Portrait of a Senior

Hitting the Books

At the beginning of a school year a few years ago in Japan, one of my seniors asked me to take a photo of her for her senior page in the yearbook. She said her mom would pay me, but I simply told her I would think about it. I knew I could never take money for photographing a student, but later an idea occurred to me.

The next day I proposed a far more encompassing plan to her. My thought was to create a broad project that would cover her entire senior year. Whenever there was a school activity, a dance, a game, an assembly, I would make a point photograph her. The aim was that by the end of the year, we would have a visual documentation of her last year in high school. She talked it over with her mom, and we all decided to give it a try. I knew it would be a major challenge and commitment, but I think that is why it appealed to me.

The following is what we put together. It was my hope that as the years passed, the album would always create a flood of memories for my student and her family. I should probably state now that my young senior has almost completed her nursing degree program in the states.