Kylie: Quincy, WA

Kylie lives in Quincy, WA and found us through an internet search for high school senior photography. When we arrived at her house, we saw that Kylie and her mom had the whole session planned, complete with a sofa chair already in the alfalfa, and a family tractor already set up in a nearby wheat field. Awesome!



Click small photos for full view:






Click small photos for full view:


Kylie was willing to try out some new things, including taking pictures in the Columbia River in her homecoming dress! Who says that only brides can "trash the dress?" We're excited to "trash the prom dress" too! We headed down to a boat launch area where we found calm water and a great sunset. The results were amazing! Thanks for thinking outside the box, Kylie, and we had a great time!



Click small photos for full view:







Click small photos for full view:

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Helen: Senior Session

We had the privilege of photographing Helen, who came all the way from Bothell, WA for her senior pictures! She chose Ellensburg because she used to live here when she was younger, and she wanted to take advantage of the "Add your friends for FREE" promotion and include her best friend, Lilly, who lives in Ellensburg. (Any senior can add his/her friends to the last half hour of the session by completing the Senior Interest Form from our myspace page or contact page).



Helen loves to read, so we started at the Brick Road Bookstore in downtown Ellensburg. The owner of Brick Road Books, Mike, was happy to show us around and allowed us to photograph all around the store. He also showed us a cool collection of hardbound classics, which we included in some pictures. Thanks for all of your hospitality, Mike and Debbie!





Next, we headed to a grassy area with willow trees behind the Brooks Library on the CWU campus. We also found a few other areas around the Library to use for pictures.







For our last stop, we met Helen's best friend, Lilly, at Olmstead Place State Park in Kittitas, WA. They had a great time laughing and getting their pictures taken. We shot until the sun went down, and had a great time.



Best of luck in your senior year, Helen!

Article related links:
Brick Road Books

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Leslie: EHS Senior Pictures

Leslie has a style and confidence all her own. That's why she wanted us to find places where we haven't done senior pictures yet. Considering how many senior sessions we've done in our small town of Ellensburg, it was a challenge. (But a fun one!) Leslie had shown interest in CWU's Japanese Garden, so we headed there first. (Same location as Harumi's headshots earlier this year).



After that, we just kind of got in our car and drove around until we were "hit" with inspiration. Of all places, we ended up behind the Eburg Goodwill next to the railroad tracks. (Kailey from class of 2008 took some senior pictures up the road at the old railroad station). Using a chair we found in the Goodwill parking lot, Leslie thought of some great poses and ideas.







Next, we headed down Main Street and were drawn to a brick building that houses "Sen Japanese Restaurant". That's a cool site! (And one we've never taken pictures at).




To finish off a great session, Leslie took us to her family farm where we found a golden wheat field illuminated by the setting sun.





Awesome session, Leslie, and thanks for pushing us to find new portrait locations!

Article related links:
CWU Japanese Garden
Ellensburg Railroad Station

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Kaleigh: Senior Pictures

Kaleigh is our Ellensburg High School Team Member for the month of September. Team Members help advertise about senior photography at their school and in exchange they receive cash and credit for every senior who reserves a session from their school during the month of the sale. All of the Team Member positions are filled for this year, but if you're a soon to be Junior from the following list of schools, you can apply next spring!

Participating Team Member Schools:
Ellensburg HS, Cle Elum HS, Kittitas HS, West Valley HS, Eisenhower HS, Davis HS, Selah HS, or East Valley HS

You can check our myspace for Team Member info. and to see more senior pictures.

Anyway, Kaleigh wanted her senior pictures to look different so we decided to leave Ellensburg and head over to the Seattle area. We ended up in Fremont, a bohemian neighborhood of Seattle. Together with Kaleigh, we had some great ideas and got some amazing portraits.











After the artsy look of Fremont, Kaleigh wanted a "woodsy" setting, so we headed to Robinswood Community Park in Bellevue, WA. We had some rain, but the pond with baby ducks and the tree-lined trails made up for it! Thanks for a great session Kaleigh!

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Kacy Senior Pictures: Ellensburg High School

commentary by: Melissa James

Kacy is an awesome student from EHS who is going to be a senior this year. She had tons of great ideas about how to personalize her session. For instance, she suggested that we start her session in a specific alley in Downtown Ellensburg. We had a little wind, but it just made Kacy look more like a model! No professional "wind" fan needed!






Next, we headed to her house to get some outdoor, "nature-like" portraits, including some pictures with her new kitten.



For the last part of her session, she took us to a nearby property with an old barn, beat up cars, and a creek. What more could we ask for in a senior session? It was awesome! As we headed up to the barn, Kacy accidentally stepped on a giant nail that went through her flip flop and into her foot! I felt like crying for her! Of course you'd assume that we stopped the session and got her some first aid help, right? But Kacy INSISTED that we keep going, even though she was in major pain. She finished the last half hour of her session AND smiled the whole time! We were shocked at her determination and willpower. WOW! I would've been on a stretcher screaming like a baby!









