We are just over a month into the new school year – maybe two for some - the thrill of being a senior takes hold, and one significant event comes into focus: the senior portrait. This custom holds more weight than just the potential for a nice picture accompanying the yearbook entry. It is a moment that most students, for better or worse, will probably hold and look back on for as long as they live. Still, as I tackle this why question, the pictures themselves come to mind and leave me puzzled as to why this has to be.
A momentous occasion occurs when a high school senior portrait is taken. In this context, "momentous" might be defined as a meaningful transition from one state to another, in the case of a person who is not yet an adult, the foray into professional life, and the assumption of adult responsibilities. A senior seems to retain elements of the juvenile persona—in dress and manners, often in a hairstyle that is either "up" or "down." But what usually happens in these images is that at the moment of capture, the person behind the camera sees (or should see) something of the essence of this nearly not-a-kid face.
The most delightful feature of senior portraits is that they can be molded to show what the individual deems important at this stage in their life. Whether that translates to a love for sports, a pride such as when showcasing his beloved pickup truck, or the musical inclinations of another with his guitar on hand, the portraits can incorporate and showcase personal elements to a degree that makes them truly unique.
In addition to being a time-honored tradition, senior portraits also capture the essence of a student at a particular moment in time—right before they take the giant leap into the unknown. The image serves as a reminder of who a student was at the end of their high school career, but more importantly, it hangs onto the wall as a beacon of all the potential a student possesses.
In a time of smartphones and social media, it might be easy to say, "We don't need professional photographs; we'll just take some nice snapshots." But what a lovely photo is and what a professional one is are completely different things. You can get a nice picture without many things that make a photo stand out when you're looking at it. You can get an image that doesn't need to be edited and still looks decent; you can get a picture with bad lighting and still have it look decent. But how many decent images do you have before one stands out? That's why it matters that a senior portrait is taken by someone who knows what they are doing and understands how to make you truly shine.
The final year of high school brings a flurry of emotions, choices, and significant moments. For many adolescents, the path leading into the senior year is paved with a handful of well-known moments: returning to school and getting back into the groove of routine, meeting once again with the advisors who guide the class through the final hallowed days of high school; flipping through pages of the yearbook that serves as a time capsule; preparing to face the big decisions about which way to turn at the crossroads of high school and the next great unknown—be it further education, work, or something in between. And yet, even for the most routine of students, the days leading up to and following graduation carry a stunning array of experiences, both visual and emotional, that serve, in sum, as an exclamation point to the end of the high school story.
