Photos are a way to tell a story and remember a time in life. Senior photos are especially important for those reasons; they can be a way to document how someone looked or what type of person they were in high school. These past couple of weeks, we as a staff have been putting our photography skills to the test in order to create amazing photos for the seniors here at CHS.
The seven students in our class worked as a team to build a mini-studio in a classroom that was not being utilized. We set up three backdrop frames and put up a backdrop on either side of each of them. This allowed us to have six backdrops to attempt excellent shots of our subjects. After all the photo sessions were completed, each photographer worked to edit the photos and send them out in a private album to each of the subjects.
As well as working together to take the photos, we worked as a team to support each other during the photo shoots. Each photographer had someone with them helping the subject pose and fix small elements in the photo. This made all the weight not go onto the photographer to make the shot amazing, and it allowed us to grow stronger as a team.
Austin Bradley was one of the first seniors that we got the opportunity to take pictures of; Savannah Payne was the photographer who was given the chance to do this. He shares that his favorite part of the entire experience was “having to put on the purple and gold graduation uniform.” He also explains that more people should take photos with Payne because she is a great photographer, and he thinks she is one of the best in the entire school. Overall, he had an amazing experience and would recommend others to do it as well.
Ashton Artis was another very grateful senior. He explains the photo opportunity was very resourceful. He shares that his favorite part of the entire photo shoot was, “The whole photography feel that is brought, and [he] loved to see some of the people [he] had met or seen come together.”
Emma Curry was another senior we got the chance to photograph. She was nervous when she came in, but as the photo shoot went on she became more comfortable and the photos showed that. She explains that she really enjoyed the many options for photos that we provided. She says, “My favorite part about being able to do this was that we were given more than one option for many things, like the backgrounds, and we were able to switch outfits if we wanted to.” She adds that this is extremely important for students who might want to take many pictures.
Briley Howell was one of the two seniors who got their photos done by Rylee Sinden. She explains what the most enjoyable part of the experience was for her: “My favorite part of this was how comfortable I got with them. I wasn’t stressed or nervous because they were so welcoming.” She adds that this took the stress off her and her family to have to find someone to pay for her pictures. Howell also would love to get more pictures done by students in publications because of how much she loved them.
Freshman, Lucy Otto was able to do two photoshoots with two different subjects. Her favorite part of taking the photos was getting to work with different people. She says, “I enjoyed working with the people. It was fun to see different styles and different poses.” She also explains that there were a few learning experiences to take away from this entire project. The biggest thing that Otto learned was how to pose subjects, as well as not getting certain unwanted objects in the background. She is hoping to take these lessons and use them in future photo shoots.
Sophomore, Connor Stevens was able to have one of his first photo shoot experiences. He was given the opportunity to take photos of CJ Smith. He explains his favorite part of photographing Smith, “He was pretty easy to take pictures of and cooperated with all the poses I wanted him to do.” Stevens adds that he thinks that everyone should come to take pictures with us because we work hard as a class, we take our time to photo edit and put a lot of effort into our photography.
Junior, Jenell Alvarez was another one of our amazing photographers. Unlike many others, her favorite part of the process was the styling. She says, “One thing I enjoyed about taking the senior photos was modeling the seniors. It was just fun to play around with them and try to make them laugh so they feel more comfortable with the stylists.” Alvarez also adds that she really enjoyed photographing Jazmine Breining because of the many different poses and styles she got to try.
Junior, Riley Aiken was able to work with two different subjects. He loved being able to help people get amazing senior pictures without making them pay outrageous prices. He adds that practicing his photography skills was another aspect that made this project so enjoyable. When asked about his biggest learning experience, Aiken shares, “The biggest learning experience was working on editing. Each background needed a different style of editing to it and sometimes they’d take a while to do but it didn’t feel bothersome to do because it was always fun to experiment with different colors and what works where.”
Senior, Rylee Sinden is a third-year publications student, so she put her skills to the test during her photo shoots. The most enjoyable part of these photo shoots was giving students who didn’t have senior pictures the opportunity to get some photos. Sinden thinks that people should come to take pictures with us, she says, “It allows us to practice our photography and editing skills.” Overall, both her sessions were different and she really enjoyed taking the photos for her subjects
Senior Savanna Payne got the opportunity to take Austin Bradley’s photos. He was one of the first people we were given the chance to photograph, so she had to figure out what worked and what did not on her own. The photos ended up turning out great and Bradley loved them. Payne’s favorite part of the experience was being able to do something for people who needed it, as well as getting to use her creativity to come up with different shots. When asked what she would do differently, she says, “I would use more props and plan ahead more. I also would maybe experiment with shooting outside.” This would allow her to get more diverse shots and make the subject possibly love their photos even more.
Not only did we take senior photos, but we also had the opportunity to take class photos for the preschool students. Everything was set up on the stage in the elementary school, and we took photos of each of the kids. This was an amazing experience for us to work on taking pictures with people of different ages.
Due to all the work that we have put in, our class is asking for donations from community members and parents. The money would go toward buying a new camera lens, so we can make our sports photography even better. Any donations can be dropped off at the school office c/o Multimedia Publications or Ms. Kelly. We appreciate any amount that you are willing to give to help us reach this goal.
Taking photos is a big part of this class. The photos mean a lot to the community and to us. We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to do things like this, and we hope you can help us make our photography even better!
