When we talked about a location for this high school senior’s portrait session, his love for the outdoors led to me suggesting one of my favorite parks in the Pittsburgh region. And you’ll find a lot from this park on my website, because it is good for just about any kind of session, just about all year round. McConnells Mill State Park is pretty awesome and so is this high school senior.
David and I met up at Highland Park in Pittsburgh for a fun senior portrait session on a Monday afternoon this fall. David was so much fun to work with and the weather held out so it was a great afternoon.
With only a little coaching, David was able to take some basic poses I suggested and really own them. He’s a cool guy, and I wanted that to come through his portraits.
We took about two hours walking around the park, stopping here and there for some photos. I like being able to chat while we’re going from one location to the next to get a better sense for what makes the subject tick. It’s much more fun and laid back that way. And I think it really helps to bring out the personality of the subject. Plus, I love talking with high school seniors because they have so much ahead of them in life and you can just see the potential in them.
When I’m editing the photos, I might be looking at as many as 200 from the senior portrait session. There are so many because I take several shots in just one pose to get just the right expression. I edit the final images down to a collection of 30 or more images. It’s amazing how many different looks you can get in just one location.
