October has become known as “Domestic Violence Awareness Month”, and this year, Nicol Photography is working as a liaison to this cause. With our studio being based in a city that has seen two tragedies of domestic violence within the past three months, this is a month in which we believe our community could more than stand a little positive attention. With that realization, we chose to create a positive studio event where women could help other women and we could, in turn, do our part to raise awareness for something that countless individuals have been (and sadly, will continue to be) affected by.

 

Nicol Photography is sponsoring the Domestic Violence Awareness Event in our studio on October 30, 2011. The studio is located at 308 E. Main St., Alliance, Ohio. This event will be running from 1:00PM – 5:00PM,, and is open to any and all women who are interested in raising awareness for this cause. We will have a varied array of female-operated businesses, providing their products for raffle, as well as giving guests a chance to purchase, book parties, and learn more about the product lines.

 

Raffles will take place throughout the day. Our vendors will be providing raffles for products from their businesses, and there will we a large raffle basket, including items from each vendor as well as items from several outside vendors who have chosen to donate. The tickets can be easily earned, with the ladies who attend bringing in donations. For every five items that are donated, we will give out two tickets. These tickets can be used on individual items, as well as on the big prize..

 

At this time, vendors include: Mary Kay, Tastefully Simple, Miche Bags, Cookie Lee, Scentsy, Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Thirty-One Gifts, Dove Chocolate Discoveries, Silk Flower Arrangements, Wine Shop at Home, Avon, and Pure Romance. We will have one representative from each business, who will present for 15-20 minutes. Some vendor companies have been known as advocates in the area of Domestic Violence for quite some time, and these ladies are doing the best that they can to assist in the fight against Domestic Violence.

We will also be holding a 50/50 drawing during this event. Tickets for the 50/50 will be $2.00 per ticket, or five (5) tickets for $8.00. The winner will receive half of the proceeds, with the other half being donated towards Domestic Violence.

 

Physical donations that can be taken are: lightly worn clothing, toiletries, beauty care items, reading materials, non-perishable food items, and small hobby items. All physical donations will be distributed between the Alliance Area and Canton Area Domestic Violence Centers. All monetary donations will be distributed to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Through doing this, we are able to assist on both a local and a national level, allowing us to assist even more women.

-For any additional questions you may have about this event, please contact Nicol Photography at 330-821-7714, or by email at photo@nicolphoto.com. We will be more than happy to assist you in any way that we can, and to do our best to help you make a difference.

We at Nicol Photography sincerely hope to see a large turnout, in support of those who have been affected by Domestic Violence. If there is anything that the community of Alliance understands, it’s that tragedy can sometimes come when you least expect it. We hope that in reaching out to neighboring areas, we can alter the devastating course of action that many women may face, and to raise awareness of what Domestic Violence is and what it does to people. Just because domestic violence happens doesn’t mean it’s okay.

 

Alexis from Louisville High School

She came to us with many trophies, several different outfits and a great personality. Often we do not have a chance to see the personality of our seniors during our initial chat, when we talk about clothing choices as well as what the senior and their parents are looking for in terms of images from the senior session. We approach all of our sessions with the same steps and wait to see what the senior will do so that we can capture their personality with our cameras.

Alexis was such a natural in our studio. She loved to laugh and her smile was infectious. The image below was taken in our basement, along with several others.

Showing her personality

Here is Alexis having fun and letting her personality come through. We always encourage our Seniors, as well as all other clients of ours, to have fun and let their personalities come out so that we can capture a little of that personality with our cameras so that it can be shared for years to come. Alexis had no problems with being a little silly in front of my camera and that made the session happen natural and not looking like typical “school picture” session that so many students are use from kindergarten up to their junior year.

Thank you for coming to our studio last night and having fun during your senior session. I had a blast.

Capturing High School Senior Portraits – Every aspect of a Senior’s final high school year

We had the chance to go to one of Kody’s practices and photograph another key ingredient that makes Kody who he is. Golf is a big part of Kody’s high school experience – not having these portraits taken would not have captured Kody’s high school experience as well as the sport that he was most involved with during his high school years.

