Michael is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School and a golfer. We photographed the first half of his session out around the Dalton Ranch golf course. I even got to ride around in a golf cart for part of the session (I got some really nice accidental shots of my feet while bouncing around the course on the cart). The colors were gorgeous, the weather was beautiful, Michael had picked great outfits (and recently had a hair cut – his hair was very long when I met with him for his consultation), so everything came together for a great session! We headed a little further north to shoot in the cottonwood forest and “the cove”. I even did a little bit of rock climbing in my very practical high heel boots too so we could get some river portraits! Michael was so great, coming up with lots of ideas and helping me hike around with all my gear. I hope you love these few of my faves!

Jessica is famous around our studio and has become the face of our senior model program. Her model portraits are on our business cards and her model session is our intro video on our website. To see her model session blog post, click Durango Model Photographer. To see our intro video featuring Jessica, just watch the video at the top of this page! Jessica was also part of the “Splashing in Puddles” group session, with cute rain boots and umbrellas. We had such a great time photographing Jessica’s model session that I couldn’t wait to photograph her again for her senior session – and what an amazing session! We started out at Jessica’s house, at Appaloosa Trading Company. Then we headed back toward town, stopping in some long grass along the highway and a friend’s “backyard” up near Fort Lewis College. Jessica had so many great ideas and specific outfits for each location. We fake laughed, we threw leaves, we swung, we walked. We finished the session downtown, using some of my favorite spots and finding a few new ones in the process. Jessica brought her fedora, which made for some really fun portraits. Again, I had a really hard time narrowing down my favorites for this blog post to just 5 images. I can’t wait to show you the rest of your portraits Jessica and I hope you love these few of my faves!

Hayden is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School and one of our two male DHS models. He’s been so much fun to work with so far (click to see Hayden’s Model Session blog post and his Paint Splatter Session post) and I love what we got on his senior session! The fall colors were pretty much as their peak along the river last week, and his mom scheduled his session a month in advance – I don’t know how she knew it would be perfect! I have really enjoyed photographing the Siekman boys (Jake last year and Hayden this year) and I get to photograph all three brothers this week – I can’t wait! And I can’t wait to see Dana (their mom) again when they come in to view and order their images! Hayden brought great colors for the fall leaves and we had so many great background choices around the Smiley Building and the river trail. I love being a photographer and I love being a photographer in Durango – what a beautiful place we live in! Thanks Hayden for being so great and I hope you love these few of my faves!

Rachel is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. She came in for her session this past Monday afternoon, after school. She had great outfits, jewelery, and shoes! And I think most of it belonged to her cousins. I know the feeling – whenever I get a positive comment on an article of clothing, it is almost always something I’ve borrowed, not my own. Oh well – my friends and family have good taste! We started Rachel’s session by the river behind the Double Tree, for the scenic part of her session. Then we headed downtown for the “industrial” look. We stopped on the way back to the studio for a beautiful tree and good looking set of stairs, then finished in the studio. Rachel was a blast to work with and as you can see, a true beauty! Love her eyes! I actually received a comment on my Facebook page yesterday about how looking through my images makes it seem like everyone in Durango is beautiful. And I have to agree – everyone I get to photograph is truly beautiful! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Maggie is one of our gorgeous senior models and is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. Click to see Maggie’s Model Session and Paint Splatter Session blog posts. She came in for her senior session on a beautiful, but windy, Sunday afternoon. We started her session at the triangle park, went up to Fort Lewis College for the fall colors (they are beautiful up there right now), went on an adventure looking for a new location, then ended up on 3rd Ave, in the garden sanctuary at St. Mark’s. We spent most of our time there as it is such a pretty place and the fall colors in the background were on fire! We had Maggie climbing all over the stone archway and I love the shots we got! We finished shooting a few more images on 2nd Ave with our new favorite steps and a bench. Thanks Maggie for being up for trying anything and I hope you love these few of my faves!

Alexis is a Durango High School Class of 2012 Senior. She is a dancer and wanted to incorporate dance into her senior portraits. We got so many great dance images but we also got so many great portraits without a dance theme – I had to share those too! We started at Rotary Park for the fall colors and the train tracks. Alexis had great shoes for every outfit, including her ballet toe shoes, which she used on the train tracks. I tried learning some dance terminology so I could direct Alexis better but I can’t remember anything now – I’ll have to work on that. We headed up to the Lion’s Den next for the great stone structure and the dramatic lighting. Then we headed down to the river behind Big 5 to play in the water and in the leaves. We finished the session in the studio, for what is fast becoming one of our most popular looks, the simple and dramatic black on black portrait. Hope you love these few of my faves and I can’t wait to share the rest!

