Have you ever felt a connection to a place…as if you had lived there in your dreams or in a past life…or was just so fascinated with the culture that you couldn’t resist the urge to travel there?  Well, for over a decade now I’ve felt that way about Africa, and now I finally will be going there!  However, this won’t be just another trip.  I’ve done plenty of traveling for business, or just for fun in the past.  This time my heart & soul is motivating me to take a different kind of journey, one with a mission to spread the powers of photography to others across the world.  I will be traveling with 3 amazing photographers, Meredith, Lindsay, & Molly to Kenya this fall to bring the gift of photography to orphaned children in Kenya while working with the non-profit organization, Friends Vision.  If you have ever seen the movie, Born into Brothels, you may understand the powers of photography on underprivileged children….if you haven’t seen it, add it to your Netflix list now!

Amy & Brian Weiner (top center) with a group of children in Africa. This is the couple responsible for inspiring me to volunteer my services in Kenya.

OUR VISION:
- Collect cameras for the children to keep and use at various Friends Vision children’s rescue centers in Kenya, Africa.
- Teach the children how to use a camera, basic processing of their images, & how to share their perspective of their world from behind the lens.  Photography will help the kids express themselves. It’s a way for them to create & capture their own memories, as well as a valuable skill that could help them earn a living in the future.
- Document the lives of these children and the volunteer work being done by Friends Vision to help spread their message of hope, love, and education to others, as well as to aide in their fundraising abilities.
- Create beautiful portraits of the children to help increase their confidence and sense of self-worth.  These portraits can also be for used to help with the Friends Vision child sponsorship program.
- Inspire and motivate other photographers to embrace our vision and give back to the world by continuing this journey on a regular basis.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
- Donate your USED (or new!) DIGITAL CAMERA for us to take with us to give to the kids.  We’re looking for digital cameras in working order with all the necessary parts, if possible (batteries, chargers, cards, card readers, etc.).  So if you have an old digital camera, even if its 10yrs. old and only 2 megapixels, as long as it works we will take it!  We are also more then happy to take any donated laptops or small digital printers in working order.   If you are located in Denver please email me at nicolenicholsphoto-at-gmail.com  to arrange for pick-up or for an address to ship your items to.
- Donate your FREQUENT FLYER MILES.  If you have accumulated miles that you’re not going to use, we’d love to have them!  It may help us get over there a bit more cheaply.  Sign up for an account at points.com, or contact your airline / credit card company… here’s some more info about transferring your miles.  If you need my frequent flyer numbers in order to transfer miles, just let me know which airline you’ll be transferring from!
- Donate FINANCIALLY. You can make donations towards my trip at my YouCaring account.    We’re each trying to raise $2600 to cover expenses associated with this project.  Any money raised over our goal amounts will go straight to Friends Vision as a donation.
- Join us at an upcoming FUNDRAISER EVENT…more details of that to come!

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for all your help.
Nicole Nichols

“The camera, now as ever, empowers the individual to engage with others from the other side of town or the other side of the world.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Above is a video of one of the children’s rescue centers in Thika that Friends Vision works very closely with. Many of the children pictured in this video have been sponsored through Friends Vision and are currently attending school.

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!! In celebration of Fat Tuesday here is a slideshow of some of my favorite all time pictures of carnival in New Orleans. If you are stuck at work today, then make sure you add Mardi Gras to your calendar for next year… and if you are celebrating Mardi Gras with the rest of the city in New Orleans today, then look out for me on Frenchmen St. in the French Quarter.  I’ll be the peacock dancing in the streets! Laissez les bons temps roulez!!
If you enjoy the pictures and want a fine art print to hang on your wall, then please check out my full collection of New Orleans Fine Art Photography, where I have lots of prints and wall art for sale! Free shipping through this week with code “FreeShipping”

Destination wedding photography in Venice, Italy

I recently had the honor of traveling to Venice, Italy to photograph Talia & Kris’ destination wedding.  When I first met with this couple they were only considering hiring me for their Denver wedding, but after lots of meeting, talking, and negotiating they realized the importance of having the same photographer cover both events, as well as having an English speaking photographer that they could easily communicate with and trust to not only document their day, but provide them with quality images & albums after the wedding day.  I fell in love with Italy and the Italian culture after my first trip backpacking through the country many years ago.  So when I booked this job it truly was a dream come true for me to not only have the opportunity to go back, but to photograph a wedding there as well.  It was a spectacular wedding day, and I was so glad my husband was also able come along to assist.  I promised to wait till their Colorado wedding last night to post any pictures online, so that she could keep her dress a surprise to all of her Denver wedding guests.  However, with the extra time I was able to put together this spectacular mini-music video/slideshow below.  We displayed it for the very first time at their wedding reception last night at Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant, which was really neat to see the family’s reaction…full of lots of hugs, awes, and even tears.  For a glimpse into their amazing Italian destination wedding watch the video below and please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

scenes around the French Quarter

On Friday I had an early morning meeting with a client in the beautiful courtyard of her hotel in the French Quarter. The weather was so warm & the air so inviting, that I decided to do some wandering around the French Market. I bought a handmade hair piece from an artist, then the breeze of the river enticed me for a walk along its levee.

Musicians on the Mississippi River

From there the smells of chicory coffee & the smiles of the giddy tourists guided me to the corner of Cafe du Monde.

Cafe du Monde

I then followed my ears to the beats of Young Fellaz Brass Band playing on Decauter St.. I danced a little, smiled a lot, took some shots (the camera type), tipped of course, and then went on my way to see what other surprises & entertainment awaited me in the French Quarter.

