Blog - Stephanie Friedman

Long Center – Austin Senior Photo Session

by admin | Feb 25, 2024 | photography, seniors

Austin skyline, visual arts studies and rooftop garage views

It’s not every Class of 2024 McCallum Senior I photograph – that I can also claim to have been at their baby shower – but Evie is in that small group.

Baby Shower Games: Guessing what Evie’s name was going to be (Pilar was my vote)

Or have a photo of them as a baby with their dad.

So it felt like a full circle moment to get to take pictures her Senior Year of High School as well.

We chose the Long Center as her location to get downtown views as well as an industrial vibe from the parking garage.

As part of my pre-planning Senior questionnaire, I asked about her High School interests. And then made sure to include her painting supplies to highlight her work in the Visual Arts.

If you’re also interested in having your Senior Photo Session at the Long Center, check out my essential tips below.

Tips for Senior Photo Sessions at the Long Center

EVENTS: Check the Long Center events page first to ensure there won’t be a conflict with your session date
PARKING: Long Center Garage has ample parking (as well as lots of great backdrops)
TIME OF DAY: I prefer “just before sunset” golden hour sessions to get the best light on the Austin Skyline in the background
LOCATIONS: I usually start at the Long Center Rotunda (love all the architectural details and color palette), and then either move towards the parking garage rooftop for an urban vibe or go towards Butler Park for a nature setting
OUTFIT CHANGES: Be prepared to change outfits in your car in case the Long Center is closed to visitors during your session.

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Please check out some of my favorite images below and contact me if you’d like to book your own Senior session in Austin, Texas. Explore more Senior sessions like Evie’s on my blog.

1. What do you plan to do with your Senior Photos? We plan to send them out as graduation annoucements, and we plan to send the Grandparents larger prints.

2. What advice would you give to other High School Seniors planning their photo session? Go to a location you are familiar with, just be yourself and be comfortable. Don’t bring too many changes of clothes.

3. Anything you’d like to add about working with Stephanie Friedman Photography? Stephanie has the ability to make anyone feel comfortable. She captured our daughter’s spirit and spark so well. What a gift to have the same talented photographer for our daughter’s baby photos and senior photos! She is a true professional and made the entire process seamless.

Interested in Booking a Photo Session?

Contact Me

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Circle C Trails – Family Photo Session

by admin | Feb 15, 2024 | family, photography

Hiking around, climbing trees and stick fights

When it’s time to choose a location for your Family Photo Session, one of the questions I ask is: “What part of town do you live in?”

And because of all their recent long distance travel for kids’ sports and other extracurricular activities filling their weekends, this family wanted a spot close to home.

Knowing they wanted a nature setting and lived in Circle C, it was an easy choice on where to go. We met out at Circle C Metropolitan Park and explored the trails and creek area for their Family pictures.

And since it is a park after all, besides posing, there was tree climbing, kicking of soccer balls and stick battles.

Tips for Family Photo Sessions at Circle C Park

PARKING: I like to park in the first tiny lot you come to when you enter (though if it fills up, you can continue on and park near the sports fields – which is also where the park restrooms are)
TRAILS: From the parking lot, you can go left or right on the trails. Both directions have scenic backdrops. There’s also a small wooded area down by Slaughter Creek that runs through the Park.
BLUEBONNETS: This park is known for having lovely patches of bluebonnets in late March/early April.
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR: You might have to dodge some dog poop, cactus and sticky burrs when going off the trail

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Please check out some of my favorite images below and contact me if you’d like to book your own Family photo session in Austin, Texas.

What prompted you to have this photo session? With a busy family life, it can be difficult to make the time to take family pictures, but they are so important. We haven’t taken family pics in years.

What do you plan to do with your digital photos? I plan to print off the pictures and hang them on the wall!

How did you choose your location for your session? I chose the location because it’s a park that we visit on a weekly basis. And there is nothing more beautiful than nature.

What advice would you give to others planning a similar Family photo session? Be spontaneous and be prepared for anything! Let your kids be creative and think about what types of pics / poses they want to do!

Anything else you’d like to add about working with Stephanie Friedman Photography? Stephanie has immense patience and knows how to go with the flow!

Interested in Booking a Photo Session?

