Breastfeeding Display

I have been asked to display 6 images in a new Breastfeeding Resource Center. This office is run by a group of volunteer peer counselors that will help support nursing women and their families in the Central Florida area. They will offer classes on breastfeeding and parenting. This is a WONDERFUL resource for this area! I'm thrilled to be a part of it! They will be having a Grand Opening/Open House this coming Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Come to meet the volunteers, and see my display!

Their website: http://centralflbreastfeeding.com
430 Waymont Court Suite 100
Lake Mary Fl 32746

This is one of the images that will be hung in their lobby. Thank you to Dori, Kayla, and Brandon for modeling for me!

Happy Holidays and New Year...YES LATE!

Happy New Year, a little late, but I just wanted to post it. Hope you all had a fun and safe holiday season. This year was nuts in our home, between me trying to finish up clients in time for the holidays, Joanie and Carlos' wedding two days before New Year's and family being in town we've been busy! I'm also preparing for a bridal fair in February, and my workshop which I am teaching with Misty Woodward and Kimberly Smoot in Chicago in a few weeks. Life has just been NUTS! Here's to a happy and prosperous 2007!!!

Joanie & Carlos!

This wedding John and I did two weekends ago at the Orlando Museum of Art. Joanie and Carlos were SO fun and John and I had such a great time. I met Joanie's mom randomly at an event I did about a year ago, and she asked about our wedding photography. Fast forward to a year later, and the wedding has come and gone. Here's a few samples from their day, some taken by me, some taken by John. You can view the entire wedding, bridals, and engagement photos at www.cristynielsen.com/JoanieCarlos, click on the .exe file and download it to view. Definitely a fun wedding and one worth watching! Congratulations guys!

Abigail & Huy.... here you go guys!

John and I photographed such a fabulous wedding last Saturday! Abigail and Huy are an amazing couple with this energy that just lights up the room! The day was so fun, two ceremonies, and one ragin party of a reception! Everyone was all dressed up looking amazing and there was so much love and energy in the room. Abigail was stunningly beautiful and Huy... well let's just say he was "too sexy for his tux"...lol. (Inside joke there!).

Hope you guys are having a wonderful amazing time in Hawaii and give me a call when you get home! You can view the preview images by visiting www.cristynielsen.com/slideshows password: preview. More to come!!

Congratulations!

Thankful!

I meant to post this last week, but got caught up in the holiday, house buying, and a wedding we did over the weekend.

I'd just really like to say how thankful I am for my clients... for my clients who keep me busy all year, who support me and help me provide for my family. I appreciate the trust you all put into me to capture the moments of your weddings, birthdays, births, children, and pregnancies. I am often in awe of clients responses to my images. I truly feel that I bond with each and every client as I get just as emotionally attached to their images as they do. It's a blessing I was given this gift to be able to do this for people and help to save these fleeting moments in their lives. So I say thank you today, thank you for all of you who keep me going, keep me clickin that button, and support me!

Thank you to my fellow photographer friends, you know who you are... you guys keep me SANE! You take me under your wing, teach me, let me vent, help with me when I'm feeling like I just can't do another day of pictures...lol. You guys are my lifeline to what this business is about. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Thank you to my family, who deals with my countless hours spent away from home, behind the computer, and for supporting me as I follow this dream. Thank you to John, my rock, my love for putting up with me and my constant busy, and my constant hecticness in our lives. Thank you for taking an interest in my work and starting to join me in this adventure I call photography. Thank you to Shaylee for keeping life light, making me smile and laugh my butt off daily, for our morning snuggles, and for showing me what life is really about!

I'm just in a thankful mood lately, realizing how even though my life can get hectic and busy, it's the simple things that keep me going.

Thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way. I can only hope that I am doing the right thing by using this gift that I have been given to help my family prosper!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you all! Here's a quick shot of Shaylee on Turkey Day!



:o) Cristy

More info about the workshop!

