Let's review what each place will receive:
1st Place: a complimentary session, a 10x20 storyboard featuring 3 images from the session, as well as becoming the newest Featured Face of the Nicole Barczak Photography homepage!
2nd Place: a complimentary session and an 8x10
3rd Place: a complimentary session
I'm just so excited that I will get to photograph each of these adorable cutie pies!
You can vote once, for one child. The voting will end on Saturday, June 2nd at 9:00pm.
Wow, some of these votes were pretty close with the 2nd and 3rd place kids... it was pretty interesting to watch!
The final percentage tally is in.
The three finalists who will go on to Round 3 will be:
Cade, Eagan and Madison!
Congratulations!
(everyone else who was in this round, watch your inboxes for a surprise!)
And moms of the round two winners... I will be contacting you to schedule your sessions while the third round of voting is going on. Sessions over the summer are getting pretty limited, so I want to make sure we get you in!
So, on to Round 3! Whats in it for the 1st place winner?
A complimentary session, a 10x20 storyboard featuring three images from the session as well as being the FEATURED FACE of Nicole Barczak Photography homepage! How cool is that?
Try voting from this link:
http://www.vizu.com/poll-vote.html?n=35744
I apologize for any kinks and quirks this contest may have. This is my first time running any sort of contest like this, as well as my first time using either of the polling sites (polldaddy.com and vizu.com). Please bear with me!
The first round I used polldaddy.com, and it was fine for that round as each group would only have one winner. This round, I switched to vizu.com as there would be three winners, so I wanted people to be able to vote for three of the children.
With vizu, as you've probably already noticed, it does not show a total number of votes for each child, only a percentage. That goes for me too... even though I created the poll, I can only see the percentage and a total number of votes for the ENTIRE poll (not for each child).
So, when the poll closes tomorrow at 9pm, I will be taking the top three winners based on their percentages.
Right now, as of 8:47pm here are the stats I have: (these stats change each time there is a new vote, so the stats may be different 3 minutes from now, ok?)
Total voters: 296
Madison: 40.9%
Eagan: 38.5%
Kamryn: 38.2%
Cade: 35.1%
Jalyn: 31.1%
Cadence: 30.4%
Keep on putting those votes in... the voting is on until 9pm tomorrow evening (Wednesday)
Good luck, kids!
Even though we got rained on before were were through with our session, there was not a lack of great images from our short session.
Savannah is such a great kid... super personality, super sweet, super cute... super kid!!
I don't know which ones to show... there are SO many I love! So, get ready for a ton of images!
Thank you, once again to everyone who was in Round One. And, congratulations to Round Two contestants! I am so excited to think that I am going to have the pleasure of photographing three of these beautiful faces!
Here is how Round Two will work. You will get to choose your TOP THREE Beautiful Babies and vote for them. You will only be able to vote ONCE.
Round two will end Wednesday, May 30th at 9pm.
I am having a heck of a time getting the closed polls to show up on the blog... the voting is over, the polls have been closed, and now its gone wonky on me! Group 6's poll keeps showing up under different groups posts... and I can't get any other poll to show up. SO, I've posted the link to the poll underneath each groups pictures.
Gosh, I didn't mean for this post to be all about my troubles.... I wanted it to be celebratory!
CONGRATULATIONS to the top 6 winners!
***Cade B., Eagan, Kamryn, Cadence, Madison and Jalyn F!***
A couple of the polls were NECK AND NECK up until the very end, and I am just astounded at how many votes there were! WOW.
And I want to thank EVERYONE who entered the contest. Every single child who was in this contest was absolutely beautiful, and I am so glad that I relied on voting to choose as I would not have been able to pick the winners myself. It would be too hard. Those of you that did not make it to round two, keep an eye out in your inbox for a special surprise. ;)
Awesome awesome awesome. I can't wait for the next round. I'm trying to get the next poll ready and will post it by tomorrow morning.
As per hubby's advice, he thinks there should be three rounds of voting. There are 30 entries into this contest, so I was having a difficult time deciding how I want to split up the voting. My husband says, and I quote, "You'll get a truer result if you do three rounds." So, three rounds it will be.
Since there will be three rounds, the voting is going to begin a little sooner than originally expected. This way the duration of each round will have a little time to air on the blog.
The first round will begin Friday (today) and end Sunday at 9:00pm. The second will begin Monday (hopefully by morning!) and end Wednesday at 9:00pm. Third and final round will begin Thursday and end Saturday at 9:00pm. The winners will be announced on Sunday at 9:00am.
Here is how it will work.... there are SIX polls below. You may vote ONCE FOR EACH GROUP... so, total, you can vote six times, but only once per group. Each group/poll will be in its own post... I'll begin uploading now!
I do want to say thank you to all the contest entrants... and GOOD LUCK! Each and every one of these children are incredibly adorable... I don't know how anyone is going to be able to decide who to vote on!
**ETA** I think there was a misunderstanding with the entry time limit. Entries were due BEFORE the 25th... BY MIDNIGHT on the 24th. I apologize for anyone who misunderstood the entry rules and has submitted a photo too late! I'm sorry!! Please keep checking back here on the blog, as I will be running more contests this summer!
Three winners!
We've had a huge amount of photographs submitted for the Baby, You're Beautiful! Contest, and it has been decided that there will be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
The 1st Place Grand Prize winner will receive a complimentary session and a 10x20 storyboard featuring 3 images from their session. ($195 value!). They will also be the featured face at Nicole Barczak Photography!
The 2nd Place winner will receive a complimentary session and an 8x10 from their session. ($100 value!)
