Galveston Senior Pictures: Two Completely Different Looks in One Session
One of the things I love most about senior photography is getting to know the person I'm photographing before we ever decide where we're going to take pictures.
I don't want to just pick a pretty location, show up with a list of poses and call it a senior session. I want their pictures to actually feel like them.
That's one of the reasons I have my seniors fill out a questionnaire before we start planning. I ask about everything from music and hobbies to how they'd spend a completely free Saturday and the kinds of places that make them happiest.
When Jasiel filled his out, he made choosing a location pretty easy.
Jasiel is an Alvin High School Class of 2027 senior who loves baseball, golf and gaming. He's athletic, upbeat and easygoing, and when I asked which kinds of places make him happiest, two of his answers immediately stood out to me:
Downtown streets and the beach.
Well...Galveston it is. 😂
Starting Jasiel's Senior Pictures on the Galveston Strand
We started Jasiel's senior session on the Strand, which is one of my favorite places to photograph seniors in Galveston.
There is just SO much to work with there.
You have all of the history and architecture, but you also have the urban feel, interesting textures, alleys, walls and all of those rich, vibrant colors. We can walk a relatively small area and get completely different backgrounds without spending a bunch of our session driving from place to place.
And honestly, some of my favorite images happen when I'm not necessarily looking for some big, impressive backdrop.
One of my favorite pictures from Jasiel's session is a pretty simple one. He's sitting on the ground with his back against the wall, and the sunlight coming through created the most amazing sun flare.
Those are the kinds of things I'm always watching for while we're moving through a session.
We have a plan, but I also want room to see the light, find something interesting and think, Wait. Stop right there. This is good.
You Don't Have to Know How to Pose for Senior Pictures
This is something I think seniors—and especially senior guys—need to hear:
You do not have to know what you're doing in front of the camera.
That's my job.
Jasiel loosened up more and more as we went through his session, which is completely normal. Most people don't spend their lives standing in front of a camera knowing exactly what to do with their hands, where to look or how to stand without suddenly feeling like they've forgotten how their own body works. 😂
I'm not expecting you to show up knowing how to model.
I'll give you direction. We'll move. We'll walk. We'll change things up. I'll put you where I need you and then give you things to do so we're not spending the entire session holding stiff poses.
As the session goes on, you stop thinking quite so much about the camera—and that's when we really start getting somewhere.
From the Galveston Strand to the Beach
This is probably my favorite part about doing senior pictures in Galveston.
The Strand and the beach are literally only about 5–10 minutes apart, but they are two totally different worlds photographically.
On the Strand, we have the history, architecture, downtown streets, urban look and all of those gorgeous rich colors.
Then we get in the car, drive a few minutes and suddenly we're at Beach Town.
And Beach Town is GORGEOUS.
Before we even get onto the beach, we have the beautiful beach houses and that gorgeous white boardwalk to work with. Then we can head through the dunes and onto a beach that, honestly, doesn't even look like what most people picture when they think of a Texas beach.
It's pretty. It's clean. The dunes are gorgeous. And by the time we're shooting there in that beautiful evening light, the entire session looks completely different from what we created on the Strand.
That's why I love this combination so much.
You don't have to decide:
Do I want urban senior pictures or beach senior pictures?
You can have both.
And we don't have to spend half your session driving across Houston to make it happen.
Senior Pictures That Are Actually About the Senior
Jasiel's Galveston session is actually only part of his senior pictures.
One of the questions I ask my seniors is:
If we built a senior session around YOU instead of just pretty pictures, what absolutely has to be included?
Jasiel's answer?
His baseball glove.
Baseball is a big part of who he is, so we're not just going to carry a glove around Galveston and call it done. He's going to have another portion of his senior session at the ball field.
Because that's the point of all of this.
Senior pictures shouldn't just show what you looked like during senior year. I want them to show a little bit of who you were, too.
For Jasiel, that means the downtown streets he loves. It means the beach. It means baseball.
For another senior, that might mean band or FFA or books or music or a car they've spent years working on. It might mean bringing your best friend along. It might mean the place you've spent every Friday night for the last four years.
Your senior pictures don't have to look like everyone else's because your senior year doesn't look like everyone else's.
Planning Your Own Galveston Senior Pictures
If you're Class of 2027 and trying to figure out where you want to take your senior pictures, you don't necessarily have to start with a location.
Start with you.
What do you love?
Where do you actually like spending your time?
Do you want something colorful and fun? Urban? Beachy? Country? Simple? Bold? A little bit of everything?
That's where we start, and then we'll figure out the location that makes sense.
I photograph seniors from Alvin, Pearland, Friendswood, League City, Angleton, Lake Jackson, Galveston and throughout the Houston area—and where you live doesn't determine where we have to take your senior pictures.
Sometimes the location that fits you best is worth a little drive.
And if you're sitting there thinking you can't decide between downtown streets and the beach?
Galveston makes that decision pretty easy.
