Tag Archives: High School Senior Photos

We have been saying for a long time that it would be fun to visit our seniors when they go away to college, so this year we launched the first annual Frameable Faces Campus Tour! We started out with a trip to East Lansing to visit our Frameable Spartans, and we had a great time!

Frameables at "El Az"!

As usual this get together centered around food. We arrived on campus and picked up Lainie, Jessica, and Chelsea at their apartments/dorms and headed over to El Azteco which is a Mexican dining favorite at Michigan State for the famous Topopo Salad. We had lots of laughs and it was great to catch up! If you enjoy a good salad and you haven’t had one of these you are missing out….

Two Topopos! Yum!

Ally with some of her favorite Frameable Spartans!

Doug with Jessica, Chelsea and Lainie

We then walked a few blocks over to Insomnia Cookies – one of the best concepts ever. Cookies served warm and even delivered until 2:45 AM – wish we would have had this when we were in college….

The Insomnia Cookies didn't last long...

Each one of these girls were responsible for some our best “iconic” shots of all time – Lainie actually IN the water with a dress on, Jessica in the snow in a white dress, and Chelsea on the pink background on a huge canvas that hung in our studio for a long time. Three of our all time favorites! All in all it was a great night and we hope to do this every year! Next stop, Ann Arbor….!

Frameable Flashbacks! – Chelsea

January 5, 2013

by Doug Cohen

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Welcome to our second edition of Frameable Flashbacks! This is where we celebrate and check in with our former high school seniors to see what they are up to – sort of our version of “where are they now?” The first one we did with Hannah Iwrey was a lot of fun, and now we check in with West Bloomfield High School Class of 2011 graduate Chelsea Cage!

West Bloomfield Photographer, Frameable Faces Photography

One of Chelsea's senior pictures

Chelsea brought us her older brother Chad for his senior pics when she was a junior and we recruited her to be a spokesmodel. She has been a huge part of our studio and of our lives over the past few years. She literally helped lay the foundation here and rarely do you get a chance to meet someone as beautiful inside and out as Chelsea – she is the genuine article and she is like family to us! We love when she comes back to visit and this time we snapped a couple of quick shots including one of her holding her canvas that used to hang on the wall of the studio.

Chelsea with....Chelsea!

Here’s what she had to say:

Frameable Faces: So what are you up to?

Chelsea: I’m currently studying at Michigan State University, and I love being a Spartan!!! I’m a teaching assistant, and I’m the publicity chair of the National Association of Black Accountants (MSU Chapter).

Frameable Faces: What are your future plans with your studies (what do you want to be when you grow up)?
Chelsea: I want to go into business; either accounting or supply chain management. I want to work for a Fortune 500 company.

Chelsea and Doug catch up!

Frameable Faces: What do you remember most about your Frameable Faces experience?
Chelsea: What I love most about my Frameable Faces is the relationship I built with Doug and Ally :-). It’s nice to know that I’m always welcome to stop by the studio and hang out! And having my picture in the window for a year was pretty cool!

Another beautiful shot from Chelsea's senior session!

Should You Take Photos In The Snow…..?

December 21, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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Going outside during the winter in the cold and snow to take photos isn’t always on everyone’s priority list, but think about it – a snowy backdrop can be beautiful! Sure you may have to be cold for a little bit but the results are often worth it.

Well “thankfully” as of this writing it is December 21, 2012, the world is still here, and along with the continued existence of the world we have the existence of (a little) snow here in Michigan for the first time this winter! This is what got us thinking about the snow and we have indeed had some fun photo sessions in the snow over the years so we thought in honor of old man winter we would post a few together!

So, should you take photos in the snow? YES!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow……

West Bloomfield Photographer, Frameable Faces Photography

Class of 2013 Frameables! Part 3!

December 20, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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The spectacular class of 2013 continues! Fall has given way to winter but the fall colors lingered in some cases for longer than we thought. We still have a few on tap and maybe we’ll get some good snowy scenes, but for now here is the latest round of young inspiring frameables who mean so much to us! Before we know it they’ll be graduating, moving on and we’ll be photographing the class of 2014!

Frameable Faces Photography, Senior Pictures

Frameable Flashbacks! – Hannah

November 21, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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Have we mentioned we love our high school seniors? It lights up our day when they come back to visit and as I’m writing this it’s the day before Thanksgiving which means many of our past seniors are home from college! Current Michigan State student and former spokesmodel (not to mention North Farmington Raider alum) Hannah Iwrey spent the morning here with us yesterday and I snapped a droid photo of her and Ally before she left.

