Senior moments

It was more than 35 years ago that John F. Burns sat his son Gary W. down at his Watertown studio and took the student's senior portrait.

It was submitted to editors of the Watertown High School yearbook, who rejected it. In those days, no outside portraits were allowed — only ones shot by the school's contracted photographer.

How things have changed.

It's getting down to the wire for Watertown High School yearbook adviser Emily G. Sprague as she helps students put together the senior portrait section of the yearbook, called The Annual.

The yearbook staff reviews the photos, which are submitted on discs and in hard copies of various sizes, and reject some. Those hands near the face are too distracting. Those clothes are too revealing, and why is his underwear showing? Many students have yet to submit photos as the Oct. 17 deadline creeps up.

"It's monumentally complicated," Mrs. Sprague said.

The 1972 Annual has no photo of Gary Burns.

"He didn't win the argument," Mr. Burns said of his father, who died in 2005. Mr. Burns said his dad continued his efforts to change the yearbook policies at Watertown and in other school districts, and eventually yearbook staffers agreed to accept outside portraits.

"It took a few years," he said.

But now, the professional photographer, who followed in his dad's footsteps, may be having the last laugh at his studio, Burns Photography, 429 Arsenal St. He shoots 300 to 500 senior portraits a year.

The senior portrait has become a rite of passage for high school seniors as they seek out photographers not affiliated with their schools to capture senior moments. It's one of the busiest times of the year for photographers. Costs of portrait packages can range from a little over $100 to $1,000 and above, local photographers said, for packages with a big variety of poses and finishes.

"When I was a senior, they took two shots: one of me smiling and the other when I wasn't," said Terry Simpson, co-owner of T&J Photography, Adams Center.

CAPTURING A STYLE

John Wayne, a Hammond photographer who also has a studio in Plattsburgh, says that with the rise of personal Web sites like Facebook and MySpace, young people have gotten used to letting others know about their interests and lifestyle at a glance.

"It's all about style now," he said.

Mr. Wayne often ends up taking two sets of photographs. "Mom and dad want traditional, and kids want something different."

He said the senior portrait is nothing to be underestimated.More students are including their photos with college applications, he said, and the photos can come in handy later as business portraits.

"It's a major turning point in their lives, and it's probably the last formal portrait of them until they get married," he said.

Mr. Burns said his subjects come from as far away as Malone. He said he is the only photographer in the north country who is a member of Senior Photographers International, an organization that brings together high school portrait photographers to share ideas and expertise.

He said that over the years, students have become more particular about how they want their portraits shot. "It gradually grew to more props; more things show a reflection of their personalities."

Mr. Burns has photographed students on beaches, on horses, with paintball gear and with sporting equipment and musical instruments. He said a father once transported a piano to his studio for his daughter's portrait.

"I had one person with pythons in here," he said. "He wasn't into Gothic or anything. He raised them for breeding."

OUT OF 'NEUTRAL'

Mrs. Sprague has been yearbook adviser at Watertown High School since 2001.

"There was a greater consistency in 2001," Mrs. Sprague said. "Most of the students posed with neutral backgrounds and were pretty traditional head and shoulder poses. Now they're more casual with a variety of backgrounds incorporated."

Over the years, the senior portrait has evolved into its own entity, separate from the yearbook shot.

"Senior portraits are not generally yearbook portraits," Mrs. Sprague said. "We have slightly different parameters as to what is acceptable for the yearbook."

That's what leads to many of the photo rejections by Mrs. Sprague as adviser. She prefers coats and ties for boys and a solid color top for girls to achieve a look of consistency.

"We recommend that students try to avoid choosing the more casual look of a T-shirt or hoody for their yearbook portrait," she said.

The adviser said shots of girls in strapless dresses and tops can be too provocative.

"Sadly in some cases, I have needed to emphasize that there be no visible underclothing and that the subject of the photo appear to be wearing clothing," she said.

But her recommendations aren't always followed. She paged through last year's yearbook and noticed a mishmash of portrait styles. One girl posed with a hat. There's a "glamour shot" of another girl next to a boy in a red T-shirt. Another girl wore a sweatband.

Mrs. Sprague, going through the portraits in the 1964 WHS yearbook, pointed out the general uniformity of yearbooks past by noting the girls. She said it's obvious the portraits were all taken by the same photographer.

"And it looks like the women borrowed the same hair," she said with a chuckle.

But today's young women pay lots of attention to their hair for senior portraits and generally spend a lot more for their photos than boys do.

Girls are just more into the pictures, photographers say.

"They get their hair done, and put on makeup," said Mr. Simpson. "They look nice. They guys just say, 'Here I am.'"

"Guys think it's stupid or whatever, and that can come out in the portrait," said Mr. Wayne.

To counter that, Mr. Wayne takes the young men outside for sports or nature shots. "It's something they relate to to get a smile," he said.

FILLING THE VOIDS

The different poses, backgrounds and settings of today's shots do more than just show the different tastes of students.

"I also think it's a reflection of the diverse population of our students," Mrs. Sprague said.

That includes economic diversity. For some families, a senior portrait is financially out of reach.

Mrs. Sprague said that out of 280 seniors in the Watertown High School Annual last year, 23 had no photos included.

"They either didn't care or couldn't afford it," she said. Other students may have been transient or missed the submission deadline.

Mrs. Sprague has gone on a mission this year to fill those empty photo spaces, in a way that harkens back to an earlier time in senior portraiture: she invited a Lifetouch Inc. photographer into the school to take a shot of each senior.

Lifetouch provides portraits for schools, houses of worship and the retail market and is the largest employee-owned photography company in the world.

Nancy Widell, East Syracuse, regional yearbook specialist for Lifetouch, said the company added a division to meet a growing demand for its photographers going to schools to take senior yearbook photos, which supplement the senior portraits students have taken on their own.

Mrs. Sprague said Lifetouch provided her a disc with photos of all the seniors. They will be used in the yearbook if others are not provided. "I'm hoping to catch the stragglers," she said.

She said she will invite the company back as long as she's the yearbook's adviser.

"It became obvious to me it was a service students would appreciate," she said.

PLAN EARLY

Mr. Wayne said he has noticed more students going to portrait studios at Wal-Mart and Sears this year. But he claimed that when those studios' "hidden fees" are added, the total cost can be similar to what's charged by independent photographers.

"Portraiture is an art," said Mr. Wayne, a 1991 graduate of Indian River Central School, Philadelphia, who continued his education at Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, and Parsons School of Art and Design in Paris. He said the art involves finding a person's right side, along with the proper angles and lighting.

Debbie J. Amatucci, owner of Classic Photography & Video at 1623 State St., suggested that parents plan early for the portraits.

For example, if a student wants an outdoor shot at a cottage or another outdoor location that involves travel, it's best to do it in the summer before the senior year.

"Once school gets going, they get involved in sports and everything and there's no time for photos," Ms. Amatucci said. "Don't put it off until September or October. The yearbook deadlines are really early; some in mid-September."