Normally we focus strictly on high school seniors.  However, the senior market can include girls and guys that are also seniors in college!  What a great market to get into!

Micah Folsom of Micah Folsom Photography submitted this fun photo session of college seniors that are also sorority sisters!  What a great way to remember their friendship and their fun college experience!!

This session took place on the campus of Oklahoma State University and was for 18 girls!  What great inspiration for a large group with tons of fun poses!!  Check it out below and read what Micah had to share about this session!  You can see more of Micah’s work here.  Thanks for sharing Micah!

What was your inspiration for the photo shoot?

Definitely the girls! They’ve spent their college years together at Oklahoma State as Alpha Chi Omega sorority sisters so doing having their session on the OSU campus was perfect. We had only talked about what the game plan was for the actual session a couple times since we were never quite sure how many of the girls were going to for sure be there. So I had a some ideas going into it but most of the session evolved from their spontaneous, super fun personalities and thinking things up on the fly!

What is different about a best friend shoot versus a single senior shoot?

No one will bring out a girls real personality like her best friend! So while often times it takes a bit for a senior to come out of her shell when she’s doing her session alone, these girls were comfortable and ready to have fun right from the start. I loved that!! And what better than 17 best friends there to have fun with?! It was crazy town— and I loved every minute! 

What are some poses that work well with best friends?

My favorite best friend poses for girls are always the close cuddly ones with arms intertwined and heads close together. BFF’s get you through the thick and thin— we love these girls! So I love for that to come out in their images. 

How often do you do best friend photo shoots for seniors?

I’ve only done 4 sessions that were of best friends but they all turned out awesome. The thing I come across the most is that each senior (girls especially) wants her session to be unique and one of a kind. Their senior session only happens once so they want it to be AWESOME and unlike anyone else’s! So I’ve found that the key to the perfect bf session is location. Especially for my high school seniors, I want to get some bf shots but have enough spots and different locations for their session that their individual shots will still be unique to them. 

Where did this photo shoot take place?

Oklahoma State University campus grounds

Did you collaborate with this senior to come up with the clothing and/or concept for this shoot?

I was only talking and planning with 1 of these girls. So we knew that we needed to keep things fairly simple since there were going to be so many different combos if we weren’t careful and things could start looking a hot mess in no time! But my fabulous {college} senior was the one that decided on sticking with black and white clothing with pops of color in their accessories. And they were all little fashionistas so it turned out awesome!

What camera, lens and equipment were used for this shoot?

I shot this session with my Nikon D700 and a combo of the 50mm 1.4 and the 24-70mm 2.8 lenses. 

What time of day were these taken?

We started this session around 6:00 in the evening and finished up a little before 8:00 right before the sun went down. 

Can you share any post-processing techniques used when editing this session?

I do all my initial color correcting in ACR {tweak the white balance, exposure, and contrast a bit} then pull them into Photoshop CS5 and finish up with final retouching and any actions. For these girls, I created a batch edit from Florabella’s Colorplay collection. 

What is your favorite thing about this session?

My favorite thing is definitely how we captured their fun personalities and the dynamic of their relationships together. I wanted them to be able to look back at these images 30 years from now when they have their kids and grandkids around them and remember how much fun their college years were with their sorority sisters! 

What do you want this session to convey about this senior and about your senior photography style?

I’m all for the stellar posed shots for my seniors, but I also love the candid in between shots of realness. I always try to create situations or do some fun things where my seniors can forget about the camera for a second and just have fun showing me who they really are!  

What is one tip you can share with other photographers regarding photographing best friends?

I would have to say to take advantage of the fact that someone is there with you that knows this other senior far better than most! Use that and have the bf do or say funny things that will bring out her quirkiness and they will let loose in no time and give you those awesome shots that you’ve got planned out in that creative brain of yours!