Posts Tagged ‘Saint Louis’

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Happily ever after | Gina and Kevin | Lisa Nikole Photography

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Gina hired us without meeting us, ever. She saw our website and she loved us, she knew what she wanted. She said that when she called with some questions and I took the time to answer despite being with my family at a campfire, she knew she had the right person. I knew she did too :-)

Gina’s on twitter and during the time she hired us to her wedding day, we would exchange a few tweets! I knew it was important to her to make sure I included her special day on my feed and I did!

There was just this one problem… Kevin and his groomsmen were ugh… can I even say it…. Browns fans! I had to go to the stadium for a shoot, but Gina was not, so for her, I went along and of course we had a fun shoot! There was even a point when the guys were climbing up the gate, we were done when we heard over the intercom “For your own safety we ask that you not climb the gates, and… congratulations!” SO, how cool was that?

It was a beautiful day, awesome people and great families.

I’m always so honored to capture and preserve special moments for people!

Thanks so much!

Notice the thumbs down (you go Gina!!) :-)

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2nd Cousins | Mail call | Lisa Nikole

Monday, August 16th, 2010

It had been years and I’m not talking about two or three. I had not seen Michael since my pre-teens. His Grandmother was my Great Aunt and I got to spend a few weeks each summer with my Great Aunt Nancy.

Besides my Grandmother, Aunt Nancy was the coolest relative I had. She taught me how to play cards, make popcorn balls and this amazing rose mint mold candy. IF anyone knows anything about these awesome creme cheese candy molds, let me know… it’s important! Aunt Nancy lived way up on a hill in Neshannock Township, Pa

I remember we had to go visit Aunt Ruth and I had to be super good and super quiet there. I think and I’m pretty sure Aunt Ruth did not like me. I was very energetic and to get me to sit for any length of time was a task that only Aunt Nancy could handle!

We’d take long walks down the hill and into town and pick up groceries and yes.. folks.. I enjoyed penny candy! The real stuff, not this junk you see now!

Then, every so often when I came to visit, Michael and his family would come to visit. I can’t remember too much of the visiting but I am very sure we had a fun time and got into trouble. Isn’t that what cousins do? I also remember having the biggest crush on his older brother Sam.

I can’t remember the year, but I remember Aunt Nancy got sick and soon she was in a nursing home. I had grown up, but I still remember my Aunt Nancy and talking with her always made my problems seem small. She just had a way to talk you through anythng. I had my daughter by then and I wanted Aunt Nancy to meet her. My family had told me that she probably would not remember me, but I wanted to go anyways.

I remember seeing her and she starred at me, it was a dark blank stare and I awkwardly told her who I was and introduced her to my daughter. I saw a few photo albums on her nightstand and it made me smile. I looked through them and I did find a picture of me. It was nice to be remembered. Looking back at Aunt Nancy, I was sure, Aunt Nancy was no where to be found.

Being the photographer that I am, I brought my camera and I took a picture of my daughter and my Great Aunt.

Later after the picture was developed (yes folks…the film days) I saw something that shook me. I saw the look in my Aunt’s eyes and I knew I KNEW she was still in there, somewhere behind the wall that separates you from them, and in her eyes she said “Please don’t, Please don’t take a picture of me”. You’d have to know me pretty well to understand that this is exactly what I saw and that picture haunted me for a long time. I eventually (long story short) sent it to another relative that I felt needed it more then me. I really would love to have that picture back.

That was the last time I saw my Aunt Nancy alive. I’m glad she did not suffer much and I was so blessed to have an awesome aunt that really did love me. I learned a lot those summers!

Recently on FB I hooked up with my cousin Michael and even more recent I got to talk to him on the phone and catch up with everyone. His mom had found some items that she felt I would love to see and I was so excited to recieve it and I had to share it with you! There was some personal items about my father, and a few pictures I’d seen before. But there it was.. not the picture I lost but a picture of my Aunt and you can even see her personality as she hides behind the shoulder of someone.

It was so good to see her again and to see her in a way I’d always remembered her. Thanks to FB and family and the great hookups going on all over the web.

Oh yea and for some fun…here are some of the pictures sent to me.

Me! I know I know “awwwwww”

I think they call these the awkward years:

and yes this is a senior picture:

My father:

My Grandma:

and last..some people and my Aunt Nancy, this picture made my day.

