Wedding album link

I wanted to share the link for Christinas and Steves wedding album here. I dont usually post weddings as Ive said before, but since they are in Germany now, this is the best way. Heres the link here. You can turn the pages by dragging your mouse to the side. Enjoy!
http://www.myproimages.com/bookpreview.aspx?orderid=Q325404

And the winners are...

Its Sunday and Im trying to relax today, but I just had to show you guys the awards I won . I was so honored to be awarded by my peers 5 awards.

I am accustomed to winning one or two or sometimes even three, but Ive never won 5 plus a drawing.

My image titled "Creating a Masterpiece" of an expectant mother won the trophy for best Electronic Imaging Trophy and a Kodak Gallery Award, my Crawfish portrait won a Distinguised Print Ribbon (blue) and my image of a Rider Football player called "Giving God the Glory" won "Best Overall Portrait by a Master Photographer" and the Best Portrait of a Man.

It was a great night! My husband took this photo of me around midnight after the banquet and I cant believe how wide awake I was. My good friend Walter Eagleton came up to me and said "BASKING IN YOUR GLORY?" and I laughed because i think I was smiling ear to ear.

I was so happy for my friend Jim of East Texas, Mark of Lubbock, D'ette and JD of Las Colinas and Elizabeth of San Antonio who did so well also. Our photos were taken for a Professional Photographer magazine that will come out in early August.

I

You cant ask for better clients...

Well it is really good to be back from vacation. We had a great time, I'm going to post some images of all the things we did, but first I wanted to share a photo. I had a photo shoot with one of my favorite families on Saturday. (yesterday)

One of the young ladies in this photo has been coming to me since she was only 12. Shes a beautiful young lady and walking through her home was like a gallery for Photography by Dixie.
Seeing the large, nicely framed and well lit portraits gracing this family's home was very touching to me.
Its such an honor when my clients value what I do, and come back to me time and time again.
When I think of one word to describe this family, it is WARM. Their home reflects the warmth that they have and you can feel the love in this home.

Here's one of my favorites from the day. Have a great Sunday everyone!

Back from vacation

Well we are back from our vacation and we are happy to be home!
I will post more later. I think we drove about 1000 miles. Had a great time!
More details and photos to come!
Also, we went to a photographers convention compeition and I won a bunch of awards! Last night my husband took me and the family out to Saltgrass in Las Colinas for a steak dinner and wine and wonderful dessert to celebrate. Life is good!

Ill post more on Saturday!
Hugs and missed you all!
Thanks to everyone who held down the fort for us while we were gone!

Hugs,
Dixie

Christina and Steves Wedding Album

Today is the going away party for a very special couple, Christina and Steve. They are moving to Germany as he is in the United States Air Force. I will miss them, as they are super wonderful people! I am going to have their entire wedding album online later for them to see it!

I am on vacation and at the beautiful Hanger Hotel down in Fredericksburg Texas right now.

http://www.hangarhotel.com/ sitting in the officers club right now. I feel like I am in the Movie Casablanca here. Its all 1940s decor and beautiful! The airplanes are taking off outside and landing and its a gorgeous day here.

But am working on the finishing touches on their album.

For the password just call my cell at 940-642-1676 and Ill give it to you! (If you are friends or family of Christinas) My email is down, so just call me or text me!

Fun in the Sun with the family!

Its that time of year again.

We are going on vacation for a few days and be back soon. Our staff will be holding down the studio while we are gone.
Will have lots of photos to post in a few days.
We've got family staying in our home to house sit and dog sit.
Have a blessed weekend!

Dixie and Co.

Just beautiful!

I am entering this image into a contest very soon. You should see it large! Its just gorgeous!

Thanks Amanda for being a great model.

Shes tall and leggy and got what modeling agencies are looking for!

Double click on it to see it larger!

Her eyes are amazing!Wish me luck on Monday for the contest!

Life your life...

My father in law sent this to me yesterday and I wanted to share it with you.


Very profound.



I shot this image of the Davis Mountains 2 Junes ago while on vacation. Its one of my favorite places where my dad used to take me every summer.


"Dream what you want to dream;
Go where you want to go;
Be what you want to be,
Because you have only one life
And one chance to do all the things you want to do.



May you have enough happiness to make you sweet,
Enough trials to make you strong,
Enough sorrow to keep you human and
Enough hope to make you happy.



The happiest of people don't necessarily
Have the best of everything;
They just make the most of
Everything that comes along their way.

