Industry Icons: When They Were Seniors - Round IV

We didn't realize we were making memories.
We just knew we were having fun.
Anon

by Skip Cohen

​Throwback Thursday is my favorite day of the week, and between my archives and new material, I'm jumping into the time machine for one more round of well-respected professional photographers when they were seniors. Not everyone had access to their formal senior headshot, but all the images are from that time in everyone's life when they were launched into adulthood.

From top left: Gary Box, Chuck Arlund, Michele Celentano, Vanelli, David Beckham, Kevin Gilligan, Gustavo Fernandez, Bruce Hudson, Joe Buissink, Dawn Davis, Joy Vertz, Judy Host, Matt Meiers, Bryan Caporicci, Melanie Anderson.

In last week's post I included both my senior headshot with my Mom's. Here's mine with my Dad's, thirty years apart. At the time, hand-coloring was the rage.

Senior photography continues to be one of the fastest-growing specialties and has never slowed down in terms of popularity and recognition. It's a special time in everyone's life, and that awkward time as we all headed into independence. Yet, we were still very much tied to our families and homes, but ggraduation has always been a celebration.

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Senior photography today is much more focused on storytelling and different presentations of their images. For example, I'm using the shot from Marathon Press again to show just one aspect of what's available today, grad cards. There was no such thing as grad cards years ago. The wallet-size shots in the packages our parents bought were the most popular. That's what we all shared. 

​Marathon has 75 different Grad Card Design Collections.​ I grabbed the screen shot below to share a small taste of the variety of what you have to choose from. And, their free gold foil on 5x7 cards is going on until May 31.

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Click on any sample above to view the entire collection.

Marketing to seniors, if done right, can be an incredibly rewarding part of your business. But don't underestimate the skills required to be successful. It requires a different skill set than when so many of us were seniors.

You need great communication skills. Success today is all about relationship-building, connecting with the subject, capturing their personality, and combining it with maximum creativity. Sure, understanding lighting, posing, and composition is a necessity, but telling the story of a senior today is such a strong part of imaging. It's well beyond just knowing when to click the shutter.

Meanwhile, congrats to the class of 2025, and a BIG thanks to everyone who's been sending me their senior shots, regardless of how far back they go!

​Happy Throwback Thursday!