Contact Me

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Extended Family Photos – A Light Collab Studio

by admin | Feb 14, 2024 | extended family, photography

Celebrating Extended Family, an 80th birthday and a 50th wedding anniversary

If you’re planning an Extended Family session during a Texas Winter, it’s good to consider indoor locations. Then you don’t have to worry about cold, wind, or bad midday lighting.

After learning that most of this family lived in North Austin (and some family members were traveling in from other cities up North), I suggested the A Light Collab studio in Pflugerville as our location.

With various couches and neutral backgrounds to choose from, we were able to get lots of different combinations of family members.

Tips for Extended Family Photo Sessions at A Light Collab studio:

COMFORT: This indoor studio has plenty of seating, so if you’re rotating family members in and out of shots, the people “off-set” have comfortable places to sit and chat together, either downstairs or upstairs.
LIGHTING: You can rent continuous lighting with your studio fee. This gave me soft, even lighting that covered all nine family members.
DISTANCE: If your clients are based in North Austin, this studio is convenient to travel to with plenty of easy parking out front.
POSING: My top tip for posing large groups is to try and create triangles with positions so your eye moves around the frame. Also – to make sure there are points of connection between each family member.

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Please check out some of my favorite images below and contact me if you’d like to book your own family photo session in or around Austin, Texas.

What prompted you to have this photo session? We wanted to have family photos now. The occasions that really pushed us to do this is my mother’s 80^th birthday, plus my parents’ 50^th wedding anniversary!
What do you plan to do with your digital photos? I am going to have 8×10’s printed of the whole family, plus some 8×10’s of just my husband, me, and our kids, and I’ll see what other pictures I’d like to print. (probably some of the ones of my kids together) Additionally, I’m going to use some kind of online photo service to make a big collage (like 2’x3′) to print on canvas to hang in our living room. We might also use them for our Christmas card for 2024.
How did you choose your location for your session? We chose inside (Stephanie chose the place for indoors) because the weather is so unpredictable at this time of year.
What advice would you give to others planning a similar Extended Family photo session? Try to choose 5 colors that everyone wears some combination of. I tried to have us all wear brown/tan/khaki/cream/blue.
Anything else you’d like to add about working with Stephanie Friedman Photography? We were in a rush to get this done, because my brother and his family were in town only on this weekend. Stephanie was so flexible with the scheduling, and so quick to get back to me. She’s very easy to work with. She was also friendly, warm, and professional.

Interested in Booking a Photo Session?

Contact Me

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Seaholm District – Family Photo Session

by admin | Feb 13, 2024 | family, photography

Power Plant photos, Power Picket posing, and Butterfly Bridge walking

This Family choose the Seaholm District in downtown Austin for their Winter Photo Session. You may recognize the oldest daughter from her recent Senior Photo Session.

I always like to meet outside of Trader Joes so we can start with the Power Plant building and then work our way over to the Power Picket colorful concrete pillars (made (by artists Nader Tehrani and Dan Gallagher of the art/architecture studio NADAAA).

Then we cross over the Butterfly Bridge, swing around to the ivy wall and end up back at Trader Joes for some shopping/parking validation. That’s my favorite photo route to take.

Tips for Family Photo Sessions in the Seaholm District

PARKING: Garage parking is available at the Central Library or Trader Joes nearby (you can also use the restrooms at the library if they’re open)
LOCATIONS: There’s a great variety of urban and nature backgrounds in a few block radius. Make sure you take advantage of all the different backdrops available.
TRAFFIC: This area is very popular, so expect other photo shoots to be happening at the same time and take your turn in front of popular spots. You will also have literal car traffic going across the Butterfly Bridge, so be careful when photographing there.

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Please check out some of my favorite images below and contact me if you’d like to book your own Family photo session in Austin, Texas.

What prompted you to have this photo session? We have not done a family photo for YEARS, and wanted to have a current one.

What do you plan to do with your digital photos? We will get some photos printed for our family, and we may use some for a holiday card. We will probably post on social media. It’s just awesome to have so many digital photos to choose from at the end of a session!

How did you choose your location for your session? We love the Seaholm district and the downtown vibe!

