Boston Portrait Photographer | Welcome Our Class of 2018 Senior Reps!

It's that time of year again! One of my favorite things about fall is getting to work with the incoming high school seniors. This is not your typical senior portrait session, this is a once in a lifetime, "love the way I look and feel" lifestyle portrait experience, meant to capture YOUR unique personality. Every year, I put together a Senior Model team that represents the studio in each of their schools. The biggest perk of being part of this team is our group shoot! This shoot is everything I love - professional hair and makeup by Robert Jason Salon, themed, and fully styled (a.k.a. I get to shop to outfit 5 girls from head to toe). I look forward to putting this together every year to really show off what we can do, and also to create a super fun experience for the new Senior Rep team! Meet a few of them below:

Hey guys! My name is Victoria, and I’m a rising senior (that’s so weird to be typing) at Austin Prep. I’m so excited to be modeling for Emily this year and to be apart of working with so many amazing young women! Here’s a little bit about myself:I live in Reading, MA, a small town outside of Boston, with my parents, brother, and four dogs. Yes, I said four - there’s a picture for proof. I am also a pre-professional ballerina. I’m currently a trainee with the Northeast School of Ballet Conservatory, and train with them Monday-Saturday for five hours a day. So yes, I do get to leave school early. Ballet has been a passion of mine since I was little, a way for me to explore and push my boundaries both physically and creatively. Auditioning for and becoming a trainee of such a prestigious school with some of the best faculty in the world has truly allowed me to find myself becoming stronger and more aware of who I am and what I want as a person. I’m so blessed to be able to do what I do and to travel the world and share my greatest passion with people. Aside from ballet, I love to write. I’ve always considered myself to be a very creative person, always having a journal on hand to scribble my latest thoughts (a great deal of which are about the cute dogs I met that day). Once again, I am so excited to be able to meet and work with so many great people and share my creativity with them. I hope you all enjoy the blog posts to come. :)

Hey I'm Caroline! I am 17 years old and I live in North Andover, Massachusetts. I go to Central Catholic High School. For the past 14 years, I have been a dancer at Nancy Chippendales Dance Studios. With these years, I have had amazing experiences traveling around the world for example: dancing in Florida, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Nevada, and even Germany! Although I do not wish to pursue a future career in dance I find it the perfect way to meet new people and stay active. One thing that I thoroughly enjoy to do in my free time is listening to music. I don't always look for new songs, but I constantly repeat music I have saved in my library because it brings back great memories. Another thing that I love is to spend time with my friends and make them laugh. When I was younger, I aspired to be an interior designer and was completely obsessed with HGTV, but now with my love for organization I am hoping to be a wedding or events planner. At this point, I really am not sure where I would like to go to college but I do know I want to major in business. I absolutely love to travel and see new places so I really hope my future career involves it so I can explore furthermore. I hope you enjoyed learning about me!

I had so much fun with these girls at our group shoot, can we go back and do it again?! Big thanks to Robert Jason Salon for the incredible hair and makeup. You always bring the best out in my seniors, and more importantly, give them the perfect confidence boost.

Boston Portrait Photographer | Introducing The Class of 2017 Senior Models!

It’s senior portrait season! If you’re not familiar, I love photographing high school seniors, but not in the traditional way. No, I like to give my seniors an unforgettable, once in a lifetime experience. So I put together my senior model team for the class of 2017. These girls are the face of my studio, and of course we have to give them an extraordinary experience, something to tell their friends about. I am so so excited to have a team of sweet, smart, and talented girls this year, so I want to let each of them introduce themselves.

