As the final year of high school unfolds, there’s an air of excitement and anticipation for what lies ahead. Amidst the flurry of activities, one timeless tradition stands out: senior portraits. These photographs immortalize the culmination of years of hard work and growth, capturing the essence of the individual as they stand on the cusp of adulthood.

When it comes to senior portraits, every detail matters – from the location and lighting to the outfits you choose to wear. With Amelia J. Moore Photography behind the lens, you can trust that your senior portraits will be nothing short of extraordinary.

You’ll have time for 4-5 outfits at the Signature Session and 2 at the Mini Session. To help you prepare for your session, here are four stunning outfit style that are sure to make you shine:

Classic Elegance:

For a timeless look that never goes out of style, opt for a classic ensemble. A simple yet sophisticated option could be a knee-length A-line dress in a solid color such as navy blue or burgundy. Pair it with nude heels or ballet flats for an effortless touch of elegance. Black and/or white are always classic and make the skin glow! Or bring your formal dress. Keep accessories minimal with delicate jewelry – perhaps a pendant necklace or stud earrings – to let your natural beauty take center stage.

Boho Chic:

Embrace your free-spirited side with a bohemian-inspired outfit that exudes laid-back charm. Consider pairing a flowy maxi dress in a floral or geometric print with ankle boots for a boho-chic vibe. Layer on some earthy accessories like stacked bracelets or a statement pendant necklace to add a personalized touch to your look. Complete the ensemble with loose, tousled waves or a braided hairstyle for a whimsical flair.

Bold Sophistication:

Bold Sophistication exudes confidence, elegance, and a fearless attitude. It’s about making a statement with every outfit choice, whether through striking silhouettes, vibrant colors, or daring accessories. Take a risk and push the boundaries of traditional fashion norms. Combines classic pieces with unexpected twists, creating looks that are both timeless and cutting-edge. From tailored blazers paired with leather pants to vibrant jumpsuits accessorized with statement jewelry, reflect your sense of self-expression and individuality.

URBAN EDGE

Showcase your edgy side with a fashion-forward ensemble that reflects your individuality. Start with a pair of distressed jeans or faux leather leggings as the foundation of your look. Layer on a graphic tee or a band-inspired tank top for a dose of urban cool. Elevate the outfit with a statement jacket – perhaps a moto jacket or a denim jacket adorned with patches or studs. Complete the look with chunky boots or sneakers and accessorize with bold jewelry or a sleek belt bag for an extra edge.

Remember, the key to a successful senior portrait session is to choose outfits that make you feel confident and comfortable. Whether you opt for classic elegance, boho chic, preppy sophistication, or urban edge, Amelia J. Moore Photography will expertly capture your unique personality and style, ensuring that your senior portraits are a true reflection of who you are at this pivotal moment in your life. So, go ahead – embrace the opportunity to create lasting memories and cherish them for years to come.

WARDROBE CHECK LIST:

• Bring spandex shorts to wear under your dress as you will be in a variety of poses.
• Choose a variety of colors. Chances are you wardrobe pallet is made up of similar colors.
• Don’t pick things that are too tight or too loose. Loose clothing is super comfy, but it will look even bigger in a photograph. If you have a baggy bottom, wear something tighter on top.
• Bring shoes (and socks!) and accessories for your outfits. 
• A jacket, sweater, wrap or fun blanket, something for layers and movement. (optional)
• TRY ON EVERYTHING before the day of the shoot.
• A prop or activity – your car, a musical instrument or special pet. (optional)
• Please iron everything (if needed) and hang them on hangers. 
• Under garments: nude options unless you have a bralette that will be showing. Bring a strapless bra or sticky boobs. 
• Jeans go with anything, bring for a back up option!
• Accessories – Necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, etc.
• No need to self tan prior! I promising your skin will glow!
• If you color your hair, plan a fresh color a few days prior. Roots are hard to photoshop!
• DID YOU TRY ON EVERYTHING!?

BOOK YOUR SESSION

While we will capture photos that may include your torso and even full body, the primary goal is to capture a close-up professional, inviting photograph of your face. But here are some guidelines for your wardrobe. My standard headshoot session includes two outfits so you can have a variety of options. The mini session includes one outfit, but you can add-on additional outfits.

Consider your profession and personal branding. If you are a chef or a financial advisor, dress the part. Include your apron, suit or uniform.

What are the colors of your personal branding? You’ll be using this photo along side of your website, logo and other marketing pieces. Pull in some of those colors in your wardrobe. I love color – it conveys energy, passion and interest. Therefore, a colored blouse, earrings or even lipstick could be a great pop of color.

While I love color, I also do love a nice black option. Black allows you to sole focus on the face and makes the skin tone look healthy. Black also looks sleek, timeless, confident and experienced. Consider one color and one black option.

