An investment in fine art, not a transaction
Swartz Portraits is not your school's contracted photographer. We are not the generalist who shoots a wedding one weekend, a birthday party the next, and senior portraits whenever the schedule allows. We are focused, by choice, on one thing — fine art senior portraiture, made by a Master Photographer credentialed by Professional Photographers of America — and the investment reflects that focus.
Forty years behind the camera, including formative years as a Navy Hollywood Liaison supporting eight major motion pictures and forty-eight television productions. Storytelling isn't a metaphor for how Ty photographs — it is the literal craft.
Most families ask about price first
Pricing is discussed during the free in-person consultation — not because we are hiding it, but because investment is a deciding factor on what your family is willing to put into your senior's experience.
We need to understand what you want for your home, your senior's vision, and the heirlooms that will hang on your walls for generations before we can have an honest conversation about what that costs.
What a fine art session actually involves
Most photographers pick a location, hope the sun cooperates, have the senior walk around, and take pictures. We don't work that way. Every session is built like a film production — character, setting, light, narrative arc.
- Location scouting — every location is visited, evaluated, and chosen for what it says about the senior
- Outfit consultation — combinations are designed during the in-person consultation around what photographs best in the chosen locations
- Theme building — the session has a narrative; multiple looks, multiple locations, one cohesive story
- Full studio lighting equipment — not on-camera flash, not natural light alone — the same professional portrait equipment used in commercial and editorial work
- The senior's voice — seniors have a say in what they want; Ty has a say in how their story is told through fine art
- Personality on film — the goal isn't pretty photos, it's a portrait that captures who your senior actually is
$300
Secures your senior's date
"More importantly — the session fee identifies the families who are serious about the experience. Sessions are limited to 100 per year. Being part of an exclusive group is itself part of the value."
GraphiStudio. Twenty-five years. No exceptions.
Heirloom products come from GraphiStudio — the Italian fine art studio whose work has been chosen by Master Photographers across thirty countries for over fifty years. Hand-bound. Archival. Designed to last generations.
I have trusted GraphiStudio for nearly twenty-five years. I have watched other companies try to imitate their work — cutting corners on materials, mass-producing what should be handcrafted, skipping quality control. That is what is wrong with American manufacturing. I will not put my name on lesser products.
If a GraphiStudio product ever arrives with a defect, they replace it without question. That is the kind of partnership that makes the investment worth what it is.
Leonardo da Vinci didn't carry the Mona Lisa as a digital file
He carried her with him. He hung her on the walls of every place he stayed during his travels. The painting traveled because it was real — because it was a physical object that meant something to him.
Imagine your student traveling through their life with their senior portrait on the wall of every home they live in. One day, telling the story to their own children. That is what fine art portraits are for. Files disappear into folders. Wall portraits become part of the family record.
Other photographers want to sell digital files because files are easier. We want our work on your walls because that is where it belongs.
"My goal is to make parents use the tissues."
Each senior is unique, and we create until we have the eighty images we know your family will love. When I capture a slight smile or a particular look — the kind only a parent recognizes — those are the frames that matter most. I won't always know I caught it until the reveal session, when I watch you see it.
The reveal is when families realize the year is real. Senior portraits are the last full-stop before everything changes — when your student is about to fly from the nest, and the wall portrait you choose is the one that will keep them prominent in your home and your office for the rest of your lives.
That is what a Swartz Portraits collection is designed for.
Two-payment and three-payment plans available
Payment plans are discussed during the consultation and structured around what works for your family. Products are not ordered with GraphiStudio in Italy until the invoice is paid in full — we never ship work that hasn't been completed on both sides.
Once your products arrive from Italy, they are personally hand-delivered by Ty to your home. Never shipped. Never left at the door. Hand-delivered, the way fine art deserves to be received.
You spent eighteen years raising someone extraordinary
Document this version of them properly. Free in-person consultation, in your home, no pressure, no obligation — a real conversation about your senior, the locations they would love, and the heirlooms your family will live with for generations.
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