Uh, Houston...

Okay, so it looks like I lied when I said that if you currently subscribe to this (now) old blog you would automatically get email notification when I posted new content to the new blog with no effort required on you're part. These things never seem to go as smoothly as I envision in my head.

Sooo....

In order to continue to get notifications on new posts, I need you to do me a tiny favor and skip on over to the new blog (www.mattnicolosiblog.com) and click on the "subscribe" link in the upper right hand corner just below my logo. I promise I won't spam you with offers for the Ronco 5-tray electric food dehydrator or solar-powered blow dryers.

So, go ahead and head on over and sign (back) up. See you on the flip side.

This blog is so 2006...

So there's good news and bad news. Bad news first? Okay, this blog is now officially closed for business. It's a difficult thing... she's been a good little blog, but like most things in our lives - or at least like the Big Wheel I used to cherish as an 8 year old - she's been replaced with something better. In case you missed it, that was the good news. So don't waste any more time here...

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE SHINY NEW BLOG

If you're a current subscriber to the blog, you should still automatically get notified by email anytime something is posted on the new and improved blog (blog 2.0 you might call it) - no effort required!



It's okay to take a moment to say goodbye to blog 1.0. She's given us some good times, and she'll still be here if you ever wanna come back and reminisce. She'll be missed, though... for about 2 seconds. Now go on, get outta here and stop in over at www.mattnicolosiblog.com. See ya there.

Yo, Mom... Happy Day!

Hey, mom, I thought I'd step it up a bit from the "that's so 2005" traditional Mother's Day card this year and do something a little snazzier.

Love ya lots!

Genevieve & Sophie {sisters!}

Okay, I dare you to tell me these two aren't beautiful. Go on... I dare you. Meet big sister Genevieve and little Sophie. Aren't those the coolest names, too? Man, I feel sorry for mom and dad when these two get a little older... they're gonna have to beet the pursuing princes away from the front door with a stick.

I met mom Sharon through a photographer's forum, and her and fellow photographer Karen asked me to come to Houston to photograph their families. I was especially honored - and a bit nervous - just because they're both photographers, so I couldn't bluff my way through their sessions. It's kinda like driving with a cop behind you... you just naturally get a little tense because they know when you're doing something wrong. I don't wanna give the impression Sharon and Karen were looking over my shoulder at all because they didn't in the least. They were great, and just let me do whatever I wanted to. It was just me creating the extra pressure in my mind I guess.

Anyway, both sessions went great, and I had a lot of fun during my weekend in Houston.

Here's some of the images from Sharon's family session. Stay tuned for a few from Karen's family in the next day or two.

Every Day Grace

I feel very blessed that God has put Kylie in my life. We've been through some challenging times, especially recently, and we even went separate ways for awhile because of some things I needed to deal with and grow through. It's been a tough road at times and there's still a lot of work ahead, but God - through his mercy and grace - has recently given us another chance to renew & restore our relationship. Such a gift, and I'm so thankful. I'm excited about the road ahead.

Yesterday we took advantage of the killer weather and went down to the Dallas Railway Museum for a birthday party for her friend Laura's one year old son and then up to the Cottonwood Arts Festival to check out and stalk some featured photography artists.

Here's a few images from the day.













Too funny. We saw this sign painted on several of the vintage train cars, and I'm sure it has some kinda technical meaning to anyone who knows anything about trains, but we thought it was too funny to pass up. Hmmm... early 20th century subliminal Christian values marketing, maybe?? Kidding!

Back in the Saddle

I'm finally home from Texas School, and I'm. Worn. Out. It was 5 awesome days of tons of photography instruction, a load of networking, and just a little fun. Just a little. [grin]. It's a good thing it's only 5 days - my body was going into shock from all the early mornings - both on the getting up and finally going to sleep. And after all the free fried/barbecued/greasy/grilled food I had all week, my digestive system rejected the first inkling of green, healthy food I ate when I got back Friday night. I can't even begin to guess what my calorie intake for the week was, but I'm half expecting a call from the FDA to do a case study on me any moment now.

It's good to be home, but I'm already looking forward to next year's school.

My friends Tina and Cecily went down with me this year, and we stopped a couple times on the way home to snag a few images. Here's a few of my favorites. We're such western wanna-be's.

We found this incredible old abandoned gas station near Normangee, TX. So cool, and so much character.




I love this shot of the gas pump with Cecily in the background. Check out the price of gas back in this station's hay day... $.31/gallon. Good grief - I need to get a horse.


