• Welcome to the BLOG!

    All my most recent shoots are posted here as well as any important news and announcements, and even a few personal ramblings. Feel free to browse around and leave a few comments if you like!

    PLEASE TAKE NOTICE OF MY CURRENT AVAILABILITY BELOW:

  • 2010 Wedding Dates

    There are currently only 2 openings left for 2010 weddings. Now booking 2011.

  • Portrait Openings

    There are no portrait openings until July. If you need a fall portrait session, now is the time to book before it fills!

  • Vacation

    I will be taking an extended vacation thorugh the month of August. (I haven't had a vacation in a while and am past due!) Portraits will resume in Septemeber.

Liz Bridal Portraits

I shot the wedding over the weekend and it was such a beautiful day and a wonderful event, but more on that later!  Today i’d like to share the bridals we took several weeks back.  She was absolutely stunning!  I’ve been hanging on to them and I’m so ready to finally share a few of them!

Rachel and Casey E-Session

Rachel and Casey shot their engagement portraits with me last week.  The weather was just perfect!  Which is great because this was our second attempt thanks to all this crazy weather we’ve been having.  I love the style they brought to the shoot.  I had loads of fun, and now i have loads of previews to share below!  (The first shot is my absolute favorite of recent!)

March 5, 2010 - 10:49 pm

Kimi Boustany - These are just wonderful Dawn!! =)

March 7, 2010 - 2:49 pm

heidi - what a fun shoot! i’m so happy you didn’t have to reschedule again due to weather. good ol’ mother nature. ;) wonderful images!

Leslie’s Senior Portraits

Remember Lauren?   Well this time it was Leslie’s turn!  Leslie, Lauren and their mom Stacey came to see me last week to shoot Leslie’s Senior portraits!  Leslie was such a great model, I can’t believe she managed to squeeze all her outfits in time for the shoot to finish!  Check out a few of her shots below!

Featured: The Independent

Check out the new Bridal Guide from The Independent, out today!  Featuring Maria and Tim’s amazing wedding story!  Of course, this reminds me that I still haven’t blogged this wedding yet, along with my other December and January weddings, but they will be coming soon!! 

 

Eve Turns One

Last month, Eve turned one year old!  How exciting that was!  We had a small cupcake party for her and i baked her one of those giant cupcakes as her smash cake, covered in fondant with a pretty pink ribbon wrapped around it, and set it on top a tower of cupcakes. I found the cutest cupcake flags on etsy and snatched them up for her party!  We found a cute little teddy bear for all the guests to sign, and i made a collage featuring one picture from each month of her first year.  I had so much going on, i didn’t even realize until after that party that i misspelled our own last name!  (It was a pretty busy week for me, that’s my excuse!)  Dustin’s mom found her a cute cupcake shirt for her party that matched her cupcake theme for the day!  My only regret was not hiring someone to shoot the party for me.  It’s too hard to be mom and photographer at the same time, so there are hardly any pictures! 

February 26, 2010 - 2:09 am

mena - WOW MOM YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF LIFE’S MOST PRECIOUS GIFT
LOOK OUT WORLD WHEN SHE GETS TO MODEL FOR MOM TOO CUTE BEAUTIFUL BLUE EYES LOVE THE PICS FROM CIGI’S GREAT AUNT

February 28, 2010 - 10:45 pm

holly - Hey Dawn! Where do you get these cute little signs that you have been using recently?

March 1, 2010 - 12:59 pm

Dawn Earles - If your talking about the happy birthday sign, i made each letter in photoshop with a different font and a different background and then i printed them on 5×5 paper and punched holes in them and strung them on twine. The save the date sign used a few months ago came from premade files that i purchased and then printed, but for eve’s birthday i wanted a more vintage look for the backgrounds so i made my own. Its a lot of effort to make each letter myself, but i love the look and would definitely do it again for her next birthday!

Cigi and Reid – Engaged

I first met Cigi about 5 years ago – when i shot her senior portraits!  Now she is going to be a bride!  Wow, have i been doing this so long now that my senior clients are starting to become brides?  Oh how time flies! 

I was very excited about this session, not only because i got to work with Cigi again, but also because I FINALLY got to go see the REAL avery island.  (You know, the area past the “Do not go beyond this point” sign.)  Reid’s mom Maxine is from the island and we got a pass for the day to shoot their engagements out there.  Before the shoot, Maxine took me for a ride to show me around, and showed me the houses she lived in, where she worked and where she went to school.  She hadn’t been back there in years and i could tell it was bringing back so many memories.  We all have that childhood place, then grow up and move somewhere else, even if it’s not that far.  But I don’t think any of us could understand what it’s like to grow up in a place like avery island.   That place is so amazing.  They really live do live  in their own private paradise!  An entire town, so secluded from the outside world that no one can just drive by if they want to see it, you have to live and work there to have access to it.  And those who do live there have been there for generations.  It’s pretty amazing.  They name their houses, like most people name their boats!  Seriously, in the real world, we just have crumby numbers on our houses and on our mailboxes, but in avery island, they have these cute little signs at the end of their driveway that have the name of the house and a little logo to match.  I wish i could remember some of the names, but it think one was called froggy bottom, or something like that, and it had a little froggy painted on sign, so that should give you an idea.  If only I could go back  and just photograph the area and everything about it that makes it so special, so unique, so charming.  There really is no place like it.  I’m so in love!

