.
.
.
.
.
Kalia, Mitchell Domes, Milwaukee, February 2019
.
.
.
.
.
Paula, Retzer, Waukesha, April 2019
.
.
.
.
.
Angelia, Retzer, Waukesha, November 2019
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
]]>
.
October 2018
.
Green Bay, WI
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
10 years ago I made a Facebook page (Natural Bliss Photography) not thinking that it would lead me to anywhere since I was new to the photography field and didn't think any one would support or follow my work. I was inexperienced, had a standard kit DSLR camera and lens that my husband bought for me as a Christmas gift which by the way I still have to this day and I didn't know a whole lot about posing and all things related or impacts the product of an image.
Fast forward to now. I still don't considered myself an advanced photog given that I've been in this field for 10 years. I am still learning, I love to self improve and work on areas that I may be lacking in. Capturing photos for others drives this self-improvement because I know how important it is to not only produce quality photos but to connect with each of my clients and their family or loved ones to give them the best experience. It's important to them to have these memories so the experience while I'm capturing their memories or milestones is also very important to me.
So.... with that said, in honor of my 10 year anniversary, I will be raffling away 10 $10.00 gift cards who book a session with me in 2020!! Drawing will be held on December 24th, 2020. Returning clients from the past, who book a session with me in 2020, will get 10 of their names drawn into this raffle. It increases your chance of winning! Those who are new in 2020, you will also have the opportunity to get more of your name drawn into the raffle too. Details to follow, but you must book a session and follow through with the session with me this upcoming year 2020 in order to participate in this raffle gift card give away!! The GC's will be 10 random stores: (1) Homegoods, (2) Target, (3) TJ Maxx, (4) Pick N Save, (5) Starbucks, (6) Wal-mart, (7) Macy's, (8) H&M, (9) Forever 21, & (10) Aldo. If you need more information, don't hesitate to contact me.
Now onto other updates and changes for 2020....
1. I have very limited open dates in 2020 (check my calendar link below in #2). This 2019 year was a huge challenge, with abruptly preparing and selling my 1st home (sad face) and moving into a temporary place which we found very last minute and the difficulty of living out of box's in our temp place...which ultimately caused a huge backlog of edits on my end. Therefore, I've decided to do less bookings in 2020 so I can focus my energy and time on finding my next home, enjoying the memories with my two boys in finding their forever home, and making it a home for them. 2019, I spent most of my days and times focusing on capturing memories and editing photos for others, that I forgot and neglected that same experience with my own little family. I hardly took any photos of my boys and loved ones (sad face again). 2020 will be a time to pause and reflect on my personal well-being. This is not to say I'm quitting. Though limited, I am open for bookings when I know there is a need for me to help others to invest in their memories.
2. Check my calendar daily for future or last minute openings here --> www.cxynaturalblissphotography.com/calendar.pdf , I may potentially open up some dates depending on circumstances.
3. If you book a session with me in 2020, you will receive 1 Free 5x7 deep matte print with your session. This is the top of the line high quality type of print. I don't normally offer this type in my standard or wedding collections, except only in the Graduate Student Special Collection. Every year I try to do a free gift whether that would be for all (every one) or selected winners who book a session with me. This upcoming year, I decided to do both- for everyone (5x7 deep matte) and selected winners ($10 gift card give a ways to 10 selected winners).
4. If you spend $100+ on any printing material product orders through my service, you will receive 1 free gift of your choice: 1 photo magnet, 1 photo button pin, or 1 photo key chain.
5. Signature 3 Collection is limited to 3 bookings in 2020. So, large family or groups, start thinking about what month, date and time you'd like to do your session if choosing me as your photographer.
6. Reschedules are going to be hard to do given that I have very limited open dates and times. Any reschedules will be on week days, not on weekends if not available. So, it is extremely important to stick to your secured date and time slot with me for 2020. I do have options in case of severe inclement weather. See me for details.
7. New prices and offerings for my Standard Collections went into effect November 27th, 2019. Click here to see my new prices. New prices and offerings does not affect already booked/secured sessions. Any bookings after this November 27th date will apply.
8. I will be servicing Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Kenosha counties until May 2020. After May 2020, I will only be servicing Milwaukee and Waukesha counties. Other counties outside of these two, travel and fuel charges will apply.
9. Mommy and Me, Christmas, and Summer Bubbles mini sessions may be happening in 2020. Event flyer for these special mini events will be announced 1 month prior to the chosen date and location. They will be priced at $110/each session, 1-4 ppl, 15 minutes, 4 images on CD, and 1 print release. 10% non refundable will be required to secure your time slot and it will depend on first come first serve.
10. For off season months (January 2021 - March 2021) .... with moving my family in 2020 to a new home, there may be a possibility for an indoor photo session option for these months. More to come on this, so stay tune!!! :)
Thank you all for reading and thank you for an amazing 2019 year. I can't thank you enough for those who book a session with me this 2019 year especially for your patience and understanding through my hardships. I really appreciate you guys and am forever grateful to have your love and support.
-Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
.
.
October 2018
.
.
| Wedding Collections |
]]>
.
Madison, Wisconsin
.
August 2018
.
.
]]>
.
Oshkosh, WI
.
September 2018
.
.
]]>
Oconomowac,
Wisconsin,
September 2018
.
.
| Wedding Collections |
]]>
Two Rivers, Wisconsin,
August 2018
.
.
]]>
.
.
]]>
July 2018
.
.
]]>
Sheboygan, WI
September 2018
.
.
]]>
.
.
]]>
.
.
]]>
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Location - Wisconsin Dells, WI
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Bridal group pictures: Lake front pier in Milwaukee, WI near Discovery World (It is where Cesar proposed to Marisol)
Wedding reception: The Grace Center, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
I'd like to announce a few new things and changes that will take place in 2019, but before I do so... I'd just like to say THANK YOU to all those who took their effort and time in booking a collection with me and used my photography services this 2018 year. I can not thank you all enough for all the love, support and experiences this year. I'm grateful to have met many new faces and as well captured a few returning ones. It means so much to me to have all your trust and loyalty to have me capture the most important milestone in your life/lives. If you read my 'About Me' section on my website, you know I love to capture every single important milestone and this year, I had the opportunity to capture all that. It has challenged me to be a better and stronger photographer than I was in the previous years.
Now onto announcing a few new things and changes that will take place for 2019...
- I will not be posting that many blogs anymore. It's been hard to keep up with all the blog posts. I'd rather use the time to edit and be fully in tune with you all in answering your questions, emails and messages. I will still post a few here and there but not every single session as I've done so in the past.
- I will be very limited with bookings due to the demands of my full time job. That is why I now have a Calendar section available on my website for you all to check my availability. Don't be discouraged if a day says I'm not available or if it only shows for reschedules, please still inquire and we can definitely put something on the Calendar. I'd like to be as available as I can for those who absolutely need to have their memories capture. I'm all about helping others invest in their memories, so please continue to reach out and book your session with me.
- I will be doing a FREE mini session giveaway for 6 people or less to kick start 2019 year. It will include 2 free images with digital download access but with no print release. I will have a flyer for this promotion soon. Be on the look out on my Facebook page for this.
- If you book a Standard or Wedding Collection with me for 2019 and follow through, you will automatically get 1 FREE photo magnet included in your photo collection package. You can choose whatever photo from your session with me for this free magnet, however, it will have my watermark text display but not very visible to the eye.
- I will be promoting my printing products more for 2019. For example, I kicked start this promotion already, that if you buy $100+ in printing products through my photography service, you will get a free gift of your choice, either 1 free photo magnet, a photo button pin, or a 5x7 Deep Matte Print with white frames/borders around it. This free gift of your choice when you buy $100+ in printing products will not have my watermark display over. You do not have to book a session or have booked a session with me in the past in order to use my photography service. If you have a print release from the photographer who took your photos, I am more than happy to help serve you, but if it's not a session you had with me, a photographer's printing release must be shown. I will absolutely not print any photos without the photographer's permission. **If you want to order prints from a session that you had with me from years ago, indicate your name, what event, and if possible, year or date of your session taken and I can give you re-entry access to your gallery for up to 1 week at not charge, this will come with no digital download access and images will have my watermark display over for copyright reasons.
