My First Boudoir Session

A friend of mine was needing a little pick me up, and requested a boudoir session. I have been on the model side of glamour photography but I hadn't shot any myself yet. I felt like this was prime opportunity for a new experience and accepted. I found the session fun, but very challenging. We used my own bedroom for the backdrop, which I was resistant to, but it actually came out quite cute. I always shoot in natural light, alternate lighting is the death of me every time. My client however, wanted to do the shoot at night and so we did. That in itself was a large step out of the box for me, and during the shoot I found establishing the right settings on my camera difficult. Too often I was either producing too dark images or too blurry ones. My biggest hurdle was the subject herself. She was feeling a bit uncomfortable and though I tried to be silly and have fun, I just couldn't pull her out of it. Posing was difficult, I would move an isolated body part and she would turn to jello. I tried explaining that she was to only move the part I was touching but often we wound up giggling and distracted. I know that with practice and study I can learn techniques that will help in situations such as these. I came out of the session with low expectations and found myself pleasantly surprised! I definitely lost a lot of images to darkness, blur, or awkward set up, but I also had a moderate amount to choose from for final edits. I can come out of this experience knowing a little better what to expect out of a boudoir shoot, and I plan to research ways in which I can improve my approach.

Sophia Martinez

My session this morning with the Martinez family was a bit challenging. We were quite pressed for time and sadly didn't get to include little Olivia as planned. We are going to re-shoot next weekend however, and I did manage to get quite a few gorgeous images of miss Sophia.

More of these gorgeous fall images can be seen on my Newborn page!

Can't wait for Friday!!!

My repeat customer little Romeo has a brand new cousin and guess who gets to photograph her sweet little face?!? Why me of course! I have been itching for a newborn to shoot ever since little miss Maggie and I am so looking forward to implementing some new ideas, along with my new lens! Can't wait to get them up for everyone to see!

Transitioning into Fall

It's that time of year again, the rush of the back to school madness has subsided a bit. High school kids are all planning for homecoming, the Holidays will soon be on their way, and Halloween is right around the corner! Every one is busy busy!!! I am getting a new 10-35mm lens soon and I am hoping to have it in time for the Homecoming season. I would really love to have the opportunity to shoot some great couples and group shots for the local teens on their big day. I did a little advertising on Facebook but that can only go so far of course. Hopefully if I am persistent enough word of mouth will bring me some work. One can only hope! I definitely have 2 maternity and 2 newborn shoots in the works, neither of which am I permitted to discuss yet. Secretive mommies!!! I sure can't wait though!!!! Anyone who lives in the Houston area and would like to make an appointment with me please feel free to email me at ashleynicolephotography2012@gmail.com

New Opportunities Are Always Awaiting Me

I started feeling rather discouraged not too long ago. I'm not getting many clients, and I've done very few sessions that I've actually been paid for. Granted practice makes perfect, and anything that can be put in my portfolio is always worth doing, but that doesn't quite put food on the table. I was feeling pretty low about things until I was working at the comic store one day and struck up a conversation with a regular. Turns out he's a realtor and needed someone to shoot the images for his listings. I promptly volunteered! I AM YOUR GAL!!! So now we've worked on three houses together so far. It is a lot of fun getting to see all these homes all dolled up and ready for sale. It's also fun to know that people are actually seeing and appreciating my images. I know it isn't family photography like I'd prefer to be doing, but any job is a good one when I'm getting experience. Look forward to some links being posted in the near future!

Maternity!!!!!

I am currently in Newport News, Virginia, my childhood home. My God Sister is pregnant with her third child and has never had maternity pictures done. Never! How could I resist?!? So today we did a beautiful maternity/boudoir session to celebrate this new life she has been blessed with. I am ecstatic about how well they came out! I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to be her photographer and to catch such a heartwarming moment in her life. Hopefully in a few months I'll have another newborn session to do!!!

My Last Day as a Nanny

Today is monumental, today is the end and a new beginning. While I would love to emphasize on all that entails, I don't have time. So for now I will just share this little gem I caught of Luke yesterday while shooting him during playtime.