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The 6 Best Durango Locations For Family Photos

From mountain vistas to scenic waters, Durango, Colorado, offers a diverse range of beautiful backdrops for your family photos. With so many places to choose from, you may wonder where the best location to take family photos is in Durango. Whether you’re a local looking for a spot that shows off where your family calls home, or you’re here on vacation and want to preserve the memory of your family trip with beautifully captured photos, we can help you find the perfect spot. To get you started, here is our list of the 6 best Durango locations for family photos.

The Animas River

3 minutes from downtown Durango
The Animas River runs through the heart of Durango, offering a wide variety of beautiful backdrops.

Why We Love It:

The river winds throughout the town, varying from gently flowing pools to tumultuous rapids. The tree-lined banks add interest at every turn, and mountain peaks are viewable from many different vantage points. Opting for a river photoshoot allows us to capture your family in settings ranging from urban (along the train tracks) to rural without much travel between scenes.

Things to Consider:

Footing can be uneven or slippery in places. Following a heavy rain storm, the river often turns a deep shade of brown for several days, but this doesn’t affect the beauty of the location.

Best Time for Photos:

One of the best things about the Animas River is that it’s excellent almost any time of year, particularly in the fall, but the lighting is best in the morning.

Bakers Bridge

15 minutes from downtown Durango
Bakers Bridge’s blue-green water and dramatic rock features provide a stunning family photo backdrop.

Why We Love It:

With a unique combination of tall pines, a river view, and celadon-colored water with easy access from Durango, what’s not to love?

Things to Consider:

Parking can be crowded some days, especially on weekends. Footing can be uneven or slippery in places. Following a heavy rain storm, the river often turns a deep shade of brown for several days.

Best Time for Photos:

Bakers Bridge is best photographed in the Summer, Fall or early Winter. The morning and late afternoon offer perfect lighting.

Cascade Falls on Lime Creek Road

40 minutes from downtown Durango
Cascades waterfall off Lime Creek Road offers a large, picturesque fall in a pristine wilderness setting.

Why We Love It:

Towering pines, dramatic cliff faces, and white water plunging into a blue-green pool make Cascades Fall a quintessential Durango, CO, small family photo op.

Things to Consider:

Reaching the fall requires a moderate hike with dropoffs and uneven footing in places. Following a heavy rainstorm, the waterfall often turns a deep shade of brown for several days. Parking in the area can be limited. The waterfall area is only large enough to photograph a small family, couples or individuals.

Best Time for Photos:

As with most waterfalls, the highest flow is seen in the late spring to early summer months, which also produces the most dramatic images. A dry Winter is also amazing with the crystalized ice!

Downtown Durango

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Rustic and charming with historic vibes, Durango has plenty of interest.

Why We Love It:

From riverside and historic architecture to peaceful parks, original art pieces, and lively murals, Downtown Durango offers a plethora of backdrops for any family photo.

Things to Consider:

Downtown Durango parking can be limited, and some walking will be required. You will also need to be prepared for passersby stopping to watch.

Best Time for Photos:

Historic Downtown Durango is great for photos any time of year.

Purgatory/Durango Mountain Resort

31 minutes from downtown Durango
Scenic vistas and endless mountain backdrop options.

Why We Love It:

From rustling aspen groves to majestic pines and fields of wildflowers in the summer to a winter wonderland feeling in the winter, there is so much to love about family photoshoots at Durango Mountain Resort.

Things to Consider:

The resort can be busy in summer or winter, and parking is limited on some days. Moderate walking or hiking may be required, and the ground is uneven. Because of the altitude, the weather and the temperatures can be unpredictable.

Best Time for Photos:

Purgatory/Durango Mountain Resort is great for photos any time of year.

Vallecito Reservoir

35 minutes from downtown Durango
Vallecito Lake is considered one of Colorado’s most beautiful bodies of water.

Why We Love It:

Vallecito Lake boasts 12 miles of picturesque shoreline in the middle of the San Juan National Forest. A lakeside photoshoot offers towering pines, calm blue-green waters, and mountain backdrops.

Things to Consider:

Parking can be limited in some areas. Moderate walking or hiking may be required, and the ground is uneven. Because of the altitude, the weather and the temperatures can be unpredictable.

Best Time for Photos:

Summer and Fall are our favorite times of year for family photos at Vallecito Reservoir.

Picture Perfect

The area surrounding Durango has so much to offer when choosing the perfect backdrop for your family photos, and Carol Cardwell of Cardwell Aukerman Photography knows them all. This is a list of a few of our favorites, but we have plenty of creative location ideas.

There’s a reason we’ve been voted among the best Durango Photographers three years in a row. We offer a range of services, including professional photo editing, high-quality prints, and personalized photo albums. From helping you choose the perfect family photo location to coaching you through confident posing and outfit suggestions, we work hard to ensure that your photoshoot tells your family’s story and captures it to be enjoyed by generations to come.