- I do offer different printing sizes but only by special requests. Here is the full list of my prints in case you are wondering what sizes I can do. Just letting you all know that anything highlighted in Yellow are the typical and standard sizes that people usually buy, and therefore, it is what I promote/advertise the most.
- My Standard and Wedding Collection prices are pretty much set for 2019 year and I will not be increasing my prices unless I absolutely have to. I like to set my prices comfortable enough for clients to return and have me capture more memories for them. That's always been my goal and motto since I started my photography. Memories should be invested with every chance you get, it should not be that you return once in a blue moon for a memory or milestone to be captured.
- I would not be where I am today if not for my loyal clients referrals. 80% of my bookings is through referrals! I've kept track of this since 2016. Therefore, starting January 1st, 2019, I'll be starting a referral discount game where I give clients or someone a referral code, and that client mentions and uses that code for their session with me. That booked client will get $5.00 off their Standard Collection with me or $20.00 off their booked Wedding Collection (it will not be applicable to those who already booked and turn in their wedding contracts). Specific rules on how to 'play' this referral code will apply and these rules will be mention to the person who I'm giving this code to which they will have to sign and date that they understand the terms and conditions of it. Which by the way, this code or codes will be very discreet, it makes the game interesting and fun. Why am I making it discreet? because if I get a lot of booked clients who uses that code, that code will get tallied up and traced back to the person I gave that code to - in which that person who I gave that code to will get a FREE surprise gift at the end of the year. The free gift is worth very valuable, so those who play this Referral Discount Game will need to sign and date the form to validate their code. Contact me about this referral game and how you can play, serious players only! :)
Last but not least, just a reminder that if you've booked a session and or used my photography service this 2018 year, check out my Facebook page on January 2nd, 2019 to see if you are the lucky winner of two FREE 8 inch digital picture frames by Nixplay!! Check this 2018 raffle list to see what is your #/s. You can have multiple #s attached to your name. Contact for more information of if you need clarifications.
That's all I have so far for 2019, I want to make these announcements now so you all can start thinking about booking a session with me for 2019 year. I hope to see some returning faces and meet many more new faces as well! Please reach out for any questions and for any of your photography needs.
Thank you for all your love and support!
]]>
Doty park,
Neenah, WI
.
.
.
.
Maika,
Class of 2019,
Mequon Nature Preserve, WI
.
]]>
Milwaukee, WI
.
.
.
.
Bay View park,
Milwaukee/Bay View, WI
.
.
.
.
Aboretum,
Madison, WI
.
.
.
.
Frame park Formal Gardens,
Waukesha, WI
.
Wisconsin
.
.
]]>
Franklin/Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Mequon,
Wisconsin
.
.
.
.
Maywood park
&
Blue Harbor,
Sheboygan,
Wisconsin
.
]]>
Whitefish Bay,
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
.
Lifestyle newborn photos
.
.
]]>
Madison,
Wisconsin
.
.
]]>
It is finally here, the long awaited blog about my kitchen and 1st floor renovation project that was done back in 2017. I've been meaning to post a blog all about the journey of this project when it was completed back in August 2017, but there were a bit of life changing things that occurred which prevented me from sharing the experience. But, it is finally here!
Now I know this is not "photography" related, so If you're un-interested in reading further, I'm sorry and thank you for checking in. If you are interested, thank you for your time and effort to read this post. I hope by sharing my personal experiences, you can get to know me, the person behind the camera, just a little bit more and to perhaps be inspired.
I want to start off by saying that this kitchen and 1st floor renovation was something I've always wanted since day 1 of moving into this house back in 2009. Before buying, when we looked at this house I did not like the cosmetics of it at all as I knew it was going to be a lot of work and effort in trying to make it semi-perfect to how we would like it to be. So, to me it was a huge deal breaker. However, my husband promised that he'll make changes and will make it however we want it to be in order to make it our very own. It did have a lot of potentials for us being 1st time home buyers, so after much convincing from the husband, eventually we were sold on it!
The changes we made to our house didn't happen overnight, every year was always a new project or something new hindering us from completing this huge renovation. It finally took 8 years to see the vision or promise come true. Oh by the way, if you haven't already yet, you can read the previous blog posts about my home renovations and projects by typing in the search field (top right corner) - Home Sweet Home.
Let me take you back to the past on how this house use to look like... this was our past owner's furnishings and how it looked like the day we came to take a look at it.
Carpet in the dining room? yuck! I hate carpet, it is a lot harder to maintain. I wanted all wood or ceramic surfaces throughout this entire 1st floor and wanted everything to flow into the kitchen. It's not a very big space either so I knew that re-doing the flooring wasn't going to cost us an arm and a leg. It was the kitchen itself that I was more worried about since we needed to gut out everything and get all new things.
Below is a picture of the living room, right off or next to the kitchen; this was how it looked before all the renovations began...
Here it looks like during renovation. Carpet and everything's been ripped out.
Here is a inspiration picture of what I wanted for my kitchen. I wanted dark flooring, white cabinets, white counter tops, silver handles/hardwares, grey walls, and stainless steel appliances. I love white cabinets and it was an absolutely must have for the new kitchen.
We often got asked why we didn't just paint over our old cabinets as it will save us some more money. We did paint over them to a brown dark color when we moved in, however, our cabinets was not functional anymore. It lived its time and was completely falling apart, leaving us very little storage and room to store any of kitchen supplies and utensils. We pretty much did not have a choice but to buy all new cabinetry. A handyman even suggested it wasn't worth fixing and for us to just buy all new cabinets. Take a look...
Looking at those photos, I can not believe I had that kind of kitchen and stuck with it for 8 years! How did I even managed? My biggest pet peeve in a kitchen is "cluttered" counter tops. Because of our broken drawers and cabinets, we had little room for storage so we had no choice but to clutter our counter tops with things. It was overwhelming and such a huge eye sore. Oh, and we didn't have a dishwasher too, so installing one was on the TOP of our must haves for the new kitchen. I spent 8 years scrubbing dirty plates, pots and pans and standing for hours on my sore feet while doing so. Before this project, I've always wanted a dishwasher that could spare me some more time with my kids.
The above picture was what Home Depot had originally designed for us and it was the layout I absolutely wanted. It was the ideal layout for our tiny kitchen. However, after speaking with several contractors, it was going to cost us a ton of money to do that exact layout. We were on a tight budget with this kitchen and 1st floor renovation so we ended up not doing this layout. I was pretty heartbroken, but my husband and sisters did point out that this isn't our forever home. If it was, then yes, we'd be happy to spend the extra $10,000.00 on it. And, Yes, it was going to cost us that much, 10 grand extra on top of our original budget for this project. So, no way!
We eventually went with a different contractor, a small business local one: RBS Kitchen & Bath Designs in Racine, WI. What is our experience with them aftermath? Lets just say, I will never ever recommend anyone to use their service for any kitchen or bathroom makeovers. After all that was done, I regret going with them in the first place. The struggle and headaches caused on their part was extremely traumatizing and emotionally damaging. If you google them, you'll see really bad reviews and if you're on Yelp, you'll also see a very bad review on there too. I hate them, especially the owner Mark B. I don't want to elaborate it on this post, because I can go on forever and will never end how I strongly feel about their corrupt business and professionalism. So, I will leave it like it is.
Anyway, continuing on...the cabinets we chose is the Koch Express in white. I love this style! I think it paired really well with the hard wares I chose. I ordered the hard wares from Home Depot and the contractors were able to installed them for us. We also updated all new lighting fixtures. Finally, the boobie-like lights are finally gone! :P
The counter top we chose is granite. I forgot the actual name of it, but it has a pretty tint of blue/grey and little sparkles of gold and silver in it. Can't see it in pictures, but in real life the counter top is actually really pretty!
