Stella & Maxwell...

I'm partial to brown eyes..I've got them! So when Stella came into the room - you would have melted at the sight of her brown eyes - they are deep as chocolate! Her brother Maxwell came along too and he does a 'mean' cartwheel! I had so much fun with him. Here's a few:

Big Boy Jack.

Jack stopped by for a few pictures and what a cutie! When he was done with me..he would growl. I'm not kidding. It was his way of saying..that's good enough and that's all I'm giving you! Big rolls, little bit of fuzz and beautiful eyes...thanks Leah & Brent for bringing him!

Anne & Mark

Well Anne is just leggy and fabulous and Mark is just HOT. I can say that because I mean that in a 'photographer kind of way.' But he shows up in his little GQ blazer, white linen breezy shirt and dark jeans. The two of them are TALL and when they have kids...gorgeous..I'm sure of it. I just love my clients...they are willing to try anything - and poor Mark..another Nicole C. victim. Mark if you read this...thanks for the hurdle! But it was so much fun and here are a few of my fav's:

Squirrels...

I'm waiting for my 10:00 to show up this morning and as you know, I'm 'nature Nikki.' So of course I have to mess with the squirrels at the park. I mean they came RIGHT up to my car...all I had was cheddar cheese rice cakes but they LOVED them! I thought for sure they would climb on in. One bird even landed on my hood. Luckily my couple showed up before it got too out-0f-hand. I did hide a few rice cakes in an old oak tree before they arrived. I'm sure the other park hanger-outers where totally wondering what in the world I was doing. I mean I had all the wildlife hanging out at my car. Birds, ducks, squirrles. Here's a few:

Cute Stuff!

Allright..this bag is so cute! Lexie Barnes has the cutest totes, bags, and diaper bags. I NEVER carried a diaper bag. We always used back-packs. They also have knitting bags which I guess is 'in' now but I will NEVER knit..ever. But Lexie Barnes has really cute stuff! Check them out! I still carry baby wipes, dried fruit, 1000 napkins..etc in my purse so I need BIG. Today, I had a sports bottle filled with H20 stuck in my purse. Oh, and a bouncy ball. Found that too.

Happy Birthday Megan!

Megan turned ONE yesterday and paid me a visit for her one year pics! She is just adorable! Her brother posed for a few pics too and talk about the cutest smile ever!! Here is a few from their session:

Welcome Lauren!!

Hey Lauren! Welcome to Nicole C. Photography! Lauren is my shiny new album designer. She's a grad from NKU's school of photography. Lauren will be editing/proofing and designing albums. What fun!

For Son...

Son shoots with me. He totally rocks. He came with me Saturday to Stacy and Jason's wedding. He wasn't supposed to be there and he changed his plans to make it there. I owe him. So Stacy & Jason got some breathtaking, beautiful images to look at for the rest of their lives. Son said he wanted to see this one on my blog. Luckily, I can laugh at myself AND you will never, ever see this image again OR anywhere else. But poor Jason. As usual, I have these ideas in my head and I can't explain them worth..you know. So I demonstrate - doesn't everybody? Yeah, it's not pretty. Unfortunately, Son was there and ready to capture it. Back to the shot...So I wanted Jason to jump - I wanted to capture him just thrilled he was married. And I wanted to capture Stacy's expression as he was jumping toward her. So yes, I staged Jason in hopes to get a natural capture out of Stacy. Check out Jason's expression...this guy new he had something BAD coming. This is me 'reving' up...

and taking off! Now mind you..I was looking at where I would be taking the picture. I wasn't looking at Son. Maybe I should be paying more attention to him. :) Hmmm..I should have jumped higher too.

Sittin' in Church...