Hair and makeup by Robert Jason Salon

Selma: Hi! My name is Selma and I'm going to be a senior at Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield, MA. I'm very involved in my school and my community, which is something I really take pride in. I run indoor and outdoor track and field, I'm on the executive board as Secretary for Student Council, I'm a Peer Leader for the underclassmen, I actively take part in the American Cancer Society by being a part of the planning committee for their Relay for Life, I'm on the National Honors Society, and I'm co-chair of my school's prom fashion show. On top of all of this, I am one of two team captains at Nancy Chippendale's Dance Studio, where I've been dancing for the past 15 years, and I have a job. Some fun facts about me are that I'm a 5 time World Tap Dance Medalist (3 of them are golds), my favorite foods are hummus and pita chips or flatbread pizza, I am obsessed with coffee and dogs, I can't sleep with socks on, and if I could be any animal, I'd be a giraffe, because they're so cute and lanky, or a sea turtle, because they basically live forever

Maddie: Hi, I'm Maddie! I'm a senior and attend school at Austin Prep. I'm a dancer and the captain of my school's varsity cheer squad. I'm a huge travel bug and love to travel to new places, like my upcoming trip to Thailand. I am so excited to be apart of Emily's team this year and can't wait to make some amazing memories with all the girls for an unforgettable senior year :)

Hayley: Hi I'm Hayley! I'm 17, I live in Andover MA, and am a junior at Central Catholic High School. I'm very outgoing and love to talk. I've been dancing since I was three, it's one of my favorite things to do and has become a part of who I am. When I'm not dancing my favorite things to do are shop and go to the beach. 

Alyssa: Hi, I'm Alyssa! Contrary to what you've seen in this video, I actually love dirt bike riding and playing video games as well!  My plans after high school are to pursue a career in the biomedical field and possibly become a medical examiner.  Some of my hobbies include working on my car, cooking/eating, my school's science team, and going to the gym. :)

Heyy my name is Shanna! I'm super excited to be a senior rep for the class of 2017! My favorite thing to do, that takes up almost all of my free time, is dance. My passion within dance is most definitely tap and I am constantly found moving my feet (including underneath my desk at school). I go to Central Catholic High School and my favorite subjects are math and science. My goal is to go to college in New York City so that I can study in that field, continue to dance, and truly experience the city that never sleeps. I cannot wait to see what I have to look forward to throughout my senior year! 

Hi! I'm Lindsay, I'm a senior at TMHS. I love drawing, music, and I'm really excited to be taking photography next year. I'm really into the arts!

You can watch our shoot in action in the video below!

There you have it, together these sweet girls make up my Class of 2017 Senior Reps. It’s going to be a good year :)

It's really too bad we had no fun at all on this shoot 

All of the gorgeous hair and makeup you see was done by the incredible team at Robert Jason Salon

Thinking about your session? Read my Top 5 Tips for a successful session here

As always, please contact me with questions, comments, concerns, or just to say hi

Boston Portrait Photographer | 5 Tips for a Better Senior Portrait Session

Senior girls, this one’s for you! I know you are excited to book your senior portrait session, and you want everything to be perfect. Planning for a successful session starts with our consultation. The reason for this is to talk about your style, and ultimately what you want your session to look like. Here are my top 5 tips for having the perfect senior portrait experience.

1.     Bring your ideas to the table. If you want to incorporate your favorite activity, or something cool you saw on Pinterest, let me know! You never know what’s possible until we brainstorm. There are so many ways to incorporate your ideas into our photoshoot, don’t knock it until we talk it through. Themes can be a great way to make your shoot original, and sometimes renting a few props can make all the difference.

2.     Plan your outfit head to toe. Think about every aspect of your outfit – shoes and accessories play a big roll in tying the look together. If you know me already, you probably know how much I love to accessorize (when in doubt, add a hat!), and I can’t stress enough how important the styling is to finishing the look. I always encourage people to bring outfits to our initial consultation, since the clothing can inspire our location, and vice versa.

3.     Location. If you have seen my work, you know location is important. I LOVE location scouting, and I am always searching for interesting places to give my seniors a special experience. I am always open to your input and suggestions, but please keep in mind that I try to stay away from more mainstream places that are overused as a backdrop. Again, the more insight you give me as to what you want, the better your experience will be.

4.     Preparation. It sounds like we are pretty well prepared with our styling and location so far, but the best thing you can do is to finish preparing for your session the 24 hours leading up to it. HYDRATE the day before, if your skin is dehydrated, the camera will show it. Do your nails the day before, or at the very least, remove any old, chipped polish. If you are having your hair and makeup professionally done, make sure to show up with clean, dry hair, and a clean, makeup-free face. If you want your hair and makeup done a certain way, be prepared with a Pinterest board or visuals to show your hair and makeup artist to make sure you get the look you want.

