Samantha is the sister of one of my 2011 brides, so its nice to be working with her again for her own wedding to Clayton. They are such a cute couple! Samantha wanted snow for her engagement session and with this Michiana weather being as fickle as it has been I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen. Lucky enough we got just enough snow on their reschedule date to work perfectly, even though it was almost (well quite) ridiculously cold. Still they were sure to bring it, with their simply country chic and she even wore a dress for a few photos!

Over the past 7 weeks I have been working on this project for WRBR 103.9 The Bear to photograph each of their DJ’s for their new promotional images. I started planning in December, the session was done in January and now in February it is finally all done and edited! It was such a blast getting to work with each DJ from the part timers Dan, Brian and Gary to the full timers Rev. Ryno, Jena, Tommy, Jason Lee and Kluck. Check out the highlights below!

February is the month of love! With Valentines Day fast approaching I want to give a little something back to my future clients because I love all of my clients, past, present and future! So for this month those who book any wedding collection will receive $200 off their total! So be sure to get your consult and booking in before the end of the month to take advantage of this special.

So the best thing about winter is downtime for wedding photographers! We go and go and go for months on end then all of a sudden everything just stops. It takes most of us (or at least me) a couple weeks to figure out what to do with all the free time, then we realize: Oh My! We have time to see ours spouses, kids and to….Shoot just for fun! :)

I love my clients, I love weddings and seniors and models, but sometimes its great just to go out and shoot without any pressure. Here is one shoot I did over December with some of my free time.

A little over a week ago we finally got some snow around here that stuck around longer then 24 hours. Now I’m not particularly a fan of the white stuff, who is? But it does make for some super fun photo sessions! Check out the fun session below with Whitney and Samantha, two of my senior reps from Watervliet!

Are you interested in being a senior rep for Nico Studios? Are you a Sophomore right now, outgoing and willing to have fun taking lots of pictures? Then be sure to drop me a message, I’d love to hear from you!

I get contacted all the time from potential clients asking for my price sheet and then after reading it they respond ‘thats too much’ or ‘I just can’t afford that’. I get inquiries from the contact form often where someone has placed ‘$700′ on their budget line, maybe its a hope that what I have listed on my website is just inaccurate? It makes me feel bad and super guilty that I can’t say ‘YES! I will shoot your wedding for whatever you are willing to pay me!’. The truth is, I have to make a living like everyone else and running a business isn’t cheap. So I can’t.

Recently a craiglist post was brought to my attention, it goes as follows:

WHY is finding an amazing wedding photographer so difficult? :/

I am a Bride who is getting married this summer and have yet to find a decently priced, exceptional, amazingly talented, fun photographer.

WHY because the word “WEDDING” is involved photographers think they can change you $ 3,000.00 for wedding photos? Oh, because no bride is going to go without so they are going to pay it, because they HAVE to. They are ripping people off for all they have! Why when you want to get married it costs you AT LEAST 15 grand after all is said-and-done? Its such CRAP!! I love all you $ 3,000.00 photographers out there but i think your prices are WACK. All your doing is hanging out at a wedding taking tons of photos and editing them.. and thats owrth 3 GRAND!!! You’re making so much money its crazy. I just wish people would be more realistic. I mean the “average” persons salary for 1 freaking month is somewhere around 3 grand. (Thats making 19$ an hour) So you’re going to take someones WHOLE MONTH paycheck for one flippen day of photos? Just because you CAN!!?????? So that maybe they will not be able to feed themselves or pay any other bills they have, right? It makes me SICK!

I know im speaking for more than just myself right now. Alot of brides out there think the same thing. & I bet all you fancy photographers wont even read this. oh-well.
Maybe there are cheaper photographers that will read this and LOVE to take my photos :)

I feel pretty bad now, because there are so many that just don’t understand why photographers charge what they charge. I think its completely ok for everyone to have their own opinion and values on what to spend or not spend; I understand that what I charge is not in everyone budget or even their desires. Some people just don’t care that much about photography and again its fine! :)

What I care about is the misconception that I’m just raking it in, that I’m just hanging out having a good time. I know my clients, that love me and love my work know this, but I guess some people out there don’t understand what we all go through to get those amazing photos.

To be completely honest with everyone I made just shy of $21K last year, but after expenses and taxes I netted $3700. Thats equipment, cost of upkeep of that equipment, paying assistants/second shooters, advertising, websites, office supplies, business cards and of course the IRS’s cut. I made just over $300 a month. Not exactly sitting pretty is it?

