Year In Review | Best of 2023 | Nebraska Senior + Family Photographer

A Quick Recap of 2023 | Top Favorite Memories

This past year felt incredibly quick! One minute I was prepping in the spring and the next I was quickly trying to wrap up holiday ordering season. This year we set a record number of senior sessions as well as hosting some fun holiday themed minis.

70+ sessions! I’m always humbled when I total up things at the end of the year. I’ve kept up with last years pace and added ample more sessions this year. I loved hosting three rounds of holiday mini’s dates this past year to give everyone a chance to get in on the fun. And of course, getting to see all the littles is such a fun time!

Join us this year for senior sessions filled with unforgettable adventures. From getting stuck in mud to the hottest sweat-inducing activities, we’ve experienced some truly awesome senior sessions across Nebraska. I was invited to high school soccer fields and football fields, some seniors brought their trucks and a few even brought their pets to hang out for their senior pictures! I even had a set of besties who met me in Iowa for some fun covered bridge pictures. I love that a few times we even go to jump in the water to cool off, something about a lake/pond/river at sunset here in Nebraska for senior pictures always brings me so much joy!

I love going through every folder to find and highlight my sessions at the end of the year. It always inspires me that my clients open their arms and invite me into getting to know their families. I love stepping back and seeing just how many people I get to meet and capture their pictures in different milestones of their lives!

Best Nine From Instagram

This is so cute and it’s always fun to create. Instagram pulls your best nine posts of the year. This past year I worked on doing more video content and the journey has been fun. I like getting to hang out in a way that clients get to see more often the day-to-day life as well as some fun behind the scenes content. Thanks for hanging out and getting social on Instagram with me!

Top Viewed Blog Posts

Something I’ve really wanted to drive home this year was to focus on senior and family outfit guides. I spent a lot of time creating these to help my clients become successful at showing up to their sessions stylish! I’m also loving getting to share about unique sessions we’ve held with our seniors to give other future seniors some inspo for their own sessions. My goal is to start incorporating even more tips and tricks to make your sessions flow seamlessly into the new year. As we continue to work on balancing and creating content in 24, we can’t help but brag about how much fun it is to create a blog for you! Here are the top viewed blog posts of 2023.

Nebraska High School Senior Portraits

Just when I thought we were shooting record numbers in 2021, we were surprised and shot even more in 2022! Last year we shot almost 22 seniors, this year we’ve shot over 30! It’s so exciting watching those numbers grow. Seniors have my heart, and getting to serve them makes me sing with happiness. Our youth are awesome, and the world still has some pretty amazing leaders coming up! We’ll have another wrap up post coming soon with our Best of Seniors 2022.

Best Selling Products of 2022

This comes as no surprise, but our top products were frames, proof prints and photo albums.

Our frames always speak for themselves. They truly are incredible and I love that they’re such a statement. We love being an exclusive vendor for Farmhouse Frames. We’re one of THREE photographers in Nebraska who has access to this family owned business and so proud to be sharing their work with our clients. Truly, their frames are worth the investment, plus you can update them through the years as your family changes and grows!

The second best seller is our proof prints. They include a custom cover box to store them in and the prints and perfect to frame and swap out what you’re displaying! We love these to share with family and also display at graduation parties. They’re also awesome to have as a keepsake for those who choose not to invest in digitals, truly you never can go wrong with printed photos.

Our third and final favorite is our photo books and albums. These are a great way to get all of the images from your session without investing in all of the digitals. Highly recommend for those wanting long term keepsakes of their families to pass down for generations!

Favorite Reels & TikToks

What’s more fun then showing off some of our behind the scenes and video content from social media? It’s fun to find a way to re-share them to highlight some of our favorites!

What’s New for 2024?

What’s going to be new in 2024 for Dirt Road Photography? More than likely not a whole lot! We strive to keep things consistent and we love the “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” theory. We try to keep things the same so you know what to expect from us.

We’re keeping our pricing structures the same. To be completely transparent, I’m keeping 95% of products pricing the same. A few increases due to shipping and inflation costs of supplies have caused those issues but we always strive to give you unique, one of a kind products that you can’t find elsewhere. And in that line of business from the vendors I work with, I can expect some prices to fluctuate. I’m always working on adding more exclusive products as well as new services to the business lineup.

More family mini options! We found our sweet spot of families enjoying mini’s so we’re going to start offering more each quarter. We know there’s a need for a regular family session, and there’s a time and place for them. But we also know if you’re updating family portraits annually you’re investment might be a smaller budget. So we’re creating the best of both worlds and offering a few more options in 2024!

Senior pricing structure will remain the same and we found out our seniors loved the senior mini’s we added from last year so those will also be here to stay. These are perfect for those who need their regular session but an additional mini sesh for something like just sports pictures at the football field or maybe just some fun ones with your bestie or pets that don’t travel well.

Take a peek back throughout the past NINE years since we started sending out our annual thank you cards. It’s so inspiring and I love displaying them in my office so I can quickly peek back at how many people I’ve gotten to know throughout the years.