Nicole and a Date with 8 │ Jackson Michigan Maternity Photographer

Yesterday I wrangled up four of my preggo friends and we headed downtown to play around with my new baby: a Canon 5D Mark II. I'm typically used to doing maternity sessions indoors with window light and dramatic lighting. I'm not used to urban type maternity shots and I really wanted to try my hand at it.

Quite frankly, I sucked. 10 minutes into it I was out of ideas! Thank goodness these ladies are gorgeous and so funny and willing to put up with my weird ideas. We tried some things that, well, uh... just didn't work. And then we tried things that were amazingly brilliant. It was a trial and error thing and I'm so luck to have willing guinea pigs!

Here are just a few of my favorite shots.



Maria: 29 week:






Carrie: 30 weeks
LeeAnn: 37.5 weeks

These.... oh these are my absolute favorites. LeeAnn mentioned she brought along a scarf. She didn't think I'd ask to use it in this way..... I think these images turned out great! Thank you, girls, for braving the alleys of Jackson and getting naked for my pictures! :)

Leslie: 37 weeks

Three

Round 2: Final Round!

Here we go... down to the wire. In Round 2, you will be voting for one child only. The winners will be placed in 1st, 2nd or 3rd. The prizes are as follows:

• First Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area) and the complete session (approx. 20 images) on disc with a copyright release to print images up to 5x7 size**. This is a $600 value!
  
• Second Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area) and a $100 print credit. This is a $200 value!
• Third Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area). This is a $100 value

The polls close at 11pm on Monday, July 20th.

Congratulations Madelyn, Maeve and Grant!

And thank you SO MUCH to all the other entries. You guys were amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed this contest. So much that I'm going to have to do another one later this summer!

I just love contests. I really do. And I'm so glad I decided to pull the reins in on the "security" so that the contest was not completely blown out of the water this time. It was crazy to watch the last few minutes of the polls in Group 3.... it was neck and neck with Grant and Fynn & Emrick. I was watching all the comments on Facebook throughout the past few days and it just cracked me up reading everyone's statuses.

And I loved seeing this on Fynn and Emrick's mom's Facebook... uhm how cute!!
I did warn you, though, didn't I.... the voting gets SERIOUS and these mamas rally the votes from wherever they can! Awesome! I would honestly be thrilled to have a session with any one of those children... they are all so precious!!

So, our winners of Round 1 (in no particular order) are.....



NOW..... we are on to Round 2. Here's what will happen next.

Round 2 will start Sunday morning at 9am and last until Monday at 11:00pm. That is 38 hours to rally up as many votes as you can. This round will end with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner.

• First Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area) and the complete session (approx. 20 images) on disc with a copyright release to print images up to 5x7 size**. This is a $600 value!
  
• Second Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area) and a $100 print credit. This is a $200 value!
• Third Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area). This is a $100 value

So, contestants, take a break and enjoy the weekend. But don't forget to spread the word and get your votes in starting Sunday morning!!

Summertime Fun Round 1

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone's summertime pictures. It was like Christmas morning, opening up each new email to see what joyful photograph awaited for me.

The entries have been randomly split up into 3 groups. In Round 1, you will be able to vote once per group.

The winner from each group will move onto Round 2.

Now, let me give you a few tips for this contest.
In the past, participants have gotten quite serious about the voting. Meaning... they recruit anyone and everyone to vote for them. I have had participants send out mass emails throughout their family and friends, throughout their company and even grandparents send out emails throughout their friends/family/companies. I've had participants post on Facebook and Twitter and MySpace and their blogs. Numerous times... even numerous times a day. :) I just don't want anyone to get taken by surprise if they just sit back and hope for the best while other participants pull in the lead by a long shot.

Now, with that said, I will be putting a strict filter on the voting.... cookies and IP addresses will be filtered....meaning only one vote per IP address throughout the entire contest. I'm not a computer genius and maybe there is a way around the blocked IP address, but as far as I know the poll will only allow one vote per IP address. This may cause problems with people voting on the same network, but I'm going to take that chance. Sorry.

So, with all that said.... here are the groups! (Just a suggestion.... click on the image to view them larger and much clearer!)

GROUP #1:

GROUP #2

GROUP #3

Vote for your favorite summertime image in each group. And don't forget to tell everyone you know to vote in the contest! Good luck and have fun!!

Complete contest details can be found here.

And Brady makes 3! │ Jackson Michigan Child Photographer

I last photographed these darling kids 2 years ago and was so excited to see them again... and meet their little brother Brady!

I couldn't believe how wonderful Haden and Lauren were. They were sweet as could be and you could tell they genuinely enjoyed eachother. Brady was a sweet little guy with such a charming smile! He is 1 and as all 1 year olds are (ok, except my little guy who STILL isn't walking....) he was ON THE GO!



The entire session... I kid you not... they were holding hands, hugging, posing for me. How sweet!



I think the next 2 are some of my favorite mommy shots....

Summertime Fun = Contest time!!

Its time for another contest... one of my favorite things! This time I think it would be fun to see your favorite summertime pictures.... pictures of your kids enjoying summer!

This contest will be a little different than the last. Here is how it will work...


How does it work?

All contestants will go through one round of voting. Depending on the number of entries, I will either group kids into groups of 5 or 6 and the winner of each group will move onto Round 2 OR.... the top 3 finalists of the entire Round 1 will move onto Round 2. Either way, there will be 2 rounds and 3 finalists: 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place.

How do you enter?

• Entrants must be children aged 0-10.
• Picture must be of your child/children doing something "summery"... it could be at the pool, playing at the playground, camping, building a sandcastle etc.... Whatever image evokes "summer" to you...
  
• Email your photo entry to nicole@nbarczak.com
• Entries must be received by Monday, July 13th at 5:00pm.
  
• The contest will begin Wednesday, July 15th at 9:00 am.
• The first round will end Friday, July 17th at 11:00pm
• The second round will begin Sunday, July 19th at 9:00 am
• The second round will end Monday, July 20th at 11:00pm

What could I win?

• First Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area) and the complete session (approx. 20 images) on disc with a copyright release to print images up to 5x7 size**. This is a $600 value!
  
• Second Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area) and a $100 print credit. This is a $200 value!
• Third Place will win: A free session (in the Jackson area). This is a $100 value!
  

**Enlargements must be ordered through Nicole Barczak Photography


Any other rules I should know?

• Images submitted must not be professional images.
• Only one entry per family
• Session must take place before September 1, 2009 or free session package will be forfeited.
  
• Session can be of the child only OR of the child and their siblings OR of the child and their family (up to 4... additional charge for additional subjects)
• Session must take place in the Jackson area
• Entrants may recruit voters by whatever means necessary... email all your friends, family and coworkers... post it in your status on Facebook.... call everyone you know.... whatever it takes to get your vote in! :)
  

New Look... New Collections!

Changes are in the air! I'm excited to announce a few new changes around here. Thinks are still in the works, so hang in there with some of the glitches. But, for now.... you must head over to Nicole Barczak Photography website and check out the new look!






I'm also very excited that I've finally fulfilled another item on my to do list... offering your entire session on disc. In addition to a la carte prints, I will also be offering three Collections in which you have the ability to purchase your entire session on disc. The collections are as follows:

Collection 1: $500
Complete session on disc
12x18 enlargement

Collection 2: $800
Complete session on disc
12x18 enlargement
Keepsake Album

Collection 3: $1100
Complete session on disc
12x18 enlargement
Keepsake Album
Coffee Table Book (new FABULOUS item... more on this later!)

Another great item I now have available is canvas prints. They are absolutely yummy.