Welcome

I am that girl, who from my tween years on, carried a camera in my back pocket and took photos everywhere I went. I was counted on by my co-workers, friends and family to get the shots and send prints to them later. I can't remember a time where that wasn't me. So naturally in my early twenties I began photographing friends and family for their portraits, engagements and weddings. I am a lifestyle photographer living in Europe. Our family joined the Navy in 2010 and decided to travel the world, one duty station at a time. We are currently stationed in Rota Spain. We were just a hop skip and a jump from our beautiful Capital, Washington DC at our last duty station and before that we were in Chicago. We have been so blessed to see such beautiful places and meet such wonderful people. In 2014 my husband, Jonathan and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary, our daughter's 11th birthday and will celebrate our son's 3rd birthday soon. It has been such a wonderful year. I am getting my feet planted firmly on the ground here in Spain and I would love to hear from you! We strive to give back to our community, we offer a military discount(see pricing), and for referrals and reviews we give free prints. We love our clients. Please don't hesitate to email us if ever you think our services are needed for our Hero's and Survivors.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Hair Cut?!? | Personal | Dahlgren Va Rota Spain Family Photographer


As promised I am updating you all. I really thought we would finally go thru with it and chop all of his curly locks off.... but it just didn't happen. I know he seriously needs it, I am holding out so our Florida family can see the transformation, you know the ones who done have Facebook and don't get to see him on a daily basis. 

I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that once they're gone he will no longer look like a little baby. No NOT at all. :)




I am leaving you with his stinky face, adorable I know. Its hard to say no to that.

Bennett and Slinkosky Family | Family Photographer |Upper Northern Neck VA Family Photographer

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Summer is Wrapping Up Pt 2 | Personal | Upper Northern Neck VA | Rota Spain Family Photographer |

As our Summer is coming to an end I've been looking back at it and realized we were forced to become a more active family. Why, you ask? We've been preparing for our big move to Rota Spain, we sold our GIANT SUV at the beginning of July. We live in such a small community here in Dahlgren Virginia, that we've been able to bike and walk everywhere here on base, to the clinic, our commissary, our movie theater and regular places like just going for an actual ride or walk.  

A few weeks ago while family was visiting we actually drove into DC with our bikes, rented a bike or two for our visiting family and biked all over the place. If you haven't done so yet I highly recommend it. We used Bike and Roll near the Reagan Center, the bikes run $35 for the day, 9am-9pm in the Summer and if you happen to be military you get 20% off (about $10 off that is), compared to the bike rentals on the street at a kiosk you are paying about 1/6th of the price, in addition to bikes they have strollers and wheelchairs as well.  



While our family was visiting we made it over to Colonial Beach and to Quantico for my husbands Triathlon . We had such a wonderful last summer here in the Fredericksburg area. Ate some delicious Thai yumminess at Seaside, as always~~~AMAZING!


Wondering if we gave the baby a haircut???? 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Searching for Newborns | Upper Northern Neck VA | Rota Spain Family Photographer |


Newborn Model Search!! Due to my huge prop stash...and the fact that I desperately want to refresh my newborn portfolio before heading to Spain, I am searching for specifically girl newborns (less than 10 days old). If you know of someone having a baby this month, have them contact me soon before I fill my calendar. If you have a boy contact me as well. Keep in mind I just don't have a ton of boy props, although I have plenty of ties and baskets for your little one!
Since I am refreshing all sessions booked will receive $100 off their session and your digital negatives, if booked by September. Otherwise if booked by November you will receive your digital negatives with no purchase required.




Remember that a key to getting those sleepy shots and newborn like poses is bringing them in when they are under 10 days old. Especially if they are bigger babies, the baby in both of these shots was born at albs 12 oz and he was only 10 days old in these photos. Due to how large he was he really would't do any of those swaddled shots and wouldn't have anything to do with being posed on his belly. Please keep that in mind when booking. Please email me at simonawatlersphotography@gmail.com or contact me on my contact form here.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Summer is Wrapping Up Pt 1 | Personal | Upper Northern Neck VA | Rota Spain Family Photographer |

Did you hear our exciting news? We are going abroad next Spring!!! We couldn't be more excited about starting this new adventure. We found out at the beginning of the summer and have been going non-stop making sure to get all the sites of D.C. in before we leave this beautiful part of the country. 

