Senior portrait photos in Estacada
Get your senior photos taken in Estacada by someone who actually lives in Estacada! No need to travel to a photographer in Clackamas, Happy Valley (which seems to extend to everywhere these days!) or as far as Portland. You can have your photo taken by a professional photographer close to home. What’s more, you will benefit your local community because I give 10% of my session fee to your local school, in this case that’s probably Estacada High School. (And let’s face it, the school needs all the financial help it can get with measure 3-607 having not passed.)
Hi, Michelle here. I’ve lived in Estacada since I was very young after my family moved here from Milwaukie. I went to school here and graduated from Estacada High School and I still live here with my family.
There are lots of places in Estacada that I think are great as locations for senior portraits and I’ve listed some of these below. Of course, let’s start at your own home or favorite location! If you want to take your senior portrait at home, that’s great and whether you want to take your senior photo in your pasture, kitchen, barn, dirt bike track, stable or shop I can help you to create the perfect memory and a senior portrait that you (and your friends!) will love.
And remember, whether you want the background to show in your senior photo or you want the background more blurred I can help to create the exact image you have in mind or help you with suggestions at these locations. (Photographers refer to this blurring as “bokeh” – which Wikipedia defines as, “The aesthetic quality of the blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image, caused by circles of confusion. Bokeh has also been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”. Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause very different bokeh effects.”)
Here are some of the places in and around Estacada that you may wish to consider for your senior photo session. Please feel free to get in touch and we can have a chat about what you have in mind for your senior photo.
Estacada Library
Whether or not you love books and want your senior photo taken inside or outside our library, Estacada library is a great senior portrait session location right here in Estacada.
The outside of the library with, its new landscaping, is really neat and I shot all these portraits there recently.
Whether you choose in the library to convey your love of books, outside by the new building (a great textual backdrop), walking on the path or enjoying the new landscaped area, there are lots of choices to help create the right setting for your senior portrait.
Taken Recently at Estacada Library…
Timber Park
There are lots of places here at Timber Park in Estacada for your senior portrait photograph including one of the covered picnic areas, down by Estacada Lake, besides Faraday Dam (first called Cazadero Dam when it began operation in 1907!), on the extensive disc golf course if you enjoy disc golf, or on the footbridge nestled away in the trees. You could also find some spot hidden away in the trees and go with that woodland peaceful feeling for your picture.
McIver State Park
Just outside our city but still part of Estacada, McIver State Park (of course, everyone just calls it McIver Park) has many locations in the park itself or down by the river to have your senior portrait photo taken and, of course, you have options for pictures on horse trails if you love horses.
And whether it’s a busy summer day or a wet, spring day with buckets of rain, the locations within McIver Park will allow us to find a location that suits your own style for your senior portrait shoot.
McIver State Park is located just outside the City of Estacada.
Metzler Park
I think that Metzler Park is one of Estacada’s best kept secrets! My family love it here and me and my husband even got married at Metzler Park. If you’ve never visited Metzler Park, you’re missing out.
There are so many great spots inside Metzler Park including under the shaded, private picnic areas, under many of the shaded tree and outdoor areas, on the disc golf course if you enjoy disc golf, or on the cool (and, yes, it’s a little rickety!) footbridge over Clear Creek. There are lots of private areas, including down by the swimming hole which can get busy in summertime but in the mornings and evenings can be quiet.
Metzler Park is at 24526 S Metzler Park Rd, Estacada, OR 97023.
Photo of my eldest son by Slava Zhomiru – not quite a senior photo, yet, but a cute photo taken at Metzler Park!
Eagle Fern Park
Eagle Fern Park is another great place for senior photos, and located just a stone’s throw from Estacada. The last time I looked, Eagle Fern Park had 4.8 stars with over 600 review on Google!
Surrounded by old growth forest, Eagle Fern Park is the perfect place to take in the natural beauty of Oregon and create the perfect settings for a senior photo you will love. It sits along the gorgeous Eagle Creek stream, Eagle Fern Park is the ideal natural location to take your senior photo by the creek or within many of the secluded, natural areas.
How about a natural “frontier”-type photo of you standing in Eagle Creek itself? (I think the crawdads will approve!)
Eagle Fern Park is at 27505 SE Eagle Fern Rd, Eagle Creek, OR 97022.
La Dee Flats
The full name is “La Dee Flats OHV Staging Area” and it’s located just above Promontory Park Campground. This place is nestled among the trees and the start of many OHV trails in our beautiful Mt. Hood National Forest.
If you enjoy being in the woods or want a senior photo on your dirt bike or want senior photos on your ATV all geared up then this is a great place to consider.
La Dee Flats OHV Staging Area is located outside Estacada a few miles up Highway 224. Cellphone service is usually poor or non-existent and so we normally meet at Faraday Lake car park and then drive up there together.
Estacada High School
If you’d like your senior portrait taken at Estacada High School, why not?! After all, this place is the reason you need a senior photo in the first place!