We also re-did our patio door too. Our old one was super heavy, dirty, and had a few broken things to it. We could barely slide it open and close it. We got the new patio door and frames from Home depot and they came and installed it in two days.
.
.
.
.
.
And, here is the final reveal of my kitchen and 1st floor!
The flooring is laminate and it is a grey color by Inhaus. My husband chose this type of flooring and color. He did a great job choosing the right flooring for our kitchen, which by the way, it was his only job. We got the flooring from a small local flooring business, called R & B Carpets and Flooring. They did a fantastic job at answering our questions, installing our laminate and cleaning up after themselves. I would totally recommend them for any of your flooring projects.
All decorations are from Hobby Lobby, Target, Home Goods, H&M, and Ikea. Oh and I spray painted the bar stools to a silver metallic color. It saved me some money from having to buy new bar stools. They aren't cheap either, roughly around $50-$150/one bar stool. Personally, that's a lot of money for one bar stool. Might as well just spray paint them to save me some dollars.
I absolutely LOVE love LOVE my dishwasher! It takes about less than 5 minutes to load and then it does its thing! No more standing on my feet for hours on end trying to scrub, wash, dry and put dishes away. I do love the little extra time I have with my two boys. It is truly the best investment ever and is probably my favorite thing about this kitchen now!
Here is the finished look of our family room. My bookshelves needs to be styled a little bit more, I am still working on it. That is an electric fireplace, which is unplugged at the moment due to my naughty 2 year old son who just loves to press those buttons on it. Most of the decorations are from Homegoods, Target, Amazon, and Wayfair. The black and white area rug and electric fireplace are both from Wayfair.com. I wanted the same area rug in this room as the one in our Family room so that it has a better flow throughout our house. I also spray painted the baskets underneath the end tables to a gold metallic color. They were a mint green color before and I'm so glad I spray painted them to that gold color. I think it toally brightens up the room.
.
.
.
.
So there you all have it. This long awaited huge project is finally over and done with, but our house is not perfect or even close to perfection yet. We still have some minor paintings to do but we've been procrastinating on it for awhile now. We'll probably get to it sometimes this fall season, or if not, then next year? we'll see? ;P
Hope you all enjoyed this blog post and is inspired by it. One advice for you all though... if you are looking to hire a contractor to do your kitchen project... do your extensive research and ask for the contractors references! It'll save you the headache and drama in the long run, and good luck!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
:)
]]>
Whitnall park,
Franklin/Hales Corner,
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
.
.
Retzer Nature Center, Waukesha, WI
.
.
Mitchell Domes, Milwaukee, WI
.
.
Mitchell Domes Park (outside), Milwaukee, WI
.
.
Boerner Botanical Gardens, Franklin/Milwaukee, WI
]]>
.
Props and backdrop was all designed and staged by his creative mommy.
.
Wisconsin
.
]]>
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
.
.
.
.
.
Elm Grove park,
Elm Grove/Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
.
.
.
Tenny park,
Madison,
Wisconsin
]]>
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
.
.
.
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Waukesha
.
.
.
.
]]>
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
.
.
]]>
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
.
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Fox Point, WI
.
.
]]>
.
.
.
.
Mai Nou and Xeng's Couple session
.
.
.
.
Willis's 1st Bday Session
.
]]>
Ceremony and Reception at River Club in Mequon, WI
.
.
.
]]>
Frame Park Formal Gardens,
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
.
.
]]>
Wisconsin
.
.
.
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Milwaukee, WI
Waukesha, WI
Green Bay, WI
Wausau, WI
.
.
]]>
Madison, WI
.
.
Calvin
Milwaukee, WI
.
.
Presley
Milwaukee, WI
.
.
Shayla
Neenah, WI
.
.
Eric
Milwaukee, WI
.
.
Timothy
Milwaukee, WI
]]>
If you've been following me on my Facebook Page, just as I promised, here it is.....
I am giving away a FREE gift box full of goodies to 1 of my 2017 valuable client's. Say What?!?!
Those who booked one of my Standard and Wedding Collections this year are raffled in for this amazing free gift box! The drawing will be held on January 3rd, 2018. I'll announced it as time gets near.
Check below to see terms and condition's, and if you qualify and how many times your name is in the raffle...
Your name or Person of Contact is attached to a #. You can have more than 1 number, depending on what you paid for.
1. If you booked 1 Standard Collection and followed through with it, you get 1 heart ticket (if you booked more, it is 1 heart ticket per 1 booking). Example: if you booked 2, you get 2 hearts, if you booked 3, you get 3 hearts, and etc.
2. Any cancelled session/collection, you will get no heart
3. If you bought all the images from your private gallery and or bought any addl' images, you get 1 heart.
4. If you bought any additional prints, you get 1 heart
5. If your engagement session was part of a wedding collection, and you followed through with both session's, you only get 1 heart.
6. However, if you bought all the images or any additional prints from your engagement session and or bought any additional prints from your wedding session you get 1 heart.
7. For the large groups of 8+ more, the person of contact (POC) name will be in the drawing as that person was the one who kept in contact and communicated with me.
8. Those who did not book a collection for yourself but bought a collection as a gift for someone else and that person followed through with the session, you get 1 heart.
9. Those who didn't book a collection, but did buy prints from one of my client's session gets 1 heart
For example) If I booked 2 standard collection's and followed through with each (i get 2 hearts), and I bought all the images from one session (i get 1 heart), and bought additional prints from both session's (I get 2 hearts), I will have a total of 5 hearts in the raffle. Having 5 hearts in the drawing will increase my chances of winning!
Another example) If I booked a wedding collection and did the engagement session with it and followed through with each (I get 1 heart), and I bought all the images from my engagement session (1 heart), I will have a total of 2 hearts in the raffle.
Each of these numbered heart tickets is assigned to an individual. An individual can have 1 or more different #'s per the rules above. So, for example, let's say I have 5 hearts, that means my name is attached to numbers 4, 7, 50, 30, and 78. If you'd like to know how many hearts you have, please contact me and I'll be glad to tell you how many heart tickets you have.
I laid out a map of people with their contact info and with their assigned #'s on an excel spread. So, whatever # I picked as the winner, I will cross reference it to my map to ID who the winner is. This is a way to eliminate any pre-assumed bias and favoritism and to give every single one of my 2017 valuable clients a chance to win.
I'm going to make this a tradition every year. With every year, there will be a different FREE gift give away to one of my valuable clients. There is just one very important rule that will apply, that is... this year's 2017 clients do not roll over to 2018 raffle drawing. Every year resets and starts out a new again. Look below to see what you could win for the year 2018 if you booked a Standard or Wedding collection and followed through, same rules will apply! The reason why I'm doing this is basically a way to show how much I value you as a client and all of my clients. I'm a very giving and caring person, sometimes booking a session requires so much of your effort and time, that I don't want you all to think I don't care about those time spent in prep for your session and even after your session. Not only that, but I get a ton of referrals, and without clients referring me out, I wouldn't even be where I am at today. So, this is me giving back to you, THANK YOU and to all those who booked and supported my work. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you, Thank you!
Here below are a few pictures of what the FREE gift give away box contains...
Let's look at each closely....
2 plush dolls for the little ones. I photograph a lot of families with children, to make the children feel just as important, I included these dolls for them.
Shaving products and after shave and a 3 in 1 product for the gent's. It's a 3 in 1 because you can use it as a body soap! Neat!
A 5x7 picture frame to store one of your best photo from your session with me or any picture you'd like ;P
$10.00 Target GC because who doesn't love Target?!
Mac Lipstick for the pretty lad/s. Unopened.
Lipstick kit by Tarte for the pretty lad/s.
LED lit foldable and portable mirror for you gent's or lad's on the go or to have in prep for your photo session. I have one of these and I absolutely LOVE mine, it's very convenient to have around.
An amazing perfume by Philosophy. It smells so good!
A Brag Book to hold 36 4x6 prints. Everything is now digital these days, however, if you are still very old fashion and traditional like me, here's a perfect brag book album to carry around in your purse or to have around in your car or your house to show off your memories. If you don't like small talks, I actually find that having a brag book makes a good conversation when you bring it out and share your photos with someone.
I've had a few single men session's, if you are one of them who wins this Free gift box giveaway, then what a great way to give the girly items to your mom, your sister, niece, cousin, girlfriend or friend! And, that goes the same with the single lad's session's too, what a great way to give the manly items to your dad, brother, cousin, nephew, boyfriend or friend!
.
.
Now for 2018 booked clients, here's what you'll be raffled in for...
For the year 2018, those who book one of my Standard or Wedding Collection and followed through with it will automatically be entered in for a raffle drawing for a free 8 inch digital picture frame by Nixplay! I have one of these, a 15 inch screen one, and my boys and I absolutely love ours! It stores all of your beautiful pictures and even Instagram photos! So, if you want to win this FREE gift give away, you must book one of my Standard or one of my Wedding Collection's for the year 2018, and you must followed through with your session. Any cancelled session's by clients will not be qualify for this gift give away. The drawing for one lucky winner will be held on January 2nd, 2019. I'll keep announcing this throughout the 2018 year, so be sure to keep following and share!
2017 Clients, I have all of your information on file, so if you are one of the lucky winner, I'll contact you either by text message, Facebook message, or email.
Thank you and Good Luck to all 2017 clients of mine. "May the odds be ever in your favor" and God Bless.
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
]]>
Hartland,
Wisconsin
]]>
Discovery World,
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Franklin | Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
Flowers by PL Flowers & Photography
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Retzer Nature Center
Waukesha
Wisconsin
.
.
Saige's blue dress was beautifully hand made by her mama, Nancy.
]]>
Waukesha
Wisconsin
..
Makeup by Blia Lee, Getbeautifiedbyblia
]]>
Franklin | Milwaukee
Wisconsin
]]>
Waukesha
Wisconsin
]]>
Whitnall Park, Franklin/Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
]]>
"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored" -Earl Nightingale
Plamann park, Appleton, WI
Grant park, South Milwaukee, WI
Atwater park, Sherwood/Milwaukee, WI
Retzer Nature Center, Waukesha, WI
Mckinley park / Lakefront beach, Milwauke, WI
Smith park, Neenah, WI
Memorial park, Appleton, WI
Retzer Nature Center, Waukesha, WI
Swing park, Milwaukee, WI
Mequon Nature Center, Mequon, WI
Mequon Nature Center, Mequon, WI
Willow Wood park, Menomonee Falls, WI
| Standard Collections |
]]>
Waukesha
Wisconsin
]]>
Waukesha
Wisconsin
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
The Aboretum
Madison
Wisconsin
]]>
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
]]>
Menasha
Wisconsin
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Retzer Nature Center, Waukesha, Wisconsin
]]>
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Green Bay, Wisconsin
]]>
]]>
]]>
April 2017
Thank you Ras & Lue for having me be a part of your big day,
it was truly an honor to capture such an amazing wedding!
]]>
]]>
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
]]>
]]>
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
| Standard Collection's | Wedding Collection's |
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
| Standard Collection's | Wedding Collection's |
]]>
]]>
.
.
.
.
.
And, here's me... at 9 months pregnant with my son, Grayson, slow dancing with my Husband. ;P
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
I'd like to thank my second shooter Mai Neng Lee at Styled Portraits for helping me with this wedding, I couldn't have done it without your help. If you are ever in the Orange County area in California, please contact her to schedule a photo shoot!
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
| Standard Collection's | Wedding Collection's |
]]>
| Maternity Gowns and Accessories |
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
If you need your High School Senior photos taken, please don't hesitate to contact me and book your session in!
Space and time is limited for 2017!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Before starting to design this nursery, I had to research what I wanted to do with it. At first, I didn't even want to turn it into a nursery. I wanted it to be a guest bedroom and just have Owen, my oldest, share his room with his baby brother. But I realized that baby stuff can take up a whole entire room and since our house is limited with storage space, I decided to just turn this room into Grayson's very own bedroom.... and just so I have more room to store all of his baby necessities. It's a tiny room, so I knew I was going to be limited with what I could and could not do. I made a sketch of how I wanted the room to look like and sorry, excuse the horrible drawing. I'm not a true artist, as you can tell. And then I went ahead and did some online shopping to find the finishing touches. I got pretty much everything in this photo except the pillow case cover, I decided not to get it. Forgot why? ... as I'm looking at it now, I think I'll just go ahead and buy it for my baby.
The navy blue 5x7 area rug is from Target. I got it for $60.00 with free shipping. It took almost 3 weeks to arrive, not sure why it took so long since Target is known for their super fast shipping, but it did. The hanging mobile is custom made, I ordered it from Etsy from this one shop called, MadebyKateDesign. It cost $60.00, with shipping, total came to $70.00. I know, $70.00 for a dang mobile? quite pricey and my husband was pretty upset at how much it cost, but hey, I fully support creative artist's on Etsy, so I will pay for the price. These mobiles are unique, they're not mass produced and it's not what you would typically see in stores or in big nursery market these days. It's super cute too, I love it and my son Owen loves it too. When it first arrived, Owen thought it was a toy for him, but had to tell him that it's not a toy and it's baby brother's since he has his fishy mobile one in his own bedroom.
Here's my cutie son Owen. As you can tell in this picture, the baseboard was not installed yet. Husband did all the handy work in this work- the basebaord installation, the sanding, priming, painting, and putting all the furnishing's together.
The hardwood floors cost $400.00, and the base boards cost $50ish.
How it looked like during the process... it was a total mess! :(
Before the renovation process, this room was a storage dump. It took me several weeks to deep clean and declutter all the mess.
Bought the curtains from Target for $20.00, it was $10.00/panel.
Unfortunately, my stuff is occupying my son's closet. Since Owen have the double closet in his room, Grayson's stuff is in his room.
White curtain's from Ikea, $30.00. They're the same ones in mine and Owen's bedroom. I absolutely love these curtains, so worth the buy and money! The storage bins are from Ikea, they're $5/bin. The plastic bins for my shoes are from Dollar tree, $1/bin. They're super cheap and I honestly would not recommend any one to buy them. The lid doesn't even stick/click to the bin. In otherwise, it sucks. The self adhesive paper lining for the closet shelf is from Amazon, $25.00.
Here it is, how it looks now. Got the dresser from Walmart for $160.00. The manufacturer is call South Shore. Its' the exact same dresser as Owen's and Grayson's, featured in the next photo.
And, here's my Owen and Grayson's closets in Owen's bedroom. Owen's is on the left and Grayson's is on the right.
I was kind of disappointed in the height of these mountain wall decals. I thought it was going to be bigger but I guess it was my fault for not measuring it before purchasing. I ordered it from Etsy, it took about 1.5 months to arrive because it was custom made and it was shipped all the way from Poland! Total was $100.00. My Owen loves it.
I forgot where I bought the white book shelf storage bin from, sorry, I'm just having a brain fart. But I remember it cost only $20.00 total, the gray bins I bought seperately and they were only $5 each.
A complete mess. This was right before I had my baby Grayson.
An overview of what this room went through...
And, here's the final look!!
The canvas I got from Shutterfly for a total of $110.00, I used all of my coupons and discounts to knock off $70.00. Yay, go me! :D
To end this blog, I leave you all with this...
That's all, thank you all for reading!
Read about my son Owen's nursery project here: Owen's Nursery
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Joshua Xiong, Appleton, WI
John Her, Milwaukee, WI
Xayvian & Danny, Sheboygan, WI
Xayvian's mom wanted to include her daughter in a few shots too. She's so adorable and love this photo of them two! Such sibling love!
Brandon A. Madison, WI
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Enjoy some of these personal favorites of mine from Tiffany and Richard Kelly's wedding back in June 2016...