As we near the end of the summer I have realized that our blog has been seriously neglected. I am going to try to wrap our whole summer into one post.  Take in mind we do less during the summers thanks to the heat here in Dahlgren Virginia, overall I think we did pretty good and we are really going to miss this small little town. 

We spent the first part of the summer in shock that we were going to Rota Spain. It is our family's dream to experience everything that Europe has to offer and really cannot believe we're getting this chance. 



I cannot believe this boy is almost 20 months old! Where has the time gone? Look at his gorgeous locks.. We may or may not be getting his first hair cut this coming weekend on our way to Mount Vernon with our family. Stay tuned!

This sweet girl spent a good portion of the beginning of her summer visiting with her Nana and Papa in the Baltimore area and the middle with us for some summer enrichment at her school and to say goodbye to some of her friends who moved to their next duty stations. She is coming home tomorrow from her almost 3 week stay at her Gramma and Poppys house near Charlotte NC. We are very much looking forward to having her back. 


The middle of the summer we spent enjoying our family here at home. We went on long walks and many bike rides. We sold our car about 6 weeks ago to prepare for our big move, so we are biking everywhere lately. It isn't so bad especially in this small community, kind of makes me wish we had sold it sooner.
Now that we near the end of the summer we will be starting the long process of moving. More about the end of our summer next Monday when I reveal if Mr L got all his locks chopped off.
 If any of you are experts at moving please send me any and all information to help make our move as uneventful as possible.  Although we have lived all over the place we have NEVER moved overseas. 

Please leave a comment below giving me the best advice you've got! 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

The Look Fabulous Tour in DC | Personal |Upper Northern Neck VA Family Photographer

Two weekends ago, a fellow photographer and I left little old Dahlgren VA and drove up to Arlington and spent the day at The Hilton   diving into the world of lighting, creativity, styling, post-processing and many more things that all add up to A LOT of "fashion flair", as Lindsay Adler calls it. Lindsay took the afternoon to walk us through a few different ways to talk to you, the client, to help you know exactly what we need from a photo shoot and that way you will be more confident in the brand that we are offering and showing you.  Lou Freeman spent the morning making sure we knew how to set up our lighting, the different ways to make the effects make you look better. I am ready to be able to use all the knowledge they sent my way and start applying it to my everyday photography. I look forward to making your dreams become reality. I invite you to have the photo shoot of your dreams.  If you have an idea and you want to run it by me please don't hesitate, I really want to go above and beyond for you. Just let me know what I can do for you to make it happen.








 I just adored this model, everything about her, the natural beauty that she had, how fun she was to work with made the afternoon so much easier and less awkward. I love that these shots prove that when make up is applied properly and evenly there is really no need for re-touching. These images are SOOC (cropped straight out of the camera). Thanks so much for the talent behind all of these staged photo-shoots- the models, hair and make up and the lighting team over at the Looking Fabulous Tour with Lindsay Adler and Lou Freeman, I look forward to sharing a few more images from the day in the next part of the blog post. Until then don't forget to look at our Facebook page and leave a comment here or there!


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Kumar Family | Family Photographer | Upper Northern Neck VA Family Photographer

  Little Mr A is sure to be a great big brother. Momma and Daddy sure had their hands full with a brand new little guy and a busy 3 year old. I really had to do a lot of tricks to get Big brother to give me any attention. He was having to much fun, he finally settled in on my bubbles and let me snap away. 
This mama is so proud and so in love with these boys, you can tell because in every shot was beaming. I had such a good time out there with the last session of the evening, the Kumar family.