Nicole Neff

I know I have promised that I would be posting images from recent photo shoots very soon, but there has been a little snag in those plans. My Dell PC at home has a nasty virus, and it doesn’t look like it will recover anytime soon. In fact, we may be soon saying farewell for good.

So, until I receive my NEW iMAC next week, those images are postponed…thank you all for your patience!

And because I loooove keeping you guessing, there are MANY more new things coming very, very soon! You’re gonna love it!

~Nicole

If you’d have asked me a couple years ago, I never would have thought I’d enjoy creating like this. I’m having too much fun editing these photos. Check out the before and after:

Picture 1:

Before

After

 Picture 2:

Before

After

I’m learning more and more as I tinker with it. Recently learned how to add text, too, which I haven’t been able to do. This means I’ll soon be posting pictures from recent photo shoots very soon!

I’m like a little kid in a candy shop right now…just wait until I get that computer. I won’t be able to contain myself!

About a week ago, I decided to take the plunge and get an iMac. I’m beyond excited because this means that I can get Photoshop and Lightroom, which I’ve never had. I’m really looking forward into delving into editing photos right after my shoots, which I’ve never been able to do. I know there is a lot to learn, but I’m more excited by the possibilities.

In the meantime, I’ve stumbled across a fun little site called Picnik. I’ve been spending some time playing around with the photos from Rachel Shoemaker’s shoot. While it doesn’t allow me to do all of the things Photoshop does, it’s not bad. Kind of fun! Here are a couple I did just playing around…

(c) Nicole Neff Photography

(c) Nicole Neff Photography

I’m a jealous person by nature. I’m very possessive of many things in my life, one of those things being my husband and my time with him. Tonight, my jealousy and possessiveness really came through when I found out that I would be home by myself most of the night. I was looking forward to a night of cuddling on the couch and watching the Olympics with Tyler, and when I found out I wouldn’t get my way, I stomped my foot and stuck out my lower lip. Yup, I was a big baby.

Tyler is in a rock band named Meridian, and practice takes up a lot of his time. They’ve been refining their new sound lately with at least two practices a week, and this week it is going to be three. Once I finally stopped being selfish, I started to think about how supportive Tyler has been of me and my time to pursue photography. How could I NOT support him, when he’s done nothing but be my biggest fan?

Sometimes I don’t understand what I’ve done to deserve such a fantastic husband, and one who’s a drummer at that (God really spoiled me when he put Tyler in my life, because I always had a thing for drummers). Honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of him. So proud that I really want to brag on him a bit. All of this practice for the band is not just to get together with three of his closest friends, although that is a perk.

It’s because Meridian was one of the few bands to be chosen to play at Godstock in Fairfield, Illinois, next month. This could be huge for the band because of the exposure they will get. Some big names in Christian music have jammed out on the stage of Godstock, including one of our favorites, Skillet. The schedule isn’t posted yet, but head over to the Godstock web site and you’ll see this picture that I took of the band (left to right: Dane, Daniel, Tyler and BJ):

Meridian

Haven’t heard Meridian yet? The music on their MySpace page is a bit dated, but they will soon be heading to the studio to record five tracks. Some of those songs will be featured on my web site once they’re done. I can’t wait to share my husband and Meridian with you all!

And if you can’t wait that long, come see them at Godstock on September 6. I’ll be the one wearing my “I’m sleeping with the drummer” t-shirt. We can cheer them on together!

I just got back from an all-day shoot with a really fun girl with a really unique style. Rachel Shoemaker traveled 4 hours — 4 hours! — to do a photo shoot with me today. Rachel graduated from high school with my sister and we’ve kept in touch through the wonderful Facecbook and MySpace, so when I posted something about free photo shoots, I was totally flattered that she wanted to travel all this way to take advantage of it. Add to that the fact that she’d never seen my work. Talk about faith!

We started at about 9 a.m. this morning in Chandler, then worked our way to Evansville and Newburgh. She was up for anything and was totally at ease in front of the camera. She wanted to try some really funky makeup for her photos, so I let her do her thing. She even helped me scout out some unique locations and pose ideas. It was totally fun!

This image was taken behind a church in Newburgh. We were both totally shocked to find that bamboo can grow in southern Indiana, but it sure made for some pretty images. And love that light! Can you believe this image has no Photoshop editing to it at all?

Copyright Nicole Neff Photography

Thanks, Rachel, for a totally fun day. I can’t wait to post ALL of your pictures, because the camera totally loves you!

Misty Majors started the day by leading the women through Mary Kay facials and makeup application. You may recognize Misty. I did her family pictures a few weeks ago, but since then, she’s changed a bit. In these pictures, you can see she has a little bun in the oven. Isaac is going to have a baby sister before this year is over!

Mary Kay consultant Misty Majors

Here are some pictures of the women using the Mary Kay products:

I loved capturing the mothers and daughters bonding by being girly.

Amy and Beth

Amy and Alyssa

Speaking of moms, here’s my mom applying mascara:

Mom applying mascara

Mom looking in the mirror

Rachel applying makeup

Josie applying makeup

Cathy applying makeup

My mom is a Lia Sophia advisor, so she was there to show the ladies how to accessorize with jewelry. My good friend Rachel, a Creative Memories consultant, helped the ladies create picture frames in which they could put the images I took after they had their makeup done and jewelry on. Head over to my church’s web site to see more pictures of the fun day.

And as always, I was behind the camera the entire day, so this is the only picture of me.

Me!

Tyler and I traveled to Indy last week for the Warped Tour at the Verizon Wireless Music Center, and among the acts to perform was Katy Perry. I wasn’t the biggest fan of hers before the concert. In fact, when Tyler purchased her single “I Kissed a Girl” (he’s so going to kill me for writing that) from iTunes a few weeks ago, I was mad at him for not only spending our money on it, but putting the money in her bank account.

But I have to admit, Katy Perry put on a pretty good show. She was by far the act with the most people watching. Seriously, the entired amphitheater was packed. Luckily, we had gotten there early to get a pretty good seat. She brought serious energy to her performance and had a great personality, too. I was able to get some decent pictures of her with my point and shoot…

Katy Perry @ Warped Tour, Indy

Katy Perry performing

We also saw Gymclass Heroes…meh. Not impressed.

Gymclass Heroes @ Warped Tour

Then we saw Angels and Airwaves. You might recognize the lead singer as Tom of Blink182. Angels and Airwaves was seriously awesome, and Tyler is completely sold on their music now.

Angels and Airwaves @ Warped Tour

Tom of Angels and Airwaves

Finally, the band we waited for all day was RelientK. We’ve loved their music for some time now, and this performance totally solidified that. If you know us, you know that we are MAJOR fans of The Office. Tyler and I were totally surprised and in awe when RelientK broke out in a song they wrote about The Office and then played The Office theme song. Awesome!

RelientK @ Warped Tour

Notice that there are not any pictures of me and Tyler. There’s a good reason for that…we were a hot sweaty mess that day. It was 96 degrees in the shade at one point toward the END of the day, so needless to say we had been sweating all day and it wasn’t pretty. The sun completely wore us out and I think I’m still catching up on sleep. It was totally worth it, though. I had a blast seeing some awesome musical acts with my favorite guy in the world. I couldn’t have asked for more!