What advice would you give to others planning a similar photo session? Don’t stress about family outfit coordination. Follow Stephanie’s advice and have everyone choose what they want to wear so that everyone is happy.

Anything else you’d like to add about working with Stephanie Friedman Photography? Stephanie is so amazing! She’s very professional, yet very fun to work with. She makes everyone feel like a model! I love that she’s so quick in getting the gallery ready, yet all the photos are edited and gorgeous.

Interested in Booking a Photo Session?

Contact Me

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Highland District – Senior Photo Session

by admin | Feb 3, 2024 | photography, seniors

Highland Collective sculpture, St. John Encampment Commons at ACC and a sister add-on session

This Class of 2024 McCallum Senior met me at the Highland Collective for the start of her Senior Photo Session.

After getting lots of photos around the Little Picchu sculpture and the garage door murals, we headed to the St. John Encampment Commons on ACC’s Highland campus next.

We made sure to take photos that captured her Senior experience working on the high school newspaper staff. (Big thanks to her mom for creating the newspaper montage we used in the background).

Then her younger sister joined us for an add-on family mini-session. You can select to add-on one or multiple family members to the end of a regular Senior Photo Session when you book.

Tips for Senior Photo Sessions in the Highland District

WORKING HOURS: The Highland Collective is open 10am-5pm weekdays. For easier parking, visit this spot on the weekends. And make sure to pick a sunny day to get the light shining through the sculpture.
SCHOOL HOURS: Same idea for the St. John Encampment, visit the park area when school at ACC Highland is NOT in session to avoid crowds and get easier parking.
DISTANCE: The two spots are about a three minute drive apart – so easy to combine in one photo session.

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Please check out some of my favorite images below and contact me if you’d like to book your own Senior photo session in Austin, Texas.

What do you plan to do with your digital photos?

We weren’t super happy with the kids’ school pics this year. The school is using a new photo studio and I found their images a little too contrasty. Plus they do some unsolicited photo retouching — the pics just don’t look like our kids. For their senior pics, the pricing is expensive and the images are the standard canned poses. And for underclass pics, they just have far too many kids in such a small amount of time, that they don’t really have the time to get a natural expression out of Franny. So I was relieved to have this opportunity.

Since we didn’t get school pics this year, we plan to make print outs of the digital images for our family — Gavin’s parents, my sister, my dad’s wife. I also may use one of the images on Alice’s graduation announcement. And Alice is working on a journalism portfolio, so she may use one of her images for that.

What advice would you give to others planning a similar photo session?

Be prepared to walk around and move. Stephanie will likely not just stick to one location, but will instead try a variety to get the best images. You might want to bring things — props, clothing, etc — to help personalize the experience to who you are. Stephanie has a lot of really wonderful creative ideas for locations and poses, but she’s very flexible and collaborative. You should feel comfortable sharing any of your own ideas if you have them — even if it’s just a concept. She will try to work with you to figure something out that looks like you’re imagining.

Anything else you’d like to add about working with Stephanie Friedman Photography?

Stephanie is easy to talk to and works well with teens/young adults. She gives specific directions for posing and if needed, models the pose herself to better help them understand. She’s very positive throughout the process. She knows that kids like to see the pics as they are happening and she takes the time to share some of the images to keep them engaged and involved with the process. She’s also totally organized and mindful of time — something that the parent of two busy kids appreciates!

Interested in a Senior Photo Session?

Contact Me

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Austin skyline, visual arts studies and rooftop garage views

Tips for Senior Photo Sessions at the Long Center

Interested in Booking a Photo Session?

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Hiking around, climbing trees and stick fights

Tips for Family Photo Sessions at Circle C Park

Interested in Booking a Photo Session?

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Celebrating Extended Family, an 80th birthday and a 50th wedding anniversary

Tips for Extended Family Photo Sessions at A Light Collab studio:

Interested in Booking a Photo Session?

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Power Plant photos, Power Picket posing, and Butterfly Bridge walking

Tips for Family Photo Sessions in the Seaholm District

Interested in Booking a Photo Session?

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Highland Collective sculpture, St. John Encampment Commons at ACC and a sister add-on session

Tips for Senior Photo Sessions in the Highland District

Interested in a Senior Photo Session?

More From This Category

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