The brightest future will always
Be based on a forgotten past;
You can't go forward in life until
You let go of your past failures and heartaches.



When you were born, you were crying
And everyone around you was smiling
Live your life so at the end
You're the one who is smiling and everyone Around you is crying."

- Anonymous

My photographic Lab is TOPS!

Last week I had a mix up at one of my labs (I use two) and it was my mistake. I accidentallyordered 1700 wallet images instead of 16! The box weighed a ton!
I called the lab and told them that it was a mistake and the bill was several hundred dollars just for the wallet images!

The lab looked at my account and less than 24 hours later credited most of my money back. Even though it was MY MISTAKE!

I wrote to them and thanked them because it wasn't their fault but they didn't charge me for my own error. Here is what they wrote back to me! 2 emails already this morning from them. Also one of their employees sent me a sweet handwritten card recently because she knew how worried I was about my mother and father in laws impending surgeries, and some other problems I was having. She sent a card to cheer me up! This is a photographic lab in Missouri and these people treat me like family!

Thank you MILLERS LAB! You are still the best in my book!

Dixie,

Thanks so much for your nice comments. I’m not sure if you remember me, but we met at convention several years ago, and every time I see one of your orders go through,
I’m really thankful that we have friends such as yourself that really set the bar for others.

Your work is outstanding, and I’m really glad I got to meet you and get to know you a little.


-Nema


Dixie,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write us! We truly appreciate your kind words.

We are a family at Miller's and feel that our customers belong in our family as well!I will definitely pass this email around to everyone here!

Thank you, Dixie!
-Alicia

A great Sunday!

Hope you dads out there had a good Fathers Day. We had a great one. We started it out by going to Brunch right after we picked up our son from Church. My husband looked so nice in his new clothes. He wore his new Sperry Top-siders, which I just love on him. http://www.sperrytopsider.com/index.jsp?kwid=G_sperry_shoes&gclid=CJm03NDy-ZMCFRJxxwodUmtLXQ





We had brunch at a private club here in town of Prime Rib, spinach salad, London Broil , sauteed vegetables and Key Lime Pie!


Then we took the boat out to lake Arrowhead and met up with Jeff, his wife and her two friends.


We tethered our boats together and enjoyed some cold drinks and rock and roll music. It was a great day! Then we went water skiing and tubing! Our son can really knee board, (I don't attempt that really) and I got blown off the Tube upside down! We had a great day. We then tethered back with Jeff's boat (Wow, hes got a beauty!) and relaxed and talked, snacked and finally at sunset we did a little more skiing. My favorite spot is in the very front of the boat, with the wind blowing through my hair.





It was a great day! I hope you all had a good one too! I called my dadsy last night and chatted with him. I'm still trying to twist his arm to move here, i found a house for him, but he wants to stay put.





By the way my father in law is doing great after his open heart surgery back in May. He has a Pace maker and its doing its job well.! We are truly blessed to have both our fathers.


Life is good.


Here's a few photos from yesterday. They were taken with an underwater camera, that's why the quality isn't as good. (But hey, I'm not taking my 5D out on a boat! haha)



PS my legs look dark thanks to MYSTIC TAN at TROPICS TANNING on Kemp Street. 696-3528
PSS Youll notice that I changed some of my songs around and added new ones on the PLAYLIST these are songs we listened to on the boat and some of my all time favorite songs. Yes Im giving away my age, but the 80s and 90s had some of the best music. Jimmy Buffett, Def Leppard (Whom i met many times and photographed) Metalica, Depeche Mode etc.

Cutie Kelsey

This young lady is getting into modeling and asked me to do some pictures for her portfolio. Im honored Kelsey, these were taken recently, but I cant wait to post the modeling ones here soon!
Have a Great Fathers Day!

Lovely Leah

Motherhood and pregnancy are magical times. I love it in weddings when the pastor says "Will you accept children willingly from God?" Ive always thought that children were a gift from God. So I wanted to convey that in a portrait.

To me a pregnant woman is larger than life. Etheral and glowing.

Thanks Leah, for letting me use my creativity to showcase my idea of pregnancy.

Dont you think Leah is beautiful? Shes due any day now and is almost 9 months here.

Sassy Sara

Michelle Morris bridal

Here is a slideshow of a recent Bridal portrait session.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=2984710&alb=0

Great job Gina!

How do I reach Dixie Dobbins?

People call us all the time and ask how they can email us. The link is on the right hand side down a short ways and it says WRITE US! or its on our various websites too
at http://www.photographybydixie.com/ but you can always just send it to me here at
PDixie@sw.rr.com Have a nice evening!

