Ashley is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. She lives out in Junction Creek and wanted to have her senior session photographed at her home and the surrounding area. It is beautiful out there! The fall colors were so pretty, as is Ashley! I had a great time using Ashley’s back yard and home for her session – it is always so fun to be “challenged” with a new location. And I love when everyone’s session can be different and unique to them. We used the aspen trees, the cottonwoods, the oak brush, the lake, Ashley’s stairs to her front door, the wall next to her garage, etc, etc. Then, we came into town to end Ashley’s session downtown and in the studio, so she could have an “urban” look as well. Ashley is on the dance team at DHS, which I think is so great, as I was on the dance team at BHS when I was in high school. So, I asked for a lot of flexibility from her for her poses. Apparently I assumed since Ashley could do it, so could everyone else. I had a session later in the week, and my client told me she thought I should recommend yoga classes before my sessions so my clients would be stretched and limbered up for the poses I asked them to get into. Too funny! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Jen is one of our stunning Class of 2012 Models and a Senior at Durango High School. Click to see Jen’s Model Session and Splashing in Puddles Session blog posts. I loved photographing Jen’s model session so much and I couldn’t wait for her senior session! We hardly ever have to reschedule sessions due to weather, but Jen’s session turned out to be one of those few. We had to cancel due to rain and reschedule for the following week. Thanks goodness Hair Fusion was willing to work around our needs, as Jen started hair and makeup bright and early Monday morning so we could start shooting by 10AM! It turned out to be a beautiful day and Jen looked beautiful too, as always. We headed north, toward Durango Mountain Resort for fall colors. We stopped many times along the way, everywhere we saw anything we wanted to use for backgrounds – Haviland, Electra Lake Entrance, etc, etc. Jen toughed out the chilly morning and by the time we got back to town, it had warmed up nicely outside. We finished in the studio, with Jen’s cute leopard (cheetah?) shirt. Hope you love these few of my faves!

Brenden is a Class of 2012 Senior at Bayfield High School. If you’ve read the last couple of blog posts, you’ll notice a pattern of BHS seniors coming in lately. Their yearbook deadline is tomorrow, October 14th, so they’ve been making sure to hit that date. I had 4 in a row last week! Brenden was the last of the 4, coming in the afternoon before the day it snowed. I know I keep referring to “the day it snowed” but that is because I am still so shocked it snowed so early this year. The weather is messing with my session schedule. Anyway, Brenden’s session was a blast! We started along the river, as Brenden is an avid fisherman. We happened to stroll by a few wall mural fish that we just had to use in some portraits. We used the hanging bridge and then walked over to Rotary Park along the river trail. We witnessed a near miss of the train and another photographer – it was so scary! They were out in the middle of the trestle bridge when the train came through and they didn’t have enough time to get off the bridge! So, we photographed a few shots of Brenden with the train coming through the trestle in the background, as that other photographer and her client hung on the sides of the bridge! Again, always an adventure! We finished the session up at the Lion’s Den, with Brenden’s dad giving us a historic narrative. I hope you love these few of my faves!

Gina is a Durango High School Class of 2012 Senior. She is one of our gorgeous models as well, so make sure to check out her Senior Model Session and her Paint Splatter Session blog posts too. Gina wanted fall portraits, and we hit it just about right, photographing her session the day before the rain and snow started falling. There is a particularly pretty orange aspen tree grove up at the base of Durango Mountain Resort and we got to use it at it’s peak! I was back there just this week and it had lost its luster. Gina has such a great smile – just look how happy and fun loving she is in her portraits! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Mickayla is a Class of 2012 senior at Piedra Vista High School. She decided she wanted something different than everyone else’s for her senior portraits. So, she came to Durango and chose us to photograph her portraits! She’s an outdoorsy one, a self declared “earth muffin”, so we photographed everything outside. We headed north for some long grass, pretty fall colors, mountains, etc. We ran into a few scary grasshoppers, but otherwise, had a great time! Mickayla brought a tie dye shirt she had made and it looked great with the fall colors! We came back into town to photograph a few “trashing the formal” shots, with Mickayla splashing around in the river and the mud. The water was freezing, but she said that after she went numb, it was totally fine. Her best friend Sarah came with her for her session and she made a great assistant! She yelled at Mickayla to “smile pretty” whenever she wasn’t, which made me laugh the whole time. I photographed Sarah for her senior portraits just this morning, so stay tuned for her blog post in about a week.

