Being that I was already very involved in Bnos Rabbeinu High School, and that I was a professional photographer, it was natural for the school to ask me if I would do the annual senior photos. Of course I accepted, although because of the low income level of most families involved, I set very reasonable prices.
I found this work to be very rewarding, both professionally and personally. On the professional side, it was a way to get lots of practice posing and executing individual portraits. On the personal side, I knew all these girls since I had taught them, and I also knew that their senior portrait is important to them — first, because the share it with tons of friends outside of the school, and second, because they very often use it as a “shidduch” (match) photo when they are looking to get married a couple of years later.
I found that I did, in fact, have the ability to create very good portraits. I also discovered that this was sometimes a way to improve a girl’s self-image and self-esteem, and that was very gratifying.
After several years of doing senior portraits for Bnos Rabbeinu, I was contacted by another local Chicago Girl’s high school, Bais Yaakov. This was a much larger school, and thus a much bigger job (although I discovered that the girls there were not as much into sharing their photos with as many friends.
Although there were hundreds of portraits done over the years, I am including just a sampling of what I would consider some my better ones. Also letters of recommendation from both schools for my use when I re-located to Florida in 2017.
As I noted above, there were times when I was able to help with self-esteem. The following two images were taken just minutes apart. The first is the way this girl showed up for her senior portrait — and the way she saw herself. After taking that shot, I asked her to let down her hair, and to not smile (because when she smiles her eyes squint). The next shot became her senior portrait — and she saw herself in a way that she didn’t imagine (as did her parents). I used these shots in a piece I wrote for a professional photography blog site, which I titled “Why we are photographers.”
Letters of recommendation received from both schools:
