Water Minx

June 3, 2009

Well i guess Winter is here…. and with the horrible weather we have been having here in Wellington, we are officially stuck indoor.
It has been freezing these past couple of months….in fact im pretty sure we skipped autumn altogether and we are having an extra long winter, Yikes!

So anyway, i haven’t got a chance to shoot outdoor with all the rain and the hail and the frost….so we decided to to take some pics indoor instead.
In our bathroom nonetheless where we have the best light of course! LOL

I thought i’d share Claudia’s recent pics…..she has always been a water baby and she loves the water so we decided to have a flower bath and have fun
taking pics at the same time. Hope you enjoy these pics!

dsc_8139_smaller

dsc_8183_bw

dsc_8145

dsc_8196

dsc_8153_passion-honey-haze

Sylvia: It's nice to see some of the different views Natalia, they are all so cute! What a wonderful little model you have!

en.en: her eyelashes are soo long that makes her eyes look like they have natural eyeliner =)

ShutterKab: A true mermaid, indeed. Your daughter is so lovely and always makes such a photogenic model. The second would have been great in color as well. Love the hydrangea petals. And you're always so creative with all your images.

Competition Winner!

April 25, 2009

I just wanted to share a good news today…

Last month i entered Canon Contest in a local Photography Magazine Called ‘The Photographers Mail” and the theme was “Capture the joy and freedom of playtime”.
I sent one picture of my daughter that i snapped while she was playing ‘princesses’ with her best friend.

And guess what???!!
I just received an email a couple of days ago from the magazine editor saying that my entry has won a merit prize which was a Canon PIXMA printer!
Isn’t that awesome? Im so happy coz i never won a real prize list from a magazine competition before!

So i thought i’d share my excitement here…oh and here is a preview of the image i sent for the contest:
dsc_7624_winning-shot

charlie: awesome!!! congrats!!

Sebrina: That is so great!! Cute picture! Congratulations!

maureen: congratulations, its a wonderful and fun image!!

sapa: woohoooo!!!!

Jeff: So awesome, Natalia! I can see why this won...captures the joy of childhood, for sure!

en.en: this deserve to win! everytime i look at this photo, it brings up a smile =) congrats Nat!

lilylyn: congrats natalia..this photo is really cute

Cristina: You rockstar! Well done!! Adorable shot :)

Vanille: Congratulations ! They look both so pretty. Great capture !

Teresa: Congrats Natalia!!! I love this shot - it captures such lovely childhood fun:)

KaraRL: Congratulations! It's so sweet!

Karen Mowrey: Excellent! I recently found you on FLickr and was thrilled to see you started a blog. Fabulous photo!

Jen: Not surprised , you're work is awesome! Congratz.

SYLV: CONGRATULATIONS!!

SYLV: CONGRATULATIONS!! All your photos are AMAZING!

the knack of flying…

April 19, 2009

So we have been promising Miss C that she could go and try the BigAir BUNGY in the Wellington waterfront….
its one of those multiple bungy cords attached to a harness (in which the jumper is secured) super-boosts the traditional trampoline experience
giving a gravity-defying ride which has all the adrenaline of bungy jumping.

you can jump up to eight metres in the air off a trampoline, looking down on the crowd from more than two storeys up….
all the jumpers are secured and safe in their adjustable purpose-built harness, they are free to experiment with acrobatic movements
or to simply jump as high as they can.

Every single time we drove passed the waterfront she always point to the bungy and said “mummy i wanna try that and jump up high in the air!”
well we have managed to hold off taking her until yesterday.

So we went to the waterfront yesterday afternoon…and she was so excited and a bit nervous too when we were lining up
but after her first jump she forgot all about her fear and LOVIN every minute of it!!

well im a total wuss when it comes to anything to do with heights…so you can’t pay me to do this….but apparently she wants to go again next week…lol
we took video camera there as well but here are some of the pics from her big jumping and flying experience…

here she is on her first jump preparing to take off…
dsc_0036_blog

getting more air and jumping higher…
dsc_0045

check out the excitement on her face…
dsc_0046_clean-edit_blog

dsc_0047-2_clean-edit_blog

checking out the view while she was up high…
dsc_0060_vivid-light_blog

one last bounce…
dsc_0061_blog

her highest & bigger jump…she is really proud of this one…lol
dsc_0070_blog

Sylvia: I love your blog, it looks SO great!!! And I think my fave shot of your little miss is this last one!!

Feuza: Wow- great blog and awesome pictures! congrats just added you on twitter, I am a mom and a photographer still learning

derry: very very nice shot!! love it so much ...

Sunset, sunflare and backlight…

April 16, 2009

We have been fortunate in getting some nice weather in Wellington this week….in fact it has been awesome since easter weekend,
i really hope it stays this way.

So i had the chance to go shooting with my girl when the sun was setting and it was the perfect time to practice backlighting
and getting those golden sunflare pics that i adore…

However, before i share the pics i wanted to asked you guys for some feedback….
I have been getting more and more emails from a lot of people asking me how do i process my photos and how do i get the colours and my workflows in editing…..and i tried to reply to most of the emails i get and help you guys with your questions, and like i said in pretty much all of my emails my workflow consist of LR editing because i shoot in RAW….and then when i need to i re-polish them in Photoshop.

Now over time i have been developing quite a few of my own presets because of my personal taste and how i like my photos to look, so i tend re-use them often for my future processing. So because of the emails i get i have been thinking that maybe i should be offering some my presets for sale…there will be two different types of presets because i process my macro photos a bit differently from how i edit my portraits.

Now i know there are already a lot of presets and actions for sale out there so if im going to do this im going to make it very affordable for everyone,
however i thought i’d get this idea out here first and i really would like to know if this would be something that you guys will be interested in or not…
so yeah…..please let me know what you think ok?

Oh and please be gentle in your feedback….if you totally hate it then just say its not a good idea…
or if you prefer you can send me your personal feedback via email.
my email: ncphotography@xtra.co.nz

Alrighty, so without further ado… here are some of my fave sunflare pictures from this week.

dsc_9731_blog

dsc_9789_blog

dd-collage_blog

dsc_9848_bw_blog

dsc_9864_blog

Julia: Natalia, the last photo is amazing!!!!!! (got here from your photostream)

Sebrina: Just love that you have a blog.. I will be back for sure!!

Annalise Arnold: I adore your work on flickr and helpful insight on ILP. You are such an inspiration to me. I have always loved photography that "takes me places" and you definitely have done that for me. I am definitely interested in the actions and presets! This last picture is magnificent!

Ann Wiechmann: I too love to follow you on Flickr. Your work is very unique, I can often tell from the thumbnail that a picture is by you. I love how you process your photos and would definitely be interested in your presets. I'm happy to see that you have a blog and will check in regularly. I hope you'll do lots of photography related posts, along the lines of the photography section of the Pioneer Woman blog. I know we could all learn so much from you. Thanks for sharing your beautiful images and your knowledge!

Sylvia: I love every one of these, but am partial to the second one. The bokeh along the tree edge is to die for, and of course, the backlight in her hair. I would love your presets, but first I have to start shooting in raw huh? And I don't have LR either just PS CS3.

Marie: superbes images !

nia: Lia, the last photo is amazing, luv it :-) and also the black & white, Claudia looks mature.

Crystal: I just discovered your blog today via ILP and I'm in AWE of your portraits and Macro. I am dipping my toes in Macro and you are SO inspiring. And your portraits...dear lord! Ha! And I LOVE your editing. I have LR but don't use it. But if you sold actions...I WOULD BUY THEM! Please record some actions and sell them...PLEASE! You have a BIG fan here!

Natalia: LOL thanks for visiting my blog Crystal :) unfortunately i dont use actions so much anymore since i found Lightroom so i don't know if i would be spending a lot of time developing actions that i dont normally use. If you dont use Lightroom i would highly recommended it, its such a powerful editing tool and a non- destructible one too. it has even cut my workflow time in half....its amazing! i would really encourage you to give it a try! ;-)

Sweet Easter

April 13, 2009

Well easter is finally over in our side of the world and back to work today….but the remains of easter is still very much evident in our house. Yesterday we were running a household high on sugar….like always every easter our house is full of chocolate & candy and everything sweet (a haven for my lil girl..lol).

