SENIOR PORTRAITS · BFF SESSIONS
Best Friend Senior Portrait Sessions on the South Shore
South Shore Photography, based in Rockland, MA, photographs senior portraits across Hingham, Scituate, Norwell, Duxbury, Marshfield, Cohasset, Hanover, Weymouth, and Plymouth. Photographer Chris McCarthy has spent years capturing the seniors of the South Shore — and some of his favorite sessions of every year are the ones where a best friend shows up.
Every senior I photograph gets asked the same question during their planning call: “Is there anyone you want to bring?” A surprising number of seniors have never thought about it. And every single one who says yes ends up with some of their best images from the entire session coming from those shared moments. BFF senior sessions are not a gimmick — they are genuinely some of the most vibrant, emotionally resonant portrait work I do all year. Here is everything you need to know about making them happen.
Why BFF Senior Sessions Are the Best Sessions
I want to be honest about something: solo senior sessions can be awkward. Not always, not even usually — but there is an inherent self-consciousness that comes with standing in front of a camera by yourself for 90 minutes. Most seniors warm up beautifully, and the individual portraits we create are stunning. But the moment a best friend walks into the frame, everything shifts. The energy doubles. The laughter becomes real. The poses stop feeling like poses.
Friends bring out each other's personalities in ways that a photographer simply cannot manufacture. The inside jokes, the shared glances, the way one friend makes the other crack up without saying a word — all of that shows up in photographs. I have captured images during BFF sessions that are technically simpler than anything I did during the solo portion, but they are the images families print and frame because they feel so completely, undeniably alive.
There is also something worth saying about the timing. Senior portraits happen during a very specific, fleeting window — the last months of high school, the summer before everything changes. Your best friend is going to college in a different state. You are going to be roommates across the country from each other. The friendship is not ending, but the daily proximity of it is. A BFF senior session captures that friendship at its fullest expression — when you still share a lunch table, a car ride home, a whole shared world. That moment is worth documenting intentionally.
I have had seniors come back years later and tell me that their BFF session images are the ones they look at most. Not because the photography was better, but because what was happening in front of the camera was irreplaceable.
How BFF Sessions Work
There are two main structures for BFF senior sessions, and understanding both helps you decide what makes sense for your situation.
Option one: overlapping individual sessions. This is the most common approach and my personal recommendation for most friend pairs. Each senior books their own individual session — Silver or Gold packages work particularly well for this — and we structure the timing so that one friend arrives for the last 25 to 30 minutes of the other's session. During that overlap, we shift into BFF mode: both friends in the frame, interacting naturally, doing the things friends do. Then the first friend wraps up and the second friend continues their individual session time.
The result is that each person gets everything: a full solo session with their own images, their own outfit changes, their own story told individually — plus a rich collection of genuine friendship images that both receive. The logistics are straightforward, the cost is clean (each person pays for their own session), and nobody feels shortchanged on solo time.
Option two: a dedicated BFF session. Some friend pairs are less interested in solo portraits and more interested in documenting the friendship itself. In that case, a dedicated 75 to 90-minute session focused entirely on the two of them — their dynamic, their energy, their favorite spots — makes a lot of sense. There are no outfit-change logistics to manage, no “whose turn is it” math to do. You just show up together and we move through the session as a unit.
Dedicated BFF sessions tend to have a slightly more editorial, less traditional feel — less structured posing, more movement and interaction. For seniors who already have solo portraits handled (maybe from a different session earlier in the year), a dedicated BFF session is a perfect complement.
On the logistics of fairness: when we do overlapping individual sessions, I am deliberate about making sure both friends get equivalent attention during the BFF overlap. We shoot setups that feature each person individually and together. Nobody is just a prop in someone else's photos — both friends are subjects, both stories matter.
Best Locations for Friend Sessions on the South Shore
BFF sessions thrive on movement and energy. The best locations are the ones with room to run, walk, explore, and be genuinely yourselves — not the ones that require standing very still in front of something pretty. Here are the locations I reach for first.
Duxbury Beach. Wide open space, room to run, room to jump, room to be completely ridiculous without anyone looking. The long stretch of beach creates natural opportunities for movement — running toward the camera, walking side by side, sitting in the sand watching the waves. The scale of the beach makes it feel like you have the whole world to yourselves. For high-energy friend pairs, Duxbury Beach is almost always my first recommendation.
World's End, Hingham. The Olmsted-designed carriage paths here are built for walking side by side, and that is exactly how friends naturally move through space together. The wide gravel paths lined with old trees give us natural leading lines and framing that make even candid walking shots look intentional. There is enough variety in the landscape — open fields, wooded paths, water views — that we can shift the feel of the session multiple times without moving far.
Scituate Harbor. If your friendship has a casual, hang-out-all-day quality, Scituate Harbor captures that energy perfectly. Sitting on the dock watching lobster boats. Walking along the rocky shore. Getting ice cream and wandering. The harbor area has real character — weathered wood, fishing gear, boats — that gives images a lived-in, authentic feeling that more manicured parks can't replicate. For friends who would rather look like themselves than like they showed up for a photo shoot, Scituate Harbor is a natural fit.
Downtown areas and village centers. Downtown Hingham, Norwell's Washington Street, the village center in Duxbury — these spots have a walkable, relatable energy that translates well for BFF sessions. Friends naturally walk together through places like these. The storefronts provide interesting backdrops without being distracting. And there is something pleasingly real about photographing a friendship in the actual places where that friendship lives — the town you both grew up in, the coffee shop you both know by heart.
