Sometimes brides just find us, and other times they search us out, meet with us and decide what they want to do.

Justin and Rebecca had made up their minds and without even meeting both of us decided we were their team.

Surrounded in love and strong families the marriage of Justin and Rebecca made it’s way to the final minutes before they said I do. Emotion filled the air and things just moved along so smoothly.

Rebecca’s dad spent the night before pulling out pictures he’d carried of his baby girl in his wallet and then later sharing them with Justin and his groomsmen and then with his wife, who looked at a few, but knew it was a bit too much emotion for her to deal with at that very moment.

When Rebecca’s dad first saw her, his reaction was not only captured once or twice but three times as he stepped back to look at his beautiful daughter!

Justin was ready for the day, his brother helped with the final touches and even when pinning (we faked that part) the boutonniere’s on there was just a bit of humor of who would get stabbed.

It was a beautiful and peaceful wedding witnessed by tons of family and friends, and officiated by both Justin and Rebecca’s perspective pastors.

I’m always so blessed to be privileged to be able to capture a wedding and even more so when it’s as amazing as this day was.

Congrat’s to both Justin and Rebecca and their families.

Thank you allowing us, Lisa Nikole to be part of such an amazing day!

Flowers: A Floral Dynasty
DJ: Selective Sound – our buddy Christian Dela Vega
Video: 6eleven
Officiants: Pastor Jordon Biel
Pastor Joel Dickson
Photography: Lisa Nikole

When I heard I was going to photography and listen to Rick Rigsby, well, to be honest… who is Rick Rigsby?

I’ll let Rick’s website tell you who he is, and you can check it out more HERE

Here is about Rick:
A master storyteller, Dr. Rigsby weaves a life of triumphs and tragedies with timeless common sense values—to respond to the challenges of our day.

Following a successful career as a television news reporter for a CBS affiliate in Northern California, Rick Rigsby began graduate studies, earning a Master’s degree at California State University, Chico, followed by his Doctorate from the University of Oregon. For the last two decades, Dr. Rigsby has served as a college professor—the last 14 years at Texas A&M University—where he continues to serve as chaplain for the Aggies football team.

Rick is an amazing man, he started out speaking about a testimony he heard about a woman who was healed of cancer and he asked us, but what if she was not healed, what if God decided not to heal her. I did not know what was coming and I’ve experienced the lives of loved ones stolen from me in the name of cancer. Cancer changed my life and I’m not alone.

Rick is a great speaker and he draws you in with his sparkling personality and his way of telling it like it was. Rick drew me in and as I listened I never expected to hear what I would hear.

Rick tells an amazing story of how he met his wife, how she was the only one to give him her “real” number, she danced with him and she married him. Rick seemed surprised she would have married him. They had two children and when she found a lump in her breast, 6 years later the rug was pulled out from Rick and his wife died.

There was a powerful movie of his family and wife. It caught me by surprise and I thought about how he started the day… What if?

What ifs’ happen to us all the time, everyone goes through things, our personal Gethsemane. I’ve been reading a book about being wounded and it says we need to change the way we see the things that wound us. They are not there to destroy us, but to create us. Rick did this and he’s used a situation in his life to reach hundreds and thousands of people with a powerful, positive message.

I was so honored to listen to Rick, so thankful for what I’ve been exposed to.

Just a short post about my new gardner…he’s cute and very very handsome… I have to really keep my eye on him when he’s out there working

So I thought I’d take my camera and take a few pictures of him for you all to see what I get to see every day he works for me.

So, here he is….

Lisa Nikole’s Gardner.. workin’ it

Sometimes he gets a little shy…

So, really… WHAT were you thinking?

I think I told you all about a special project I was working on. I could not reveal a lot about it because I was working for a magazine and a bridal shoppe and I had to wait until they were published before I could share with you… but that day has arrived!

I had the distinct honor and privilege to work with 4 awesome models for The Wedding Shoppe of Troy, Missouri. Angie called me late last year to tell me about an awesome opportunity to shoot an amazing venue, models and stunning wedding dresses. I was so thrilled!

Heather, Candi, Jessica and Melissa brought their individual class and style to their sessions. Beautiful models, dresses to die for and an amazing top floor antique venue! What else could we ask for?

I was shooting for The Wedding Shoppe, to be published in Impact Magazine check pages 20-27

The shoot was done in two separate shoots at an exciting venue, upstairs at the All About Home store in Troy Missouri. If you’ve never been there, you have to go, such fun items and gifts and items you are not going to see anywhere else!

My buddy James from JLSstudios in Springfield Missouri came up to help me shoot and my partner Raquel joined us also to make a fab shooting experience.