The New TouchSmart!

Well its almost here! Hewlett Packards new TOUCH SMART Computer! Oh my gosh! THis thing is KEWL! Finally touch screen technology that we can afford! My first real computer cost about $3500. and I had to fly to Singapore to get it!
Now HP has the two touch smart models one at about $1300. and the other at $1700.
They are beyond cool. Love the new 22 inch High Def (tv tuner) widescreen monitor with built in Microphone and web cam to stay connected to friends! (Dont you hate those pesky web cams?)

Heres the SPECS on them! Enjoy!

HP TouchSmart IQ504 PC


Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5750,
2.00 GHz
320GB 7200RPM hard drive
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 with 128MB dedicated graphics memory
22" diagonal widescreen BrightView LCD with tilt adjustment
Built-in DVD burner
Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n
HP webcam and integrated microphone
ENERGY STAR® qualified

HP TouchSmart IQ506 PC

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5850,
2.16GHz
500GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9300 M GS HD graphics module with 256MB dedicated video memory
22" diagonal widescreen BrightView LCD with tilt adjustment
Built-in DVD burner
Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n
HP webcam and integrated microphone
ENERGY STAR® qualified
ATSC high-definition TV tuner

Love em! You can reserve yours at BEST BUY and get a $50 rebate if you hurry!
Check out the DEMO on this site. I cant wait to deal with my photos this way. No more mouse for me! And no more Sore neck and shoulders. (I HATE USING A MOUSE!)
Yea! I love technology!
Watch the demo, its fun. By the way, It inspired the new top song on the blog. Joan Jett, Do you wanna touch?"
http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/touchsmart/index.html?jumpid=re_R602_mktg/hpcom/psg/ec/touchsmart#/Main/

Simply Sarah!

Meet Sarah! She is hillariouos. So full of life and funny. Reminds me of my childhood friend Cyndie! She plays Basketball and is a Forward. She loves Vanilla ice Cream and Country Music. She says she cant live without her Cell phone and is planning on attending North Texas and majoring in Interior Design. I just had a blast with her. The last photo is a quirky one with her LIPs in a cute FISH FACE Pose (Just like my friend Cyndie can do!)

Thank you so much Sarah! I enjoyed you and your mom so much!

Jada!

First of all I want to say Im very very behind on Blogging~ I apologize to those who are stillw aiting, ill get caught up On Thursday. Ive been shooting a lot of sessions lately and am behind. Im starting with the last appointment I did today and working my way back for the past week and a half.

Today I got to meet the sweetest 2 year old. Jada. (Dont cha love that name?)

She's got Personality and then some! So smart, she can count to 15 and knows all her ABCs she a total delight.

She made me laugh so much today my cheeks hurt! Thank you Jada and Keysha! It was my pleasure.

My husbands flip flops

WOW I cant believe the response we've had on people asking about my husbands Reef Sandals!

They are so cool. Here is the link to Reef and the flip flops have a "church key" on the bottoms of them to open your "soda" or favorite bottled beverage.

Bruce says they are very comfortable and have Leather uppers and they look great!

Here's the link to REEF http://www.reef.com/

The Fanning name is named after the famous Surfer MICK FANNING. The Fanning shoes are the ones with the bottle openers built in the soles.

You can pick up a pair at the Dillards MENs Store at Sikes Senter Mall.

PS- This is info off the internet about MICK FANNING.

"Mick Fanning is a shiny blonde haired 24-year-old who is often referred to as “White Lightning” and is notorious for playing as hard as he works or in Mick’s case, surfs.

When he isn’t in the water, you will most likely find him in a pub. (HE hails from Australia)

It would be a major design oversight for the REEF sandals product team to neglect this part of his lifestyle, so they came up with a solution. And the solutions is the bottle opener sandals, which is perfectly nestled in the sole of the sandals making the Fanning a mandatory accessory for a night out with the boys or girls. Mick has been using his new reef sandles for the last year now, and hes always got great things to say about his first signature pair of surf sandals. He commented, “ They are going to be the hit of Cooli” (Coolengatta, Gold Coast Queensland), although given the popularity of this pro surfer around the world, and the innovative ‘thirst quenching technology’, we anticipate global success. Mick is really happy with the way the Reef Fanning has turned out and extends a big thanks to the design crew for their creativity and hard work. "

Ive been replaced.. at least temporarily

Well.. for those of married ladies out there... You know how guys are. They love their toys. And my husband has expensive taste in toys. The Corvette was the first purchase he made as an adult. He just had it completely restored... Now hes bored again. So the other day he comes home and said he found a new Toy. A new Boat. (Well its preowned, but new to him.) So since he is retiring this Fall, and hes worked hard all these years, I said only if he doesn't make me a "boat widow". So he got her and he spent all day Saturday loving on her. He decided to give her a good wash from head to toe, armour all, glass cleaner, vacuum, tinker on the engine, battery, get her a new mirror. I thought she looked great the way she came, but he has to Love on things like that. They are never good enough until hes gone over every inch of it and made sure its all up to his standards.

