Joe is a DHS Class of 2012 senior. He came in last week for his session, during his “break” from 2 a days for football before school starts. I can’t believe school starts in just a few days! We had a great time with Joe – running all over town for his portraits. We started by the Durango Discovery Museum and river trail, then headed over to the Admin Building and then Rotary Park. We finished in the studio, where we got to cool off a bit after a warm morning. Joe had it worse than we did, in a long sleeve button down and his letter jacket! He never complained though and was so easy to work with – up for everything. He brought great colors and is very photogenic, as you can see. Matt did some more video to capture the “behind the scenes” moments, so I can’t wait to show Joe and his family the whole experience! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Peter is a Class of 2012 DHS senior and he came in for his senior portrait session last week. The sky was dark and threatening, but we finished his session without seeing any rain. I loved the soft overcast light and Peter was a lot of fun to photograph! We started out at my favorite barn wood wall by my studio, then headed downtown toward Peter’s house. We stopped along 3rd Ave and a creepy building on 2nd for some stairs I’ve been eying for a while. Peter was up for everything we suggested, with a bunch of ideas of his own. Matt recorded video of Peter during his session of the in-between-poses moments and I can’t wait to show it to Peter and his family. We took some pictures at Peter’s house and with his dad’s cool old camper Dodge – those are some of my faves. Then we came back to the studio and played with some new backdrops. Thanks Peter for being such a great subject and I hope you love these few of my faves!

Katie is another of our Class of 2012 DHS Senior Models. We photographed her model session in the snow and almost had to photograph her senior session in the rain. To see her blog post about her snowy model session click on Durango Senior Snow Pictures. The afternoon started out warm and sunny but a storm moved in quickly and by the end of the session we were hearing thunder and Katie was being blown away. I do love natural wind blown portraits, but this was a little much! We photographed Katie’s session at her home, which is beautiful, as is Katie. There was a great rock wall, a tall grassy field, a pond, a deck, flowers, a ladder, etc, etc. What a great location for portraits! Katie had narrowed her outfit choices down to 3 quick shirt changes so her session went fast. She’s easy to photograph as well – another natural model. Thanks Katie for being so great to work with and to photograph! I hope you love these few of my faves!

Meredithe is a Class of 2012 Bayfield High School senior and we have a couple of things in common. Not only did we both attend BHS, we both worked with a beautiful, wonderful woman named Susie – which we discovered during Meredithe’s session last week. It was fun to reminisce with Meredithe – and my past memories weren’t the only vintage items present at the shoot. Meredithe’s friend owns a ’72 Mercedes Benz, which he let us use for her pictures. Wow. The car looked amazing, as did Meredithe, so together – what a combination! I have been so excited for this session ever since I met with Meredithe back in May – and then even more excited when she told me about her friend’s car! We had a blast! Meredithe is so beautiful, inside and out, and such a pleasure to photograph! We started and ended in the studio, with a cool car in an alley location in between. We found a great fence, a pretty brick wall, and a great “teal” building as well. Meredithe let me put her next to a “don’t worry, be happy” garage door, thanks Meredithe! There are so many senior photos of Meredithe that I love, it was really hard to choose five for her sneak preview, but I hope you love these! I actually wanted to make this sneak preview all Meredithe with cool car pictures, so I think I’ll have to make a separate post for that one. Check back for it!

Jon is a Class of 2012 senior at Durango High School and he came in for his session one week ago today. He also came in for a morning session, so we got to use that great morning light again and some places that we don’t get to photograph in often because the sun is in the wrong place in the afternoon/evenings. I had the opportunity to photograph Jon’s sister, Jessica, for her senior portraits last year. To check out her sneak preview from last year, Click on Durango Senior Photographer Jessica’s DHS Senior Portraits. Jon brought great clothing choices and they ended up being perfect for everywhere we went to take pictures. We started in the parking lot of the new Mountain Middle School because they have an outbuilding with rusted aluminum sides that I love to use. Then we headed across the street to the Animas Museum, where they also have a couple of small buildings with great looks. Peeling paint, rustic barn wood – you name it, it was there. We actually finished this session in record time because there was almost no travel time! We did run over to a favorite staircase of mine along the river and then back to the studio so we could use some of or new backgrounds. Don’t you just love the texture of the one we used for Jon? He has such a great smile – and a great serious face too! He made it too easy for me – everything he did looked great. Hope you love these few of my faves!