We are at a new age where everyone seems to be walking around with a digital camera. But we all know there is more to it than the equipment we use. That is what this workshop is all about! Join Misty Woodward, Kimberly Smoot and Cristy Nielsen for a TWO day photographic essentials seminar on February 4th and 5th. They will take you through step by step how to build a unique selling position geared towards your target market as well as some of the
mistakes and successes they had along the way. They will show you creative branding techniques that will take your studio to new levels of success as well as helping you to develop client incentive programs that will have them shouting your name from the rooftops! You will learn all about product development that your customers will actually invest in, pricing for maximum profits and the psychology of the sales appointment. Be ready for a fast-paced and highly energetic program full of fun and information. This workshop is limited to the first 50 people to register.

When: Sunday and Monday February 4th and 5th
Where: Holiday Inn, Bolingbrook, IL, just south of Midway airport in Chicago
Cost: $395 workshop fee

You can register online at www.mistywoodward.com/workshops.htm

Teaching a workshop!!

I have been asked to help teach several workshops around the country in 2007. "Wake Up and Smell the Success" is a business and marketing workshop geared for photographers who are established and want to push their business to the next level, or just starting out. This workshop will be taught by Misty Woodward (www.mistywoodward.com), Kimberly Smoot (www.kimberlysmoot.com) and myself. We are thrilled to host these workshops around the country and meet photographers we have known online for quite some time. For more information about the workshop and how to register please visit http://www.mistywoodward.com/workshops.htm

The photo posted below is of Misty, Kimberly, and myself taken by Karina Golembiewski (www.karinagphotography.com) at a recent photographers gathering in Springfield, IL. Thanks Karina!

SCORE!

Shaylee scored on the candy trick or treating tonight! She was a cowgirl. Miss thang loves horses so it was only fitting. She had a great time and got a huge bucket of candy. Thought I'd share a few quick pics!

Some of our family photos!

I was fortunate to have my good friend and fellow photographer Erin Drallos come to visit in September. She did a short session with us in the park near my studio and we got some great shots. Erin is very well known in our field as THE kids photographer... she will deny it, but she is. She's an amazing photographer and person and has definitely been a great friend to me. You can view her work at www.footprintsphotography.com . She is also the founder of the American Child Photographers Charity Guild. www.acpcg.com . Love ya Erin! Thanks for capturing these for us!

I'll also include a few outtakes... just goes to show that even a photographers kid can be a pain to photograph!

Wow! 3 months since I've posted! YIKES!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. I've been busy with working, being mom, and wife. I often times think about posting, then get caught up and forget...ugh! I have so many more couples, and photos from sessions to post. I will definitely try to catch up soon!

Here's a few images from recently. The first is of Shaylee from the Pumpkin Patch. Happy Halloween all!

These are from an engagement session I did last Saturday with Huy and Abigail. They are such a cute couple, and it was kind of a funny day. They showed up and Huy informed me that Abigail was doing her makeup in the car. Well little did I know but Abigail informed me later that they had been having a "disagreement" earlier that morning...lol. So getting them to be all cutesy and in love was funny initially. It only took them a few minutes to get over their initial "ooh he touched me" moment and enjoy the session. They said that I helped them get over their frustrations and had a better day. John and I will be doing their wedding in November, so stay tuned! They are so sweet, and have the greatest energy! Young love at it's finest!! To view the entire slideshow from Huy and Abigail's engagement session, please visit www.cristynielsen.com/slideshows and enter password abigailhuy

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our anniversary... 5 years married and 11 years together. We've had our share of ups and downs, but babe... I LOVE YOU! Here's a slideshow of our little life story! Hope you enjoy!

www.nielsensonline.com/CristyJohn/CristyJohn.exe

Here's to making memories and enjoying our life together!

A few from yesterday!

