Senior photo's

[BasAndrews]

This is more of a cultural question than technical, but what is the "senior photo''?

In the UK we are adopting more and more American traditions. The prom is big business (stretched limos are a booming industry), but (so far) we don't seem to have the senior photo as a requirement from our brats/kids.

Or have I read too much into the threads about it, and it is simply a term for pictures of a certain age group?

Many thanks for any guidance.

Bas.

[JakAHearts]

They are generally taken in the summer before a student becomes a "senior" in High School. Its like a graduation photo, only taken in advance.

[philwillmedia]

haha...
Bas, the whole concept is something quite foreign to Aussies as well.
In these parts, a Senior is generally someone in their senior years of life - loosely around 60 plus - not a teenager in high school.
I posed a similar question earlier this year in this thread http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=988846
Some of the answers were quite interesting.

[Journeyingjon]

Originally Posted by philwillmedia

haha...
Bas, the whole concept is something quite foreign to Aussies as well.
In these parts, a Senior is generally someone in their senior years of life - loosely around 60 plus - not a teenager in high school.

I'm Canadian and I'd agree with Phil's definition of a "senior". I think the titles of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior are very American

[Aer]

"Senior" also means someone who is around 60 years or older in the U.S. There are two meanings! You can also be a senior/4th year in undergraduate university (post-secondary school).

Originally Posted by Journeyingjon

I'm Canadian and I'd agree with Phil's definition of a "senior". I think the titles of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior are very American

[Scooby_Doo]

Originally Posted by Aer

"Senior" also means someone who is around 60 years or older in the U.S. There are two meanings! You can also be a senior/4th year in undergraduate university (post-secondary school).

Also freshmen, sohpmore, junior and senior can be used in college too

[BasAndrews]

Thanks both. I don't feel quite so stupid now.

Bas.

[2nasty4u]

Yes, 9th graders are referred to as Freshmen, 10th graders as Sophomores, 11th graders as Juniors, and 10th graders as Seniors. Senior pictures are usually taken the summer before senior year like someone stated but many are taken throughout the school year, especially during the Fall. The point of the pictures is to capture the final years of their "youth" before they go off to college or grow up and move out. They are handed out to friends and families, so the wallets are quite popular. Also, many are used as the background to invites to "open houses," or a graduation party at the end of the year.

[BasAndrews]

Thanks for the info. It seem I was not the only one oblivious of this tradition, so it was worth asking.

Bas.

[RDKirk]

This is relatively new in the US ("relatively new" being relative to how old a person is--this market did not exist when I was a senior).

At the higher levels of practice, "high school senior photography" gives the kid a few hours of being a fashion model--it's as much about the experience as about the pictures.

Many US portrait photographers make a majority of their living doing high school seniors. I don't do a lot of it--I don't really market it--but I get a fair amount of word of mouth and average about $900 per senior.

There is a Canadian photographer who is currently extremely successful creating the market up there.

[DMPRO78]

Originally Posted by RDKirk

This is relatively new in the US ("relatively new" being relative to how old a person is--this market did not exist when I was a senior).

Sorry, but even as far back as my father's Senior Year in 1943, (of course you could be older than my Dad) a Senior Portrait, or rather a "Senior Grad" portrait was common. My father was the Senior Section Editor for his class YearBook. Each Senior had a Wallet sized picture hand pasted into the yearbook. Fortunately, my father's class was only 8 Graduating Seniors. But to say that this is "relatively new in the US" is far from the truth. One's personal perception cannot be fact until a thorough investigation of the matter is made to prove the point. Yours is now proven to be less than a fact, but more a perception that was unsubstantiated. But the rest of the world seems to be unaware, or rather, unconcerned for the practice and leaves us as the "unusual" Americans that we are!

[RDKirk]

Originally Posted by DMPRO78

Sorry, but even as far back as my father's Senior Year in 1943, (of course you could be older than my Dad) a Senior Portrait, or rather a "Senior Grad" portrait was common. My father was the Senior Section Editor for his class YearBook. Each Senior had a Wallet sized picture hand pasted into the yearbook. Fortunately, my father's class was only 8 Graduating Seniors. But to say that this is "relatively new in the US" is far from the truth. One's personal perception cannot be fact until a thorough investigation of the matter is made to prove the point. Yours is now proven to be less than a fact, but more a perception that was unsubstantiated. But the rest of the world seems to be unaware, or rather, unconcerned for the practice and leaves us as the "unusual" Americans that we are!

Having a "senior portrait" and picture in a yearbook is not new, but this phenomenon of parents spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on the "fashion model for a day" experience as a "rite of passage" is relatively new.

My average senior job is usually an hour in the studio and an hour on location, and my average sale is about $1200. That was not happening in 1943, not even in 1943 dollars.

[BlurredImage]

I was a senior in HS in 1988 and we had senior portraits but they were through the school. My mom would not have hired a tog to take the photos. I think she spent around $150 even then.