This week’s Photographer of the Week award and blog feature has been awarded to Adam of Adam Thornton Photography!

Adam is located in Castle Rock, Colorado, and he serves Castle Rock, Parker, Highlands Ranch, and the south metro Denver area. In addition to seniors, Adam also captures weddings, and he has been in business since 2012.

To see more of his work, you can connect with him here:

Website: https://www.seniors.athorntonphoto.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athorntonphoto/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdamThorntonPhotography

Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means the blog owner will earn a small commission, and these commissions help keep this blog running. Using the links will NOT make the item cost more.

What inspired this session and how was it planned?

For this session, I met with Emily and her mom a few weeks before the session for a pre-consultation. During my pre-consultation, I was able to get to know Emily and her mom and what they wanted in a session. I have seniors look at some photographs of different locations. I group them into three categories of urban, open space, and park. After we narrowed it down to one genre, we start discussing individual locations that I think would suit Emily’s style. For this session, we picked Hudson Gardens–a local botanical garden. During this planning session, we also went over my clothing guide, so Emily could start thinking about her outfits.

What was your favorite thing about this session/senior?

There are so many things to love about this session, but if I had to pick one thing, it is how well everything came together–from the fall colors to Emily’s willingness to get in the river in the middle of October. Fall in Colorado is so short that I don’t get many senior sessions when the colors are at their peak. Emily’s session was originally scheduled for a different day, but it was cold and rainy, so we moved the session to later in the week and were blessed with a sunny 60-degree day.

What lenses and other equipment did you use?

For this session, I used two different lenses. I used my Canon 70-200 mm f/2.8 for most of the shots. For the images where Emily was walking and the images in the water, I used my Sigma Art 50 mm. I also lit my images with OCF (off-camera flash). For this session, all images were taken with the Wescott Rapid Box 26″ Octa Softbox.

Check out the equipment here:

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 Telephoto lens: https://amzn.to/2q3xTmU
Sigma 50mm (Canon): https://amzn.to/2NUa5eY
Sigma 50mm (Nikon): https://amzn.to/2NT5WI1
Wescott Rapid Box 26″ Octa Softbox (OCF): https://amzn.to/2q3pv71

What is your #1 tip for marketing to seniors that you’d like other photographers to know?

The one thing that has helped me grow my senior portrait business has been getting to know my seniors and building a relationship with them. There are a lot of different ways to do this, but I think a successful senior model program is key. I don’t ask my senior models for referrals, but instead, I offer them experiences through the year. We went to some epic locations, and to kick the year off with the model team, we participated in an escape room. For seniors that are not on my model team, I engage with them on social media; and when they post an image from their session, I make sure to give a positive comment about how much I loved their session or the image they posted.

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