per day so you have our undivided attention for the entire shoot.

If you’re interested in discussing outfits, locations or even portrait lighting…contact us! We’d love to talk about your senior portraits.

June 10, 2019