Calling Out To All Past Clients!!

Hi there! So........ I kind of have a favor to ask! ;) Believe me.. I feel weird asking any one of my peeps to go out of there way to help me out with something, but I don't know how else to reach everyone at once! 

I am launching my brand spanking new website VERY soon, and I decided that I would have a spot with my clients comments about me. I have a few already and they are so great I thought I would throw it out there on the new site. So I was thinking, that if any of you feel up to it and wanted to write something about our time together, that would be super fantastic! ha ha!

If you happen to be super rad and write something, please send it to my email.. nicolekandrews@gmail.com Thank you so much to all my clients, I am seriously sooo lucky to have met such amazing people and wether or not you write anything, just know that you have helped make me who I am today and I could never thank YOU enough for that! 

Stay warm in this rain! Oh and here is a sneak peak pic at my last session! More to come soon! xoxo

Santiago Engagement - Slideshow

I have discovered an amazing way to post video and slideshows easily on the web! Vimeo! I love this site and just to test it out, here is a little video of one of my couples whose wedding is coming up this next year! The Santiagos, really they are too sweet together!

Santiago Engagement from Nicole Andrews on Vimeo.

Amazing Promotion For Wedding Season!!!

Wedding season is right around the corner! Many people are either newly engaged, or just about to become engaged and then the madness will begin! I just so happen to LOVE wedding season, especially because I have some incredibly beautiful weddings booked for this new year!

As many of you know from previous posts, I am going to slowly be transferring most of my time to weddings. It isn't that I don't absolutely LOVE doing family and children sessions. Because I absolutely do. It is that I believe that we should follow our hearts in what we do, and truly, telling a love story is where my passion lays.  There is something that draws me like a magnet, to capturing love. I actually lay awake at night thinking of fabulous new spots, camera angles, etc to take my couples to! Insane right? 

So with that said, I have decided to give a fantastic deal to the next 5 weddings I book from this point forward. The next 5 weddings booked will receive their engagement session absolutely free of cost!!!! That is right, no addition cost for an entire engagement session!!

For those weddings that I have already booked from last year, don't worry. My prices have changed so you had an amazing deal to begin with! :)

If you or anyone that you know of is looking for a wedding photographer, contact me and tell me you saw my post and you will get the discounted deal!

Wedding season... let's get ready to rumble!!!!

Can't wait to hear from you! email: nicolekandrews@gmail.com

Angel on Earth - Conner Alvarado

I can't say enough how much I love my job! And having this sweet sweet one year old Conner as my subject is just such an incredible treat! This little boy looks quite honestly like a little cherub sent from the Heavens and is here for us to simply ooh and ahh over! Which believe me you will be. I have grown very close to this family in the past 6 months or so, as I have been able to document their family portraits, little Conners 1 year photos, and also recently his 1 year Winter Wonderland themed birthday. Which was sooo incredibly adorable! So here are some pictures from his 1 year shoot. And I can not say enough just how scrumptious this guys is. He has the sweetest disposition and his eyes are UH-MAZING! Have a fantastic day everyone and here are some pictures from our shoot! I will have pictures up from the birthday party soon!

Take 5!!!!!

I often ask my clients to go that "extra mile" for the shot. I like to be creative, spontaneous and in the moment with my couples and in pretty much all aspects of my life. Seriously. Last year I was driving around, running some errands, and thought about how much I loved Italy when I went backpacking through Europe the year before.  By the end of the day I decided I would move to Italy for a short period. By the end of the month I quit an amazing job where I made fantastic money as a sales rep (although I despised being confined to a desk), found an apartment in Rome on craigslist, and moved all by myself. Just because I wanted to figure some major life changes out and needed to do that in a space where I could really think and be creative. Umm, and I couldn't just do this in my apartment? Well, turned out to be the best thing I ever did, because now I am doing what I absolutely love. 