The right location for your BFF session is ultimately the one that matches your friendship energy. Low-key and close? Harbor or village center. Athletic and high-energy? Beach. Scenic and outdoorsy? World's End or one of the conservation areas along the North River. I will always help you choose — just tell me what your friendship feels like and we will find the backdrop that fits.
What to Wear When You're Shooting Together
The styling rule for BFF sessions is the same rule that applies to family portraits: coordinate, don't match. When two people show up in identical outfits, the images look staged and a little flat. When two people show up in complementary palettes, the images look cohesive and intentional — like the friendship itself is the common thread, which it is.
A simple approach that works well: one friend anchors in warm tones (rust, camel, terra cotta, warm white) and the other goes cooler (slate blue, sage green, soft navy, cream). The two palettes complement each other without competing. You look like you belong together without looking like you planned it too hard.
For the individual solo portions of overlapping sessions, each person has more freedom — your solo outfits can be entirely your own choices, reflecting your own personal style without needing to coordinate with anyone. It is only during the BFF overlap that the coordination conversation matters. I always send a style guide to friends who are doing overlapping sessions so they can coordinate their looks for the shared portion without having to figure it out entirely on their own.
What to avoid: competing busy patterns (when two people both wear large prints, the images feel visually chaotic), colors so similar that you blend together, and overly formal outfits that do not match the energy of the location or the friendship. BFF sessions are not prom photos. They are documentation of a real friendship, and the clothes should feel like something you would actually wear together on a good day.
Making the Most of Your BFF Session
The single most important thing I tell friend pairs before their session: talk to each other, not at the camera. The images that come out of BFF sessions are best when the two friends are genuinely engaged with each other — not performing for me, not trying to look photogenic, not waiting for direction. When I am in the background and two friends are actually talking, laughing, or just existing together, I am capturing something real. That is the whole point.
Props are genuinely useful in BFF sessions in a way they are not always useful in solo sessions. Objects that represent your shared life give you something to do with your hands and create natural interaction moments. Matching sunglasses you both own. A volleyball if you both play. Your dogs, if both families are up for it — dog energy in a BFF session is absolute chaos in the best possible way. A favorite playlist playing from a speaker gives you both something to react to and move with. The props themselves do not matter; what matters is that they are yours.
Play music you both actually love during the session. Not ambient background music — the stuff that makes you both immediately start moving or singing along. I have watched two friends transform from slightly stiff and self-conscious to completely natural the moment a song they both love comes on. Music bypasses the camera anxiety in a way that nothing else does.
Do not worry about getting every pose right. The structured setups — side by side, walking together, the classic over-the-shoulder laugh — are useful establishing shots and they photograph beautifully. But the structured portion of a BFF session is always shorter than you expect, and then we move into the unstructured part: just being yourselves in a beautiful location while I follow along. That is where the best images live.
PRO TIP
“In almost every BFF session, the last ten minutes are the best ten minutes. The poses are done, the friends have forgotten about the camera, and they're just hanging out — sitting in the sand talking, walking back to the car together, laughing at something that has nothing to do with the photo shoot. I always keep shooting through the ‘wrap’ phase. Those final candids are consistently the images both families choose for their walls.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we split the cost of a BFF senior portrait session?
Yes — when two friends each book their own individual senior session and overlap for a shared BFF portion, they each pay for their own session separately. The overlap time is included within both sessions at no extra charge. If you are booking a dedicated BFF session with no individual solo time, you can absolutely split that cost however works for you. I am flexible on how billing is structured for friend sessions.
How long should a BFF senior portrait session be?
The most common structure is two overlapping individual sessions, each about 60 to 75 minutes, with a shared 30-minute overlap in the middle. That gives each person solo time plus plenty of time together. If you want a dedicated BFF session focused entirely on the friendship, I recommend 75 to 90 minutes — enough time to work multiple locations and capture a real variety of moments without feeling rushed.
What if we want different locations for our individual senior sessions?
That is completely workable. When friends book overlapping individual sessions, we typically meet at one shared location for the BFF overlap, then split to separate locations for the individual portions. Alternatively, we do individual solo time at a first location, BFF time there together, and then one person stays while the other heads to a second spot for their remaining solo time. A little planning makes it seamless.
Can more than two friends do a session together?
Yes — I have photographed groups of three and even four friends for senior sessions. Groups larger than two work best as dedicated group sessions rather than overlapping individual sessions, since the logistics of splitting time fairly become complicated. A 90-minute dedicated session handles a group of three very well. Four friends work best in a two-hour block. The energy in larger groups is fantastic — more personalities, more interaction, more genuinely fun images.
Do we each get our own gallery?
Yes. When friends book overlapping individual sessions, each person receives their own separate gallery containing their solo images plus the BFF images taken during the shared overlap. The BFF images appear in both galleries so neither friend misses out. For dedicated group sessions, everyone receives access to the full shared gallery. You are always welcome to share your gallery link with your friend.
Book Your BFF Senior Session
Senior portrait dates fill fast — especially spring and summer slots. Reach out now to check availability and talk through how to structure a BFF session that works for both of you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris McCarthy is a portrait photographer based in Rockland, MA who has completed more than 500 portrait sessions across the South Shore since opening his studio in 2014. He specializes in headshots, senior portraits, branding, family, and maternity photography — shooting at his studio at 83 E Water St and on-location throughout southeastern Massachusetts at places like World's End, Scituate Harbor, Duxbury Beach, and the North River conservation land in Norwell.