Ally and Hannah during yesterday's visit! (Photo taken with a Droid)

Affectionately known here as “HBM” (for Hannah Banana Montana), she has become like a member of the family. Normally I would Instagram a pic like this, but alas Hannah has a BlackBerry and there is no Instagram BlackBerry app so she isn’t on Instagram. I thought about posting it to Twitter, but it seemed an even better idea might be to write a blog post about the visit and so the idea for “Frameable Flashbacks” was born. Kind of a “where are they now” feature as we remember the great photo sessions and great times we had and check in with our seniors to see what exciting things they are up to.

We gave her three questions to answer for us after she left and here they are! Enjoy, and when you’re done enjoy the 2 “iconic” images from her senior session back in 2010 at the bottom of the page!

Frameable Faces: So what are you up to?

Hannah: As much as I know you’re cringing about this topic, I go to Michigan State and am currently studying to be a Professional Writer. I’m in my second year and much to any other Spartan’s dismay, I’m still 100% a Wolverine fan! I spend a lot of my time working on a short story that’s already 15 pages long, and another collection of stories based on my experiences in the summer camping world. When I’m not up at school, I’m more than likely sitting in the FF Studio with my BFF Reflecto and hating on Doug for his hats, or being made fun of for the way I pronounce certain words. Sarry aboot that, eh.

Frameable Faces: What are your future plans with your studies (what do you want to be when you grow up)?

Hannah: Like I said, I’ve been eagerly working on those two writing projects, and plan to further develop some other unfinished pieces for my writing portfolio. My dream plan for the future would be writing children’s books or young adult novels. If that fails, I think I may have a promising future as a Sassmaster. I mean, I already have so many pairs of Sassy pants…

Frameable Faces: What do you remember most about your Frameable Faces experience?

Hannah: I really don’t know how you can ask someone to pin-point just ONE great thing about being a part of the Frameable Faces Family! Wow look at me and my alliteration, maybe this whole writing thing will work out. I love the energy that both Ally and Doug bring to sessions. I was super nervous to shoot my spokesmodel session during my junior year, but once the awesome music started from Doug’s endless library and Ally snapped the camera, it all fell into place. I also really loved going on location to some awesome places in the area, truly unforgettable. But I’d have to say my ultimate favorite aspect of FF is how welcoming the studio always feels when I drop by for a visit, I’m proud to have earned a nickname!

West Bloomfield Photographer, Frameable Faces Photography, Fine Art Photography

Class of 2013 Frameables! Part 2

October 25, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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Back in September we posted some Class of 2013 Frameables and promised that there would be more to come, so as promised here is Part 2!!! What a great year this has been and the fall colors of Michigan have been beautiful! We have enjoyed each senior who has come through our doors – more great sessions, great stories, great friendships being built. Our sometimes-rogue reflector “Reflecto” has even been moved to start tweeting largely because of the fun he’s had on the senior sessions (although he probably won’t admit it).

Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this new round of photos of these inspiring young Frameables!

Senior Pictures, Frameable Faces Photography Frameable Faces Photography, West Bloomfield Photographer, Senior Pictures Frameable Faces Photography, Senior Pictures, Metro Detroit Photographer Frameable Faces, West Bloomfield Photographer, Photography Senior Pictures, West Bloomfield Photographer, Frameable Faces Photography

Frameable Faces For Seniors! “Behind the Scenes” – Picking Up Proofs

October 15, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – we LOVE our seniors! Photographing seniors is one of the most enjoyable things we do. Ally and I both enjoyed high school and we attended North Farmington High School together. While we knew each other and I was only one class ahead of her, we did not date until after college (it’s actually a fun story). Because we went to high school together and only live a few minutes away from where we grew up we’ve always been able to relate to each other’s high school experience and it’s never really that far away. Maybe that’s why we enjoy high school photos so much!

