If you’ve been thinking, “We’ll just take photos once the cap and gown come in…” You’re not alone and you’re not wrong. There are a lot of people who think senior photos and graduation photos are the same thing. They’re not! In fact, waiting until the cap and gown arrives often means missing out on something really special. There’s a big difference between senior photos and graduation photos; and knowing that difference could completely change how you remember this milestone of your high school senior. Let’s break it down.
Graduation Photos: Celebrating the Finish Line
Since the cap and gown photo is commonly associated with senior photos, let’s talk about graduation photos first. Graduation photos are taken at the very end of senior year. This is the time for your high school senior to put on their cap and gown and sometimes even a college t-shirt to celebrate the achievement of graduating and their next chapter. While important, graduation photos focus on the achievement; not the journey. Which is why these sessions are held at the end of the year and are typically brief and straightforward.
Senior Portraits: Capturing Their Story and Who They Are Right Now
Now, senior portraits are more than just pictures; they’re a whole experience and tell your senior’s story. Senior sessions happen as early as spring of junior year to as late as spring of senior year. These photoshoots are personalized and are meant to make your high school senior feel confident and showcase their personality and style, while also freezing this moment before they step into the next chapter… adulthood. Because once senior year is over; you can’t go back and do it later. From outfits to locations, from props to posing, everything is designed to reflect them. Basically think of senior portraits as the final professional photos of childhood. They hold the same weight as newborn photos, except now, you’re capturing the closing of a chapter instead of the beginning of one.
Why This Moment Deserves More
Senior year is more than grades and graduation; it’s a unique season that is a big deal. Your senior is growing, changing, and becoming their own person. Senior portraits are more than just pretty pictures. They’re memories. They’re confidence boosters. And for you, they’re a keepsake that freezes this moment in time before everything changes. You don’t get a second chance at this. That’s why this experience shouldn’t be rushed, overlooked, or treated like just another box to check. This isn’t about just taking photos. It’s about creating a memory they’ll hold onto—and one you’ll cherish every time you see it hanging on your wall.
What We Believe at La’Kendra Franklin Photography
We don’t believe in just taking pretty photos; we create memories that feel like your senior. Our senior portrait experience is built to make your senior feel seen, celebrated, and confident. Not just for the camera, but for the season they’re standing in. And you deserve to have something real to hold onto when this season ends.
You’re ready for something that’s as meaningful as it is memorable and more than a quick cap-and-gown pic, click here to learn more.
What exactly is the difference between a senior portrait experience and a grad session? Over the years I have learned that senior portraits are still a fairly new in some areas and mistaken for a grad session, whereas in other areas it is super popular. When I first started and mentioned senior portraits, I would usually get this response from most teens or parents, “I’ll just wait until the cap and arrives for photos.” Not even knowing that at that point, they have missed out on senior portrait season and something special if that is what they think senior portraits are.
So what is the difference? between a senior portrait experience different from a grad session? Let me explain:
Grad sessions take place at the end of the year
First let’s talk about what a grad session is. These photos are meant to celebrate graduating. This is a huge achievement for your senior and is worth celebrating. You will typically see these images circulating around the end of the school year. Graduation photos can provide a personal touch because every senior has different accolades and awards. Unlike a full senior session, graduation photos are short sessions that do not highlight senior year journey.
Senior portraits and the senior portrait experience
Finally, let’s dive into what the senior portrait experience is and why it’s important. A senior portrait experience is personalized photoshoot for your senior. This allows your senior’s personality to truly shine in their photos. With a senior experience, your senior is able to select their outfits, locations, props, and so much more. I believe that senior portraits are some of the most important photos that you can invest in for your child. Let’s talk about why.
- Senior photos are the very last professional photos of your senior’s childhood. Similar to how newborn photos are the very first professional photos of your child. If you think about it, these are two phases in life that you cannot do over or go back and do it later.
- Senior year is the only time in life where you leave a part of you behind and become a completely different person.
- Senior portraits help your senior celebrate who they are right NOW before going off to college, finding their dream job, or living their life.
A moment like this is too precious to be taken lightly and left up to just anyone.
Here at La’Kendra Franklin Photography, we’re not interested in just taking “some photos” of your senior and sending them on their way. We want to help make your senior’s senior portrait experience a memory in and of itself. If you’re ready for the best senior portrait experience in the area, click here to find out what our senior portrait experience is all about and how we can help create this memory with you.
