The Seniorologie Best of the Year Awards is a chance to celebrate the work of senior photographers all over the world.  In order to determine the best of the year photos, I get help from some of the industry’s top senior photographers.  Below is a feature on one of the three judges from this year’s awards contest.

Today’s judge feature is with Hope Taylor!  Hope is an amazing photographer located in Charleston, South Carolina who specializes in weddings and high school seniors.  she started her business when she was a high school senior herself and has an amazing story.  She has a huge heart for helping others and I am so honored to call her a friend!  Read more about Hope below and be sure to follow her on social!!

I began my business as a 17 year old high school student – and decided to take the leap to go full time instead of attend a university when I was only 18 years old. I’ve now been a full-time photographer for almost 7 years and photograph seniors and weddings in addition to educating other photographers on how to build succesful businesses!

Because I began my business when I was a senior in high school, photographing my peers for their senior portraits was the most natural transition for me! I fell in love with photographing seniors, and always had a love for teaching and speaking. As my business and my audience grew, my desire to teach grew as well. I hosted my first workshop when I was only 18, and now speak at sold-out conferences all over the country!

7 years

About 50%

Because I photograph both seniors and weddings, I have different reasons that I love each! My passion for senior photography stems from my love for instilling confidence in young women. I love taking them away from a stressful season of their life and reminding them that they are loved, seen and BEAUTIFUL. From a more technical perspective, I love the ability to get creative with my senior images – the possibilities are endless with styling, posing, locations, etc!

That you don’t have to do what anyone else is doing in order to be succesful. I looked up to so many different senior photographers in the industry when I began, and I believed the lie that I had to do exactly what they were doing in order to succeed. So, I started trying to do what they were doing…and it just didn’t work. I wish someone had told me early on that the best way to be succesful is embrace what makes you DIFFERENT – with your business model, style of shooting, client experience, social media – everything!

For a senior session:
5D Mark lll
50mm 1.4
85mm 1.2
35mm 1.4
White reflector
Extra memory cards
Oil blotting wipes for skin
Lipstick touch-ups

Sigma 50mm 1.4 ART

LIGHT! I am a huge lover of glowy, dreamy light. If you can use light well in your images…it’s a game-changer!

There are so many senior photographers who inspire me, but I think the ones I admire the most are the ones who provide an amazing EXPERIENCE for their clients. I love watching the behind-the-scenes from a shoot on something like Instagram stories, then getting to see the final product afterwards!

I have three courses that I offer senior photographers which can be found on my website at HopeTaylor.com and I would love to let everyone know about my freebie, the senior questionnaire I send to all my senior clients which can be found at the link below!!
https://hopetaylor.clickfunnels.com/seniorquestionnairedoYZXzny
To find out more about Hope and all her amazing free education as well as online course and in-person workshops, check out her links below…
Instagram – @hopetaylor

 

Judge Feature – Hope Taylor

Reply...

heck, yes i do!

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