Thank you Michael and your mom for thinking of me. I appreciate you all!

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Posted in My Family | 1 Comment »

Rick Rigsby | COTR | Lisa Nikole

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

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.

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What do I do with my hands? | Lisa Nikole

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

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!

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Posted in E sessions, Portraits, Weddings | 4 Comments »

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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Posted in Ramblings | 2 Comments »

Saint Louis | MarketSTL | Missouri

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Twitter is amazing, no really you have to understand the power of Twitter!

A week or so ago, I’m on twitter and a friend pops up to ask me if I’m going to MarketSTL? I checked out the link and it looked like an amazing event and then I saw the pictures. So I twittered back to @marketSTL and offered my services, they accepted!

I was so excited to be attending this awesome marketing event but even better was to be able to photograph it and give Will something amazing to show for next years show!

The event was held at the beautiful Luminere Hotel. What an awesome hotel with some beautiful interior design and okay these way cool plastic rocks that light up! How cool is that?

I was also so glad to see my buddy Small Town Girl who came to the event to live broadcast it. So here she was, broadcasting a Marketing event that specialized in social media and awareness and so much more!

This event was first rate with enough information on so many levels I know it had something for everyone. I’m a novice marketing person, but I took notes and I learned a lot, enough to be adding what I learned into my life and online social networking.

You are going to have to check out ______________ and all the great teaching notes and then next year you make sure to sign up for the event!

Make sure to follow @marketSTL for all the news and updates on social media!

If you are a small business and do not blog, get on it, what are you waiting for, I’m sure you have something to offer that people need to hear! One word WORDPRESS, get there!

Here’s the video I created for MarketSTL

ENJOY!

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The Faces of White RIver, Arizona | Lisa Nikole

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

In closing about the Arizona Mission Trip I have to say I’m still thinking about the people who touched my heart.

Thank you to everyone that entrusted us with this trip, your children and the awesome responsibility to be a light to the world!

So without going on and on and on about stuff I’ve already said in the past 3 blog posts, I wanted to leave you with some shots of the people who I got to spend time with, worship with and hear their life story.
The faces of White River Arizona…

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Gymnastics | Chesterfield, Mo | Lisa Nikole

Monday, February 1st, 2010

This month I had the opportunity to shoot a Gym meet in Chesterfield Missouri.

I thought of the best way to handle this…and instead of deleting the post I’ve decided to post a note..

I’ll be posting a note here in a few days in reference to this blog post being changed. Thank you. Stay tuned!

Lisa B!

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Posted in Ramblings | 2 Comments »

Thankfulness

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

I spent the day yesterday, being very purposeful in being thankful.

Everyone has the usual I am thankful fors: mom, dad, brother, sister, husband, wife, God, church, family, friends and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful for all these things in my life, but as I went through my day yesterday I kept in the front of my mind…being thankful.

I went to Wal-mart to pick up a few last minute items, and I was thankful that I had the freedom to run into a store and grab a few items and leave.

I was thankful for vision that keeps me doing what I do. I’m thankful for family because there are so many lonely hurting people out there, even people in a crowded room of family can be lonely.

I had a shoot in Old Saint Charles of a wonderful family and I was so thankful to be able to capture their family together and enjoy just a short moment of their love for each other.

I met my husband for lunch and was so thankful we had the abilities to go out to lunch and make time for each other.

Now, this is where it gets tricky….because my husband made a couple errors on directions and I got lost and well… I can still be thankful I have a husband and that I made it home! :-) There’s a big dark grey area here, but we’ll leave it there :-)

I made it home and iced brownies to share with a few friends. I’m so thankful I have friends to share with and laugh.

I went to church, I serve as an usher and I’m so thankful for everyone on our team and everyone that has enriched my life in the last year at COTR. There are just way too many to name, but you all know who you are!

We had our family picture taken for our Christmas Card. I’m thankful that even though “the shoemakers family has no shoes” I at the last minute could ask a friend to take our picture so I can get the cards done and sent out to you.

We came home and baked a few more cookies and I made the pumpkin pie. How can you not be thankful for the abundance in our lives.

I went to bed…and I’m thankful I woke up this morning to tell you about my day!

