Tate: Class of 2020 | Kansas City Senior Photography | West Bottoms Session

Serious question for y’all, why don’t more guys get their senior portraits done? If you have some answers for me, I’d love to hear them because I would like to play a part in changing this!

What I usually hear is that they’re just not as into pictures so it doesn’t seem worth the investment, but senior portraits are truly so much more than just pictures. This is a way to stop the clock and capture who you are in this pivotal season in your life. Let me repeat that: Capture who you are. With every session, that is my #1 goal, to talk with you, learn about you, and make sure my subject truly shines through. It looks different for every person, some people are more classic and some people are more out of the box, but that’s the beauty of it.

Take Tate for example, featured on the journal today, this guy was so much fun to photograph! We woke up early for a sunrise session in the West Bottoms. I recommend this for all of my sessions in the West Bottoms so we don’t interfere with any of the businesses and their customers, plus morning light is my favorite! Did we go absolutely crazy in this session doing poses that felt completely unnatural and weird to Tate? No! We talked about life, we laughed, his mom hyped him up (hype moms are my favorite), and we captured pieces of who this incredible young man is for him and his family to hold onto forever.

I think so many guys think it’s going to be weird or uncomfortable, and they miss out on a great opportunity to celebrate and commemorate this major milestone. I’ll be honest, EVERYONE feels a little uncomfortable in front of the camera at first (even I do and this is my job). But the point is, I won’t be creating who you are out of portraits, I’ll be creating portraits out of who you are. Because thats what will make these pictures mean something more than just being pictures.

Now that I can step off my soap box for a moment, take a look at my favorite images from my shoot with Tate! He’s an amazing 2020 senior and deserves to be celebrated!

Tate, thank you again for trusting me to take your senior portraits! I’m so excited to see the incredible things you’ll go on to do in your next chapters!

All photos by EffJay Photography | Kansas City Senior Photographer