Turning 50 - It’s almost here. It’s a good, midway number. Reflections on my first 50 years.
Rochester, MN Senior Photographer | Nina - Class of 2020
The 2020 school year has come to an end for many of the students in SE Minnesota…and boy, will it be one to remember! Who would have thought our kids would be doing distance learning for almost three months, and that our high school seniors would lose out on the pomp and circumstance of their final months in high school? All of the end of the year activities they’d normally see were either cancelled (prom) and/or seriously reduced to a lack luster event (a drive up graduation “ceremony”). There will be more milestones ahead, but it’s sad that this one…high school graduation, had to take a backseat to a pandemic.
I’m decided to get caught up on posting some of my 2020 seniors. I put them on Facebook and Instagram, but am not always good about blogging. But these seniors deserve every bit of fanfare they can get right now, so here is my blog post, dedicated solely to Nina! Nina is…or rather was…a 2020 graduate from Century High School. She’ll be attending the University of MN in the Twin Cities in the fall, major yet undecided. Smart girl…as I changed majors THREE times and it took me seven years to graduate. This summer, she’s working hard at three jobs…I’m guessing she’ll be ready to head back to school!
Nicole Mills Photography specializes in photographing girls and women of all ages. If you live in SE Minnesota and are looking for a photographer that is dedicated to her craft and will provide you the most amazing portraits you've ever seen of yourself, then please get in touch with Nicole Mills Photography to schedule your complimentary consultation.
Located in downtown Pine Island, the Nicole Mills Photography studio offers everything you need to make your portrait experience one to remember forever. You'll find a full studio wardrobe to choose from, including beautiful gowns, casual separates, and even unique, custom designs created by Nicole for a one-of-a-kind portrait you and your family will treasure forever.
Nicole Mills Photography offers fully stylized sessions both in her Pine Island studio and outdoors in Rochester, MN and surrounding areas. Whether you're looking for senior photographs, maternity, business head shots, or simply some beautiful images of you and/or your family, Nicole Mills Photography provides unparalleled service, quality of work, and unique artwork you'll want to hand down for generations to come.
Now serving: Rochester, Pine Island, Byron, Kasson, Mantorville, Oronoco, Stewartville, Zumbrota, Wanamingo, Eyota, St. Charles, Elgin, Plainview, and more.
Contact Nicole for all questions, inquiries and to schedule a complimentary consultation.
Image Evolution - Nicole Mills Photography
Image Evolution
Prior to yesterday, I was photographing my chickens during this crazy time called Covid. I could have dragged my kiddo into the studio, but I just wasn’t feeling motivated to do that. We have five grown chickens and got four more baby chicks about a month ago, so we spent our time at home playing with them…and of course, making tutus for them to be photographed in. :) But, yesterday, not only was I motivated to go to the studio to shoot, I decided to revisit a session from last fall. This 2020 senior was one of my favorite sessions to date! Her elegance, beauty, and movement was so inspiring to me, and I wanted to capture her in as many poses as I could before she left the studio. The images filled with movement were some of my favorite, but I also love her static poses because she just knows how to make sitting look so glamorous!
I never know where an image will end up when I start editing. It all depends on the mood i’m in, the music i’m listening too, the time of day, and of course the image itself. With Grace’s images I just felt a vintage vibe coming through and I let that lead my editing. I feel her images are timeless and I wanted to portray that. So, on the left is this image pretty much right out of camera…and the image on the left is where my edit ended. I love the rich, warm tones and think they compliment her outfit, the background, and her posing. She is an absolute dream to photograph.
The image on the left is unedited, with the final image on the right. Grace Lennon, Class of 2020.
This next image is of my beautiful niece, Delanie. She was gracious enough to come to my studio yesterday because I just needed to photograph someone. She’s a 2021 senior, so I figured we might as well get started on her senior images. The first outfit she modeled was a lovely vintage nightie set I purchased recently. It was just perfect for a few day light photos before the sun was too low, so I put her near one of my studio windows and she looked just stunning. Delanie has learned to relax in front of my camera and she is now one of my favorite subjects to photograph. Her face takes on this peaceful quality that I adore capturing on camera. After editing a few of her images, I decided to turn one into a digital painting. I’m still very much learning to paint in Photoshop, so this is far from perfect, but I’m happy with it. Sadly, from a distance I don’t know that one can even tell it’s a painting, so I do want to learn to paint with broader brush strokes. There’s always a goal for my next image! For now, I’m just so thankful I was able to get back into my studio. I’m hopeful that soon I’ll be able to welcome clients back to Nicole Mills Photography! :)
2021 Byron High School Senior - Nicole Mills Photography
The original edit is on the left, and the digital painting is on the right.
