From the Field to the Forest
Mateo is the kind of senior who shows up with two NMAA state championship trophies, a Lobos football helmet, and a compound bow — and somehow makes all of it feel completely natural in front of a camera.
We started his session at Escalante Middle High School's football field, and that bold red turf became the perfect stage. Mateo came dressed sharp — a navy blue suit, patterned bow tie, and brown leather dress shoes — and brought his game along with him: both his championship hardware, his #16 Lobos jersey, and a ball branded with the Lobo mascot. The stadium stands, goalposts, and that endless New Mexico blue sky framed every shot. Whether he was kneeling between the LOBOS tunnel pads with a trophy in each hand or walking the bleachers with his helmet at his side, Mateo carried himself like someone who knew what he'd earned. His family joined for a few frames on the field — clearly the team behind the champion.
From there we drove out past Cebolla and into Carson National Forest, where the light turned golden and the whole world smelled like pine and dry grass. Mateo traded the suit for camo, pulled out his compound bow, and the session became something else entirely. Drawing back in a field of tall amber grasses with late-afternoon sun flaring behind him, standing still in the autumn brush like he belonged there — this was him at his most natural. The forest was already deep into fall color, and the soft warm tones wrapped around him perfectly.
Two sides of one person: a state champion on the field, a bow hunter at home in the mountains. Both of them real, and both of them worth capturing before senior year is gone.
If you're looking for senior portrait photography in Northern New Mexico — Chama, Tierra Amarilla, Dulce, Abiquiu, or anywhere in the Rio Arriba area — we'd love to tell your story too.
