Kylie – Class of 2021 | Estes Park Senior Photos | Fall Portrait Photography

Happy Friday friends! I hope you have fun plans for the weekend. My wedding season kicks off this weekend. Then my son has a preschool classmate’s birthday party. I will be finishing off the weekend with a couple’s session for one of my other former high school senior clients. Today on the blog Kylie’s Lyons and Estes Park senior photos.

This session definitely did not go the way we initially planned. Kylie had selected Rocky Mountain National Park, and she really wanted to shoot at Dream Lake. I found out shortly before the shoot that there was construction along Bear Lake Road and no way to get to Dream Lake for the photo shoot. So we planned for Moraine Park and Sprague Lake instead. On the day of the session, the Cameron Peak Fire had been raging for quiet some time, but was getting pretty close to Estes Park. Also, the East Troublesome Fire in Grand Lake had just started burning…and burning FAST! There was so much smoke in the air, eerie dark skies, and ash raining down at times.

We had already made the trek up to Estes Park, so we decided to try to make the shoot happen. We started at Moraine Park and got some really nice shots there, next to the river, and in the wide open fields. Admittedly, this session was tough! The lighting was challenging with so much smoke in the sky. It was kind of tough to breathe sometimes too. After some photos there, we tried to relocate. I didn’t have high hopes for other spots in the park being drastically better than this was, but we had to try.

We arrived at Sprague Lake and it looked like it was well past sunset, the sky was so dark! You could not see the mountains at all. At this point I am starting to get worried that they are going to start evacuating Estes Park or something and we are going to be stuck in a line of cars for hours upon hours, trying to get out of town.

We decided to call it a day (a crazy day for sure)!

This final photo of day one does not even look real. The sky was CRAZY. Geez were these fires devastating!

It wasn’t ideal, but we put another date on the calendar to finish the session, closer to home. This would allow Kylie to get photos in the other outfits she had planned. We met up in Lyons at the Lavern M. Johnson Park (the location of my previous blog post as well). Kylie started in a blue and turquoise flannel and jeans. It was a cool, cozy fall look. Next, a vibrant red dress. That popped so well against the fall foliage, and the water of the St. Vrain River. For just a couple shots, she repeated one of the outfits from the Estes Park senior photos. 

I really loved this one of Kylie’s Lyons and Estes Park senior photos. Love that movement in the water, and how that red dress stands out against the blues and blacks of the water!

Kylie, thank you for being such a trooper! I know this wasn’t how we initially hoped your senior session would go down. But I hope you love the images as much as I do. Hopefully your senior year ended wonderfully and that your post-high school life is treating you well. On the blog next, one more post with Lexi and Nick! Their destination wedding newlywed shoot on the beach in Carlsbad, California. What an incredible session it was…you will definitely want to check back!

For another senior session in Rocky Mountain National Park that I really enjoyed, check out Paige HERE!