Some time to play

Being all serious is not all that its cracked up to be. We like to try and inject some fun into our sessions – with Kody we asked him if he would like to have an image done that would be a play on a nickname for golf. Can you tell what that nickname is?

We would like to thank Kody and his mom Pam for indulging us with this pictures, especially the last one. We had a blast photographing Kody, and I hope to have another session with him in the studio.

 

At a time of the year when an inescapable season change is imminent, many parents are rushing to find ways to capture the last fleeting moments with their children before they get lost in the “back to school” rush. What better way to do so than to bring your child in to experience one of our new sets for themselves? We were recently able to do just that, enjoying some priceless studio time with Niah and Tallie and helping the girls capture their inner pixie with the help of our mystical fairy set.

As well as being as adorable as they could possibly be, and taking extra care to ham it up for our cameras, the girls portrayed the perfect picture of childhood whimsy and grace and presented us with some flawless art images to showcase. With Niah ready to begin kindergarten, and Tallie growing so quickly, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to create some absolutely one of a kind, keepsake art images of the girls. We truly love our jobs here at the studio, and seeing the excitement on these girls’ faces when they saw the fairy set reminded us why. Days like this, when you get to feel like you’re making the dreams of two sweet little girls come true, make the job truly worth doing.

 

The only thing comparable to our enjoyment of the girls’ reactions to the magic and whimsy of the fairy set, is being able to experience the response of their mom when she was able to view the results of Niah and Tallie’s photo session for the first time. You can always tell when you’ve met the expectations of your clients, but in this case, I think that it’s safe to say we were able to more than exceed the expectations.

A big thank you to Niah and Tallie for being our little fairies, and to their Mommy for choosing Nicol Photography to capture these art images and this unique time in the lives of your children. We look forward to another session with you!

 

Nicol Photography has had the privilege of meeting with and photographing yet another adorable family, and have gained some absolutely lovable new images in the process. Jessica originally contacted us with a wish to capture some images of newborn Jack, who was just over a week old at the time of our session. We were more than happy to comply with this request, and ended up not only getting beautiful images of this baby boy, but captured some incredible family portraiture as well.

To Jessica, Joe, Hannah, and Jack- thank you for allowing us to capture this beautiful and unique time for your family. We were more than grateful to have the opportunity to create beautiful, keepsake family art images, as well as some truly “awww”-inducing images of Baby Jack! We consider ourselves more than fortunate that your family chose us as their go to photographers for these amazing family art images.

After looking at the results of this family’s image session with our studio, who wouldn’t want to obtain some beautiful family and infant images of their very own? Contact us today to schedule your family session, or to capture your time slot for truly one-of-a-kind infant portraiture!

 

 

Wedding Image Sneak Peek

As photographers,  we are always searching for unique moments and we have been fortunate that each wedding we have attended always gives us something new to capture for our couples. We photographed a wedding this weekend that fit the bill of being unique.

A little bit about the groom and bride and their wedding party

Allison is a becoming a EMT paramedic and Duane is a volunteer fire fighter. So what did they do to make their images a little bit more unique? They included Fire Fighters in their wedding party – actually all of the groomsmen as well as the groom were part of one fire department, which gave us access to one of their fire trucks – that spelled picture opportunities for us.

The ceremony was great, family portraits were done outside in 92F + weather (no one melted) and then it was time to play with the firetruck.

Here is a sneak peek of a few images from their wedding day.

If you were at Allison and Duane’s wedding, or you are relatives, and would like to be contacted when their images are ready for viewing – send us a note and we will email you a link to their images when they are up on a private gallery.

Allison and Duane – enjoy your honeymoon and congratulations your marriage. Thank you for having us be a part of your wedding day.

Senior Models

Summer is generally a time of year that brings about changes and farewells for Nicol Photography, as we say good bye to our graduating seniors. However with every goodbye comes a new beginning, and our latest of such beginnings comes in the form of our newest senior models. And, however much we will miss our recently graduated seniors, we are anxious to begin working with our newest chapter of senior models and getting to know each of their unique personalities.

