Senior Pictures with a Cello in Downtown Detroit — Senior Pictures With a Cello in Detroit

Senior Pictures at the Detroit Institute of Arts — Senior Pictures With a Cello in Detroit

Senior portraits should reveal more than just what a student looks like in their final year; they should reflect who they truly are. For Willem, a senior at Walled Lake Western High School (in Commerce Township), this meant there was a central element around which we needed to build the session: his cello.

Willem has been playing the cello since sixth grade, so it isn’t an instrument he picked up just for a few senior photos; music has become a fundamental part of his life. He takes lessons through the University of Michigan’s pre-college strings program and plays in the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Michigan Youth Orchestra (also at U of M). After graduation, he plans to pursue a rather ambitious combination of studies: pre-med and cello performance.

That is the kind of information I love knowing before a senior portrait session. Parents know their children are so much more than just a nice outfit and a pretty smile. By the time they reach their senior year, parents have spent years watching their interests turn into passions, their personalities develop, and their future plans take shape. I want their senior portraits to capture some of that.

That’s why, instead of treating Willem’s cello as a mere prop for a couple of quick shots, we made it a focal point of the session. We photographed him with the instrument at the Detroit Institute of Arts and then took the shoot to the city streets. Some of my favorite images came about when Willem really started playing. Placing a cellist in the middle of a Detroit street isn’t exactly the traditional formula for senior portraits, and that is precisely why I love it.

Of course, Willem is much more than just a musician. He has been involved in Model UN, Student Council, and the National Honor Society since his freshman year of high school. He is a motivated and studious person, but he also enjoys cooking, baking, and trying dishes from different cultures; he seems to have a particular fondness for Asian cuisine. Add to this a good sense of humor and a personality that gets along with almost everyone, and it becomes clear that there was much more to capture about Willem than just the cello.

We were also looking for variety, so the session didn’t focus solely on music. We visited all corners of Detroit using the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit Institute of Arts, graffiti, architecture, and downtown streets to create very different looks for his session. That’s one of the reasons I love photographing seniors in Detroit. A single session can can quickly go from classic to urban without feeling like you’re repeating the same picture over and over.

Want senior pictures that actually mean something? I’ll help you create a session that feels like you. Let’s plan something that tells your story and highlights where you’re headed next.

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