I recently had the honor of creating senior portraits for an extraordinary young woman—an accomplished barrel racer with a heart full of faith and a deep love for her horses. Her priorities are clear: God comes first, followed closely by her family… although I suspect her horses occasionally edge into second place!

For her final portrait, I wanted to create something more than a beautiful picture—I wanted to tell a story. One that captured her strength, her grace, and her fierce connection with the animals she rides and cares for every day.

The vision? A cinematic image of her riding confidently at the front of her herd, leading them into the future like a true trailblazer.

Creating this kind of image isn’t as simple as taking a photo. It takes careful planning, photographic precision, and the kind of digital artistry that blends reality with imagination. I photographed her and each of her four horses individually. Using those images, I trained an AI model to understand their unique features. From there, I brought the pieces together through a combination of Photoshop and generative AI techniques.

Every element in this image was placed with intention—and the result is a portrait that feels as bold and unforgettable as she is.