We thought it would be helpful to give some details here about our process for taking senior pictures for those considering our studio, and we’ve included a fun behind-the-scenes video of a senior picking up her proofs. This can also give you some ideas for what you may want to look for in a studio for senior pictures if you don’t live in the Metro Detroit area. There are 5 main steps in our process of a senior photo session:

Consultation. We always meet ahead of time with our seniors and usually a parent so that we can get to know each other. We talk about the upcoming session and plan it out based on the senior’s vision for the pictures. We discuss style, location, clothing, colors, hair, makeup (for the girls), life, school, plans for after high school and whatever else is on their mind.
Photo session. 3 hours of anything goes – often starting with a yearbook headshot and then moving along to fire, water, trees, meadows, alleyways, buildings, pets, friends…. and almost every session has a story. From a small twister hitting the mall during a shoot to a cat hunting down a chipmunk right in front of us in a park, lots of crazy stuff can happen and often does! We have a ton of fun during our sessions – lots of laughs.
Sneak peeks. We usually post a couple images from the session on facebook (with a model release OF COURSE – be wary of photographers who will post your image for their commercial purposes without permission), sometimes a behind-the-scenes shot from the session on Instagram as well as the occasional tweet. We really enjoy seeing all the love that our seniors get from their friends with likes, favorites, comments and tweets online about the pictures from their session.
Proof pick up. This is always really exciting – lots of anticipation to see the images which depending on the season can be anywhere from 2 – 4 weeks after the session. Our seniors get a physical proof book which they get to keep and we present these to them with an in-person slide show set to music on the big screen in the studio. It’s a very special two minutes for everyone. This is the part of the process we have highlighted here in this video clip of a proof pick up!

The 5th and final step is simply to place the order – wallets for friends, wall portraits for the family room, prints for the grandparents, pictures for the office, coffee table books for the living room… Plenty of options!

All in all it’s one of the best parts of our “job” – and it certainly doesn’t feel like a job at all.

Peace, Love, Spokesmodels, and Frameable Faces!

April 16, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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We had our second annual high school senior spokesmodel party yesterday for the Frameable Faces class of 2013 and it was a blast! Our group of 11 had been looking forward to this for a while and to finally see all the spokesmodels in the studio together wearing Frameable Faces t-shirts and having fun is one of the real highlights of the year for us. Each year we try to take it up one more notch and we definitely did this year…

When the spokesmodels arrived yesterday all of their t-shirts were laid out on a table with their spokesmodel cards which they can pass out to their friends.

Senior Spokesmodels, Metro Detroit Photographer, Frameable Faces Photography

Frameable Faces t-shirts!

Once everyone arrived and introduced themselves to each other they started exchanging cards and I think some sort of card game broke out… hilarious!

Next was a special presentation – this year we added the spokesmodel video which includes video clips and images from each of the sessions – take a look!

Frameable Faces Spokesmodels Class of 2013!

After raucous applause we got down to the business of taking pictures for this year’s composite photo which will be revealed soon so stay tuned! We can’t wait to see the results of this – in the meantime here is last year’s from the class of 2012 which adorns one of our studio windows as a huge mural!

We were about to eat dinner next but everyone decided that they had to first put on our tutus for some bonus fun – what is it with seniors and tutus? Meanwhile one of our spokesmodels (Kyle) had to leave early leaving Donovan as the only boy – I don’t think he minded and things got pretty funny as you can see by clicking the link below… at this point Samantha hadn’t arrived yet so this is everyone minus Kyle and Samantha….

Spokesmodel Silliness!

At that point we ate some pasta and salad for dinner, and then we finished off the night with the piéce de résistance – the Just Baked cupcake tower with a Frameable Faces cake on top!!! The Chubby Hubby, Red Velvet, and Grumpy Cake cupcakes were the first to go…. YUM!!!!

All in all it was a great night and we are so happy to have these amazing young people representing our studio! As someone said during the party, “Peace Love and Frameable Faces”!!!!

Is she stunning or what???

August 21, 2008

by allycohen

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So yesterday I spent four, YES FOUR, hours shooting L. She’s an unbelivable senior model and I had the absolute BEST time photographing her. I’ve officially made up my mind…Seniors are my favorite subjects to photograph!

L had another session right before mine and we agreed that we’d meet at her house to go over some outfits. We picked a bunch of great ones and we were off. We went to a construction site and the workers there were all about watching us work instead of doing theirs! I got to even shoot at my old high school, since she’s a student there and captain of the Pom squad! OH! I almost forgot to add that she’s a 4.0 student AND gorgeous, too! Talk about having it all!!!

I definitely have my favorites, and there’s still more that I have to complete, but I thought I’d start you all off with these few. If you want to see the rest, add me as a friend on Facebook (Ally Levine Cohen) with a note letting me know who you are and browse away!!

Anyone else wanting to be a senior model? Let me know! I’m putting together a great Senior Rep program, too, if you’re interested in chatting about that, too!

So, enjoy!

Until next time,

Ally