My friend and fellow photographer Lizney came up to Orlando from Miami yesterday to check out my studio and for us to get some picture ops with our kids. It was a blast andI haven't seen her since our trip to Chicago for convention. She's an amazing photographer. She literally had these 4 girls in the palm of her hand. She is much better with children's photography than I am, just watching her I was blown away. She caught a few of me doing my thing and some of Shaylee and I as well. You can view her work and website at www.lizneysievert.com . Thanks for taking these Lizney! I'm also adding a few photos that I took... one of the famous Lizney faces she makes, and yes that's also her in the middle of the pile of kids...lol. It was good to see you Lizney... miss you girl!

Woo hoo!!!

I've been wanting a website by BluDomain for quite a while. They are sites that are mostly for photographers and they are stunning and the ease of use is amazing. I just upgraded my site a few months ago, but BluDomain websites are so much easier to update and change. And I like to show my latest work on my site to keep it fresh and interesting. Yesterday was a big contest day and sale with BluDomain. I entered several of the contests and won one of the categories. The contest was to spell out bludomain by getting creative and using food, things around the house, etc. Well John and I decided to give sparklers a try to spell it out and it worked marvelously! Here's a shot of the image that I put together that won. You can also view it on their blog http://bludomain.typepad.com/blus_daily_blog/

This is the sparkler entry!

This was the entry for the "Kids Art" Contest...lol... yes I am a crazy mother!

I'm also excited because my good friends Amber and Troy Schmidt also won the whole kit and caboodle for Troy's expose as Blu Guy of 2006! He is at the top of the blog, painted blue in all his glory! The prize for that competition was a free website and an I Pod with docking station! Congrats to Troy and Amber! They have had a hard week in their family and this was a much needed and well deserved win for them! They are wonderful people and have such kind hearts. Perfect winners for this contest!! Troy also got to choose a friend to receive a second free site, and I was the lucky friend!! Sooo... stay tuned as I update and heavily upgrade to a BluDomain site within the next few weeks. This is very exciting for me and will hopefully save me time and headache when it comes to updating. It will be much more user friendly than my current site, and easier to navigate. I'm so excited I can't stand it!

Wow! Been a while!

Just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Father's Day to all the dads in my life! Dad, my hubby John, Gregg, Zack, Tony, Bob, Rob, Timmy, Josh, Dave ~ hope you all have a great and relaxing day! We are all spending the day together here and trying to relax and barbecue a bit later. I had hoped we'd be able to spend the day in the pool, but the weather is not looking so hot today.

A special Happy Father's Day goes out to Jim, who's gorgeous wife Jessica gave birth to their daughter Ava early yesterday morning! She came a bit early, but they had a wonderful and fast birth, and I can't wait to get my hands and lens on that new little babe! Happy Father's Day with a new baby GIRL Jim! Scroll down to see a sample of Jessica's pregnancy photos!

I've been really busy the last few weeks. Have done several sessions and completed a storybook wedding album for Gary and Anna, you can view it here! www.cristynielsen.com/AGWed .

I have done TWO sets of twins in the last 10 days! Newborn twins Ava & Addison had their session just about 10 days ago, and two year olds Gracie & Kaitie last week. Here's some sample images from their sessions. They were both lots of fun, and I realize how much work twins are by watching both of their parents care for them. I can't even imagine!!

I also photographed a girl named Melinda who is pursuing modeling. She did a great job at her session! Thanks Melinda!
You can view her entire session here http://www.cristynielsen.com/Melinda/Melinda.exe

Life is good here, Shaylee's been busy at her summer camp and loves it. She is now totally comfortable snorkeling in the pool, and has also learned how to swim down to the bottom of the deep end to get stuff off the bottom of the pool. It's nuts to watch this little person do all this stuff that most of the time I can barely do! My little fish is definitely not a baby anymore!

John is doing well, and had a good week this week. He plays in a monthly poker league with some friends and he won the whole pot for the end of the year tournament! So he came with just over $1,100 in his pocket! Gotta love that! He's been trying to get out and golf more too, so that is always fun for him. His best friend from high school Josh and Josh's family will be headed our way in less than two weeks to spend the 4th of July with us. It will be a blast and good for them to hang out and have guy time to play golf, yack and do whatever it is that guys do!

