just the blog!  It is now residing on my own server, so from here on out… please go to:

http://www.willowdawnphotography.com/blog

or you can still click on the blog link from my home page.

Will you still be his/her Valentine?  Seems like just yesterday that my oldest was a newborn, and now her heart belongs to someone else.  Ahhhhhh teen “luv”.  Memorialize these special days, while you are still their world.  Currently booking Valentine’s sessions at VERY special prices!   A mini session when you just need a couple of images.  Because really, who needs 35 pictures for Valentines?

I’ve selected a GORGEOUS backdrop of red and white damask or the old faithful standbys of white, pink, lavender or even blue are available.  

Valentines Limited Edition

Samples of included Valentines cards… two sided on BEEEEEAUTIFUL pearl paper…

sadly, she's NOT thinking of her father and me...

I have the apron, bowl and spatula!

go just a little wild... how perfect it is with the damask!

I can't wait to photograph your kids... I KNOW they will be more co-operative than mine!

I've got a limited supply of lollipops... first come, first served!

Go to the snow! Yesterday we surprised the kids with a trip out to Wintergreen for some snow tubing. Neither girl had ever done it and we all had a great time. The temperature was COLD and the wind was HOWLING!

My husband video taping the girls in the closest lane.

It was fun, if still very cold day!

If only I could keep it!  So I am test driving a new Canon 5D Mark II for a friend.  One of the greatest new improvements on this camera upgrade is it’s ability to shoot in dark situations with little grain (looks like sand and makes your pictures look yucky – how’s that for a technical explanation!)  I had literally less than 10 minutes to run and grab some shots before heading off to a Santa Lucia reception at the Swedish Embassy in Georgetown.  Let me just say WOW!  THis camera lives up to all the hype…  I’m was extremely pleased with the results, only wish that I had more time to shoot and get more images.  With no further ado… I give you ISO 6400.

Lincoln Memorial

Look! I caught someone else's flash!

Vietnam Memorial

House of Sweden

Santa Lucia and her maidens.

is for our Christmas tree!  So off we went to Belmont Tree Farm in search of two different, yet equally important trees.  The first (and most fun to find!) is the Charlie Brown Christmas tree… or rather, the saddest tree on the farm.  The one that has no hope of being chosen by a family.  This was by far the saddest tree at the farm… it was about 4 feet tall and these were the ONLY green needles!

saddest little tree

But it simply wouldn’t do… we need a tree that we can decorate with large colourful bulbs and one big red bulb, for our church’s float in the Fredericksburg Christmas Parade… so we continued our search.  Until we found this one…

appropriate level of bendiness... so the ornament will droop!

The Boozilla had the pleasure of doing the cutting.  She did a great job, completely the job all by herself.

Boozilla with a saw! Danger Will Robinson!

Second order of business… the tree for the family, to be proudly displayed in the formal living room.  This search generally produces a fight or two as well all have the “perfect” tree and try to win the others to our side… However, this year’s selection was one for the record books!  NO fights.  First tree… we all loved and agreed upon!  Whoo hooo!  Of course the photo needs to be taken in front of the port-a-john…  (a reminder to mind your backgrounds when taking photos!)

What? You didn't think we could possibly take a serious photo did you?

Monkey see... Monkey do!

Of course all that wondering around the farm and cutting down of trees makes you hungry… so off to a fantastic lunch…

mmmmmm greasy burgers and fries... Love me some Five Guys!

Thanks for joining us on our little Black Friday adventure. A couple more pics can be seen on my flickr… just click over there.  —————->

I hope that you and yours enjoyed a day of togetherness and good food as we contemplated our many many blessings…. Personally, I’m going to hibernate through my food induce coma.  You all have fun shopping tomorrow!  The only thing I buy on Black Friday is a Christmas Tree!

but inside my new studio is delightful! Just in time for the weather to turn cold, I am now offering indoor studio sessions.  The absolute variety afforded to us in God’s creation cannot be duplicated indoors, however, the warm of the sun, can be!  I’m busily collecting unique and beautiful backdrops to bring traditional style studio portraits a bit of fancy and fun! My daughter “posed” for a quick session the other night and this delightful storyboard is the result.  For anyone who has met her, it makes perfect sense!

sugar & spice...

More examples of backdrops I’ve been collecting can be seen here, on my blog dedicated to senior sessions. 

Call (540-207-1404) or email today to schedule a session!

We snuck in a family session, just in the nick of time before the colourful leaves fell.  We had a great time shooting, swinging and sliding out at Snead’s Asparagus Farm.  Even made a new friends with a cat that just NEEDED to be in all the photos! 

So a sneak peek to tide you over till you see your proofs!  

And if anyone needs a Christmas tree, a pumpkin, winter squash or asparagus… head out to Snead’s.  It’s a beautiful family owned and operated farm.  Wonderful produce and just a gorgeous place to enjoy a bit of family fun in the beauty of God’s creation.  You may remember their name from my Pumpkin Picking post earlier this fall and the photo at the top of the blog is from that day.

But I digress!  With no further ado… The “R” Family!

…

beautiful family, beautiful farm, beautiful fall

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how many pictures of just mom and dad do you have? (sad to say, I think I have two!)

Quoted from their site:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

 

Here’s the wordle that was created using this blog…

wordle.net

Go check them out, they are really cool.  At least I think so!

I also did one for my senior blog: HERE

I had no idea it’s been so long since I’ve updated.  My apologizes.  I’m sure you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats, chewing your nails in anticipation of my next post, so here you go.  You’re welcome! )

I had the distinct pleasure of taking friends out for an engagement session… five months after the wedding!  That’s what happens when the wedding is in June, but you want fall colours.  It was COLD (35 degrees!) so I made sure we stayed on the shady side of the river, and in the deep shade.  In spite of the cold, we had a ton of fun and I got some beautiful pics of the happy couple.  With no further ado…