Jonnye Bower Photography

First of all – HUGE thank you to my families who made the trip to downtown McKinney today for the ArtWalk! And another big thank you to all of the new people who I met today who stopped into the mezzanine at Mama Emilia’s to check out my work and register for my little giveaway

Did I say little? Ha… This evening Sofia and I had way too much fun drawing names of winners. She was very serious about it all and took lots of time swishing her little hand around in the bag before pulling out the winning papers. We did the big prizes first, the free Mini Sessions, then the $100 Gift Certificates, and since Sof was loving it so much we added a few more fun little items to the prize list

So… I decided to give away 2 sessions, 3 $100 Gift Certificates to Jonnye Bower Photography, 3 Mini Accordion Storybooks, 5 8×10 Custom Prints, and 3 Custom Photo Keychains – woohoo!

Here are my winners!

The winners of my free Custom Mini Sessions are…..

Ashlea Waters and Danny Bernal!

Congratulations!! I will be in touch with you both very soon to schedule your custom session!

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For the $100 Jonnye Bower Photography Gift Certificate…..

Stacy Henderson, Calvin Wilson, and Kelly Mobley!

This can be used towards any session package, or any of my custom products!

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The winners of my Mini Accordion Storybooks are….

Courtney Cox, Desha Roos, and Andrea Paranteau!

These little custom brag books are so sweet – I know you are just going to love them! Congrats! I will contact you soon so we can get started on your designs

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I am giving away 5 of my 8×10 custom prints & the winners are…..

Lindsay Ford, Dana Resoso, Virginia Garver, Christine Brown, and Kelly Milligan!

My Custom Prints are printed by me personally, taking all care to ensure the best color, tones, and contrasts so that I can deliver to you a print that you are proud to display in your home Congratulations!

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Last but not least, I am giving away 3 of my new custom photo keychains (pics of these coming soon) and the winners are…..

Kate Wallace, Kathleen Galara, and Pat Daly!

These are really cool items, much like the charm jewelry pieces I had on display at the ArtWalk, but simplified and always easily coordinating with your wardrobe (lol!) I hope you love them!

Soon I’ll post a few snaps of my displays at the ArtWalk in case you weren’t able to make it & I will have all of my new products set up in the studio if anyone would like to take a closer look and chat about them more

Congrats again to my winners! It has been a busy busy couple of weeks, with lots of very late nights working, and I think tonight it’s the best for me to make it to bed before 2am ;o) I know my sessions tomorrow will appreciate it! So I will be contacting the winners tomorrow evening and I look forward to creating some beautiful art with you all very soon!

peace love & lots of pretty pictures,   jonnye

spring is in the air…

It is my pleasure to announce the winners of the {windows to the soul} mini session giveaway! I had 39 entries in all and so many of them were beautiful and touching that I couldn’t possibly pick just 1!

So, the 2 winners who will receive free spots at my next round of mini sessions are… {drumroll}…. Kimberly Bell, with the most amazing snapshot of a newborn smile, and Erin Key, whose loving words about her boys and being a mommy touched me so so deeply. 

Here are the winning entries —

“What I love most about my Ava is how full of life she is, 
this photo is of her smiling on the 2nd day she was brought into this world.
This is one of the best moments I have ever had and I’m so thankful I have a 
photo that captures this moment between myself and my daughter.
-Kimberly Bell”

“I love my boys because they have taught me that success is not what I used to think it was.  I once believed it was measured by what I had accomplished in terms of my school, work, and money.  But, now I know that I am successful because of what I have accomplished by marrying my amazing husband, and giving birth to two beautiful boys.  They make me want to be a better person, and that is what I try and do each and every day.  
Erin Key”

And the 3 amazing runner ups —

“Why I love my baby girls so much….
From the time I was a little girl I wanted to be a mother, but it was a dream that I thought would never be fulfilled until three years ago. For the longest time my husband and I thought we would NEVER have children. For years we tried everything, doctors, medicine, books, you name it -and then finally (thanks to science and God) three years ago we were blessed with the most precious of all gifts- my Lily. She is the light of our lives and the sunshine in my day- every day. Then, magically God decided to bless us again this August (as a complete and total surprise) with baby Gracie. My girls make me smile everyday, give me true purpose in my life, teach me that being a mother is the most blessed of all things to be, and daily show me that the world is truly beautiful and brighter through a child’s eyes. 
I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoy them
 Amy Alsip”

