Gimme Some Damn Candy!

Happy Halloween!

Time for the annual session at our neighborhood pumpkin patch!  I know you folks like to reminisce, so you can see how these little weeds have shot up by looking here.

Get the (Halloween) Party Started

The first Halloween event of the year for the Chockleys was the annual carnival at Idlewild Presbyterian. It gave us our first opportunity to eat our body weight in cotton candy and show off our non-costumes.

Connor's "official" costume is a muscled Superman. He tried it on for the first time last week and declared that it looked "Ridiculous!" Chip and I fastened the belt, attached the cape, and told him he looked awesome. Then Chloe chimed in with her opinion: "Yeah, that looks RIDICULOUS!" Thanks. So Wednesday night, Connor begged to be able to go out in just a Halloween t-shirt. Fine, but I'm not letting him off that easy on Sunday.

Chloe's costume is a devil. This was her third costume idea, behind a cowgirl and a Barbie princess. It originated in the dollar aisle at Target, when she found a headband with devil horns. (After wearing the horns all the way through Target and declaring her intention to be a devil several times, she finally looked at me and asked, "So what's a devil?") She just wanted a red dress and red shoes to go with the horns- she is easy to please. Sadly, all the red dresses in the world seem to be fancy/expensive holiday dresses, so I talked her into a red skirt and shirt. Somehow we ended up with a shirt that has a heart on it, which doesn't seem very devilish. In fact, most people thought that she, like Connor, chose not to really dress up. But she did! Every bit of it, including socks and shoes, were purchased specifically to be worn on Halloween. But that doesn't mean you won't see that skirt again when you get our holiday card this December.

Multiples

A little fun with long exposures and flash down at the beach on our last night...

D'oh!

It's likely that neither Chloe nor Connor will have a career as a wide receiver.

Faux-Engagement

My sis has actually been married for a year now, but I decided to take some "engagement" photos to beef up my portfolio.  Pretty couple, and you know, it's easy for them to look happy because it's only been one year.

 Kidding Steph!

Beach Portraits-- with EXTRA LIGHT

Ok, so I really geeked out this year.  I actually brought my own flash and umbrella to the beach.  We may have looked like nerds, but I think it paid off.  It really provides a clean look, and allowed me to get cool sunset colors at the same time.  Thanks, Bwana for your light stand skillz!

Alys Beach

For a change of scenery from Seaside and Seagrove, I headed a few miles east on 30A to check out Alys Beach.  It was definitely a different look-- all the buildings were white and spartan-looking.  From the South Walton Beaches site, I see that Alys "is our newest town -- drawing architectural inspirations from Bermuda, Antigua, and Guatemala."  I didn't get to see inside any of the houses ("Hey y'all!  Kin ah take some pitchers in here?"), but apparently they are all beautiful. (In fact, I just pulled up a few:  dang.)  Forbes recently named Alys as America’s “Top Spot for Design-Savvy Home Buyers”. All of the homes are built to Florida's Green Home Designation standard, which I presume is something like LEED certification.

Beach Frolicking

Annual Trek

We took our annual trip to 30A last week. You know what that means-- I'll bore you with lots of pictures from the beach. I'll get to that shortly, but for now I'll just give you one of my favs.

More to come!

Willing Subject

Chloe and I were out playing in the front yard the other day, and I noticed the light was nice.  I can always use practice with my portrait skills.  I asked her if she wanted to be in some pictures, and of course she was enthusiastic.

The little lady was really a pro.  She's had a camera in her face since she was a baby, but I think she's finally old enough now to be conscious of what she looks like in photographs.  She took all of my directions and even suggested different settings and poses.  She's a natural!

See the whole slideshow here.