Are you an art teacher, a photographer or musical? Do you sell product? Would you like to include a prop or bling in you photograph to convey more of your personally? This allows your audience to immediately know your service. However, I recommend getting at least one photo without a prop.

Your shirt or top is the most important part of your wardrobe. For women, I suggest  a v-neck and short sleeves or long sleeves that we can push the sleeve to a 3/4 length. A v-neck typically lengthens the neck creating a more flattering photograph, however since this is a professional shot, definitely make sure the cut isn’t too low. You may feel better in a a different neck line, so that’s completely fine if it isn’t a v-neck.

While jackets look more professional and trailed, they may tend to be stiff. Women, choose a jacket that is light and flexible.

Solid colors and subtle patterns typically photograph better. You don’t want a loud pattern to compete with your branding. However, this is a guideline, so if you have a patterned piece that you feel like communicates your branding and personality, let’s include it.

For men and women, fitted clothes are more flattering because it shows your shape. Oversized clothes look boxy. Even if you feel like you bulge in a few places, I can pose and reshape you to hide those areas.

Women, if you are doing your own hair and make-up, this is a professional photograph, so take your time to do your hair and make-up. Make-up should be a little heavier than normal even if you want a natural look. I recommend hair to frame the face. I may pin up a side if it falls in your eyes. If your hair is longer than your chin, I recommend adding a little bend or curl instead of completely straight hair. I personally like medium or long hair to have little more volume.

I highly recommend professional hair and make-up. My stylists know how to make your features pop plus it relieves a lot of stress.

For actors: We will keep everything very clean and simple. I recommend black, white or a solid color that makes your eyes pop. We will only capture your face, so neckline is definitely important.

Try on everything before you come to the session.

Iron everything and use a lint roller. You may get dressed at the shoot to prevent wrinkles or lint on the way to the session.

For children: make sure you try on all outfits prior to the session so your child knows what to expect. I love the simplicity of a white, but solid colors on kids make their eyes pop. Hair and make-up prep is easy for kids: Wash their face, style their hair as they naturally would. The hardest part will probably be getting them to bush their teeth. Ha!

If you haven’t booked your headshot yet, let’s get it on the calendar today! Contact me to talk about the details.

Alright, you are ready to create stunning portrait which will allow people to know the face behind your service. Start planning now for all the ways you will use your headshot.

1. Builds 
credibility and shows professionalism

Looking sharp with an approachable smile will immediately connect you virtually.

2. Put a face with a name

People want to see YOU, the person behind the business. My own headshots generate three times as much interest as my other posts.

3. Represent your message and values

You want to provide a professional service, your first impression with your headshot should convey this as well.

4. People will remember you

In this digital, face-paced world, you need to quickly connect with people. Your headshot will connect you with your target audience to set you apart from the competition. Check out the advice Forbes Magazine gives on planning for your headshot.

Book your headshot session!

I offer quarterly studio headshot mini sessions. Contact me for this quarter’s details.

Or contact me to schedule anytime:

• A full headshot and/or branding session
• Corporate Headshots for Groups
• Business Event

I enjoy working with small business owners like Lindsey Wheeler from Bottle of Tears to corporate groups like the Nissan communication team to create professional headshots. Let’s get your headshot scheduled today!

We may play with bubbles, hula hoops, puppies or jump rope. I’ll have kids make funny faces, tell jokes, tickle each other, dance, hug and squeeze. I may ask them to smile every now and then… but my hope is that we can capture some genuine smiles while they are having fun!

If your family enjoys doing something together, let’s incorporate that! Just let me know ahead of time. I’ll admit that it’s a little harder with the older kids & teens, but I like to get them involved too. Many times they will respond a little better for me since I’m not their parent … this is also true of my own kids… so sit back and let me direct them!

The Nashville Pedestrian Bridge is one of my favorite locations! Of course I love the skyline, but I love all the textures under the bridge as well at Cumberland Park – the white walls, textured walls, organic natural elements …. and there’s even a splash pad for those who want some adventure in their session!

The other great thing about this area is that it’s great all year round! I love the architectural elements and natural colors!

While I love, love locations and location scouting, the location is really just a background to YOU, the subject of the photo!

I have photographed many proposals, senior photos, couples, weddings and families on and around the bridge! It’a a perfect way to connect to Nashville.

Fashion Photography is basically a blend of everything that I love: clothes, photography, location and fun folks! It’s interesting to shift from focusing on a person to the wardrobe, though. Although wardrobe is always an element of a photograph and I love styling my clients, when the priority of the photograph is about the clothes, your perspective has to shift a little. I now tell a story about a piece of clothing, it’s essence, colors, shape, but more importantly how it makes a person feel. The clothes from Nora Gee are comfortable, trendy and fun!