That's why we want to give Kacy a "digital trophy" for "BEST MODEL AT A ROSS JAMES SESSION"
Kacy, you deserve it!


I happened to take a quick shot of Ross during the downtown part of the session. If you're ever driving down an alley and you see big shiny reflectors, lights on umbrellas, and some guy climbing up the walls with a camera...it's probably us!

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Callie, senior at Kittitas High School

Senior sessions are always a blast! You choose your own session location and we try to stay on
our toes and have a unique session based on your personality, your outfits, the surroundings,
and whatever else is unique. It helps us stay creative and get our inspiration from you and what
you base your session around. And it's fun this way! :)

Callie's session, the last senior we photographed, was no exception.



Callie's session was at her own home property (also Ellensburg Saddle Company) and we started
just at the right time to get nice low sunlight as well as the sunset. We used her horses,
the barns and her dog, you'll see a few of them all below.

Article related links:
About Ellensburg Saddle Company
Ross James Senior Photography Website

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Ali - class of 2009 Ellensburg team member

Here's our first class of '09 senior session. Her name is Ali and she is our team member at Ellensburg High School. Using our Senior Myspace Website [check it out here if you haven't already] we made available an application for soon-to-be seniors to apply for the team member position at their school and get a free session. We just designed this Sale Card with pictures from Ali's session...

FRONT:


BACK:


So Ali will help us spread the word about the sale which is $42 off the senior session price until June 13th. A student, or their parents, can reserve their senior photography session for anytime this summer or early fall.

But back to Ali... as you can see her photos came out super great! She had some really great ideas and brought lots different clothes. And she was willing to do whatever it took to get creative... like laying on an old mustang, standing in a window barefoot with broken glass around, and modeling for us inside the downtown D&M coffee shop. Yeah, it was a lot of fun!

And it felt good to be photographing in our home-turf of downtown Ellensburg once again =P






What did Class of 2008 seniors say about Ross James Photography?
I enjoyed every minute of working with you!
- Emily, Thorp HS

You made my senior year so much more amazing than I could've ever asked for in pictures!
- Ali O, Cle Elum HS

You were so creative & entertaining at the same time!
-Laurie, Ellensburg HS

I have gotten so many compliments and couldn't have made a better choice when it came to my senior portraits.
- Shelby, Ellensburg HS

READ more & SEE more about our Senior Photography [HERE]

Article related links:
www.RossJamesPhotography.com
Ellensburg High School
D&M coffee
Ellensburg Downtown Association
SaveDownTown.org

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Shauna at "Northwest Photographer GTG"

As members of our favorite Wedding & Portrait online forum, we were privileged to attend a "Northwest Get Together" event at Gasworks Park in Seattle, WA. Basically, a bunch of photographers got together and hung out all day. The group provided models and makeup artists and we each got to photograph different models all day. We had a great time getting to know Shauna and her modeling style. Can you guess what the print is on her shirt?







......still guessing? (Answer: a cat face).

Our Website- www.rossjamesphotography.com

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Natalie & Nina at "Northwest Photographer GTG"

Nina and Natalie were some more models from the GTG event mentioned in our last post. Natalie (pictured on the bottom row) was one of our models that we brought, and she happens to be one of Melissa's bestest friends. Thanks Natalie and Nina for some great photos!

Our Website- www.rossjamesphotography.com

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Michelle at "Northwest Photographer GTG"

As members of our favorite Wedding & Portrait online forum, we were privileged to attend a "Northwest Get Together" event in Seattle. Basically, a bunch of photographers got together and hung out all day. The group provided models and makeup artists and we each got to photograph different models all day. Michelle was one of our evening models and traveled from Portland, OR for the event. We got some great night shots in Downtown Seattle experimenting with our new softbox (lighting gear).

Our Website- www.rossjamesphotography.com

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More class of '08 Seniors

Kailey

This was our second time out with Kailey (first session click here), and she made us laugh even more this time than the first. Kailey, we really think you could have a career as a comedian... you definitely know how to make people laugh!
Well, this time we went all sorts of places. We hung out on some train tracks, went inside D&M coffee on 3rd (between main and water), and used the front of Morelli's Cafe Italiano.

Emily and Amanda

Emily and Amanda decided to have their senior pictures taken at the same time. The place was Olmstead Place State Park. Amanda even brought her little puppy.

