Archive for the ‘Ramblings’ Category

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Boys | Dreams | Airplanes

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Ami had been there before, his pawpaw had taken him and all he wanted to do was go see the airplanes. I just wanted to see what he saw, so finally I had my chance.

I’d love to tell you all where this place is, but I really don’t want you to know :-) It’s so quiet and peaceful there and the day we went the wind was blowing and if you closed your eyes, it was like you were in a place far far away.

I knew I did not have a lot of time, Ami’s attention span is 4.6 seconds and after a few planes he was ready to bolt and get something to eat. Next time, I’m bringing a blanket and food and I plan on staying a while, laying back and just relaxing. When’s the last time you relaxed like that?

I remember the excitement Ami got seeing those plans fly over, okay, and I got excited also! It’s pretty amazing to watch them take off and fly over head. Jim says it’s better when they are landing, I’ll have to find that day and go check it out again.

When Ami says WOW, it’s a big deal or the word HUGE! They are HUUUGGGGEEEE, WOOOOWWWW! That’s how big his dreams are too, right now, at almost three, there is nothing Ami can’t do. HE can fly, he can shoot you with a spoon and he can do whatever he wants (until we stop him) He’s not inhibited by fear and he knows, if he cries for help, someone is going to help him. He’s superman, batman, spiderman and buzz lightyear all rolled up in one. He plays hard and dreams big!

Aren’t we all supposed to be like that? Don’t we have someone we know that will save us from our failures? Something happens when we grow up, fear is instilled, limitations are set and we live out our lives thinking “we can’t do that”. Why can’t we? Have you ever asked yourself why you can’t do that dream, that thought, that vision you have? I think when you ask yourself, your answer will be… why not?

What is your dream? Your passion? Your desire? Go for it, don’t stop till you’ve achieved it and don’t let anything stand in your way. I know a photographer who worked just long enough to get that piece of equipment he needed for a job. I know people who work midnights to have their desire to do what they do in the day time until they can do their dream with out that midnight job. I know people who push the buttons, extend the limits and pursue their dream, and… they achieve it.

I’m not saying quit your day job, but use your day job to achieve your dreams, put a picture up and set a goal and go for it and remove any one or any thing that is negative to that fact. Get around the strong, the achievers and the dreamers.

I don’t care how old or how young… go for your dream and don’t stop till you get it!

I’m not sure about you, but those are the people I want to be around. The people who live to dream and push past stereotypes and hinderances and GO FOR IT!

I’d like to hear your dreams, hopes and desires. I’m serious! Your feedback motivates me and as much as I’m told I inspire you. Leave me some feedback and tell me your passion and how you plan to live your dream!

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How clean are your sensors? | Lisa Nikole | CSI

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Sometimes a little dust must fall!

Last month I knew my camera needed to have it’s sensor cleaned. In Ohio that is not a hard task since I was already set up with a company that cleaned it for me.

Missouri however ended up being a bit different. Camera stores here don’t clean your camera, some will do a customary sensor cleaning and I found one that did. I was happy…

While he was cleaning it he said, “take it home and test it, if it does not work you’ll have to send it in to canon.” Now, if your not a tog, you think…just send it in. Well, I’ll tell you this, I love my canon but not to the extent of 299 before they even take off the cover. So, I left happy and very content that my sensor had been cleaned.

Till I shot again…. DUST!

Here is the wonderful thing about the internet, no matter where you are you CAN find what you want.

Enter Google Search: canon camera cleaning saint louis missouri

and up pops CSI of St. Louis

I sent them an email and within the next hour I had a response, a price quote and directions to their store.

I was well on my way… I made it to CSI and left “MY BABY” for her cleaning.

I picked her up this week and with the cleaning came two photo copies

Here is the sensor before:
I apologize for the bad scan, just imagine a grey background…

all those black dots are dust, and all those smooshy black marks are dust.

I learned something here, don’t even let a camera store clean your sensor..you see that smudging on the (side) bottom, that was from someone “trying” to clean my sensor.

Here is my sensor now:

WOW!!!

I am so happy with my new refreshed camera right now and if you live in and around STL, make sure to check out my new friends at CSI, they are pretty awesome!

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FaceBook | Christopher Tin | Lisa Nikole

Friday, June 11th, 2010

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! :-)

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Lisa Nikole | Shoot Day | JLS Studios

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

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.

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Midwest Movement | Kalahari | Lisa Nikole

Monday, May 17th, 2010

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.

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Midwest Movement 3 | Lisa Nikole | Moving on

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

Pleasant Hills Arts Center, Pastor Moser:

We pulled into the church parking lot and the movement got out and it was a time to unwind. Football, skateboarding and just enjoying the beautiful grounds and a wonderful day! Our mission, Pleasant Hill Arts Center and a fundraiser for Haiti.

