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Thanks for checking out the blog, here I'll share recent sessions, tips for choosing your outfits, location features, and more.

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Addie | Kansas City Vibes Downtown

Posted in Journal

Ah, Addie’s session in downtown KC last summer to kick off her senior year was so much fun. She wanted an urban hometown vibe and we really delivered. Downtown sessions are ones where we get in one car and drive to hop around in different locations so we’re not walking everywhere and losing our energy. We started off down by the Power & Light district along the street car line on Main Street and the amazing Kansas City song lyrics art behind her with not being the focus but definitely shining in the background.

A little subtle nod to the KC convention center behind her, it worked great with the light and in the one where she’s looking back at me on the right could almost be a crown.

Moved further into the P&L district, loved the texture varieties bringing everything together with her blue jeans and her vibrant hair color, between the blues of the water, the buildings, and the neutral stone. It all pulls together beautifully!

Of course had to bring in the Made in KC sign. The teals/greens were perfect!

You guys, we found my new favorite little spot downtown. I had scouted for this location for a while before our shoot and kept an eye on my watch as we needed to hit it at just the right time so make the perfect lighting we wanted. And honestly I couldn’t have timed it more perfectly to really bring out the golden light bouncing off the buildings, it not only made Addie’s portraits absolutely gorgeous but just lit up the downtown KC buildings themselves so beautifully .

This girl rocked it, just perfect, we had so much fun!

After the building photos, we had an outfit change and popped over to a different spot, the first one to bring in a little color variety to her portraits which worked great with her summer dress!

Loved this little spot not far away that brought in some great lines and textures!

Our last location of the night was this amazing little tiny mural wall off Southwest Blvd which I knew with Addie’s amazing red hair would just pop with the green and her dress. Chef’s kiss, perfection!

With every senior session I want to be involved in helping choose outfits and really pick out the outfits that bring out the natural beauty in everyone that don’t overtake a photo, so we go with a lot of neutral type colors or subtle color pops. I also scout before every session so I can map out exactly where I want to go, plan for lighting, and so there’s no surprises as best I can plan for. It’s very hands on so we can deliver incredible results!

If you are interested in working with me for your senior photos, please shoot me an email at jessicastromphotography@gmail.com for more info, I’d love to work together!

Spencer | River Market Kansas City

Posted in Locations

Spencer was such a great senior to work with this past summer. It was a crazy hot day in July, we were hovering around 100 degrees mark, but with his parents driving us around from spot to spot it actually made it pretty easy so we could hop back into the air conditioning as needed. We took advantage of so many great spaces down in Kansas City’s historic River Market area, which I love shooting in due to its range of urban architecture, perfect for 1 hour sessions.

We started off in the parking area of the city market and walked a short block away to bring in some color by the nearby parking garage. Spencer was looking for a city vibe in his senior portraits and by looking for clean lines in the scenes where we were I was able to create a great gallery for him that really looks great together.

Hopped in the car and we went down near the Town of Kansas bridge, which towers above some rail lines beneath and overlooks on the Missouri River. It’s a really cool spot to shoot on with the bridge being completely enclosed over the tracks as you can shoot at any angle and still bring the central focus straight to your subject.

The bridge is definitely one of those locations where the light has to be just right in the evening and I timed it perfectly to give us that nice golden hue. I always collaborate with seniors’ parents on clothing color palates and outfit options, so this green shirt & jean combo worked great with the light and location.

After the bridge we had an outfit change and we shot these in an alleyway and off a side street. Again all about searching for those lines that bring the collection together with making sure the green/blue focus color palate we were aiming for shone through easily.

The final couple spots we wrapped the shoot at were along the KC Streetcar line and brought in some great lighter colors and textures with the brick, which really made Spencer’s blue shirt just bring all the focus to him, loved how this set came out.

Spencer, you were such a great young man to work with and I know your parents are so proud of you, it was wonderful to work with you and you rocked your senior photos!

If you are interested in working with me for your senior photos, please shoot me an email at jessicastromphotography@gmail.com for more info, I’d love to work together!

Darby | Summer Creek & Flowers

Posted in Locations

Hello 2026! My Fall season is jam packed with family mini sessions over on my other site (www.5minutephotoshoot.com) but as I’m settling in winter, I’m already looking forward to warmth and summertime. Darby’s summer session last season was a dream. She was looking for warmth and flowers in a summer vibe and we delivered. It was a little late in the season (early August) for that full field of flower look she was hoping for but she brought an amazing bouquet to accent what we’d find at Shawnee Mission Park.

