Featured Senior Portrait Session: The Model Network National Vogue Hollywood Glam Styled Group Shoot

Here we are! (I’m front and second to the right bottom row) This is a small portion of the Class of 2019 senior model team with their respective photographers for The Model Network National. About half of the studio owners were able to attend the Vogue Hollywood Glam Styled Group Shoot this year in Las Vegas! All in all we are a mighty group of senior portrait photographers from all across the country, with a combined national model team of over 100 models. Each year we travel to at least 4 different destinations and do group shoots and provide modeling opportunities with our high school senior teams. Many of the girls in these photographs had the opportunity to model for the master class photographer during their workshops at WPPI this year.

The Las Vegas Hollywood Styled shoot was hosted by Rey, of Rey of Light Seniors who is the Nevada native studio. She helped to organize the backdrops, props, food, and model rotation for the rest of us photographers at a small church about an hour outside of Las Vegas in a little town called Logandale. Such a charming little place, and such a HUGE contrast to the frigid Upstate, NY winters. I was in heaven with the balmy 50 degree weather.

We paired off in groups of 4 with an adequate model to photographer ratio and began clicking away. Some of us decided to pair the seniors off into groups and photograph them together, while others decided to take someone off solo for a bit. We were given 20 minutes in each rotation and here are my results. Its rather amazing what you can accomplish in only 5 minutes per model!

While I do love organizing a group shot, I find my magic place to be more in working one on one with individuals. I’m always looking for the best light in the space, so I snagged these two ladies one at a time and brought them to a nearby window. These two portraits were taken using just simple window natural light. I generally will use off camera flash, but in this case, the soft glow was just perfect and no flash was needed.

We then headed outdoors where a limo and red carpet was awaiting our arrival! Having access to a limousine for 20 minutes with these seniors decked out in their finest glam attire was a photographers dream. The only not so dreamy part was that it was high sun afternoon and the sun was extremely harsh in the location where the limo was parked. Off camera flash and my partner Remanu to the rescue! Yes my parter Remanu accompanied me on this trip to Las Vegas where we had three dreamy days of alone time and plenty of photographing and photography workshops to keep us busy!

In this particular shot, I had him hold my off camera light and point it at her through the window to illuminate her face to give it a cinematic look. I think it came out really well and has that “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” vibe…but there I go showing my age with that reference. lol

Next, we lined the girls up and had each one of them come out of the car to set foot onto the red carpet. Why? Well because EVERYONE deserves a red carpet moment. The girls did an excellent job playing the role, and we had so much fun recreating the old Hollywood glam vibes.

Bestill my eyes, Audrey Hepburn even graced the red carpet that day! I love how in character the girls became after some coaching. I mean when you’re decked out in glam and walking on a red carpet, its kind of hard not to step right back into the moment of what it must be like to be an actual celebrity…and I have to admit, I felt a bit like a paparazzi!

To keep the celebrity status rolling, my last subject was none other than yes, you guessed it, Ms. Marilyn Monroe! Aka, this sweet girl who was playing her part so well! I think she pulled off an excellent version of Marilyn. I was especially keen on finding red drapes that matched with her dress. Its rather amazing what you can pull off with a simple window and a splash of red!

I feel so blessed to have had this experience, and there are so many more photos that I simply can’t share here because I would spend all of my time uploading images…but you get a bit of the idea, feel free to check out my Instagram page. to see the other results from this shoot.

I am in the process of recruiting for next years Senior Empowerment Collective. Applications to join are due by April 25th! If you know of a class of 2020 upcoming high school senior who would be interested in joining me for group destination shoots with the Model Network National, (much like the one shown above) send them my way, or better yet, send them HERE to find out more information on how to participate.