Nicole Mills Photography specializes in photographing girls and women of all ages. If you live in SE Minnesota and are looking for a photographer that is dedicated to her craft and will provide you the most amazing portraits you've ever seen of yourself, then please get in touch with Nicole Mills Photography to schedule your complimentary consultation.
Located in downtown Pine Island, the Nicole Mills Photography studio offers everything you need to make your portrait experience one to remember forever. You'll find a full studio wardrobe to choose from, including beautiful gowns, casual separates, and even unique, custom designs created by Nicole for a one-of-a-kind portrait you and your family will treasure forever.
Nicole Mills Photography offers fully stylized sessions both in her Pine Island studio and outdoors in Rochester, MN and surrounding areas. Whether you're looking for senior photographs, maternity, business head shots, or simply some beautiful images of you and/or your family, Nicole Mills Photography provides unparalleled service, quality of work, and unique artwork you'll want to hand down for generations to come.
Now serving: Rochester, Pine Island, Byron, Kasson, Mantorville, Oronoco, Stewartville, Zumbrota, Wanamingo, Eyota, St. Charles, Elgin, Plainview, and more.
Contact Nicole for all questions, inquiries and to schedule a complimentary consultation.
The Queen of the Market - Nicole Mills Photography
If you’ve been following Nicole Mills Photography on Facebook, you know that I like to create DIY fashion out of unconventional materials such as paper, coffee filters, etc. Well, when I ran into a HUGE box of artificial fruits and veggies at a garage sale last Summer…well, an idea for a dress was born! And what better place to photograph a dress like this than at the farmer’s market?? Add a stunning model, such as Kahla, and a kicky pair of red heels, and we had ourselves a fun photo shoot! Kahla received plenty of attention and she’s now in MANY the cell phone photo galleries. :)
Nicole Mills Photography specializes in photographing girls and women of all ages. If you live in SE Minnesota and are looking for a photographer that is dedicated to her craft and will provide you the most amazing portraits you've ever seen of yourself, then please get in touch with Nicole Mills Photography to schedule your complimentary consultation.
Located in downtown Pine Island, the Nicole Mills Photography studio offers everything you need to make your portrait experience one to remember forever. You'll find a full studio wardrobe to choose from, including beautiful gowns, casual separates, and even unique, custom designs created by Nicole for a one-of-a-kind portrait you and your family will treasure forever.
Nicole Mills Photography offers fully stylized sessions both in her Pine Island studio and outdoors in Rochester, MN and surrounding areas. Whether you're looking for senior photographs, maternity, business head shots, or simply some beautiful images of you and/or your family, Nicole Mills Photography provides unparalleled service, quality of work, and unique artwork you'll want to hand down for generations to come.
Now serving: Rochester, Pine Island, Byron, Kasson, Mantorville, Oronoco, Stewartville, Zumbrota, Wanamingo, Eyota, St. Charles, Elgin, Plainview, and more.
Contact Nicole for all questions, inquiries and to schedule a complimentary consultation.
Rochester, MN Portrait Photographer | Valentines Day Event
Rochester, MN Valentines Day Event | Nicole Mills Photography
Due to an extended vacation in Florida for the month of January, I hadn't planned any photo shoots to celebrate Valentines Day. So, I put out a call on Facebook for ladies that wanted to come on up, and boy, was Nicole Mills Photography a happening place on Saturday! I think we had a total of 12 girls & ladies come up to have their portraits taken, including a baby, and a ballerina! There were lots of gorgeous red and black gowns, red lips and blowing hair everywhere! I have many, many more images to go through...picking my favorites won't be easy, but here are a few I've managed to finish editing so far. Happy Valentines Day! I hope you get to spend it with those you love...your friends, your family, and anyone else that makes your heart beat and swell with love!
Here's a little behind the scenes video!
Nicole Mills Photography specializes in photographing girls and women of all ages. If you live in SE Minnesota and are looking for a photographer that is dedicated to her craft and will provide you the most amazing portraits you've ever seen of yourself, then please get in touch with Nicole Mills Photography to schedule your complimentary consultation.
Located in downtown Pine Island, the Nicole Mills Photography studio offers everything you need to make your portrait experience one to remember forever. You'll find a full studio wardrobe to choose from, including beautiful gowns, casual separates, and even unique, custom designs created by Nicole for a one-of-a-kind portrait you and your family will treasure forever.
Nicole Mills Photography offers fully stylized sessions both in her Pine Island studio and outdoors in Rochester, MN and surrounding areas. Whether you're looking for senior photographs, maternity, business head shots, or simply some beautiful images of you and/or your family, Nicole Mills Photography provides unparalleled service, quality of work, and unique artwork you'll want to hand down for generations to come.
