I think portraits in and around your home are such a fun way to document your family. It is so rare that we have glimpses into those moments.  I’d love to see more of this in the photography world. These are just the outide shots, the inside shots are for another post… I wanted to see a family bikeride. It was hilarious to find out that my friends’ bike had a flat tire, but we had no time to fix it (losing light).

oopsy daisy…

Mom to the rescue!

Drawing with sidewalk chalk…

A little fun with dragging my shutter…

I love this running shot above…

Below is mama with her twins…

 These two are such an amazing team.  I loved watching them and seeing how well they work together. 

 Love you guys!  The End.

I love giveaways, but I want everyone to win…so, I must let you all know that Nicole at Ruffles and Fringe has graciously offered a 10% discount to all readers of my blog that didn’t win the big prize!  So even if you don’t win–you win with a discount! 

The only tricky part is that Etsy doesn’t have the ability to accept a coupon code.  But Nicole can honor your discount when you checkout, by putting KRISTEN DUKE in the message to seller box and she will credit back 10% to your PayPal account.  I’ve done it before and it works swimmingly…promise. 

CLICK HERE to go to her shop.

Now to the winner, random.org selected comment #42

And that’s LAURA with this comment:

 Congrats, Laura! 

Now all of you others who didn’t win–go get some cute hair accessories with this discount!!!

Run, don’t walk, to Ruffles and Fringe!

First, we went to the green car.  I had spotted this car about a month back.  It looked like it was on a lot for an auto mechanic and had a sign strapped to the front advertising.  I called the number and asked if I could use the car for photo shots and that in turn I’d advertise for them on my site/facebook.  They were more than  happy to oblige.  I was worried showing up at 10am, because I could tell the morning light wasn’t the best, but we made it work, and I LOVE these shots!  Thanks, GLH Auto Care (Asian Imports and Domestic Full Service Auto Repair)!  Now photographers, don’t spoil it for me by asking too, they might get annoyed.

A few of them together…

 Then we headed on over to the blue wall not too far away…

Outfit change…
Off to a nearby field…

  Next…

  And lastly…an old abandoned barn….At this point, we were sweltering, I thought the scene fit the mood quite nicely.

 Wowzers…this post took a while. Hope you enjoyed a sampling of our adventure!  Any favorites?

The Winter White Trio on my neighbor Naomi with beautiful dark hair, then on my daughter and I with lighter hair:

 Another favorite is the grey peony:

  Another fun one is the black ruffle.  The elastic headband adds a lot of versatility as it can be worn as a traditional headband or in the bohemian or hippie style.

 
I love the delicate two layer fabric colors on this black and ivory headband

Hubby took this of me:

 I posted a similar design, but lavender and green  here a month ago. 

They also have baby clips and headbands

 Fun and colorful:

 Now,  YOU could be a happy owner of one of these lovely items by just leaving a comment on this blog.  All you have to do it go to the Ruffles and Fringe shop, and tell me which hair accessory you would like gracing your head, and if you win, you get it!  Simple enough, right?

To enter:

-leave a comment below stating your favorite accessory

-for a 2nd entry, “Like” Kristen Duke Photography on Facebook and leave another comment here telling me you did

-3rd entry, “like” Ruffles and Fringe on FACEBOOK and leave a comment here that you did

*Edited to add–this giveaway ends Saturday at NOON central time, and if you already “like” me on facebook, that counts, but make a second comment saying so.

First I met Becky and her family who live fairly close to the park (by the way, the cutie in the brown and his sister are twins):

Then Jill drove over and hour to meet us with her husband and daughter:

I just LOVE meeting new friends!

The property owner was so gracious to share his land, after I stuck a note on his porch asking permission.  He said he and his wife were shocked that someone asked, most people just walk up and assume they can. 

First was Rachel and her family.  Let me first share a story about Rachel that Linda told me.  The week before I flew to Illinois, Linda was sick and her husband was out of town.  Though she randomly posts updates on facebook, she casually wrote that she wished she had lotion kleenex in her home.  Rachel saw that post and within 15 minutes, was on Linda’s doorstop with not only kleenex but ice cream as well.  What a friend!  We should all act on promptings to do nice things for others.  I wanted to hug Rachel when I met her, but in all the chaos, I completely forgot to tell her thanks for being a great friend to my dear Linda….so THANK YOU, Rachel!  Here are some pics for her, including grandma in a few:

My friend Linda chatting with the property owner.  He maintains it all himself.  Impressive.

Below, we are at the beautiful Curtis Orchard.  It is just around the corner from this familys’  home and very special to them.  We got exclusive permission to go after hours, and the owners even lent us props (red crate, apple picker poles, yellow bags, and wagon) and allowed us to drive beyond the gate to get where we needed.  SO grateful, because we found a nice spot in the back of the orchard.  (In my scoping days before this, I purchased cold peach pie from their store and it was DE-licious).  I wish we had a place like this in Texas.

Had fun helping in the outfit coordination from afar as well as once I got there.  I love aqua and red together and we started with that idea in mind.  It was crazy HOT, but we had fun!

Beautiful family.  Adorble kids.  Stunning Location.

 The above is a headband.  The first is a clip.