Madeline is a Bayfield High School Class of 2013 Senior, one of our amazing models, and is the youngest sister of one of my best friends. We were doing the math during Maddie’s model session and I have known her for 15 years – since she was 2! That made me feel older, that’s for sure. And now she’s going to be a senior in high school – wow, how time flies! I photographed Maddie’s older sister, Audrey, for her senior portraits a few years ago (and I photographed Emily, another of Maddie’s older sisters and my friend, for my portfolio while I was still in school at the Art Institute of Colorado) and have been excited to photograph Maddie ever since. I was excited she wanted to participate in our model program (and would love some more BHS representation). We had a blast, of course. We started at Hair Fusion for hair and make up and Lacey did an incredible job. They decided to keep Maddie’s hair straight and sleek, which was fun to play with for the pictures – so long and pretty! We shot a few portraits in the studio, then headed out to the river. At first, Maddie was in and out of the water often because the water was so cold. Eventually, her feet went numb and she could stay in longer (kidding, kind of). We splashed and played for a while in the water, then we headed over to Santa Rita Park. I had spotted a tree with orange blossoms on it that I really wanted to use. On our way back through town, we stopped at the Brick House because there were a couple of really pretty trees with beautiful white blossoms. Maddie has such a great natural smile and I had so much fun photographing her. Hope you love these few of my faves! As always for our models, check back for Maddie’s music video!

Cassie (Cassandra) Folkerth is another of our incredible Class of 2013 Senior Models from Durango High School. She came in last week one afternoon after school for her model session. It had been raining/snowing/sun shining throughout the day, so we didn’t know what the session would be like, but we went for it anyway. And it worked out perfectly. The sun came out for a bit, we had some nice pretty soft light from the cloud cover, and we were “forced” to find some cool new places inside to shoot. Matt had actually discovered a new indoor location earlier in the year and we finally got to use it and it’s so cool. I had also found one of the last few blooming crab apple trees in town, so we used it too. We started at Hair Fusion and Cassie had a great time being pampered by Kristy and Lacey. She looked so beautiful and I learned some cool new make up tricks for blue eyes (not that it helps me any since I have green eyes, but that’s ok). We started the actual shooting of the session in the studio, then headed outside to the amazing lilac bush right outside the studio in our neighbor’s front yard. Then we headed over to the blooming trees and our cool new “top secret” indoor location. I’m sure if you’ve been there, you know exactly where I’m talking about. We finished the session in the studio as well and had a great time the whole time. Cassie was so much fun to work with and photograph. She is so positive and funny and she knew how to work it for the camera too. Such a natural. Thanks for such a great session and I hope you love these few of my faves!

Shanelle Bogus is one of our Class of 2013 Senior Models from Durango High School. She is also the younger sister of Garrett Bogus, one of our past Class of 2011 Models from DHS. We adore the Bogus family and had such an amazing time with Garrett; so we knew working with Shanelle would be just as amazing. In fact, one of our all time favorite images is of Garrett, sitting in the river with his tux on. To see that image, click on Senior Guy in Water Picture. Well, Shanelle’s model session was just as unique; we used her stunning prom dress and her two beautiful horses. Now at least two of my all time favorite images are of the Bogus’s! We started at Hair Fusion for hair and make up and Mary Beth used 47 of the 48 rollers that come in the box. That means Shanelle has A LOT of gorgeous hair. I’ve been thinking of putting some highlights in my hair and I love Shanelle’s so I just might have to copy her. We started the session at the studio so we could photograph a few prom dress portraits before getting the dress dirty with the horses. We headed over to the barn next and the horses were all groomed and braided and portrait ready too. Jet (the black one) and India (the paint) were perfect for pictures and let us do pretty much anything we wanted. Shanelle did great, having to lead a horse while not stepping on her own dress or letting the horse step on her dress. I’m in love with all of Shanelle’s portraits, but I have a soft spot for horses, so I really love all the images with her horses. We finally let Shanelle change out of her dress and into her riding clothes, which were just as fun because of her red boots. We ran around the barn for a few minutes and Shanelle did a little riding. Then we headed over to Dalton Ranch, where Shanelle lives, and photographed her there, in the beautiful greenery. I love this time of year because of how green everything is and all the blooming flowers. The light was perfect and Shanelle was an amazing model. She has a beautiful smile and a beautiful serious face too. I hope you love these few of my faves (it was really, really hard to pick just a few) and please come back to see the music video!