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
A few favorites from Ba's mini family session...
By the way, I love the tone of greens in these photos. I struggled on getting that perfect shade of green, and I think I'm getting there!
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
...Oldest to Youngest...
Mai Kao Shoua (Yellow), Mai Doua (Green), Jennessa (Red), Houa (White), Choua (me in the Coral), and Annie (Baby Blue)
The 3 oldest, and the 3 youngest.
"My sisters remind me, by their very steadfastness, that truth, beauty, and goodness exist in the world, and that no matter what there are and always will be people loving people through thick and thin" - Dedicated to my 5 sisters, love you all very much.
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Tara & Andrew for having me be a part of your special day! Once again, congratulation's!
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Jimmy and Kana for a great session, it was hot day but definitely worth it!
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
| Standard Collection's | Wedding Collection's |
]]>
Thank you Oshi for letting me photograph your Senior photos for you.
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Photographed my husband's cousin, Nancy and her beautiful family back in June. Nancy's son Chase is the splitting image of his dad, Vou and baby Saige is the splitting image of her mommy. They're definitely little mama and dada junior's, and they're so adorable! Oh and what is even more adorable... by the end of the session, Chase was conducting me on what and who to photograph. I let him be the boss and it was hilarious, I'm going to have to hire him in the future for future photo shoots! Enjoy some of these personal favorites of mine from their family photo session...
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Bria + Clay for having me on your special day! It was a beautiful wedding, congratulation's!
]]>
]]>
"A strong friendship doesn't need daily conversation or being together. As long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends never part"
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Panyia and your family for everything, you all were wonderful to work with!
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you girls for a great session!
With Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you so much Amy and your beautiful family for a wonderful session.
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
| Standard Collections | Wedding Collections |
]]>
Thank you Pajying, your husband and adorable son for a great session! It was wonderful to work with you three and to finally meet your son!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
My little family and I were so thrilled of the news... but because we were going through a difficult time period, such as the loss of my father in law and my cousin, I decided to keep the pregnancy within my family and circle of friends. As time went on, my growing belly wasn't a secret any more.. lol, I'm sure you've all seen some pictures of me on my Facebook page posing with my baby bump. If not, this blog will help remind you of it. By the way, the pictures I posted of myself on Facebook, looks nothing like me. I was caked with makeup and dolled up, which is not the norm for me. This pregnancy got me looking like a scrub, even my son Owen didn't recognize me with makeup on. When I do have it on, he'll think I am my twin sister (his Auntie).
Anyway, I wanted to take pictures of my son Owen to announce that we are expecting and to reveal the gender of his new sibling... check out some cute photos that I took of him...
Taken in late January 2016, The hidden announcement...
Getting family and friends hyped up for the gender reveal.. is it a boy or a girl?!
And... it's a BOY!!!! Owen's going to have a little baby brother!!!
Here's me 12 weeks pregnant with my little boy. This 2nd pregnancy was definitely different from when I was pregnant with Owen. I experienced a lot of morning sickness throughout the day and every day during my 1st trimester and into my early 2nd trimester, it was pretty brutal, at times my husband couldn't stand my constant mood swings. It's a good thing he has a lot of patience and knows how to 'handle' me when I'm at my worse. Thanks husband and he took these ones of me.
Here's me at 22 weeks. I wanted a life style maternity photo shoot in the heart of my own bedroom. My husband took these of me.
On mother's day back in May, the husband asked me what I wanted...I didn't want anything other than pictures of me with my son's... so we went out to Klode park in Whitefish Bay, WI to do a mini photo shoot. Again, the husband took these of us. I was 26 weeks pregnant here.
I bought a pretty maxi dress and wanted a few photos of me in it, so I made the husband take some nice photos of me at the Lighthouse in Windpoint, WI. I was 28 weeks pregnant here.
Here's me at 32 weeks pregnant. My niece took these ones of me, so sorry if its' a lil blurry. She has very little knowledge and is not an expert at touching my canon camera and lens. ;P
.
.
.
.
.
Here's a family photo of me and my little growing family.
.
.
.
.
I was taking pictures all the way up until I gave birth to my son at 37 weeks... he decided to come early than his due date. That story will be documented on a different blog post. People called me crazy for still going out to do photo session's being big and pregnant in all, especially with the heat and humidity we've been having this summer... but that didn't stop me. I like what I do. I told myself, if I can balance my work flow and take my time, I can make it work.. and I did. I shot 7 wedding's in various degrees of weather ... I even traveled to Ohio to photograph a wedding! Anything is possible, and I am grateful and thankful that this baby let me do what I love to do.
That's all folks, thank you for reading and for all the congratulation's... baby and I are doing well!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Enjoy these favorites of mine from their mini session...
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
Standard Collections | Wedding Collections
]]>
Thank you Jess and Rick for your awesome patience!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
Standard Collections | Wedding Collections
]]>
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
Standard Collections | Wedding Collections
]]>
Such beautiful couple, baby girl is so lucky to have them as parents! Congratulations Trisha and Nate!
If you are an expectant mom and need some maternity photos done, please contact me to book in your session!
| Standard Collections | Contact |
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
So sweet!
Thank you Pajhli for giving me the opportunity to photograph your adorable family.
| Standard Collection Rates | Contact |
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
I'd like to thank my assistant or also known as my twin, Houa, for all that she's done for me. She's helped me with all of my 2015 wedding's and she did a phenomenal job at listening to my directions and helping me prep and position all my clients. And, with this Nigerian wedding, given that we had a strict time schedule of events, she helped made these pictures possible. I don't know what I would've done if it was just me? Thank you sis.
Please enjoy these personal favorites of mine from the #berryawesome Tope and Randy's wedding.
Tope Awe and Randy Berry = Berry Awesome!!
By the way, it rained and was super misty and foggy on their wedding day.
Weather condition was not good at all, but we made it the best we could though.
Below are the post wedding day session photos.
I'm so glad we did this session given that it was raining, and super misty and foggy on their wedding day.
They're such a beautiful couple!
Totally Berry Awesome! :)
| Wedding Info | Contact Info |
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Below... the LEFT picture is what it use to look like when we moved in. It was all white with a huge ugly oak cabinet over the sink. Wished I had taken a picture of the cabinet but oh well. There was no mirror on the cabinet either, it was huge and very displeasing to the eyes. The RIGHT picture was what I thought I wanted. I wished I had waited until we finished the family room to do this half bathroom so that we didn't have to invest time in painting it green! I was too anxious to get it done I guess. Loved the green, but after my finished family room, I wanted to change it just to make this whole level all flow together.
And, here's the makeover process. The husband painted it grey (it's the same paint color as our family room) and he installed the white baseboards. Took about 2 days to complete the paint job and the baseboards. He got the white baseboards from Home Depot and the paint was leftover from when we painted the family room walls.
The wood trims and the wooded door needed to be sanded, primed and painted. It took my husband another 2 days to complete all that. Here's a before picture depicting the wood trims in the mirror.
And, the grand finale look...
here's the half bath entrance and here's what it looks like now! Don't mind the missing door knob in these pictures, it was broken, so the husband had go out to buy a new one, I took these pictures before he installed the new one. There is a door knob though. :)
I got the "Love the life you live" canvas from TJ Maxx for only $17.00, and the black oval shape mirror from HomeGoods for $40.00.
I got this 3 tier flower vase decor from TJ Maxx for only $10.00, and the decorative black and white stripes with gold polka dot box from HomeGoods for $10.00. I'm using the decorative box as a storage solution for cleaning supplies stuff... as you well see in the next picture.
Since there is no storage in this half bath and storage space is limited, I'm using this decorative box to hold my clean hand towels and some toilet and cleaning supplies. Those are 4-5 pair of latex gloves in a ziploc bag by the way. I still have to buy some more hand towels to stock up this box with.
