I’ve lived near Abilene for the majority of my life, but I had never been out to the small town of Hawley.  It had one main street and most of the others I found turned into dirt roads within a few blocks, just like streets in small towns should.  : )  I do joke about small towns sometimes, since I grew up in Merkel, but there’s also something very sweet about them which becomes especially clear when you visit a new one for the first time.

Enough of that, now onto the real fun.  Daniel was my first Senior guy since moving here and I had a lot of fun.  And got some handsome photos!

Look at that blue sky!  And the tall grass… talk about the perfect country/small town setting!

Daniel plays baseball & football.  And since that’s about all I know about sports, that’s about all I can tell you.  : )

There is the coolest set of “junk” behind their Ag building.  Seriously.  I was so excited when I found it.  I mean, I honestly have no real idea what the rusty “wheel” above is for, but doesn’t it make for a fantastic photo?

Okay, I’m going to brave it. Though I adore self-portraits, I’ve yet to get very good a them since I got an actual tripod for the first time less than a year ago. And I maybe just a little too used to being able to see the shot I’m composing. But it should be fun all the same. A wonderful challenge at least. : )

I just couldn’t avoid texturing the image up a bit.  I’m way too fond of it.

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday.  I made pot roast (in the crock pot) last night & the smell is permeating the house.  So I’m pretty happy this morning.  : )  I hope everyone else’s Tuesdays shape up as lovely as mine is.

Finally, right?  I’ve been looking forward to this beautiful post for a few weeks now.

Kat is my cousin & I remember taking care of her during the summer sometimes when we were both much younger. : )  She’s so much fun to spend time with & doesn’t she look just beautiful in that dress? ; )

Enjoy!

She is a beautiful flutist.  Right here, she’s playing Amazing Grace for me. : )

I’d like to claim fore-thought & awesomeness for the image above, but there was a lot of luck involved.  I absolutely love it though.  Yay for moments of surprise!

Rocking the fedora… love the red & black plaid.

So gorgeous!  Seriously.  : )  I absolutely love all the photos we ended up with… it was hard for me to even begin narrowing them down… but I’m okay with that. : )

The word “rubbish” makes me laugh.  I always hear it said in a British accent in my mind.  Weird, yeah?  I’ve never told my blog, but I love accents… they’re so fun… which makes me very happy to have a good solid Texan accent, but I digress.  We’re here for the final & oh-so-grungy vintage Tuesday.

I’m not announcing the next set,  yet, so throw your votes in before you loose your chance to have as close to instant gratification as it gets (on my blog).  : )  It’s sure not a microwave over here…   My point is that if you haven’t given your vote for the next 4 Tuesdays’ set, leave me a comment & I’ll be taking a tally.  Of course, I won’t lie, the deciding factor will be my whimsy, but I’ll choose between those options listed in the comments.  You can even repeat someone else and try to sway me by a quantity of votes (of course, quantities of votes aren’t very big here, yet, but we’re growing!)

Now for Image time!

I hope you readers have enjoyed this set of 4 as much as I have.  I love textures & used them heavily in my interpretation of “Vintage.”  : ) If you want to get some lovely textures to experiment, check out NinianLif on flickr, StruckDumb on DeviantArt, or go to my list of Freebies & check the sites I’ve listed.  All include free textures. And free textures are beautiful, beautiful things.

As always, check back on Friday or Saturday.  I’ll have Kat’s Senior Session up (finally, right?) and it’s just so unbelievably fabulous!  I get excited just thinking about getting to share it!  : )

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Oh, PS, if you want to get a sneak-peek of Kat’s pictures, take a look at my flickr account.  There’s a helpful little button on the sidebar to the right that will link you right up.

Okay, so I normally prefer to use this site for stuff that clients would be interested in… but indulge me just a bit because I’m so interested in winning this contest, I’m posting a blog link like they asked. Yeah, I hope you all don’t mind.

As a reward for letting me do this, ; ) you should go check out her site.  I think the look of the site itself is just gorgeous!  : )

If you see anything you love, drop me a comment.  Seriously.  I’m still exploring her blog.  Plus, if there’s something she’s doing – a type of post you like, the interesting framing of her text so it loads as images, the cropping of her images (check out the cowgirl!), tell me about it.  I love interaction from my readers, so feel free to take this chance to throw ideas at me & share your awesome finds!

