Questions about our Senior Sessions? ... We've got anwers.

We get lots of questions about our Senior Sessions. Here are answers to quite a few of them ...

• My school says I have to use Studio XYZ for my Senior portraits - does that mean I can't use you?
• Why do Seniors come to you for their portraits?
• What's Different about your Senior Portraits?
• What are your goals for a session?
• Where do you photograph? Do you have a Studio?
• Will you travel out of town for a Session?
• Do you have any advice before the session? Makeup? Clothing? Anything?
• What's the best time of day for a Session?
• What day of the week is best for a Session?
• Should I do my portrait in the Fall or the Spring?
• Can I bring a friend to my Session? Who can come? What about my Mom?
• I heard you photographed someone at the State Fair? Can we do something like that?

My school says I have to use Studio XYZ for my Senior portraits - does that mean I can't use you?

Actually that's NOT true.

If you think about it, it's impossible for the school to dictate who you use for YOUR Senior portraits. Afterall, your Senior portraits are what YOU say they are. Your dog could take them, and they would still be your Senior portraits.

The MOST they can do is dictate who you use for your YEARBOOK picture. Thankfully, your Senior portraits and your Yearbook picture are two VERY different things.

Usually, any arrangement between a school and contract photographer is to require all Seniors to use the contract photographer for their yearbook pictures and provide mailing information to the contract photographer. The mailings from the contract photographer to the Seniors then make it sound like you MUST use them for your Senior portraits.

In fact, the only thing you have to use them for is your yearbook picture - and usually that is free or a minimal fee like $10.

So DON'T be fooled. You can use anyone you want for your Senior portraits.

Why do Seniors come to you for their portraits?

You mean other than our unique albums and the highest quality Senior portraits around? Well, here's what we think and have been told ...

• We like people and are very easy to get along with. Many of our clients already know us from having photographed them as volleyball players and are already comfortable with us.
• We're really interested in your liking your portraits - so we listen to what you have to say and try to make each portrait a collaboration.
• We truly enjoy what we do and our enjoyment makes the session that much more fun. Our sessions are full of laughter - we want everyone to have a good time while they are being photographed.
• The look and style of our Senior portraits is unlike any other studio around and many find that difference very appealing.
• Our sessions are structured more like a location model shoot than a typical portrait. We've heard time and again that our sessions were a lot more fun than expected - in fact we are often told, "If you ever have an idea you just want to try out and need someone to photograph, call me - I would love to do it again."
• We don't just spend twenty or thirty minutes in front of a few backgrounds or fake sets in a studio - when our images look like they were taken somewhere (the beach, river, downtown, the bridge, etc.) that's because they WERE taken there. We've found that our Senior clients enjoy this adventure and many love the attention that comes with be photographed in the public view.
• Being photographed in outdoor locations avoids the 'Oh I used that background too.' phenomena that can occur when two or more Seniors have the same photographer do their portraits.

Actually, by far our most popular Senior creation is our Senior Album. These are beautifully designed albums composed of a selection of your best portraits.

If we have been able to photograph you in "action" (say on the volleyball court) these images are often incorporated into your album as well.

You can learn more about these albums here. An album is what we photograph for and is the goal of our session - so keep that in mind when choosing us as your photographer.

What's Different about your Senior Portraits?

A common question about our Senior portraits is what makes them different? Afterall, there are a lot of photographers out there - why should you come to us?

Well, to be honest, we're not the photographers for everyone. The fact of the matter is we ARE different, and our differences may be for you and they may not be.

If you are looking for a very traditional, painted background, pearls and drape or tux and tie Senior portrait with the purchase of a "big" 8x10 and some wallets, well we honestly aren't the photographer for you. It's not that there is anything at all wrong with that - there isn't. It's just that we don't provide that product.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a more relaxed, laughter filled, fun portrait session that involves multiple locations, an hours long photoshoot with several outfits and creating images that are unlike any others you may have seen, well then we may be for you.

If you are looking for the opportunity to feel briefly like a contestant on America's Next Top Model and being the total center of attention, we may be the photographers for you (we commonly hear that our Seniors feel like a model during our sessions)!