I bought this awesome smelly scented candle from HomeGoods for only $3.00! It's a tiny scented candle but when it's lit, it makes my tiny half bath smell so good! I love it. Just wished I bought some more of it, because when I went back to buy some more, there was none left in this kind. I bought the toilet roller and holder from HomeGoods for only $10.00. I wanted a 2-in-1 toilet paper holder, again, storage is an issue. I didn't want to have to run upstairs to grab a toilet roll from the full bathroom linen closet to every time; so I needed something functional to hold a few more toilet paper rolls and this thing worked out great for it!
Here's a closer view of the sink. I bought the pretty silver metallic soap dispenser from Target for $13.00.
To the right of the door when you walk in, is this tiny little black basket. I got it for $6.00 at TJ Maxx. It's suppose to be there for the dirty hand towels and a few other cleaning supplies that can't fit the decorative box storage that's sitting on top of the toilet, but my husband is using it to hold some of his "tools". I swear, his tools is in every single room of this house. He has a wood work station in the basement that he can put all of his tools on, especially in one area that he can have easy access and remember where all of his tools are.. but nope, he decides to put most of his tools everywhere around the house, wherever he feels like is a good place for it. As you all can tell, I'm not happy with it, because it displaced the whole system of this house. I'm quite the OCD person when things are NOT in its right place.
And, so here you have it, my half bath makeover. Doesn't this level all flow nicely together now? I think so and I'm loving it! Thank you all for reading. I'll be posting more house projects/makeover in the future, so always stay tune!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Before I leave, here's my cutie son saying "cheese" for the camera from the family room.
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Nicole and John for a great session, I can't wait for the BIG day in September 2016!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
| Standard Collections | Wedding Info | Contact |
]]>
Thank you Mai + Bell for letting me be a part of your special day!!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
| Wedding Info |
]]>
My husband and I have been extremely busy these days and we've faced a few bumps along the road in our personal life such as losing my husband's father (my father in law) back in 2015; therefore I haven't gotten the time to write any blogs about my house projects. I'm truly sorry. It's really been a rough start into the new year. But nonetheless, as promised, here's a blog all about my family room part 2 of part 1. If you haven't yet, go read about my family room part 1 first, go here (Home Sweet Home: Family Room, Part 1)
In this part 2, I have updated a few new things in the family room, so sit back and enjoy what my husband and I have been up to these days with our family room.
-----
Here's what it use to look like... remember? Yuck!
And, here's what it looks like now. Sorry, I cut off the entertainment/TV part off because the lens I was using to take this photo was not wide enough to capture it. That section is really a simple or typical entertainment center with a 55 inch screen TV on it. Nothing is on that side of the wall too, not yet at least. Anyway, the 8 picture frames hanging on the wall are from Ikea and I believe they were only $6.00/each. Sorry, I can't really remember some of the cost of these items, but I'll do my best. I know that these picture frames were very in-expensive. My sisters suggested to do black and white photos to match my black and white pillow covers so I did just that! And, it worked out so well, I love it. I got the black and white pillow covers from Ikea, $5/each and from H&M, $6/each. The gold and silver accent pillows are from HomeGoods, and they were $24/each. The white round coffee table's from Ikea, $50.00. The cherry wood end tables (2 of them) are from TJ Maxx, $80.00/each. The grey box's underneath them are from Target, and they're $10/each. The trellis rug is from Target and I think I got it on sale for $70.00, I remember it was on sale and I had use my cartwheel coupon on top of it too. It's a tiny rug, I didn't want a big rug because I didn't want to overpower the room with it. I wanted the sectional sofa and the picture frames on the wall to be the main focal point of the room. My husband replaced the old blinds with new white ones, from Home Depot, total cost for all 3 window blinds, only $120.00. My husband saved some money by installing them himself. It took most of the day, but hey, at least it saved us $100.00 for the installation fee. We got the grey sectional sofa from Ashley's furniture, for about $1,300.00. It is one of those where you can customize it yourself. My husband and I customized this look and we love it. It sits 5-6 people on it. Since it's just me, my husband, and my son... we each get our little laying down area. We love it and it was definitely worth the money. And, the grey side chair, I found it at Goodwill and got it for only $50.00. One of the legs is a little loose but hey, can't beat $50.00 esp when it's in mint condition at a thrift store.
The decors I got are from HomeGoods and At Home, they all range from $5-$25.00. My husband and I are on the hunt for a new ceiling fan, so that's going to be replaced in the upcoming months. We haven't found the perfect one yet since we've been super busy with the other side projects around the house.
My son loves to touch the white latern I got from At Homes; he thinks it's one of his toys so he loves taking the candle stick out and loves putting his smaller toys in it. He calls it his "toys house". But he knows I get mad when he touches "mama stuff", so he doesn't do it all the time.
The Family stand I got it from Hobby Lobby for $20.00. It came in all black, which I didn't like. I really wanted it to be in gold or silver... so I bought a marbleized gold spray paint and spray painted it. It turned out great and I love it. It adds a finishing touch to my picture wall.
And here is my work space area! It's where I spend about 60% of my time because I'm constantly working on client's photos. It's one of my favorite area in this room and I can't believe how great and calm it makes me feel whenever I'm "working" in it.
I originally wanted the contractor to custom build this office area but it was going to cost $1,000.00+ for them to build. And since my husband said that we aren't going to stay int his house forever, probably only for a couple of more years, that we shouldn't invest in so much in a customized work space area since it may not be a seller's point. Which is true, if we do sell, the new potential owners might just take it all down and add their own personal touch to this little area. So, we settled with buying two desks and a bookshelf from Amazon. I think total cost for all 3 furniture pieces was only $300-350.00. I ordered the gold chairs from Amazon, they're call the Hercules and they're $70.00-$80/each. I got the cushions for them from Ikea, for $5/each. The White mirror on the left desk, a friend got it for me as a gift for photographing her bachelorette and wedding. It's so beautiful, I love it. She definitely knows my taste and style. The gold trellis magazine holders are from HomeGoods, $25/each. I took a few nails and just nailed it into the bookshelf. I love them, it's so easy to file my papers into. The rest of the decors are from HomeGoods, and I got them for about $5-30.00. The two gold led desk lamps are from Target, they're $40/each. Expensive, but so pretty and it's small therefore it doesn't overpower the desks.
Since my husband plays video games on the computer a lot (when I'm not on it editing photos)... I bought this sign specifically to remind him. It's cute and I love it here. The picture's of our wedding next to it helps to remind him too.
Here's what I originally wanted the contractor to build (this picture is taken from Instagram, by an unknown source).
Below is a collage picture of what I envisioned to have on the other end of the family room and what is on the other end of it. The old dresser was given to us by my husbands sister as a gift when my husband and I first bought our house back in 2009. It's been in the basement for 5 years until now. I did this whole look myself with the extra help of my niece too. She helped sanded it for me. I did the priming and painting. The silver metallic paint is by Martha Stewart. I honestly would have gone with spray painting it because this paint by MS is NOT good. It's so running and I had to do multiple paint jobs on it just to get it the silver color I want. And, in person, it's the not greatest. But oh well, I did the best I could. The Martha Stewart paint cost about $30/gallon. The new handles are from Hobby Lobby and they were on sale for $5/each. The two gold mirrors are from HomeGoods. I love these two mirrors, I think it goes so well with the whole look of the room and it finishes the dresser's look so well.
The family room is also a play room for my son. He absolutely loves being in this room. He loves riding his Thomas the train and going down his toddlers slide. He loves being on the playground so I thought it would be nice to bring the playground indoor during them winter days.
As mentioned earlier in this blog post, we lost my husband's dad; it was a difficult time period for us all. So in memory of him, I bought this beautiful glass display off from Amazon for $45.00. It was quite expensive for a tiny decor piece but I bought it anyway because I wanted to showcase my late father-in-laws memory. And he loved being a Veteran, it was his pride and joy to have served, so I guess it was worth the buy. I just need to print his picture in his veteran uniform and display it next to his medal. I plan on doing that hopefully this week!
