Since the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, it's been such a cool theme during our last couple of engagement sessions. Meet Lauren and Stephen... so cute and so fun... I just love their energy and I love that they make each other laugh. Lauren has the most beautiful eyes and a smile that just lights up in every photo.

And I, of course, love that they wanted to wear their jerseys and begin at the Field Museum right near to the dinosaur. Lauren and Stephen, we are looking forward to your wedding in January!

A big thank you to Reva Nathan for sharing us with this beautiful couple! We are so grateful to have your trust.

xoxoxo,

~ Dawn & Bob

Whoop, whoop, so excited to be photographing our dear friend, Erin, and her fiancé's wedding in September! We met Erin at one of our Davis Love Story Workshops as she is a photographer as well. What a compliment when another photographer wants you to photograph their wedding!

We had a blast during their engagement session! They are huge Blackhawks fans and wanted to begin their session at the United Center. Of course!!! Love it! We then stopped into G-Cue Billiards and they welcomed us with open arms to take a few photos there. Such a cool billiards joint! Then onto the North Avenue Beach for some awesome Chicago Skyline shots. It was a windy day in the windy city but the weather was wonderful...!!! We adore you Erin and Kevin and can't wait for your big day!

xoxox,

~ Dawn and Bob

What an incredible honor to have Ashley Hebert and J.P.'s wedding featured not only in People magazine... and now Inside Weddings Summer 2013 issue.

Ashley and JP are so sweet and just a beautiful couple. We're so honored to have their wedding featured in this gorgeous bridal magazine. Mindy Weiss is one our most favorite Event Planners in the world!!! She did an amazing job bringing this wedding to fruition in such a short period of time. Thank you Walt and Art at Inside Weddings for featuring another one of our beautiful weddings! For brides looking for inspiration, this is the magazine to buy!

It's hard to believe it's been over 8 months since their wedding. Where does the time go? Summer has been crazy fun and we are well into the busy wedding season. Ohhhh, so much I need to blog. I'm a horrible blogger! We have SO MANY incredible photographs to share with you all. I'm so sorry. I keep saying I'm going to get better and then my kids say "Mom, can you take me...." and family wins! What can I say... I'm a mom first.

Ohhhh, remember to stop by to see Ashley & JP's website... it's adorable!

Angela and Bryant met through friends. Their shared faith and heart for God is what drew them together. One month after they officially started dating, Bryant professed his love for Angela. And Angela, four months after that, told Bryant she loved him too, which was the first time she ever said that to a guy. When Bryant proposed to Angela, she confessed that she knew She was going to marry him from the weekend of their first official date. Bryant said he knew then too and that there wasn’t anyone else he could see spending the rest of his life with. Some may call it serendipity but they thank and praise God for His provision and sovereignty in bringing them together!

Angela had been looking at our work for several years and knew she wanted us to photograph her wedding. When we met them, we knew that they were meant for each other. And they value photography, so we knew they were meant for us! They are the sweetest, most fun couple and we can't thank them enough for honoring us with the opportunity to photograph their beautiful wedding day!

They were up for anything during their engagement session and even brought the cutest props! On their wedding day, it was chilly and drizzling and you would never have known because they made the best of their day, with umbrellas and smiles! We are so thrilled to share their images with you! A big thank you to Jenn Gaudreau, Edward Weiland and our son, Bobby, for 2nd shooting this wedding with Bob. They both did an amazing job!

Angela and Bryant, we wish you a lifetime of happiness together. You are so meant to be together. We love you both so much!!!

xoxox,

~ Dawn and Bob

Well friends, this is way too good not to share! If you're struggling with finding the time to blog, like I do, then you need to know about BlogStomp. It's an amazing tool created by photographers for photographers... and bloggers! It's so simple and so fun... you will just freak out! I'm totally serious! And for the whopping price tag of $49 for the app, you will agree that it's so worth the money. After one blog post, you will get your money's worth. If my testimony doesn't convince you, then go to BlogStomp's website and download the free trial.

