Senior Pictures by Shipman Photography
Senior pictures are still important!
Senior pictures commemorate one of the most important transitions in a person’s life – when a young man or woman moves on from high school student to whatever is next for them. It’s no wonder there is such an important tradition built around recording these these moments and creating memories through photography.
Recording one’s senior year with pictures is a longstanding American tradition, but as times change, the methods and markets for senior portrait photography change with them. Today, there are a lot of options for accomplishing this. Many of these options are incredibly inexpensive.
Something beyond price to consider however, is the fact that quality senior pictures are not just “pics.” They are portraits that will one day become family heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation. That places an emphasis on the quality and experience only a professional photographer can reliably provide.
Why Shipman Photography for your senior pictures?
The most important consideration when booking senior pictures needs to be this…. Do you want them to be portraits that tell your senior’s story? They should show who a person truly was at 17 or 18 years old; what car they drove, their bond with a favorite pet, what sports they played or what other activities were their passions, and what were their plans for the future. Senior pictures should show who someone is beyond what they looked like.
We are not the choice for everyone. We are, without a doubt, the right choice for the client who wants a photographer to tell their story. That’s why our senior pictures aren’t just pictures – they’re personalized portraits. They’re unique, custom and cool photographic art. And to back that up, we offer a complete satisfaction guarantee to our portrait clients.
The Shipman Photography senior picture experience
It starts with a telephone call or a free in-office consultation. There are two reasons for this. The first and most important is for you to get to know us so you feel good about your decision to book your session with us.
The second is for us to get to know more about your senior, their activities & hobbies and personality. This helps us know what portfolio material to show, what location(s) to suggest and what if any thematic concepts to work into the shooting plan. We work with parents and seniors themselves to put together a plan that truly reflects who that student is, right now.
Once we have a shooting plan, we look at dates and get you on the calendar. Some plans can be accomplished in one night, while others may take two or more, depending on how many locations, themes and concepts are involved.
For ladies, we offer the option professional hair and makeup services of Destry Aneese, a nationally known artist who has worked on dozens of celebrities and thousands of local brides, seniors and models. We make the session all about you and are always accompanied by a female assistant to help with hair and clothing adjustments. Here’s a video of 2018 senior portrait client Maddie Bittle discussing her senior experience with us.
For guys, we offer dad jokes and a good time. We are proud to be the choice of so many senior guys. A big reason for that is that we keep the sessions fun, light and relaxed. We don’t put our guys in awkward poses and we never present ideas that don’t make them look cool. “That wasn’t as bad as I was thinking it would be,” is music to our ears when it comes from senior guys – who often, lets be honest, are here because mom wants them to be. Our goal is always to win these guys over and earn their trust, representing them in a way that is flattering and representative.
The senior picture sales experience at Shipman Photography
Like so many things, when it comes to senior pictures you get what you pay for. We don’t compete on “price” but we absolutely do provide unparalleled value. After the photography is complete, we invite you to our studio for a gallery review. At these meetings, we show you some edited samples and go through your whole proof gallery of (on average 100-120 images). It is a fun reveal session and an opportunity to discuss editing options.
What we don’t do at these meetings is try to get you to select your final images. If we’ve done our job, we are going to show you a proof gallery of images that you will love and will have a hard time deciding on. There is no hard sell or big attempt to sell you up. We just try to show you a ton of great images and let them sell themselves.
We do try to put together custom packages for you at these meetings. Our packages are unique in that the files are provided via full sized, fully licensed digital masters – downloaded directly from your order gallery. Print purchases are made easy by giving you direct access from your order gallery to wholesale pricing from our premium online print vendors. That means prints of exceptional professional quality at a fraction of local retail lab prices, delivered right to your home.
As a reward for doing business with us on the night of a gallery review, we give you bonus premium printed products (canvases, books etc.) at no additional charge. After the meeting, you have access to an online proof gallery and from the privacy of your own home on your schedule, you can work through the proofs and let us know your final selections.
Easy! No pressure, no stress, just incredible images and exceptional customer service.
What Schools do you work with for senior pictures?
All of them. While we are the official sports photographers of Bixby High School and Union High School athletic departments, we are not limited to any specific area or school. Shipman Photography is a Tulsa, OK based studio that attracts out of state clients every year due to our unique style and strength of personal referrals by previous clients. In any given year, we will typically work with high school senior picture clients from Bixby High School, Jenks High School, Owasso High School, Union High School, Booker T. Washington High School, Broken Arrow High School, Collinsville High School, Sapulpa High School, Sand Springs High School, Glenpool High School Tulsa Public Schools, Bishop Kelly High School and Cascia Hall High School. We will travel for senior sessions as needed and can work with clients from any Oklahoma or out of state schools as well as home schooled students. We can also work directly with your yearbook staff to provide content to them as needed.
Retouching and Editing
We teach Photoshop editing skills to other designers and photographers. We are very good at it and perform retouching in a way that does not leave our clients looking artificial or plasticized. Typical editing will include the removal of temporary blemishes (zits) leaving permanent unique characteristics such as moles, freckles, scars etc. untouched unless specifically asked to do so. One of the greatest Photoshop skills to possess is knowing when is too much and when to stop when editing. That’s a line we recognize and are always on the right side of, but can accomplish any specific editing request a client may request. Our goal is to leave our clients completely satisfied with our work every time. For an expanded look at our senior portfolio and five years of highlight videos, visit our senior portfolio page.
How much will senior photo packages cost?
Great question! With packages starting at $500, we have a pricing graphic that we send clients upon request, but our packages are very modular and custom and there are factors that can affect a package quote, such as travel or number of sessions. For this reason, pricing is better discussed in the context of a phone call or office meeting. The focus is always on value and delivering an experience and a product that our clients feel was fairly priced and are proud to display in their homes. That is our commitment to our clients. Contact us today to request more information!
