Destination Senior Portraits in Boone, NC and the North Carolina High Country


Senior Portraits | Blue Ridge Parkway, Doughton Park NC


Every year, high school seniors travel to the NC High Country from Charlotte, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, and well beyond the state line because the Blue Ridge Mountains offer something most local sessions simply cannot offer: scenery that is truly extraordinary, summer air that is nothing like the heat they left behind, and two award-winning photographers who know this landscape the way most people know their own neighborhood.

Why Families Travel to Boone, NC for Senior Portraits


• Named National Senior Portrait Photographer of the Year at SYNC — 2023 and 2026

• Over 30 years photographing seniors in the NC High Country

• Two photographers at every senior session

• Fully guided from planning through finished portraits

• Sessions planned individually for every senior


Why do seniors travel to Boone, NC for portraits?

Boone and the NC High Country offer cooler mountain temperatures, dramatic Blue Ridge scenery, and access to portrait locations that do not exist anywhere else in the state. Add two award-winning photographers who plan every session specifically around who your senior is, and the result is portraits that look like no one else's.


A Senior Portrait Session Built Around Who They Actually Are

Before session day, we have a complimentary planning consultation. A real conversation about your senior, not a checklist. What they want their portraits to feel like. Which locations match their personality. What to wear and when to change. By the time they arrive for their session, nothing is being figured out on the fly.

We have been creating senior portraits for over thirty years. We have photographed athletes and artists, introverts and performers, seniors who arrived with a detailed vision and seniors who had no idea what they wanted until we started talking. Every session is different because every senior is different. That is not a formula. It is just how we work.


"Bonnie and Jonathan are absolutely amazing! They made our senior picture experience so fun and memorable. We went to a variety of locations, and they made the entire day enjoyable for both of us. They helped with everything — from choosing outfits to finding the best places — making Cora feel confident and beautiful in front of the camera. They also guided us through narrowing down the perfect photos to take home, which we really appreciated. Their communication is excellent, their work is incredible, and they are truly genuine people. We are so grateful. Thank you both for an experience we will always remember!"

Katie B., senior mom


Senior Portrait with Dog | Julian Price Park, NC

Summer Senior Portraits in the NC Mountains

There is a practical reason so many of our best senior portraits are made in the summer. When a senior is comfortable, it shows. When they are not overheated and miserable, they relax. When they relax, the portraits look like them rather than like someone enduring a hot afternoon for the camera.

Summer in the NC High Country feels nothing like summer in Charlotte, Raleigh, or Winston-Salem. The elevation keeps temperatures noticeably cool, evenings drop fast, and the air is nothing like the humidity that makes July and August miserable in the Piedmont. Seniors who have never been to the mountains in summer are usually surprised by how good it feels to be outside. That surprise shows up in their portraits.


Senior Portraits in Wildflowers | Doughton Park NC

Fall Portraits in the Blue Ridge Mountains

When autumn arrives in the High Country, it comes in layers. The color moves down the ridges over several weeks as the elevation drops, which means there is no single peak weekend to chase. There are many gorgeous days. Crisp air, low humidity, and skies that go a particular shade of blue that only happens in the mountains in October. For a senior portrait, that combination of color and comfortable air produces something that looks unmistakably different from a portrait made anywhere else in North Carolina.


Senior Portrait with Dog | Beacon Heights, Linville NC

Where Senior Portrait Sessions Take Place in Boone, NC and the High Country

The Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone gives us dramatic overlooks, open balds, forested paths, and historic structures depending on where we go and what a senior is hoping for, what excites them and what feels most natural to them. The broader High Country region, from the valleys around Valle Crucis to the elevations near Banner Elk and the rolling countryside around Blowing Rock, adds even more variety. Some seniors want to be somewhere that feels epic. Others want somewhere that feels personal. A few want both in the same session.

We have spent over thirty years learning this landscape and we know how to match the right location to the right senior. That conversation happens during your planning consultation, where we figure out which settings fit your senior's personality and what the landscape is doing at that particular time of year.


Senior Portraits | Banner Elk NC Mountains Summer

How a Burton Photography Senior Session Works

The session starts before the session. A complimentary planning consultation, by phone, video conference, or in person, is where we get to know your senior before anything else is decided. Their personality, their style, what they want their portraits to feel like. By the time session day arrives, everything is already planned and your senior can simply show up and enjoy it.

Not sure what to wear for a mountain portrait session? We put together a complete guide to help your senior plan every outfit for every location.

You can also learn more about our full senior portrait experience, including how we work with seniors throughout the planning process.

We are both at every session, and for seniors that combination matters in a specific way. Your senior is getting creative input from two seasoned professionals at the same time. Sometimes we are both shooting simultaneously, working different angles so the same moment is captured from two perspectives. Other times one of us is behind the camera while the other is managing lighting, checking that every detail of hair and clothing is exactly right before the frame is made. That level of attention produces portraits that look distinctly polished rather than accidentally good.

Sessions run two to three hours and are planned to include travel between locations and wardrobe changes, so there is real variety in what comes back from the session. After your session, we schedule your viewing appointment. Families who can meet us at our Boone studio see their proofs projected large on a big screen, beautiful and easy to compare side by side.

Families who have returned home view their proofs by video conference. We guide every decision either way. When your finished portraits are ready, we offer complimentary shipping straight to your door. For wall art, we can frequently arrange an in-home installation appointment so everything ends up exactly where it belongs.


Senior Portrait with Truck | Blue Ridge Parkway NC

Who We Are

What you want for your senior is portraits that look like nobody else's, made by photographers who treat this season with the seriousness it deserves. Jonathan and Bonnie Burton have spent over thirty years creating senior portraits across the NC High Country. They know this landscape the way most people know their own neighborhood, and they know that the best senior portrait is always the one that could not have been made of anyone else.

