16 Aug Alexia – Volleyball Themed Senior Photos
Spent a few hours in the sand with Alexia for some volleyball themed senior photos. These are the kinds of shoots that put me in my happy place. I love capturing people doing what they love. It’s beyond a standard portrait of someone simply sitting or standing in front of the camera, it’s beyond capturing “a moment in time.” This is a reveal of someone’s character, who they are, at a much deeper level than popping a smile for the camera while leaning against a brick wall. The whole point of hiring a professional photographer is to capture photos in a fantastic way, right? The creative thinking doesn’t exactly need to stop at “Hey, you have a really nice camera, take my photo.”
I remember my senior photos. I think the “coolest” thing photographer did was pose me up against a giant “2000” prop (the year I graduated). Yes, I’m glad I got senior photos, but man… I wish they would have been more “me.”
That really is my goal with every photo shoot I conduct, regardless the client. I want to capture them, their interests, the things that excite them and make them want to share with friends and family. Senior photos are a heck of a lot easier to do that with, with teenagers usually being fairly active in sports or other interests that can easily be integrated into the shoot. Plus they are always ready and willing to have fun, and that makes my job a lot easier.
Alexia and I decided on volleyball for her shoot, a sport that she plays. I first met Alexia when she came to model at one of my photography workshops, and through that I found that she really likes modeling, so we integrated that into this shoot as well to create some fashion-like photos with a sports twist.
I bring a spring-loaded changing tent for location shoots when I know we’ll want to do wardrobe changes. That way clients don’t have run off and change in the car or a nasty public bathroom, plus it’s way faster, just having to duck into a tent right there.
We messed around with the sun still high in the sky with a couple outfits, one being an actual volleyball uniform. We mocked up a couple action shots to put some motion into the imagery. Using the volleyball net as a prop in most of the shots, we were able to push the sports vibe across even when Alexia was wearing a dress.
Once we burnt all the sunlight up, we got some moodier shots after the sun tucked itself behind the horizon. It was a fun shoot, and we got some great shots of Alexia playing a sport that she loves, win-win.