This creek spot is a perfect little place to stop (and you have to do it carefully as it’s next to an active road without proper parking) and thankfully still had a great amount of water in it. I wanted to shoot there first as the evening light was hitting the curve of the trees and I knew it would be beautiful (and dark before too long).

I love to send my seniors plenty of options for their images, including a basic subtle change in just full landscape versus zoomed in a bit (the close ups are always shot at proper focal length in-camera, I don’t crop and send photos just to add extras).

From the creek we headed up to a beautiful open field with some small wild flowers and tall dried grass. The dryness of the tall grass makes for an excellent contrast to the imagery which I really loved.

We got down low to really let the flowers accent her and I honestly don’t remember what I said to get her laughing but I do remember it made not only Darby laugh but myself and her mom as well, we really do have a laid back great time and that laughing image is truly on my faves.

Bringing in the bouquet and Darby’s bible as her Faith is very much a part of who she is and she wanted to represent that, which I loved! These are just a few of my favorites, Darby absolutely crushed her session and I could honestly share every single photo we took but way too many for the blog! =)

To wrap up the session, we headed to a new spot in the park before it got dark which called for an outfit change and a cute vibe, which I brought along my favorite hat just in case it called for it! Which it did!

Thank you Darby for such a fun session and being such a gem to work with. I hope you’re having the most amazing senior year!

Interested in a senior session with me? Shoot me an email at jessicastromphotography@gmail.com for more info, I’d love to work together!

Paige | Summer Senior Session at the Boho House

Posted in Features, Locations

It was so much fun to capture Paige’s senior portraits at my favorite new location, which I have affectionally called “the Boho House”. Located in Spring Hill, this adorable white greenhouse was hand built to be the perfect session location and renting this venue always delivers the most beautiful golden hour light. It definitely needs the right outfit choices to make it shine and I had a great time with Paige and her mom narrowing down her favorites. This session was completed in under an hour with 3 outfits and the final delivery of her gallery was 75 solid choices.

A tulle skirt is always a favorite of mine to photograph in any location but here at the Boho house it really brings a sense of beauty with its soft feminine touch. I’m big on less is more when it comes to choosing colors for your outfits as it always draws the eye right to connect with the subject’s face, which makes for a beautiful portrait.

Beside the Boho house they are growing a small patch of wild flowers, which when we there hadn’t quite all bloomed yet but the soft pop of pinks were still pretty, plus it allowed us to get out in full sun and just soak in the sunshine on our warm summer night. It was fairly hot but there was a great breeze which made it a really lovely evening.

Outfit change and we moved over to the wild field around the house to compliment her height and the white summer dress before using some of the furniture items inside the house itself.

Serendipitously, the flag was left behind from a different session and we were thrilled to be able to use it. Paige’s Dad is a Veteran and her brother is currently active duty, so being able to bring in some beautiful patriotism to her images was so special to the family and I absolutely love how they turned out! Very All-American!

With the sun setting, we squeezed in one last outfit change to a dark color to bring in some contrast to her overall gallery.

Thank you Paige (and her mom!) for a great session, I had a blast and love how all the images turned out!

If doing your senior session at the Boho House interests you or your senior, please email me at jessicastromphotography@gmail.com for more info. There is an additional small fee charged by the venue to shoot there but it’s 100% worth it. This is one of those locations that even on a warm winter’s day we could still do a shoot out there and it would also look fantastic, especially with snow around, so you’re not limited to only the warm months. Always things to consider. =)

Braxton | Kansas City Crossroads

Posted in Features, Locations

I know a lot of seniors stress about getting their photos done the summer before their Senior year officially starts, but Braxton’s senior session was this past April just before he graduated and we had such fantastic weather for it. He wanted an urban vibe which is always such a great choice for the guys because it gives us so much to work with with the ability to bring in color and architecture into the imagery. We started out at Art Alley in Kansas City’s Crossroads District which is always interesting because the graffiti changes all the time and you really never know what you’re going to get but you do know it’s always going to photograph well.

The Crossroads is such an interesting district to shoot in as just across the street from Art Alley we did a couple outfit changes and completely did a 180 for a lighter set of images. One nice thing about doing your senior session towards the end of the year is many times seniors will know which college they’re going to if that’s the route they’re going and it’s always nice to incorporate a shirt, sweater or some memorabilia into the session to mark the next chapter.