In 2023 and again in 2026, Burton Photography was named National Senior Portrait Photographer of the Year at SYNC, the national juried competition specifically for high school senior portrait photographers. Only a handful of photographers anywhere in the country have won that recognition twice. It is the award that matters most to us because it is given specifically for the work we love most.


"I put my complete trust in Burton Photography for my daughter's Senior Year Portrait Session. She met with Bonnie and Jonathan, and together the three of them put together their vision for a beautifully unique session that they were all excited about. The results were breathtaking and captured my daughter's personality perfectly. Bonnie and Jonathan also guided us as we created gorgeous and very personal album gifts for our family, and canvas prints for our home. The entire experience was so enjoyable, and such a wonderful memory for us!"

— Christina B., senior mom


Ready to Start Planning Your Senior's Mountain Portrait Session?

Senior portraits in the NC High Country begin with a conversation about your senior. Tell us a little about your senior and we will get back to you promptly to schedule your complimentary planning consultation.

Call us at (828) 773-7873 or fill out our contact form. We would love to hear from you.


Your Senior Portrait Investment

Your $790 booking fee secures your date on our calendar and includes a $600 portrait credit toward your finished portraits.


Every senior session includes:

• Complimentary planning consultation

• 2 to 3 hour portrait session with two photographers

• 75 to 100 proofs at your viewing appointment

• Viewing and ordering appointment at our studio or via video conference

• Complimentary shipping on finished portraits

• Complimentary in-home installation available for wall art

• Lifetime guarantee on all portrait products

• A companion digital file with every portrait you purchase, suitable for printing up to 8x10


Questions about what a typical order looks like or which products families love most? We talk through all of it during your planning consultation. Happy to send our portrait product guide ahead of time if you would like to look it over first.


Senior Portrait Wall Art | Above the Fireplace

Frequently Asked Questions: Destination Senior Portraits in the NC Mountains

From Charlotte, Boone is about two hours. From Winston-Salem, about ninety minutes. From Raleigh, plan for two and a half to three hours.
Plan for a fun, relaxed evening in the most beautiful scenery North Carolina has to offer, with two seasoned professionals focused entirely on making your senior's portraits extraordinary. Sessions run two to three hours at golden hour, with time built in for travel between locations and wardrobe changes.
There is no single best season for senior portraits in the NC High Country because each one is distinctly different. Summer is cool and comfortable with wildflower fields and long golden evenings. Fall brings weeks of color rolling down the ridges. Spring has soft light and early blooms. Winter is quiet and dramatic. We help you figure out which season fits your senior best during your planning consultation.
Out-of-town families have two options. If there is time before you head home, we arrange your viewing appointment at our Boone studio where your proofs are projected large and we guide every decision in person. If you have already returned home, a video conference viewing works just as well. Finished portraits ship to you at no charge when they are ready.
Absolutely. If your senior's dog is part of their story, they belong in the portraits. The outdoor mountain settings we use give pets plenty of room to be comfortable, and we know how to work with them. Some of our favorite senior portraits have a dog in them.
For most senior portrait sessions, Boone is the stronger choice. It sits more than 1,000 feet higher in elevation than Asheville, keeping summer temperatures cooler and making outdoor sessions more comfortable. The Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone offers portrait locations that are legitimately suited to senior sessions, while overlooks near Asheville tend to be roadside pulloffs designed for cars rather than portraits. Boone and Asheville are also more than two hours apart by road and are not interchangeable destinations.
Summer in Boone and the NC High Country is dramatically cooler than the rest of North Carolina. Evenings drop fast, humidity is low, and seniors who have spent their whole lives avoiding being outside in July are truly surprised by how good it feels. That comfort shows up in the portraits.
Wildflowers are in bloom from spring through early fall, and the golden hour light along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone is warm, long, and completely different from anything available in the flatlands. Summer is one of our strongest seasons for senior portraits.


Yes. Family portraits are a significant part of what we do at Burton Photography, and the NC High Country is just as extraordinary a setting for families as it is for seniors. Families travel to us from across North Carolina and beyond for the same reasons seniors do: the comfortable mountain climate, the spectacular scenery, and an experience that is worth the drive. You can learn more about our destination family portrait experience here.
The earlier you reach out, the more time we have together to plan a session that is exactly right for your senior. Early booking means more date options, more time for wardrobe planning, and a more relaxed lead-up to session day. That said, we have a flexible calendar and are always happy to talk through what works.
Yes, and seniors who make the trip consistently say so. Boone and the NC High Country offer cooler temperatures, spectacular mountain scenery, and portrait locations along and around the Blue Ridge Parkway that simply do not exist in most of North Carolina. The elevation keeps summers comfortable when the rest of the state is miserable.

The fall color season stretches across several weeks rather than peaking in a single weekend. And the entire experience, from planning through finished portraits, is guided start to finish by photographers who have worked in this landscape for over thirty years. For seniors who want portraits that look like no one else's, Boone is worth every mile of the drive.
Yes. Senior portraits at Burton Photography draw families from well beyond North Carolina. Florida, Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Massachusetts, Montana, and beyond. The mountains are worth the trip regardless of how far you are coming from, and the full-service guided experience means nothing falls through the cracks for families traveling from a distance.

Let's Start Planning Your Senior's Mountain Portrait Session

Senior portraits in the NC High Country begin with a conversation about your senior. Who they are, what they are hoping for, and what would make this experience truly extraordinary for them. Fill out our contact form or give us a call and we will get back to you promptly to schedule your complimentary consultation. (828) 773-7873


Senior Portraits | Blue Ridge Parkway, Boone NC



burton@NCphotographer.com · 166 Chapel Hills Rd., Boone, NC 28607 · (828) 773-7873
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