700 Fan Appreciation GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!

I have been looking forward to this for a long time! My giveaway is finally HERE!! I am so thankful, and so LUCKY to have such amazing friends, family, mentors, and clients who have BECOME friends. You are the ones who believed in me and pushed me to keep going during some discouraging times. Your kind words, constant faith in me and my work, as well as some constructive criticism from some incredibly talented, inspirational photographers got me to where I am today and keeps me going everyday!!! So, THANK YOU. This giveaway is for each and every one of you!!

So, enough with the mushy stuff! Let's give some stuff AWAY!

This is how this is going to work. I have below, a list of my amazing vendors, as well as what they are giving away. Please click on each vendors name above their image, go 'LIKE' their FB pages, and leave them some love! Remember, you have to tell them on their walls that NKS Photography sent you for the 'LIKE' to count. And obviously, you have to 'LIKE' my FB page also. ;) Then, come back here, and comment below THIS blog that you liked each page and leave your email address. Please only ONE comment per person. Multiple comments will be deleted. THAT'S IT!! You're entered! I will choose ONE winner using random.org Friday, September 2nd at 12pm EST (winner will be emailed before being announced).

So, here are the great vendors, and most of them just so happen to be good personal friends of mine!

The Crafty Tortoise

You know all those ADORABLE hats you see in my photos? They're hand

crocheted by my friend Melissa who is INCREDIBLY talented. She is

giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to her shop!!

Smidge of Sass

This is a brand new page! So definitely show my friend Myschel lots of love!

And while you're visiting her page, ya know, buy something! ;) She is giving

away The Beverly. It is a simple and pretty large glass plate lined with ivory floral lace.
The Beverly would be great for centerpieces, as a display piece, or even as a guestbook for your wedding!

(candles not included!)

The InkSpot

My friend Tiff makes some amazing paper products! She crafted my

Baby Shower invites last year, and I could NOT have been happier with them! She

also creates some awesome video tutorials so you can make your own stuff!

She is giving away a set of 12 note cards with envelopes, with a matching box to keep everything together. Can be personalized using any solid colors the winner chooses!

BreezyBug Boutique 

There has been SO much buzz over the infamous headband you have

probably seen on my baby girl in her 9 month photos (if not, look down!). This headband

is amazing people. It is the cutest stinkin thing EVER! My lovely new

friend Courtney of BreezyBug Boutique, is giving one away to the winner!

(giveaway is for headband, NOT adorable baby!)

Treasured Little Creations

Aimee of TLC, specializes in Handmade, One of a Kind,

Newborn Hats, Headbands, Photography Props & More! She is

giving away a $20 gift certificate to her shop!

NKS Photography 

I am giving away a FREE mini session ($115 value) to one of my local fans!

If you are local and would like to win this, please include in

your comment on this blog, 'I would like to win the mini session!'. If the grand prize winner

of the giveaway is not local, I will choose another winner ONLY

for the mini session via random.org.

So, there ya have it! Please, even if you don't win this giveaway, patronize these fabulous vendors! Good luck to everyone!

Welcome Back!

Hello again! This summer has been busy and I have really neglected my poor bloggy blog. As you can see, I have revamped it a bit, and made it a little more bright and happy, like me! :) I can't believe the summer is already coming to a close. Seems like just yesterday was my big 30th birthday party! Kids go back to school in a little over a week, and we are scrambling to get all of our back to school shopping done (ohhhhhh, how I loathe it!). I hope everyone has had a fabulous summer, and please stick around as I am looking forward to some fun things this fall including a wedding, some engagement sessions, as well as lots of maternity and newborn sessions! I'm pretty sure there is a pregnancy epidemic running rampant among my friends and family right now! As long as it's not meeeee! ;)

So, again, thanks for sticking around, and I really hope you all enjoy what's to come! So, I will leave you with some images from some recent sessions (and a few personal ones thrown in)! :D

Photo Contest Winner Ava Lyn!

     I had the pleasure of photographing our contest winner, Ava Lyn yesterday! She just turned the big ONE years old a few weeks ago. Ava was not a happy camper, unfortunately, so I got very few (maybe three?!) shots of her smiling. HOWEVER, she is ridiculously adorable, so even her little 'serious' face was fantastic. And I got LOTS of serious faces! She wasn't too thrilled with the grass, and she definitely was not having the balloons. Which is why there aren't any balloon shots featured here. :) The thing about shooting baby and toddler sessions, is that they are unpredictable. But we worked around it, and ended up with a ton of amazing shots! And I'll be totally honest. Picking just a couple to feature here was HARD. I love all of them. These are just a few of my favorite......

So.much.CUTENESS!!!!

Even in black and white, she has the most amazingly gorgeous eyes.

There's that wonderful serious face! I love it!!

Really. If this post contained anymore cuteness, I'm pretty sure it would self destruct. Thanks so much, Auburn, for the opportunity to photograph Miss Ava, and congrats again for winning NKS Photography's very first photo contest! 

