When was this photo taken? This year? Last year? Ten years ago? To be sure, there aren’t many context clues to help us out here. This senior’s hair style is fairly classic for Latina girls this age. The baseball jersey—Yankees, in this case—works in many different eras. If you could see her feet, you’d find a pair of standard issue, brand new, white throwback Nikes. And heck, ripped jeans have been en vogue for years. Perhaps if you were a fashion aficionado, you could narrow down the time frame by looking more closely at the cut of her clothing.
I was looking for a past senior image to re-edit for the front page of my website, one that I could fit in compositionally to the array of the six other photos. I came across this one and tried to remember what year it was taken. I couldn’t tell just by looking at it. Then I looked at it critically in a way that I really hadn’t before. Here’s what I saw:
Simple angles and lines
Soft lighting
Warm, realistic skin tones
Relaxed but intentional pose that brings out her quiet personality
Complementary colors, in this case edited to bring out the orange and blues
It struck me that my classic poses and straight-up editing just works for what I do. I don’t go for the latest trends. Instead of chasing the latest Instagram looks, I focus on creating senior photos with a timeless quality. Ideally, my images will look good now and twenty years from now. While I admire the work of trend-focused photographers, I try to capture a lasting, classic image that will resonate for years to come. This is who I am as a photographer. It’s my calling card, for better or worse. And isn’t that the beauty of photography? What we produce comes from somewhere inside of us.
Oh right, we were wondering about the original date of this photo. I went back and looked at the EXIF data and found the date of September 16, 2017. Shot with a Canon 5DmkII and 135mm f/2. Another classic combination. Has it really been over seven years since I did this session? Kiana is a mom now and I’ve had the privilege of photographing her young daughter a time or two. The time, it flies.
State Tournament Update: Both of my teams didn’t make it out of the opening rounds of the basketball tournament, and my own personal schedule prevented me from getting to the consolation bracket games. Still, I’m grateful to these young people for their efforts and for letting me stop by and capturing an important time in their lives. Now, on to spring sports. Baseball and softball games await.