Oh yeah, and if I do have some other Photogs interested in the giveaway, here’s the direct link. Enter it as many times as you can.  I think winning would be totally awesome.  But if you found the link here & do win, let me know. : )  I’d absolutely love the chance to celebrate the win with you & who better to celebrate properly than another photographer?  lol.

On that crazy note, I’m going to go.  I’ve got editing to do!

But here’s a picture from me, too, as a secondary reward for reading this post. ; )

And don’t miss the lovely Emma post that I’ve bumped down with this post.  Just keep scrolling down.  It’s worth it.  Totally.

It has been a week!  Both good & bad… but still one of “those” weeks for me.  However, it makes me much happier to be able to share these images with you!  Emma is a Senior at Wylie this year & is very involved in choir.  Plus she’s just wonderful.  : )  I had a lot of fun photographing her downtown.

I considered breaking this into 2 posts, but I’ve still got Kat’s session & another lovely session with a local model to post, so this one will just be a little extra long because I can’t even start to pick my favorites!  I hope you enjoy all of the colorful goodness.

I love all of her freckles!  Seriously, I hope when my husband & I eventually have kids, they have freckles!

Doesn’t she look fiercely beautiful?

These chairs & table were outside of Relics, who were nice enough to share.  They have an absolutely fabulous website, so go give it a click.  And then go visit them downtown & wander through their store!  : )

It’s been a good week.  I had a photo shoot for funsies on Saturday (as always, more on that in another post) and even though it was *cold* my model was so very cooperative.  Otherwise, I’ve done a lot of editing on my Senior’s sessions and I’ve been getting ready for this week.

In fact, when this posts, I’ll actually be at a school, doing fall pictures.  : )  If all goes well (for the pictures & for this post going up on time… I think I’ve got that fixed, not that I expected anyone to notice since I’ve never determined an actual time for these to post – still it was acting funky last Tuesday).

So, this image definitely made me think of the nursery rhyme from childhood.  Anybody else familiar with it’s supposed historic meaning?  Ever since I heard this, it’s ruined the nursery rhyme for me a little… but that’s okay.  I was always more fond of the dish running away with the spoon anyway. : )

Yes, the vintage is a little different this week.  Like it?

Enjoy your Tuesday!  I’ll be getting up very early & drinking some coffee!

That’s right, they’re that gorgeous!  See?  : )

Kat is my Senior Rep from Winters High School in Winters, Texas.

And Emma is my Senior Rep for Wylie High School in Abilene, Texas.

I told you they were both gorgeous!

Check out their eyes!  Seriously.

I’m not done processing either’s pictures yet, but I wanted to share how fantastic they are!  Full posts coming soon!

PS If you’re a senior at another school & are interested in the Senior Rep info, go here.

Vintage is fun! : )

I don’t think I have to say anything more than that, but I will anyway!  I love dandelions.  They always seem so whimsical to me.  Maybe it’s because of that scene in Beauty & the Beast, c’mon girls, you know the one I’m talking about.  I’m always disappointed when I think about these little puff-balls being weeds.  My dad hated it when I played with them as a child because I spread their infection (my words, not his).  But I always thought it was wonderful how the little seeds danced away like ballerinas on the air… yay for dandelions!  I think God made them just for little girls. ; )

Voting is still open for next month on what theme I should do next – it will always be unless I get too much feedback. : )  If you haven’t yet, be sure to leave your favorite idea in the comments.

In case you’re wondering what I have in store for my dear blog-readers: I had 2 lovely seniors to photograph this weekend & those fabulous posts will be coming in the next few weeks!

That’s right.  My nephews were born exactly 2 weeks & 2 years apart.  Which I must say, is a help for me as far as remembering ages and birthdays!  : )  Tyson was already 2 when we celebrated last weekend, but I don’t think that dampened his fun any.  He got lots of fun presents, mostly themed with his favorite character (I’ll give you a picture hint below!)

Tyson with his mommy & daddy.

That’s right, it’s ELMO!

And here he is: the wonderful little 2 year old!  Isn’t he cute?

I think I have the cutest nephews in the world!  : )

Happy Birthday Tyson!