Prom is the first evening when your children are grown up in their own eyes and still children in yours. Both of you are right. We photograph both.
When to book
Proms pile into two or three weeks of May and June, and in those weeks every photographer is booked. Book in March. The arrangement is simple: we come to your home an hour before you leave, follow you to the venue and stay until the first dance or until the end, your choice.
The hour before
The hour at home is worth more than the whole evening at the venue. Shoes worn for the first time, a hand fixing a tie, a younger brother pretending not to care. Parents want the family at the door; the graduate wants themselves, alone, with the car. We do both. Family goes first, two minutes, before anyone changes their mind.
Hair lasts an hour. A photograph lasts longer.
Light at seven
In June the sun sets late, and at seven in the evening it is still high and harsh. It makes shadows under the eyes and squinting. So we look for shade: a wall turned away from the sun, a courtyard, a row of trees. If we ask you to move three metres, move. Those three metres are the difference.
The group photo before the first drink
At the venue the group photo comes first. Before the first drink, before the heels come off and before anyone wanders off. It takes five minutes. After that we put the list away and switch to reportage: the dancing, the tables, whatever is happening on the steps outside.
What to bring
- A small mirror and tissues; shine on the forehead shows in every frame.
- One flower, a boutonnière or a pocket square; a detail that means something.
- Nothing with a logo. Logos age faster than faces.
- The phone stays in the pocket while we work; someone is already taking the pictures.
For the parents
The photograph you will keep is not the one where everyone looks at the lens. It is the one where you look at them, while they look somewhere else. That one cannot be ordered. It can only be waited for.