To be published is an honor and I have to thank Mir and Tamara, editors of the Image Magazine and Focus News for doing such a great job with the magazine and images chosen. To Angie for allowing me such an awesome opportunity. Lori of All About Home for trusting me in her amazing upper rooms (you so have to see this place… AMAZING)

The best way to show you how great these days were is to show you by video… So enjoy and make sure to take a look at the websites. There is some amazing stuff happening in Troy, Missouri and I’m proud to be part of it!

Ever wonder how powerful Facebook can be? Do you think why bother or people are just wasting their time? Think again, young grasshopper, think again!

I spend a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter, I chat and respond to various post. It’s what I do and it’s networking, and yes it’s family and before Melinda gets upset… it’s fun also!

I believe that music can move us, it can direct our frame of mind, it can make us happy/sad/angry/mad and so on. Music affects us and the right music can move us to new depths.

Rick Hall posted a song on my FaceBook a while ago, that song really moved me, so much so I found the artist, looked up his website, listened to all his songs and bought his music. Amazing is a word I use a lot but this music was such that it moved your soul! The song is called Baba Yetu (Our Father) and even though most of it is in Swahili, you can still feel it in your soul, I know I did.

Baba Yetu comes from an album titled Calling All Dawns. The album is done in three movements: day, night and dawn. The twelve songs are sung in twelve different languages including Mandarin, hebrew, irish, Farsi, Maori and more. Sacred and Secular sources are used for the texts of the songs including: Japanese Haiku, The Torrah, The Bhagavad Gita and many more.

I’ve had music in the past mean a lot to me, but this album surpassed them all and I knew I had to contact Christopher to purchase rights to his music to use on my website. Through a couple of posts, Chris and I came to an agreement and you can now listen to Christopher Tin’s amazing music on my galleries.

Chris is an amazing person and artist, he’s way mega talented and has many many achievements in his musical career. Some of which are a demo song for Apple’s Garage Band and Startup sounds for Microsoft’s Surface operating system. His music has been performed live and by man orchestras around the world. He’s also an active composer of music for films such as CIvilization IV and Pirates Of The Caribbean (HELLO JD!!!)

I’m so blessed and thrilled to have struck this new friendship with Chris and all because one man, posted on song on my Facebook wall. Talk about networking!

I’ve not met Chris yet, but whenever we are in the same towns at the same time we are gonna hook up for lunch. Can’t wait to meet such an amazing person!

Check out Chris here at : Christopher Tin

Thanks FaceBook, Youtube and Rick Hall!

I don’t know if I remember a time when I was on a shoot that I was not asked THAT question: “What do I do with my hands?”

As a photographer, it’s the last thing I’m thinking about. I look at background, foreground, lighting, shadows, positioning oh yes and then, those hands!

Until recently when I was photographed by my buddy James from JLS Studios did I even contemplate “where to do my hands go”?

I was in downtown Saint Louis at the amazing legal Graffiti Wall, getting set for a shot. There I was standing, leaning, moving left, move right, up, down and my hands…are just hanging there, what do I do with them? Ahhh, yes pockets, so I put them in my pockets and of course James tells me to take them out. So there they were hanging there. But, it did not matter, these were head shots and my hands could have been wrapped in a pretzel shape and no one would have seen.

So, to all my clients…I have to say I understand a bit more about the hands syndrome, but I have to tell you. My job is to make you look amazing, fabulous and off the wall hot! So, yes, I’m worried about where those hands are going, but even more so, I’m checking about 10 other things first.

It’s hard to tell what the photographer is going for, I see an image as we go. Every client is different and I never shoot different clients the same way. Everyone is unique and everyone has their own look. Not every one can pout, pull off sexy or just smile relaxed and look into the camera. My job is to get you to the point you are YOU when I photograph you!

This is why engagement sessions are so important with your wedding photographer, it’s a get to know you session for both the bride and groom and the photographer and at the end of that time together you both will have a better understanding of each other and when wedding day comes and I say something like “now melt into each other” you’ll know exactly what I mean!

So, just relax, take a deep breath and smile, look straight into my lens and let me make you the most awesome YOU you’ve ever seen!

I had the honor and distinct pleasure to shoot a concert last month of a friend and amazing musician: Daniel Blunt.

Daniel is an amazing musician but even more so, he’s an awesome person. He’s humble, a characteristic not seen much in the music industry and he strives for excellence in all he does.

This was Daniel’s first concert and it was so much fun to see him perform, and to photograph the event.

You have to purchase Daniel’s New CD Contact COTR for more information about the release date… PS, I already pre-ordered mine.

