The Boys of Summer

Oh, who remembers their summer after 8th grade finishing middle school and 9th grade the beginning of your high school years?  I so remember that summer like it was yesterday.  After 4 years, I got my braces off the last day of 8th grade and then my mom let me get contact lenses so I felt like a new girl that summer!  Mid summer my girlfriends and I were at the local drive-in (yes, I said drive-in), my sister worked the concession stand there so we'd go to work early with her so we didn't have to pay the fee to get in. Haha! While me and my girlfriends were hanging out on our blanket not paying a stinkin' attention to the movie, a fellow classmate (who I thought was super cute at the time) asked my friends if I was somebody's cousing from out of town.  It was dark out but still he didn't recognize me b/c I had gotten my braces off and didn't have my giant fly like glasses on anymore!  The butterfly had finally blossomed and I thought at that moment "life is good!"  It's those warm summer nights at the drive-in theatre that take me back to those boys of summer.  Enough of my reminiscing here...I photographed this great group of boys who are graduating from the 8th grade and their mom's wanted to do a photo shoot of them together b/c their such good friends, they have lots of fun together and they are all into football!  I had alot of fun trying to organize the chaos here but once we got started it did NOT take long for them to get into it and start coming up with some of their own fun ideas for the shoot.  So, here are The Boys of Summer 2013!

PORT ARANSAS BEACH SESSIONS!!!!!!!!

It's that time again people!  Summer is almost here and it's time to get those beach trips booked!  Come on down to Port Aransas and schedule your fun, fun, fun beach portraits with me.  You all know how I love the beach so when you mix photography with the beach it is pure creative mojo for ME!  These sessions are so fun and carefree so go ahead...what are you waiting for...call or email me and get on the calendar!!!  :)

The Next Disney Star?

"K" thinks she may want to do a some acting so her mom called me to get some headshots set up.  This is a very simple process for you out there thinking you might like to do the same for your kiddos.  We actually met after school one day at the park nearby and she had on a very simple, colorful shirt that was a great color on her and then mom also brought a blue jean jacket to throw on for a different look.  I brought a few props like the umbrella and small bench that we used to give the photos some variety.  "K" did great and we had the photo shoot knocked out in about an hour.  So, without further ado...here's Disney's next star! :)

It's Party Time!

A few weeks ago I had alot of fun photographing little Courtney's 2nd birthday party.  Mom and Dad had her all decked out in her pink and green tutu and she looked so precious!  She was happy as a clam to have all her friends and family over to her house to party with her on her birthday!  She loved all the balloons and digging in the cooler to find herself a little drinkie poo.  They had the hot tub going for the kids to play in, the sangria on the deck for the adults and a little kiddie pools for the wee ones to splash in...this was a party that everyone could enjoy!  Without further ado...here's the big TWO year old!

Circus Girl

Beautiful Briana

I photographed Briana in her parent's backyard which was like a park. There's a pond with fish, a jungle gym and twinkling party lights everywhere. It was just lovely. Briana warmed right up in front of the camera and was a real natural. She LOVES animals so we had to incorporate some of her favorite pets into the shoot which was alot of fun! I can honestly say I've never photographed a ferret before which was really cooperative once we got her settled down! Her cat is a Ragdoll which is kind of funny b/c the cat looked like a ragdoll during her photos. Briana just molded her however she wanted her. Without further ado...here's beautiful Briana! Enjoy.

Under The Big Top

For a long time now, I've been wanting to do some sort of fun shoot at the carnival. It doesn't come around too often and it seems everytime I find out it's here then it's on it's way out of town. That is exactly what happened this time too! I chased it down though and it was moving to the next town over so we were FINALLY able to do our carnival shoot. I had a fun and willing family that just did an outstanding job. The kids were a little ticked off when they had to leave b/c their little brother had a baseball game. HE was even mad! It was great having loads of color and design everywhere but not so fun trying to dodge all the people. Since this was the first day of the town's festival it made it a bit challenging but I like incorporating some of the characters into the photos! Please enjoy "Under The Big Top!"

Rootin' Tootin' Cowgirl

It doesn't get any better than this...I photographed a 5 year old, "only child", downtown with fun props and the most laid back mom who was on board with everything! That to me is a photographer's dream! We met at the children's museum with the lime green walls and "P" looked so cute in her black and white dress against the bright colored wall. She warmed right up to me and was a real natural in front of the camera. Her mom had brought a HUGE butterfly helium balloon for a fun prop but "P" was so worried about it blowing away we only used it in a few shots. The gerber daisies were such a great pop of color and I loved her mom's bridal veil that they brought b/c we had so much wind that day it felt like we were in a wind tunnel. It worked amazing though with blowing the veil to give it some good height! We can't forget the pink cowgirl boots either! "P" wasn't crazy about the pink cowgirl hat so we had to do some coaxing at the end to get her to take a few shots with the hat. I'm glad we did b/c she looked adorable. Here's the Rootin' Tootin' Cowgirl...enjoy! I just realized I didn't use any of the shots with the gerber daisies in this blog post. Haha! In case you were wondering where those photos were...maybe next time!