“This is my Makayla Kay, She is 19 months old. One thing I love about her is that from the time she could sit up she has been dancing! Believe it or not her first “favorite” song was the FreeCreditReport.com song lol! She dances to anything and everything! Even at her young age she is a BIG Dallas Cowboy fan! She laughs ALL the time and is very smart and independent for her age. Thanks for holding this contest and I LOVE your work!

 Erica Hamlet”

“I am excited to share with you this wonderful candid picture I took of my daughter during the holidays. Kayla is just a little over 2 years old and this was her first time to ever “see and taste” snow. She was so excited, every morning during the time it was snowing she woke up and immediately put on her boots (with her pj’s on) and wanted to go catch snowflakes with her daddy and me.
The picture that is attached is so sweet to me because she asked me to take her picture in the snow and that she promised she would smile “really big”.  She did indeed smile really big, such a sweet genuine smile captured!
 They grow up too fast and I am so thankful to have this precious little girl.
Enjoy our sweet moment!
Kristen”

***Sorry guys – trying to figure out why the pics wouldn’t post on this one….. weird…….

If you aren’t already a fan on my Jonnye Bower Photography facebook page, please head over there and become one!

The contest to win a free {windows} mini session has already begun

As I promised, a few pics from my fun 2 week vacation…

We spent Christmas at Nana & Papaw’s (Philip’s parents) and I didn’t pick up the camera for much of that time, but we took some great videos (I’ll share those too as soon as I figure out how lol!)  The girls had a blast, and Sofia loved playing in the snow!  Christmas morning was SO fun.  Sofia’s favorite gift from Santa was a Nintendo Dsi and as such the mama’s girl, she immediately started taking pictures with it – of everything! So funny, she has a photo of every ornament on Nana’s tree and she refuses to erase even the blurry ones to make room for more.  I’ll be going  to Fry’s for more hard drives for both of us now

We did decorate our tree at home for Christmas too, to get into the Christmas spirit and I love love LOVE my ornaments.  Sofia brought the “Mom” one home to me from Kindergarden.  I totally remember and loved buying stuff like this from the holiday fundraiser sale in elementary school We also have several ballet related ornaments – Sofia played an Angel in her dance company’s The Nutcracker, and vows to dance in it again every year until she’s Clara.  Love it

After Christmas was done we pack up the kids (and 3 dogs) and headed down to Port Aransas TX to spend New Years on the beach! It was Alina’s very first time to go, and she was in heaven (well, cold heaven )  Sofia wasn’t phased by the cold at all though – she was so happy to build castles in the sand so that her sister could knock ‘em down.  Such a good big sister!

I did get to surf and it was painfully cold, even in a full wetsuit and booties, but I did it!  Next time I’ll have someone take some pics so I can prove it – ha! Papaw got a new surfboard, a Donald Takayama In the Pink, made specially for nose rides. Sweet!  We all got some of the coolest most comfy Sanuk shoes, errr, not shoes?  And thoroughly enjoyed being away from the business of our lives and work for the rest of our stay  

Hope all of my friends & families out there have a fantastic holiday.  I love you all & can’t wait to see you again in 2010!

Love you my sweet little baby – wish you could stay little for a bit longer, but it’s so fun to see you grow  

Happy First Birthday

From midnight tonight til midnight tomorrow I am offering some serious discounts on 2010 Mini Sessions, Canvas and Digital Collections, & Camera Training Sessions! 

Email your order to info@jbowerphoto.com with Cyber Monday in the subject line.

All who email will be entered into a drawing to win a $300 Gift Certificate to Jonnye Bower Photography!

