Creative Senior Photo Ideas | Juliet’s Artistic Senior Session
Some senior sessions feel like a creative collaboration from the very beginning, and Juliet’s was definitely one of them.
I actually photographed Juliet’s older sister, Eva, a couple of years ago, so their mom, Esther, knew the drill! She made sure to have Juliet on my waitlist well ahead of senior year so we could snag her dream summer senior photo session.
And once Juliet and I started planning, we immediately clicked over artistry in general.
Juliet is a painter herself and came into the process with a clear vision for her photos. She created a Pinterest board for each of our locations and knew she wanted to bring one of her paintings, an easel, and a stool along with her.
This is one of my favorite ways to come up with creative senior photo ideas. You bring me what inspires you, and then we figure out how to make it feel completely your own.
Pinterest boards are incredibly helpful because they allow me to get inside your mind and understand what’s important to you. But the goal is never to copy and paste someone else’s photo or vision.
Instead, I think of it as a collaboration.
Juliet brought her artistic perspective, and I mixed that with my own specific approach to posing, lighting, framing, and composition. That combination is what ultimately makes up a photographer’s “work,” and it’s what allows us to create something inspired by your vision while still looking and feeling like you.
Juliet also sent me her wardrobe ahead of time, which helped us make some decisions about where each outfit would photograph best.
She had a long pink dress and wasn’t sure whether she wanted to wear it at our first or second location. I suggested saving it for the beach because I had a feeling the summer sunset colors would mesh beautifully with the colorful dress. Then, we could use her more neutral looks at our first location.
We started Juliet’s session in San Juan Capistrano at the same location where I photographed her older sister.
This spot is a photographer’s dream because of its architectural emphasis. There are so many different textures, colors, and interesting visual lines to work with.
A long hallway or an arched doorway, for example, doesn’t just make a beautiful background. Those architectural elements create shapes and almost act like props themselves, which can make posing feel second nature to a client regardless of how much experience they have in front of a camera.
But some of my favorite creative senior photo ideas from this portion of Juliet’s session came from stepping away from traditional posing altogether.
At this point in the photoshoot, we’d already grabbed so many beautiful portraits, close-ups, and three-quarter shots. So for one of my favorite pulled-back images, I wanted to highlight the beauty of Juliet against the beauty of the garden around her.
This is where the photographer does most of the “heavy lifting.”
I positioned Juliet based on the lighting and the composition I wanted, including that super-tall palm tree in the background. Then, rather than giving her a complicated pose, I asked her to act as though she were putting the finishing touches on her painting.
I gave her a couple of tiny posture reminders, too. Even when leaning forward, I wanted her shoulder blades slightly squeezed together behind her, and because I was photographing her from the side, I reminded her to elongate her neck rather than naturally drawing her chin toward her chest.
From there, I backed way, way up and was able to capture this beautiful image, one of my favorite images from the entire collection!
It also felt a little meta to have an artist (me!) creating art by capturing another artist (Juliet!) creating art. How fun is that?!
Juliet specifically wanted a beach that also had some greenery, and this spot gave us the best of both worlds. We could create those classic Southern California photos on the sand while also finding little pockets that almost felt like a fairy garden.
And it was a WARM August day. Truly the perfect end to a beautiful SoCal summer!
The beach was busy, which is completely understandable when the weather is that beautiful. But you’d never know it from the final photos. Crowds are something I can work around while shooting and remove during the editing process, and I’ll take a beautiful summer sunset any day!
This is also where Juliet’s colorful wardrobe really got its moment. That pink dress against the warm sunset tones was exactly what I’d been envisioning when we planned her outfit order.
One more thing we did a little differently for Juliet’s session was bring my hair and makeup artist on location for touch-ups throughout the shoot. It’s a new option we have for seniors during their photoshoots. It allows us to keep everything looking fresh as we move between outfits and locations, especially on a warm summer day.
But what I love most about Juliet’s photos isn’t one specific outfit, location, or pose. It’s how much artistic personality is woven throughout the entire gallery.
Your senior photos don’t need to look exactly like someone else’s Pinterest board to be creative. In fact, I’d argue they shouldn’t!
Bring the painting. Bring the instrument. Bring the weird idea you’ve had saved in your phone for six months. Show me the photos you’re drawn to and tell me what you love about them. You don’t have to figure out exactly how we’ll turn those ideas into a cohesive session — that’s where I come in.
The best creative senior photo ideas happen when you bring the things that feel true to you, and then trust me to bring my own artistry to the process, too.
