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A few people think that when I talk about senior portraits I mean senior citizens, but all the cool kids know I'm talking about high school seniors. Not that anything is wrong with photographing senior citizens. I do a lot of that, too. But high school senior portraits are a really big deal if you are a teenager.

You could be wondering why young people are so excited about having pictures taken. It's a rite of passage. Another step to adulthood, and besides that, it's a lot of fun. Senior portraits are not like your regular sit-and-grin school pictures. Think more of America's Next Top Model and other popular TV shows. Senior portraits can be a full-scale photo shoot including cinematic lighting and dynamic posing.

I remember having my senior picture taken. It was a very hot August afternoon right after marching band practice. They slipped me into a very nice fake tuxedo and snap it was over in minutes. You can imagine how cool I looked.

Today seniors come to me with multiple clothing changes, cars, hats, pets and anything else you can think of. We often go on location around town, to farms, parks and anywhere that might make the portraits more personalized and different from what anyone else has.

As I write this, I'm at another photo convention and I've attended numerous classes in the past couple days just on senior portraits alone. Anyone who has been around teenagers much knows that they are always tuned into the latest trends and all around cool things, and it's my job to keep up and make sure they get the latest and greatest in photography.

At Foto 1, we shoot senior portraits in three phases. First thing in the summer we get the seniors that are really excited about graduating and want to get started before they get too busy. The next group comes in the fall when the colors are best and the last group is coming up right now. These are the seniors who have been busy all year and graduation is sneaking up on them quickly. At this point I will make a shameless plug for those seniors to call me right now to schedule an appointment.

It's very important that you act now. The reason it is important is that someday you will have a class reunion and usually they make a name badge from your old senior portrait so everyone will remember who you are. You don't want it to be a bad one.

Oh no, that reminds me. I have a class reunion this summer. I can hardly wait!

(Brent Kepner is the owner and photographer at Foto 1 Pro Photo in Elkins. He is a master photographer as well as a certified professional photographer.)