4 TIPS FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER FOR YOU!

Helpful and useful tips when deciding on your senior photographer.

Senior photographers are everywhere at all different price points, styles, and experiences.

Today we will be giving you 4 tips to keep in the back of your mind when looking, choosing, and finally deciding on your senior portrait photographer. These tips are from a senior photographer & past senior stand point, so you get a true since of what to look for!

TIP 1: Find a photographer that you genuinely love their work.

When you are searching on Instagram, Twitter, Google, your friends, and etc find someone that you actually love their work! This just means that you value their work, and that you are booking with them for the right reasons. Most senior photographers specialize in SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHY, so they know what they are doing. Speaking for myself, when it comes to all my seniors I AM INVESTED! I love help planning, styling, and finding locations to match your style and personality.

TIP 2: Find a photographer that fits your aesthetic/style.

Most photographers have a style that you can easily tell apart from other photographers. Some are more light and airy photographers rather than other photographers like myself are more on the moody/darker photographer styles. When I was a senior, I did a mini session with my favorite local photographer. I admired her work for the longest and when she did mini sessions, I got my spot and did them! Let me tell you it was the best! I didn’t get the chance to have a full on senior session, because I was too busy with my nanny job and photography that I didn’t have time to take them. But looking back now only a year after graduating high school, I am still so in love with those pictures. I think by valuing her work so much, it brought me more value in those images, because she did them. by the way it was Payton Hartsell. So maybe you already follow a dozen senior photographers, do you like their work? Do you want to see yourself on their feed? Do you want them to capture your senior year? Ask yourself those questions and you will find the photographer right for you!

TIP 3: Find a photographer you like seeing content from.

This goes hand and hand with the previous tip, but is there a photographer you like seeing posts from? Whether that’s actual posts or Instagram stories, do you follow a photographer that does both of these regularly? and do you like seeing it? Do they seem like a good, nice, fun person to be around? ASK yourself these questions! Do you ACTUALLY like them and what they do? Maybe they have multiple accounts, do you follow all of them because you want to see more of their work? If so, that says a lot and that means you support their small business.

TIP 4: Find a photographer that you want to work with no matter what!

This is my last and final tip, but VALUE! Don’t book with a photographer, because they are cheap and they will give you unlimited outfit changes and locations. I’m saying this, because most senior photographers don’t offer that. Most senior photographers have limited dates and all those dates will be booked. If they have limited dates and you really want them, you typically will book with them as soon as possible. Finding a senior photographer that you value and want to work with is more important and will bring more value to your senior pictures!

In saying all of this, I just want all incoming seniors to realize that it’s okay to pay a little more for a better professional senior experience is normal and it’s okay.

Make sure to follow EMP on Instagram, so you never miss our posts and blog posts to help your senior year!

Much love,

Emily.

SUMMER 2019 GOALS

I will be sharing my goals for this summer with everyone, so I will actually do it.

First goal: Do more elopement/destination wedding styled shoots to build the portfolio. I am already doing this :) I am planning a beach elopement styled shoot for the end of June! Super pumped!!!

Second goal: Have a model call for a super cute family, so I can start booking families for the fall & winter. I already have a couple of families in mind I plan on reaching out to!

Third goal: Pay money for college and sign up for classes to be a better small business women. I already applied and got in, so I just have to like actually go and do the thing/figure out how to sign up for classes.

Fourth goal: Eat healthy, because I work out a lot & I would be more fit and skinny if I didn’t eat crap :) I do Crossfit if you were wondering & a smaller goal is to be better and get stronger than what I already am.

Fifth goal: Network with vendors and make beneficial relationships in the creative world ahhhh, that sounds so lame, but I have to do it. I have a couple of amazing creatives I adore, but I want to meet more like minded people.

I think these are all of my goals, so far. Considering summer is like 2 and a half months I don’t want too many goals, because then I can’t achieve all of them. Although this was a lot. I will be doing a mentorship in Austin, Texas at the end of May with Map & Compass Photography, and I plan on doing lots of Instagram stories about my time in Austin & kinda a weekend in my life, because y’all loved my day in a life I did on the ig story a while back. So I will be doing it again.

I also am currently planning Class of 2020 Senior Rep Team styled shoots. I have the first one planned, which will be at Superb Studio and they will have 2 outfits & I am so pumped to email the girls who I am taking. So far the applications are still open, but I have a good amount of girls already. I know more people will apply, but I love all the girls already and they don’t even know they have been picked yet.

This next year I plan on being more professional in my business, figuring out what I want to specialize in, and what I want to offer in my business. As it is very noticeable I primarily photograph high school seniors, I plan on offering new and improved packages for my seniors making the overall experience better for the both of us! I have been talking to many hair and makeup artists, creating Pinterest boards for guidance, I have made lots of blog guides for my clients. I plan on having a guide to actually send clients I just have to actually work on that.

I also have realized that I need to be an adult and learn how to build my credit. I just need to learn how one does that. If you don’t know I still live with my parents, and I am not complaining I am so fortunate to have them allow me to live with them and also not have a “real job” and kinda figure things out. I love how supportive they are and they are the best. I cannot thank them enough for letting me be young and dumb and figure things out. But thats why I want to know how to build my credit, because although I would love to live with them forever, me and Kyle would eventually like to live in our own home with our little puppy boy within the next 1-3 years.

This is becoming a late night long talk with the internet. So I am gonna go ahead and just post this. Anyways, thank you for reading until the end if you did, if so comment below your summer goals I would love to hear them and we can keep each other accountable!

As always follow me on insta for updates in the business and my life. Until the next blog post have a goodnight or good day or if you’re having a bad day just know theres always tomorrow.

Lots of love,

Emily :)

PROM 2019

Hey everyone!

Today I will be showing y’all a few special moments I captured this past weekend, which is….. PROM!! I love seeing everyone dressed up with their hair & makeup all done up. It makes me want to go back to prom.

I ended up doing 3 prom sessions this past Saturday, but I will be showing y’all my favorite I ended up shooting, which was the last group. No shade, no tea, just the lighting was amazing & we actually switched up the background.

We were in Galveston, Texas at The San Luis Hotel. They have a gorgeous stair case & then we went unto the helicopter pad for some pictures.

These were just a few individuals I did for this group! I will have the group shots we got & as well as the stair case you cannot forget at this hotel.

If you didn’t watch I did a Day In My Life this day over on my Instagram story, I made a highlight for you to go back & watch. I show what I do on a normal day including some behind the scenes of the prom sessions I did, and as well as editing & how long it takes.

If you’re interested in watching it go to my Instagram @emilyymariephotography

Thank you for reading this new blog post,

Love,

Emily.