Ericka Carini, the owner of Nora Gee Boutique, wants to offer clothes that are stylist and affordable and she’s definitely hit that mark! Here are a few pieces that I got to photograph from the upcoming fall line!

I loved working with Ericka again! She’s is a previous Senior Portrait client. I am excited to support her business venture to grow this boutique. Now… go shop!!

Location: 12 South, Nashville, TN

See more from this shoot here.

Thank you SOOO much the photos are AMAZING!!” – Ericka Carini

THE TEXTURES!!! There’s a ton of older building with amazing textures from white walls to rustic blues.

URBAN ELEMENTS! We don’t need to go to a downtown area filled with people and traffic) to capture some urban elements. We use the streets and alleys to convey a great urban vibe. I love using stairs, railings and walls in the urban setting.Plus there’s NO CROWDS! Occasionally we may get a person or two that stops to watch what we are doing, but you’ll feel like a rock star when that happens.

WATER AND FIELDS! The Duck River and River park provides great organic spaces with greenery, fields and water. It’s a perfect location if you love the outdoors.

GARDENS! The Polk House has a gorgeous garden that is easy to access. If you’d like some flowers in your session, let me know and we can swing by these gardens.

COLOR and MORE! I always love color around downtown areas. I drive around to try to find new spots with color and note those as we look at your wardrobe.

PLUS! When you come to Columbia, check out Buck & Board, Pucketts and Muletown Coffee. And look for The Factory coming in 2020.

There are a few “color” options that look amazing on any skin tone and white is definitely at the top of the list!

White is classic, clean, fresh and lovely. And it works because it’s simple. White doesn’t compete with what the essence of the photo which is YOU. White allows the eyes to sparkle and the skin to glow.

As always, when choosing wardrobe pieces for a shoot, mix it up! So if you LOVE white (which always includes creams and light pinks) Just choose one white option!

When thinking of brand photography, what you are trying to communicate visually about your brand or service, white conveys confidence, invitation, comfort, clean, simple and peace. White is a great “color” to wear to give people a warm welcome and invite others to your brand.

While wardrobe selection is totally SUBJECTIVE and should be a reflection of who you are, there are a few guidelines that work for everyone! White is really one of those “colors” that works for everyone.

Here’s a few things to pair with white:

1. A bold lip color or accessory!
2. Black bottoms
3. Jeans – keep it simple!

Let’s schedule your portrait session! I typically book 2-3 month out, but may have a closer date option. Just email me to discuss booking your session.

I’m pumped to announce that my photos are featured in OK! Magazine, edition 31, which hit the shelves this week!! I had the honor of photographing celebrity chefs, Maneet Chauhan and Judy Joo for an interview spread in the magazine. Maneet and her husband own four restaurants in Nashville: Tansuo, Chauhan Ale & Masala House, The Mockingbird and Chaatable Indian Street Food. They are also involved in Franklin’s Mantra Brewing and Steel Barrel Brewery at Hop Springs in Murfreesboro.

The photoshoot featured in OK! Magazine highlighted Indian food served at Chauhan House and Chaatable and the very popular dish, Chicken Tikka Poutine Dish. Pick up a copy of the magazine to get the recipe! It’s FANTASTIC!!

I’ve had the opportunity to work with Maneet at a few shoots and I love her energy, connection with people and love of culture! All that is reflected in the experiences at the restaurants from the decor to the delicious taste of every singe item on the menu!! Yes, we’ve eaten at all the restaurants multiple times and love them all!!

I’m super excited to share some more of the photos from the photo shoot here.  After seeing these photo, you’ll definitely want to stop by one of the restaurants when you are in Nashville … YUM!!!

Ok, ya’ll… every few years I get on the other side of the camera because I need my own photos! And I always learn an ton experiencing what you experience. This time around, I focused on my headshots with my photographer friend, Alex Alberg and here are some things I “learned”:

It’s ALLLLL I thought about for a month! Of course, I wanted to loose weight and got hyper focused on that… with very little success since Christmas was a few weeks prior to my headshot. I did try really hard to eat well the week before, drink lots of water and work out, but I still didn’t feel great.

What I tell my clients: We all want to loose weight. My job is to make you look fabulous and direct your clothing, lighting and poses to flatter your stunning features. I do always like to incorporate some dancing, so I might lead with this from now on, since it helped loosen me up! And of course, I can also do some reshaping in post production. I also recommend adding on professional hair and make-up as it definitely takes stress off preparation. LeeAnne Blair is one of the consistent stylists I work with. She’s awesome!