There are many areas at EHS including the gym, the music room, the commons, the football field, the sports track, the auditorium or perhaps the classroom you enjoyed the most (or least?).
Probably needs no introduction, but Estacada High School is located at 355 NE 6th Ave, Estacada, OR 97023.
Faraday Lake
A great place to walk along the top of the dam or enjoy a walk back up the Clackamas River towards North Fork Reservoir, and you may have spent many happy hour fishing in the river here.
And who can forget walking over the bridge here? This would make a great senior photo shoot location.
Faraday Lake is currently closed during renovations but we will update this once it reopens which is meant to be in the fall of 2024.
Faraday Lake is at E Faraday Rd here.
Probably needs no introduction, but Estacada High School is located at 355 NE 6th Ave, Estacada, OR 97023.
Estacada Murals
Estacada currently has 23 murals through our tiny city that are painted on the sides of different buildings. This website lists all the current murals in Estacada and where they are located.
When you live here you get used to them but every time someone visits Estacada they always comment on these murals and how expressive they are.
These are great backdrops for senior photos and maybe one of them would add the right backdrop, and piece of local history, to your senior portrait photo session?
Estacada’s murals are located through town and I suggest you check out The Artback which describes the murals and the group of nine artists who first started them. Estacada is such an amazing place to live!
Photo of Estacada mural by artbackmurals.com
North Fork Reservoir
Actually a long lake and part of the Clackamas River there are a number of locations that are part of North Fork Reservoir including the Boat Launch here or a little further up Highway 224 at the North Fork Tunnel.
There are lots of great senior portrait locations dotted along North Fork Reservoir and I know the area very well – we used to jump off the cat walks and swim at the west end of the lake when I was at high school.
Get in touch if you’d like your senior photo session around North Fork Lake and we can chat about what you have in mind.
The Viewpoint AKA Bent Shovel Brewing
Just like locals know SE Tumala Mountain Rd by its other name, we always knew this as The Viewpoint from the bar that stood here for years before becoming Bent Shovel Brewing.
But just across Springwater Road from Bent Shovel Brewing is a little spot where you can get nice senior portrait photos with Mt. Hood in the background.
Bent Shovel Brewing is located at 20189 S Springwater Rd, Estacada, OR 97023, a few miles outside the City of Estacada and just up the road from McIver Park.
Other Senior Photo Ideas
If you need a senior portrait but are not sure what you want, don’t panic!
I can help you come up with creative ideas for a senior portrait you love and transform a “boring” senior photo into an awesome one.
More Senior Photo Ideas
Here are a few ideas for senior photos. Remember, whatever you have in mind I can help to create it for you:
- Your favorite restaurant as a kid with ice cream sundaes and pizza.
- The frozen food aisle at Thriftway in town!
- A fast food picnic at McDonalds or KFC with all your friends and a table creaking with junk food.
- The Manga section at your favorite bookstore.
- The in front of the guitar wall at Guitar Center or at the awesome Beacock Music.
- Standing in a field of tall grass before it’s cut into hay.
- Do you want further afield outside Estacada? I’ve reasonable rates for senior photography sessions outside Estacada including at Lost Lake, Timothy Lake or Olallie Lake.
- Or how about at the top of Larch Mountain or on Lolo Pass around the “other side” of Mt. Hood?! There’s also places like the Portland Rose Garden. I know lots of great locations within an hour of Estacada and further afield.
- Want something really out of this world? All of my senior photographs are handcrafted, shot on professional gear and with skills that have taken me many years to acquire, practice and perfect. They are NOT AI-generated images. Your senior photo is of you without any artificial anything. But supposing you want something that’s almost impossible to create, like flying into space, piloting a jet fighter, or becoming a rock star? Most photographers would say, no way can they do those types of images (unless you are the incredible Annie Leibovitz). But I can take your image from our photo shoot and work with it to create almost any scenario you can think of using the power of AI. Interested? Ask me how!
Posing For Your Senior Portrait
The most common anxiety people have is, “HELP! I don’t know how to pose for my senior portrait!”
Don’t worry! None of the photographs at this website are of professional models – they are all regular people, seniors, who I helped to create their perfect senior photo. I know how to help you get the best senior portrait photograph and I will guide you to look your best. I can give tips about hair, clothes and poses to get the best senior photo for you. Seriously… don’t worry, I got this!
What’s YOUR Dream Senior Portrait Photo?
Whatever you need I can help you get just the right senior portrait photo session for you in, or around, Estacada. I turn “boring” senior photos into awesome ones, making your senior portrait photographs as unique – and awesome – as you are!
I’ve been interested in photography since early childhood and I’ve now worked as a professional photographer for over 10 years for individuals, families and couples.
And remember that I donate 10% of my senior portrait session fee to your high school.
My rates are reasonable and I give your senior photo all the care and attention you’d expect so that you love your senior photo. And I guarantee that if you are not 100% happy with your senior portrait I will retake your portrait until you are satisfied. I want you to be happy.
Get in touch and let’s discuss more about your senior portrait!
Talk soon,
Michelle