You just drop your images into BlogStomp, and once you have your image(s) selected the way you like it, just click "stomp" and it automatically gets renamed and saved into a "Stomped!" folder on your desktop! You can select how many images you want to have stomped into a collage, select with template you want to use, and click "Mix it Up!" until you get the desired effect you're looking for. Easy peasy! You're going to LOVE this!!!

There are so many reasons to love this program, you are just going to have to try it to see for yourself! Not to sound like a Men's Warehouse commercial, BUT, you're gonna like the way you look... I guarantee it!

Another year has passed and we celebrated our kid's "Gotcha Home Day". It's hard to believe it's been 11 years since we touched down at O'Hare airport and went through customs with our kiddos. Bobby was 4.5 and Alli was 3.5 at the time. They are now 15.5 and 14.5 years old. CRAZY....... absolutely pure craziness. I always wanted to adopt and when Bob and I were going through the process, it was really difficult. At the time, it seemed that everything and anything could go wrong, did go wrong. But then I began praying in DETAIL to God, and when I mean detail, I mean, names, dates, addresses of where the adoption committee was meeting next. I could not get more specific with God begging Him to be there at those meetings so we could finally bring our children home. And it wasn't long, weeks I think, that after I started praying specifically did He answer our prayers. We waited an entire year to hear the words "It's time!"

And now, our son Bobby is talking about where he wants to attend college. And, our daughter, Alli is going to be graduating 8th Grade in May. Seriously??? It just seems that life is flying by faster than I can say.... "breathe".

Every year, on February 13th, Bob takes an annual photo of our kiddos. The very first photo was taken in 2002 at Casa de Copii in Chisinau, Moldova the first time Bob met our kids. We haven't missed a year since. We bought Alli a Papusheka (doll) on our way to Moldova and it's made an appearance in every photo since then.

I don't even know how to describe how much we love our kids. They were born in our hearts. People always comment on how lucky they are because we adopted them, but the truth is, we are the lucky ones. We are so blessed to have them in our lives. I may not have given birth to our kids, but we are their parents and we love them with every ounce of our heart and soul. They have forever changed us, and we will always be thankful that God heard our prayers. We give Him the glory every single day of our lives.

It's been wonderful to see many photographers we've met in the industry go through the adoption process and be blessed the same way we have, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

And if you would like to view our adoption video on our website, here's the link...
https://bobanddawndavis.com/about-us/#adoption-video

No laughing at my clothes or my dancing and bring tissues! Don't say I didn't warn you!

YES! Finally..... and so excited! I know I blogged about this wedding being featured in People magazine in December, well, now it's time to give you an upfront and personal look at their incredibly beautiful wedding.

Here's a recap of that post... "So incredibly excited for so many reasons. I am an avid fan of the TV show The Bachelor + The Bachelorette. It's like, total shut down mode, turn off the lights, red wine in hand, drag my husband with me to watch this show! I mean... doesn't everyone do this? When we got the call from our dear friend, Mindy Weiss, Event Planner extraordinaire, to photograph one of my favorite Bachelorettes of all time, Ashley Hebert's wedding to fiancé, JP Rosenbaum, I was like a school girl all over again! I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs but of course had to keep it all top secret until the wedding was published.

For now, all I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW, how gracious the beautiful Ashley and JP are with each other and everyone they meet. And their families are so sweet. JP's mom.... ohhhh, I just wanted to squeeze her every time I'd see her. And Ashley's sister, five months pregnant and cute as can be. Their little, Boo, was the best behaved puppy ever! She is just adorable. Every single ounce of this wedding was designed with love. From the incredibly beautiful invitations, the 3 gorgeous wedding cakes, flowers galore, Mindy & her team didn't miss a beat. Ashley + JP said "I do" at beautiful Langham Huntington in Pasadena, California. Their wedding was absolutely dreamy.