Young Fellaz Brass Band

I stopped at a Community Coffee for a cafe au lait & to spend a couple hours catching up on business.  An oyster po-boy for lunch, with a mocha almond ice cream daiquiri for dessert, mmm…yummy! Then time to walk it off with some window shopping on Royal St., where I found Tanner’s amazing paintings that are now added to my fine art wish list.  Below is a picture I took through the gallery’s window, be sure to check out their website to see some of his work.

New Orleans artist - Tanner

From there I headed to my favorite spot in the Quarter, Jackson Square.  I chatted with a few street artists in the square, particularly Sher Stewart, who greatly enjoyed talking to me about Denver. She doesn’t have a website or email, but was very happy to know that her picture would be shown on my blog on the internet, as she hopes it will bring more people to find & purchase from her in person.

New Orleans street artist in Jackson Square

Spring is a popular time of year for tourists & festivals in New Orleans.   The street artists, musicians, and horse buggy drivers take full advantage of the increase of people in town.  Musicians could be found on every street corner, including the unique sounds of The Jaded Optimists below.

Locals decorate their doors & homes in sometimes some quite unusual & unexpected ways.  And everywhere you turn in the French Quarter music is celebrated.  Below is the monthly line up at Balcony Music Club & one resident’s uniquely decorated doorway.

photography of the French Quarter

Pictures around the French Quarter in New Orleans

I finally headed back to my car, but not before one last detour. I walked past the R Bar & saw that they were hosting a free crawfish boil! So I decided I could hang around for another hour or so to take advantage of that. I took one more cafe break to catch up with some photo editing, then headed to the R Bar for a plate of hot boiled crawfish & an Abita beer. I don’t know if anything could have made this work day in the Quarter any better. Life is good.
To see more pictures of this stroll through the French Quarter, go to Nicole Nichols Photography Facebook Page.
Signed limited edition prints of my New Orleans fine art photography can also be purchased online.

streetcar on Canal St. in New Orleans

Last weekend I celebrated my 30th birthday in my hometown and favorite city of New Orleans.   I was originally planning on shooting a wedding Friday night, but to my dismay the groom  called it off.  With my flight already booked & less then a month to go I decided to just make the most of it & add another day of fun to my birthday weekend.  My birthday week didn’t start off well, I caught my nephew’s nasty cold and you know I must be feeling really bad when I even turn down a chance to see my fave New Orleans band, The Rebirth Brass Band, play their Tuesday night gig at the Maple Leaf.   But the week of resting was worth it as thankfully I finally started feeling good enough by Friday night to make it out to see the classic jazz performers at Preservation Hall, have a mojito at Pat O’Brien’s, and then take in some random events around the French Quarter.  It was the first time my associate photographer, Ashley, had been to New Orleans so I also had to take her by a few must-see spots such as Cafe du Monde, where instead of beignets we caught a glimpse of Mars (see slideshow).  Saturday was my big night out on Frenchmen St. with friends, and I was very thankful Ashley was willing to document the night for me & let me leave my camera home. Sunday started with a Bloody Mary & a Saints win, relaxing in Lafayette Square with musician Jon Cleary at the Blues & BBQ festival, and finished off with a sunset view of the city from on top one of New Orleans many hidden rooftop patios, and a  sloppy spicy dinner from Coops. It was definitely a great way to spend my 30th!  Check out some of my fave fun shots of NOLA below.  A few of these pictures will be available soon for sale, or check out some of my other fine art photography of New Orleans for sale online.

Last week I was dragged kicking and screaming to Vegas…OK I’m lying.   Who wouldn’t want to go to WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International)?   It is the biggest annual convention and trade show for photographers in the US, and with the amount of international photographers I met, possibly even worldwide!   All the big celebrity photographers were there from Dennis Reggie to Gary Fong, as well as just about every photography vendor from Adorama to Zookbooks.   I’m so excited about all the new ideas and lessons I came home with which will really expand my offerings to my clients.  One concept widely talked about was the integration of video into DSLR cameras.  As soon as I found out a few months ago that Nikon’s new D300s had a video mode I started saving up for one.  And while myself and the other video inspired photographers I talked to do not really have any desire to switch over to videography, its just a new cool feature that we can implement into our creative offerings.   Currently the audio and video capabilities with DSLR cameras are really poor compared to what a pro video camera can do.  You also can not capture both video and photos simultaneously, so please don’t ask me to shoot your wedding video too, but once I get the hang of this I can’t wait to see what I can come up with.  If you’re curious to see what these cameras can do so far, scroll down to watch my first attempt at shooting a video…it will get better I promise.

Above – An intriguing Boudoir photography workshop.

Below – The WPPI convention had me up before sunrise every morning with meetings and workshops that went late into the night…but the last night in town was celebrated by a party hosted by Pictage at Studio 54.   That’s me at the bottom with 2 of my favorite Denver photographers, Happy & Tricia.

Check out my first attempt to create a video with with my new camera.

On Tuesday, the first day of autumn, I took a photo road trip with my friend Stephanie who was in town from New Orleans and our friend Kendall who was our fabulous tour guide. We drove out to Kenosha Pass which is recommended as the best spot for fall pictures in Colorado. We had a lot of fun taking pictures and just being silly girls with no agenda. We had to take a fisheye self-portrait at every stop and the sun even came out for 30 seconds, just long enough to get a fun shadow portrait. And just as we were on our way back commenting how great it would be to find somewhere to grab a bite…low and behold we come across a huge hot dog off the highway! A Coney Island hot dog stand that is. Don’t ask me how that got there, but it was a perfect ending to a perfect drive. Oh, and if there is a Max & Jim out there contact me for a free photo shoot, my tree carving picture would make a great addition to a couples photo!