Cecily just happened to have these sweet boots on during the trip home. Perfect for this shot.


Again with the boots.












Oh yeah, and Cecily grabbed this image of Tina trying to teach me how to 2 step early in the week. Dear Lord, I was terrible... further proof that God has a sense of humor. Sorry, Tina.


Check out Cecily looking all sultry.


And finally, here's Tina enjoying a little Spasmatic action.

Back To [Texas] School

'What's the deal? How come he hasn't posted anything in a week??' I know all 6 of you out there have been wondering where all the new posts are and what's taking so long. In my head I'm hearing (in a voice fit for scolding a dog), "Bad blogger! Bad, bad blogger!!"

Sorry about that. This week I'm at Texas School on the Texas A&M campus in College Station with about a thousand other photographers from all over the country. This year I'm in Bry Cox's class, and he's one of the best around. Tons of awards. Amazing work. Sharp business skills... I could go on and on. I honestly don't know how he does it, because he's got a thriving one-man-show photography business and still has time to travel the country for speaking/teaching engagements as well as making time for his other talents including accomplished Jazz musician and authentic western pistol/rifle shooting ace.

Here's me with Bry doing what guys do... hanging out in from of men's bathroom doors.

"Photographing kids is exactly like hitting on women." ~Bry Cox.

This might be - no, is - the funniest analogy I've heard all week, but stay with me here... I think it's true (at least for the kids part). Often times when you first meet little kiddos at a photography session, they can be disinterested, shy, or scared of you. So, to get them to warm up to you, you've gotta slowly break down those barriers, so you talk to them for just a few seconds and then you walk away and leave them alone. After awhile, when you ignore them, they'll let their guard down and begin to show a little interest, and eventually they'll hopefully warm up to you.

I'll let the ladies out there be the judge on whether that works on them, but I know from experience it does work with kids. And don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger. We all laughed in class about that one, though.

It's been a long week with every day starting at 8:30 with class all day and then some type of social event ending late each night. I'm beat already, and it's only the end of day 3. But I'm having a ton of fun, too.

Here's a few more images from our event on Monday night at the Texas Hall of Fame.

This is my 4th year coming to Texas School, and this year my friends Cecily and Tina made the trip from Dallas to attend VIcki & Jed Tauffer's class.


Each year the Texas A&M Wranglers come out and put on an incredible show. TO call their stuff line dancing is an injustice. They are simply amazing and show more coordination and athleticism in 02 minutes than I've shown in my entire laugh. It's really part country-western dancing, part acrobatics, and a whole lotta fun.






The highlight of the night was the Spazmatics. The best way I can describe these guys is a cross between Devo and the guys from Revenge of the Nerds. They were freakin' hilarious and played all the great 80's songs. They rocked!

Yabba-dabba-doh!

These are the things life's made of. I wish I could say these kinda things don't happen very often to me, but truth be told it's more frequent than I care to admit. Case in point - remember poor Mac? (On a side note, just this past weekend I left poor Mac's replacement in the seat back in front of me on my flight from Houston to Dallas, and I didn't realize it until I got all the way out to my car. Long story short, I'm sure I looked like OJ dashing through the airport in those old Hertz commercials, but I got the laptop back from the gate agent just before the plane went on to Toronto.) And just a couple weeks ago there was the pile of spaghetti that free-falled onto the white carpet below when the plate it was on just randomly snapped in half as I was carrying it to the couch. And I can't count the number of times I've searched for my car keys for more than a few minutes only to realize they're in my hand... I could go on (and on, and on), but I digress.

Any long time blog readers know I'm a big fan of Fruity Pebbles. Yes, I'm 35. Yes, I know 12 year olds love this Bedrock favorite. Yes, I know it's basically pure sugar. I. Don't. Care. Nothing you can say will change my fondness for the Pebbles. Sometimes I like to take a bowl with me to eat on the drive into the office. I know, I know... I shouldn't be eating and driving at the same time especially given my multi-tasking deficiencies, but it's a trade-off. I can either get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning and eat breakfast, or I can sleep in 10 more minutes and eat on the road. I dunno 'bout you, but it's no contest for me. Maybe God was telling me he doesn't approve of my choice because this morning as I was walking out the door with hands full, well... you can see for yourself below. Sorry Fred. Sorry Barney.

It's usually when I'm trying to do too much or too many things at once when these things happen. I think God's got a sense of humor (after all, He did invent it), and these are his ways of saying 'Slow down, chief. Maybe you need to focus just a bit more."

I'm getting the message. And I'm also getting more Fruity Pebbles.

