Does anybody get annoyed at my long titles? XD

Madi here! I am super excited to be sharing these fall-themed pictures with you today as we say goodbye to the season of autumn (Happy first day of winter, everybody! Not much has changed here in the means of degrees, sadly…) I took this photoshoot of Emelie during this recent Thanksgiving trip to Texas I went on. It was my very first time using a “professional” camera at our home in Texas – there were so many absolutely beautiful places that I just couldn’t capture the beauty of with the iPhones and/or iPad mini I used! I wasn’t able to take photos at as many places as I would’ve liked, but that’s okay. I’ll take even more next time we go!

If you didn’t already know, I was born in Texas and lived there until we moved to Florida in December of 2014. My family and I have lived in Texas all our lives and that’s where our ministry was originally launched, so we still have churches, partners, friends and family there. That means we make trips back often (YAY!). And if you didn’t already know, Texas is the most amazing place in the world, the closest place on earth you could get to how Heaven will feel like, and I wish every day I still lived there. ?

But I never got anywhere in life by being sad about leaving my one and only earthly home, so I’ll stay positive and productive with my blog. I have big plans for DWOD. ?

Moving on! XD

This will be a post like none other! *rubs hands together mischievously* I’m calling it a photoshoot smash. Two photoshoots from two different places in one post, but with the same theme! Interesting, right? I hope you like it! I also hope you like gazing at pretty pictures (I do! ?), because there are millions quite a few (even after I did some serious editing down and choosing only my favorites)! :P

We shall start with Farewell to Fall. I hope you enjoy! :D

Farewell to Fall

I took these pictures right after church (in case you didn’t know, my parents were the associate pastors, therefore we lived in our church parsonage, which is literally right next to our church, so my church’s property was my back and front yards, which was fantastic. Whew! *takes breath* ?). I couldn’t wait to snap my very first picture with the 60D, and this was it! My best friend was already freezing cold as I took this first picture and told me she hoped it wouldn’t be take long, which I assured it wouldn’t.

It did. XD

Isn’t she so pretty? I just wish I had taken the time to make sure she was looking at the camera more. :P

Ahh, boots! *sighs dreamily* The best shoes ever.

Grass, glorious grass! ?

Do you see that patch of brown grass in the background? Doesn’t that look weird in contrast to the green grass where Emelie is standing? LOL!

*sighs* Why isn’t she looking at the camera? :P

SHE STILL ISN’T LOOKING DIRECTLY AT IT. :P

I like this one…

… But I really like this one!

I have always wanted to take pictures of a doll in this tree! It’s rumored to have poison ivy, and I wanted to find out if that was true (but that’s not why I wanted to take pictures there XD). I’ve now proved that it does not. ?

I took this picture right as she was falling! It was super windy and cold that day (I loved it, though! ♥), and our dolls kept falling over and it took forever to get the right pictures, but I think they turned out pretty good!

Our dolls, you ask?

My best friends brought their dolls, too! Allie brought one of her dolls, Caitlin (#39 on the left) and Piper brought one of her dolls, Caroline. Even though none of them are looking at the camera *sigh* we were too cold to care. XD It just kind of looks like they’re having random conversations. ?

Caroline: Lovely weather isn’t it?
Emelie: That’s a pretty fly.
Caitlin: Nice flats, Caroline. Why aren’t you wearing boots?
Caroline: *hums and does not look at Caitlin*
Emelie: I’m cold.

“And I refuse to look at the camera!”

Aren’t they so cute? My BFFs suggested this pose!

We took quite a few pictures on this cement cylinder thingy! AND EMELIE IS NOT LOOKING AT THE CAMERA. I thought she was when I checked the picture, but apparently not. That frustrates me to no end. XD My BFFs and I still really love the pictures, though! We are going to make that top right one in the collage the background for our phones (I took it portrait-style instead of landscape).

We tried placing all three of our dolls here, but they would not cooperate. They liked falling on top of each other or knocking each other down, and the blasting gale did not help either. Our dolls seemed to think it was funny. We did not. :P After fifteen minutes with Emelie being the only one to stand up well, we decided to just have her do the pose. But even then, right as I was about to snap the picture, she’d fall down! This happened multiple times before I achieved the desired picture above. XD

Except she’s not looking at the camera. :P

Ahh, more boots! ?

