Quinn is a senior at Grant High School in Portland, Oregon and she desperately wanted to capture her high school senior portraits while standing in a field of flowers. She originally had tulips in mind, but when she contacted me in the fall, we were already well past tulip season! Tulips peak early in the spring. But Dahlia’s bloom in late summer and well into early autumn.
So Quinn and I decided to take an adventure to the Swan Island Dahlia farm in Canby. Swan Island Dahlias is a flower farm that boasts a wide variety of colorful dahlias, which provides a beautiful and unique background for senior pictures.
For a small permit fee, High School Seniors have an opportunity to rent the entire farm for themselves. It’s an amazing exerpience. And they even give you a free dahlia bouquet with your choice of colors to complement your senior portait outfits! More importantly, they give you free reign to step into the middle of the flower fields and take your senior pictures in their manicured gardens. This is a pretty big deal as they place strict limitations on where and how other visitors may take photographs at their facility.
The Swan Island Dahlia farm provides a unique and picturesque background for senior pictures. They grow a wide variety of colorful dahlias in rows which offer endless opportunities for creative and original portraits. Especially for high school girls, the final images really stand out from the more typical outdoor settings used by other high school seniors.
High school Senior girls have the opportunity to express themselves and showcase their personal stylethrough their choice of outfits for their senior portraits. And the vibrant colors and varied blooms of the dahlia fields offer a wide range of creative possibilities to match and complement the colors in almost any of your clothing choices.
At Swan Island Dahlia farm, a colorful dress can be a great way to express your individuality and personality, whether you prefer a classic, elegant look or a more modern, trendy style. In senior portraits, dresses can also help to create a sense of timelessness in the portraits, making them feel classic and elegant for years to come.
For high school senior girls, a dress can also add a sense of elegance and femininity to your senior pictures. Flowing fabrics or delicate details in a dress can help to create a soft, romantic feel in the photos. and this can be particularly striking when set against the natural beauty of the dahlias or other types of flower fields.
Besides tulips and dahlia’s, many high school senior girls love sunflowers. Like dahlia’s, the best time to take high school senior portraits in a field of sunflowers is typically during the peak blooming season of the sunflowers. In Oregon, sunflowers normally bloom in late July to early August. It’s important to schedule the photoshoot at this time in order to take advantage of the vibrant colors and full blooms of the sunflowers and dahlias.
Popular locations for fields of sunflowers in Oregon include West Union Gardens in Hillsboro and Packer Orchards in Hood River. Both are family farms that are open to the public during berry season.
For any flower fields it is important to consider the time of day for the photoshoot. In open fields during the middle part of the day the sun can cast harsh shadows that you may not wish to see in your high school senior portraits. The best lighting for outdoor portraits in flower fields is typically during the early morning or late afternoon, when the sun is low in the sky and provides a softer, more natural light. This can help to create a warm and romantic feel in the photos, and can also help to bring out the vibrant colors of the sunflowers.
It’s also important to communicate with your photographer to discuss your vision for your senior pictires A professional photographer will help you find a tulip, dahlia, or sunflower field that is accessible and help you design the perfect senior portrait session that is unique to you. Learn more at https://www.brianpasko.com/high-school-senior-portraits/
