Animas High School is having a Masquerade Ball for their prom. Pretty cool, huh!? This current class of seniors, The Class of 2013, is the first graduating class from AHS and they have been so much fun to work with and photograph. We are photographing their prom portraits on April 26, 2013, when they have their Masquerade Ball at The Strater. So we photographed a quick mini session in the studio this past Monday evening, of a few AHS students, in their masks, for promotional purposes (I made a really cool poster – check it out at AHS or on Instagram). It was a blast; I am so impressed with this group! I’d been honored to photograph 3 of the kids for their senior portraits (one was a senior model for us), so it was really fun to photograph and work with them again.  I CANNOT wait to see and photograph everyone in their masks!

Tara, one of our current interns, came up with the awesome idea of a Snow White themed photo shoot – fun! Obviously I was excited to photograph this one, especially when she showed me her red hair bow and the apples she brought. Hope you love!

Well, we had an absolutely amazing time in San Diego with the awesome Seniors Ignite team, our beautiful models: Taylor Marshall and Emily Muller, and our incredible intern, Lexi Whalen! We’ve been so excited to share images from our shoots there; so here are our first round of favorites. Stay tuned for more!

It’s official! We are now looking for Class of 2014 models and yes, we are the studio that is taking TWO of our models to San Diego this year!  If you would like to be an Allison Ragsdale Photography model and you are a Class of 2014 senior – go fill out the application! We already have a few Class of 2014 models and this year is going to be HUGE.  We have spent the last few months thinking so big about the 2014 model program that no other photographers are going to be able to offer you, what we can.  So don’t wait! Don’t miss out!

In 2013 we had 35 models from all the local schools.  We also had a few models from more than 3 hours away.  Here is what a few of the 2013 Models said about working with us.

“Going to Allison is definitley not like taking that awkward school photo every year that turns out terrible. Allison knows everthing about making you look great in a photo and not feeling out of place. The sessions are super fun and her photos always turn out absolutley amazing!!!!!!!!!” – Aubrey

“It is a very personable experience, Allison works really well with you to make you happy and makes you feel good about yourself. It is a very friendly, laid back environment but also very professional and a great company to work with.” – Kayla

We understand that you have a number of choices when it comes to having your senior pictures taken.  We also understand that word of mouth is the best marketing.  So in 2010 we started the very first model program in Durango.  Since  2010, many other photographers in town have tried to copy our program.  We knew we needed to make our model program “un-copyable”. So here is what our 2014 model program is going to look like.

1.  One spring model session with professional hair and make up from the best salon in town, Hair Fusion (no other model program is willing to pay for you to be pampered professionally).
2.  One Fall senior session.  This is a standard session, like everyone at school gets, but with mind blowing pictures of you.
3.  Themed summer session(s).  Every year we come up with new ideas but some of the most popular are trash the dress (click here)  and this year we took seniors to the carnival (click here) with professional hair and makeup and “stopped traffic”.
Ok time for the discounts:
4.   For every friend you send in to us you receive a discount on your order.  Every year someone sends us enough people to receive their order for free.
5.   When you hit certain milestones such as referring 5 friends or 10 friends, you get amazing gifts.  Last years was a big hit and this year is going to be even bigger.
6.  All of our models are entered into our scholarship program.  Every year we give cash away to someone for college.  No really, we write a check, no questions asked. Try to find another model program that does that.
7.  We paid for 10 of our models to be to be entered into the National Seniors Ignite Model Competition Event in San Diego March 3-6, 2013.  Our models had a chance to win an all expense paid trip to San Diego to model in front of the best photographers in the world. Four of our models were chosen as finalists and two were chosen as winners! That’s right; two of our Class of 2013 models get to go to San Diego!  AND we will create a portfolio of our models’ images when we get back.  Again, try find another studio that will do that.

If you are interested, fill out our application (click here) or give us a call for more details.

We have had such an incredible group of models the last few years; we can’t wait to see how 2014 turns out!

This is Erin, one of our beautiful DHS Class of 2014 Models, and also one of our (4) interns. Click to see her model session sneak preview. We collaborated on this theme and came up with “vintage camera”. We happen to have a few “vintage” cameras laying around the studio (for decoration purposes though I did shoot with the Holga during school so that made me feel old), and Erin had the perfect outfit, plus Durango has the best “vintage” hotel: The Strater – which all made for the perfect mix. This shoot was so much fun for me. I hardly ever take the time to just play and I enjoyed every second! Another intern of ours, Tara, was a huge help with the lighting for this session, so a quick thank you to her as well! Hope you love these few of my favorites!

Natalie is a Durango High School Class of 2014 Senior and our second model session of the year – woohoo! She was a blast to work with and photograph; I LOVE her sense of humor. Whenever I told her she was good at a pose or she looked perfect, she would reply with some version of, “I know, I make everything look good” or “I always look good”. She wanted some really different and unique senior portraits; she did not want any senior pictures in a field of long grass. So, we shot at thrift stores, on the Colorado Trail in the snow, and in the studio. Natalie had a lot of great ideas for locations and I loved the outfits she chose to wear too. She is a self proclaimed Harry Potter fan, and although I photograph quite a few of those; I think she may be the biggest fan I know. I hope you love these few of my favorites!

Erin Mull, our FIRST Class of 2014 Senior Model, is a junior at Durango High school and one of our four interns (yes, 4!). She is incredible! I LOVED photographing her and I am so excited I get to continue working with her! I always try to do something new on every session, but I’ve really been feeling that I need to challenge myself, push myself further lately. So, that’s what I did with Erin. She was patient while I really slowed down and considered every angle, pose, composition, and lighting scenario I could use for each portrait – and I am really, really excited about the images we got! I almost always use a 4 light set up in the studio and we started with just a single light source instead. I also do a lot of short lighting and we changed it up again and used butterfly lighting for the chandelier shot. Erin was also great about tromping through a foot of snow in her dress in below freezing temperatures. Erin is so beautiful, inside and out and I hope you love these few of my favorites!

Hannah’s AHS Senior Portrait Session was so much fun and was so cold. We toughed it out though it was well worth it! I hope you love these few of my favorites!