Where to take senior pictures in Lincoln

How I think about a location

A location gives you a backdrop and shapes the light, and the good ones also give you something to do with your hands. Brick is something to lean on. Water gives you a reflection and a horizon. Prairie gives you nothing but sky, and that's the point of it.

Most of my sessions happen in the last hour or two before sunset. So when I say a place photographs well, I mean it photographs well in low, warm light coming from the side. A spot that's great at noon is usually a different spot than one that's great at seven. Everything below is judged at seven.

Gardens and parks

Sunken Gardens

The most photographed spot in Lincoln for a reason. Terraced beds, stone stairs, the ponds, and a huge amount of color from late spring through early fall. It's best for a dressier outfit and for anyone who wants flowers behind them. The trade-off is that it's popular: on a nice evening you share it with other sessions and a wedding party, so I'd use it as the first spot, early, and move on. Sunken Gardens has its own rules for photography, so check before you count on it.

Pioneers Park

Big, and it feels like two different places. The east half is the park proper: tree-lined drives, big lawns, and shade. The west half is the Nature Center, with trails, wooden fences, and the tallgrass prairie that goes gold in fall and catches the sunset like nothing else in town. If I could only pick one place in Lincoln for a senior who isn't sure what they want, this is it, because we can get two looks without leaving the park.

Holmes Lake

Water at sunset. The lake faces the right way for evening light, so the sky and its reflection both go orange and the shoreline turns into a silhouette-friendly spot in the last ten minutes. The paths around it give you trees and a bit of shade earlier in the session. Good for casual outfits and anyone who fishes, runs, or just grew up going there. Bring shoes you can get a little muddy.

Wilderness Park

Trails, creek, and thick trees, which makes it the most "not in Lincoln" spot in Lincoln. It photographs like a forest: dappled light, a wooden bridge, water you can stand next to. Best in fall when the leaves turn, and in early summer when it's deep green. It's also buggy in July and the trails are dirt, so boots or shoes you don't care about, and skip it if your outfit is the dressy one.

Downtown and campus

The Haymarket

Brick, alleys, painted signs, and the railway feel of the old depot and the tracks. This is the spot for a jacket, boots, a denim outfit, or anything with an edge. The alleys block the wind and the light bounces off the brick and goes warm and even, which is flattering. Two things to know: it's busy on weekend evenings and on game days, and the best spots are the ones between the buildings, not the main street.

UNL campus

The columns, the sculpture garden, and the long open mall. Campus gives you a classic look: stone, big old trees, wide steps to sit on. It's the natural pick if you're headed there next year, and it works for a dressier outfit and a cap and gown. Summer evenings are quiet; once the semester starts you're sharing the mall with everyone. The university has its own rules for photography on campus, so check before you plan the whole session around it.

Antelope Valley and Union Plaza

The water channel, the modern bridges, and the plaza give you a clean, current look that nothing else in town does. Concrete, steel, water, and a lot of sky. It suits a minimal outfit and anyone who doesn't want the "senior pictures in a park" look. The light is open, so it's best late, and it's a five-minute drive from the Haymarket if you want both.

The Telegraph District

My studio is in this neighborhood, so I'm biased. It's old brick warehouses, new glass, murals, and wide sidewalks, a couple of blocks east of downtown and a lot quieter than the Haymarket. It gives you the brick look without the crowd, and it's the easiest place to start or finish a session because we're already here.

Worth the drive

Mahoney State Park

About half an hour up the interstate near Ashland. The observation tower, the trails, the river bluffs, and the open lawns give you variety you can't get inside city limits. It eats into the good light with driving, so it makes sense for the longer packages or when you want the whole session in one place. It's a state park, so check what they ask of visitors and photographers before you plan on it.

Gravel roads and fields at sunset

Ten minutes in any direction from Lincoln and you're on a gravel road with a field on each side and nothing between you and the sunset. This is the best light in the county and it's free of people. Corn in August, soybeans going yellow in September, cut fields and big sky in October. If your family has land, or a friend's family does, that's the spot. If not, we stay on the public road and the shoulder, and we ask before we step into anyone's field.

Pick by outfit

• Dressy: Sunken Gardens, campus, Union Plaza. Flat ground, clean backgrounds, nothing to snag a hem on.
• Casual: Holmes Lake, Pioneers Park, the Haymarket. Somewhere you can sit on a curb or in the grass.
• The completely-you outfit: wherever it belongs. Letter jacket at the stadium side of campus, boots on a gravel road, the band shirt in an alley.
• Earth tones and denim: prairie and fields. The colors match the grass.
• Bright or white: brick and shade. A white shirt in open prairie sun will blow out; the same shirt in a Haymarket alley glows.

Pick by season

• Late spring: Sunken Gardens freshly planted and filling in, everything green, campus empty after finals.
• Summer: long evenings, so we can fit two spots easily. Fields are tall and green. Wilderness Park is buggy. Water spots are the coolest place to be.
• Early fall: the busiest senior season and the best one. Prairie goes gold, fields go yellow, trees turn in October. Book the evening early; the good dates go first.
• Late fall and winter: brick and downtown. Bare trees look better against buildings than against sky, and a coat you love is an outfit. Snow at Holmes Lake or on campus is genuinely great if you can stand the cold for forty minutes.

Two is the sweet spot

Two locations near each other is what I'd pick nine times out of ten. One with structure, one with open space. It gives the gallery two clearly different looks, and it leaves the light for photos instead of for the car. Three is doable on the longer session; four is a lot of driving. Here's how it lines up with the packages:

• The Essentials: 1 location, plus a second spot nearby if time allows
• The Classic: 2 locations
• The Signature: Up to 3 locations

Places with their own rules

Some venues, especially the gardens, the campus, and the state park, have their own rules for photography, and those rules change without telling me. I'm not going to list them here and have them be wrong by spring. Before we lock in a spot, check with the venue or ask me and we'll look together. If a place is a hassle, there's almost always somewhere two minutes away with the same look and no paperwork. And we talk locations, outfits, and a weather backup together before the shoot day, so none of this lands on you alone.