Fall is officially here which means that the blog posts for the next several weeks will have fall colors in the backgrounds. And I am excited about that. I love fall – it is by far my favorite season! At this very moment, it is raining like crazy, which is completely interfering with my senior session that is supposed to happen this afternoon, but other than that – I love fall! Will’s session is the first of these fall sessions that you will be seeing. Will is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. He came in for his session one afternoon after school and we headed north, looking for those fall colors. We found them everywhere – from the tall grass along the side of the road, to the cottonwood and aspen trees. Will was really great to photograph, up for everything! And I really enjoyed chatting with his mom the whole session too. She was also an amazing reflector holder! I want to say thanks to all the moms, dads, and friends who come along on these senior sessions and get to become my assistants. You are all amazing! Thanks Will for such a fun session, I hope you love these few of my faves!

Layla is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. She plays the violin and is one of the homecoming nominees this year! So, I had the opportunity to photograph her once for homecoming nominee portraits and was excited to do it again! Jr is her escort and I am very excited for his upcoming session as well. Layla wanted to incorporate the violin in some of her portraits so we started with those in the studio. I honestly meant to bring the violin back out for more portraits when we went outside, but I got so carried away with the fall colors, etc, that it never happened. We didn’t travel far for Layla’s photos, starting with a pretty red tree in front of the baseball park (that also happens to look great in black and white). There are so many pretty colors in the parking lot of the Rec Center, so we used everything we could find there. We finished the session at Rotary Park, with the yellow leaves in the grass, the river, and the train tracks. Layla had such great outfits; she is another of my seniors that I wouldn’t mind sharing a closet with! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Aspen is a Class of 2012 Senior at Hayden High School. Her father is the Bayfield School District Superintendent. So, when she came to town to visit, she decided she wanted to have us photograph her senior portraits. Her mom Deb, put it this way in an email to me: “For years now Aspen has expressed wanting to get pictures that were different than “everyone else’s.” She expressed that she wanted “those photo’s that made everyone go “WOW.”” After looking (for hours ;-)) over your site she was sure that you did just that.” I was so honored they chose me! Aspen wasn’t feeling 100%, but she toughed it out and I would have never known she didn’t feel well if she hadn’t told me. As you can see, Aspen is absolutely stunning – she is so beautiful, inside and out! I enjoyed every second I spent photographing Aspen and really enjoyed working with her family! Her mom, Deb, was a great assistant – we all made a great team, I think! We ran all over town, using some of my favorite spots, and Aspen had so many great location ideas of her own as well. She had really done her research well and she knew exactly what she wanted. We photographed a few of her specific ideas in the studio, then headed back outside to end the session in the water – Aspen wanted to get into the river! So much fun! I usually only pick 5 faves from each session for the sneak preview, but since Aspen came from so far away and I love every single image we shot, I had to share a few more. I hope you love these few of my faves and I can’t wait to share the rest!

Sierra is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. We photographed her session just over a week ago and I would have had her sneak preview posted yesterday – except that my computer hard drive crashed on Wednesday! It has been an extremely stressful few days, but I just got my computer back late this morning and everything is back to perfect! Thank goodness for Time Machine back ups and Connecting Point! Sierra had her hair and make up done at Hair Fusion and looked stunning for her senior portraits. The session centered around a particular outfit in a particular setting – a beautiful “country” dress with boots in a tall grassy field. I knew just the right grass! We started with that concept, then moved onto other things. I loved all of Sierra’s outfits – I think we have the same taste in clothes (other than the fact that I seem to avoid color at all costs). We stopped along the way at my favorite river location; it was such a beautiful afternoon! Then we used my favorite rusted aluminum wall – that I hadn’t used at all this senior session until this shoot! Yay! We ended the session back at the studio, for some classic black backdrop portraits. I mentioned Sierra a few posts back in this Durango Senior Musician Photographer post. I hope you love these few of my faves!

Jessica is a Class of 2012 Senior at Durango High School. She came in for her session one day after school last week. This was such a fun session! Jessica was really great to work with and she was up for anything. We used some of Durango’s more classic locations, in which I love to shoot, but hardly ever do anymore. I try to take every senior client to at least one new location, if not all new locations. I want everyone to have a completely unique experience and look for their portraits. But Jessica had such a perfect outfit for the Lion’s Den – we just had to use it! And is was WINDY up there! Jessica’s hair was blowing around like crazy! One of my fave images came from there though, so it worked out well. As you know, I love the windblown look. Then we headed over to Santa Rita park for the river. The sun had just gone behind the ridge, which was such perfect timing – we got great soft light from the open shade! Then we went over to the Rec Center as they had some really great landscaping. Lots of colors and textures to play with! Thanks Jessica for such a great session; I hope you love these few of my faves!

Mollie and Andrew are both Class of 2012 seniors at Durango High School. They had been dating for exactly one year and a day when we photographed their session. We originally had scheduled their session on the day of the their anniversary (not on purpose), but had to reschedule due to the weather. It was pouring down rain an hour before their session was about to start, then once the rain stopped, the wind started and it was cold! So, we rescheduled for the next day and it was gorgeous weather! Mollie and Andrew were both so fun to photograph! Andrew has such a great smile and I love Mollie’s “serious” face! They wanted “uniquely Durango” backgrounds and locations so we started at the Smiley Building, then stopped at Animas Valley Sleeping Beauty Ranch on our way to Baker’s Bridge; all three very unique and very Durango. We took turns shooting Mollie then Andrew, Andrew then Mollie, and shot a few of them together as well. They were so great together! Mollie and Andrew did our 2 for 1 senior portrait special, allowing them to split the session fee. This special runs through the end of September, so find a friend (or boyfriend/girlfriend) to split the session with and give us a call today to book your session! You don’t have to do your sessions together at the same time, but you can if you want too! I hope you love these few of my faves!

