Well, I've promised myself that I will start posting sessions to my blog. It's just ridiculous that I don't . . . . I have no good reason other than sheer laziness. So here we go!

This was a fabulous bridal from a few weeks ago. Stephanie and Doug were amazing to work with . . . . fun, a little crazy and always down with my off-the-wall ideas. Not to mention gracious and kind.

Anyway, for every wedding session I do, I create what I call my artist's choice images. So here are my art images from this session . . . .

This was their fav image from the session, I think . . . . edited with my new chic vintage set . . .

This was my fav, I think . . . . again edited with my chic vintage

 

Yay! I launched a new action set and new texture set earlier this week and I'm sooooooo in love. These have to be my favorite products in quite a while. I've been editing like this for several months and just finally decided to pull it all together into an action set. You can see all the details in my Flourish shop:

Flourish Emporium

So how's about some teaser images?

This is the Chic Vintage Action and Texture set. It features 7 main actions and 6 supporting actions, to give you a wide variety of looks. A few samples:

In addition to the Chic Vintage Actions, I also have a new texture set, Dolci Textures. This set is as sweet as its name. This texture set is gently soft, adding that perfect punch of texture without overwhelming your photo. I love these textures sooooo much! A few samples:

Oh man, am I ever late with this post?!! Honestly, I have no excuse. The May workshop was every bit as fabulous as the April workshop. Wonderful food, gorgeous people and incredible energy and creativity! Thank you so much ladies for such a wonderful workshop! It was such an amazing time!

A few pictures:

And for those who are wondering, I think I have just one more space left in my professional workshop in August in SLC if you're wanting a workshop here in the US. I also still have some slots left in my London and Sydney workshops as well! So sign up while you can!

Well, it's official! Enrollment is now open for my London, England and Sydney, Australia workshops! Yay! I'm so excited. The workshops promise to be amazing!

You can see all the details on my workshop website:

{life as art} professional workshops

If the website looks the same to you as it has in the past, you might have the flash cached on your computer. You can either clear your cache, or you can just click here to view the details:

London Details

Sydney Details

Don't hesitate to email if you have any questions!

And here's just a taste of what I've been up to lately . . . . think new vintage action set and a new gentle texture set. I'm so in love with the vintage action set . . . . it's so soft and dreamy and just plain elegant!

I just have to thank all the fabulous women who attended my April workshop last weekend. What an amazing time we all had!!! It was so fabulous to meet you all and spend time together. My poor voice is still recovering but I hope that it will come back here soon. Other than my froggy voice, I so thoroughly enjoyed myself!

A few images from the workshop:

Thanks again, everyone! It was so fantastic!

Well, I've decided to add 2009 professional workshop dates in Sydney, Australia and London, England. So here are the details!

Professional Workshop in Sydney, Australia on July 23-25, 2009. Cost $1095 aud. Location TBA but most likely will be in the Cronulla Beach area.

Professional Workshop outside London, England on September 28-30, 2009. Cost £750. The workshop will be held in the Library of historic Hanbury Manor. You can choose to stay in the manor or there are other less expensive hotels just down the road. We will have access to the gardens for shooting during the workshop. Check out this location if you have a few minutes. It is truly amazing!

Both workshops will begin the first night with a dinner and group discussion. The next two days will be filled with in-depth discussions of creativitiy, composition, technical aspects, all things glorious and photoshop, on-location shooting and ways to make your business work for you. The workshop registration will also include a $100 usd gift certificate to my Flourish Emporium online shop.

I will be opening up both workshops for registration within the next week or two, once I have all the final details and reservations in place. If you're interested in being placed on a waiting list for the workshops or just want to be sure that you receive email updates about them, please email me at nichole@nicholeV.com.

Yay! I'm so excited about these new workshops!

Ok, first of all, thank you soooooo much for taking the time to submit a name for my poor old truck. It's been so fun reading through your posts and seeing all the fun, creative things that you all came up with! I so appreciate you taking the time to share your fun ideas with me!

Before announcing my name choice, I have to acknowledge some of my favorite posts and my runner-up names.

My mom voted for Conni's suggestion of Theodore Blu and Claudia's suggestion of Senhor Theodore because I named my teddy bear Theodore as a child.

I loved do many of the names you suggested with Ford in the name, like Buford and Rutherford and Rik's suggestion of Henry the Ford.

Actually, many of you suggested Henry and Edward. I liked the names, but as those are family names, when I would say, "Let's go visit Ed," I didn't want to have to explain which Ed I meant. My family has a bad habit of naming everything and everyone the same 10 names, I swear, so I thought that I would break from that tradition.

I also really liked Shannon's suggestion of Medwyn, as it seemed a strong nod to my Celtic heritage.

I got a good laugh over Miesje's suggestion of PAT -- Photographer's Assitant Truck.

And Robyn gets the best alliteration award for her comment: "Freakin' fantabulous Frank. He's a little frazzled and on the fritz, but he's funny and flirty and an F100 Ford. Just don't paint him fuchia." As a former English instructor, I couldn't let such excellent literary skills pass without commenting on them!

The English teacher in me also loved Brekke's suggestion of Walt as a reference to Walt Whitman and his poem "To a Stranger."

But in the end, there was one name that stuck with me. I don't know why excatly, but as soon as I read the post, both my husband and I said, "Yep, that's the name!"

So my truck is now officially named

Harrison the Ford

as suggested by Jennifer Clare. I know many of you suggested Harry and even Ford, but the whole Harrison Ford connection didn't click until Jennifer's post. And he's definitely a Harrison, not a Harry. So thank you so much, Jennifer for your clever suggestion. And if I don't email you first, please email me to claim your prize!

As for everyone else, I do so appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment and I'm going to be emailing everyone who posted a special gift certificate for $10 off your next Flourish Emporium purchase. So look for that in your inbox within the next day or so!

Thanks again and stay tuned for a big announcement tomorrow. I'm adding two new workshop dates for 2009 and you'll be excited to see where they are . . . .