Where Did The Day Go?

I often wonder about this whole Daylight Savings Time thing. I drove home from Cliff Mautner's studio yesterday around 5:15 and saw the sky fading into night over the course of my drive home. His place is only about 20 minutes from here and in those few fleeting moments, I welcomed evening from my car. Only problem is, I still had so many hours of work to go at home! But my body saw the night and became tired and ready to chill out! I know Daylight Savings serves a purpose, but I feel like I rush around now to get things done before I lose the light!! I have to start my days earlier and I want to end them sooner. I must say I am a fan of cozy candle light evenings, but I miss the summer sun so much! You could photograph well into the 8:00 hour and still have warm light to play with. Now, I have to make it a point to go outside by 5:00 so I get to see the day turn into night. I have this crazy obsession with the last light of every day. I always make it a point to bid farewell to the day and say thank you for gracing us with light! I find myself going out to see night-fall so darn early now. I am not so sure I am a fan of this new time. Might as well embrace it, we have a whole winter ahead of us! But one thing is for sure: I can't wait to "spring ahead!" (And yes, losing an hour of sleep is so very worth gaining more hours of wonderful light!)

Happy Haunting Part 2

There's just something about Halloween that makes me think of my childhood home. I can clearly remember the old man across the street who always grew a pumpkin patch in his back yard. We would sneak over there and sit our little bums down and wait for hours as the night fell for "The Great Pumpkin" to arrive. I remember the warm orange glow from the windows of the houses as twilight darkened the autumn skies. I remember the sliver of moon that hung over my best friend's house. I even remember seeing the man in the moon! I didn't care for much candy even back then. It was the spirit of the holiday that found a place in my heart from way back then until now.

My house today has very much the same feeling as my childhood home (by design of course). The only thing missing for my daughter is that old man's pumpkin patch that stole my heart and gave me the fondness I have today for Fall. I hope my daughter collects these childhood moments in her soul and tries to show her own children how it was for her to grow up in her childhood haunted haven! Happy Halloween to all!

Happy Haunting Part 1

I never thought I'd be too busy to enjoy my favorite time of year, but this month has CREEPED by so quickly! I just wanted to post a SPOOKY fun session with two very cute but scary witches! What fun it is to do Halloween sessions! Anything goes as far as color and effects! I love to have this much fun with photos! I am working on more Halloween projects right now and this week is full of haunts! I hope to have more posted soon but until then Happy Haunting!!

I love That Song!

There's this great song about Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas movie and how they'll have Halloween on Christmas.....(blink182) I just love that idea because I have been spending my October designing the most wonderful custom holiday cards for Christmas! But I am the biggest LOVER of Halloween on the planet! So in order for me to not miss the spirit of Fall, I have decided to have Halloween on Christmas every year! I know that may not work for everyone but it's just right for me!

I am already shooting for holiday cards but that doesn't mean you can't still do a Halloween session! And of course, getting an early start on your holiday photos will make life much easier during the season. Just think of all the extra dozens of cookies you'll be able to bake since your holiday photos and photo gifts are already done! And then you can swing by my house with all those extra cookies and hang out with me ;)

Call me soon to book your session! December 10th is the latest booking date I can promise holiday delivery! I can't wait to see you!

Bad Bad Blogger!!!

I am so sorry I have been delinquent with my blogging! The good news is that I have been busy ALL summer long making new great photos to show you! I was hesitant to write until I made some updates to the website but I felt the need to check in and say hello to Fall and the busy holiday season about to begin for me. Now that my wonderful web-dude is back from his vacation, I hope to have some new samples put up and a few other updates as soon as possible. Did you hear that, web-dude?? wink wink

It was a fabulous summer season of photos! We did have some rain to contend with, a few rescheduled sessions, but lots of beautiful days and studio sessions indoors too! There were weddings, births, birthdays, big blue eyes, graduations, silly kids, models, dancers, tweens and high school seniors! I am happy to be so busy! This month I plan on cleaning out the studio to make room for more furniture and unique backgrounds. And lately I have felt like Indiana Jones on a quest for the Holy Grail of lenses! I will have it in my hands soon!! So with that said, I must say that I look forward to the next season of photos! Things get booked up quickly so I hope to hear from you soon! www.ImagesByNicki.com