Ashley + JP thank you so much for all your kind words throughout your wedding.... it was incredibly awesome to hear you ohhhing and ahhhhing over your photos the morning after. We loved that and can't thank you enough for trusting us to capture one of the most important days in your lives. Bob and I wish you so much happiness, I agree with Chris Harrison, you were meant to be!!!

A huge shout out to our 2nd shooter, Christine Bentley, who rocked this wedding with Bob. It was no easy task sharing the floor with TV crews and she did a fantastic job making sure to capture the moments. Thank you girlie, we love you more than you know!

Now on to the photos! We hope you enjoy a little inside peek at their incredible wedding! I always enjoy looking through their photos as it reminds me of how much they are in love, and it inspires Bob and I to be more in love! Oh and check out Ashley + J.P.'s website, so cute!

Wishing everyone a beautiful new week!!!!

With love,

~ Dawn + Bob

THIS COURSE IS FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO LEARN HOW TO USE (OCF) OFF-CAMERA FLASH

25% OFF - Retail $69 ON SALE for $52 - Find it here on UDEMY.

It's a new year and a time to challenge yourself to get your flash out of the hot shoe and start mastering off-camera flash. Bounce flash is great, but after a while it all looks the same, flat and dull. My goal for you is to create images that sparkle with depth and dimension. I'm excited to share my NEW online class that begins with the basics to form a solid foundation and quickly get into one, two, three, off-camera speedlights with lighting techniques for weddings and location portraits. I demonstrate the equipment I use to create stunning images no matter kind of lighting situation comes my way. My editor, Bob Kotalik, at the Chicago Sun-Times used to say, "Come back with a good picture or don't come back at all. We don't publish excuses."

So, join me on this journey as we explore many of the features and tools built into your camera and explore off-camera flash. I want you to master these techniques and make it your own so you may build upon this solid foundation and follow your dreams of earning more money while doing what you love.

There are several FREE videos you can watch to determine if this is the right course for you before investing in it.

25% Off Thru 01/31/13 for $52.00 with CODE: Jan2013Sale-eb130108

Bob and I teamed up with Westcott to create a lighting kit that Bob uses to make stunning images and we are thrilled to share this news with you. I could say I'm a little giddy over this, but that would be a total lie! I'm A LOT giddy and you can probably see my smile from your where you are at now... it's that big! Thank you Kelly Mondora and your team at Westcott for brainstorming this idea with us. We are so thankful for your support. And Brandon Heiss, wow, you blew us away with the box design. Thank you!

A PERFECT PAIR FOR PURE LIGHTING CONTROL:
Whether you're just getting into off-camera flash or you're a seasoned professional, the HaloTM and ApolloTM are wonderful light modifiers that can take your location or studio lighting to new heights. They're fast, easy to set up and produce a wonderful quality of light. Bob uses the Halo & Apollo with both speedlights and mono block strobes.

PERFECT PAIR LIGHTING KIT CONSISTS OF:
(1) 45" Round Halo
(1) 28" Medium Apollo with Grid
(2) 8' Light Stands
(2) Adjustable Shoe Mount Brackets
(1) Carry Case

-----------------------------

and our 2nd (smaller) kit is a

45" HALO LIGHTING KIT CONSISTS OF:
(1) 45" Round Halo
(1) Adjustable Shoe Mount Bracket

-----------------------------

You can find more details, and where to buy these kits at Westcott.

Ahhhhh!!!! So excited to see another one of our weddings in the Winter 2013 edition of Inside Weddings. Lizzy & Brett were so excited to hear the news and we were excited for them. Their wedding was at one of my favorite venues in Chicago, The Standard Club, and was designed by Randy Schuster, their fabulous Event Planner. He did a fantastic job bringing the outdoors inside with huge trees dripping with orchids. Thank you Walt, Art and Marilyn at Inside Weddings for selecting our wedding. It's such an honor to be featured in a magazine that is so wildly respected.

Check out Lizzy + Brett's 3 Part Series of their Engagement Session, Wedding Day, Fun After The Wedding post right HERE. It's so fun!