This next month will be nuts for me, so far I am booked pretty heavily until our vacation. Trying to fit clients in for sessions has become my biggest challenge. I can't stand not being available when people want to come in, but realize that it's part of growing and getting busier. I feel like all I ever do is work anymore, so this vacation coming up will be a MUCH needed break! Although I'm sure I'll take tons of photos of Shaylee at camp, sunsets, and all the fun...lol. You know me, can't ever put the camera down! I'm also hoping to get together with a few of my buddies from my online photography group, and have them do some family photos for us.

The TLC show we have done will start airing on July 24th at 8 p.m. I'm not sure which show we will be yet, but so far that is the date the series will be starting. Hoping it's not during our vacation or we'll have to go and find a place to watch it since we don't have cable at camp. The show producers and team have been calling, interviewing our family, and said the P/R for the show will be starting very soon and to be expecting phone calls from the media soon. I'm a bit nervous about all the publicity, but ready for it all to make it debut and move forward with this journey in our life. It definitely help John and I see the light in our marriage and understand each other more. I can't wait to see what the show turns out like. I'll keeep you posted as I know more.

That's all for now! Happy Father's Day guys!

:o) Cristy

Kinda funny!

My wedding assistant Christina caught these of me doing my "thang" at Anna & Gary's wedding... they are the first images I have of me working.

I have another that I'll post here of my friend Ruby from my photography group taking a picture of me taking a picture of her from Chicago... Too funny!

I also thought I'd throw in a shot of my little photographer in training, and the headshot that she took of me..these are a few months old, but still thought they were cute. Today she spent about a half hour this morning taking pictures of her dolls and horses. Pretty scary because she knows how to change her exposure and is already quite good at shooting full manual at 4 1/2 years old. I've been showing her how to use the camera and what it means to have a under and overexposed photo...lol. Someday she's going to give her mama a run for her money! Have a great weekend!

Stunning beauty!

Happy Wednesday! Just thought I would share some pregnancy photos that I took of Jessica and her son and husband Jim this past Saturday. She looks gorgeous at 36 weeks pregnant! I photographed her son about a year and a half ago, so seeing how much he has grown was awesome! Their little girl Ava should be arriving within the next month, so stay tuned for a new little cutie for newborn photos! Here's the link to a slideshow of the images from the session. It was loads of fun and I swear that Jess could be a pregnancy model!

www.cristynielsen.com/Jessica/Jessica.exe

I am currently booking into the third week of June with limited availability on the weekends. I'm also preparing to take a vacation with my family from August 4th - 13th and will not be taking client appointments until August 16th. If you would like to book a session for June or July please contact me to schedule your session as soon as possible.

Congratulations Anna & Gary!

So it's past midnight and I've been up checking out the images from Anna & Gary's wedding today. It was such a fun day! They are the coolest couple and such wonderful people. I also saw Andrea & Scott whose wedding I did last July. It was great to see you Andrea & Scott!

Anna & Gary had a beautiful day even with the 95 degree heat and endless sun! Poor Gary was roasting in his tux, but handled it like a champ! Anna looked stunning to say the least! The ceremony was very touching and emotional for all that were a part. It was an honor to be a part of their big day and a priviledge to capture it and preserve their memories forever. They are headed off to Paris tomorrow for their honeymoon! Have fun guys! Be safe and Congratulations! See you when you get home!

Here's a few pictures from today. More to come!! :0) Cristy

Happy Mother's Day!

Okay so yes I'm a little late, but I thought I'd wish all of my favorite moms a Happy Mother's Day. To my friends... to all the women in my life who make a difference in the world. To all of those of you who I love and respect. I feel bad that I don't keep in as good of touch with you all as I should. It seems life keeps me pretty swamped these days and I feel like I never get enough girl time, or time to just call a friend to chat.

So to Cindy, Christine, Mom, MS, Grandma, Tamu, Teressa, Holly, Suzi, Stephanie, Andrea, Jen, Sarah, Sabrina, Kristy, Angela, Brenda, Lesa, Misty, Leslie, Christina... I love you guys! I wish there were more time for us to enjoy together! I often feel like a bad friend, sister, daughter, daughter in law, for not keeping in better touch. I am working on finding balance in my life between home and work so I can take more time out for all of you!

