My niece wanted to do something new and different for her Littleton Senior Pictures.  Who am I to deny that??  She wanted a flowy dress and a cool background.  And as a photographer, I was happy to oblige.  I consulted a group of photographers that I belong to and one of them lent me some dresses that she uses for dance pictures. The dresses combined with the magical paint mines made for a really cool Colorado styled senior session.

 

Then Ashlynn heard about a place called the Paint Mines.  Coincidentally, I had just heard of them a few weeks before.  It also just so happened that I was going to be in Colorado Springs with my youngest for a bit of a “staycation” while his brothers were on a mission trip.  I tell you what.  It was meant to be.  These photos are just about my all time favorite pictures.  So fun to do something a little bit out of the box in a beautiful area with a beautiful model!

 

The Paint Mines are about 40 minutes outside of Colorado Springs in the middle of no-where.  And if you didn’t know what you were looking for, you would never find it.  It is down in a valley on the edge of a wind farm.  You can’t even see it until after you park and then hike down into it.  We parked at the second parking lot and then went down a fairly steep hill and dropped down into the paint mines and it was magnificent!!  This is the view from the parking lot.

Then you walk to the edge of the “cliff” and see this. Who knew this even existed in Colorado??  I have lived here for my entire life and never heard of this.  It was amazing and I can’t wait to come back.

The white rocks made for perfect lighting and great texture in the background!  McKenzie was helping me with some lighting tests.

We had quite the crew at our session (my neices Ashlynn and McKenzie, sister-in-law Stacey, myself and JJ and Corbin).  Jameson and his friend Corbin came along and they had a blast exploring the rocks and caves.  They were filthy but it was a perfect evening for them.  They even caught a young couple in a cave (thankfully they had all of their clothes on and were just making out) and found a rock formation that looked like a butt crack (eyeroll- boys).  It was pretty funny as the couple was just about the only people we saw while we were there.  We were there about 2 hours before sunset on a Sunday night and it was almost completely abandoned.

Ashlynn is a complete natural in front of the camera and we have done quite a few sessions together over the years so she know exactly how to pose.

I mean…are you kidding me!?

Sweet McKenzie was also there and she posed for a few pictures as well!  She is already a knock-out and give her a few more years and she is going to knock it out of the park as well.  I am already looking forward to her senior pictures in 3 years.  I love her freckles!!!

We started in the white section of the paint mines which was closest to the car.  It was amazing.

Look at my girls.  Aren’t they so pretty?  And they are both amazing humans as well.

Then we moved further into the rocks and found this pink section.  And Ashlynn had fun swishing the dress around.  So many beautiful colors and layers of both the dress and the rocks.  It was a perfect fit!

After lugging around that big dress, Ashlynn changed into some normal clothes and we did a few regular pictures as well.  I love the pink in the background!!

I love this sassy, crinkled nose picture.

 

And we ended the night like this.  It doesn’t get much better. Except that we then had Red Robin and it may have been the best meal I have had in a long time.  But as I learned from my summer in Europe with Royal Servants….hunger makes the best sauce and considering we didn’t eat dinner until 9:45 we were pretty hungry!

 

Thanks Stacey for making the drive with me!  The boys and I stayed the night in Colorado Springs and explored the Cave of the Winds (another Colorado treasure I had never been to before) the next day, but their highlight from the trip was the Paint Mines.  I can’t wait to go back!

Stayed tuned for more of Ashlynn’s “real” senior pictures.  #sorrynotsorry for the overload of Ashlynn pictures.  You can’t blame me, right?!  She is the perfect model and we have so much fun together.

Click here if you want to see more of Ashlynn’s Littleton Senior Pictures.