Karlee

Zaire

You can trust us with your memories.
Ross James Photography
Introducing the "10 Step Portrait Planning System".
www.rossjamesphotography.com

Shelby

Commentary by Melissa
I’ve always wanted to do a portrait session using a chair in the middle of a street. Once again, haven’t had any takers yet. Being the artsy, unique person that she is, Shelby took the idea as her own. This chair came straight out of our living room! Near the end of the session, a random stray cat walked right up to her and sat on her lap. It was a great prop for the fall pictures. And although she doesn’t consider herself a bookworm, Bailey’s Bibliomania in Downtown Ellensburg made a great setting for interesting pictures. (Check out Bailey's Bibliomania's online inventory)

You can trust us with your memories.
Ross James Photography
Introducing the "10 Step Portrait Planning System".
www.rossjamesphotography.com

Cristin: Senior Session part 2

Commentary by Melissa
Cristin wasn’t sure where to go for her second session. We narrowed it down to outdoors, so I suggested we go to Irene Rhinehart park. Ross refused to go again, since we’ve already been there so many times this month. He said something about stinting his creativity or something. So we found another spot a few miles past Buzz Inn. After that, we went to a historic home in Downtown Ellensburg to get some shots of Cristin on the porch. Here's a few of them.

You can trust us with your memories.
Ross James Photography
Introducing the "10 Step Portrait Planning System".
www.rossjamesphotography.com

Jessica: Senior Session part 2

Commentary by Melissa

Jessica’s family loves the Teanaway area, so we chose to do her second Senior session there. The leaves and the creek were nice, but what Jessica really wanted was some pictures of her new dirt bike. Upon her request, we put Jessica and her bike in a black and white checkered room for this first one:) No two sessions are ever alike!













See Jessica's first session here.

You can trust us with your memories.
Ross James Photography
Introducing the "10 Step Portrait Planning System".
www.rossjamesphotography.com

David

Commentary by Ross
David is a senior at Cle Elum-Roslyn High School and he's quite the football player! Melissa and I didn't actually get to meet David before his session but we got to know him right away as he has a great laid-back personality. It was even my first time at Salmon La Sac state park and David showed us his favorite spot on the Cle Elum river... (more story below)












This next photo has quite a story behind it... About 10 minutes after I took this photo I slipped off the rock that David is standing on and went into the river with my Fuji S5 (camera) in my hand!! Luckily I was able to hold onto the rocks and pull myself out of the water. After borrowing a pair of David's extra jeans I was good to go... but not my camera. Thank God for equipment insurance and back-up cameras! lol






... and I wasn't the only one to get in the water :)

You can trust us with your memories.
Ross James Photography
Introducing the "10 Step Portrait Planning System".
www.rossjamesphotography.com

Brian

Commentary by Melissa
Brian is a senior at Ellensburg High School and wanted to do a session outside with his dog, Diesel. His Diesel isn’t as scruffy haired (or as hyper) as our Diesel, so this session at Irene Rhinehart park went smoothly. We also took some shots at his house and in front of his car. You’ll notice the light rain in the background, which made an interesting texture. We liked this first one so much that we’re currently using it as a studio example in our living room!

You can trust us with your memories.
Ross James Photography
Introducing the "10 Step Portrait Planning System".
www.rossjamesphotography.com

Ali

Commentary by: Melissa
First of all, I've just got to say that Ali’s little dog, Tinkerbell, is the CUTEST dog on the planet! (Well, besides Diesel). Ali wanted to bring him along to her Senior session and we had no problem with that! We started at her High School, Cle Elum-Roslyn High School and then headed to the town Roslyn for some more scenic shots. To add more meaning to the session, we focused on places that were part of Ali’s childhood such as Roslyn Theatre and a nearby park.

You can trust us with your memories.
Ross James Photography
Introducing the "10 Step Portrait Planning System".
www.rossjamesphotography.com

Laurie: Senior Session Part 2

Commentary by: Melissa
Since Laurie wanted to get out of Ellensburg for her second session, Leavenworth was a good choice. And guess what? She took our suggestion and decided to take some pictures in the water! Despite ruining a pair of jeans and getting her hair wet, we got some amazing pictures. For all of the future water pictures…remember that Laurie did it first!

Kailey

We really enjoyed taking Kailey's senior pictures. Her session was our last TM session of the 2007/2008 school year. However, we're still accepting regular Senior Sessions through January for Ellensburg students. But anyway, we started at the small school on Manastash Road and shot a few on the swings and playground. Then we headed to her house to get some shots of her car and her dog, Amber (aka "Amby"). We got some beautiful portraits just as the sun was setting over the mountains. Since this session was taken, Kailey no longer has her Mitsubishi Eclipse, so these portraits are especially meaningful. :)

Amanda

Commentary by Melissa
We’ve known Amanda since she was practically born, so it was an honor to take her senior pictures! These are all shot in Kennewick, WA. Robust Coffee House and Wine Bar in Downtown Kennewick was kind enough to let us take Amanda’s pictures on their leather couch. (Check out their website at: www.robustcoffeeandwine.com). Her portraits ended up being a combination of cute and high fashion. Well, the high fashion part emerged because we talked her into climbing the tree at the very end of the shoot. I’m glad we did!