Planning a Guerilla Kids’ Photo Shoot

August 28, 2025

Kristi Roe Owen,

The 2025 – 2026 school year has officially kicked off, which means the house is now silent during the day without the constant sounds of teenagers gaming or yammering away with their chat that filled my days all summer long. It’s a bittersweet silence as two of my kiddos are now in their final year of high school. Every day they take off for school, now with their 9th grade sister walking beside them, it’s a reminder that they’re one day closer to the end of the academic journey that symbolizes childhood’s end.

Still, I couldn’t be prouder of the boys, and I want to do everything I can to commemorate this critical time in their lives. And since I don’t really have the kind of walking around cash to pay a professional photographer what they deserve for the good work they do, that means we have to get creative about it. But that’s all right because if I learned nothing else participating in the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt year after year, it’s that just about anything can become a photo shoot if you try hard enough.

Even if it’s nowhere near the quality we’d get with a professional photo shoot — and I’m under zero illusions about the fact that it’s absolutely not going to be — this can still be a great solution for working class folks struggling to keep the lights on in this deeply concerning economy or heck, even for folks who just want to have a great time and do something fun to memorialize the occasion. For our part, I’m heading into my kids’ senior year with a good Google Pixel, two absurdly bloated Pinterest accounts, and a plan — a plan to spend their entire senior year snapping pics from my Guerilla Senior Pics Bucket List.

Here’s the complete list.

Murals Around Tulsa

Tulsa has a ton of murals all around town, and if we put our back into it, we can snap a pic in front of all of them before the year is over. Murals are great because they’re free works of art you can snap a variety of poses in front of. It’s also a fantastic way to pay tribute to the city that helped raise your kids up.

Here’s a list of some of Tulsa’s best murals along with a Google map to help navigate, and here’s another one from Everyday Wanderer. And here’s one from the Market District that includes spots on Route 66 and around Kendall-Whittier. Finally, here’s a list of murals in my home turf, east Tulsa’s Global District.

Stores as Backdrops

I got really into using store merchandise as backdrops for a while when my kids were little, and you’d be surprised at how creative you can get with things like rows of brightly-colored feather boas at a craft store.

While there’s a non-zero chance you could get asked to stop, I imagine most stores simply won’t care if you’re not being disruptive about the whole endeavor.

Check out these ideas:

Use the garden section at Walmart like one mom did when her kid’s prom pics were rained out.
Take pics in a vinyl record store.
Take your book geeks to a vintage bookstore or your favorite Tulsa library. Check out examples with sample poses from Detroit photographer Chelsie Maurer and Point Beach photographer Jasmine J.
Or take your anime geek to their favorite comic book store like these fantastic pics from photography teacher Ty Harper.
Do a quirky photo shoot in an antique store, flea market, or another type of junk store like these pics from Kansas City photographers Mike + Julie.
Take some pics in an arcade or laser tag arena.
Use a bowling alley for your backdrop.
Snap photos in a candy store or ice cream shop.
Find a store display of plushies and snap some pics in front of them.

Parks around Tulsa

Tulsa has an incredible parks system, and it’s about to get even better for photos with fall right around the corner. You could spend an entire afternoon snapping pics at a place like the Gathering Place or just strolling around Owen Park taking photos wherever inspiration strikes.

Here are a list of great spots at the Gathering Place (credit to photographer PQ Multimedia):

On the bridge in front of the ONEOK Boathouse
On the stairs near the boathouse
On the Midland Valley Trail leading into the park

Local Architecture

We are blessed to have some of the prettiest art deco buildings in the country here in Tulsa, and they make for some beautiful downtown photos. Without giving all of my secrets away, there are even a few spots downtown (including one very special bank) that will let you walk right in.

Here are some ideas for great pics of the local architecture around town: