Took (Justin) Class of 2027
Justin, aka Took, is a Charles City High School senior, but for his session we headed west to wander the streets of Mason City.
Took is the fourth young man from this family that I’ve had the pleasure of shooting senior photos with. The oldest, Jeremiah, and I also walked around Mason City for his photos. Middle brothers Josiah and Jordan stayed in Charles City. I had a blast hanging with all of them. Took was no different.
Jeremiah
Josiah
Peanut (Jordan)
Took (Justin)
Starting at the Historic Park Inn
I use the Frank Lloyd Wright designed hotel and the plaza around it fairly often. I love buildings that were created with an intention to be unique and interesting. There are a lot of different spots within a pretty small area and the park is right there. It’s also an easy landmark for everyone to find when we’re meeting up.
From there we headed East and South into the alleyways around the Brick & Tile Building. There’s one alley back there I really like — although apparently I need to get a little more selective about which sections of the graffiti end up in photographs. I edit out the swear words, but the AI Social Network Police always find them somehow.
We also shot a few quick videos while we were there for some behind-the-scenes reels. I am just starting that, so it's been fun learning.
Alleyways and Music Man Square
Then we started working our way toward Music Man Square. One of my favorite photographs from that part of the session came from a gray wall with these simple horizontal lines facing Main Street. Nothing elaborate. Just good light, a good background and Took being completely comfortable in front of the camera.
Took was super chill in front of the camera. I asked him to do a strange lean against the wall that kind of goes against how a normal person would lean against a wall, but I thought it would make a cool composition against the straight up-and-down lines. I feel like I was right, but I will let the world judge that.
Along the River
I’d photographed around this part of Mason City before, but I had never really gone all the way to the bridge to see what was along the river. I'm glad we did.
We found graffiti walls, walked along the river, went underneath a bridge and kept stopping whenever something looked interesting. That’s one of my favorite ways to work. I usually have a general idea of where we’re going, but I don’t want a session to become a checklist of locations I’ve photographed a hundred times.
Sometimes the best spot is the one you didn’t know was there twenty minutes earlier. Exploring new areas is exciting. It seemed like Took was digging it as well.
Exploring North of Downtown
We eventually made our way north of the Historic Park Inn, finding more places along the way. One of my favorite Mason City alleys is back there. It is usually filled with cool light and shadows.
When I first started taking photos, I heard/read a rule that you should never put your clients in direct sunlight. These days, I break that on every single session. I love the hard contrast between light and shadow. I can see the final image beyond the naked eye and through the eye of my lens and through my editing process. Sometimes it's a guess, sometimes I know.
I believe if you stop failing, you have stopped pushing yourself. I am never afraid to take a bad picture - it happens a lot less after 12 years.
The Fit
I am not the outfit police. If you have a shirt you love, wear it. I want you to be comfortable and confident.
What I liked about Took's choices was the simplicity. The jeans with white shirt and jeans with black shirt. It's classic. And it's easy to photograph. The session felt like an ad campaign for jeans or shoes. Simple. Cool.
The absence of too many logos also makes the photos feel timeless.
A Senior Session That Felt Like Took
By the time we wrapped up, we’d covered a pretty good chunk of downtown Mason City and found several places I hadn’t photographed before.
Took was incredibly kind, completely comfortable in front of the camera and just a great person to spend an evening walking around town with. His mom is really cool, too. Keisha! They laughed at roughly 55% of my jokes. That is a solid A ... possibly A-.
That’s pretty much my ideal senior session: start with a plan, wander away from it a little, find some unexpected places and make photographs that actually fit the person standing in front of me.
If you're looking for senior photos in Mason City, you can see more about how I approach sessions here: