English teacher Ann Flurry pulled into the Shawnee Mission Park parking lot, ready with her Canon camera to take senior photos of one of her students.
After snapping a few more pictures, Spanish teacher Laura Buckman finished taking senior photos at the same spot, when her and Flurry’s student clients recognized each other.
“She was just finishing, I was just starting,” Flurry said. “And it was just a really nice
surprise.”
Flurry and Buckman both started a photography business because of their creative natures, but through it, they get to see different sides of their students.
Since many of their senior photo clients have been in their classes at some point, Flurry and Buckman both agree students act more freely in front of the camera than in the classroom.
“They're able to be a little bit more, maybe themselves, a little more authentic, because it's not in a school setting,” Buckman said. “They're not trying to fit into a box, like sometimes they have to at school.”
Buckman’s position as a teacher has also helped her make students feel more comfortable and willing to be themselves in their photography sessions.
“I think I get a little bit more genuine smiles,” Buckman said. “If it's somebody that knows me like that [or] has a relationship prior to photos, I think they're able to be more comfortable and just confident.”
Flurry once took pictures of a typically quiet, former AP Language student on the soccer field. As she arrived at the location, Flurry saw another side to her student shine through.
“I showed up at his soccer field, and it's like he just walked on, and it was his turf,” Flurry said.
Flurry explains how the best and most authentic photos are often taken in the moments between the planned poses.
“So when we've made a joke, and they start laughing, then I shoot,” Flurry said.
Flurry and Buckman promote their businesses through social media and word-of-mouth, as their former clients and students recommend their businesses to others.
Since Buckman is the cheer coach and takes the cheer team photos, cheer captain and senior Andi Prendiville had Buckman take her senior pictures.
“As a cheer coach, she has to really lay into us a lot, and really hold us accountable for what we're doing,” Prendiville said. “But as a photographer, she really gives you the freedom to do whatever you want. And she would tell me to hit whatever pose I wanted. She trusted that I would do something that would look good for me.”
For Buckman, she hopes to see her business slowly grow in the future while still being able to manage it.
For Flurry, she’s satisfied with where her business is now — small and thriving.
“I never wanted the business so big that it would overshadow teaching, because that's my first love,” Flurry said.
Flurry and Buckman are both satisfied with their photography side jobs of being able to capture the picture-perfect moment for students and others, even if it’s not entirely perfect. Just genuine.
“Our society is so full of the narcissism of taking selfies all the time,” Flurry said. “And while I appreciate that, I do think there's nothing like seeing a really good photograph of yourself or someone you love that's been photographed looking their best, but also being truly who they are.”
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