James is a Class of 2012 senior at Durango High School. He was so much fun to photograph! He and Matt had me laughing, all afternoon. Plus, look at those great blue eyes and I love his hair! We headed out downtown first, back to my fave alley and then up to a great looking set of stairs on 2nd. We found a few new spots while out and about, while returning to some of our best locations as well. We shot in the studio for a little while, as it started raining really big rain drops. Then it quit and we headed back outside. James brought his guitar, which I was so excited about; guitars are one of my favorite things to photograph in a portrait. James is one of the members who make up the band, Cascade Kinzie. Check em out! They’ll be playing at the Ska Brewery on Dec. 29th and I can’t wait! 3 of my other senior portrait clients are also part of this group; Paul (to see his session sneak preview, click on Durango Senior Photographer), Peter (to see his session sneak preview, click on Durango Senior Photographer), and Sierra (Sierra’s session is this Friday, so check back for her sneak preview next week). I hope you love these few of my faves of James!

Paul is a Durango High School Class of 2012 Senior and he came in for his session on a beautiful Sunday morning (compared to the cold and wet previous Saturday morning). We roamed around downtown Durango for Paul’s session, using my favorite old buildings and alley ways. I loved the colors Paul picked for his pictures – of course brown was one of them – my favorite. We made a run through the McDonald’s drive thru for smoothies and then spent the rest of the session thinking up ways to incorporate product placement into our senior portrait sessions – I think we came up with some pretty great stuff! We shot some portraits along the river and then headed back to the studio for a few portraits with Paul’s drumsticks. I’m still trying to convince Paul it will be worth it to drag his entire drum set out to a big open field somewhere for portraits – so I’ll let you know if that happens. I hope you love these few of my faves!

Danielle and Shannon are Bayfield High School Class of 2012 seniors. They did their 2 for 1 session together, which was so much fun! For those of you splitting sessions this September, you do not have to do your sessions together at the same time, but you can. Hurry in as the 2 for 1 special only goes through the end of the month! It was a fairly chilly morning when we started Danielle and Shannon’s session. It wasn’t raining but it was cloudy and a bit windy. It warmed up a little as the session went on, but not enough to not need a coat. Shannon was nice enough to share her jacket with Danielle and they would take turns wearing it in between shots. We started in Rotary Park, along the river and the train tracks. Probably the funniest part of the session happened as we were walking down the river trail, back toward the car. A nice man on his bike came up behind us and yelled out, “on your left” so that he could pass. Well, we all scattered across the trail in every direction possible. First I couldn’t decide which direction was left, then I couldn’t decide if I needed to go left or right. The man on his bike was extremely impressed with our lack of direction skills. Oh well. Then we headed out to the Nature’s O parking lot, which is my new favorite access point to the river trail. These two girls were tough – traversing the rocky riverside in their dresses and heels – which made for some great portraits! After we hiked back to the car, we made our last stop at my favorite old rock building. I hope you two love your sneak preview and I can’t wait to show you the rest of your portraits!

Lauren is a Durango High School Class of 2012 Senior and one of our amazing models! She came in for her session last Friday and we went to all new locations. She had her hair and make up done at Hair Fusion so she looked amazing, as always. We headed out toward Junction Creek, hoping we were driving away from the rain, not into it. It barely sprinkled on us and just for a moment. The red cliffs and long grass make for a great setting and the oak trees are still so green! There were a lot of natural spots made for portraits, like large rocks, which made for great poses. Then, as we headed back into town, I noticed a really cool bridge and I am really excited about the bridge shots we took! We headed out to the south end of town, where Lauren lives, so we could take some portraits with her dogs. We played along the river for a while, then in the sunflowers and some yellow weed I see everywhere that I don’t know the name of. Lauren was so great, as all of the locations were completely her ideas! Thanks for the great session Lauren and I hope you love these few of my faves!

To see Lauren’s blog post about her model session, click on Durango Senior Model Pics.

Emily is a Class of 2012 Durango High School Senior and one of our gorgeous models. She is so much fun to work with and to photograph – what a beauty! She showed up for her session in my favorite outfit of the season so far – I just loved her yellow skirt, white blouse, and blue heels! If I could dress like Emily everyday – and still roll around on the ground to shoot portraits like I do, I would. Emily had the idea of being photographed in the middle of the highway (which of course, I loved) – and it was Labor Day so there was a lot of traffic – so we used CR 203 – which runs parallel to 550. Anne, Emily’s mom, ran traffic control, which was pretty funny! There are so many spots along this frontage road that I love to shoot! Emily also had a special “nautical” outfit that she had brought for her model session (to see Emily’s model session blog pot, click Durango Model Photographer) but we didn’t end up using it then. So, she brought it again for her senior session and we photographed her in it down by the river – too cute! All that’s missing is a boat and I just don’t have one of those yet. We ran around the northern end of town a bit, then finished at the studio. Emily participated in one of our group model sessions with a paint splatter theme and she was so great as she completely covered herself in paint! To see those images, click on Durango Senior Paint Pictures. During that session, she came up with the cute idea of photographing her hands in the shape of a heart, framing her face. We wanted to re-create that same image – without all the paint – so that’s how we ended the session. Emily, and her amazing mom Anne, came up with a really unique and fun idea for custom graduation cards and I can’t wait to share them once we have them produced! I hope you love these few of my faves!