Some senior sessions feel special before I ever pick up my camera.Mayzie’s was one of those.
I have known Mayzie’s family since she was very young, and during her session her mom shared something with me that I had never heard before. Back when our girls were little and I was just beginning my photography journey, she had told someone that someday Kate would be doing Mayzie’s graduation pictures.
And here we were.
All these years later, Mayzie is a senior and I was standing at Dolsen Farms photographing her senior portraits.
There are moments in this job that make you realize just how quickly time passes, and this was definitely one of them.
A Senior Session That Felt Like a Family Event
One of the things I loved most about Mayzie’s session was that it wasn't just the two of us showing up for pictures.
Her parents were there. Her little sister was there. Friends came along to help.
It felt like everyone had gathered around Mayzie to make this night special for her, and I love seeing that during senior sessions.
Senior pictures are obviously about celebrating the senior, but when you're a parent, they represent something a little bigger.
You spend years doing the everyday things—school mornings, practices, activities, dinners, driving everywhere, reminding them of things approximately 4,000 times—and somehow you arrive at senior year.
Suddenly you're looking at this nearly grown person and wondering how you got here so quickly.
As a senior mom myself this year, I understand that feeling more than ever.
These sessions are hitting me a little differently.
I know there can be excitement and pride and laughter right alongside that little ache that comes with knowing things are changing.
And sometimes there are a few tears.
That's okay, too.
And Then There Was the Horse
As if there wasn't already enough to make this session memorable, Mayzie had gotten her horse just one week before her senior session.
Of course, the horse needed to be part of the pictures.
I love when seniors bring something meaningful into their session because those are the things that make senior portraits feel personal. Your pictures don't need to look like anyone else's senior pictures.
They should feel like you.
Sometimes that's a favorite sport or instrument. Sometimes it's a location that means something to your family. Sometimes it's a certain style or outfit.
And sometimes it's the horse you've only had for a week but already know belongs in this chapter of your story.
Those personal details are often what turn a pretty photograph into one that means more as the years go by.
Finding the Little Pockets
One of my favorite parts of photographing senior sessions is exploring a location and finding those little pockets that might not look like much at first glance.
At Dolsen Farms, one of those spots was beside a silo covered in deep green leaves.
I saw it and immediately knew we needed to use it.
The light was beautifully even, the dark greenery created this gorgeous texture behind Mayzie, and everything came together.
Those are the moments when the photographer part of my brain gets very happy.
A location doesn't have to provide one giant, dramatic backdrop to create variety. Sometimes a few feet in another direction completely changes the look of an image.
It's one of the reasons I love working with natural light and letting sessions unfold as we explore. I'm always watching what the light is doing, what's happening in the background, and where we can create something beautiful without making the session feel overly staged.
And Mayzie?
Well, she made my job pretty easy.
She's gorgeous.
There were definitely moments when I looked at the back of my camera and thought she looked like a freaking supermodel.
The Pictures Matter. But So Does the Experience.
Beautiful senior pictures are obviously the goal.
But I also want seniors to enjoy the night we're creating them.
Most people aren't completely comfortable stepping in front of a camera and magically knowing what to do with their hands, where to look, or how to stand.
You don't need to.
That's my job.
I give plenty of guidance, but I don't want a senior session to become an hour of stiff poses and forced smiles.
I want movement. Conversation. Genuine expressions.
And sometimes I want to say something ridiculous just to get the real laugh.
Making Mayzie laugh was one of my favorite parts of the evening.
Those genuine expressions are always worth waiting for because they're the pictures where I can really see the person I've been photographing.
To the Moms of This Year's Seniors
I know this year is a lot.
Maybe you're completely ready for senior year.
Maybe you're absolutely not.
Probably both, depending on the day.
I've known Mayzie and her family for years, so photographing her at this stage of life already carried some emotion for me. Add in the fact that I'm walking through senior year as a mom at the same time, and these sessions have taken on another layer.
You see the beautiful young woman standing in front of your photographer.
But you can also still see the little girl.
That's the strange thing about being a mom.
Both versions can exist at exactly the same time.
And that's part of why I think senior portraits matter so much.
Yes, they're pictures for graduation announcements and yearbooks and walls.
But they're also a marker.
This was her at eighteen.
This was what she loved.
This was the way she laughed.
This was the summer before everything started changing.
One Last Moment
At the end of Mayzie's session, after the pictures were finished and we were getting ready to leave for the night, she asked me for a hug.
That may have been my favorite part.
Not because it created a photograph.
There wasn't a camera involved at all.
But because the experience matters to me just as much as the final images.
I've watched photography change tremendously since those early days when Mayzie's mom apparently decided I would someday photograph her daughter's senior pictures.
Cameras change. Editing changes. Websites change. Social media definitely changes.
But this part doesn't.
People invite me into important seasons of their lives and trust me to preserve a little piece of them.
Getting to do that for a family I've known since their daughter was little made this one especially meaningful.
And I'm pretty sure that years from now, when I think about Mayzie's senior session at Dolsen Farms, I'll remember the horse she had gotten only a week earlier, everyone who showed up to help, those dark green leaves climbing the silo, making her laugh—and that hug before I headed home.
Senior year goes by faster than anyone expects. I'd love to help create a session that celebrates this exciting season and captures your senior's personality in a genuine way.
Senior Photography:
https://www.katecraftphotography.com/Senior-1/
Ready to plan your senior session?
