Faith’s summer senior portrait session in Ann Arbor was the perfect combination of natural, timeless, and effortlessly beautiful. We spent the evening exploring Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor, Michigan, taking advantage of its gorgeous greenery, wooded trails, and soft summer light.

Nichols Arboretum is one of my favorite locations for senior pictures in Ann Arbor because there is so much variety within one location. The Arb features nearly 3.5 miles of trails along with gardens, wooded areas, open landscapes, and access to the Huron River, which makes it possible to create several completely different looks during one senior session.

After exploring the natural beauty of Nichols Arboretum, we headed into downtown Ann Arbor for the second half of Faith’s senior portrait session. I love incorporating multiple locations into senior sessions because it gives each gallery variety while allowing us to showcase different sides of a senior’s personality. Downtown Ann Arbor gave us a completely different look with brick streets, stairways, city architecture, and an urban backdrop. Faith changed into jeans and a white top for a more casual look, and we incorporated something especially meaningful to her—basketball.

Senior portraits should tell the story of who you are during your senior year, so I always encourage my seniors to incorporate the sports, hobbies, interests, or activities that have been an important part of their high school experience. Faith brought along her basketball and varsity jacket, giving us the opportunity to create senior pictures that felt personal to her while still maintaining the timeless, elevated style of her overall gallery.

For the final portraits of the evening, I brought out my off-camera flash to create a more dramatic, editorial look against the colorful Michigan sunset. These ended up being some of my favorite photographs from her entire session. The combination of the city setting, sunset sky, and flash created such a beautiful contrast from the light and airy portraits we photographed earlier at Nichols Arboretum.

Faith’s session is such a great example of how much variety we can create during a customized Ann Arbor senior portrait session. From lush greenery and natural light at Nichols Arboretum to basketball portraits, downtown architecture, and sunset flash photography, her gallery feels unique to her rather than looking like a collection of traditional senior pictures.