We got a great deal because it was an Air Force guy going to Iraq who only bought it for his girlfriend and apparently the girlfriend is no more.

So we took it out to the lake on Sunday. Even though it was windy we got it in the water okay.

It was fun. He smiled at me while driving it, you know that smile that only comes from the Joy of owning a fast toy. But then again he is a Pilot.(Former Fighter Pilot) They must go fast fast fast! Mach 2 with his hair on fire. He is in Hog Heaven now.

Hes taking her back out tomorrow, but without me. I have a feeling this is the beginning of the end. I used to be a golf widow, till he injured his shoulder. So now I'm a Boat widow. Oh well.. If it keeps him out of trouble. At least until football season starts.

Now hes talking about getting her all new gauges.... Why cant I ever say No to that Man?

We had a good day Sunday. Then he cooked me Big Fat steaks and fresh corn on the cobb. Okay I forgive him for the neglect now.

Plus he has GREAT LEGS dont cha think? His flip flops are from REEF and they have built in Bottle openers on the bottom. You can get them at Dillards. Too cool.

Our son is checking out the boat the day he brought it home.

PS To make Fresh Corn on the Grill, Buy Fresh corn, shuck it and remove all the silk, rub Vegetable oil on the corn and salt. Place on a hot grill for a few minutes, rotating it every 3 or 4 minutes. Serve with real butter! YUMMY! Summers Here! SEE YALL AT THE LAKE! ARROWHEAD, P.K. And Waurika!

Terrific Tiffany!

We've known this young lady for about 12 years! Tiffany is the daughter of friends of ours Russ and Evette. Russ and Evette are fantastic people. They are the type of people that are always there for you. If you need help they are there. They are definetly GIVERS and I cant say enough about them. From helping to build our decks, to watching our son when he was little, to inviting us over for some of Russ's awesome Briskett and Fish Frys to a game of Cards to taking us out on their boat for some fishing and skiing! They are great folks. We love them! They have 2 children and Tiffany is their oldest. I cant believe she graduated Friday night!

She also works at our studio part time. She is a "go-getter" working lots of hours at 2 jobs and going to school and was a Burkburnett Boomtown Babe.

I love her spirit, shes full of life.

This was taken yesterday at her Graduation Party. Thanks Tiffany, Russ, Evette and Travis for all you do for us. We love you guys!

Stephanie & Rudy

Finally Ive got the photos from the Houston wedding I shot back in May. This is the wedding of Stephanie and Rudy. Stephanie is a cousin of mine. Her mother is the first born child to my dads only brother. We had been searching for them for a long time. We were recently reunited with them about 8-9 years ago. We've been so excited to get to know them, since these are the ONLY family from my dads side. He only had one brother, who passed away very young and left 5 children and a young widow. My father had no sisters and both his parents are gone. So these guys are pretty special to us!
It was so great to see them all!
Stephanie is their only daughter and shes a firecracker! Thanks Ruthie, Terry, Stephanie and Rudy. It was a joy. PS Yellow was Stephanies color and I loved it. The yellow flowers and roses are so TEXAS. The wedding was at the Texas Safari Ranch in Richmond TX (Outside of Houston) Its a beautiful place with Zebra, deer, all types of exotic animals next to the small lake and 44 acres of gorgeous land.

Dont ya just LOVE those willing ring bearers? At this age, they dont want to be any where NEAR a little girl.

That will all change in about 5 years though.

Stephanies Maid of Honor is such a sweet young lady. She said the most touching things during the Toast and you can tell that they really care deeply about one another. I cried of course!

Just Jimmy

This guy is so sweet. I recognized right away that he must have Indian Blood in him with those great cheekbones and brown eyes and he does. (Cherokee)

Hes a great guy, laid back and likes all types of music and really easy going. Thanks Jimmy for choosing us as your Senior Portrait Photographer.