So we try to be good Catholics and go to church every Sunday. Most of the time, if we EVEN make it..we are late. We head over to the 'infant' room where all the crybabies hang out and we can never really hear what's going on. You can see through the glass..but that's about it. Today, we decide Bea and I are ONLY going to church. That was a good move. So we get there and we sit in the back - we are back-sitters. I like to sing the oldies but goodies...you know, Eagles Wings..songs like that. Most of the time they have the guy that plays the drums - he's pretty good mind you, and they have songs that are just too funky and I'm always off key or off beat..so I sing loooow - but I do sing! Anyway..my point. We go through the usual routine...and all of the sudden I hear the guy next to me sniffle..then again. I kind of glance at him and I see him wipe a tear from his face. I'd say he was mid-60's..maybe a bit older. He was sad and by himself. I wanted to just ask him if he was OK? Everything ran through my mind...fast. Should I ask him? Would that embarrass him? Should I just ignore all the sniffling. What to do??? You know what I did...we finally make it to the 'sign of peace' and I turn to shake his hand. I held his hand, cupped his hand with my other hand..and just held on. Just a second longer than usual..maybe just a bit tighter too. I looked him right in the eyes..and I said 'Peace be with you.' And I held his hand. He smiled. That's the first time..in my life as a Catholic..that saying actually meant something to me. I sooo wanted to just hug him. But that would have been weird for him. He probably would have maced me in the face. He had soft blue eyes, he was kind and wrinkly. He was sad about something. I wish I could have done more. I prayed for him. Next week, (if I make it) I'm going to sit in my exact same seat and I hope he sits in his exact same seat too.

Woooo! What a weekend!

So Friday I have that stomach virus thing going around..you know the one where you feel like if you MOVE from the couch you'll barf? Yeah, that one. Saturday, I shot an awesome wedding and Sunday I had the twins for their 5 year pics. I'll expand more on the wedding but here's a few of my fav's from the twins. Their mom is a stylist at Baja Salon in Hebron - Tara Lorton - and we do a nifty exchange. She changes my hair color every six weeks and I photograph her kids. It works great for me - have you seen the pricing for a color job lately???

A cowboy Birthday...

Birthdays are a BIG deal for us. They only come around once a year so we celebrate them big- time! My birthday, (I'll be 24 for this year) we celebrate the day before, the day of, and the day after. That's just how it goes. The candles were a big deal for Blake. We had cake left over for the next three nights and we had to put candles on his piece and sing to him and let him blow them out...every night. At the party, his cousin Gregory blew them out the first time so we had to re-light them. It was so much fun! and here are a few pics.. (oh, okay...I'll be 25.)


Bea and her cousin Alanna. She is so big - she has those sexy thigh-roles that are to die for! She's coming over to get her 3 month pics - can't wait for that!!!




This was a cowboy hat. Isabelle wore this the whole night. She's a partier!!

Oh, shoot!!!

Ohhhh, I don't need these, I don't need these, I don't need these...but how can I pass them up? They are sooo cute..along with a thousand other shoes I don't need. OH, I know! YOU buy them..and I'll just borrow them from time to time. :) Here, I made it easy for you - just click here to order them.

Karla & Kade

Awww...brings back such sweet memories. I re-uploaded a session I did with Karla & Kade. Karla's ordering a photo purse for her mom for Mother's Day and wanted to see her session again to get her picks together. What a great time I had with her son. He has an expression for everything! He also had the BEST sneakers ever!!

Here's a few:

Reggie update.

Okay..Reggie has broken the bird-feeder - I can't fix it this time. My fun is over. I might get a new one and then put some butter Crisco on the pole so he can't climb up it..or at least when he tries, I'll have my camera ready. Butter Crisco is yummy anyway. It can't hurt him. Just make things a bit slippery. I saw some really cool bird-feeders at Tuesday Mornings..anyone been there? I figure I better wait until Greg forgets about the old one. It was a birthday gift from his mom a few years ago. She might be hurt if she knew I played my 'raccoon' games with her gift.
Reggie may have won this round..but I'll be back!

Jerry The Painter

I love Jerry...in a photographer-kind-of-way. He is really one of the kindest people you will ever meet. He's also very maticulous when he paints...but FAST! But I think he plans on changing is phone number after he gets done with the Great Wall O' Seitz. He painted it once..then twice..then a third time. Now, he's painting it again. The same wall. Different color. But I told him I wouldn't change the wall again. I was looking for a 'happy' color. Nothing too dark, nothing too dreary. Well, it's bright. But it's perfect for my storyboard I'm putting up there. Virginia (she saw the wall when we met to talk about her wedding) thought I should go with the green. She may have been right but I can't change it...poor Jerry would kill me. Here's a pic of Jerry on his scary ladder-thing-a-ma-jig. If you need a painter..call Jerry - although I think he'd rather be riding his collection of 16 motorcycles than dealing with me. Just make sure you know what color you want.