Hannah and Jeremiah are twins, born and raised in Durango, Colorado. They currently attend school at Montezuma-Cortez High School and are two of our incredible Class of 2013 Models! Hannah wanted pictures with the crab apple blossoms (a girl after my own heart, for sure) so we scheduled their session during the blossom peak. I was, of course, extremely excited about this session – not only did I get to photograph in the crab apple blossoms, but I got to photograph twins AND I got to photograph models who attend MCHS! Plus, these two are pretty amazing people, not to mention extremely beautiful and handsome. I could go on and on about how much fun we had photographing these two, but I’ll keep it short and get to the pictures instead. We attempted to start our session up at Fort Lewis College, next to the McPherson Chapel because there is a beautiful grove of crab apple trees there. However, the wind had blown almost every single blossom off of those trees. The good part was that from our vantage point up at the Fort, we could see all the trees that were still in blossom in town. So, we spotted a few good options and headed down. We photographed around 3rd avenue and then headed over to the new “graffiti wall”. We hadn’t photographed there yet and it was awesome. I loved the colors and I love the design in black and white. We laughed a lot and had fun planning our next session(s); dreaming of wildflowers in Silverton, etc – well, not the wildflowers for Jeremiah, but we’ll work on that. I can’t wait to spend more time photographing and working with Hannah and Jeremiah and their adorable mom, Barb. I hope you love these few of my faves and stay tuned for their music videos!

Hannah Williams is one of our fabulous Class of 2013 models from Animas High School. Her senior model pictures session was a blast! We got to photograph Hannah for a quick pre prom portrait up at the Lion’s Den and she was so much fun then that I couldn’t wait for her model session – I knew it would be amazing! And it was. We started at Hair Fusion and Mary Beth was beyond amazing as usual, styling Hannah perfectly. We decided to start in Hannah’s prom dress because it’s so fun. We ran around town for a bit, looking for a merry-go-round for a specific shot we had in mind. We never found one – so if any of you happen to know where one is, please let me know! While on the hunt, however; we did come across a sign that we though summed up the session: “this is epic”. The portrait we got of Hannah sitting down looking incredibly bored cracks me up because of the contrast in ideas – oh, the irony. We laughed a lot. Hannah had an awesome outfit that her host mom in Mexico made for her (she had just spent about 5 weeks in Mexico with her host family) so we switched to that outfit next. The outfit was so colorful that we decided to emphasize it and we went on another search – this time for teal colored ice cream. Thank goodness for Baskin Robins. And for my favorite teal building 🙂 As always this time of year, we had to use the crab apple blossoms and I had located the perfect combination of pink and white blossoms together earlier that week. We then finished the session in the studio with a couple of cute dresses and a fun pair of polka dot pants. Thanks for such a great session Hannah and I hope you love these few of my faves! The video will be posted soon as well, to check back!

Prom is over… sad but true.  Now what do you do with the Prom Dress?  Well here is how the prom dress thing works from the beginning.

1)  Search for a prom dress

2) Search some more for a dress

3) Ask your friends what they think

4) Go Shopping

5) Buy a dress

6) Wear the dress to prom

7) Hang it up in the closet <—— You are HERE

8) Get the dress back out

9) Call us for a super cool photo shot with your dress and have tons of fun again in the amazing dress (trash the dress if you like)

10) See the pictures on Facebook

11) Let your friends talk about how beautiful you are in the dress (again)

If you have any ideas for a after prom dress photo shot, call us 970-259-9255.  Here are a few ideas and pictures that you will love.

