Atlanta Fashion Photographer, Portrait Photographer, Atlanta Georgia

Valentine’s Day to me, is another day to celebrate my love for my Honey-Guy (aka-husband Shawn). Shawn and I have been married now, for over nineteen years and counting.  Every day together seems better than the day before. Don’t ask me how, it just does!

Shawn asks me each and every day, if I will marry him, no seriously. It melts my heart every time and puts a huge smile on my face.  I tell him, if we are getting married, we need to celebrate. So we do!  Whether it is a piece of cake or a glass of wine, there is always a party at the Nickel house.

This Valentine’s day we decided to do one of our favorite things. We are going to make dinner together, light a fire in the fire place, have a glass of wine, sit together on the couch, and talk for hours. I cannot wait!

Remember Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate all kinds of love. Let your loved one/s know that he/she is loved.

Here are some images from Eric and Emily’s Beloved Couples Photography Session celebrating their engagement. Congratulations you two. You make an amazing couple!

It’s not too late to give your valentine a gift he/she will not forget. Give me a call and set up your beloved couples photography session today. I offer gift certificates too! 678.773.2562 or Karen@nickelweddings.com

Atlanta Senior Portrait Session

Creative Senior Portrait Session

School is in full swing and so are Senior Portrait Sessions. Since a lot of Seniors come to us asking how to prepare for their session, we thought it would be helpful to guide you on how to get ready for your unique shoot.

First is finding the location that suits you best. We love new places and are willing to travel to fun areas, cool sceneries, and are thrilled to find places that truly reflect your personality. Whether it’s the urban feel your going for or a beautiful country scene, we have you covered.

Second is wardrobe. Wear what YOU like. It needs to be clothes that make you feel good. Remember, these are your senior photos, when looking back years later it will mean more to you in the photos that you have your lucky hat or your favorite jeans.

Wear something that holds great memories like the worn-in Converse kicks you sported everyday in high school. Of course we like changing things up too. So bring another outfit or two that expresses your style.

Lastly: bring a personal piece that means something to you. Is it that old Polaroid camera that you carried around all the time taking photos of your friends? Or maybe it’s that funky chair in your room that you love to sit in while you chat on the phone.

Hey, want to go crazy? That family piano where you learned all those school recitals lug it out into a beautiful field. Why not? You’ll only graduate from high school one time and the pictures should take you right back to that time in your life.

Remember that this personal piece is to add to your photos and give them a sense of uniqueness that only you can bring to the photo session. The more real and authentic you are, the more in love with these photos you’ll be.

Fall in love with your senior portrait

Let us help you fall in love with your senior photos. Stand out from the crowd and show who you really are to the world. We’re excited to get started…

Give us a call to get your senior Portrait session scheduled today.

I just love watching little ones explore.  Seeing what they see, hearing what they hear, and just enjoying the little things…it makes me forget all the other stuff on the long list of  “to-do’s” .

Meet Miss Avery. Avery has a soft quietness about her, but you could tell her little mind was going 100 miles per minutes.

Children’s Photographer -Karen Nickel Deep Thoughts

We as parents always think our children need things, and a lot of things to keep them learning and busy.  We find out quickly that our children are just as happy with rocks, fallen tree branches, and boxes.

Well, Avery is that very child I’m talking about. I was quite surprised (being that she was a girl) that she too just loved playing with rocks. As many as Avery could carry, she carried. Some would fall out of her hands, and she would just stop, pick them up and see if she could fit anymore in her hands. She wanted every one she could find, she even started handing them to her Mom and Dad, so she could have more and more. It was too cute. They were not just rocks to her, they were treasures, and she wanted them all. All that to say, I really enjoyed following her around to catch her exploring.

Pictures above taken by children’s photographer- Karen Nickel

How to Prepare for a Family Portrait Shoot

If you’re wanting a great family shoot but are asking yourself “What exactly should I be preparing for?” Then you have come to the right place! We want our families to know what to expect when coming to a family shoot and I think the best way for you to understand is to know Karen Nickel Photography’s hope for family shoots.

We truly want to create images that reflect your family, capturing who you are, on a day to day basis. This means ignoring the camera and interacting with your children as you would if we weren’t around.

Laugh, be silly, love on your kids and let them be themselves. When these types of authentic moments happen, the photos taken are so real and some of our favorites. The personalities of you and your children jump out of the photo.

Tips for a Family Portrait Shoot

Now here are some tips on how to make  it happen on your part.

First, pick your location. If you do not have a location in mind, we would be glad to help you with that but this is a great opportunity  to do something as family, that you all enjoy doing  together.

It might be your local park, or an ice cream shop you visit often. Now, there’s a chance that something doesn’t come to mind, so it might not be a location, but something your family does together. Maybe it’s kite flying or that great big bubbler that gets the kids so excited.

Whatever it is, as long as it is a part of your family, we are all about capturing it!

Second: Choose your outfits. Again, this is a time to show who you are.

