December 2007

Here are a few of my favorites from the Holiday sessions, Christmas will be here before we know and I am sure you all are right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the season. Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog and see what I've been up to. I'm looking forward to Christmas with family and Morgan being out of school and a slower pace for a while.

I'd like to say a special "Thank You" to all of my loyal customers who have continued year after year, to allow me to watch your children grow and capture your treasured memories. I do feel truly blessed to have had the pleasure to know your families and share your children's charm for another year. I look forward to next year and what the new year brings!

I'd like to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Love Dawn

Well, I'm getting ready for this weekends start of the Santa Season and the tree is decorated and of course I had to take a few test shots, the only semi willing subject was my Chihuahua, Petey. I couldn't get Santa to dress up for test shots, so this will have to do, but it gives you an idea of the color scheme. No surprises here, simple red and white Christmas tree, with gifts underneath, the little kids will sit in the sleigh, with or without Santa on the floor behind them, bigger kids can sit on the floor with Santa or stand by him in his rocking chair. We do take a variety of shots and poses, depending on the age of the child and how willing they are to have Santa moving around them. See you all Saturday!

November

Just look at this little Santa Baby! This is Harper and isn't she the cutest little thing! She's only 8 weeks old and she really showed her stuff in the studio at her session!

Here is Madison and Maddox, Madison has been coming to me since she was a tiny baby and she's grown up right before my eyes, now little Maddox is already turning one year old and isn't he the most handsome fella! It's amazing how fast time flies and these babies grow up into big kids!

Fall is in the air!

Wow, I am really enjoying the cooler weather and we are in full swing with Fall sessions. Here is Allie, she's been coming to see me since she was just a little baby, last time she came, it was to bring her baby sister, this time, a family session. BUT I caught Allie being the cutie she is and that is what I am sharing today. Look at her beautiful curly hair and bright eyes! She was bouncing and twirling around in her tutu, just being Allie!

Carter brought his new baby sister to see me for her first pictures, and it's easy to see how little Presli has made her way right into the hearts of all 3 of them!

October 2007

Holy Cow! where did September go? I can't believe it's already October! Fall Sessions are being announced today, you should have gotten the email already if you are on my email list! If by chance you didn't get one email me! Christmas Sessions will be announced in the next week or so.

Now, on to the fun stuff! Here are a few images from September sessions, look at these 2 little darlings. Aren't they dressed up so cute! I love their outfits!

This is Tucker, he came in with Big Sister for pictures and she was such a big help with him. Can you find a heart in this picture?

This is little Micah, she has the most beautiful little face. Expecting moms take notice, THIS is why you want to bring your newborn in to the studio as soon as possible after they are born. This sweet wadded up positioning is only possible in the first couple weeks. Micah was 2 weeks old here.

Olivia is back!

Remember Olivia from last year? (scroll down to Sept 06 and you'll see her!) well she's back and she's turning 3! I can't believe how much she's grown and how smart she is! Here's just a couple from her fun fun session!

Houston

Meet Houston! Isn't he just the cutest little thing? I've been so busy doing birthday invitations lately because I have so many little ones having birthday parties this month, it was fun to play with a baby again. Houston is at such a fun age, smiles easily and is just a joy to be around. He came in with big sister for her Birthday session, but how could I resist snapping some of him! He has the sweetest family, and they've been customers for several years now, it's been fun watching his big sister grow and welcome Houston into the world as well!

September 2007

Hi Ya'll! OMG I am so sorry I haven't been keeping up with this blog! I've gotten a few emails reminding me and I hope to be more diligent now that I know you all depend on this! Fall is coming and yes we will be doing Fall Families again soon, as well as Santa and other Christmas sessions. I will update via newsletter for sure, so just watch for that in the next few weeks! This year has been a whirlwind, we moved as you all know, the new studio took a while to get up and running, but it is now and I've been keeping busy, but probably the most exciting thing that has happened recently is that Mike and I have become grandparents! Can you believe it, it's been so much fun getting to know and love this new little angel. Aunt Morgan is learning a lot about taking care of little babies and she's had a ball with Miss Braylin. Braylin was born on July 25th and is almost 6 weeks old. Here's a peak at her, how can I not show her? Here is one of me and her, the day after she was born, the other 2 were taken at 4 weeks. Yes I am loving having a new subject! Isn't she BEAUTIFUL!