Pennies From Heaven

The year I was born, my grandfather started a very BIG piggy bank for me. I believe it is "Porky the Piggy Bank" to be exact! Over the last 36 years, my grandparents have put penny after penny in this bank for me for "when I grew up". My grandmom must have thought I finally grew up because she gave me the bank the other day! So funny!
My family and I decided to crack old Porky open and see what treasures he held. Well, after all those years, 75 POUNDS of coins and almost disabling the coin the counter at the bank, I am the proud "grown up" with $130.00 whole dollars to spend! LOL!! It was so much fun to spend that time sorting through old coins with my daughter. When I held every penny in my hand, I knew one of my amazing grandparents had also touched that penny! I just wanted to say thank you and I miss you to my grandfather, Nicholas, who thought the world of his grandchildren.

Avery and Aaron

Ahhhh yes, Avery and Aaron, my niece and nephew. Two beautiful little kids. Two very funny little kids! So many days go by in our busy lives and we don't realize how many special little moments we are forgetting about as we move on to the next day. So I drove to my sister's house, camera in hand to prove just that. I just watched with my lens as we spent the day playing with the kids, braiding hair, swinging on the swings and picking flowers. It was great but through my photos you can really see how great it was! My sister has this day forever now. And someday she's going to love these photos soooo much!

Kristy and Justin

I very rarely get to be the one with privileged information, but this story is about how I was one of two people who knew about a great surprise about to happen.

Kristy's friends and family decided that they wanted to surprise her with a 40th birthday party and "somehow" Kristy found out. Well she wasn't about to let them get one over on her, so she decided to surprise her friends and family right back by marrying her fiance Justin during the party!! Only the minister and I knew the event that was about to unfold. We anxiously awaited her arrival to the restaurant, looking around at the faces that thought they were surprising her. I smiled as she walked over to the microphone to spring the good news on the crowd. I was all too ready to capture their looks of double surprise! It was so neat to be "in" on this little secret!
The wedding turned out to be wonderful! Great music, delicious food, and fun fun times had by all! I only wish I had more time to photograph the bride and groom in the wondrous late day light that fleeted away much faster than our memories will.

Another Wedding!

I had a great time yesterday working with Cliff http://www.cmphotography.com/ at the wedding of Danielle and Micheal. The Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia http://www.fourseasons.com/philadelphia/ always does such a nice job. And take it from me, when The Eddie Bruce Band http://www.eddiebruce.com/ plays, the dance floor is NEVER empty!! Wow, what a band!

The bride Danielle was absolutely beautiful despite her battle with rheumatoid arthritis, she glowed like any bride should on her wedding day. It was cool outside for a summer in day in July but the entire wedding had to take place completely indoors. That is always a challenge for any photographer. But Cliff and his amazing "window light" made it happen! Of course I was there with a boom flash to fill in what we couldn't find naturally.

After shooting with Cliff's lenses last night, it was clear that I am going to forgo my shoe fetish and start saving up for some new Nikor lenses! Oh I love my shoes, but Nikon, you have my heart completely! :)

Images by Nicki - My First Blog

Hello first blog! OK so I feel like Carrie Bradshaw. But that isn't such a bad thing at all. In fact Sex And The City is one of my favorite shows. Instead of writing about those wonderful creatures we call men, I thought I'd write about the fish eye lens. I know I know, you'd rather hear about men. Well, maybe next time. ;)

The thing I love about any wide angle lens is the way it forces you to get right into the scene, and I mean INTO the scene!! It's hardly as much fun standing aloof and zooming in with our big fancy zoom lenses. When you switch gears and put on a wide angle things get tiny unless you move in. That my friends, is the funnest part of taking pictures!! Unless of course you are in a patch of poison ivy as I had the unfortunate experience of doing a couple weeks ago. OK but lets say you are driving around the back roads of small town and you find a dilapidated old diner. Hello! Get your butt out of the car and walk right on up to that magnificent piece of Americana and shoot it UP CLOSE!! Trust me, it's so fun. Any one up for a Nicki road trip?? Visit me at my new website at www.imagesbynicki.com