Thursday, September 10, 2009

Meanwhile, back at the alpaca ranch ...

Young alpacas

Cross another item off my life list of things to do. Visit an alpaca farm. Check.

The Waldron Grove alpaca farm is located a couple of miles west of Elgin, Illinois. Susan and Ron Waldron love their herd of wooly wanderers. They are now spending their retirement caring for dozens of alpacas, while building a business around Susan's alpaca fiber art.

Curious alpaca

Susan designs wall hangings, scarves, shawls and sweaters using hand-dyed alpaca fiber graciously donated by members of the Waldron herd. The Waldrons recently were afforded an opportunity for wider promotion of their products and Susan contacted me about creating some professional photographs of her products.

Friendly greeting

After meeting the herd and taking a close-up look at Susan's work, I'm enthusiastic about heading back to the ranch next week to do the photo shoot. More to come.

Waldron Grove is located at 39w856 McDonald Road in Elgin, IL 60124. Susan's designs can be seen here.

Photographs © 2009 James Jordan.

2 comments:

Wanda said...

Oh what a great set of pictures. I love the love that fills these shots between owner and animal.

Also your wedding shot is wonderful...

I'm slowing down again... fatique is the one side effect I'm having from radiation.

LOL:Wanda

Dona said...

When I saw the subject in my feed reader I thought you may have visited our friends' Alpaca Farm -- Jill and Gordon Muirhead run Rivendell -- don't remember the road it is on -- maybe Muirhead? I bet Susan and Ron know Jill and Gordon.

Planning on blogging about it when I get a chance. Of course my photos didn't quite turn out as nice as yours did.

My best friend in middle school and much of high school lived on McDonald Road.

Ahh -- memory lane.