November 2006

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! It's so nice to get together with family and eat all those yummy foods, but most of all, to remember how lucky we are and be thankful for all the blessings in our lives and remember those that are not as fortunate to be spending the day with family and friends. It's hard to believe that it's going to be Christmas before we know it! But around the studio it's seemed like Christmas all month long, we've been busy as elves doing Cookie Sessions (which the kids LOVED) and ending the month with a visit from Santa! Actually in order to see all the kiddos who wanted to see him, he had to make quite a few appearances!

I think I love the Santa sessions best of all, because all the little children who come see us for these sessions, to them, they are not coming to have pictures made, they are coming to see Santa! It's a big deal and I never tire of seeing their faces when they see him, their eyes light up and then they smile,well most of them anyway. Every now and then, we have some that are a little fearful, but most of the time, Santa can manage to make friends with all his visitors, even if it's from the other side of the room, he gets a smile out of them. Here are just a few from this months sessions.

October 2006

October began my busiest time of the year, we started with Family sessions and here's just a couple from those. I think I'm going to have to offer this again in the Spring because there are so many that want family sessions, it's hard to fit them all in on 2 weekends in the Fall!

September 2006

WOW this month is really hard to pick just one favorite, so I narrowed it down to 3, things have been so busy lately I hardly have time to get over here and update the blog. This past weekend we had the cookie sessions and had a great time doing that, look for some of those to peak at, next month! I hope to update the gallery with some really soon too. Anyway, back to September's favorite picks. First, yep you guessed it, another newborn! Come to think of it, probably 75% of them have been baby boys, this is Alex, and he was purely delicious! He didn't mind anything we did and just slept the whole time, I LOOOOOVE this one of his little feet with his Mommy's rings.

Here's Miss Olivia and she's 2 and she and I have formed our own special friendship, she's so smart she saw me a few days after her session at a birthday party, and she looked at me and made this little sound, it cracked me up because it was a sound I had made to her at the studio (it made her chuckle so big) she made that sound right back at me! So often I see one of "my kids" out in public with their mommies but usually they don't remember me unless they are older, but this time she surprised me big time and I thought it was so cute!

If you've been following the blog at all you might recognize this little lady from May's favorite pick. I really try not to use the same children in these favorites, but I couldn't resist this month, She's now 6 months old and I think this is probably my favorite picture I've ever taken of her. The sweetness of her little face and lips and her hands clasped together is so so sweet

Next month, look forward to Cookie Sessions and Family Sessions picks!

August 2006

I told you last month I had a ton of newborns! Here's another one, with his Daddy, he was such a tiny little fella, just over 5 pounds and just precious as can be, his parents were so easy to work with and he slept almost the whole time! These are just a couple from his session, I had a lot to pick from, but I thought these 2 were really sweet. If we could only know what he's thinking behind those big eyes.....

July 2006

WOW I have had a rush of newborns lately and still have a bunch to look forward too! It seems like everyone is having new babies lately and I have to admit, they ARE my favorite! I am always pleased when a mother chooses to bring the baby in when they are still tiny and so fresh and new. There is never again a time like this with your baby and they don't stay that way very long as you all know. That's why it's so important to schedule the newborn session as soon as possible! This little guy is just 9 days old, isn't he the sweetest?

June 2006

For June, I am going to change the normal routine here, June was our vacation month and although I had a lot of sessions I would love to have shared with you, honestly my favorite pictures for June were my own! We had a wonderful 12 day vacation in Florida, and I had the opportunity to have our family pictures made by someone who is a dear friend of mine. Our families vacationed together and it was the perfect trip. Although I have dozens of beautiful pictures of our family, and I would love to share them with you, I feel I should only showcase pictures here on the blog, that I actually took, so here's some of my favorite snaps. These are just a few out of about 700, so it was a hard decision to pick just a few! This first one of Morgan was taken at Destin on the boardwalk just outside our hotel, if anyone's planning a trip to Destin, I highly recommend the Holiday Inn Destin, it's great and has lots of things for the kids and has a beautiful beach!

This next picture is so typical of my child, whatever she's eating, you can always count on it being all over her face, you'd think as particular as she is about some things she'd be neater, but at 8 she's still a little pig. The hotel had ice cream free for the taking any time of the day or night you wanted to walk up and get one, so a few times we grabbed one on the way out to the beach. They melt fast!

I love this next picture, I snapped this as we were watching the fireworks at Magic Kingdom, it really shows how excited she was and can't you just feel the AAAH!!!! Also, here is a picture of the Cinderella's Castle all lit up over the lake. Gosh I wish I were back there right now!

