Let Them Eat Cake!!

I think that the last month I have had a big sign on me saying.. if your child is turning one, hire me!! ha ha I have just had such a blast with kids these past weeks, and this past weekend was no different. I went to to Carlsbad, Ca to shoot my beautiful cousin Danielle's baby boy Brando. He was turning a whopping one, and he absolutely melted my heart. They had the party at a gorgeous courtyard/clubhouse in their La Costa community, and the amount of natural light coming in made my heart skip a beat.

I just love when the light is open, and streaming through! The kids had a blast and Danielle and Enzo were the hosts with the most! It was so great seeing past clients whose families I shot previously, and meeting all the new friendly faces!

Although I love all the pictures from the day, I cant help but always loving the cake shots!! If I am taking pictures of your children for a one year old birthday in the future.... if there is a cake shot involved don't freak out if you see me act like a kid and jump up and down squealing! :)

Here are some of my favorites from the day. Enjoy!

Here is the birthday boy himself. In his very own chair, looking regal. ;)

Mom and Dad having a quiet moment with their guy, before the madness of the day begins. 

The yummy cake. Loved the colors!

Brothers, Brando and Diego before their friends arrived.

Cousins having girl time in the jumper

Some of the cutest guests ever...

Testing out the cake...

Oh yeah it is on cake!!!

Maybe this is too much?

Uh oh. Sugar Coma.

Just kidding.. I am good guys!

A little more jumping....

And let's call it a day.

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

New Wedding Albums!!!

Black, tan, leather, matted, flush, photo plate, raised frame, full bleed, bind, hingeless. And this continues on and on and on. I was picking out my album that will be included in my new packages. The album of my dreams. However, when I entered the world of wedding albums, I had no idea just how intense that world was! I had so many options that my head spun. But after 2 hours of looking, viewing and choosing. I have found the album of my dreams!

This album really represents what I am all about and what I think love should represent. It is classic, timeless, clean, sleek, simple and sexy. Yes, an album is all of those things. Who knew!? :)

Here are some examples of the album! 

The customized page layouts! I will customize your photos and the layout to tell your story in a timeless way!

These albums are made so fantastically and on such ageless paper, that your grandkids CHILDREN will be able to look at your album as if it were today!

I want to take a moment to say a big fat THANK YOU to Ira from Leather Craftsmen. He took an overwhelmed semi freaked out client (me) and spent 2 hours with me. Really going through every single detail until we found the perfect album for my clients and myself. He is a wonderful professional who has been doing this for 26 years, so he knows his stuff. But he was also able to be enthusiastic, excited and really listen to what it was I needed. Thank you so much Ira!! I am so excited for the many years to come working together on albums!

The Ruby Family

Sometimes you meet someone, and you just know that they are "good". When I met the Ruby family, I could see right away that they were a warm, loving family and that it would be a breeze to shoot them. And I was right. As usual. (KIDDING!) They were here visiting from Kentucky, and I was lucky enough to be asked to take their family photos for them! Chris and Sandy were so sweet, low key and relaxed. You can't ask for more. They were so at ease with the camera and with their seriously adorable daughter Emma. I really enjoyed hanging out with them! 

One thing that I will never forget, is how kind Chris was. When we drove to our location, he and Sandy noticed that my back brake light was out. I said thank you for letting me know and I would fix it that week sometime. Well, while I was inside yakking away to their family after the shoot, he and his cousin went to the store and replaced my brake light for me. without me even knowing. I was in shock. It really meant so much to me and I will forever remember their act of kindness. Especially since I am sure that I would have left it like that for FAR too long, ended up being pulled over and ticketed I am sure! :) But thank you so much Ruby family for a great time. Have a safe trip back to Kentucky! Here are a few of my favorites from their shoot. Sandy, you are gorgeous!

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. :)

The Tide Is High and I'm Movin On...

So it happened. I knew that someday it was bound. That every shoot couldn't possibly go so smoothly. That I couldn't be the only one without some crazy story. Well, now I have it! I had a beach shoot that day, so I decided to get there a little early and check out the beach, the lighting, etc. As I pull into Swami's Beach in Encinitas, Ca...I see a crowd of people pointing down to the beach and oohing and ahhing. My mind instantly went into a race. What happened? As I get out of my car and jog over, I see something so terrible it made me want to cry. No, not a terrible crime scene. Even worse. NO BEACH!!! Ummm what?? Apparently the full moon decided to go extra crazy and pull the tide in so high that there was not an ounce of dry sand anywhere. Go figure, I had this family with 2 twin boys, a toddler, the parents AND two German Shepards who wanted to shoot on the beach. Yeah, I was basically helpless.

So as the Jordan gang pulled up in their car I had to stop them from unloading and we all drove down the coast a little ways to try and find a beach not completely submerged! After lot's of walking,  searching and me freaking out in my head, we found a spot! Thanks to Burl, Annie's husband, we found the one spot that was open! I felt relief like I can't remember! So, thank you so much Jordan family for being so amazing, calm and collective and for being so sweet! You made me realize that sometimes things may not go as planned, but when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade!

Have a fantastic holiday and can't wait till our next session! Where I am sure it will be a much easier time. :)