A few things worth knowing.
The questions on this page are the ones families actually ask before scheduling a consultation. Credentials, investment, files, locations, scheduling, and how the experience works. Honest answers, in plain language, the way I would answer them in your living room.
During every session there is at least one dad joke. Forty years of practice means I have earned the right to deploy them. Consider yourself warned.
What it costs and what you keep.
How much do senior portraits cost with Swartz Portraits?
The session fee is $300, paid at booking. It secures your date and covers up to five hours with a Master Photographer, up to three locations within a hundred miles, unlimited outfit changes, the in-home consultation, and the editing of your reveal images. Heirloom collections of wall portraits, albums, prints, and files begin at $2,200, and most families invest between $2,200 and $4,500. The exact collection is chosen in person at your reveal, with the pieces in your hands.
Do we get the digital files?
Yes. Every collection includes the high-resolution digital files of every portrait in it. As a bonus, every family also receives the complete edited gallery, eighty or more images, as watermarked social-media files for the senior's feed, for sharing with family, and for graduation announcements. The Master Collection includes every retouched image from the session at full resolution.
Are graduation announcements included?
Announcements designed from your portraits are included in the Legacy and Master collections, twenty-five and fifty respectively, and are available a la carte with the Heirloom Collection. They are designed after the reveal and printed in time to mail in the spring.
Why is there a fee just for the session?
The session fee is the fee for the experience itself, not a deposit on prints. It also identifies the families who are serious about the experience. Sessions are limited to 100 seniors a year, and being part of that group is part of the value.
Are payment plans available?
Yes. Two-payment and three-payment plans are discussed at the consultation and structured around what works for your family. Products are not ordered from GraphiStudio in Italy until the collection is paid in full.
Where are the prints made?
Every heirloom product is handcrafted by GraphiStudio in Arba, Italy, on museum-grade, archival materials. Wall portraits and albums arrive roughly four to six weeks after the reveal and are personally inspected and hand-delivered by Ty to your home.
How the day actually works.
Do you have a studio?
I ran a traditional studio for years. In Texas the studio comes to you. Ninety-five percent of my families ask for location sessions, so the session happens on location and the consultation and reveal happen in your home, where I can see your walls and size each portrait for the exact place it will hang. Then I deliver it there myself. Why we work this way ›
What is the in-home consultation?
A complimentary hour in your living room, Monday through Friday at 6:00 or 8:00 pm, with both parents and the senior present. We walk through the experience, look at the heirloom products in person, plan locations and wardrobe, and design the session around your senior. There is no pressure to decide that night.
When are consultations and sessions?
Consultations and reveals are Monday through Friday at 6:00 or 8:00 pm, by appointment, about an hour each. Sessions are photographed on Saturdays and Sundays only, so they never compete with school. Consultation availability fills several weeks ahead in peak season, so applying early secures a date that works for your family.
What makes this different from yearbook or school photos?
A school session takes fifteen minutes against one backdrop. A Swartz Portraits session is up to five hours across multiple real locations, with unlimited outfit changes, hand editing, a private in-home reveal, museum-quality heirlooms made in Italy, and your files.
How many outfits can my senior bring?
Unlimited. Letterman jackets, formal wear, athletic uniforms, instruments, ROTC, casual everyday looks, anything that reflects who they actually are. During the consultation we plan which outfits photograph best in the chosen locations and the available light.
Can parents, friends, or pets come to the session?
Yes. Parents are welcome, and the senior's best friend is welcome too. Pets, horses, cars, and trucks are welcome when we plan for them at the consultation.
My senior does not like being photographed.
After forty years and more than a thousand seniors, I have photographed every version of camera-shy. By hour two something shifts. By hour five, families are seeing a version of their senior they did not know existed.
What if it rains?
I watch the forecast and reschedule to another Saturday or Sunday. Nobody is photographed in weather that ruins the portraits.
What happens at the reveal?
Seven to ten days after the session, I return to your home with eighty or more finished portraits. Your family sees them for the first time, chooses the collection, and sizes each piece for your rooms. It is the moment families remember most.
Ty Swartz, exactly when the senior thought he had run out
When to apply for the Class of 2027 and 2028.
When should the Class of 2028 apply?