Great performances all around that night and of course the movement performed in excellence and nothing stopped them from giving their all and sharing what they came to share!

Our next stop was Kalahari but I’ll leave that for the last blog post about our event.

Last stop: Danville Ill and the New Life Christian Church
Amazing church with a youth group called oneeighty (one-eighty). The Movement performed their best as this was their last performance together as a team. Some will move on and some will stay for another year. What ever they choose we know God will bless their every steps and they were enriched by being a part of the Midwest Movement and we will be enriched by knowing them.. I know I am!

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Midwest Movement 2 | Lisa Nikole | The Movement

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Part two!!!

The next place we visited was Bridgeton, Iowa where we visited First Assembly of God, The Great River Christian School and one of the movements own Joy’s home!

Performing an amazing event of Drama’s, Human Videos, Song and Ministry the team was confronted with low ceilings and small smiling faces that allowed them to close the gaps and journey into the realm of being instant in season and out. They rocked and as we left..the small voice from inside the fence at the Great River School screaming: “I love you, you’re awesome” if just that one little voice was affected by what he saw and heard that day, then… it was all worth it. Every moment! Because he’ll never forget the group that showed up and performed for him that day!

After that we we drove to team member Joy’s home, where her family prepared lunch for everyone and her father gave us ample amounts of pepperidge farms products to eat along the way. Serious, have you tried their new products? YUMMY! thanks so much to Joy’s family for their hospitality and love shown to us!

Next stop: Pleasant Hills Arts Center, Pleasant Hills, Missouri and New Life Christian Church in Danville, Ill.

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Midwest Movement | Lisa Nikole

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

I was once again asked to drive for the Midwest movement (MWM) and I can’t tell you what an honor it is to be with these people. Top notch, class and a whole bunch of energy rolled into one!

Let me introduce you to them:
Sean – 3rd year, sensible, down to earth, leader
Shanon – 3rd year, considerate, organized, mom figure to group :-)
Jeff – 3rd year, artist, created groups T shirt design, observant
Tim – caring, open, will pray for anyone and has
Ricky – strong, big heart, sensitive and shaves his head
Landon – bass player, witty, focused, loves music
Jeremy – funny man and all around tech guy
Tank – dancer, heart and a ton of energy
Marquis – thoughtful, will do anything he’s asked and really tall
Nathan – strong, helpful and mechanically inclined
Justin – musician, inquisitive, concerned and a great singer
Jamison – musician, thinker, hard working
Christina – investigative, inquisitive, funny, and lots of questions!!
Mackenzie- hard working, strong, sensible
Millie – lovable, caring, smart, artist and loves to hug
Joy – kind, caring, and growing

They have all made immeasurable impact in my life from our first meetings till now. I’m blessed to know you all!

Yours truly got to drive a HUGE 7 passenger van, and I’ll be honest, I was not comfortable, but I have to admit I rocked it! It was not as bad as I thought and with that awesome backup navigation beepy thing, I was home free. I did however follow the wrong van for a period of time and I think I would have followed them right to their home if my mistake was not revealed to me. Hey, in my defense, a white van is a white van right? :-)

I took notes this trip about where we were and what we did. Basically what the movement does is travel for 9 days and it’s a stretching on everyone involved, but it’s all good. They may not think so, but they are an extraordinary! I’ve said it to them and I’ll tell you “I know exceptional people who can’t get along together for 12 hours much less then 9 days” This is rare, yet so common for them! It’s an honor to be around them!

So this tour we traveled to Moberly Missouri, Bridgeton, Iowa, Pleasant Hill, Mo., and Danville Ill. with a fun stop in Wisc. for a team retreat at Kalahari Resorts!

I got to experience several different ministries and meet a TON of new people and that is one of my most favorite things to do!

Let’s start with Moberly Missouri, Family Life Fellowship Destiny Center, Pastor Shawn and over 200 young people filling this 2nd story brownstone in downtown Moberly. This is quite a place for young people to hang out, skate park on the lower level, cafe, pool table, basketball and then the stage and ministry center.

Here’s a bit of video from our travels and a few of the team ministering…

Next blog post: MWM 2! Why they do it, what they did and Fun times at Kalahari!

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Marilyn Hickey | 724 Kids | Lisa Nikole

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Mothers Day 2010

Mothers Day is a time of reflection and deep personal meanderings, my mind just goes! Not that it does not “go” most of the time anyway, if you know me, you now what that means! I’ve never felt I needed to be celebrated and it always seems just a bit awkward when my family celebrates me.