Laura is one of our beautiful Durango High School Class of 2013 Models. Not only is she stunning on the outside; she is incredible on the inside too. We had so much fun working with Laura and photographing her was just as amazing! She was tough too because it wasn’t very warm outside when she came in for her Durango senior portraits model session. We opted for the coat and boots outfit for the outside shots and her cute tops for in the warm studio. We started at Hair Fusion and Mary Beth worked her magic. I can’t say enough wonderful things about Hair Fusion and all the women who make it so great. I feel so blessed to have found such a great partnership! I did the still photography and the video for Laura’s hair and makeup – so make sure to come back to see her music video! We met up with Matt when hair and make up was done, so he took over the video then. He shot a lot of the still images on Laura’s session too – like I said, we had so much fun working with Laura. We headed over to my favorite old building that I have been neglecting lately. I don’t think I had shot there since last spring actually! We have been on the hunt for new locations on every session and I have to say – we have found some really great new spots! We lucked out this time, because the gate had actually fallen down at this old building, so we were able to walk around to the back; something we have never done before! Then we headed over to the “new” Italian style buildings down the street from the studio and they had completed more of them, so there were beautiful columns and lines to use. We photographed the rest of the session in the studio and Laura had tons of ideas. She had done her research and knew what she liked -which I love! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Molly Barnes came in for her Durango High School Class of 2013 Senior Model Session pictures over spring break. Molly’s older sister, Lynsey, came in for her senior portraits as a Class of 2011 Senior a few years ago. Click to see her senior picture sneak preview. When I realized Molly was going to be a senior next year, I was so excited about her being a model for Allison Ragsdale Photography and about photographing her. I think I told Molly’s mom about our model party the day before it happened, and Molly was able to attend, and we were photographing her a week later! Molly met us at the studio so we could go to Hair Fusion together and it was hailing! I felt awful about the weather – but by the time we were done with hair and make up, the sun was shining. It did rain later, but at least it wasn’t hailing anymore. Molly has incredible blue eyes and we happened upon a blue wall that made them stand out even more. Molly plays basketball also, so she brought a ball and her letter jacket. The cherry blossom trees (or crab apple trees perhaps – I’m not sure what they actually are) had just started to blossom and I love those trees so much that we had to use them! The ones up at Fort Lewis College hadn’t bloomed yet, but I still love the trees up there, so we used those too. We did find some downtown that were blooming. Which also means that for the next couple of weeks, you’ll be seeing a lot of crab apple tree blossom pictures. Just a heads up. We finished the session in the studio as the wind and rain were starting to win and I was ready to feel my fingers again. I hope you love these few of my favorites and I’ll be adding the music video shortly – so check back to see that!

Wow, can you believe that Animas High School is going to have a graduating class next year?!

And what a class it is going to be.  We are so lucky to have Tara Murphy come to our studio and be a Durango Class of 2013 Model.  She is beautiful inside and out.  Before we photographed, Tara she was an intern at our studio through the LINK program at AHS.  For three weeks we got to hang out everyday. She went on other model session with us, learning to light and pose. So, when it came time for Tara’s session, she knew exactly what to do. Plus, Tara wants to be a fashion photographer, so she already had a pretty good start on posing. We had a lot of fun looking at posing ideas from America’s Next Top Model, that’s for sure! We started at Hair Fusion, as always, and Tara looked even more stunning than usual when Mary Beth and Kristi were through with her. Tara had a few specific ideas of her own for the shoot (chalk drawings) and of course, we had a few of our own as well. I was so excited that the trees had started to blossom – finally! I hope you love these few of my faves and of course, stay tuned for Tara’s music video!

Caity is a Class of 2013 Senior at Piedra Vista High School in Farmington, New Mexico. She is also one of our amazing models. She wanted to have her model session photographed at the aquarium in Albuquerque because she wants to be a marine biologist. Well, it just so happened to work out perfectly because Matt was teaching a class in Albuquerque. So, we met one Saturday morning at the entrance to the Aquarium and BioPark. The BioPark was absolutely beautiful and the portraits we created in the aquarium were so unique. This session was so much fun because it was in a completely new-to-us location and Caity was so much fun to work with and photograph. She was escorted by her best friend Katelin, another past model of ours – so it was really great to get to see Katelin too! We would love to see more Farmington and Albuquerque seniors come to Durango for their senior pictures – just give us a call! I hope you love these few of my faces and I can’t wait to share Caity’s music video too!