Okay, sorry for the derail. Anyway, while on a Trash the Dress shoot that I recently did, I was asking my client to go that "extra mile" and lay in the shallow water and hold onto her husbands leg. It looked so dramatic, romantic and pretty. Well, sometimes the unexpected happens, like a 3 foot wave crashing up on the bride! ha ha! My bride was terrific about it and laughed hysterically before going right back into pose! Seriously, she is so gorgeous that even when she is being crashed on by an unexpected wave she looks brilliant! I thought that these pictures were just too hilarious not to share! So I hope these pictures make you smile and to remember to dust yourself off and try again! These are the moments that life is made of. :)

Julian & Chantee - Engagement

My mom always told me to choose someone who brings you up, not down. Someone who brings out the absolute best in you. These words were never truer then they are for this couple. They are kind to each other, warm, romantic and confident. Julian and Chantee are such a meant to be couple. Everything about them screams, meant for each other. But during our shoot, in the midst of the running around, the traffic, and trying to chase the light, one thing really stood out to me.

Their "in between". I have heard this phrase used by my favorite wedding photographer Jasmine Star before. But I can genuinely say this was the first time I really caught what it meant. Throughout the shoot, when I am actually quiet for half a second, I would hear Julian and Chantee mumbling things to each other. Right before they would kiss, or right after he would say something sweet or make her laugh. It was such a strong connection and it was then that I decided to shoot more of their in between, when they weren't really noticing me snapping away. 

I am so excited to shoot this wedding in September of next year. I am so honored to be a part of their big day and to be able to tell their story with my images. Julian and Chantee, thank you for being so amazing! Can't wait for the wedding!

Trash The Dress - Kari & Jay Reynosa

Trash the dress! Trash the dress! Trash the dress! (That is me chanting in pure childish excitement about this shoot).

Okay, so for those of you not familiar with this type of session, it is basically where a bride and groom take pictures AFTER the wedding. After the big day, where you are so worried about keeping your dress clean and pristine. When your dress is hanging in your closet, with a little dirt on the bottom, a smudge here and there and maybe a red wine stain hidden somewhere. All the evidence of your amazing wedding night. 

Back in the day, brides would have it cleaned and put away in a box somewhere to stay for the rest of it's life. However, now brides can take their dress and make amazing memorable photos! Dramatic, nitty gritty, show your personality, love and passion photos! There is nothing more liberating then when a bride is done worrying about keeping the dress in perfect condition, and is instead rolling around in the sand, hills, whatever making memories.  Plus..... it is so FUN!! Snapshots that in 20 years you and your husband can look back on and think.. wow.. we were pretty fabulous weren't we??!! 

So.. with that said.. I encourage all brides to go for it!  Capture this moment in time. One of the happiest times in your life, and why not do it in a fabulous dress! Life is too short right?

Oh and by the way, trashing the dress doesn't always mean "trashing" the dress! In fact, afterwards, you can still get it cleaned and hang it up in your closet! :)

Kari and Jay... THANK YOU!!!! I had such a great time with you guys! I have known Kari for 15 years! Wow Kari! I love you and you are still the same funny, beautiful friend that you were! And Jay, you are so wrong about not being photogenic. Are you kidding me? Calvin Klein is so calling you guys up after he sees these pictures. Because duh, I run with all the fab designers. :) Enjoy everyone, and if you are a bride, past, present or future and are interested in the details for a shoot of your own.. contact me at nicolekandrews@gmail.com

Shawn & Shannon...L.A.'s Next Top Model...Engagement Session

So yeah, there are many problems in the world. And many problems in our lives that we have to try and fix or solve. Sometimes we are able to do this, and sometimes it is just out of our hands. Well, this post is one of those out of my hands situations. Only my problem is which photos do I post when I love every single on of them!??

Shawn and Shannon are two beautiful models! Okay, not professionally, but they should be! I had so much fun with them on our shoot and can't believe how much I love these photos! Shannon is a natural and looked fabulous even when she wasn't trying to. And Shawn, you would NEVER be able to tell that he doesn't model for Calvin Klein as a day job! He did so well with being easy going. We all drove together and jumped out of the car whenever I saw something cool to shoot at. The whole time I am yelling from the backseat.. Okay stop the car! Umm okay, never mind, no good. Keep going. OOOH wow stop! Get out. Okay lets go now. ha ha And he was such a trooper.

Shawn and Shannon, I am so happy for your life together and you two just re-establish the fact that love can be found when you are not looking. And sometimes, it is right in front of your face and you don't even know it! Can't wait to see you when you get back from your fabulous wedding in Maui! I couldn't narrow the pictures down, it just felt wrong. ha! So enjoy!