The Senior Experience Team has quickly become the best program I offer high school seniors. Over the course of their senior year students are invited to attend 4 scheduled group photoshoots – each with a different theme/style. These shoots are very simple but so much fun both for me and for the seniors! This year was such a fun year and I can’t wait to share it with you all in one place!
Fair Pop Up
For the class of 2025 I tried something a little different than year’s past and invited the rising seniors who had already joined the team during the recruitment process to join the class of 2024 for our spring fair pop up session. I REALLY loved doing this because it gave me a chance to meet some of the new class without the pressure the welcome session brings with coordinating a new group and meeting new people. Plus…the fair is always so much fun!!
Senior Team Welcome Session
We started the class of 2025 with a summer welcome session and dinner at the Eastern Wharf. Everyone met and we spent an hour by the river taking photos before heading over to Squirrel’s Pizza for a group dinner. This session is always a good time – the dinner gives everyone a chance to get to know each other better and gives me a chance to go over some of the “how the team works” aspects without feeling rushed by directing a photoshoot.
Senior Team Sunflower Pop Up
The sunflower pop up is one of my favorite sessions to be able to host! This is the 2nd senior team that I’ve been able to take to the field and I think this year was even prettier than the last time! For this pop up session I encouraged every senior to bring a friend so we were able to do group photos, individual photos, and best friend photos!
Senior Sessions on Tybee
One of the best parts of being a coastal town is getting to do a sunset session at the beach each year for the senior team! This year the color theme was “bright and bold” and I’d say these girls pulled it off perfectly!! I had each girl bring two outfits and we were able to take photos by the dunes and mid-beach area in one set of outfits before changing and heading down to the water for the second set of outfits.
Senior Team Individual Pop Up
Each team member gets an individual senior session with me but this pop up was even more one on one time than year’s past. I loved doing these individual pop ups – they were all for me to work on something specific but also gave the girls more camera time!
For Abby’s session I wanted to work on more posing with movement, for Anna and Emm’s session I wanted to shoot in locations I had either not shot before or had only shot once or twice, for Izzy we went indoors for a session where I played with off camera flash, and for Maddie I tested a lens I was considering buying with some headshot style photos.
These sessions didn’t have the fun group dynamic but they still were some of my favorites because I got to spend more time getting to know each of the team members.
Holiday Cookie Pop Up
This next pop up was self serving – I started redoing my kitchen cabinets in January of 2023 and when 2024 rolled around and they still weren’t done I knew I needed to put a photoshoot on my calendar that MADE me finish the cabinets. Hosting a senior team pop up session in my kitchen was the perfect session to set a date for!
I loved this shoot – my friend Lauren baked and decorated some cookies for me and I threw some cookies in the oven for the team to decorate and we just had fun! I would love to do something like this again for another team!
Denim Pop Up
The next pop up session was the denim pop up! During the cookies pop up I asked the girls if they would like a Galentines session or something else and they suggested the denim theme. It seemed like a fun idea so I got a date on the calendar at Wonderland Studios and started planning.
I didn’t want to do just a plain white backdrop so I made the denim fringe and the newsprint backdrops for the shoot. The denim fringe was so cool (if I do say so myself lol) – the guy at the goodwill where I made 4 trips to buy jeans even asked me to come back and show him a photo of what I was making!
SNOW Pop Up!!!
This session just happened to be the luck of the date – it snowed the week of the denim shoot so I messaged the girls and asked them if they wanted to throw photos in the snow on the back of the denim shoot. Obviously they agreed!!
The snow was melted quite a bit by the afternoon of our shoot but it was still so much fun and how many times am I going to get to photograph seniors in the snow in Savannah!! Probably not many!
Petal to the Metal
This session is the crown jewel of the class of 2025 senior team shoots!! It took almost a year to plan and thank goodness the weather was perfect and everything went off according to plan!
I could not have asked for better outfits from the girls – they did an amazing job finding the perfect outfits!! The car is SomethingBlueStang (you can rent it too!) and the flowers and location are Ivory & Beau.
Azalea Photos in Savannah
The azaleas!!!!!! Was it just me or did the azaleas really blow it out of the water this year!? If the sunflower field is one of my favorite pop up sessions the azaleas are my all time favorite! I love everything about spring in Savannah when the azaleas are blooming!
We did this session on the median on Oglethorpe, which is one of my favorite azalea spots. I like it in the specific spot I choose because each color of azalea is right there and the seniors could have their pictures taken in all the colors. The outfits for this shoot didn’t disappoint either – and all the instruction they got from me was “where something pretty”. At this point in the year I knew they would be dressed perfectly and they didn’t disappoint!
Baseball Pop Up
Much like the fair pop up mentioned earlier the baseball pop up was a session I wanted to host to mix together the class of 2025 and the upcoming class of 2026! I brought out the JGP letters again for this shoot but instead of flowers filled them with baseball themed balloons.
My friend, Angie, of Apparel by Angie made the shirts for the shoot and they turned out so great! I can’t wait to use them again in the future for another athletic themed session!
Cap and Gown Session in Downtown Savannah
Our year wrapped up with a team cap and gown session. We met in Orleans Square and spent the afternoon under the oaks and on the brick walkways of downtown Savannah. This session is bittersweet – it’s a full circle moment where I get to see each of the girls wrapping up their senior year. They have all grown and changed during the year and this session was just the bow on top of a great year!!
This session starts with white dress photos, adds cap & gowns, and ends with everyone changing into their college tees. It’s one of the best sessions!! This year I even bought a few fun colored cap & gown sets just to add some extra color to some of the group photos!!
I’m so happy to have gotten to spend the year with each of these girls and some of their friends!!
What’s Next for the Senior Experience Team?
I am excited to be hosting The Senior Experience Team for the class of 2026!! Our first session in in June and I’m excited to meet everyone and start a new year of fun!
Be the first to comment