I hear it every year. “I don’t want to make my home look like a shrine to (insert senior name here).”
I always think of the irony here. After all, your children ARE the most important thing in your life. And your senior is only a high school senior once. They’ll only get one senior portrait session.
AND, so many homes have walls filled with decorative objects; metal forms, canvas images that mom thought was pretty while shopping at Home Goods. Or maybe a watercolor of a boat purchased at the Ann Arbor Art Fair.
So why don’t you want to showcase what’s most important to you? Because you’re afraid you will look like you set up a shrine to honor your son or daughter?
I do have to admit that almost all of my senior families DO purchase a framed or canvas wall portrait (yay!). And the most common sizes are 16×24 or 12×18. But still, why worry about what other people think? You love her senior portraits, display them!
However, if you are worried about overloading on wall portraits of your child, here are three helpful hints:
Display multiple images that flow together.
This canvas trio of Julia’s senior portrait session works as one visual piece because it’s a series of images from one outfit and one background. This grouping is a series of 16×24 canvases. Any mother would adore looking at the beautiful smiles in this grouping! The clothing and overall color scheme go beautifully in this space.
Display the portraits with older siblings’ portraits.
A great way to display senior portraits is with other images from older siblings’ sessions. I have “matched” my senior’s portraits with older kids’ portraits in homes, right down to the frames and matting. In the case above, I photographed the girl two years ago and the young man this past summer. I coordinated a grouping of hand painted frames showcasing each senior alone and with their beloved pets. All four frames are in Midnight Blue in a variety of frame styles. It works in the room beautifully.
Integrate with a gallery of family portraits.
There’s a senior in the above display. Can you see him? Yep, he’s in the lower left spot of this family gallery. By placing your senior’s framed portrait with other family portraits and snapshots, you’re telling the family story. The fact that he’s a senior is just another part of the fabric of this family’s life. He is spotlighted, but not accentuated.
A senior’s portrait session is one of the most important times of her senior year. These portraits will transcend time. We all remember our senior portraits, good or bad! But enjoy your senior’s images every day, long after she’s gone off to college.
Is it time to find a senior portrait photographer? Be sure to learn more about how I work with seniors and their families here!