I bought this silver taxidermy deer head 2 years ago for $25-30.00. It's been sitting in my basement until just recently. My husband finally hung it up in our family room. It looks great and this is all that I'm doing on this side of the room. I don't want to hang or do too much on to these walls in the family room that it overpowers the whole room. I like the family room to be simple and clean cut; so this one added wall art worked out great to add the final touch to the whole entire room.
I hope you all enjoyed this post. I have more house projects in the making to share.. so always be on the look out for them!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Aaron and Natasha for being super awesome, I can't wait for your big day in April!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Shoua + Sai for a beautiful session!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
They remind me of a Korean love story. ;P
Beautiful couple indeed; thank you Kevin + Mai for booking a session with me.
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Amy + Johnny for choosing me as your wedding photographer and for letting me be a part of your special day!!
If you're still looking for a wedding photographer for this year and for 2017, I'm still accepting booking's!!
- CONTACT me! -
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Bee + Christa for letting me be a part of your special day!!
It's not to late to book me as your wedding photographer for this year, 2016 and for 2017! Contact me!
Love,
Choua, Natural Bliss photography
]]>
Need some family photos done, contact me to book your family session in! -Contact-
Love, Choua
Natural Bliss Photography
]]>
I know how important it is for everyone to have family pictures especially during fall season (the best season to take family photos), because everybody wanted fall family photos, I gave those who booked a session during the month of October a $5.00 off special discount. I will keep continuing to do this special offer for the month of October in the future. This special offer was such a success, I had so many booked photo session's that I was unable to take in any more. For those who couldn't book a session with me, I'm so sorry, sincerely from the bottom of my heart. If you or any one wants family photos during the month of October 2016, please lock in your session now as space is limited (session's booked far in advance, there is a booking fee of $20.00- nonrefundable, subtract this from the standard package rate, the rest will be paid on the day of the session)... you all can find out more info about my packages by going here...Natural Bliss Photography: Investment
Please enjoy these personal favorites of mine from each session...
Part 2 will be coming up shortly...
]]>
Aaron Y.
Chrissie L.
Jimmy H.
Cole S.
Kaying L.
You all can view more of her photos here at --->Kaying's High School Senior Session
If you're class of 2017, don't hesitate to contact me to book your HS senior session in advance!
Love, Choua
]]>
Need some photos of you in your gorgeous wedding dress, contact me to book your session in!
Love, Choua, Natrual Bliss Photography
]]>
Thank you Sandy and Robert for letting me capture your beautiful day!!
Love, Choua
]]>
Enjoy some of these personal favorites of mine from their wedding day.
Such a sweet and loving couple.
]]>
Love, Choua
]]>
Enjoy some of these favorites of mine from all the wonderful clients/Family session I've captured during the month of August....
The Xiong Family
The Hennessey Family
Padao's Family
Hailey's Family
Ba's Family
The Thao Family
Need some family photos done, please contact me to book a session!
Love, Choua
]]>
These are just a few, there were so many good photos to choose from, but I narrowed it down to these, enjoy!
If you are engaged and your wedding is in 2016, contact me to book a wedding collection contract and you will recieve $100.00 off (You must book it before November 30th, 2015, this offer ends on that day). Go here to view my wedding collections --> Wedding
]]>
Please enjoy some of these favorites of mine from their engagement session...
Need your engagement photos done, contact me to book a session!
Love, Choua
]]>
Kaying was such a delight to work with, which made post processing so much more easier on my part. Thank you Kaying for a great session, I wish you nothing but the best of luck on your journey to college. If I haven't already, but congratulations on completing your High School degree in January 2016.
Enjoy some of these favorites from Kaying's session...
Need your Senior photos done? Contact me to book a session!
Love, Choua
]]>
Thank you Pafoua for allowing me to capture your beautiful family and maternity photos for you!
Please enjoy some of these favorites of mine from their family session...
Need some family or maternity photos done, contact me to book a session!
Love, Choua
]]>
Thank you Kalia and Nick for allowing me to photograph your beautiful maternity photos. Congratulations to you both!
Love, Choua
]]>
My son, Owen, was not cooperative at all during this mommy and son session. The pictures may look like he is, but he was not at all. Kids, it seem like the older they get, the harder it is for them to look at the camera and for them to stay still. I miss it when he couldn't walk yet, it was so easy to snap pictures of him. <Sad face>. I think he was uncooperative too because he knew his daddy was behind the lens and wanted to be stubborn and be a brat. So, we didn't take many, just a few of us, which my husband did pretty good capturing these. Although I had to yell at him a few times to not change my camera Manual settings (I had preset it for him), and I told him to fix his angles (he really needs to work on his angles). My husband didn't really want to take any pictures because 1, he hates taking pictures and 2, it was humid and he can't stand humid temperature. We didn't stay long at the park, we walked the trail for a bit and turned back and went home.
Here are some photos of me and my son that I'd like to share with you all. Enjoy!
We saw a snapping turtle, Owen wanted to pet it, but it quickly scattered into the field of grass.
Owen says, "Enough kisses mommy! No more!" :)
Mama loves you, Owen, forever and always!
Love, Choua
]]>
Enjoy some of these favorites of mine from their session...
See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil
Thank you Cindy, Hlee, and Payeng for a wonderful session!
Love, Choua
]]>
Need some updated photos of you and your S/O? Contact Me to book a session!
Love, Choua
]]>
The furnishing's pictured above is the past owners; it is not ours. Everything else stayed pretty much the same; same carpet, same ugly wood paneling until last year 2014 when my husband took a few weeks off to rip out the carpet and the wood paneling and he painted the walls but then HE let it stay like that for a year. The husband starts something and then doesn't follow through or accomplish it until he pushes my buttons to force him to do something about it. Like my mother-in-law (his mom) says.. his heart is heavy when it comes to getting certain things done. I couldn't agree more, and I told her... I have to live with his heavy heart every single day. Nothing gets done until I force him to do so. MEN!
Anyway, since my husband was not going to accomplish this long and dreadful house project...I decided to, back in April, contact a contractor to get an estimated quote. Luckily they were able to give us one and so we decided to push forward with it.
But prior to all of the renovations this year, I made a few sketches and designed a layout of the family room of how I envisioned the family room to be. I made these sketches back in 2010, and I can't believe it's becoming a reality this year.
I even made a sketch of my work space area...
I even selected a picture for inspiration... this picture was screen shot from Young House Love blog, they are a young couple who does a lot of DIY house projects. I've been reading their blog since the day I moved into my house in 2009. I wanted something similar to theirs but not really either, I definitely wanted a book shelf in between the two desks only because I wanted to display decorations, books and storage bins.
I created this design using an app called polyvore. This was what I had envisioned...
Enjoy some of these "before" pictures.... (I know, hideous!) Like I said, my house is far from perfect!
This year, we finally followed through with a hired contractor to do the hard work. Such as: installing the white wood paneling, baseboards, they fixed two of the electrical outage, and they removed the stove and the bricks. My husband did the rest; he sanded the trims, primed and painted the wood trims (window trims and the door trims), and he took out the rest of the carpet on the stairs.
This is how it looks now with the carpet installed....
Just a little before and after pictures of the stairs leading down to the family room...
Now that the carpet is installed. It's time for me to do what I do best, decorate!! I bought a few decorations last year so I'm super excited to take them out and put them on display. Here's what I have so far with this corner...
Yep, this is our family room so far...thank you all for reading, I hope you all enjoyed these before and after pictures of my family room.
Please stay tune for a part 2!
Love, Choua
]]>
Mel was the 1st one to wear my new maternity gown I recently purchased from Sew Trendy Accessories. It's called the Petra Gown in Fuschia. I'm definitely going to buy more in this Petra style gown. My next color on the list is Royal Blue or White. I haven't decided yet, but I am leaning towards the white color.
If you are an expectant mommy to be, and don't want to buy your own maternity gown; when you book a session with me, you can select any one of these gowns that I have posted on my website to choose from, go here --> Maternity Gown & Accessories Although you don't have to wear these ones in this collection, you can provide your own. Do know that I haven't fully updated this collection, I am adding as I go. So check back daily for updates. Thank you.
