Welcome Back!
Welcome to your senior year! Whether you are the first in your family to graduate or the last of your many siblings, senior year is such a unique (busy, crazy, fun, exciting, sometimes overwhelming) time. A time to CELEBRATE!
My goal as a senior photographer is to make senior portraits the EASIEST part of your senior year. With customized sessions tailored to your style and taste and no high-pressure sales, I strive to make your senior portraits the simplest, more stress-free moment of the year.
Let's go over some frequently asked questions, like:
When is the best time to book my session?
Great question! The best time to book your senior session is:
1. As soon as the school/work/sports/activities schedules get into a more reliable rhythm
and
2. As soon as it is cool enough to not be sweating buckets. Typically, we get a break in the heat in late October, early November.
Make sure to get on my email list now to not miss out! I have a growing list of 2027 seniors and will be reaching out to start planning sessions in the next couple of weeks.
Don't wait too long! If you want to send our announcements, plan backwards about four weeks from the date you want to mail them out to have your session, allow for editing time, then selecting your announcement and having that mailed to your home. (Need announcement vendor suggestions?. Just ask! I've got you!)
How do I even book a session?
Easy! Just reach out to me through the contact tab at the top of the page or through my Instagram @sabrinakphotography Or email at [email protected]. I will schedule a phone call where we will discuss:
1. Your timeline. When do you need these photos by!
2. Schedules--seniors are BUSY! I work on week days and weekends to make schedules work!
3. Your location preferences. How much do you love the desert? Do you want an urban session? Something lush and green? A location that is meaningful or represents your interests? We work it all out in our phone consultation.
4. WHAT DO YOU WEAR? This is maybe the most important question, right? I'll give you my top tips for where to shop (start in your own closet!), what colors and outfits to consider, what to bring, and how to make this your best session ever.
5. Then we set the date, I send you all the information including location, time, your contract. You reserve the session with a portion of the session fee and we stay in contact until the big day!
I'm not comfortable in front of the camera! How do I pose? What do I do with my hands?
Don't worry. You are not alone! Most people don't feel comfortable in front of a camera. I know I don't! But I am going to walk you through posing and where to look and where to put your hands. My goal is for you to feel 100% comfortable and to forget you are in the middle of your senior session. We will talk and laugh and have a good time and capture some incredible images for you to remember this time in your life.
Can I bring my family? My sibling? My best friend? My car?
Senior portraits are ALL about customization. Your session is uniquely YOU. I have done just about everything to combine family/siblings/friends/personality props into sessions. We will create your session to be totally for you!
What do I bring to my session?
In our phone call, I will go over all the important details about wardrobe--what scope of outfits to consider, how many to bring, etc. I'll also give you tips and tricks for making the session the most comfortable (sensible shoes for walking!) and especially for young men, when to get that final hair cut and shave prior to the session. I also send out a senior magazine to my clients with all the details in print.
What does it cost?
Investment is always a consideration! My goal is to make custom senior portraiture as accessible as possible. My sessions last from 1 1/2-2 hours and typically accommodate 2-3 outfits changes plus cap and gown. I offer my sessions plus digital files at one flat rate. Reach out, have a phone call, and we will go over pricing!
Have more questions? Please reach out! I would love to hear from you!
Superstitions Family Session
I'm turning over a new leaf, and I promise I'm going to stay updated with posting my sessions!
Now who is going to be my accountability partner?
Here we are again, at the end of a wonderful year of photographing amazing seniors and families, and I haven't posted one. single. session.
Oops.
If I haven't mentioned it lately, I am a homeschooling mom to FOUR active boys who are busy racing mountain bikes across the country. And while photography is one of the (few) things I have for ME, it doesn't get the public attention it deserves! (oh, and also, have I mentioned that I help manage a youth mountain biking team?) But no more excuses! It's time to just start posting! These families and seniors NEED to be shared! It's been an incredible year of awesome, and I can't keep it to myself any longer!
This family is....what can I say.....the most incredible, loving, GIVING family ever. We met through homeschooling and then bundled that with a love of mountain biking. It's a pretty amazing combination. I've been blessed to get to work with these kiddos through our homeschool co-op and youth mountain biking team (total rippers, all three of them!) and have known their amazing mom for some time. But I also met these amazing grandparents at races and when they let us stay at their house in Northwest Arkansas (do I have your attention yet, mountain bike people?) for a national race for my kids. Talk about super generous! I wanted to get their family portrait updated before they made some life changes and moved to the aforementioned home in NWA, and WOW! Did they ever "get" the session! Lots of love and snuggling and having a great time. So thankful to get to document this amazing family!
Thank you so much for trekking out to the Superstitions and taking quite a hike for this session! I loved getting to work with you all!!!
Salt River Family Session
That time that I used my 85mm fixed lens for an entire session and I wasn't at all unhappy about it....
Enough photographer speak, but I am going to warn my previous go-to lens (24-80f/2.8) that he's no longer my go-to. I've been a prime girl at heart for many years, and I think this session has given me the confidence to just stick with the focal length I want!
But back to this gorgeous family. Wow. What a fantastic group! We took this opportunity to update their family portrait after several years. We had initially wanted to shoot at the Salt River, but the heavy spring rains left it flooded. We came up with a Plan B, but then had to reschedule due to illness. By the time we were ready for the session, the Salt River was back open, and we were able to have the session there. It was definitely a different landscape in May than it was in January (if you compare this blog post to the previous one) but I love it any way I can get it. What a special location here in the desert to see the lush greens and river right next to the cactus and desert!
As always. I'll encourage everyone to bring their four-legged family members to sessions. They always make them more fun!
With two daughters celebrating college milestones, we had the great excuse to make a few more individual portraits as well. I was so thrilled!
It was a blessing to get to work with this wonderful family! Thank you so much for choosing me to document your family!
Gracie's Salt River Session
Wow. When I get behind, I get REALLY behind! Gracie was my first senior of 2023 but my last one I am blogging. I thought I had written her post for the blog, but I apparently had NOT! We had the most magical session. It was an overcast day, and we had to reschedule once for the year's first major rain along the Salt River (which would continue throughout the spring!) and the light was absolutely magical. I absolutely LOVED getting to work with Gracie. Her family is so incredibly special. She's the oldest of four girls and is pursuing a career in nursing, taking after her mom. What a delight to bring in her casual and feminine style with a bit of a country flair and, of course, her effortless beauty. Such a beautiful young woman inside and out. Thank you SO much for trusting me to document your senior milestone!
Victoria and Elizabeth ASU Graduation Portraits
Two is definitely better than one! When you have two amazingly smart, talented, and gorgeous sisters graduating from college at the same time, the only way to make it even more epic is when their younger sister comes along to help with hair and caps and gowns! (Seriously, I want her help on every session!)
We had a good vision board for "the shots" these ladies wanted to make sure to capture for their session. This was my first time on the ASU campus, and it was surprisingly pretty. And surprisingly busy! What an exciting time in their lives for all of these graduates!
We did all the ASU places--palm walk, Old Main, the fountain. I was thrilled with the images we created!
Without further ado, here they are! Congratulations to these amazing young women! Thank you for trusting me to document your graduation!
