Contemporary Location Glamour Portrait Session for Two

In honor of this season of gratitude and giving we are donating all raffle proceeds to So Others Might Eat (S.O.M.E.) at the Share the Bounty reception tonight hosted by the Women Attorneys of Perkins Coie, Washington, D.C. S.O.M.E. is a D.C.-based charity with over 40 years of experience providing the poor and homeless of our nation's capital with access to food, clothing, housing, medical assistance, dental assistance, mental health programs and job training.
Tracey Attlee of Attlee Weddings and Portraits, Alexandria, VA is a former White House photographer and the private photographer of the Rockefellers. Kim Giammaria of Beauty Mark is a social and corporate hair and makeup artist.

October Surprise DC Engagement Proposal at Mount Vernon

When Quinn McCord invited his girlfriend Alison to lunch and an autumn walk on the grounds of George Washington's historic Mount Vernon estate Saturday she had no idea what he really was planning.

Oh the intrigue.

Quinn and I exchanged many emails, phone calls and texts planning the logistics and strategy necessary to keep Alison unawares.  "She's a smart girl," he said, "so we cannot make her suspicious."  Accordingly, we developed secret signals, code words, places to hide, plan A and plan B courses of action in advance.  These will remain a secret to protect the innocent and all additional persons who call and ask Attlee Weddings and Portraits to hatch a surprise engagement photo plot!

Quinn also sent me a picture of himself and Alison so as to be sure we could recognize them from a distance. When I heard the magic word uttered by my trusty fellow professional photographer and husband Todd, who spotted them first, I quickly hid behind a bush and listened for their footsteps.  As they say the rest is history and it all worked perfectly: Alison was shocked, Quinn was thrilled and total strangers cheered when we all heard Alison cry "Yes, I will!"

An October surprise engagement proposal at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate photographed by Tracey Attlee.

Tracey Attlee is a former White House photographer whose business Attlee Weddings and Portraits in Alexandria, VA has covered DC location family portraits, surprise engagements and DC weddings for over 20 years and is recommended by Washington's finest private clubs including Congressional, Sulgrave, Cosmos, Metropolitan, Kenwood, Army Navy Country Club and Chevy Chase Club.

"A Fitting Tribute to an American Airman Col. William Lloyd Richards USAF, decorated Vietnam Veteran and True Patriot!" is a fine art slide show featuring the Colonel's Life Celebration at the US Air Force Memorial, Arlington, VA and later that day his Military Full Honors Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery photographed and produced by Tracey Attlee, Alexandria, VA and Todd A. Smith, USMC ret. 

When Col. Richards' family commissioned this slide show from Tracey Attlee, they requested it be narrated by pure audio recorded on the day of the Ceremonies, which we always do, but to the point that any sound bites heard in the finished slide show were exclusively from the Ceremonies.  In other words, they did not wish to hear (tasteful) royalty free instrumental music running in the background of their slide show.  Col. Richards' family only wanted to hear the live sounds we captured.

This spurred our creative imagination as to how to best display Attlee USAF Full Honors Photos at Arlington National Cemetery with sound bites that would complement the photographic transitions from sequence to sequence.  To say we edited, repositioned and remade this fine art slide show 50 times would be an understatement, but then, we are perfectionists!  And after all this time and all these views the finished piece moves us.  

Here is our tribute to Col. Richards and all veterans, with thanks to the Richards and Ficke families for allowing us to share this slide show with the public.  Thank you also to Holly Holeman, on Facebook as "Holly AtArlington" for creating yet another fresh, lovely wreath and florals to grace Col. Richards' Life Celebration and Full Honors Ceremonies.