The 3rd Place winner will receive a complimentary session ($75 value!)
Voting will begin on Monday, May 28th. There will be two rounds of voting. The first round will end on Wednesday, May 30th at midnight. The second round of voting (for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place) will begin Thursday, May 31st and end Saturday, June 2nd at midnight.
You will be able to cast your vote here, on the blog. Only one vote per person, please.
***There are less than two days left to enter in the contest! Photos must be submitted before MIDNIGHT tomorrow (Thursday)!***
And I can't possibly leave you without a picture...
MUAHHHH!
This evening I took Porter to the library. His first trip. I was really excited, which may seem kind of weird... its just the library. Well, when I nannied, the library was my time with the youngest of the girls. She learned to count walking up those front steps. Now the youngest of the girls is going to kindergarten, and I have my own little boy to take to the library. I was so excited to take him.
Which would make you wonder why I didn't take my camera HAHA! Well, partly I didn't want to look like a big nerd taking pictures of her kid inside the library. But mostly because I forgot it in the car, and walking all the way downstairs, back outside, down the long walk to the road and across the road was too much work. I'll take it next time.
Anyway, on with the post. You didn't ask for a long detailed account of my life now, did you?
Afterwards, Porter and I walked around downtown. Or, really, I followed him around with the camera as he explored all the great and wondrous things of the town.
Now, THIS is what makes me happy. I love this.
My little man, actually letting me hold his hand. His tiny fingers actually grasping mine, not limp or pulling or twisting away from my grasp. It only lasted about 10 steps and then he was off again.
Baby sister (well, she's 2) wasn't able to make it to their session- she was not feeling well- but if she's like her big sister and brother, I can't WAIT to meet her. Aaron and Elizabeth were so much fun, and they are so cute too boot! I swear, my clients have THE cutest kids!
Aaron and I hit it off right away, and he charmed me with his big grin
Elizabeth took a little longer to warm up, but once she did she was off and running!
Such fun kiddos. I look forward to seeing you for little sis's session!
I've been busy digging into the session yesterday, getting a few more proofs ready to share.
This family was SO fun! They were up for anything, and we shot a little at home and once Brennan had had enough, we headed down the road to downtown for some new scenery. There are SO many images from this session that I LOVE.... I hope they love them as much as I do!
I just adore interaction family shots... posed is ok, but it is this that I love... look how they look at him... you can tell they are both just so in love with this little guy.
Does he not have THE cutest wardrobe?
I've been dying to get this shot in this location... I love the hat and his little snack up... it just completes the picture!
Mom plays the cello (and teaches lessons too!) and looks like Brennan will grow up with the same love of instruments...
Ok, I could literally go on and on... but I have another session to get to so there's the peek for you!
I promised I'd post some tonight, however we have company over so it'll just be one for now....
Meet Brennan... such a sweet little guy. 
Six days left to submit those beautiful baby pictures for the contest!
I'm going to try to get better at sharing pictures on here.... I mean, pictures other than from sessions. Pictures of whatever.... my son, something I found amusing throughout the day, something pretty, something old. Just something. A picture. Maybe eventually I'll do a challenge with this in mind... but for now, I'm going to share some pictures from this evening. Porter and I went on a walk and stopped by the lake to pick dandelions. He loves to destroy them. As usual, I was unable to capture anything resembling him looking in my direction, but ah, such is life. 
and here's something new... a new little technique... kind of resembles a painting. Kinda cool, don't you think?
We've received numerous entries to the Baby, You're Beautiful! Contest so far, and I'm amazed at what adorable children you all have! The voting is going to be tough!
Remember... the more entries there are, the more prizes there will be. So, if you know anyone who has been tossing around the idea of booking a session with me, now they can have the chance to win a free session! Thats a savings of $75!
I couldn't leave you with two posts in a row without pictures.... so here's one of my son and I on Mother's Day.
Send me a picture of your cute baby for the Baby, You're Beautiful! contest and have a chance to win a free session!
Here are the rules:
Sessions will be held in Jackson or area within 20 mile radius of my business address. You are more than welcome (and definitely encouraged!) to enter if you live further away, but be informed that travel arrangements will have to be made on your part.
Email your pictures to nicole@nbarczak.com BEFORE midnight May 24th. The more who enter, the more prizes there will be... so send the link to your friends, your family, your co-workers with kids aged 0-3!
Its funny how I fall in love with many of my clients pictures, but I have yet to find/take/create a picture of my own child that I adore. Don't get me wrong... I have many many many (thousands!) of pictures of my son, yet none of them knock my socks off. Why is this? Do you know how much I am looking forward to our trip to Florida, when we'll spend 11 days with Jessica and her family, just so that I can get another photographer to attempt to capture a great image of my son? (sorry, Jess... you have great expectations to live up to LOL!) Anyway, I look forward to the exchange of sessions that Jess and I will do with our kids, and hopefully we'll each end up with some great pictures of our kids in different perspectives than we normally attempt.
Here are a few from today... Porter and I went to the park and lake just before bedtime (his, not mine, of course!!).
The closest thing to a smiling picture of him... Now, this kid smiles all the time... he's always laughing and being silly... but pull out the camera, and he knows all my tricks. Those things I do that captivate your children for an hour or two... he's numb to them HAHA!
My niece is going to be two soon, so of course that means a 2-year old session for her cuteness. We went to my favorite location- downtown (can you tell!!), and I am having such a hard time narrowing down her pictures... so many great ones to choose from! Here are some teasers for you Heather. I hope you like them!
PS... Kari, I promise I'll be posting a few more of Carson soon!
