Political Event: Office Opening

**Disclaimer: This post is not an endorsement of any candidate, simply noting some photos I took at a local political event.

A friend of my husband is running for Delegate in the state of Virginia. We don't live in her district, so we can't vote for her, but he wanted to support her so we went to her office opening in Berryville over Labor Day weekend. She had asked if I would take some photos of the event; these are my favorites.

Her office is in the old Berryville Pharmacy building (the whole town is so quaint!).

Preschool Photos

My son does not permit me to take his photo as easily as my daughter does; at 3.5, standing still and posing nicely for photos just isn't in his DNA! However, he started preschool this week, so I was able to convince him to take a few photos before (and during) his first day of preschool. 

 I cannot resist close-ups of his beautiful little face. And his eyelashes should be outlawed (as one of his teachers noted)!

Happy first day of preschool, big guy! Can't wait to see what this adventure holds for you.

Dogs deserve portraits too

My dog is incredibly difficult to photograph - not because she won't hold still (she's actually quite good at posing), but because of her color. So much shiny black fur is very hard to capture well! She's very patient when I take the camera out in front of her, and I'm very happy with some earlier shots that I took of her lying in the sun. Once a month we get her groomed, and last month she came home looking absolutely adorable. I already had my light kit out for another job, so I was able to convince her to pose for me on our couch while I practiced taking her photo. The black on brown was maybe not ideal, but I think I managed to get a decent separation of her from the background. 

Flower macro photography: Roses

I posted a couple of months ago about my first foray into macro photography, using the inverted lens trick I had read about online. I was pretty happy with the photos i took with the hydrangea blossoms, but definitely wanted to practice a bit more. A couple of weeks ago, my husband purchased a dozen of beautiful pink roses for me, so...take two of flower macro photography!

They grow up so fast

Today was my daughter's first day of kindergarten. I of course took photos of her this morning while waiting for the bus, but I also wanted to do a mini photo tonight shoot celebrating her first day.

Portraits at Sunset

In my previous post, I shared my favorite photos from a recent sunset excursion in our neighborhood. When we were "done", my daughter asked if I would take a few of her in front of the sunset. I of course said yes, as I love photographing her...it also gave me the chance to use my remote flash to highlight her and the sunset at the same time!

 

Sunset in Stratford

While jogging through my neighborhood near sunset one evening, I was blown away by the beauty of the sunset, but of course failed to bring my camera with me that evening (it's tough to hold and run at the same time!). The next night I wanted to hit the same vantage point, so I took my family with me to the hills near our house to try and capture the same beautiful colors I saw the night before. Of course, when I had my camera with me the beautiful pinks and purples of the night before were nowhere to be seen...but the beautiful golds and yellows we experienced that night more than made up for it.

Street Photography: Old Town Alexandria

A couple of weeks ago I headed into Old Town Alexandria for dinner and a show at Medieval Madness with a group of friends. I arrived in Old Town about an hour early, as I hardly ever get out there, and I wanted to explore the area. I'm glad I did - it's absolutely beautiful, and it gave me an opportunity to try out some street photography, which I very rarely do.

Back-2-School Promo

I've recently posted on Facebook about the Back-to-School promo that I'm doing: $30 for a 30 minute session for your kids, to capture them as they start their new academic year. Photos taken by the professional company at the school are not only cheesy, and impersonal, but they are prohibitively expensive; while I know the school uses them as a fundraiser, I'd rather donate money in other ways to help! I'd really love to help parents capture these memories of their children in a much more fun, personalized session, so please contact me (abbelynnphotography@gmail.com) to set up a session today!

Weekly Photo Project: Another Win!

I've been remiss in keeping the blog updated with my submissions to the Weekly Photo Project, but something happened this week to make me remember - I won! For the week of August 4-11, my submission was chosen as the week's favorite.