Marlington High School – Senior

Emily has come to us recently from Marlington High School. We had an incredible time having her in the studio! Her bubbly personality made her a joy to work with, and she seemed to truly enjoy her photo session. Prior to her model session, she informed us that she loves to have her picture taken, and she more than proved that during her session. Emily is definitely a busy girl, as she occupies her time with soccer, her church group, and swimming, but we’re glad that she has chosen to add “Nicol Photography senior model representative” to her list of activities!

Minerva High School - Senior

Kody is yet another of our new arrivals here at the studio. He attends Minerva High School, and is actively involved with the golf team and (as we discovered first-hand during his session) a wide variety of aquatic sports, also. Upon our initial consult with Kody, he seemed quiet, but once we got him out in the water and in his “comfort zone”, we almost could get him to stop posing! Welcome to the Nicol Photography senior model team, Kody!

West Branch High School - Senior

Jolene is our most recent new arrival. She was a referral from one of our past models, and come to us from West Branch High School. Jolene is involved in both tennis and culinary arts, and surprised us by coming into the studio toting a load of delicious looking baked goods especially for her pictures. Jolene is very proud of her exuberant creativity, and we can’t wait to further explore her creative side in her senior sessions! Jolene, welcome! You’ll be a wonderful addition to our senior family!

If you are a current or soon to be High School Senior – We would love to hear from you.

We’re anxiously looking forward to this group of senior models, and always looking for more who are eager to join them. Whether you’re a 2012, 2013, or 2014 graduate, it’s not too early to begin working toward amazing savings at Nicol Photography. Click here to fill out a Senior Model Application on-line, or contact us to learn more about becoming our next fresh face!

 

High School Senior

Our latest promotion is for 2012 high school seniors to introduce our one session fee – 3 different session choice. Postcards were sent out recently, but do not worry if you did not receive a postcard, we have the postcard below to show you what the mailed promotion looks like.

The Senior Promotion

 

This promotion is very flexible. We want to photograph your senior and if you purchase your All-Access Senior Pass this month, you can use it at any time up till 3/31/12. If you decide to do your session early and order in the months of July to September – you can save up to an additional 15% off of your order (some requirements apply).

Making it easy and affordable for their senior year

We make it easy to contact us – give us a call (330-821-7714) or send us an email. This is the year that your son or daughter will be a senior – let us make it memorable with images that will capture their personality.

Networking – Business After Hours

Three local businesses in Alliance had a Business After Hours last night. What is a Business After Hours? Its an event for the local business owners, and some of their employees, to get together.

The social networking was held at Uptown Auto, 330 Car Salon and Autozone.

Who attends these events? Politicians, small business owners, clergy people and employees of small businesses. Its a time to relax and socialize and network with businesses in town. Sharing tips and also exchanging business cards is but one way to help each other with business. And if another business can refer someone from their town – its much better then seeing the business go elsewhere.

Smile – Picture Time (simple business picture)

The people pictured in the image below are the owners of 330 Car Salon, Autozone manager, and co-owners of Uptown.

If you would like to host a business after hours, get a hold of us or Mark Locke at the Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce and we can help you organize one.

Thank you for inviting us – Great Business After Hours.

Do you remember when you were a little girl? Think back. You used to spend hours with your dolls and stuffed animals, talking to them, dreaming with them, creating wonderful childhood memories. You would dress Barbie and Ken in their wedding clothes. Barbie had the dress of your dreams, adorned in beads and lace. Bear was the preacher and when you placed him in front of the couple, all of the dolls and stuffed animals became quiet. The wedding was just as perfect as Ken and Barbie were.

Reality is that you were already planning your own perfect wedding, all you had to do was find your ‘Ken’. Years later, and a few adjustments to your dream, you are finally there, planning the wedding for real. You have finally found your ‘Ken’.