After this area in the Crossroads we hopped in our cars and headed over to one of my favorite parking garages to take advantage of the amazing light as it was near sunset and the roof of the garage was going to be in the best light of the evening. The first set of images was just on the first floor on the way up, I loved the brickwork and the color and texture it gave the images with his shirt.

Continuing up gave us this next set, which again worked perfectly with his outfit, the light on the concrete gave it just the right feel and texture to the images.

Finally we were up on the roof and if this isn’t one of the best views of Kauffman and the iconic top of the KC convention center I’m not sure what is! You can see the trees just coming into bloom so it gave us such a great mix of color and golden light.

And as I always have atleast 1 parent attend every senior session (9/10 times it’s Mom!) I love getting the last shot of the night with Mom to cap off a great session. Thanks so much for working together Braxton, I wish you all the best in this next awesome phase of your life!

If you are interested in working with me for your senior photos, please shoot me an email at jessicastromphotography@gmail.com for more info, I’d love to work together!

Max | West Bottoms Kansas City

Posted in Features, Locations

The first time I photographed Max was in 2012 when he was the oldest of just 2 kiddos and now he’s the oldest of 7, what a blessing it’s been to have photographed his family over all these years and to have been able to capture his senior photos for him. We had a great time down in the West Bottoms walking around and finding great little nooks and crannies. I’m very familiar with the WB of course but always nice to just go for a walk and see what sticks out to us. I do have atleast one parent join us for every senior session so knowing Max’s parents well after the past 13 years it was nice to be able to catch up and the session flowed more like friends hanging out and having a good time.

So the West Bottoms is fantastic for the urban look but I do clean up images in post processing and remove out anything I can’t remove while on location. So while certain graffiti can stay if it’s not’s distracting from our subject, I do remove minor tags (which I did in the images of him sitting on the brick wall) and polish up images where appropriate, such as removing signs from windows and any random sticks or dirt on the ground. Having the eye for what makes a good location for any photos is essential but also making sure the images are polished is a top priority for me. I digitally develop all my images in Lightroom and every single image is hand edited and reviewed carefully to remove minor imperfections that most people may not even have ever known were there to begin with (unless I left them in). This is something I have always done in all my sessions as shooting on location is great, but you still want that really impeccable image.

If there’s green I can find to add into an image I will do what I can to add it! It’s not only my favorite color but I truly believe that a touch of green in images not only makes the portrait feel more grounded but our eyes are naturally, and I think biologically, drawn to seek out the color green and gives us that little joyous boost like what we all feel when things turn green in the Spring. Just happiness.

Adding in a touch of baseball to his session. It wasn’t the main focus but just a quick little attribute to his high school days.

This green door has been a favorite of mine for many many years. The pop of color in the artwork is a nice change of pace from the all brick / concrete feel of an urban backdrop.

Right as we were about to wrap up walking back to the cars we came across this beautiful Ivy wall and I had Max change back into his neutral shirt. When shooting I will intentionally look for location that I can shoot wide at so to give parents options for graduation invites, which the bottom photo below was shot and used for exactly that. Max’s invite info text was added at the top of the image and it looked great. So when I send out the gallery, I will intentionally include images that are wide angled as options for invites just as a little something extra.

Thanks so much for a great session, Max! I wish all the best in your exciting new chapter of your life!


If you are interested in working with me for your senior photos, please shoot me an email at jessicastromphotography@gmail.com for more info, I’d love to work together!

Eastin | Downtown Kansas City

Posted in Features, Locations

Oh this session was so much fun and we lucked out on a gorgeous 60+ degree day in early February! Eastin was a dream to photograph and our two hour Gold session flew right by. Our two main areas we focused on were in the Crossroads and then up here at Liberty Memorial. Getting the cityscape shot in the background can be hit or miss depending on the sunlight (since it faces south) but again, we completely lucked out as clouds rolled in just as we headed up there allowing the city to say hello!

Eastin’s blue dress proves that it truly is best to dress for the location. It worked beautifully here at Liberty Memorial with the assorted blue tiles on the building and then added that pop of color needed to make her stand out in the other portraits with the stone and the tall golden grass, bringing the eye’s attention directly to her.


