Teenagers. They’re often sadly overlooked when it comes to portraits. Everyone likes to have their babies, toddlers, and pre-tween children photographed, but for some reason when it comes to teenagers, documenting those fleeting years is not always prioritized. I get it though, if you have lots of cute photos of your young children, it might be that getting a portrait of your 15-year-old doesn’t feel so important - they probably have lots of selfies anyway ;). Or maybe the teenager in your family just doesn’t want to be photographed. Us parents know, however, that much will change during those teenage years. They enter that phase as a child and leave as an adult. Everything changes during that time!
My approach to photographing teenagers is quite laid back. I don’t ask them to do big cheesy smiles. I chat to them, get them comfortable and photograph them just as they are. I can promise you when this is done right, those teenagers will look back on their portraits in years to come and be so grateful to have natural, timeless images of them in their youth. Wouldn’t we all have loved that?!
If you would love images like this of your teen, feel free to drop me a line at sandra@sandrajolly.com or go to the Contact page above and we can start making plans.
Peace and love xoxo