Hettinger High School Prom 2021 | Hettinger, North Dakota

Event Photographer | Brittany Schnell

I was asked to photograph the Hettinger High School Prom in my neighboring town of Hettinger, North Dakota. I have done a few photography projects in the area, but this would be my first large project in the town. I want to say a huge “Thank you” to Anna and the rest of the Junior Class for inviting me!!

Formal Photos | The Granary

Formal photos were held at The Granary- a popular event destination in Hettinger. The town is small, with a population of just over one thousand. This building looks like an old barn or granary that has been transformed to host small events. The room had entrances on both sides with one entrance completely surrounded by benches for outdoor seating.

I had never been to the Granary before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My vision? A few grain bins that we were going to use as a backdrop. I thought the students would be having an outdoor dance, kind of like a street dance, after grand march. I was extremely surprised to find an indoor prom event!!

I hope Hettinger adopts my idea of an outdoor prom dance. I think that would be a fantastic prom experience!!

Cassie Kindsfater & Corey Christopherson

The prom committee did a great job of decorating- using pillars, vines and silk flowers to transform the space into a dreamy ball room. Photos were taken in the doorway of the space. I took photos with two cameras- a hand held Sony A7iii with the Tamron 28-75mm 2.8/f lens and a Sony A7Riii with a Sigma 35mm 1.4/f lens on a tripod. Both cameras were triggering two Newer Vision 4 330W Strobes. The tripod photos are all constant and would be perfect for yearbook photos while the handled images have options for different compositions.

Grand March | Hettinger Main Street

The Junior class’s solution to a socially distant grand march was to host it at Hettinger’s Main Street. The students walked south from the Hettinger Chamber Square with crabapple trees on Main Street to the roundabout at the south end of the street. Parents, friends & family could remain in their vehicles or get out to get near to the prom couples for photos. I loved the outdoor grand march!! I think it works better for photos for everyone because the natural lighting is beautiful. It’s very convenient for those that would like to keep to themselves and still attend grand march. Plus, main street didn’t need to be decorated. The crabapple trees in bloom were more beautiful than any decoration could be.

Because the couples were further away from me, I shot the grand march with my Sony A7iii and the Tamron 70-180mm 2.8/f lens wide open. I love shooting wide open (with my aperture as low as it will go) to really make my subjects pop. Because I know many of these photos will be clipped into scrapbooks, I left dead space in many of the images. I love using images with dead space for title pages, quotes and layering with other images.