Reggie

Tonight at dinner Greg asked me if I was done playing with the raccoons. It's just so much fun! They have officially destroyed our bird-feeder. It has DENTS in it from them. And I just keep putting more bird feed in it. I rig it so it stays on the pole and every night I check out the back window..about 10 times.. to see if Reggie is there. The other night I opened the door real fast to see if he would run...he did. I swear I'm so busy...I don't know why I have this obession with Reggie.

Stacy & her Girls

What a great day!! Woohoo! It was just beautiful. I'll be so bummed if we get any cold weather again - I mean snowy cold. It was perfect for a Bridal Portrait and Stacy and I headed out to enjoy the sun. Of course, I can't show much of her session because her fiance, Jason might decide to peruse through my blog and see her DRESS! She's getting married in two weeks and after that it will be a Stacy-photo-fest! It was so cute to see these little kids get SO excited to see her! And she is just a genuinely caring and kind person. One little girl thought she was Cinderella and didn't want to leave..I mean really, she didn't take her eyes off Stacy. Stacy talked to all of them and all the people that stopped to talk and watch. Stacy also brought her entourage of girlfriends. I'm not kidding, 4 of them showed up at different times and with two dogs! It was a party and it was FUN! Stacy was all dressed up but she was still Stacy. She even snorted once. I do have one picture of Stacy I can show. I used her as a 'product' model after our session was done. I have some violins, mandolins and guitars I'm currently shooting some catalog photography in the studio. But I couldn't stand to miss the photo-op with Stacy and a really nice violin! I totally made up the company name but I thought this picture would be super-cool on the cover of some catalog. I can't wait to show the guys at the music company some of Stacy's images!

Gretchen's Wedding...

I love getting emails from past brides. I got the SWEETEST email from Gretchen's (my brides) mom. She has to be one of the nicest people on the Earth. She's always sending me warm fuzzies! I really need to send out at least one nice email a day. Just to make someone feel good. She ordered some beautiful albums from her daughter's wedding last October and was full of kind words then. So she sends me this email today:

"Nicole - No, I am stalking you : ) ! I was cleaning out my email and still had some emails from you about the canvas you did of one of Gretchen's wedding pictures & Adrian Durban florist pictures. For some reason, I decided to go to your website - your new website is WONDERFUL - love everything about it ! I also think it is so wonderful that you volunteer for ACPCP - I know this is a cause that is very close to your heart . Keep up the good work ! Amy"

I really hope she doesn't get rid of my email address. I hope she sends me some more warm fuzzies every-now-and-again. Like chocolate chip cookies in the mail. Or fudge. Maybe Christmas and Easter I'll hear from her.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn. I just think we should all learn from Mrs. Amy Elberfeld. We should all send out at least one warm fuzzy a day to someone. It really made my day to hear from her. I wish she had 10 more kids getting married. What a great family.

Studio 26 Photography

I LOVE Hal Barkan..in a photographer kind-of way. Coolest guy ever. He's got one of those soft, slow voices that you feel comfortable talking to. And man, he knows his stuff! But I think the best photographers out there...are the ones who don't try to tell you all about what they know and who they know. Hal is genuine - one of those guys who's just Hal and nothing more. Check out their site:
www.studio26photography.com

On occasion..

It is RARE that I pose for a picture. It is RARE someone else is taking a picture. I see the shot before it happens..I see it as it's happening and know exactly what I want from the shot. The angle, the reaction on my subject, everything just whizzes by me in a second..and then SNAP! So it's rare that I 'let-go' and hand over my camera. But it does happen on occasion. Photo credit goes out to my wonderful husband, Greg. Greg, I know you lurk my blog...you stalker....so just know..I love you. :)