“Bon Voyage” was created by Dixie Dobbins of Livingston, Texas. Inspired by a scene in the movie, “The Notebook,” Dixie finally found and purchased a wooden rowboat online for use as a prop at her lakeside studio-home in Livingston, Texas. Shortly thereafter, she photographed TPPA Executive Director, Steve Kozak, and his lovely fiance, Jacqueline, for their engagement portrait. “I envisioned Jacqueline in a beautiful, light colored dress and holding a parasol on her shoulder, shading her delicate skin and Steve rowing his new bride away to live happily ever after. But sometimes reality is a bit different than fairy tale dreams. On the day of the shoot, it was hot and humid. But Steve and Jacqueline were troupers. Steve rowed the boat to a distance where I had instructed him to go and the water was calm with a beautiful sunset. However, after a few minutes, he calmly informed me that he was taking on water. I had only assumed that the boat was sea worthy! Even so, I was able to get a number of images and still get them back to shore safely. They were the ideal models and never complained,” explains Dixie.
The image was taken with a Canon 70D at f16, ISO 800, at 1/250 sec. Post production was done with Corel Painter and painting was done using “Blenders.” Dixie then added the roses and the “Just Married” sign in Photoshop. The image was then cropped with the couple in the lower-right side as to communicate the couple rowing out of the scene and into their new lives together. Steve and Jacqueline were married later in a beautiful celebration in Colorado.