* $100 off 2010 Mini Session Booking! This is 20% off our regular Mini Session pricing. And first dibs on booking in 2010! Cyber Monday price: $400

** $200 off the Canvas Collection! This includes 3 canvases sized 11×14 to 16×20 from images photographed at your 2009 session.  Just in time for Christmas – keep one for yourself and gift the other 2 to the grandparents! Best of all, WOW friends and family at your holiday party!!  Cyber Monday price : $750

*** Half off the Digital Collection! That’s a $500 savings! Every image in your 2009 session gallery at high resolution on a disk with my permission to print letter.  Also includes a 4×6 print of each image.   Cyber Monday price: $500

**** Buy one hour of camera training, get one hour free! Is a Digital SLR camera on your Christmas wish list? It should be!! Please don’t wait for our sessions to have artful images of your children – get yourself a camera and let me show you how it’s done.  Photography is an art form that anyone can learn.  And it’s so fun – after I show you the basics you will be able to take your own beautiful pictures every day!  Two hours is the norm, and I am offering 2 hours for the price of one! Cyber Monday price: $150 , limit of 4 hours ($300) per person. No aspiring professionals please.

All of my session fees & prints/products pricing is listed on my website at www.jbowerphoto.com under the “Investment” tab.  

Only emails for Cyber Monday purchases are eligible for the $300 Gift Certificate giveaway.  

A four-legged little fuzzball named Belle

She is so cute and has a funny little personality.  Sofia is infatuated and has trouble putting her down. Our resident dog is Ella (spanish word for “she” or “her”) is very well behaved, and has proven herself to be the absolute perfect dog to have with children & babies.  So far she’s doing great with the new puppy too.  I need to get a pic of them together. Ella isn’t a large dog – medium at best – but towers over Belle because she is SOOOO TINY!  Here’s a couple of pics from the other evening..

she doesn’t know what to think of my camera…yet!

Ella refused to smile for pictures, but Alina happily obliged!

Hope everyone has a good week! 

***Contest coming soon – who wants to win free stuff??

Started Kindergarden today! I know, crazy…

She is so ready too – everyday saying, “Mommy I’m bored!” and asking, “What friends can I play with today?”.  We live just down he street from the elementary school, so we will walk when we can. This morning was an exciting RUN to the school with our neighbors and cousin CJ.  

Just quick snaps – it was really early for me…

*sigh… what happened to my little baby…

(Philip’s pic – when Sof was 5 and a half months old, almost exactly 5 years ago…)

Just a few pics from our trip… Sofia had a blast and got to meet all of her favorite princesses. We had our hands full and ended up only bringing the point & shoot camera around the parks with us. We loved Magic Kingdom the best. Sofia wants to move to Florida now so she can work at Disney World! Hopefully we will be able to go back when Alina is bigger – it really is sooo magical

I will be away for the next week dining with princesses & hanging out with mice, and occasionally answering emails via my iPhone.  I will post pics when we return! Or, if you haven’t already, find me on facebook and follow along on our magical adventure! Wish me luck with Alina too – she started coming down with a cold yesterday and now we all have the sniffles. Hopefully it will clear by the time we land in Florida!  

I am so behind on my blogging! This week is my week to get caught up – and by this weekend, I will have some very exciting news!! (Some of you already know if you have had a session with me lately…)

A big congrats to Aubrey & Aaron, who got married last weekend.  Aubrey is the daughter of some very dear friends of mine & Philip’s.  Sofia had a wonderful time dancing, especially with Aubrey!  She would like everyone out there to know that if you are in need of a very sweet, cute and talented flower girl, she is more than happy to provide this service for you – haha! It was a magical night, and though I wasn’t the wedding photog, I couldn’t resist snapping off a few pics.

I love how they had sparklers for their “getaway run”

A belated Happy 4th of July to all of my families and blog followers out there! 

Jonnye Bower is taking a vacation!!

I will still be checking my email via my nifty iPhone, and will return as many as I can between sets

If you have a question or need help, I will do my best to get back with you asap, but if the reception is bad for me on the coast I will contact you on tuesday when I’m back home. 

Cowabunga baby

Hi there all – I have been so swamped with family stuff, shoots, and orders lately that I kind took a break from the blog. All of you with 2 kiddos and full time jobs probably understand where I’m at

Here’s a few personal pics of my family from the past couple of weeks…

Sofia playing at one of my fave spots at the Arboretum…

And a couple of snaps my beautiful family…