Local senior pic chosen for photography magazine

A picture taken of Madi Garcia, a McCook HIgh School senior, by local photographer Larisa O'Brien, was named by a photography magazine as a top senior photograph in the glamour division. Courtesy/Larisa O'Brien Photography

McCOOK GAZETTE

McCOOK, Neb. -- A picture taken on an impulse has landed a spot as one of the top pics in a national photography magazine.

Photographer Larisa O'Brien of McCook was shooting senior pics of Madi Garcia, 17, when she spied a broken tree trunk in a nearby field. O'Brien said she's used the tree trunk before in other photographs and asked Garcia if she wanted to try it in a few shots.

Garcia was game and clambered on top of the broken tree trunk, nearly seven feet off the ground. "All I was really thinking was, don't fall," she laughed.

Under the watchful eye of her mother, Dawn, Garcia posed on the tree trunk in a prom dress she wore as a junior, the setting sun peeking through trees behind her.

It turned out better than expected and O'Brien entered the pic into a competition sponsored by a national magazine for photographers, Senior Style Guides Hot 100 Magazine. It was chosen out of 6,315 submissions as one of the top glamour senior pics.

O'Brien, a self-taught photographer, was thrilled with the honor, as the magazine is a go-to for her and other photographers who take senior pictures. She gave credit to Garcia for being accommodating enough to take direction.

"We work really well together, she's able to take suggestions and not get offended," she said. "In my senior pics, I try to create an experience, capture the essence of the person I'm working with. Madi comes across in this picture as very elegant, composed."

Garcia gives all the credit back to O'Brien. "Larisa definitely deserves this, she takes awesome pictures," she said."I feel comfortable with her, she allows me to do my own thing if I come up with some of my own ideas." The self-confessed tomboy who still likes to dress up now and then, Garcia plays volleyball and basketball and has already gotten some inquiries on modeling because of the picture. She may look into that in the future but for now, she's concentrating on finishing her senior year and plans on attending school in Lincoln or Omaha for speech pathology.

O'Brien said she first started getting interested in photography a few years ago when she was a stay-at-home mom. Since that time, she's expanded into her own studio, attends conferences during the year and is already getting bookings for 2017 senior pictures.