Melanie {bridal images!}

Last week I got to photograph my friend Melanie in her wedding dress for a few bridal images, and you're a lucky man, Mike... she looked gorgeous.

The whole thing almost didn't happen (the bridals, not the upcoming wedding), because to say that the weather looked ominous was an understatement. Melanie and I talked a couple times throughout the day as we watched the weather reports and kept checking the skies, and if there was any way possible to do the images on the day we scheduled it, we were going to make it happen. Ladies, you know how much planning, effort and money goes into getting the hair and make-up done and getting the dress on... it's an ordeal. Melanie was a good sport about it, and I kinda tried to talk her into rescheduling because the skies were dark and gray and it was sprinkling on the way to meet her at the park. We decided to just stick it out and make a decision once we both got there, and God smiled on us. Almost as soon as we pulled up, the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun even came out for a bit. Apparently God knows what an ordeal it is to plan these things, too.

Melanie told me I couldn't post anything until after the wedding so Mike couldn't see the dress until they get married a month from today. Whatever. Here's a few cool images from our session.

I love the way she's standing in this image. Looks so natural and relaxed.


Don't her eyes look amazing here. And her hair looks fantastic.


This is probably my favorite image from the session. Check out the way the sun's providing awesome backlighting on her hair and dress. Awesome.

Tamara

I met Tamara almost 2 years ago at a party at Mike & Melanie's house, and after seeing their engagement images, she referred her newly engaged friends Casey & Samantha, and then she contacted me about doing some photography for her and her mom. Mom wanted to get some new photographs of her 'little girl', but Tamara only agreed to the deal if her mom came with her and was in a few of the images as well. Ahh... who says blackmail doesn't work?

Lemme tell ya, Tamara is one of those people that's just got an instant smile... it's hard work for her not to smile. Here's just a few images from our session.

Friends, Families, Festivals & (Craw)Fish

I just got back from an awesome weekend where I got to visit some old friends and meet up with some new ones. I met Karen and Sharon - both from Sugar Land, TX - several months ago as part of a photography forum I'm a member of. We've become friends and I was honored - and a bit nervous since they're photographers as well - when they asked me to come to Houston to photograph their beautiful families. I'll post images of their precious little ones in upcoming posts, but I'll warn you, you may very well melt when you see their kids. Sooo sweet and adorable.

I took the 42 minute flight down to Houston on Friday and was stoked to find out that the guy sitting next to me on the plane was Jack Gruber, one of the 5 staff photographers for USAToday. (just a warning that if you check out Jack's site - and you should - a few of the images are a little graphic, especially those in the Irag, Afghanistan, Sunami sections) What are the odds? 42 minutes wasn't nearly enough time to hear all the amazing stories he has of the places he's been, the things he's seen, and the people he's met. Truly a down to earth guy and a pleasure to talk to.

In Houston, I was able to visit and stay with my friends Eric and Liz, and I can't thank them enough for their hospitality. I met Eric when he used to work at Texas Instruments and through him I met Liz, and they were gracious enough to trust me to photograph their engagement images and Liz's bridal images a little over two years ago when I'd never done any bridal photography. Not only did they pick me up and drop me off at the airport and give me an awesome room to stay in, they also gave me a car to use for the weekend, cooked me breakfast both mornings, took me to the annual Old Town Spring Texas Crawfish & Music Festival, and gave me unlimited play time with their sweet Schnauzer, Macy. How cool is that?

Here's a few images from the weekend.

Here's yours truly, Liz and Eric at the festival. It was pretty sunny out that day (probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a gazillion lumens if I had to guess), and Eric offered to take one for the team by letting me where his cool Oakley glasses while he sported the Elvis specs he picked up when they passed through Graceland a couple years ago. Thank you, Eric. Thank you very much.



Yah. Ummm, this is why I don't eat crawfish. I like my food a little more processed thank you very much.



Macy!!! She was my buddy the instant we met.



Meet Karen, Jen & Sharon. Jen is part of the same photographer forum and lives near Houston, so she met up with us for Sharon's session on Friday night and then went to dinner with us afterwards. My hat goes off to these ladies. I don't know how they do it - each of them is married with multiple children and still find time to have a photography business!

BTW, this photo was made possible by the kind folks at Apple. Long live the Mac and the iPhone!



Karen and Jen getting ready to assist with Sharon's session on Friday. This answers the question no one's been wondering, "Just how many photographers does it take to hold a 24" white balance disc?"