5.     Have fun!!! I know this sounds incredibly cliché, and pretty obvious, but if you take no other advice I offer, please take this. The best sessions are the ones where we can laugh together, be silly, and let our creativity fly. If there’s something you want to try, speak up! My favorite photos (and usually yours too), are the ones that let your personality shine. So please, if all else fails, don’t take yourself too seriously, enjoy the experience, and trust me to capture the best of you.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I always love to hear what you think, so please leave a comment below or reach out to me with questions or comments!

Boston Senior Portrait Photographer | Sweet and Sassy

Emily Mills is one of my Class of 2016 Senior Reps (we have 3 Emilys total, including me, making up 50% of our group, ha!). She goes to Central Catholic, and can pull off girly, sporty, or sassy. When it was time for her senior session in August, we decided to do a combo of mill building and grassy field for our locations. She brought her best friend, which was so great for getting natural laughs out of her! Emily is one of those girls that just naturally has a positive energy coming from her all the time, so capturing her personality was huge.

… though I can’t lie, GIRL HAS SOME SERIOUS SASS. She pulled off the sweet and sassy quite well, and owned those pearls, if I might add.

The red dress she chose for the grassy field was perfect. The late afternoon sun with the contrast of red against the colorful field made for some pretty painterly images. We had some good laughs at her session and I’m so glad we captured a few moments of her silliness in her video below.

Boston Photographer | Fashion Editoral Senior Portraits

What a great senior season! For those of you who don’t know, this is just my second year of launching my high school senior portrait sessions. This is not your traditional senior portrait, no, this is a full on modeling experience. They are fashion magazine inspired, styled to fit each individual, and as much about the experience as it is about the end result.

My senior ladies totally ROCKED it this year, and I couldn’t have asked for better models. They stepped it up with fashion, style, and PERSONALITY. Thanks to Robert Jason Salon for their commitment to creating some of these beautiful, natural looks. I’ll let the video below speak for itself, but a huge THANK YOU to you beauties for making my job so much fun. So much love to you all Class of 2016

Thanks for watching! If you like the video, please share with family and friends through email or social media.

Click here for more information on this style of senior portrait sessions

Click here to see the full senior gallery

Click here to send me a question or just to say hello!!

I'm really looking forward to meeting the Class of 2017, make sure you stay connected to receive all the updates and information!

Boston Portrait Photographer | Merrimack Valley Senior Rep Team, Class of 2016

Introducing the Class of 2016 Senior Rep Team, Emily O’Brien Photography’s first ever high school senior model program. I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter group of girls. They are A BLAST to have in front of my camera, and they pull off “fashion editorial” quite well. These girls will be representing my studio in each of their high schools.

Watch the video below to see how much fun we had on our glamorous group photo shoot:

Hannah of Andover High, Marissa of North Andover High, Kaila of Beverly High, Emily B of Lynn Classical,  and Emily M and Francesca from Central Catholic in Lawrence

What is a senior rep program? It’s extremely important for me to have a voice and a presence in local high schools, and the best way to do that is through the students themselves! So in exchange for spreading the good word around their school, these wonderful ladies receive the VIP red carpet treatment. Our major perk is the group photo shoot. This shoot is styled, and hair and makeup is provided by Robert Jason Salon. I have a fabulous partnership with Robert, and his talented team provides hair and makeup for most of my senior girl portrait sessions. Other bonuses of being a senior rep include digital images, contests, bonuses, EOP tanks, and lots of fun little events and shoots throughout the year.

The Robert Jason Salon team did an amazing job with hair and makeup, and making the girls feel comfortable in their own skin.

We warmed up by photographing each girl individually in the studio.

Then we moved outside for fun group photos and more individuals. It was WINDY. My assistant was holding one light as the other blew over, so we quickly squashed the whole idea of a lighting setup. The girls were such good sports trekking around in their heels, and looking relaxed while practically being blown away.

All in all it was a great day and I can't wait for our next shoot together. Look out for photos from our South End/Bay Bay, Boston shoot.

Fore more info about senior portrait sessions click here

Contact me to book your senior session

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