Instagram is providing us with a way to continually connect with photos, and The Imagery is adapting by providing the Senior Experience with lots of "Instagram-able" images. This should not, however, sacrifice the need or desire for printed images. The 2 can still co-exist as a part of your HS Senior portrait package.
Instagram images have a different feel and purpose than a photo that will be on the wall and stand the test of time. Our ultimate goal as a studio is to provide the parents with something that they can cherish on their walls in the absence of their senior, who is now beginning a new independent life. The Senior Photo is celebration of completion of one stage of life and the commencement of another. We want the photo that is chosen for this to be something that will last for the current family, and for future generations to come as they look back on their grandma, great-grandma, and beyond in their "high school" years. The only way to effectively preserve an image for future generations is to print the image, and hopefully print it in such a way that is archival, mounted, and hung on a wall to be enjoyed daily.
With the importance of print fully understood, it is still true that in our digital lives, Instragram photos will play a huge role.... but they will not be visible to future generations. As long as Instagram is not used as the sole preserver of memories, but of MOMENTS, fleeting MOMENTS, to celebrate immediately with friends and family. You post, and then the post is forgotten, lost in piles and piles of photos that surpass one after the next on your timeline.
For us as professional photographers, Instagram is an absolute necessity in order to keep up with our clients need and promise of consistent sharing of everything with their social circle. If a HS Senior has been used to sharing all that they do on their phone, it would not be normal for them to suddenly NOT share their set of professionally done photos, so as a professional studio we still need to honor that need.
In listening to our clients, some, not all, want to be able to automatically share their session experience with their friends, so we have come up with a few digital solutions that help them to share and share alike as many "Instagood" images as they want, without compromising the integrity of the professional studio and also the integrity of our work. How?
Shoot differently throughout the session, and include video snippets.
Something that we are promising to do during each session, that we began in 2017 and will continue more so in 2018 for the Class of 2019... is shoot for "mom and dad" and then also shoot "for Instagram". We do this making sure that we get all the traditionally done portrait angles and framing in camera that we know is sale-able for a wall print, and then taking time during each pose scenario to grab a few more shots that focus on a more 'magazine' style look. What is 'magazine' style? I've included a few examples below that have the look and feel of something that could be in an advertisement, or, on Instagram. The images need to evoke emotion, be more artistic in nature, and create that feeling of "Wow" or excitement, more so than images that Mom and Dad will purchase for their private collection.