Cranbrook Photography

Cranbrook Photography Sessions

Cranbrook House and Gardens in West Bloomfield, Michigan is a beautiful setting for portrait photography. Located on the grounds of Cranbrook Educational Community, this historic estate offers breathtaking scenery that’s perfect for portrait photography.

Senior Pictures at Cranbrook

For many high school seniors looking for a unique and special spot to take their senior pictures, Cranbrook is the perfect destination. This historic estate offers a breathtaking natural backdrop with its sprawling scenic gardens, iconic artwork, impressive architectural features. With a variety of gardens ranging from formal to natural, stunning architecture, and majestic views, you’re sure to have richly diverse backgrounds for your senior pictures.

The best part is you are no longer required to be a student at Cranbrook Schools to use the House Grounds and Garden for a portrait session. Of course, they charge a fee to use the property, but anyone can schedule a Cranbrook photography session for portraits now! But, please keep in mind that the grounds are a National Historic Landmark. In addition, there are students and residents on campus, so portrait photography is only permitted in select areas with strict photography policies in place.

NOTE: Cranbrook will often make special accommodations for current Cranbrook students and families.

Cranbrook has a number of terms and conditions that must be met to hold portrait sessions on their grounds. Some of more notable items include:

• Session length must be limited to no more than 2 hours
• Use of props (e.g., candles, fireworks, sparklers, lanterns, fog machines, smoke bombs, balloons, rice, confetti, glitter, flower peddles, etc.) is not permitted
• Use of large props and decorations are not permitted
• Posing in roadways or other vehicle thoroughfares is prohibited
• Cranbrook reserves the right to relocate a session to another area on campus if necessary
• Maximum group size is limited to 12 people for photography sessions
• Grounds are only available June through October for photography sessions
• No indoor areas are available for photography sessions
• Cranbrook does not offer an area for outfit changes

If you would like to schedule a session for senior pictures at Cranbrook, we would love to work with you! Please feel free to contact us online or call 313-883-9500 to discuss availability and location ideas. We can’t wait to work with you!

Excellent Experience

We had an Excellent experience with Paul! Super professional, customizing the shoot for our wants/needs of our senior & us as parents- we found that happy medium sweet spot that worked for everyone. We & our senior were very happy! We found Paul from a ‘best senior pictures in Michigan’ search on Facebook & found him Right away! Looked through a lot of photos on socials & on his site along with Lots of helpful guides & reading materials on his page about ideas, locations & sample pictures for senior photos. It’s clear that Paul’s specialty is senior pictures & that he loves what he does! He really understands the perfect settings & lighting & angles! Very experienced! We as a family can really appreciate & recognize great photography work & Paul’s a wealth of knowledge on the subject for sure! There was lots on his site to help you prepare for your session, plan outfits, coordinate best weather dates, locations, & times etc. He was very accommodating to us! These things were all super important to us so when we found his pricing to be quite reasonable, given his level of skill, expertise & accolades, we booked him right away!

Jacie D.