How to stay fully booked with seniors as a graduation photographer
Super excited about this post because it’s my first one helping solo entrepreneurs who want to stay fully booked with seniors as a graduation photographer! 🎉📸
I often get asked my photographer friends how do I stay fully booked with seniors every single year.
For those who don’t know me, I’m a former wedding photographer. I shot 25 to 30 weddings my first year and kept that number consistently for over a decade. Then, I decided to shoot fewer weddings and added boudoir sessions too.
Today, I only shoot high school and college senior portraits in Fairfield County and starting in 2026, I’ll be helping senior photographers build a booked-out senior season that actually pays 💸 after many of my friends kept asking me how I do it.
For the past 5 years when I started shooting graduation photos, my senior season has been completely booked out, with a waiting list starting a year in advance! At first, it blew my mind 😳 I couldn’t believe it but I am extremely grateful that seniors were reaching out a full year before graduation.
Anyway, let’s dive into some quick and easy social media marketing tips to help you book your senior sessions:
1️⃣ Pick ONE platform that works for you
For me, it’s Instagram 📱. Some of my friends tell me that my “ideal client” is on TikTok but I get 70% of my bookings via Instagram, plus, it’s my favorite platform so I focus most of my time creating there and then repurpose content on other platforms when I can.
2️⃣ Don’t try to do everything
I see a lot of photographers mixing everything; graduation, weddings, family, babies and personally thats a big no for me. nothing wrong with it but I think focusing on one thing is a total game changer. If most of your income comes from other photography category like weddings but you love graduation photography more, that’s okay but just plan strategically.
Here’s what I used to do; during graduation season, I change my IG bio to target seniors and post mostly for them and then, during wedding season, I switch my bio to target brides and started posting for them. At some point graduation season became so profitable for me where in one day shooting senior sessions, I could make what a I was making in wedding day but with less editing! ✨
3️⃣ Post early and often
Graduation season for me is mid May to mid June (about a month), so I start posting content in October for the following year, basically 8 months in advance.
After graduation season ends, I am so exhausted as I shoot everyday that I always take a 3 month break 🛌 after season is over.
4️⃣ Share behind-the-scenes (BTS) content
You do not need to spend hours on this and videos does not need to be long! Most of my BTS videos are just a few seconds and always from my iphone... just remember to take them during the sessions as you can reuse them every year and post as reels, stories, regular posts or use them in blog posts 🎥
5️⃣ Focus on ONE account
If you have multiple accounts and struggle to stay consistent, delete the extras. One account helps you stay consistent and grow your audience faster.
6️⃣ The MOST important marketing tool: deliver photos FAST ⚡
Sounds easy, but many photographers take forever to deliver photos. Last year, I had two seniors reach out last-minute and already had their photos taken from another photographer, but sadly they hadn’t received them yet 😬. A full month? That’s a huge disappointment if I were a senior (or a parent of a senior!). Delivering fast makes a huge impression. ⚡📸
If you are a High School Senior or a Senior at a College or a University or you are from Sacred Heart University or Fairfield University and you’re looking for senior graduation photos, contact me using my contact page on my site or DM me on Instagram.
If you are a senior photographer or you want to start your senior photographer biz and want to grow a profitable senior photography business, check out my education page here.