I know a lot of great mom’s out there, some are so amazing and single mom’s they are pretty special to me because I was a single mom for 4 years and that has to be one of the toughest jobs in life.

When we have so much and feel so blessed for what we have, what else do we really need? I’m thankful for my life and all the abundance it brings and very thankful for my family, which I think is truly amazing and that we are all here in Missouri under one roof for the time being. Sure, it’s kinda crazy but having all my kids here, for now makes me smile!

Happy Mothers Day!

Mothers Day was Sunday and I got to photography Marilyn Hickey. Now I’ll be honest here and tell you I was just okay with listening to Marilyn speak. But I did not shut down to that idea. I was open. I sat in the front row, camera in hand as I watched this 79 year old lady share the story of Ester in a way I’ve never heard. I could not help but smile at the fact that here I was confidant in how I felt being shut down instantly as she began to speak. If you want to hear the message I did contact Church on The Rock and get the CD. It’s short but powerful message on Purpose, Power and Product!

Sometimes it just pays to be open in your mind and your spirit!

That aside, here are just a few of the images of Marilyn!

Marilyn brought this amazing blanket that had the names of God on it, Check it out there are few on there I did not even know existed! I wanted to check it out, but was so busy doing a few other things I did not have time.

Same day, next service I went down to our 724 kids where they have been planning an awesome event for some time “Kids Choice Awards” One thing I love about my church is the extent they go to make an event as real as possible. Lighting, red carpet, stage, awards, silly string (I love that stuff, except on my camera), video and tons of prizes. It’s pretty awesome.

Enjoy the next few images of this event

First meet Tommy and Mendy, ring leaders leaders of the 724 kids. If you’ve read many of my blog posts you’ll know I say it again and again, these two were created for children, I’m just so impressed by their crazy talents and abilities and okay their energy could fuel rocket ships. I kid you not!

“Celebrities” where on board for their choice awards here we see Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber winning their best choice awards.

And then there was a choice award for teacher you wanted to see get messy… and Tommy lost err won :-)

The kids had an awesome time and so do I every time I get to cover anything that goes on at 724 kids!

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Canon | 5D Mark II | One Happy Lisa Nikole

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

I think I’ve been talking and dreaming about a Canon 5DMII for a few months and possibly a bit of whining too. I needed a new camera (yes needed) and I did my work and I knew what I needed!

Actually about two weeks ago my package arrived from the wonderful people at Adorama. Now I did more homework and searched for the best deal, Canon pretty much has has the market sewed up and the reason why I went with Adorama is because of one person: Joel. I’m getting a little off course but Joel has changed the entire NYC camera buying, photographers networking outlook. Joel has single handedly given a face to Adorama. Adorama should be very happy with Joel!

So on to the 5DMII. I have to be honest, I was a little afraid of it. The 5DMII was so built up in my mind as “the camera” It really sat in the box for a day. My buddy James of JLSstudios was so concerned about me, he kept prompting me to open the box. In defense of me, I had a busy week shooting and I won’t pull out a camera and shoot with it until I get to know it first.

So, I got the camera out and charged the battery… pretty exciting. When the battery was charged I put it in and I was ready to roll. One thing I missed immedietly was the wrist strap, I love my strap on my 40D, and my grip…I am very sure the 5D is going to be a beast with the grip on it.

The 5D has a nice feel to it. One thing that is taking a bit to get used to is the shutter sound. Seriously Canon, you make this beast of a camera and the shutter sounds like a tin can. But I can get used to it, I can I can!

I took my new camera outside for a test drive and the first two images will be posted at the end of this blog. But, I did take the camera to a shoot and in a matter of a few moments I was in heaven. 21mp is nice, the settings are wonderful and there is nothing like a new camera.

I have to say I’ve not picked up my 40D since, it will make a good back up camera. But I’ve found my best friend, for now.

Next is learning to video on it.

OHHH wait wait…before I go any further… before I got my own camera a friend of mine had the 5D here and I got to touch one and play with it before my purchase. This friend, we’ll call “Fred” is adventurous and does a lot of traveling and really really enjoys his life! This is the shot he took with his new 5D locked on the windshield.

This is the next shot… obviously the camera was not secured as well as he’d wished.

Fred said the camera still worked, sorta! But he sent it in anyway for a replacement. Fred had good insurance!

Now back to me, here are the first images taken with the new 5DMarkII, straight out of the camera, no editing.

After I wrote this draft, I had time to play with the video function, this camera is amazing! I’ll be doing lots more video in the future. My brides will have an extra bonus now.


Nothing feels so good in your hands as a new Canon…yes, I’m falling in love all over again!

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