If you have a senior portrait session with a guy coming up, this one from Michaela Wickman Photography, will surely serve as inspiration. Both the natural and urban settings are beautifully abstract and provide a perfect backdrop to counter simple styling.  Keep sharing your senior sessions and please leave feedback for Michaela below.

Message from Michaela:
I was so excited for Gabe’s session. We had been talking back and forth for weeks about the outfits and locations and what our ‘game plan’ would be. Gabe loves downhill skiing and skateboarding and his goal was to incorporate some action shots into his session to show off his athleticism.

The jumping shots were done with the help of his back-yard trampoline. I loved how they turned out. It’s as if the trees framed him. Next up were the more industrial settings with the brick backgrounds and cement stairs, and lastly, the junk-yard (with permission) to get the shots with the mountain of tires and barrels. I love everything about his session; it was rugged, edgy, and original.

One tip about this session: I asked Gabe ahead of time to bring one person along; a sibling, a friend, a parent, etc. to help make him feel more at ease. Plus, the extra person would be able to assist me by holding my reflector if I needed it and carry my small step stool if we were moving around a lot. I always bring along my step stool because I like having the option of shooting up higher, especially if my subjects are taller than me.

I shot all of these with my 100mm 2.8L Macro lens. The jumping ones were shot with my 50mm 1.4.

// www.michaelawickmanphotography.com //

Michaela is a contemporary custom portrait photographer in Ashland, WI.