Trucks, Black Ties, and Pickleball: A Grand Rapids Senior Session
Senior Portraits
Some seniors have one signature look. Boston had three — and every one of them was completely him. We started on top of a downtown Grand Rapids parking garage next to his lifted FJ Cruiser, moved into a classic buttoned-up look around the city’s glass and greenery, and closed out golden hour on a pickleball court he practically lives on. Somewhere in the middle, we made room for one of his family’s dachshunds too — a tradition his older brothers started before him.
The FJ, Downtown
Boston wanted his session to start with the vehicle he’d spent so much time building out, so we headed to the top level of a downtown parking garage right as a storm rolled in. The moody sky did half the work for us, but leaning a lifted, custom FJ Cruiser into the frame doesn’t hurt either. If you’ve got a project car, a boat, or anything else you’ve put real time into, this is exactly the kind of detail worth building a session around — it makes the photos feel like yours instead of anyone else’s.
A Classic Look Around the City
From there we swapped into something more classic — a crisp dress shirt and tie, worked into the pockets of stone, glass, and greenery tucked around downtown Grand Rapids. It’s proof you don’t need a single dramatic backdrop to get variety: a courtyard, a stairwell, and a stretch of sidewalk within a few blocks of each other gave us three completely different frames, all still true to a clean, classic look.
Pickleball
We closed out the evening at the pickleball court — a first for me, and a perfect fit for Boston, who plays constantly. Golden hour light coming in through the net and fence gave us some of my favorite frames of the whole session, action shots included. If there’s a sport, hobby, or hangout spot that’s genuinely part of your week, it’s worth working into your session. It says more about who you are than another studio backdrop ever could.
A Family Tradition
No Shoham senior session would be complete without one of the family’s dachshunds along for part of it. Both of Boston’s older brothers posed with the dogs for their own senior portraits, so there was never really a question of whether Boston would carry on the tradition. It’s a small detail, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that makes a senior session feel like it belongs to your family instead of just being a photo shoot.
