I have been waiting to photograph Jake since I photographed his older sister Taylor for her senior portraits years ago. She was one of our first senior models and her portraits are still hanging on our walls at the studio. I loved working with her family and so when I discovered Jake was a junior (he’s a Class of 2015 student at Durango High School) and wanted to be part of our model program, I was so excited! We added on a sibling shoot to Jake’s senior model session, so come back to view those in a separate blog post. Jake’s session was awesome. He loves Vans, so I spent some time researching and we decided to incorporate all of his shoes into his pictures. Since he also plays basketball, I knew he’s be able to do some cool jumps over his shoes. We did some fun jumps in the studio too and I can’t wait to photograph Jake again for his senior session. I have some ideas for a group guy session too – so make sure to check back because I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot more of Jake!

Jake Kaplan from Allison Ragsdale on Vimeo.

Shaylah Wood from Allison Ragsdale on Vimeo.

Sierra’s Beautiful Senior Pictures in Durango Colorado

Who are you?

Sierra Reed

What is your nickname and who gave it to you?

I don’t have one. I guess it would be cool though!

If you could be a SuperHero, what would your name be and what would be your Superpower?

If I could be a Superhero my name would be Super Sierra because it just fits! My superpower would be to be able to control anything and everything with my mind. Being able to move objects and make people do things by not saying anything WOULD BE SO COOL. I guess it would be cool to fly too!

What is something nobody knows about you?

Lets see… I am sort of an open book. I guess one thing that people do not know about me is that I like classic rock! Everyone knows I listen to country and pop, but there is nothing more interesting than classic rock. LOVE IT!

Describe one of the following and why: your favorite band, favorite place to shop, favorite hang out, biggest pet peeve, favorite junk food, favorite brand to wear.

Biggest pet peeve. Hmmm. Considering I have tons of them, this will be hard. I hate hearing people eat! If people are smacking their lips during the meal I don’t even want to be around them!

What is your favorite memory of a Activity, Sport or Hobbies you are involved in?

I am involved in 4h and FFA. My favorite memory was getting my pigs for the very first year! They were so cute and so sweet! It was the best experience!

Who is your favorite teacher and why?

My favorite teacher is “Monty.” I have many teachers I like at the high school and many previous teachers I have loved, but for now Monty is definitely the best! Besides being in english with him and it actually being fun, he is pretty much my best friend! He is a teacher that many students can connect to and feel confident talking to about anything. I am so lucky to have had him as a teacher!

What do you want to be when you grow up (dream job)?

You would think I would be like every other kid and reply to this question saying, “I want to be a doctor!” or “I want to be a teacher.” But honestly, I have NO idea. I’m young and still have some time. I do not want to invest a ton of money at college in something I am not highly passionate about. I am still figuring it out and it will come to me soon enough.

Describe your session to someone that was not at the session. (Best part, funniest moment, coolest location, etc)

My session was so so so fun! I was so nervous, but Allison made things so fun and so calm. She is so helpful with how you should place your hands and what kind of smile you should do! She makes you feel completely relaxed and focused on your session. She makes a point to make you feel welcome and like you are friend and not a client. The funniest part was that Allison, her assistant Lexi, and I all had on matching denim shirts! So it set us off on a really good note. Allison has so many ideas for locations. I thought it was awesome that I took photos at a painted dumpster and on the side of the road. Those photos turned out so amazing even for their weird locations! I loved my first session with her so much!

What would you like others to know about Allison Ragsdale Photography?

I would like others to know how flexible she is. She really cares and tries to work with your schedule as much as she can. That is really helpful for high school students. Also, you may be nervous at first, but Allison makes you feel so welcome, so don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Another important thing is that they make your session FUN, so it isn’t something that you are going to dread. All around, just know that Allison Ragsdale Photography is THE BEST!

Sierra | Class of 2015 Senior Model from Allison Ragsdale on Vimeo.

Katie’s Fun Senior Portraits

Who are you?

Katie Wiegert

What is your nickname and who gave it to you?

My nickname is Angel, given to me by my parents when I was a little girl.

If you could be a SuperHero, what would your name be and what would be your Superpower?

If I could be any superhero, I would be Spider Woman because then I could swing around towns and big cities and see the greatest views! I also just really like Spider Man haha 🙂

What is something nobody knows about you?

Something nobody really knows about me is that: 1) I’m a triplet and 2) I really love football and the Broncos! I am a huge football fan!

Describe one of the following and why: your favorite band, favorite place to shop, favorite hang out, biggest pet peeve, favorite junk food, favorite brand to wear.

My favorite junk food is ice cream. Almost everyday of the week I go to Dairy Queen and get a small double fudge cookie dough blizzard. It’s a really great comfort food!

What is your favorite memory of a Activity, Sport or Hobbies you are involved in?

My favorite memory of my sport, basketball, was being able to travel to Denver every weekend in the Fall to play basketball on a traveling AAU team, and play at the Olympic Training Center.

Who is your favorite teacher and why?

My favorite teacher is Ty Flom because he gives such great advice and knows me pretty well, so he helps me out whenever I need. He is just such a great person. I really look up to him.

What do you want to be when you grow up (dream job)?

My dream job is being an athletic trainer or personal trainer for a professional basketball team/player.

Describe your session to someone that was not at the session. (Best part, funniest moment, coolest location, etc)

My session was very fun! We started downtown, modeling by the coolest structures with the spiral staircase, then went to the studio. In the studio, I had several different outfits, which I loved, because we tried a lot of different colors with my clothes. The best part was being in my basketball jersey and modeling with the basketball because that really described me as an athlete. The whole shoot was just really awesome.

