Welcome

Welcome to my new blog! This is your main stop to visit the world of Dawn Earles Photography. Hi, I’m Dawn Earles! That’s me on the right. Well half of me anyway, I sometimes like to be mysterious……

I live and breathe photography every single day. I’ve been shooting weddings for the last 5 years. But weddings aren’t the only thing I shoot. I’m also a children’s portrait photographer, and I’ve just begun work on a few other projects that I will reveal soon! If your looking for my main website, it's the blue link at the top of this page. BUT - if you would like to see what I’ve been up to lately, this blog is the place to be! It’s like my open diary to the world. I post a preview of every job I shoot on here and talk a little bit about it. I also post important news and updates here too! So for all things Dawn Earles, this blog should be your first stop. Feel free to look around. I have a couple years worth of blog posts on here, enough to keep you busy for hours if you wanted to. Just scroll down for my most recent posts, or use the archives link at the top to browse by month! And if you decide to stay a while and look around, be sure to leave a comment or two – cause I just LOVE LOVE LOVE getting comments!

Huge Announcement!

First I would like to apologize for my lack of keeping up with the blog lately. I never meant to go this long without updating. But i do have a big announcement, and it’s the reason i have been ignoring my blog all this time. Now that I’m in my third month, I’m ready to announce that I am in fact pregnant. I’ve had very severe morning sickness so far and I’ve just been concentrating on keeping up with work, but the blog has sadly been left in the dark so that I can use any time that I’m not shooting or editing, to catch up with rest. I have lots of posts that need to be made, and I’ll get to them as soon as I am able to. Right now I just want to finish getting though my first trimester and hopefully I’ll start feeling myself again very soon! Then I’ll be able to finally give my blog the attention it needs.

The Secret’s Out!

I’ve had to keep quiet about this for some time now…. but on news stands today, the new Lafayette publication, FACE magazine, is making it’s debut. Definitely like no local magazine you’ve ever seen, FACE rivals the national magazines you’ll find in the grocery lines. Packed with tons of pictures, stories, products and advice, and everything in it can be found here, in your own home town! Every month, there is a cover story and a fashion spread, which I will be shooting. The fashion spreads every month will feature REAL women from acadiana, as it’s models. This month I did an extra shoot featuring one of my brides, Robin! So look for her in “Forget the Bride”. And next, keep an eye out for Britney, (featured just a few posts ago) who will be one of the 3 models in next month’s fashion spread!

The Cover Story for this month is a must read. It’s about a young woman who has been through the unthinkable. A widow at only 24, her story reminds us to be thankful for everyday we have with our loved ones. It was an honor to shoot her, and it’s her face of strength that graces the cover of this months issue.

Run out and go get your copy today! They can be found all over acadiana. And be sure to visit the Face Website to find out more about the magazine, and to read the cover story!

Ashleigh’s Wedding

So what happens when two RockStars get married? They play a concert at their own wedding of course! Ashleigh and Manish from the California band Ride on Rides were married in Jefferson Island last month. It was a beautiful mix of color, culture and music for this Christian/Hindu wedding! Check out the wedding slideshow below featuring one of their hit songs. (You know I couldn’t resist building a slideshow around their own music!). You’ll see pics of them playing at their own reception, still in full wedding gear! The energy was intense and the crowd couldn’t be more into it!

When your done watching the show, be sure to check out their myspace page where you can hear more of their tunes, and even purchase them right there from that site! (I did!)

Chally’s Wedding

Probably one of the most beautiful weddings I may ever see, and definitely the funniest couple I have ever met!! What a fun mix! Chally got ready in an incredible Chateau. Wow, you could get lost in it. I wish I would have had more time to explore it! And pay attention to the lights used at the reception, they make a huge difference and I can’t recommend them enough. I know most people want to create a mood at their weddings which usually results in someone turning off all the lights in an already dark venue, which isn’t the best thing for pictures, but with Colorado lights, you can create mood, without sacrificing your pictures! Woo-Hoo for visible backgrounds!!

The beautiful flowers and decor were from flower’s etc, and go see the video trailer at the Focus Productions blog! (Boo-hoo, we are loosing Jon, he’s running off to become a famous Hollywood director! (Gonna miss you!) :)

Raven’s Wedding

I know it’s past time to post some weddings. I’ve been waiting because I’ve been trying to get this wonderful new feature that comes with my new blog to work. Slideshows!! I used to love making slideshows, but they can be so time consuming.

Below is my first slideshow - Raven’s wedding. (Sorry Raven, you have to be the guinea pig on this project!) In the software it works fine, but after playing it from the blog, i notice the music starts a little late, stops too early, and then restarts. It will probably play a little different on each computer, so let me know how it’s working out there and I’ll try to tweak what I can to get it to look decent on as many computers as possible. It may take a few tries to get it right.

BTW, one of the COOLEST couples I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with! Raven, thank you for making me love my job! (Ok, try to spot the fork in the video, and no, I didn’t put it there, but i thought it was funny!) The Ceremony took place at St John’s and and the Reception at A La Carte. The amazing flowers and details were done by Flower’s Etc.

…News…..November 08 - February 09….

Just a note that I will not be booking any weddings between November 2008 and February 2009.  I will still shoot portraits in November and December, and will be on leave in January and February.  I will be back to business as usual starting in March 2009.

Just a reminder to those who use the contact form on my website.

I’ve gotten a bunch of these recently, and some people out there are probably wondering why they haven’t heard back from me.

1. When you fill out the contact form on my website, the email address line must contain your email, or I can’t reply. People have been putting their street address by mistake.

2. Now, if you do put your email address, you need to make sure you spell it properly, or I can’t respond. It will just bounce back to me after 4 days saying the email doesn’t exist. Again, leaving me with no way to contact you.

3. It is also a good idea to leave your phone number in case one of the two above happen. I received several emails this week that I can’t reply to because the contact form wasn’t filled out properly. And the sad part is, I’m open for your dates but I have to way to tell you!! So if any of you are reading this and have noticed that I never replied to your email, that’s probably why, and you may want to resend it. ;)

Camille’s Bridals

Photographer’s LOVE when a bride asks them for something edgy and different. And we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE when they have no interest in common traditionalism, even for the newspaper shot. Camille was one of those brides. She honestly blew me away. I was so worried about the weather, (it actually rained a tiny bit before and during the shoot), but we had no choice because she flew in all the way from Dallas, and rescheduling was not an option for us. Luckily, the weather held out, and we got some killer shots from the gloomy scene we were working in. The wedding is only a few weeks away, so check back later!

beautiful rain clouds in the background

believe it or not, this flawless closeup is strait out of the camera, no retouching at all, not even a the tiniest bit, her skin was perfect, and she’s in her 30’s!!! (anyone feel like throwing up yet?)

couldn’t decide which one to post, so I decided to post them both!

Thank You!

So the votes are in and I have been nominated along with 5 other wonderful photographers! Thank you for voting for me!! Now that the nominations are over, the race for the win is here! Make sure to go to their website (click on the pic above) to vote for your favorite! Don’t forget to vote for all the other wonderful local businesses out there too! I didn’t win the top 3 last year, we’ll see if I can make it there this time!! :)

Voting ends on May 20th!!

Brittany’s Bridals

Words can’t describe how fun it was to shoot Brittany. She looks amazing, and I had so much fun, I will even be willing to forgive them for the kidnapping and trespassing stunt. ….ok well, maybe it wasn’t actually considered kidnapping…. ;)