She looks so dreamy! :D

I love the way the wind is sweeping her hair.

I previously considered myself the master of balancing dolls, but I was no match for the twenty-minute trial that I fought with the wind that day. I tried to get Emelie to where she was walking like this by herself on the A-beam of our swingset, but that just didn’t work out. Right as she would balance, the wind would knock her down. Believe me, I tried every position imaginable. I finally reluctantly rested her against the upward beam of it and took this closeup shot as my brother arrived on the scene and ordered politely asked me to hurry up. :P ;)

We took some more photos of all three of our dolls hanging out the side of Fort M&R (the swing-less fort :P) and I finally took this last one.

And she’s very close looking at the camera, but not perfectly. :P

I hope you enjoyed Farewell to Fall! The next photoshoot is my absolute favorite one I’ve ever done, and a few of the pictures are in my opinion the best ones I’ve ever taken! I hope you enjoy! :D

Now introducing…

The Last of the Autumn Aura

Allie and I drooled over this picture! I love everything about this pic except Emelie’s hair. :P

These pictures were taken at my second favorite park in Texas! It has always been my dream to take pictures here with the good camera. And I LOVE how they turned out! I hope you like them, too – keep scrolling!

Pretty, pretty ?

I may or may not be slightly obsessed with sun rays and light streaks. ;)

ASDFGHJKL THIS IS MY FAVORITE PICTURE I’VE EVER TAKEN :D

Well, I don’t know. There’s one coming up that might top it… but I really, really love this one. ?

It is with this picture that I now know what takes doll photography to the next level. The picture is (in my opinion, at least!) pretty, yes. Good lighting, yes. Focused and sharp, yes. There’s bokeh, even. But what really makes your pictures stand apart from the rest?

Poses. See how Emelie is just leaning up against the tree? BORING! Even though the picture is good quality-wise, Emelie isn’t doing anything but leaning up against a tree. A different angle would’ve been better, but if she was doing an interesting pose – resting her hand on it while looking the other way or something like that – would’ve made it 100 times cuter!

Well, that was a random blurb of newly-discovered information about doll photography. XD

Allie really liked this one! Doesn’t Emelie look like she’s walking down a leafy path? Maybe that’s because she is. XD

My favorite picture EVER is coming up! I hope you’ll like it, because I LOVE it! :D

*sighs in admiration* I LOVE HER POSE, THE BOKEH, THE LIGHTING… EVERYTHING. :D

I really love this picture, too! As I was editing it last night, my dad could not believe that I had taken this shot and he mentioned that I should enter a photography contest, but my professional photographer sister laughed and said it was a very easy shot to get. XD And it is. :P

I adore this one as well! But another one of my very favorites is coming up…

One of my favorites! I love this one. I tried so hard to get the camera to where she was looking at it, and I took around twenty photos, but they didn’t work out. Oh well! :P This was my favorite out of them. :P

She’s so close to looking at the camera perfectly! *wails* :P

 The park we were at has a super awesome creek that is so beautiful for taking pictures! I really want to come back in the summer for lots of awesome summer shots. I can see it now… way better poses, water bokeh, reflections… ?

I really like this one, and so did my dad!

So pretty! ?

My family and friends all got impatient with me as we took a walk through the park trail. I kept stopping to take photos. XD

Toward the end of the trail, there was this huge place… I don’t even know how to describe it. At the bottom of an extremely steep hill, there was this railing, and beyond the railing down far below were rocks (with a wire net over them! Whaaa?) all leading down and descending to pretty lake! Here is Emelie standing on the bottom of that railing below the rails (like that makes any sense XD) with some pretty leaves in her path. :D

Last picture! After I snapped this one, my BFFs and I speed-walked to catch up with my family as we left the park, singing our new BFF song all the way. ♥ *sighs again* I miss my home.

But ain’t nobody got time for that! ?

I won’t ask you to choose your favorite picture (that would be ridiculous XD), but how about choosing your favorite out of my favorites?

1

2

3

4

5

Which picture do you like best? 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5? And what was your favorite part about fall? Are you excited for winter and for Christmas? :D ?

Love,

If you like these photos, please let me know! Just hit “like” and leave a comment below.