Hi-Ya!

Had a great time photographing The Killeens. We just bee bopped around downtown and found cool places to shoot around. They are such a fun family that I didn't have to do much entertaining. They were entertained with each other and laughed alot which is always good. Their oldest son is about to graduate high school so they have some big changes coming up in their household but all seem ready for new and exciting things. Their youngest son, who is great friends with my son, just started playing lacrosse this year and hence the lacrosse stick and helmet in the photos. I love it! I love when the kids add their own flair to the photos. They will always remember this was the year that he started playing lacrosse. Hope you enjoy these happy and colorful photos.

Back to Life Back to Reality!

Cripes people, here I am again months later tuning into my long, lost blog. Why do these still exist? I think people still look at it my page statistics are pretty good. Ugh...it's just so hard to keep up with it when you're a one woman show. I will try and do better. The funny thing is that at the new year I made a resolution that I would post one marketing thing a day either on my blog, fb, etc. Harder than what it sounds. The truth is I don't want to be depressing or sound depressing but I started the new year off in a bit of a funk and decided that I needed to spend some time on myself. Over the past few years as my business has grown (thank you all very much) I have not been good about taking care of myself. I have spent more and more time on the computer downloading photos, editing photos,retouching photos, marketing, accounting, facebooking which equals sitting, sitting and more sitting. I have spent less time with my family all in trying to grow this business which has cost me feeling good about myself, eating right and exercising every day. When the work schedule gets crazy the gym workout is the first thing to get slashed off the list. So, with the new year I decided to focus on myself a bit more. I've entered into 2 weight loss competitions. One was a 6 week Biggest Loser contest which I did with 4 other gals in the neighborhood. That one has already ended and I did not win but I worked so hard everyday watching my diet, doing my fitness pal and getting to the gym almost 2.5 hrs. a day. That contest was based on weight alone and the girl who won lost 18 lbs. in 6 weeks. What? I know. I don't know how she did it. My second contest is the Gold's Gym Fitness Challenge and it's a 12 week contest which will end at the end of April. This one is a compilation of weight loss, inches lost, body fat lost and most improved photos (within my age category) so we'll see. I definitely am feeling better. I've lost 8 lbs. total since January which doesn't seem like a lot for the amount of work I've been putting in but it's got me looking and feeling better about myself. I'm always inspired by The Biggest Loser show and even more so now since I've been trying to lose some weight. It stinks to have to log every morsel of food that goes into your mouth but it made me realize that I was eating alot of unhealthy foods with a high calorie count. So, why am I telling you this? Because, I know lots of you out there have and may be experiencing the same thing and I'd like to hear from you. I want to be inspired by your stories of miraculous weight loss and hear about what life is like for you now. I will pick the top 3 stories that come in and then we will have our readers vote on the most inspirational. The winner gets a free "Sassy Shoot" to show off the new you! I want to reward the winner with a free photo shoot, 4x6 booklet of images and a music video of their new fab-O YOU! Email all entries to b_nellis@hotmail.com Hope to hear from you! Since I am in Austin, TX I need someone in the area! All entries need to be in by May 31, 2013 midnight.

Valentine's Gallery Wrap Special

Baby Shower in HOtlanta!

A few weeks ago, my sis and I went to Atlanta to visit one of our hometown friends that we grew up. Holly is having her first baby and we are all very excited for her. It's been a long road to get to this point so we wanted to be there to show our support. She's had some back trouble and was bed ridden for awhile and during that time she missed her scheduled maternity shoot b/c she couldn't even walk! My sister (who is the perfect gift giver) came up with the idea that I should go to the shower as well and do a maternity shoot for Holly as part of her gift. Shoot yeah! (no pun intended) I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity for a girlie weekend. We had a great time during our shoot and of course a few good laughs, too. As I worked on these photos, I thought, "Gosh, you can't even tell she's 8 months pregnant in these." It almost does look like an engagement shoot b/c she is just so tiny! Here's some of the fun...

Happy 2013 & Big Print Sale In Full Swing

You have until January 31st, 2013 to order a photographic print 16x20 or larger and get it for 1/2 off!