Ryan + Thompson + Steadman Families

     6/3/2011 Depauw University, Greencastle, IN

            Last Friday, I shot a session for the Ryan/Thompson/Steadman family. I was SO EXCITED to shoot this session, because I hadn't seen Jennifer in over 15 years! I performed in The Sound Of Music with her, my first musical theater performance, when I was in 4th grade. She played Maria and I played the role of Gretel. So it was really cool seeing her again and meeting her HILARIOUS husband, Steve and their super cute kiddo, Rolan. Anyway, they are currently living in Florida, so I was so honored when she contacted me about shooting some family photos while they were in town visiting. This shoot was so much FUN!! What a fun group and some super, willing to get silly, kiddos. :) So, I give you, Jennifer, Steve, Rolan, Ruth, Mason, Madi, and mom/grandma Carolyn!

I love this SO.MUCH! It came out exactly as I had hoped!

I LOVE having fun spaces to work with! Depauw is definitely at the top of my favorite locations list!

See? Super fun, silly kids.

Now that is some sisterly love!

I am really so, SO honored that you guys had me photograph this session. You were all so much fun to work with, and such an awesome, close, loving family. :)  Thank you so much for the opportunity, and I hope you all love these images as much as I do! 

Chad + Melissa + BJ + Max

5/21/11 Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis, IN

       I had the pleasure of photographing the Wenn family last weekend! Family consisting of Chad, Melissa, and their two adorable dogs, BJ, and Max. I have known Melissa since she was born. Seriously. I remember her as a squishy little pink newborn! So this session was a lot of fun, and they were a blast to shoot! You may also know Melissa from the insanely fabulous hats and blankets she crochets. If you have babies or children, you must, MUST check out her Etsy Shop The Crafty Tortoise (clicky!). Anyway, I love these two. They are so in lovey love, and the photos really show it! I love the way these turned out, and I hope you love them too! SO MUCH LOVE!!!

Love, LOVE this image!!

I LOVE the textures in this one.

Melissa! You are such a gorgeous girl! And, I'm sure you hear this a lot, but you look so MUCH like your mom!

    There are so many more that I want to share, but it would take all day, LOL! So I shared my favorites. I love you guys and I would be more than happy to shoot another session for you ANY time! 

Kerzan + Harrelson Plainfield, IN

     Yesterday I had the pleasure of shooting the Harrelson and Kerzan families at Friendship Gardens in Plainfield. Auleen and Sabrina have been best friends for over 20 years, and both have young families of their own, so they wanted to schedule a session where they could have photos of themselves with the babies and their significant others. They pretty much are a big family! Jackson is the Harrelson's 19 month old, and boy does he have a great little personality and some AMAZING facial expressions! You probably remember Tony and Auleen from some of my previous work. I shot their wedding in 2009, and I very recently shot a session for their new baby, Ella Rain (beautiful name, right?!). I had SUCH a fun time shooting this session, and they were troopers! It was wet and muddy, and just all around not a pretty day. It rained all morning, and just as we got to the park, the rain stopped! Big shout out and thanks to Mother Nature! I did my best to keep them dry (I wasn't so lucky), and made sure it was a fun shoot for all of them.

Are you kidding me with this cuteness?!

His facial expressions are seriously fantastic (told you you'd see that prop chair!).

This is a perfect example of why you let kids be kids during a photo session. That is how you achieve photo GREATNESS! Love, love, LOVE!

Love this. 'Ella!! Look over here! Ellllllaaaaaa!!!!'

She is soooooo sweet!

Anytime you guys need photos, you just let me know! I loved shooting your session. And congrats to being the FIRST session featured on my blog!

Prop Chairs Before and After

      I was productive today! YAY! Ok, so, I only got two chairs painted, which collectively, took me about an hour. But I got something done. That's what counts.

So I give you, ugly wooden chair before (I only have one wooden chair before photo. If you've seen one, you've seen them all)-

And ugly wooden chairs AFTER-

And of course I had by my side my trusty assistant (be prepared for obligatory adorable baby photos)-

She's really good at looking cute. Annnddddd...... That's about it.

And of COURSE I had to test out my new prop chairs in a photo! DISCLAIMER - Please do not judge my quickie editing job. I know it's 'eh'.

So, prepare to see these chairs a lot in upcoming sessions I post. Because they are awesome. And bright. And happy. And I love them!





Prop Day

       I am going to lovingly (ha) refer to today as 'Prop Day'. Which means I will be spending the day painting chairs, cleaning up stuff, and preparing for the onslaught of family and childrens' sessions I have suddenly acquired. PLEASE DON'T CONFUSE THIS WITH COMPLAINING! I would NEVER complain about booking sessions! But it takes a lot of hard work to prepare for them. I also need to find a good spot on the property for my wildflower plot, which I am totally excited about. Who doesn't love pictures in a big plot of wildflowers? If you don't there's something wrong with you. And I say that in the nicest way possible. All in all, it should be a fairly productive day. Although, I just realized it's already noon, and I am still in my PJ's. Ummmmm..... I need to get off my butt.

Before and after prop pictures coming later!

Welcome to my Blog!!!

     So, I finally made the leap and designed myself a blog. It seems, these days, if you are a photographer, you must have one! You will probably see the blog change over the coming weeks and months as I get used to it and learn my way around. It will mainly include photo sessions I book, but you will probably see random things about my life here and there along the way as well. I'm pretty random. :)) So, WELCOME to the NKS Photography blog! I look forward to meeting some new people and gradually accumulating some faithful followers!