If you are looking for a session that typically results in hundreds of images to choose from, we may be the photographers for you.

If you are ultimately looking to create a beautiful portrait album composed of a great number of stylish, fun, colorful, expressive portraits that you can share with your friends and family for decades to come, we are DEFINITELY the photographer for you!

Our Session Goals ...

The goals in our session in simple - have FUN, create TONS of great images, and ultimately design you a BEAUTIFUL album that you will cherish for the rest of your life.

Really - that's our goal with each and every session.

Where do you photograph? Do you have a studio?

Nope, no studio for us.

Instead of a studio, we photograph pretty much anywhere it is technically possible to make an image. Seriously - we LOVE to photograph on location.

We've frequently photographed in the homes of our Seniors - their livingroom or bedroom, dining room (yes even a dining room!) or front and back yards. We've photographed in parks - in Capital Park downtown, the alleys of Old Sacramento, McKinley Park, etc. The banks of the river after sunset, on the beaches of Hawaii (Waikiki on Oahu). We even photographed a session of four friends at the State Fair, just having a great time!

So we're really willing to photograph where ever we can to create new and different imagery. We thrive on the challenge that different locations bring to us with each and every portrait we photograph.

For example, here are two images taken by one of our assistants while Micheal was photographing a session of Laura Castro. Laura, Micheal, Jason and Joseph spent the afternoon and evening photographing in the alleys of Old Sacramento and by the river.

In the first image you can see that we've stopped in front of a set of doors in this rather unimpressive looking alley, not far from a Porta-Potty. Joseph is holding a gold reflector to bring some light in on Laura and Micheal is photographing.

In the 2nd image, again Laura is in an alley - just a few feet from a trash dumpster and a couple of trash cans (Micheal had to choose angles carefully to make sure that they didn't show in the final photographs). As a lightsource, Joseph is holding a flash on a pole.

Now, here are the final images from those to locations:

As you can see the final images don't look anything like you might expect if you were just walking by those locations, or if you happened to be watching the session itself. And that is exactly the challege that we love: seeing and photographing great images in areas in locations that you wouldn't expect to be able to get them.

If you've got a location in mind, we want to hear about it. Are you a fan of the beach? Perhaps you love San Francisco or a more metro area? Do you raise horses or enjoy the country life? We'd love to hear about any location you have in mind.

Will you travel out of town for a Session?

We know many families across the nation through our volleyball photography. Many of these families are interested in having us photograph for them, but automatically assume that they are just too far away from us for us to be willing to come to them.

This is not true!

We are happy to travel for a Senior portrait. The more unusual the location, the better! Like we've mentioned, the challenge of working in new places is very addictive.

Travel costs are often an understandable concern - that's something we're happy to workout individually.

Another option is to book several sessions for the same day or over a couple of days long trip. That way, the travel is spread over several groups.

If enough portraits are booked at the same time, travel fees may even be waived altogether (depending on where the portrait is).

So don't automatically assume - just because we're based in Sacramento and you aren't - that we are too far away to photograph for you.

Give us a call and let's talk about it.

Do you have any advice for me prior to our session?

Hmmm ... advice? Sure.

One thing that we often ask is, prior to your portraits, give some thought to how you would like to look in your portraits. Are there styles or images you have seen somewhere that really stand out to you that you think would be fun to try? Something you have seen online or in a magazine? Tear the page out (as long as it's your magazine!) and save it. If it's on the web, email it to us. We're really interested in what you think would made great images and how you would like to be seen.

Clothing and Accessories
Definitely look to bring things that scream "you". For some people that might be a letterman's jacket that help to show their accomplishments in school and sports. For others it might be clothing they have made and created. Others really love their car ... Whats important to you right now? Afraid to bring to many changes of clothing? Don't be - bring as many as you want. We may not photograph you in all of them, but at least we'll have the option!

Hair and Makeup
Don't go too crazy on your hair or makeup. Bring makeup with you (a touch up or five may be needed through the session) - but don't go too heavy putting it on. A bit of eyeshadow or blush, perhaps a little mascara and lipgloss, but we're not looking for stage makeup - keep it light. Most importantly, remember to bring something to control sheen - matte face powder and rice paper blotting strips work very well.