There were so many cool spots to shoot, the old sugar mill with the creepy black birds perched on top, the fire station that’s covered in vines, Reid’s grandfather’s old shop, the cool little deli with it’s one gas pump, the sinkhole that i really wanted to shoot at but couldn’t find it in time…. i was told more than once that it’s “bottomless”…. so  i guess if you fall in you come out in china or something!  ;)  As always, it’s just impossible to shoot everywhere, but we managed to hit a bunch of spots and then we went to the gardens to finish up!   So here’s a tiny sampling, Cigi, Reid, and Maxine…. i hope you love them!

February 25, 2010 - 9:49 am

snewman - Amazing photos of a little place in time…beautiful couple…the pink parasol brings back memories for me. Love it!

February 25, 2010 - 2:38 pm

Cigi - AHHH!! I definitely did not realize how emotional I would get looking at these pictures! No amount of words can describe the work that you do. I am in total awe! Thank you so much, Dawn! We cannot wait to see the rest of them… xoxo!

February 25, 2010 - 3:24 pm

JODY-CIGI’S MOM - I was really excited about seeing these photos. Cigi and Reid, ya’ll have done a wonderful job and congratulations. With the wonderful work of Dawn, these pictures are fabulous! Thank you Dawn….can’t wait for the bridals!

February 25, 2010 - 8:31 pm

Courtney =^) - OMG, that scenery is gorgeous, i sure do love teh pics of them lying down, my favorite!!!!

February 26, 2010 - 1:58 am

mena - well of course dawn’s pictures are great look at the canvas she had. two beautiful people are so in love what more can you ask for. my heart says oh how time has flown and my lil princess is getting married. beore i know it dawn will taking the pictures of cigi and reid’s lil one. hope i’m around for that. congratulations i love you so. GOD BLESS YOU TWO!!!!!!!!

February 26, 2010 - 6:55 pm

katie - ahhhhh love them! i can’t decide which one is my fav?! great job dawn and congrats cigi and reid! can’t wait till the wedding! woo hoo!!!

February 26, 2010 - 10:47 pm

Maxine - WOW! Reid & Cigi – You make it look so easy and so natural..You are such a special couple. Thanks for allowing a bit of my past to be a part of your special time.

Dawn – The pictures are great! You touched my heart. Thanks so much. Can’t wait for the wedding.

February 28, 2010 - 8:05 pm

Jena - I love all of them!! I especially love the one on the dock because it is very sentimental and I love the ones with the umbrella!!!

Hannah’s Bridals

The stunning Hannah!  We finally got to shoot together and it was so much fun!  I loved the style and attitude she brought to the session.  What an amazing smile she has!  (And an equally amazing pout too!)  The wedding is only a couple weeks away now, can’t wait! 

February 24, 2010 - 11:42 am

heidi - beautiful!!! these images have a different feel to them, they’re softer. fantastical, i love your work!

February 24, 2010 - 2:28 pm

Cigi - She is gorgeous!!

February 24, 2010 - 3:07 pm

lauren - Beautiful Pictures! I can’t wait to take my Bridals =)

Brittany and Matt’s Plantation E-Session

I’ve always wanted to shoot in an orange grove, and i’ve always wanted to shoot at an old factory, so when i arrived to find Matt’s family’s plantation sitting in an orange grove, right next too and old factory, I nearly died from excitement!

It sits tucked away in Patoutville, hiding from civilization as we know it.  It has a beautiful orange grove bordering the property, and a sugar cane factory on the other side!  The whole property was just amazing, and we did our best to shoot over nearly every inch of it!  Including parts of the factory.

You can’t tell from looking at the pictures, but it was VERY cold outside and poor Brittany had no jacket, but she toughed it out and the resulting images are warm and happy!  It rained cats and dogs the entire day before and there were some areas that were underwater, which Matt and I both really wanted to shoot in, but Brittany locked her rubber boots in the car!  After bringing it up constantly through nearly the entire shoot, we finally got her to agree to go in barefoot, in the water, in the COLD!!!  I know she didn’t want to do it, but what a brave girl!  For a few minutes of torture, we got some great shots that they can enjoy for a lifetime!

A Shipping Hazard and a Dog!

What could be more fun than packaging up a bunch of boxes for clients, paying for the shipping online, and putting them at the door to be picked up that morning, only to notice on the way to your engagement session that a dog came by and completely demolished the boxes, chewed up the prints and scattered their shredded remains all over the yard!!!!!  Thank god the wedding books were untouched and i only lost a couple hundred dollars in proofs.  But still!!!

Anyway, Angelle and Sarah, unfortunately it’s your proofs that he ate, so i need to reorder them!!!  It will be a few more days before i can ship, AGAIN!

Featured: FACE Magazine

Pick up your copy of FACE this month to read some great advice fromValerie @ Southern Fete on the 1,2,3’s of Weddings!  It’s packed with some great tips and ideas for planning your wedding, and of course my favorite advice, The FIRST LOOK and why you should consider it, featuring my favorite picture from Stacy and Darrell’s first look on their wedding day!  You can also read this post on the advantages of choosing the FIRST LOOK on your big day!

February 5, 2010 - 11:10 pm

lauren - I just wanted to tell you that I’m so very excited that I picked such a wonderful photographer to do our wedding =)

M O R E   I N F O