To all my photography buddies all over this country, YOU know who you are! To MB, JW, KS, MW, AS, DQ, LS, CD, ED, LV, You are all my rocks everyday. You all keep me sane and help me to get up everyday and continue on my venture to capture the big moments in people's lives with my camera in hand. Visiting our special site and my daily contact with you all has helped me more than you will ever know! I have become a better photographer and business woman because of you all and your contributions to my life. When I said in Chicago that we were all of the same blood, I meant it... we are all working towards the same goal. To help provide for our families and follow our dreams by doing something we LOVE! Kudos to all of you for you and your hearts full of passion and inspiration! I have made friends from all parts of the country through my photography. From right here in FL, Salt Lake, Texas, Illinois, North Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, and YES Kentucky, you have all made a HUGE impact on my life and have helped keep me in line from across the miles. Just a big shout out to all my MWAC's...lol. Keep on shootin girls!

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day! I'm getting a bit sappy today and missing all of the women in my life!

The latest...

So I'm in the studio, and have done several sessions there already. It's amazing the difference when I can spread out and move around! I have done two sessions this week with a gorgeous 12 year old named Sunny. Here's a few of the images from her two sessions. We did these for a modeling portfolio and comp cards. She's really great in front of the camera. By far the hardest thing was keeping her looking her age. I ordered up several sets of new business cards with my new address on them, so I'm anxiously awaiting to get them and start passing them out all over town. I also got in a wedding album that I ordered for my clients Ehren and Paul. I created an album for them with their wedding photos and ordered it from one of my favorite vendors. It is STUNNING in print. I gasped when I opened the book and it brought tears to my eyes. Seeing your work on the computer is one thing, but seeing it in print is a whole nother deal. I know they will love it! If you haven't seen it yet, you can view it by clicking on this link www.cristynielsen.com/EhrenPaul/AlbumShowcase .

Shaylee is doing well, getting ready for the summer to begin. I am still trying to find some sort of summer camp to keep her busy for the summer. Last Friday night she and John went to the Dad N Me night at her school. They had a great time enjoying arts and crafts and making me a moms day gift. It was supposed to be a surprise, but we all know Shaylee can't keep surprises so I got the angel pin that she made for me when they got home. She's been swimming every day and has learned to dive and do flips in the pool. Her latest challenge has been learning to swim underwater. She is turning into fish girl!

We booked our vacation tickets to Maine for the first week of August last week, so I'm excited for some much needed time off! We haven't taken a vacation in two years, so this is a welcome break! My cousins who I love so much and hardly ever get to see will be off the same week and we will all spend time together at camp. I'm going to be doing my cousin Kyle's senior portraits while there on vacation... it will be very weird for me to do that, as I have been away for most of his growing up years and still think of him as a little guy... his sister Jessica just called me last week to tell me she's pregnant! Congratulations! My dad will also be taking time off to spend some time with his kooky granddaughter. She is VERY excited to see her Grampy, Nanee and Uncle Scotty!

John has been doing his thing, working and golfing, more work than golf, but he's been enjoying the time he does get to spend on the course. He's registering soon for the Florida Amateur tournament, so keep good thoughts for him to do well at that event. Friday night he went and played at his monthly poker league. The tournament is coming up and he's in good standings, so he's excited about that. The weather here has been wonderful, although we haven't gotten rain in about two months now, and we are desperately needing some moisture!

I'm getting antsy about the TLC show that will be airing in July. I know I have nothing to hide and am no different than most of the wives and mothers in this country, but I'm just getting nervous about everyone seeing us on television. The producers have said that the show is very touching and heartfelt, so I can't wait to see what they have done with it. We truly enjoyed the whole experience and are ready to see the final outcome of editing!

That's about all for now... I'll try to update more often!

:o) Cristy