Travel Senior Sessions From Coast to Coast: A Senior Picture Adventure

There are few better graduation gifts than travel senior sessions! Over the course of the last year my daughter Isabel and I traveled the country to celebrate her senior year and upcoming graduation. I can hardly wrap my head around the idea that my baby is about to be a high school graduate! The time that we’ve spent together over the last year on our trips has been invaluable and such a gift not just to her but to me as well as a mother. We both love to travel and sightsee, and I got to take her photo all over the country.

Coast to Coast Travel Senior Sessions

We traveled coast-to-coast, visiting California, Arizona, Montana, NYC, Florida, Tennessee, & Wisconsin.  I got photos of Isabel everywhere from the beach to the desert and everywhere in between.  What kind of photographer mom would I be if I didn’t document our adventures?  Of all the places we visited, Glacier National Park in Montana was her favorite.  From the time she was little, we visited frequently and Isabel loves the gorgeous lakes and scenic mountains.  In a sense, it felt like home and we got some fantastic, glam shots in the waters there.  It’s bittersweet to visit a family favorite location on the brink of your baby’s graduation!

Team Effort Planning

The purple dress she wore at Glacier was one of my favorites, though looking back on the pieces we  chose for her sessions, it’s hard to choose just one! Some of Isabel’s favorites are in the photos below.  Collaborating to find the perfect outfits was one of my favorite parts of all of these adventures.  Any time one of us came across a piece that we liked, we would send it to the other to decide together on which ones to use.  In fact, the sessions as a whole were a collaboration between the two of us and I loved every minute of it.

Outfits aside, we would chat about which locations we really wanted to visit and planned the trips together.  It was really cool to get to not only visit new places together, several for the first time together, but to just be able to bond with my soon-to-be graduate. One-on-one time is hard to come by when you have seven kids, so it was really special to be able to have so much of that over the last year or so.

Quality Time with my Senior

Even just during the planning process, I got to learn more about Isabel and her interests as far as what shows she wanted to see.  I’ve gotten to see her learn and grow into her own person over the years, and I love that I’ve been able to continue to nurture a close relationship with her.  One of the biggest components of a great relationship with teens is simply to listen.  These trips were a gift not just to her to celebrate her senior year before she heads off to college to pursue a career in pharmacy (following in her mama’s footsteps!) but also for me to be able to soak up every moment with her before she leaves the nest.

I say it all the time, but travel with your kids every chance you get!  Memories are more important in the long run than material things, and travel is the gift that keeps on giving.  If you’re in the process of planning a trip for your own senior and want to inquire about photos, you can get started here or you can take a look at some of the FAQs for travel sessions here!

Want a fun way to see where you should travel next? Take the quiz to find your ultimate travel destination here!