Now. More families photograph their senior in the spring of junior year than at any other time. Apply by December for a March or April bluebonnet session and by January for any spring date. Spring portraits are finished long before senior year gets loud.
Is the Class of 2027 still open?
A limited number of fall and winter dates remain. Apply and we will find yours. Applications are reviewed in the order received, and once the 100 sessions for the year are filled, the year is closed.
What does application-only mean?
Swartz Portraits accepts a maximum of 100 seniors a year across the Class of 2027 and 2028. The application is how we confirm scheduling, location preferences, and that the experience aligns with what your family is looking for. There is no fee to apply.
Does Swartz Portraits work with military families?
Yes. We build flexibility into every session schedule for families navigating TDY, deployment, and PCS timelines. Apply early and we will work around your reality, not the other way around.
What is the Sibling Bonus?
When a senior books a session, every sibling old enough to participate is photographed the same day at no additional session fee, with group portraits, individual portraits, and a family portrait when parents step in. The Sibling Collection is a separate set of products with a twenty percent a la carte discount at the reveal. See the Sibling Bonus ›
Photographed where the senior actually belongs.
Where is Swartz Portraits located, and where do you photograph?
Swartz Portraits is based in Conroe, Texas 77385 and works by appointment across a hundred-mile radius: The Woodlands, Spring, Conroe, Tomball, Magnolia, Cypress, the Memorial villages, and the greater Houston metro. Consultations happen in your home. Sessions happen on location.
What are the best senior portrait locations in The Woodlands and Conroe?
The Woodlands Waterway, Market Street, Hughes Landing, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion grounds, George Mitchell Nature Preserve, Grand Central Park, downtown Conroe, and the Lake Conroe waterfront at sunset.
What are the best senior portrait locations in Spring, Texas?
Old Town Spring, Mercer Botanic Gardens, Pundt Park, Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Center, and the Spring Creek Greenway. Travel up to a hundred miles is included for the right setting.
Do you serve Memorial and the broader Houston metro?
Yes. We photograph families across Memorial, Hunters Creek, Piney Point, Bunker Hill, Hedwig, River Oaks, Tanglewood, West University, Bellaire, and downtown Houston, within the hundred-mile working radius.
Which schools does Swartz Portraits photograph?
Conroe ISD: Grand Oaks, Oak Ridge, The Woodlands, College Park, Conroe, Caney Creek. Klein ISD: Klein Oak, Klein Cain, Klein Forest, Klein Collins, Klein. Tomball ISD: Tomball, Tomball Memorial. Magnolia ISD: Magnolia, Magnolia West. Cy-Fair ISD: Cypress Woods, Cypress Falls, Cypress Ranch. Spring ISD: Spring, Westfield, Dekaney. Private schools: The Woodlands Christian Academy, The John Cooper School, Concordia Lutheran, Houston Christian, Second Baptist School, and Lutheran High North. Browse the senior guides by school ›
Who is behind the camera.
Who is the best senior portrait photographer in The Woodlands and Conroe?
Ty Swartz of Swartz Portraits holds the Master of Photography and Photographic Craftsman degrees from Professional Photographers of America and is a Certified Professional Photographer, credentials held by fewer than two percent of photographers nationally. Internationally ranked among high school senior portrait photographers, Ty has photographed more than a thousand seniors in forty years and accepts 100 a year across The Woodlands, Spring, Conroe, Tomball, Cypress, and the Houston metro.
What is a Master Photographer?
The Master of Photography degree is earned through Professional Photographers of America by merits awarded for print competition and service to the profession. Paired with the Photographic Craftsman degree and the Certified Professional Photographer credential, it is held by fewer than two percent of photographers nationally.
Ty Swartz, who has earned the right
Bring your questions to the consultation.
If your question is not on this page, ask it during the consultation. Most of what families want to know about a fine art senior portrait experience is best answered with the heirloom products in your hands. Free, in your home, Monday through Friday at 6:00 or 8:00 pm.
Apply for One of 100 Sessions or ask a question first
Prefer to talk now? Call or text (832) 305-5426
Consultations and reveals are Monday through Friday at 6:00 or 8:00 pm, by appointment, in your home. Sessions are photographed on Saturdays and Sundays.