So often we go through our days and nights consumed in a me, myself and I attitude. Us four no more mentality and I am so grateful and thankful that I am continually reminded on a regular bases that there are people out there that do not have warmth, love, someone to hug, trust, food, care, health, peace, sound mind, a job, vision, beauty, sunshine, freedom, safety, an iphone, the internet, a phone period, music, a pillow to lay their head down upon, a sound sleep, joy, money, enough money, passion, trust, happiness, smiles, friends, family and the list can just go on, and please feel free to add to it if you like.

I’m thankful that on a regular basis I am reminded that there are amazing and wonderful people out there that do good for others, serve in other nations so I can have freedom in mine, help a school in need, help an unemployed person find a job, send money to a mission, help a lonely person feel loved, give a blanket and food to the homeless, give time and money to complete a project for someone else to have shelter, family, warmth, provisions, love and peace.

Sometimes all you need to do is just smile! I’m thankful I can hold my head up and look at people when I am out and just smile at them and wish them a wonderful day.

Sometimes all you have to do is give of yourself, get up and get out and find someone in need, find an organization that helps others and reach out and you’ll find you have SO MUCH to be thankful for, even if you are not the richest, prettiest, most wonderful person on the earth. But, when you reach out, you become a most amazing person to someone in need.

I’m thankful my heart is not hardened by what I’ve seen in the past and what happens around me on a regular basis (just reading the news can hardened your heart and soul).

I’m thankful for all of you. For Photographers who push me to the next level and help me get through the level I am at. For Musicians who create the most amazing sounds that is filled with such passion and soul, with out it my slideshows would be worthless. For the people that smile back and me, and those that don’t. I just have to keep trying. For the brides and grooms I’ve gotten to spend time with, thank you for allowing us into your life and trusting us with such an important part. For our future couples, just wait, it’s going to be amazing.

So, today I’m thankful, but what’s better then that is I’m always reminded to be thankful of what I have. A phone call can change your life in an instant. Just the snap of a finger and things can change. Be thankful…everyday…. and do me a favor…Smile! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

AJ-Lisa NIkole Wedding Photography Saint Louis Missouri-80

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Thanksgiving back | Patrick Henry | Saint Louis

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

I’d like you all to watch this video…..

This video really got to me, I don’t cry easily, but when I saw this video, it broke me. I hope it had just as much meaning for you. So, this is where my story begins….

Last year was my first year to go to Patrick Henry Academy in downtown St. Louis and when I mean downtown, they are within walking distance of the Dome, Arch and the Mississippi. When you drive into the city of course you notice a difference, you can feel it also.
ph5

There is one big difference today as I arrive at Patrick Henry a bit ahead of schedule, there seems to be a buzz in the air, and I know the neighbors can feel it, they already are walking around and looking. See, work has already begun, some amazing people have been down here all week, tearing up concrete, preparing a way…. for a park, grass, mulch, trees and benches and so much more. My job… to take pictures and make sure this Thanksgiving back gets photographed. I was so blessed to do so along with two other amazing photographers: Tamara and Preston!

Right around 9am 4 buses pull up to the school and over 300 happy faces pour out of the buses and onto the sidewalk as they get ready to find out what needs done and get to work!
ph4ph7

Soon the school is just filled with chatter and busy hands and feet as everyone starts to get to work. Inside and out people are cleaning, decorating and taking the talents and skills God gave them and putting them to great use.

I put together and slide show to share the days events. The biggest transformation had to be the parking lot, that over a week was slowly turned into this amazing park where the children could run and feel grass between their toes and sit and relax and enjoy the beauty that was put there for them to enjoy.

Here is a before shot of the parking lot being worked on
ph1

And here is the after…in just a few short hours, it was converted like a miracle into a beautiful park
ph3ph2

Now just sit back and enjoy the video show. I’d me amiss if I did not tell you how grateful I am for playing such a small part in this Thanksgiving back. It was such an honor to work with and next to some of the greatest people on the earth. Thank you COTR for opening up your arms and embracing Patrick Henry and allowing us to give back!

Special thanks also to Pastor Blunt and Pastor Kim for opening up your ministry to go out and bless the children of Patrick Henry and the teachers and really the neighborhood. You are Awesome!

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Posted in Ramblings | 2 Comments »

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