After dinner at Sambuca we walked around downtown Houston Friday night just to see if we could find any fun shots. (BTW, for anyone that's curious, all these night-time shots including the "iPhaces" image above were shot with the Nikon D3 with no external flash using only available street light @ ISO 5000.)




Having a moment of Zen on a street corner downtown. I couldn't keep my balance for more than 2 seconds, so not sure how Karen got this one.



Karen looking all saucy on the construction scaffolding.



Uh... don't ask. This is what dorky photographers do when they've got a camera and time to kill.



Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
Oh, c'mon... gimme a break. Tell me you weren't thinking it.)



Too easy. Dumb, I know. But easy.

Cara & Reed

A couple days ago I had the pleasure of meeting Cara and her younger brother, Reed. Cara & Reed's mom, Rhonda, was the winning bidder in a recent auction benefiting the Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco, Texas. She was so sweet; she said she saw my friend Robyn's family images from last fall and she knew what she wanted to bid on. Thanks, Rhonda!

Cara is such a sweetheart - a little shy at first but she warmed up in no time and was so well-mannered... a blessing to photograph. Reed was your typical eight and a half year old boy - he was off exploring and checking out the park as soon as he got there throwing sticks into the pond and pulling lily pads out of the water and just doing what boys do... he was a trip down memory lane for me. Fun times!

Here's a few images from our time together.



















I love this image because for me it probably most appropriately captures their personality and relationship. Cara was soft-spoken, patient and sweet while Reed isn't the type to sit still for very long, always looking to move on to the next adventure.

I've been labeled.

So I saw this Personal DNA test on another blog, and decided to give it a try. At the end it spits out a report and a label that describes you. When I read my report, it's actually relatively accurate for me. There were a few things I questioned, but in general I agreed with much of it. Give it a try, and see if you learn something about yourself.


My personalDNA Report

Faithful Architect

Party for a Princess

Princess Trinity turns 3 on tax day this week, so to celebrate the royal parents Jerry & Tina hosted a party and a feast for your highness. Cinderella even stopped by and entertained the court with some dancing, story-telling, a treasure hunt and a little face-painting.

Mom and dad really went all out for this one, which is nothing new for the Tackett's. They are truly the host(esses) with the most(esses).

Here's a few photos I managed to capture amidst the festivities.



Here's the invite. Tina designed and printed these on parchment paper and mailed them to the guests rolled up in a tube like a scroll.


What would a Cinderella party be without a glass slipper?


...or two.


...or 20.


Tina's super-talented friend Leanne made a whole castle full of cupcakes disguised as mice. Too cool.




As usual, Tina never misses a detail for these parties.


Ahem... a little subliminal [read: shameless] self-promotion for yours truly.


The best part about this image is the little knight sitting across from Cinderella watching her intently with his helmet on. Rocks.


No comment required.




Each knight and princess had a royal costume to change into when they arrived at the Tackett castle. This little guy was off looking for his damsel to rescue.


Knights un-armored and princesses back in their street clothes, it was time for some mice cake and other royal treats.


Cinderella and the birthday girl.


BTW, the castle was custom built by King Jerry and the Queen mom, Tina, using 2 refrigerator packaging boxes, an oven packaging box, some rope for the (working) draw bridges, and a whole lotta purple paint and brick stencilling. Nothing like doing a nice, small, low-key birthday party for your 3 year-old.

Emily & Reese {sisters!}

Okay, seriously... who has kids that are this cute? I mean, c'mon... are you kiddin' me? Both big sister Emily and baby Reese have gorgeous big, blue eyes, and check out Emily's curly blond hair. Beautiful.

Mom Sarah and I have been trying for a few months to find a good time to have a session to capture her breath-taking little girls, and along with proud dad, Dan, we all met up in the Deep Ellum Arts District last weekend and made it happen. I couldn't be happier with the results. Then again, with looks like these two have, you'd have to try really hard to get a bad image.

I can't wait for mom and dad to see the rest of the images, but here's a few sneak peeks until then.

Huh, I learned something about me today...

So, I guess I'm a heavy sleeper. Apparently there was a massive storm last night with trees and debris crashing down, utility poles snapping, and a few roofs being torn off of local dwellings, and I was oblivious to it all... good thing it wasn't serious or anything - sheesh.

If anything, this answers what I've sometimes wondered - if an intruder broke in in the middle of the night to rob me, what would I do? Well, apparently not much. Guess they could turn the lights on, make a few phone calls, maybe make them self a sandwich and play some music while they worked and I'd be none the wiser.