Everything is going great. The plans are coming together nicely. You are having your ceremony in the church you grew up in and your favorite minister will be performing the nuptials. The reception hall is booked and you have decided on a sit down dinner with the choice of either chicken or beef. You have found your photographer and have had your engagement pictures taken. You have decided to display your favorite image at the reception. You and ‘Ken’ look so blissful in the pictures. The guests are going to be so happy for you.

Or maybe you aren’t a traditional girl. Instead of the church and reception hall, your dream is white sand and tropical breezes with your family and some close friends.

Now that everything is in place, all the contracts signed, travel booked, dress chosen and you have your favorite songs gathered for the DJ, you can settle back and enjoy the rest of your engagement. You can continue to blissfully daydream about what the future holds for you and your ‘Ken’. You can prepare for spending forever together. Right?

As photographers, we have had the pleasure of photographing memories in both of the above situations. The bride’s dreams were realized and everything went pretty much as they had planned. Both ‘Barbie’ and ‘Ken’ were able to enjoy their day with the utmost joy and happiness.

Sometimes, though, dreams can take a wrong turn and become nightmares.

What would happen if a few months or even weeks before the wedding date, something has seemed to change between you and ‘Ken’? All of a sudden he begins bickering about the details that had long since been looked after. Maybe he just isn’t around as often as he once was.

Then he goes and does it! He calls off the wedding. He is telling you that he found someone else and just doesn’t think it would work between the two of you.

What is there for ‘Barbie’ to do? You have just been crushed by the man that you had been planning your forever with, and of course you are miserable. All of the plans you have been making are shattered. Everything that you have hoped for is gone, in an instant.

After the initial shock wears off, you suddenly realize something: you had signed all of the contracts for your wedding day and now you are the one who will be responsible for them. The amounts you owe are all varying, because of the cancellation clauses in those contracts. Therefore, you may still be owing hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to these businesses through no fault of your own, or theirs.

I know a situation like this sounds like someone’s worst nightmare, and thank goodness that it is rare. It does happen though. As a professional, I have seen it happen to a few clients of mine over the last seven years. It is a horrible feeling for us because we have usually had the opportunity to get to know the couples fairly well, and also come to know their story to some degree.

I decided to write this article now because it is currently happening to one of my clients. It was a very abrupt circumstance, and she didn’t see it coming. The couple in question had been together for quite a number of years, and this sudden change came as quite the shock.

I began to wonder if there was any way to help prevent the financial burden that is left in the wake of a terrible situation such as this, and also what information I would want to know if I were to find myself with the need to plan a wedding again. So I got on line and went to Google. I searched for “wedding insurance and cold feet” and found out, surprisingly enough,that there are at least four companies that now offer this type of insurance. It’s purpose is to help protect couples ‘just in case.’ There are also many plans out there that will cover almost any other conceivable reason for canceling or postponing the wedding. The cost for these plans begins at $150 and goes up, depending on the amount and size of the wedding.

I know many may be reading this and rolling your eyes thinking, “I have already spent so much money. Why should I raise my expenses even more?’. While I understand your reservations, I respond to them by saying: because unexpected things happen in life. It is always better to protect yourself than to be left thousands of dollars in debt because of something that is above and beyond control.

Think about it this way, if it makes more sense to you. We have to buy car insurance when we purchase a car, although you may never need it. However, one day, your car may be innocently parked in a driveway when disaster strikes, say, in the form of a tree falling on it. That very insurance that you’ve paid is there to write the damage off.. How would you feel if you instead had to choose between absorbing the cost of repair work on the vehicle, or having to send it off to the junk yard and getting a new car, while strapped with the responsibility of paying loans on both?

As anyone who has ever had a car accident can tell you, insurance can often be the only support that truly gets you through a difficult time. And as a car is an investment, so is your wedding day. So why not do your best to protect it, as well as to protect the money you’ve put into it? As professionals, we are not looking to take advantage of our clients, as many may assume. By providing you with a little information, we hope to assist you in guaranteeing that you protect your investment in professional wedding services, be they caterers, reception halls, or photographers. After all, not every fairy tale can end with a “happily ever after.

Contact us and we can help you attain the dream wedding that you deserve.