Morgan wanted these silly Mickey hands from the first time she saw them! I held her off from buying them for several days and tried my best to persuade her it wasn't a wise choice, but the last couple days we were there she insisted on having them, I told her she'd have to use her money and she didn't think twice about shelling out the $20 for them. It wasn't long and she was tired of wearing and carrying them, and they ended up stuffed down in the backpack, and of course right now, I don't even know where they are, gee they were really important weren't they?

Okay, only 2 more, these were taken at St. George Island, we spent a few days there on the way home, on a quiet beach to let our minds calm down from all the Disney! If you're looking for a place to escape the race of vacation and just relax and enjoy the quiet and the beaches, St. George is your place!

Thanks for letting me share a glimpse into my life, so often I get to know your families and am blessed to share your lives, I hope you've enjoyed seeing a little about me and my family.

May 2006

This Faith and her beautiful mother. At 2 months old, this was already Faith's 3rd session at the studio, I love having the opportunity to see a newborn grow through her first year and Faith is already changing so much every time I see her it's exciting each time they come in.
This is 8 month old Amelia, she was a joy to photograph with her family. I chose this image from her session because to me it really defines this age, the crawling stage. It is also one of the most difficult shots to capture because they move so fast! Amelia looked up as she paused as if to say, "go ahead" and I was ready with the camera when she gave the opportunity. From her expression to her pretty ruffly panties, I love this image.

April 2006

This month's favorite images are of Emily and Colton. Their mother has had a vision of having photos made of Emily in vintage clothing, with her wedding dress and I think that we captured the images she has wanted for so long. I wish I could share their whole session with you all, as it really has a ton of wonderful images. These images really remind me of how much fun it is to see children grow, when Emily and Colton first came to me, Emily was just a baby, now she's turned into a bubbly little girl with beautiful ringlets and lots of personality!

March 2006

I have to share this photo of these 3 kiddos. When the twins were just little babies Mom brought them and I will never forget how hard we laughed during their birthday cake sessions. You can only imagine the mess we had to clean up after both of them tore into those cakes, now they're 3 years old and their personalities are as sweet as their faces in this image. I love this so much I have a big one on display in the studio, so come by and see it in person some time.

This is Presley and bunny Erma, It seems as if Erma liked her picture being made as much as the kids did! Presley is 6 months old and is becoming a regular here at the studio, she always has a smile on her face and does so well for her session.

February 2006

We are gearing up for the Bunny Sessions in a couple of weeks so things are going to start hopping around here! LITERALLY!
Here are a couple of images I want to share with you all, again I can't narrow it down to just one session sooo..... you get to see images from 2 sessions from February!
First here is Cooper and his Mommy, these are 2 of my favorites from Cooper's session, first, I love baby yawns so I couldn't resist that one and the next one, for some reason just really grabbed me. Not something I can explain so I will just leave it at that......

Next is Andrea, at one year old. Isn't she just the cutest? She's a tiny little pixie and sweet as can be...

January 2006

Happy NEW YEAR everyone! WOW January has been a real whirlwind! As most of you know, the first week of this month we moved the studio to a new location. As mentioned in your newsletter, the new location will offer more flexibility for the studio hours and you won't have to deal with the traffic of Central Avenue! It's been a busy month getting settled in and starting the new year. Feel free to stop by and see the new location any time you're in the neighborhood. For those that don't know, the studio is now located at 918 A Airport Road in Hot Springs.

I'm going to share images from 2 sessions this month, first are 2 brothers, they were so much fun to work with! Their mother is an absolute jewel and having worked with other members of this family before, I was thrilled to have these boys come in! I could see that these two really love each other, (Big Brother) was so patient as we allowed (little brother) to crawl all over him, never complaining, we got some fun shots, some serious ones and some hilarious ones too! They're such basketball buffs, we even played with the ball!

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This is Canon, and he's been coming to see me his whole life, one big year! Happy Birthday Canon, this session if you can believe it, Canon wasn't feeling well, you can't tell it by his pictures can you? He'd been sick and as you can see, he was still full of laughter and happiness. He also got to play in his cake and got good and messy, just what Mommy and Grandma wanted. Ah this is why I love my job so much! Canon is just one of many I have seen as a tiny baby, turn into a toddler, and before we know it, he'll be trotting off to school with the rest of them!