What about my skin? Will you touch it up?
Don't worry too much about your complexion. We can do touch-up work to help clear up anything that won't be there in a week anyway. Your proofs won't be touched up, but your final prints will receive this treatment.

What's the best time of day for a Session?

We generally photograph within two to three hours of sunset. As we love the golden color of late afternoon light, we often photograph later in the day. We do NOT recommend morning or early afternoon shoots, if they are going to take place outside.

This is also one of the main reasons that we typically only do one portrait appointment per day.

What day of the week is best for a Session?

The weekend is the most heavily sought after time for portraits - therefor, we recommend weekday afternoons for portraits.

Unlike a fixed portrait studio, we do not do a lot of portrait sessions each day. In fact, we usually do only one per day (unless you and a friend or friends decide to have pictures done at the same time).

So our calendar can fill up VERY quickly.

Put some time aside during the week or be prepared to wait quite a while for your portrait.

Should I do my portrait in the Fall or the Spring?

We hear from a lot of Seniors that they want to wait until the Spring to do their portrait because they "might change" during the months prior to graduation.

While we completely appreciate at this time in life you do undergo rapid changes, a few months won't be will be all THAT evident in your Senior portraits. Unless you plan to shave your head, add a few more piercings, a few tatoos and radically change your dress style, we think it's pretty safe to have a session in the Fall of your Senior year. :)

What's more, we typically do not offer our portrait services in the Spring. Six months of the year we travel the nation as volleyball photographers and that six months is the beginning of February to the beginning of July. So, if you would like us to photograph you, a Summer or Fall portrait is your best bet.

Can I bring a friend to my Session? Who can come? What about my Mom?

Seniors often want to know if they can bring a friend to their session - sure! If you like, that's totally fine. Tell your friend to expect to be put to work - holding reflectors or lights, watching your hair or makeup for touch up needs, etc.

However, better yet, if you are going to bring a friend to the shoot, let's just schedule them for a portrait at the same time and we can photograph you together - you can act as assistants for eac other's portraits. :)

We do not generally recommend bringing your boyfriend or girlfriend to your session. Sometimes it can just be a bit too introverting for the person being photographed. So keep that in mind.

We also do not typically recommend that your parents are right there during the session - most Seniors find this just TOO distracting. Parents are completely welcome to attend the session - but we recommend bringing a book, pulling up a park bench 50 yards or so away and enjoying a quiet evening while your Senior is photographed. That way you will be on hand should any need arise, but your Senior can relax enough to be natural in front of the camera.

I heard you photographed someone at the State Fair? Can we do something like that?

Sure! But this shouldn't be confused with your actual portrait session - these "Action Portraits" are in addition to your portraits.

As we've mentioned, the last thing we want is to get bored as photographers, so we are always looking for not just new locations but new activities to photograph.

The Fair came up as an idea that Micheal had last year. The goal was to try something new and to capture a late summer evening of golden light and a nostalgic evening of fun with a group of friends just hanging out and having a great time. He pitched the idea to two Seniors he had known for several years from photographing volleyball - Sarah and Casey. They, in turn, had two more friends who they really wanted to attend and it turned into an evening with four friends at the State Fair. We simply told the girls to get on the rides and start having fun and then we got to have a great time photographing them.

The result was a couple of thousand really wonderful images that, in turn, helped to create gorgeous albums for Sarah, Casey and Chrissy. Below are a couple of pages from their albums - you can see their entire albums in the Senior Album section.

This year we are happy to return to the Fair or photograph any other activity you might be interested in. Are you into water sports - waterskiing or wake boarding? Perhaps you compete in dressage, show jumping or western riding? Do you act in stage plays for school? Are you an active athlete for an organized sports team?

One of the goals with our photography is to create images that truly capture you. Typical portraits are an indealized representation - with specially controlled lighting, posing, makup, clothing selections, etc. We love to photograph these, but just as much as this idealized portrait, we like to create images of you being you.

We do this for many, many families through our volleyball photography - we consider this an extension of our portrait photography. If you are active in a particular area and would like to have us photograph you in "action", let us know and we would be happy to work it out.