Rianne is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. She is one of our senior models as well and I have been looking forward to Rianne’s senior session since her model session! I was really excited about photographing her in the fall colors because of her dark hair and beautiful brown eyes! Rianne lives out in Junction Creek and there were so many great locations to shoot in out there! We started with their great wooden fence, then headed out looking for fall colors, which we found along the side of the road and on the Colorado Trail. We even found a field of purple flowers to match perfectly with Rianne’s purple shirt – love when that happens! We finished the session back at Rianne’s home, using their beautifully landscaped pond in the “backyard”. I am really excited again because I get to photograph Rianne’s family next weekend and we are going to incorporate the train trestle bridge – should be really neat; so look for that blog post! To see Rianne’s senior model session blog post, click on Durango Senior Model Photographer. I hope you love these few of my faves!

Rylie is a Class of 2012 Senior at Ignacio High School. She is also one of our stunning senior models! You’ll probably remember seeing her in past blog posts – one about her Durango Senior Model Session and one about her group Senior Trash the Dress Session. I was so excited to photograph Rylie again – she is a dream to photograph! She came ready with some great ideas for her portraits. She plays volleyball, so she had found some sand volleyball courts in Santa Rita park to use. Other than the smell (since they are right next to the water treatment plant), this was a great new location! Then we headed north to find some fall colors (this was before it rained and snowed last week). We found some absolutely stunning spots and we hit them just right because they no longer look quite this nice. We did come across a (very small) snake, which always scares me, but like I always say – “it’s always an adventure”!We finished this super fun session in the studio. Thanks Rylie for being such a great model and so much fun to work with! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Aaron is a Class of 2012 Senior at Bayfield High School. He came in early on a Saturday morning for his session. The fall colors had just started to turn in town, so we started out along the river trail. Aaron brought great shirts – I’ll forever be a fan of black and white – but he brought orange and purple as well – which are perfect for this time of year! We headed downtown for a few portraits at a “brand new to us” location that we had discovered the evening before. Then we went back to the river trail in another part of town for a completely different look and feel. We finished in the studio with a slightly more formal look in a shirt and tie. It was a great session – Aaron has such a great smile! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Daniel is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. I had the opportunity to photograph him a few years ago for his family portraits. So, I was excited to photograph him again and I am always honored when past clients choose to use me again! Daniel was great to photograph, he fell easily into natural and great looking poses all on his own so I hardly had to direct him. We kept it simple, running around Durango to some of the usual spots and a few “new” ones too. Daniel had Matt as a math teacher last year and I always love hearing the students tell stories about math class, so that added a fun element to the session. Thanks Daniel for being so great to work with and photograph and I hope you love these few of my faves!

Shanti is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. She came in for her senior portrait session after school one afternoon. It was a gorgeous day (I still can’t believe it snowed today – October 6 is way too early for snow)! We found some beautiful red vines and yellow leaves for Shanti’s portraits. We parked at the Smiley Building then used the walls of Hood Mortuary and the trees along the middle of the Third Avenue. We used doors and walls of Big Picture as well. It’s a really great place to shoot a session because there are so many great backgrounds! The tree with the yellow leaves we used on third had a bunch of what appeared to be pears laying on the ground underneath it. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a pear tree, so I’m not sure that this wasn’t one, but I was very surprised. Shanti had to work around the “pears” all over the ground when I asked her to lay in the leaves. She was great, up for anything, and incredibly beautiful! This was my shortest girl senior session in history. We only used on location and one outfit – I was impressed! Thanks for such a fun session and I hope you love these few of my faves!