Daniel was opener for John Mark McMilllan, John is very original and outspoken on his beliefs. he stops in his concert to express his opinions with a humbleness and pure heart, you can tell he’s spent a lot of time thinking about what he shares and really puts a different and very realistic spin on the gospel. His music is full of life and true meaning. It was a pleasure to meet him and shoot the concert.

and lastly, I love shots like this….

So thanks again to the Pastor Blunt and the COTR for exposing us to such mega talent and experiences!!!

Every so often I get a chance to shoot with my best shooting buddy James. For some reason James always comes up to Saint Louis, I so owe him a trip to Springfield, Mo.

Every time we hang out, we love to find new places and people to shoot. We challenge each other to capture tough shots and strengthen our image taking capabilities.

We visited: Forest Park, The Graffiti Wall, City Park, Union Station and we even found a cemetery (yes we all know I love to shoot cemeteries)

Forest park we challenged each other to get flowing water from the fountains…This is mine:

We also took some promo shots of each other:

Beautiful colors, and it was Missouri hot that day!

Did you know STL had a Graffiti Wall, a legal Graffiti Wall? It’s a mile long and it’s way amazing, you can expect many more images from me down there! I’m actually working on a shoot project down there as I type!

We then headed over to city park, an amazing multi block wide city park. While looking for people to shoot we were approached by a group of kids asking us questions about the art in City Park. What I found amazing about these young people was their maturity and this cool fact…they don’t take many tests (okay I’m so cool with that ) yet they seemed poised, mature and handled themselves well. They were a class from The College School, Seventh Grade Urban Experience. What a great group of young people, gives you hope for the future when you see class like that!

and lastly… This amazing cemetery, it’s huge and amazing.
Calvery Cemetery offers so many different opportunities.

We had a great time and I look forward to many more shoots and seeing much more of Saint Louis, and yes Springfield, Missouri.

I met with Sarah, Andrew and Sarah’s mom back in late December. What a beautiful family, even then I knew their connection and love for one another stood strong and firm.

They told me of a relatives wedding where the paid photographer did not show up the day of the wedding. It really made me sad to believe someone from our industry had done such a thing and I told them of how no matter what their day would be covered, that if IF some unforeseen incident occurred I always have photographers who will and can fill in for me.

Andrew and Sarah would be the first wedding of our 2010 wedding season and I could not wait to photograph it.

We met at Sarah’s parents home and the setting was amazing for pictures and even though the rain had prevented us from going into the yard, there was so much beauty surrounding the back porch we took a majority of our family pictures there.

We left Sarah’s and headed for the church to meet the guys, who were more then ready to get these pictures started, walking around the church and up a hill we took advantage of such beautiful scenery to do our guy shots! We even hid Andrew while Sarah arrived at the church.

There is something so magical about a country church and that’s is exactly what we felt at St. Paul’s Catholic church in St. Paul Missouri. The church was full of people who just wanted to support and show their love for Andrew and Sarah.

The sun came out to illuminate the beautiful stained glass windows as two people stood in front of a packed church to vow their love for one another.

We took Andrew and Sarah down to Old Saint Charles where we did some on location shooting and excused the wedding party to have some private time with the bride and groom. I love when a couple melts into each other and creates “moments” for us to photograph.

From there it was one more stop to a family tradition bar top wedding party picture at The Dog Prairie Saloon and then…back to the church for a rockin’ reception.

Every so often you meet a couple that illuminate. Andrew and Sarah light up the room, that inspire everyone around them and that enjoy life!

That’s Andrew and Sarah.

Thank you for allow us to share in your dream and now your vision of love!

Somewhere along the way we end up in Wisconsin at an amazing resort named Kalahari. No expense was sparred to allow for great fun, relaxation and enjoyment in this place. If anyone earned this “vacation” as sorts it was the people I had been with the last 8 days. They worked hard and did all they could to perfect what they had committed to do.

In our van alone as we pulled up around 10pm at night, there was shouts and screams and gasps at how massive this place is. If you’ve not seen it please check out the links. This place is amazing! We were honored to stay in an amazing condo, whose floor plan rocked with amazing decor and features that simply was a home I could have stayed in forever

Can’t say enough about the park and amusements, food and fun. We even had a ice cream eating contest that Nathan swamped Jim on. I mean seriously how fast can you eat a half gallon of ice cream? I’m pretty sure Nathan can beat you!

Many many thanks to Church on the Rock, Pastors David and Kim Blunt for trusting me with driving these amazing people and allowing me just a tiny glimpse into the excellence of the people of MidWest Movement.