Now let’s go ahead and get the question of “Should we all match?” out of the way but answering “No!” Unless you match as a family daily…why match in the photos?

Let the kids wear their favorite outfits or even costumes (because one day you’re going to miss your little boy running around in his super man cape). The outfit should be something that shows all the different personalities, but please make sure everyone is comfortable.

Third, speaking of comfort, remember snacks and drinks for the kids. This will make a world of a difference for the kids and the photos.

Fourth step goes out to families with younger children: If your child loves his/her little blanket or your little girl has a favorite doll then bring it along. It could make for some sweet memories.

Fifth and final step is for you and your family to enjoy, relax and be yourselves. If you are still worried we won’t get photos of the family all together smiling, we still make time for some of those too.

Give us a call to set up your next family portrait shoot. We look forward to hearing from you.

For a Family Portrait Shoot, please call Karen Nickel Photography at 678.773.2562

We would be kidding ourselves if everyone was right for us. And it’s important to know what our clients look like before you hire us for your next shoot.

Karen Nickel Photography offers a unique photojournalist style for every photo session. Now if you’re asking yourself…”hmmm, what is that exactly?”…let us explain.

Instead of creating a posed photo, we love to just step into the dynamic relationships we are photographing and capture moments of true authenticity. Real laughs, real smiles, real emotions. We would rather be documenting these real moments then having everyone looking into the camera saying “CHEESE!”

Why take a shot of everyone posing if that’s not who you really are? We strive to photograph the interaction between siblings, couples and families, like dad’s funny face he makes when telling a joke, or your sisters smile when she is being silly. That’s what we want: we want real.

And our clients want real too. We have had the amazing opportunity to photograph clients that are willing to relax and be themselves in front of the camera. When this vulnerability happens, we create our most prized images.

We measure our success when anyone can look at our photos and experience the personality of the people we photograph. Now if you’re saying “Yes! That’s me.” Then call us for your next shoot – we can’t wait to step into your world and capture beautiful moments.

I {Anna here}  have been initiated! My first week at Karen Nickel Photography was marked by my first experience with a family photo shoot.

Although my list is growing, I will say one of the things that I added to “Reasons Why Photography Is Such A Cool Job” List is the fact you get invited into someone’s world. On this particular shoot Karen and I got to step into little seven month old Zachary’s world. A world surrounded by love and exploration.

Child Portrait

Just this afternoon we were discussing how children have this ability to find so much joy in the small things, things we too often skip over. So for a small moment I became captivated by little Zachary’s delights, his eager eyes and his infectious smile that stretched across his adorable face. To say the least, the photo shoot was a wonderful time to peek into Zachary’s world filled with his parent’s love and his pure joy over all things new to him.

Enjoy a few of the photos taken that day and maybe for a moment let yourself be in Zachary’s World-

I had the incredible opportunity to photograph a friend recently. Nina has been a part of my boys and my life for the last few years as a swim coach with an extraordinary personality.

She is the kind of person that brings life to a room. She has a big heart and the love she has for life shines through her. Seeing her delight in the simple things life has to offer was eye opening. Today, if nothing else, remember to stop and be in the moment, look around, there is so much beauty we are missing. Thanks Nina for making me stop.

Have you ever thought about capturing a very romantic photograph of you and your partner?  Well you aren’t alone – couples photography is becoming very popular.

It can be as simple as a photograph of a kiss on the neck – revealing the passion you have between you.  Or it can contain humor, pogo sticks and trampolines. It’s all about showing the bond between two loving couple.

Passion and romance  are some of my favorite subjects to photograph. I’m a sucker for a love story.I consider myself fortunate that people trust me to create  beautiful and lasting romantic images for them.

Romantic couples ~ on Valentines day

I received a call about a month ago,  from a gentleman (Jerry) who wanted to surprise his girlfriend with a couples session on Valentine’s day. The first thing that crossed my mind was, wow, this guy is one of those rare romantics.

We set up the couples session and met on Valentine’s day in the afternoon. The  location Jerry chose was, historic downtown Roswell.  I got to talking to Jerry’s girlfriend, Tiffany, and she explained that Jerry had, had a full day planned out for her. The only things I remember are…they went to the downtown Atlanta Aquarium, had lunch (of course), met me for their couples session, and then were off to a nice romantic Italian (my favorite) restaurant for dinner.

This couple was one of those couples that had that amazing connection, you now what I am talking about, the kind of connection that you don’t see too often and you just know that they are meant to be together. Please enjoy a few of their moments together.

Photo above ~Romantic couples basking in their love for each other.

To be honest, I have never seen snow come down so hard, and accumulate so quickly here in GA. I was so excited I could barely stand it. I was hoping my newly engaged couple was just as excited as I was!

When I arrived, I discovered that they were excited, but not real sure about the whole thing. I let them know that  cloudy weather is one of the best times to photograph. I also told them that they are probably the among the few people  in GA who are given the opportunity to have  their pictures in the snow (so rare here in the South). They quickly agreed, and we were on our way to experiencing the snowy weather together and we had a blast!