Switching it back to the beginning of our session, we started on the Freight House Bridge attached to Union Station, accessing it from the crossroads side. The black top and jeans were perfect for this spot as it complimented the steel of the bridge and the lines brought the focus directly to Eastin’s beautiful smile.

After we left the bridge, we went for a walk around the area and stumbled upon this cute KC mural which happily worked great with her outfit and sunglasses. We didn’t have a set location in mind but rather enjoyed finding little nooks and crannies as we (Eastin, myself, and her mom) walked and chatted, we really had such a great time!

I have used this building before with my family mini sessions and I absolutely love the lines bringing the focus to the middle, which was perfect for Eastin’s outfit.

And a little pop of green, which was so nice to find in February!

And our last image of the night to round out the blog post. I truly had a blast and love how these turned out! Check out her mom’s Google review below, thank you so much!!



~ Shoot me an email at jessicastromphotography@gmail.com for more info, I’d love to work together!

Anna | John’s Greenhouse

Posted in Features, Locations

Anna’s Senior session was such a great time. With Taylor Swift playing in the background, we enjoyed a fun hour out in this cute little 100 something year old greenhouse in Brookeside. The appeal to this particular greenhouse is its unkempt look, which actually photographs very well and can be used year round, which is definitely appealing in the winter when there isn’t much green to be found!

Prior to every session, we have a text thread where we chat about outfits and what looks best in a specific location we’re planning on shooting at. For this greenhouse, it for sure calls out a boho type of feel to photos and I was able to help curate the images before we even met up by suggesting styles of clothes to look for and I pulled items from my client accessories collection to round out the finishing touches.

During my sessions we do a lot of combo expressions between smiling, semi smiling and not smiling and deliver the varieties in the online gallery for viewing. Anna completely rocked both with her expressions and it’s always great to have options to choose from to decide which mood of the photo you like best!

I had found these fun green sunglasses off Amazon and knew I needed them for the greenhouse for some fun shots as well as the earrings she’s wearing, all together it brought out a cute retro vibe to this series of images. I also provided the stool to match the boho feel of the greenhouse.

As our hour was coming to a close, we managed to sneak in one last shirt change to a long sleeved green top however as sometimes we discover during sessions, not all outfits work with the location and that particular shade of green made Anna blend in a bit too much with the greenery. However we did still get a great shot of her amazing naturally long eyelashes with the soft lighting coming through the roof.

Thank you Anna for such an incredible session!

We shot this session in early March and as I mentioned, it’s a great spot year round. The greenhouse does charge by the hour to shoot there so if you want this unique location for your shoot, I just have client’s pay the current fee to shoot there as they accept cash the day of the session and we have the whole place to ourselves for the time we rent, it’s awesome.


~ Shoot me an email at jessicastromphotography@gmail.com for more info, I’d love to work together!

Hello {again} world!

Posted in Journal

New site, but I’m not new. Not by a long shot. =)

Over the last 17 years as a professional photographer, the last 9 have been mainly focused on my incredibly popular 5 Minute Photo Shoots for families with some newborns and seniors sprinkled in there from time to time. On average I photograph around 500 families a year in my mini sessions with the bulk of those sessions between Labor Day – Thanksgiving, Fall is a crazy time indeed. My business is known mainly via word of mouth as I don’t really advertise and I’m honestly terrible at social media (I’m too busy photographing families!) but I try my best.

Over the last year or so, I’ve really felt the want to be able to also get back into the more creative side of portraits with longer sessions and a more personal feel, which is how I’ve landed on broadening my Senior Session offerings I can do year round. I have had plenty of parents book me for Seniors over the years and I’m truly excited to offer a brand new space here on its own website just for them. This domain has been the original home of JSP since its inception in 2008 and I hope you love the new makeover.

Staying consistent with the way I photograph my families & newborns over the many years, my vision with my Senior sessions is to create truly timeless images that never appear dated or trendy. My editing style is light, bright with true to life colors. I walk everyone through natural poses so it’s guided but not forced or cheesy. We have a great time and it’s truly a blast!

My family mini-sessions are still just as much as part of my business and even provide an option for Seniors who may only want a handful of photos for either Mom, the yearbook, or just to keep. Big hit with the guys. =)

So, please take some time to check out the site, see what I’m offering and let’s connect!

Me with my wonderful husband Daniel and our two amazing kids, Charlie & Rachel

JESSICA STROM PHOTOGRAPHY

providing you with fine art beautiful, lovely curated images to last you a lifetime

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