What would you like others to know about Allison Ragsdale Photography?

Allison Ragsdale is really just a fun, professional business. Allison, personally, is really fun, personable, and has such great ideas. It’s just a great environment to be in and the people involved in the business make it really fun to be a part of.

Katie from Allison Ragsdale on Vimeo.

Lizzie’s Beautiful Senior Portraits in Durango CO

Who are you?

Lizzie Wiegert

If you could be a SuperHero, what would your name be and what would be your Superpower?

If I was a superhero, I would definitely want to have the power to know everything and be a genius! My name would be Lizzie the Mind-blower

What is something nobody knows about you?

I can wiggle my ears!

Describe one of the following and why: your favorite band, favorite place to shop, favorite hang out, biggest pet peeve, favorite junk food, favorite brand to wear.

My biggest pet peeve ever, is when people don’t straighten out their tires when they park!

What is your favorite memory of a Activity, Sport or Hobbies you are involved in?

Well I play soccer and my favorite memory would probably be, beating our biggest rivals! It gives me a great sense of humble pride!

Who is your favorite teacher and why?

My favorite teacher is Mr. Flom because he is such a great role model and person to be around!

What do you want to be when you grow up (dream job)?

I want to be in criminal justice!

Describe your session to someone that was not at the session. (Best part, funniest moment, coolest location, etc)

My session was so much fun! I had a lot of fun going to all of my locations, but I think the most interesting one, was hiking in deep snow to get a really cool shot up in the forest! Even though my feet were pretty cold after that, it was definitely worth it!

What would you like others to know about Allison Ragsdale Photography?

I think other people should know that Allison Ragsdale Photography is amazing! Its so much fun to work with Allison and she makes you feel at ease and really comfortable! So if anybody is going into their photo shoot being nervous, don’t be! It’s literally so much fun!

Lizzie from Allison Ragsdale on Vimeo.

Seniors Ignite! 2014

I don’t think I’m going to be able to put into words what Seniors Ignite is to us, but I’m going to try. We “discovered” Seniors Ignite last year through one of our best friends and mentors, Ross Bothwell of Roka Studios. As soon as we learned who and what Seniors Ignite is, we were 100% in. We immediately signed up to be a Seniors Ignite Model Photography Studio and to attend the “inaugural” Seniors Ignite Event in 2013 in San Diego. We were so honored to have 2 model winners our first year and word spread fast about the opportunity for our models. The event itself was incredible because not only did we learn a lot, but we made so many incredible friendships with beyond incredible photographers. We immediately signed up at that event for this year’s event and became more involved. We were Event Leaders and Official Shooters at the Seniors Ignite 2014 Event in Las Vegas; plus Matt got to speak and teach all the photographers attending. One of my favorite parts of the event was getting to photograph 2 of the gorgeous models, Natalie and McKinley at the ghost town in Nelson, Nevada. We were tasked with the themes “elegant” and “steampunk” and we had way too much fun making those happen!  Check out the amazing images we got!

Liam’s Amazing Senior Pictures Durango CO

Liam Millar

What is something nobody knows about you?

Not many people know that I am really into photography.

Describe one of the following and why: your favorite band, favorite place to shop, favorite hang out, biggest pet peeve, favorite junk food, favorite brand to wear.

My favorite hang out would be the ice rink because I love playing hockey there.

What is your favorite memory of a Activity, Sport or Hobbies you are involved in?

My favorite memory of my hockey career is definitely when I went with a select team to Switzerland to play a tournament.

Who is your favorite teacher and why?

My favorite teacher is Ryan Montgomery because he is a lot like me and he is a really cool guy.

What do you want to be when you grow up (dream job)?

I want to be the head coach / GM / owner of a professional hockey/ lacrosse team.

Describe your session to someone that was not at the session. (Best part, funniest moment, coolest location, etc)

My session took place in the studio, it was really fun and I loved it. We tried many different looks and colors and lights. We tried to do a lot of dramatic lighting and I really liked that. The photos came out great!

What would you like others to know about Allison Ragsdale Photography?

Allison Ragsdale is amazing! Her photographs are great and she runs a very professional business.

Liam from Allison Ragsdale on Vimeo.

Eva’s Beautiful Senior Portraits

Eva is absolutely gorgeous! She is one of our Class of 2014 Senior Models from Durango High school and this post is from her senior portrait session, which we photographed in late summer, while we still had beautiful greens and flowers. We got to use a friend of Eva’s mom’s property for the shoot and it was incredible. They have their own personal lake out back and if I haven’t made it clear in the past, I love water because I love reflections! So I was super excited to use the lake. We discovered a small dock so Eva could get out on the water and when she stepped onto it, snakes went scattering everywhere. I was nowhere near the dock and I was terrified. Eva wasn’t scared at all – she just waited for them to move, then laid down on the dock for her portraits. I was impressed! Brave and beautiful – wow!

Eva’s Beautiful Senior Portraits from Allison Ragsdale on Vimeo.

Bella’s Fall Senior Pictures

Bella is such a beauty! We have had such an awesome year getting to know her. She is one of our Class of 2014 models and we got to photograph her not only for her senior portraits, but for her model session (during spring break last year and it SNOWED), as well as a volleyball shoot and a night shoot – so much fun! These images are from Bella’s senior session, which doubled as a friend session too, as we photographed her best friend, Berkeley, at the same time. They are both such awesome people and we are so honored to have been able to work with them both! This was one of those dream sessions, where the hair/makeup was perfect (by MaryBeth at Hair Fusion of course), the location was perfect (magic hour at the peak of fall), with 2 gorgeous seniors who are total naturals in front of the camera. LOVE!