Trying to Figure Out Senior Photos for My Kid

First she wasn't interested in Senior photos, then she was.

May that live forever as one of my greatest accomplishments as a parent.

I mean, the kid definitely doesn't care. Tbh, if I'd never brought it up, I doubt the concept of Senior photos would have ever come to her attention. And if they had ever come to her attention, I doubt she would have ever entertained the notion of wanting any for herself.

But such is the nature of parenting. We want ridiculous things for our children that they do not want for themselves, and we convince them that they want them, too, so that we can have the joy of it. For me in this particular scenario, the convincing involved the lure of a shopping trip with her bestie and graduation announcements sent to her dad's family, who might just buy her something off her college dorm Amazon wishlist.

Tangent: you guys, kitting a kid out for a college dorm is NO JOKE!!! I may have to commit larceny to obtain the Woozoo fan that all the other prospective freshman parents are raving about. And a mattress topper AND mattress pad--

--because apparently you need both on top of your perfectly good dorm mattress?

And then, of course, instead of paying a professional to take beautiful photos of my child, I am insisting on doing it myself, because that's obviously half the fun of doing Senior portraits, and I will continue to think that until my Senior, who, by the way, hates posing for photos, pitches a fit posing for her first set of photos as she definitely will. 

I also super want to do some really homeschool-specific Senior photos. That sounds like a cute idea until you remember that homeschooling teenagers pretty much looks exactly the same as any other kind of schooling, except you do it on your couch or outside on a blanket or whatever. And a photo of a teenager on a couch is just... a photo of a teenager on a couch. And a photo of a teenager on a blanket? Um, that's just a picnic? How am I supposed to use photography to embody what it's like to sit on the floor and debate about political art with one teenager lying on my bed and one teenager sprawled across my deck chair? Or visually portray listening to Sean Astin narrate The Great Gatsby while we all sit on, yes, the couch and argue about which character we hate most? 

Most of homeschooling teenagers is literally just lounging on stuff and running your mouths. That doesn't photograph well.

Here are some cute ideas for things that DO photograph well that Pinterest found for me, part of my Senior Photos Pinboard:

Use Scrabble Tiles image from Fix the Photo

I also think it could be cute to photograph 2022 in Base Ten blocks, because you know how we are about our Base Ten blocks!

Senior Boy image via Sevyn Ezra Photography

I think this one would be cute either with her little clothes or with her Girl Scout vests:

Timeline from Fix the Photo

These are super cute poses for my bookish child, and it also got me thinking that it would also be super cute to have her do all the traditional Senior photo poses, but with a book in one hand. And that would keep us from fighting about how she's glaring at me instead of smiling in every photo!

Brunette Beauty image via Lisa McNiel

Kenzie via Catie Bartlett

Okay, we're not doing a traditional graduation (I mean, obviously), but Will DOES have her Slytherin robe that is actually a Josten's graduation gown with a Slytherin patch sewed on, and you can't even see the patch if she leaves the robe unzipped. And I found my old high school graduation cap, also from Josten's, that is VERY dusty and VERY red, and we've got Matt's old high school graduation tassel, also very dusty and very yellow. 

What I'm telling you is I think we could one hundred percent nail this photo:

In the Gown Near Campus from Fix the Photo

I'm also thinking we could do some cute photos based on Will's favorite childhood places, like the park near our old house, the drive-in, the public library, etc., and definitely some photos that have the chickens or the dog in them. Please let me know if you think of anymore cute homeschool-themed Senior photos, because I feel like the Base Ten blocks graduation year is a pretty deep cut and literally nobody is going to get it but me and my kids. So what I really need are some homeschool-themed photos that non-homeschoolers will understand.