Little Red Riding Hood & the [Not So] Big Bad Wolf

Happy Halloween everyone! This weekend I had an impromtu photo session with my favorite subject (Einstein, of course) and his friend Avery from down the street. When I heard Avery's Halloween costume was Little Red Riding Hood, a lightbulb went off and I thought it would make an adorable Halloween post. So, without further ado, let's begin.

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by everyone who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child. Once she gave her a little riding hood of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always called 'Little Red Riding Hood.'

One day her mother said to her: 'Come, Little Red Riding Hood, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing; and when you go into her room, don't forget to say, "Good morning", and don't peep into every corner before you do it.'

'I will take great care,' said Little Red Riding Hood to her mother, and gave her hand on it.

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The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red Riding Hood entered the wood, a wolf met her. Red Riding Hood did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.

'Good day, Little Red Riding Hood,' said he.

'Thank you kindly, wolf.'

Let's just stop right there. As you all know, the story continues with the wiley wolf befriending Red Riding Hood and accompanying her on her visit to Grandmother's house. He eventually ditches her as she looks for flowers in the woods and rushes to Grandmother's house where he gobbles her up, and then impersonates her so he can eat Little Red when she arrives.

Have you ever thought maybe the Brothers Grimm got it wrong? What if the Big Bad Wolf wasn't so big at all? (Maybe he just had a really good PR person like Tom Cruise, who is much shorter than he seems.) What if Red Riding Hood was the wiley one, capturing the (not so) Big Bad Wolf and turning him into her pet? Well that's how this story goes...


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The wolf resisted at first...showing Red Riding Hood his large, pointy teeth in a snarl. She found it quite amusing.
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The wolf thought he hit it big when Red invited him into her basket, but there were no goodies to be found. Foiled again!
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The wolf looked for any way in which to escape, but this made Little Red Riding Hood very sad...
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After awhile the wolf decided that maybe he would gobble Little Red right up, so he helped himself to a taste.
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Finally the wolf determined that Little Red Riding Hood did not taste quite right, and he was kind of tired of trying to escape (and always getting caught), so he figured he might as well relax for awhile.
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This made Red very happy...
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Eventually the wolf gave in to Little Red...
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and they lived happily ever after!
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Happy Halloween everyone!

Under Construction


You may or may not have noticed the new look on my website (www.jenmadigan.com), but ta-da! I'm so excited about my new branding and I hope you guys like it too. You also may have noticed that the blog is still the old look, but that will also be changing soon. It's a little bit of a process, getting new branding implemented, but once it's all done it will all be worth it!

I hope you guys are having a great weekend so far! I'm looking forward to a newborn session that I'm doing tomorrow, I can't wait to share it with you all.

The C Family

On Sunday afternoon, I met up with the C family to take some family photos at Kent Park. First, it must be said that Vicki and Jason are superheroes. Truly. I know this because I am from a large family and I saw how hard my mom and dad worked to raise us. So my hat goes off to the two of them. Not only are these 5 kids (Ben, Matthew, Abby, Emily, and Jenna) absolutely adorable, but they are so sweet and fun, the time flew by. I think we got some great photos, I hope you like them as well.

When taking family pics, I like to try and get a mix of "everyone look here" and more candid moments (which you'll see near the end of the post).
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I love all of these individual shots of the kids (and Kaia, their golden doodle in the photo with Ben). I took a bunch of these and there are a lot of good ones, it was incredibly hard to narrow it down for the post.
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The kids made a huge leaf pile and took turns jumping in it, it looked like they were having so much fun!
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It ended with everyone piling on Ben, I love Jenna's expression in this one.
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On the walk back, Jason spotted a frog and the kids were fascinated (particularly Matthew, Emily, and Ben) - I didn't go over because I'm terrified of frogs (sad, but true). Josh took the photo below.
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These next two photos of Jason with the little girls just melt your heart, I swear.
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Towards the end of the session, things got a little silly...
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Above photo taken by Josh.

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Vicki snuggling the two little girls, adorable!!
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Kathryn & Brian [Iowa City, IA Engagement]

The instant Kathryn and Brian arrived at their engagement session, I knew it was going to be amazing. Not only are they incredibly nice, genuine people - they are gorgeous and totally in love, so how could it go wrong? The location Kathryn chose didn't disappoint either, the light was just beautiful and the scenery was equally stunning. (I think I may run out of adjectives soon, ha!)

Kathryn and Brian met one night in Ames, while at the bar with a mutual friend. Kathryn thought he was cute, but was initially enlisted to help their friend find Brian a girl before he deployed (he's in the Army Reserves). That night they danced, talked, and began hanging out quite often that summer. Kathryn wasn't sure she wanted a serious boyfriend, but once Brian left for training in Wisconsin, she decided she wanted more. When she called him to find out if he was still interested in becoming a couple, he told her they'd been dating all summer (despite her thinking the opposite, or maybe just not wanting to admit it!). Brian was deployed overseas for a year, where they kept in contact through emails, letters, and an occasional phone call. I'm sure it was tough for the two of them, I honestly can't imagine! Two months after he returned, he popped the question while they were on a ski trip in Keystone, CO. Seriously, so romantic.

Kathryn and Brian are planning a wedding next June, and I am so thrilled to be a part of their big day. I hope you all enjoy the preview...


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Above photo taken by Josh

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Above photo taken by Josh


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Above photo taken by Josh

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This has to be one of my favorites, although it's difficult to choose! They look so happy and in love, it just radiates out of the photo.
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Ahhh! I love.
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