October 25, 2018

ATX Lifestyle Family Shoot Video | The Alvarado's Are Amazing!

I know the honest truth about family photos...and that is they are PAINFUL for the family to do. They are NOT painful for me. I actually enjoy photographing families. It takes a lot of preparation on mom's part to figure out coordinating outfits, work everyone's schedule out and get everyone ready in time...after school...ugh...it's exhausting just thinking about it. The kids would rather eat a piece of bark than do a photo shoot and Dad is usually just frustrated by everything. But, the truth of the matter is the pain that the family's go through to get family photos IS one of the most important things that you can do for your family! It's painful in the moment but those photographs WILL be appreciated for many, many years. Even though the kids don't appreciate it now, they can look back one day and say, "Remember how mad mom got b/c I had to borrow her socks during the shoot b/c I didn't wear any and my boots rubbed blisters on my feet I had to go bare foot?" It's all fresh now and probably not that funny but one day everyone will be able to look back and chuckle and I'm sure that family photo on the miniature Austin 360 bridge will be truly treasured. The moral of this story...get your family photos done...NOW! Don't wait to lose the 20 lbs because honestly that may be 3 years from now and you'll look back and say I wish I would've taken those pics when I had less wrinkles...maybe I didn't look so bad back then after all. The 1 hour of pain is worth it! #nopainnogain Get your glass of prosecco and cheese and crackers and watch the Alavarado's video b/c well, they ARE AMAZING!

#familyphotoshoots #austinfamilyphotographer #familyphotoshoots #photoshoots #photoshootsession #photoshootstudio #photoshootstyle #photoshootselfie #PhotoshootSoon #photoshootsetup #photoshootsarehard #austinfamily #photoshootstyling #photoshootsunday #photoshoots⠀#photoshootseason #austinfamilylegacy #photoshootstylist #photoshootsuper #photoshootstories #photoshootsomething #photoshootsaretough #photooftheday #family #photo #photoshoot #photos #familytime

October 22, 2018

San Antonio Senior Shoot video | St. Mary's Hall | Emily Senior 2019!!!

Emily and my son went to preschool together and were going to get married when they were 3 years old. Because they fell in love in preschool and always wanted to be together when they were little Emily's mom, Letty and I became best friends over the years. While the kids have grown apart, Letty and I have remained fast friends so it was a given (and privilege) that I'd photograph Em for her senior photos. They ended up in San Antonio after several moves so we still get to see each other once in awhile. It's been so fun to see how the kids have grown up and changed and what their interests are. They're definitely not interested in each other any more (HA!) and I think they look more like brother and sister anyway...same eye color, same hair color, similar skin color. But here we are looking at our children who are now young adults and are about to embark on new ventures in their life after they graduate high school...I get so sappy every time I think about it! Ugh. Anyway, let me wrap this up before I start crying. We got some beautiful photos of Emily so grab your iced tea and banana bread and kick back and watch her video. :)

#seniorpictures #seniorportraits #senior #photography #portraitphotography #photographer #classof2019 #seniorpics #portrait #senioryear #seniorphotographer #seniorinspire #seniorphotography #seniorstyleguide #senioryearmagazine #seniorphotos #photoshoot #modernsenior #nikon #graduation #thetwelfthyear #photooftheday #portraits #theseniorcollective #classof2020 #highschool #seniors #model #sanantonioseniorphotographer #saseniorshoot #sanantonio #texas #stmaryshall #brandinellisphotography

October 17, 2018

ATX Lifestyle Family Shoot Video | The Fletchers Take South Congress By Storm!

I had a great shoot with the Fletchers a few weeks ago. We managed to get up super early on a Saturday morning and hit S. Congress Avenue with all the tourists in town. It was hot, humid and just so sticky outside. We trudged on with our shoot and they were great sports going where ever I told them to go. Within the hour, the thunder and lightning had kicked in and we were about to get into a huge down pour. We wrapped our shoot and exited. We had plenty of time to get some really great shots of them while the weather was still good! Go grab your diet coke and some cheeze its and kick back and watch another great video made by...me! :)

#familyphotoshoots #austinfamilyphotographer #familyphotoshoots #photoshoots #photoshootsession #photoshootstudio #photoshootstyle #photoshootselfie #PhotoshootSoon #photoshootsetup #photoshootsarehard #austinfamily #photoshootstyling #photoshootsunday #photoshoots⠀#photoshootseason #austinfamilylegacy #photoshootstylist #photoshootsuper #photoshootstories #photoshootsomething #photoshootsaretough #photooftheday #family #photo #photoshoot #photos #familytime #soco #southcongress #continentalclub #joes #hotelsanjose #austinmotel #livelifeincolor #cutekids #brandinellisphotography

October 6, 2018

ATX Event Photographer | Celebration of Life Luncheon

Hey there stranger! I can't believe it's been 3 months since I updated this ol' blog but here I am...slowly but surely eeking a post out. It seems I've been concentrating more on my Instagram page brandi_nellis_photography lately. I've had some pretty amazing photo gigs these past few weeks and this one I wanted to share. I was hired by Waterways Magazine to photograph the Celebration of Life Luncheon hosted by Kendra Scott at the Fairmont Hotel and just found the whole luncheon very inspiring. The lunch is dedicated to raise money for breast cancer research and to continue the fight to finding a cure. When I got hired for the gig the magazine just told me it was a charity luncheon. Well, it wasn't just a charity luncheon but rather a charity luncheon with the most AWESOME fashion show ever!!! As I planted myself at the end of the runway with my camera and watched these cancer survivors strut down the run way full of life, blowing kisses to the crowd, high fiving each other on the run way, punching their arms in the air to Rachel Platten's "This Is My Fight Song" that was blarring through the room and owning the runway and their time in the spot light moved me to tears behind my lens. I could feel all the way to my inner core these women (and 1 man's) fullness of life and their happiness to be alive.
I'm so appreciative and inspired by the people who orchestrate these grand events, raise money, donate their time and put blood, sweat and tears into making charity events happen and to all the people who attend the events and share their time and wealth to donate to these causes trying to help find cures for all these various diseases and essentially trying to help in the process of finding a cure! Kudos to anyone and everyone who has ever helped or donated their time to charity causes. After the cancer survivors walked the run way, "raise the paddle" happened raising thousands of dollars right then and there and beautiful live music written and performed especially for this event. Then, a part 2 fashion show happened which was put together by Julian Gold and Gatsby's and was it a fashion show or what?! I just couldn't help smiling through the whole dang thing! The colors, the drama, the loud music, the models, the attitude...the whole thing was spot on! As I share some photos from the event, I challenge you to think about making a donation or donating your time to something that tugs at your heart strings and go make a difference in this world. This is your fight song. #atxeventphotographer #waterwaysmagazine #kendrascott #fairmonthotel #juliangold #gatesbys #helpfightbreastcancer #wearpink #fightsong #fightbreastcancer #brandinellisphotography