Funny thing is that I have no recollection of the noise and chaos of the storm, but what finally woke me up at 4:30 in the morning was when I was burning up in the absence of AC and a working ceiling fan with the power out. And I remember being annoyed about 7:30 this morning when I heard chainsaws workin' away outside, and I was thinking to my self, "What the hizzy?" I still don't have power, so I'm sitting at the Corner Bakery down the street takin' advantage of the free wireless and a not-so-free chicken panini sandwich...

Here's a few images of what I saw in the neighborhood when I finally walked outside a little later.

Something's brewing

I've been planning & working on some new things for while now, and I'm stoked about one of the first thing on the list rolling out hopefully by the end of the month. Stay tuned.

Meet the LaScola's

Admit it. It's just fun to say, isn't it? LaScola... I'm hearing the song, 'That's Amore' in my head (and now you probably are, too) as I let it role off the tongue.

My friend, Sarah (LaScola, it never gets old), had her brother, Matt (awesome name), his wife, Sandy, their little pride and joy, Joe, and her mom, Sally, in town recently, so we went to a local park and documented the fam before the next installation in the LaScola (nope, not tired of it yet) family arrives later this year. Congrats, Matt & Sandy!

Sarah just moved into her new house in Frisco and was nice enough to have a bunch of friends who didn't have family in town over on Easter for a HUGE dinner. We had a an Easter Egg hunt for little Trinity and Joe, although "hunt" might be a bit of a stretch - Trinity's mom and dad (Jerry & Tina) brought over somewhere in the neighborhood of about a million plastic eggs filled with candy, so Jerry, Matt & I ran out of hiding places in the back yard and just started tossin' them smack dab in the middle of the yard after a while. Trinity and Joe were practically trippin' over 'em as soon as they walked out the back door.(BTW, Sarah, did you ever get the egg out of the tree or are you still staring at it bitterly every time you walk outside?)

Here's a few images from our party in the park the day before.





























Thanks, Sarah!

A little bit o' culture

I had a photo session down in the Deep Ellum Arts District late this afternoon with two of the most adorable little sisters (more on them in an upcoming post), and this just happened to be the weekend for the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. Main Street was closed down to traffic and filled with local artists displaying their work, and there were three staging areas with local bands belting out their tunes. And of course, what would a festival be without corny dogs, funnel cakes and turkey legs - all of which I managed to avoid eating. Not that I didn't want to, but I was too lazy and impatient to wait in line to buy tickets to get the greasy goods. Back to the point.

As I weaved in and out of the crowd going from booth to booth, I was really impressed - and in a couple cases frightened & confused - by some of the work I saw. And regardless of what I thought, it's interesting to see how others think and see when they create their art. Some insanely talented people out there.

Beau Ethridge is one of those people. His work was fascinating to me. I don't even know how to describe it except that it had an urban, gritty feel to it.


Random skateboards that had been painted.


I wish I could remember the artist that created these, but she had these amazing glass mosaics that she framed when she was finished with them. Cool stuff.


Meet Spike. He was a bit camera shy, but can you blame him? Poor little guy.


And of course, I can't get enough of the vintage cars.


Then I found the Iona Handcrafted Books booth, and I was hooked. Mychal Mitchell (pictured below) and Edward Bailey, based in Austin - have been making these breathtaking journals and photo albums from all natural materials by hand for over 10 years now, and they are truly heirloom quality works of art. When I asked Mychal, she said she was inspired during a trip to Italy 15 years ago where she would see artists carrying around small books called Vade Mecum, which is Latin meaning "to go with me", and she decided she wanted to make these available here in the US. I couldn't resist, so I bought one to go with me. I'm stoked about it because I've got a cool idea about how I'm going to use it.


Here's an image showing just a small collection of the the sizes and finishes they had in the booth.


Here's the one I bought... couldn't wait to look at it when I got home.

If John Elderidge Could See Me Now

I just posted about John Elderidge's book, Wild at Heart, not too long ago where he talks about one of the biggest issues men face today is that society seeks to create 'nice guys' by trying to take away the very warrior nature God instilled in them.

Need I say more?



I'm not sure what happened to my common sense that allowed Skye Hardwick to capture this shining moment of masculinity in all it's glory at her Austin workshop last weekend. I have no doubt that men everywhere feel so proud right now. Hey, at least a had a little 5 o'clock shadow goin' for me... that looks kinda tough, right?

In the words of arguably history's most emasculated male cartoon icon Charlie Brown, "Good grief."

It's time's like this I wish I had an 'undo' button for life.