Andi is a senior, Class of 2012, at Durango High School. She came in for her session on a Saturday morning, brisk, but not so bad. She had an adorable sweater with a fur hood on, so at least she was warm for the first few shots. We had a blast with Andi! I kept putting her in “awkward pretzel” poses that she made look amazing and Matt kept making fun of me for it. Andi had great clothing options, including cute gold heels, one of which I still have. We started out along the river behind Big 5, then headed downtown for a few brick wall shots. We started spotting other photographers with their clients downtown, and saw a total of 5 different shoots during Andi’s session! It made me happy to see so many people having their portraits made! It’s fall! We went to Rotary Park next and met up with Andi’s mom and her adorable dog, Sophie. This is where we saw the other 4 photographers and Sophie was so interested in all the other sessions going on, she hardly paid any attention to ours. We used the train tracks of course then headed back to the studio. I love Andi’s studio portraits and would have made her sneak preview studio shots only, but we went so many great places outside that I had to share those too. I hope you love these few of my faves!

Bonnie is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. She is also one of our amazing models and another student I have had the chance to get to know a little better than the others, as we went to Jamaica for the Interact trip together. Click to see Bonnie’s Model Session blog post and her group Paint Splatter Session blog post. Bonnie had her hair and make up done at Hair Fusion for her senior session and she looked beautiful, as always. We started in Junction Creek at this really cool new “old” fence, then took a short hike along the Colorado Trail. It was a gorgeous day, with lots of great fall colors – and Bonnie had brought perfect colors and outfits! We stopped on our way back along the river trail and walking bridge then we headed into town for a few “alley shots”. We got to use the diagonal cross walk at College and Main twice! We finished in the studio, with simple and dramatic black on black, which really makes Bonnie’s eyes stand out! I hope you love these few of my faves!

The Wise Twins are Class of 2012 Seniors at Durango High School and are both senior models of ours as well. I’ve been lucky enough to know them for a few years now, as we went to Jamaica together for Interact, spring break of 2010. I have had a blast photographing them every session we’ve had – their Model Session, their group Trash the Formal Session, and now their senior portrait session. They work so well together and I am always impressed with how well they get along. I can only imagine what it’s like to be a twin, and if I could have a twin like Alie or Kyla, I would love it! We started in the studio, as it was another early and cold morning. Then we headed out in search of long grass and fall colors. We ended up using some of the same tall grass we have used in their model session, which was fun because it looks so different this time of year. We photographed around The Ranch subdivision and some aspen trees just up the road. Beautiful locations, beautiful seniors, beautiful portraits! Hope you love these few of my faves!

Savannah is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School and one of our Senior Models. To see her past session blog posts, click: Durango Model Pictures and Paint Splatter Pictures. Savannah wanted unique senior portraits so she had thought a lot about locations. She had great ideas! We started in the Strater Hotel, as it was early and very cold outside. The staff at the hotel were so great! They let us shoot anywhere we wanted in the hotel, including letting us into their biggest room! Then we headed up north, to Baker’s Bridge and Electra Lake. The colors were phenomenal in both places – we ended up timing it just perfectly! The views at Electra were stunning, with all the aspens being bright yellow, the lake being a beautiful blue, and the all the mountain tops being covered in snow. It was a gorgeous day as well, so Savannah was able to wear her dress without freezing. We had a great time and got a ton of great images. I hope you love these few of my faves!

Sarah is a Class of 2012 Piedra Vista High School Senior and she is also the Class President! I was so excited to photograph her session, as she had come along on Mickayla’s senior session, and they had me laughing the entire time! They are both hilarious and together, they are even funnier. They are total opposites too, which made photographing their sessions great because we photographed in completely different locations for each session. Sarah is a girly girl and a self proclaimed “princess”. We stayed away from the general “outdoors”, starting in the studio, then shooting around downtown Durango. We found a great bicycle we used as a prop and I managed to get a parking ticket as I didn’t give the meter enough money – I got carried away of course, and we stayed longer than planned. We ended the session with Sarah’s mom “making it rain” on Sarah. It is so much more fun to shoot “in the rain” when it isn’t actually raining. It is much warmer that way and we can control the amount of water coming out of the sky. I literally wanted to share this entire session in this blog post because I love every image, but to be fair, I kept it to the usual 5 faves. I hope you love them!

Helena came in for her session on a windy afternoon after school. She is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School and her session was so much fun! We played downtown in the leaves and flowers, then in the fall colors, hiked along the river trail, and finished in the studio. As much as I love fall, and I really do love fall, I am beginning to love my studio more and more. It is so nice to be able to control the light and the “weather” (temperature and amount of breeze – depending on what setting we have the fan on for the hair)! Helena’s session was no exception. We got a few really great hair blowing in the wind portraits outside, but we also got a few of those hair blowing across the face portraits too. Thanks for such a fun session Helena! I hope you love these few of my faves!