So I just had to take a few pics of my lil girl with her easter bunny….she willingly let me take this shots because i told her she can eat the bunny after i take pics….yeah sweet bribes works everytime! lol

dsc_9935_bokeh_round-corner

dsc_9920_round-corner

collage_blog

Boo: All so lovely Natalia!! I'll link it on to mine!! Glad you and yours had a happy and sugar filled Easter! Boo x

aziza: Love your new blog Natalia.. pretty photos:)

Megan: I'm loving your photos and your blog, just thought I'd comment on this one because my boys had similar bunnies this easter :o) That red spotty reflection shot is stunning!

Good friday fun with danbo…

April 11, 2009

Well we have a lot of easter eggs in our home so we decided we’ll take some shot for the up coming easter.
Had a lot of fun yesterday playing with danbo and some cute lil easter chicks….my lil girl let me borrow a few of her easter ‘golden’ eggs for the fun shots

here are a few cute ones we really like…

dsc_6397_blog

dsc_6385_blog

dsc_6353_blog

dsc_6712_blog

Angie: OMG!! The Danbo is soo cute! I've never even seen that!

Elle: where can you get danbo i. want. danbo. lol i want apple hehehe!!!

INTRODUCING…my very first Photoblog!

April 8, 2009

Well after a pretty steep learning curve and spending almost a few days researching and reading, I finally have a photoblog up and running.Yay!

Special thank you for Lawrence at Tofurious for helping me sort out the kinks while trying to setup this blog. He is totally awesome!

So im going to celebrate this momentous achievement (well it is for me lol)…here are some of my favorite images of my lil muse from this year.
I hope you enjoy them!

channeling-mary-poppins_blog

dsc_9222_blog

under-my-umbrella_blog

dsc_8821_blog

dsc_9076_blog_wm

dsc_9095_blog

Teresa Murphy: Oh Natalia, your blog is beautiful!

maureen: Your shots of your daughter are so wonderful, she is so cute, the perfect model and the captures are magical !! :~)

Sylvia: Yay Natalia, I will be following this for sure!! It looks beautiful!

derry: OMG, it's very amazing!! i really love claudia pics, and i hope i can see her soon!! I Miss her so muchhh sis ... Tell her that her uncle (spotty face if she could remember) misses her so much !!!

alain robillard: You know mate.. i was just showing my partner in life your blog.... and i was telling her how much i find your cutie sooooo beautiful...and she agrees..:-)) your an amazing photographer.. xxoo

helen: it's beautiful nat! i love the banner at the top! and of course the pics :)

Jill: Your blog looks great! I love tofurious as well. Photos are beautiful, I'll be stopping back in :)

Sue Gary: Wow this is a gorgeous site and blog..so professional and the images are beautiful of course..glad I stopped by for a look!

⌈Hy⌋: awwww... your daughter is so adorable... and the captures are fabulous.

jimonge: uou! beautifully taken & inspirational photos!

Exodus: i was looking for some danbo's photos on flickr. then i found your stream. such amazing things! just want to say that i LOVE you photos. thank you for creating such beauty. <3

clarencema: i love the series and ur blog.. great photography..

daiane;: Own, your daughter is beautiful, she is so adorable: D Congratulations on the quality of photos, you are a very good photographer! Your photos are perfect!

para: my goodness..mind blowing..i dint kno i was sitting beside one of the most creative and talented person at telecom..u r truly a gifted person..hats off!!!!by the way i have still my mouth open...wunder struck!!!phew..and ofcourse ur daughter is the best model..shes picture perfect,so cute!

Natalia: Thanks Para, your lovely words really made my day ;-)

Lawrence Chan @tofurious: You're welcome :) I must say, your images are AMAZING! Keep it up!