Now serving: Rochester, Pine Island, Byron, Kasson, Mantorville, Oronoco, Stewartville, Zumbrota, Wanamingo, Eyota, St. Charles, Elgin, Plainview, and more.
Contact Nicole for all questions, inquiries and to schedule a complementary consultation.
Rochester, MN Portrait Photographer | Ally
Rochester, MN Photo Shoot | Nicole Mills Photography | Ally
Ally has been gracious enough to model for me several times over the past few years. I first met her in 2016, when Nicole Mills Photography was still an in-home basement studio. At that point, I was all about tulle (OK, I still am....kinda. I think EVERY girl/woman should be photographed in tulle at least ONCE in her life!), and I'd made this big black and gray tulle skirt...and needed a model. Ally was the choice, with her dark hair, dark eyes...and totally serious, intense stare! She'd recently gotten braces, so wasn't keen on doing any big open mouthed smiles...and that was just fine, because she's absolutely gorgeous, regardless of the expression she's wearing! We mixed her glam look with her volleyball, and we got some amazing images that I feel show multiple sides to this lovely girl...her fierce, competitive side, and of course, her absolutely charmingly beautiful, feminine side. I'm a firm believer that girls can do anything, be anything, and of course, wear tulle while they're doing it...if they want to! And as usual, if there's a mom watching in the wings, I like to include her in at least one photo, even if she wasn't planning on it...luckily I keep a huge wardrobe on hand for just such an occasion...thanks for participating Mama!
The next time I photographed Ally, we decided to head downtown Rochester. I'd made this fun and funky paper skirt and knew the city lights and colors we'd find downtown would be the perfect background for this photo shoot. I called on Ally again, and she was all in, thankfully! We met downtown, got her changed into this Nicole Mills original and she proceeded to get lots of attention from just about everyone we passed on the street! Ally did great, even with all the eyes on her, and this time, I got plenty of big smiles, as the braces were off finally. This was great, because this paper skirt made out of encyclopedia pages, was all about fun and laughter, so I'm happy that she was able to bring out the big smiles. This skirt was super simple to make, but yet made a huge impact in these photos...it will remain one of my favorites, and in the Nicole Mills Photography studio wardrobe, I'm sure! And again...we got Mom in a photo or two. :)
I try to remember to hand over my phone to Mom (if she's willing to act as my assistant!) for a little behind the scenes action! Thanks Mom! :)
And just before Christmas, I asked Ally to come up to Nicole Mills Photography in Pine Island to model a kind of silly Christmas skirt I'd made. I'll admit, I lost inspiration on this creation shortly after I started on it, but I wanted to see it through, as I'd decided it would make a pretty good display for my studio front window, and it did! I had also made an interesting head piece that I had her model...and that, I was quite proud of. 24 hours earlier, it had been a swag on my front door. But, after taking it apart and rebuilding, we had a beautiful head piece for her to wear in a few photos. I love being able to take the time to let my creativity flow. Sometimes it works (the head piece), and sometimes...not so much (the Christmas skirt!). Ally was a good sport, though, and let me drape this extremely heavy skirt on her and she did the best Christmas tree impersonation I've ever seen.
The Christmas skirt sat proudly in my studio window for the month of December and all of January (while I was down enjoying the Florida sun), but now she's heading to a new home! She's too big to keep in the studio, and honestly, I've already got ideas for a different skirt or gown for next Christmas! Stay tuned...
First, a little behind the scenes action fun.
Thank you Ally! You'll always be one of my favorite models!
Nicole Mills Photography specializes in photographing girls and women of all ages. If you live in SE Minnesota and are looking for a photographer that is dedicated to her craft and will provide you the most amazing portraits you've ever seen of yourself, then please get in touch with Nicole Mills Photography to schedule your complimentary consultation.
Located in downtown Pine Island, the Nicole Mills Photography studio offers everything you need to make your portrait experience one to remember forever. You'll find a full studio wardrobe to choose from, including beautiful gowns, casual separates, and even unique, custom designs created by Nicole for a one-of-a-kind portrait you and your family will treasure forever.
Nicole Mills Photography offers fully stylized sessions both in her Pine Island studio and outdoors in Rochester, MN and surrounding areas. Whether you're looking for senior photographs, maternity, business head shots, or simply some beautiful images of you and/or your family, Nicole Mills Photography provides unparalleled service, quality of work, and unique artwork you'll want to hand down for generations to come.
Now serving: Rochester, Pine Island, Byron, Kasson, Mantorville, Oronoco, Stewartville, Zumbrota, Wanamingo, Eyota, St. Charles, Elgin, Plainview, and more.