Senior Portrait Session to Close Out 2025
Wrapping up my last senior portrait session of 2025 felt like a full-circle moment.
Senior sessions are always fun, but there’s something especially cool about photographing someone who’s just starting their journey. There’s excitement there. A bit of nervous energy. A sense that everything is still wide open – you can do anything kind of vibe.
I’ve been doing portraits since the early 2000s—back when my “digital workflow” involved a Sony Mavica and floppy disks. Back then, I was photographing people who were just stepping into adulthood, not knowing where life would take them. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of seeing how some of those stories turned out.
Every now and then, one of those seniors comes back.
Sometimes it’s for engagement photos.
Sometimes for a wedding.
Eventually, it’s family portraits.
Watching people hit those milestones—career, marriage, kids—is something I never take for granted. It’s kind of wild when someone will call me that I haven’t heard from in years but they know what I’ve been up to because of my silly posts on Facebook and on Instagram (I keep things casual and never pretend to be an artist).
From Seniors to Weddings
I don’t photograph as many weddings as I used to. These days, I cap it at about five weddings a year, and that’s completely by choice (there’s a lot of planning that goes into them). The ones I do photograph tend to mean more because there’s often history there. I’ve seen them grow up. I’ve watched their lives unfold in chapters.
That connection changes everything.
It’s very different from my commercial work—and honestly, that’s part of what I love about it. Commercial projects are super polished, strategic, and fast. Portrait work, especially senior sessions, is slower and more personal. It’s about capturing a moment right before life shifts.
The Start of Something New
This last senior session of the year was a reminder of why I still love doing this. You’re not just taking photos—you’re documenting a starting line. A version of someone that only exists for a brief moment in time. Sometimes when I see them again, they’ve changed so much that I don’t recognize them anymore.
Being trusted with that is a blessing.
As 2025 comes to a close, I’m grateful for the families who keep coming back, for the seniors who remind me where it all begins, and for the chance to step away from the commercial world once in a while and photograph something real, personal, and meaningful.
Here’s to new journeys—and to watching where they lead.