Fun stuff about my photos: I always LOVE outdoor textures. We scheduled this shoot in the middle of Jan and it was literally snowing when we arrive at the shoot. But the sun came out later in the afternoon and we decided to brave the cold. I’m super pumped that we did! I love, love the textures and lighting with this dress. And this is exactly how I envisioned using this dress…. although I didn’t know so much of my legs would be featured. However, I freaking LOVE it! And legs ALWAYS look gorgeous in heels! I love asking clients to move the fabric of their clothes around, it’s so fun to capture the movement. In the first photo, you can see the concentration on my face; being a model is tough work!!

I stressed about what to wear!! I already had two dresses that I knew that I wanted to include, but I didn’t have a clue on a few other outfits. In the end, I piled up my car and dragged my wrinkled clothes to the shoot for us to decided together. I also bought a few new things that I didn’t try on before the session. ( I hate it when clients do this, but I totally did!!) Ha! I ended up taking it back because it didn’t fit well.

What I tell my clients: Spend some time narrowing down your selection to twice as many outfits that we are going to do. Bring all necessary items to go with the outfit from undergarments to accessories. Iron your clothes and hang them up. We CAN decide together what to focus on, but it’s some much easier if it’s not the whole closet. So, do spend some time organizing this. I promise it will make you less stressed (or at least I think it will).

Also, I give some guidelines on choosing outfits. People always ask for input, so the guideline can be helpful. HOWEVER, not everyone is going to fit into these guidelines. Bring what you love to wear and we will work with it.

Fun stuff about my photos: I love the grey wall in the studio! The majority of the time, I prefer to shoot outdoors, but the studio provides a lot of background options for standard headshots and textures for more creative photos.

I was tired! I scheduled my session first thing in the morning right after a really long work day. It’s the only time I could squeeze it in! I looked horribly tired… yes, dark baggy circles under my eyes. My eyes are so sensitive and were in pain from the eye make-up and they kept watering up. I personally think I’m the worst at getting my eyes done. Fortunately, after I got my make-up completed, we decided to push my session to after some other sessions so that it would give my eyes time time to wake up.

What I tell my clients: Typically I schedule sessions at the end of the day, however, this isn’t always the case. So try to get to bed early the night prior and drink lots of water. I’ve also discover the Collagen Crystal under eye patches. So pick up a few of those and wear them to the session. AND if all else fails, I’ll work my magic in post production. (Don’t worry, we all need a little post production magic.)

Fun stuff about my photos: Yah, I like my hair. We all have a feature or two that we actually LOVE. So I typically ask you about that and try to make it a feature. My hair was actually NOT cooperating prior to the shoot so I decided to mainly go “natural” with a little fluff and it turned out amazing. So here are my magazine hair photos…

Trust your photographer. AHHHH…. it was so hard not to tell Alex what to do. I mean, I am bossy, but I also have some ideas. However, I really did want her to direct and get excited about her own ideas and feel confident in her work. She did do a wonderful job! She’s calming and creative and gave great direction. I’m pumped about the experience and my photos!!

What I tell my clients: I equate my posing a lot of times with yoga. The poses may seem a tad weird (and although I won’t make you get into an Eagle pose). Trust that the twisting and leaning helps slim everything down to create a flattering photos! I’ll try to make you feel as comfortable as possible. However, if you need to take a shot of rum before the shoot, it won’t hurt! And I love ideas, so we will definitely talk about your ideas. I will direct you and we will have a wonderful time.

Fun stuff about my photos: In addition to the creative photos, I needed some standard “Hi! I’m smiling” photos, so we captured some basic shots that I love as well. The sun was out in the full glory by late afternoon and I always love the golden light of the late afternoon sun. We also got a few photos in the studio of me with my camera. I wanted this one of my laying down with my hair (yah) and the camera… it took us a big to figure this one out, but we did it!

I’m so happy with my photos! Now what!? Thank you to the fabulous Alex Alberg for these amazing photos. I had a blast with you and can’t wait to work together again! Alex and I have been working together for five years. She’s located in DC, so we’ve worked together in VA and Paris (yes, she photographed THE PARIS wedding with me!). 

So, now what do I do with these awesome photos! I will be using them to update my profile photo on all social media and my website. Headshots are a MUST in growing a solid business these days. (Check out my post about the importance of headshots here). I’ll also use a photo on my emails when someone make an initial inquiry to give them a face with my name. I will also be making myself a 5×7 Folio Collection featuring 15 photographs. It seems kinda weird to print photos of yourself. But, I am proud of these and I know that I’ll love, love looking back on these in years to come. A set of 15 matted prints seems like a nice collection to feature a variety. Plus, I can use it as a sample! I’ll also use the photos throughout the year on Instagram, my monthly newsletters and more!!

Photographer: Alex Alberg
Make-Up: LeeAnne Blair
Hair: Rebekah Hall & LeeAnne Blair
Location: Westlight Studio, Franklin, TN
Dresses: Philanthropy, Franklin, TN