Hunter is a Class of 2012 Durango High School senior. She won a FREE senior portrait session with us at DHS’s prom this past spring and we have been excited to photograph her senior pictures ever since! We photographed her session last week and she was so cute because she said she was nervous, but she was such a natural! Everything she did looked great and you couldn’t tell at all that she wasn’t totally comfortable in front of the camera. She is totally beautiful as well, as you can see from the pictures. And she won me over immediately with her clothing choices as she brought only blacks and whites – which is all I ever wear (except brown). She had the cutest white dress I have ever seen and I love her long hair! Hunter was up for anything we wanted to do, which was great because I had a lot of ideas for her session. We went to a few of my favorite spots, but also shot in a bunch of new locations around town. We photographed behind Teresa’s Treasures, in the grass next to the Smiley Building, on the staircase next to Hair Fusion, back at the studio, etc. I hope you love these few of my faves!

Megan is a Class of 2012 Durango High School senior. She came in for her senior portrait session last week and we had a blast! She is one of the few I’ve photographed who have been willing to get up early during their summer vacation for their session, so we had great morning light! Not that I blame all the others who want to sleep in – my favorite thing to do is sleep in until I get up on my own without an alarm clock. So, we started out at my fave river trail spot behind Big 5, with beautiful back lit green leaves and Megan’s red hair making a great color combination. Megan is a swimmer so we wanted to incorporate water into her portraits, so we played by the river for a little while. Then we headed up to Fort Lewis College so that we could use the pretty flowers and trees up there. We then headed over to my fave old building by north City Market and then back to the studio. Megan picked such great colors for her portraits and was so easy to work with. Small world (or small town) fact: I grew up with Megan’s cousin, Jessica, and didn’t even put the two together until we started talking about Eagle Block, the company Megan and Jessica’s dad’s (who are brothers) own together. I love those connections! Hope you love these few of my faves!

Stephanie is one of our Class of 2012 Durango High School senior models. Click to see the blog post from her Durango Senior Model pictures. We photographed her actual senior pictures this past week, as she wanted flowers in her pictures. There are tons of flowers around Durango right now, so we had a great time, hopping around town. We started in the studio – and just so you know, we are working on tons of new cool backdrops for the studio – then headed downtown. There were yellow lilies, pink roses, white daisies, and lots of other flowers that I do not know the names of. Stephanie is such a pro now; she posed perfectly. She claims it is because she has had practice keeping weight off of her leg (she had an awful knee injury) while she is healing, but I know better. I just love her stunning blue eyes – and they even stand out in my favorite black and white from the session. Hope you love these few of my faves!

Reid is a Class of 2012 Wheat Ridge High School Senior. She spent part of her growing up years here in Durango and is still great friends with a lot of people here, specifically Raquel, one of our Class of 2012 Senior Models. Check out Raquel’s Durango Senior Model blog post. Raquel referred Reid to us for her senior portraits and while she was here visiting, we photographed her session. Raquel came for part of the session, so we had to photograph them together, of course. I would love to see an image of these two together when they were younger! Reid is so gorgeous – love that red hair and those green eyes! She picked great clothing colors for her session – purples and blues – and she has the cutest car ever, as you can see. We started out at her house on 3rd, with beautiful aspen trees out front and a neighbor with an amazing flower garden. Then we headed over to one of my all time favorite spots, behind Big 5, for use of the river and a large parking lot we could take over for more car portraits. It got super windy at the end of the afternoon, so we finished up quick. Hope you love these few of my faves!

Hannah is a Class of 2012 Senior from Pocahontas, Arkansas! She has been coming to Durango for the past three years to attend Camp KIVU and she thought having her senior portraits done here in Durango would be a perfect ending! Hannah and her mom, Robyn, had both separately found our website and chosen us to be their photographer, which I thought was so cool! I am so excited to know that we appeal to both the senior and the parents! Robyn picked Hannah up from camp the night before her session and we started bright and early the next morning. After the session, they were headed back to Arkansas – so that was a long day for them! We had a blast though – starting downtown on the railroad tracks, then heading out north to the Animas Valley. We found a bunch of wildflowers and a waterfall on our way through to Baker’s Bridge, which were both beautiful! There may or may not have been some minor trespassing 🙂 It is always an adventure! Baker’s Bridge is one of Hannah’s favorite spots in the whole world so we spent some time there – playing in the water and Hannah even posed in her homecoming dress! Then we headed up further north for a breathtaking mountain view – which we found right off the highway in front of Haviland Lake. Hannah was amazing to work with and photograph – up for everything and had lots of ideas of her own. Thanks so much, Hannah and Robyn, and I hope you love these few of my faves!