Now about ‘hanging out all day’, man I wish! If you have me scheduled to be with you at 9AM at the salon then I’ve been up since 6AM double and triple checking all my gear and of course driving to wherever I have to go. While you’re eating brunch with your ladies? I’m taking pictures of it, possibly crawling on the floor or standing on a chair and usually ignoring the fact that I too am a little hungry.

I’m also coordinating my 2nd photographer and at least one if not two assistants on what needs done when and where. If I’m lucky I’ll be done with the day around 9PM, just to get home and spend the next few hours unpacking gear and uploading the thousands of images I took to my computer. That’s a 16 hour day, no wonder on Sunday I feel like I got hit by a mack truck.

So at every wedding that I photograph I have somewhere between 2000-4000 images to go through. Thats 2-3 weeks worth of editing to get them done, because I have a 4 year old and a house to take care of so I don’t get the luxury of sitting at my computer for 30 hours straight. Add a album to that and I just doubled if not tripled my editing time (depending on how big the album is).

So to every person who contacts me, I want to shoot your wedding I do. I want to give you a deal and work with your budget, I really do. The reality is I just can’t. I have to put food on my kids plate and pay for my house and all those whack business expenses.

And please don’t take this as a complaint, because I love my job! I wouldn’t be doing all this hard work if I didn’t. I have so many awesome memories of working with my amazing clients :) So I’m in this for the long haul, hopefully this is what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life!

So I think its pretty obvious by now, I’m a bit obsessed with music and live shows. I love concerts, honestly besides photography it’s my favorite thing to do. So its pretty awesome that starting in 2011 I got the opportunity to begin combining the two things! I’ve not worked with a lot of bands yet, but what I have gotten to do is pretty awesome. Shooting Halestorm for 103.9 The Bear back in December was pretty epic and still tops my list :)

I have a really good friend who is also a photographer, she’s been doing band portraits for a little while now and we’ve decided that we should combine forces and become a package deal for bands looking to get live shots and portraits. So my new side project is 2Cc Photography, be sure to check it out and share it with any bands you might know. Some people want to know what 2Cc stands for, well thats for us to know and for you to find out ;)

2012 Is definitely looking up for our music side business, if you plan to see Shock Roxy at Club Fever next month or Trash the Dress at the Bender Ballroom on February 17th be sure to look around for us and say hi! We’ll also be in Cleveland shooting Jackie Band in February and I will be shooting Rock on the Range in May for 103.9 The Bear! Its going to be an awesome year!

You’ve booked your Boudoir photo shoot. You’ve planned your wardrobe. Now you’re probably wondering how to do your makeup! In this post, we’ll be talking about how to create a makeup look that makes you feel confident and sexy on the day of your shoot. In this post, we’ll be talking about three different looks you may want to incorporate into your shoot. We hope you find one that works for you!

One Step Above Natural

To achieve a”natural with a kick” look,  you’ll want to place a slight emphasis on the eyes while keeping your lip color a more natural color. You can simply lined your eyes with a dark eyeliner and add neutral eyeshadow colors. This is a great look if you’re not used to wearing a ton of makeup since it’s one-step up from natural makeup.

This works well if you want to go for a natural yet exciting look for your Boudoir shoot. To achieve this look, check out Lisa Eldridge’s First Date Look tutorial. 

All Eyes on the Lips

Whether you’re rocking a deep red lip or a shade just a few shades deeper than your natural lip color, drawing attention to your lips makes a bold statement that’s perfect for a Boudoir shoot! If you’ve never tried red lipstick before, now is the time to take the plunge.

If you’re on the fence, you can always start off with a more natural look and bring a darker lipstick with you so you have the option to modify your look during the shoot. Pixiwoo shows us how to create a dynamic red lip in their Red Velvet Lip tutorial.

You Can’t Go Wrong With a Smokey Eye

The smokey eye is one of the most classic and universally flattering dramatic eye look. Like the red lipstick, if you’ve never tried a smokey eye, a Boudoir shoot is the perfect chance to take that leap. The smokey eye can vary in color and doesn’t necessarily have to be all black–you can use navy blues and silvers to create an interesting look.

With a smokey eye, you can do a natural lip color or a bold dramatic red lip like the look above. It all depends on what you’re comfortable with!  To create this look, check out NikkieTutorials New Years Eve Look, which features a gold smokey eye.

No Matter What

Whether you go bold or soft with your makeup for your Boudoir shoot, the most important thing is that you feel like you. Remember, a Boudoir shoot should focus on how wonderful and confident you are whether that’s no makeup or a strong red lip. No matter what you choose, just be you and everything will go great!

Courtney is an independent (ThoseGraces.com) fashion blogger from Boston, MA where she lives with her new husband David and her cats.

Week 3 for my project 52 is a free week, so what better way to spend a free week then with Nicholas?