Enjoy looking at some of these favorites of mine...
Melissa and Touger make such a good looking couple!
By the way, they're expecting a little boy with this pregnancy to complete their family. They have 2 beautiful girls.
Love, Choua
]]>
So come the day of, mother nature was all over the place... we had some clouds at first, but then we chased the sun to a different location, just South of Milwaukee. Our initial location was the beach in Racine, but about 10 minutes into our session, came the down pour of rain. Yikes! We quickly hurried back into our cars and drove to a different location. I literally felt like we were chasing the sun that day. Our 2nd location was a lot better because it was dry, sunny, and humid! I find it so weird how one area's weather can be so different just 10 miles away?? Funny how mother nature works... well, I'm glad we made this session happen and I'm super thankful for Judy and John's flexibility that day. They did quite some driving, which made me feel extremely bad, but they're such sweethearts they didn't mind at all. Thank you Judy and John for a wonderful, crazy, hot, humid, and beautiful session. Congratulations to you both on your 1st, miracle little boy; I hope you love these photos just as much as I do.
Enjoy some of these favorites of mine from their session...
Judy made this cute chalk board sign prop for this session. I love it, she is so creative!
My favorite photo! They're going to be such awesome parents to baby Finley!
Baby Finley is so blessed to have Judy and John as his parents;
Once again, congratulations to you both- Judy and John!!
Love, Choua
]]>
Enjoy some of these favorites of mine from their session....
If you want to get some photos done of you and your little family, please contact me to book a session!
Thank you.
Love, Choua
]]>
Thank you, Sumalee and Sher, for being so patient and for a wonderful late evening session. You two are such an adorable couple and great parents with beautiful kids; a huge congratulations to you and your family on the new expectant little bundle of joy! I can't wait for you to reveal the gender to everyone and of course, I can't wait to meet little one.
Oh, and I will NOT reveal the gender per the parents request. Look to my Facebook page for the gender reveal after they've shared their announcement on what the sex of the baby is. So, stay tune! In the mean time, enjoy some of these photos that I selected to share. These are not all of the photos from session.
What is it going to be....... a GIRL or BOY?!?!?
Thank you Sher and Sumalee for a wonderful session!
Love, CXy
]]>
Anyway, before it became his bedroom, it was 'my' bedroom. I'll admit, I'm a girl who loved to shop; I had so much clothes, shoes, accessories, and makeup, that I just couldn't let go of. It accumulated over the years and so having a bedroom all to myself was something that I needed... until, I found out I was pregnant. We only have 3 bedrooms in the house, so I had to make a choice, either keep my bedroom and collect more stuff or get rid of a lot of my stuff, condense it and make room for a baby. My baby was the most important to me, though he was only a couple of weeks old in my belly, I knew I had to put him before my needs, wants, and others. I made the sacrifice and deep cleaned everything that was in this bedroom. I sold, threw out, and gave away a lot of stuff. I did pretty good and felt pretty happy with the sacrifices. Below are the before picture's...
After I deep cleaned this room, it was now my husband's turn to do his job... renovating it! He did all the handy work. He sanded the trims, prime and painted the trims, installed the baseboards, and put all the furnishings (crib and drawers) together. He didn't like it very much because it was tough labor, but I couldn't do it because I was 'pregnant'. And, he wan't going to go through the hardest labor yet- pushing out a 7 pound baby! (Yes, Owen was 7 pounds, that may seem normal to you all... but, I am 4'9 and weigh 80 pounds, so to me, he was a big baby). Anyway, my husband didn't have a choice to do the labor for this room. I did, however, design the nursery and bought all the decorations.
Carpet was installed, but it took 1 month for them to come install in. Had to special order the carpet from Home Depot.
The finished look...
Breakdown of all the items and estimate cost: Labor (Free), paint ($40.00), carpet from Home Depot ($450.00), white crib from Walmart ($200.00), rocking/gliding chair from Walmart ($450.00), white drawer from Walmart ($180.00), white stackable toy bin/drawer from Amazon ($200.00), white curtains for closet from Ikea ($60.00), custom made fishy mobile from Etsy ($30.00), black qoute and giraffe wall art from Etsy ($60.00), black foot stool from my niece (Free), blue shaggy rug from Walmart ($15.00), decorative blue pillows from Walmart ($30.00), blankets hand made by my sister (Free), big canvas of Owen at 3 days old from Shutterfly ($120.00), and Owen name plate wall art hand made by my sister (Free).
I hope this nursery blog post inspired you to design and decorate your little one's nursery!!
Love, CXy
]]>
Pajyeeb photo session went great! The weather and the temperature was extremely cooperative, it was a good day for photos, because I had gorgeous natural light to work with. So, once again, thank you mother nature for the awesome and beautiful day... all the pictures from this session turned out beautifully. I didn't have to do much editing to these photos, I just did a clean edit and a few light tweaks to some of the pictures.
I bought another maternity gown from sew trendy accessories, however, instead of casting for pregnant models to do a free photo session, I will be offering a discounted mini package to whoever that wants to book a maternity session with me and who would like to wear the gown I bought. So, if you haven't already, please like my Facebook page: CXy Natural Bliss Photography for this future offering! Thank you, and please enjoy Pajyeeb's maternity session.
Isn't she such a gorgeous mama? I think so! Thank you Pajyeeb for being such a fantastic model and for doing this for me.
Congratulations to you and your husband on your new little bundle of joy.
*Dress is from Sew Trendy Accessories
If you'd like to book a photo session with me, please go here to select a collection and to get more info: Investment
and for my Wedding prices and info, go here: Wedding
Love, Choua
]]>
This is my 1st casting call and the overall experience and session went very well. I'm going to have to do another one as I will be adding more maternity gowns from Sew Trendy Accessories to my maternity clothing wardrobe for photo shoot purposes. I absolutely love their collection. That way, when a mama to be book a maternity session with me, they can just choose whatever gown from the collection that I have and that way they don't have to venture out and buy their own for just a one time event. So far, I have two maternity gowns. I still got a long ways to go to build up my maternity wardrobe for clients, so please bare with me.
Prior to Laura's maternity session, I was checking for the weather days in advance and prayed that it would not rain because we got a lot of rain fall that week; but thank god it didn't. We followed through with the session and I was even more happy that mother nature gave me gorgeous lighting that late evening. It didn't even take me long to post process the photos and I used my two favorite lens during this session, 50mm and the 70-200mm lens, no flash and of course all 'natural' lighting to capture these photos...
Maternity gown is from Sew Trendy Accessories and MUA credit to Sophia.
If you are an expectant mom and would like to do a maternity photo shoot, please feel free to contact me to book a session.
Love, Choua
]]>
To continue on, this blog post is about mine and my husband's bedroom. If you liked my Facebook page or is a friend of mine on Facebook, I've talked a lot about this bedroom, and mainly because I'm quite proud of how it turned out so far. My husband and I worked really hard on this bedroom to make it look nice and comfortable.
When we first bought our house, all 3 bedrooms were not appealing at all. Specifically speaking, our bedroom. It had ugly yellow carpet from the 70's?, bedroom was small too, but it was the biggest one out of the 3 in our house. And, if you live in the south of Milwaukee, WI, you can't really find nice sized bedroom, especially on a budget. So, yes, bummer. But my husband and I were determined to make this small bedroom feel like a bedroom. We knew what we wanted to get done considering the size of it. I'm a huge fan of HGTV so watching numerous TV shows has really inspired me to turn my small and hideous bedrooms into something I absolutely love. Prior to all the renovations, I begin to sketch a design plan of what I want my bedroom to look like....
Here's the before picture...
Here's the start of the renovation's ....
The husband working hard at putting the wood flooring and baseboards in. Since he's the Engineer, he did all the handy work! I am no expert in these kind of house handy work projects. So I leave them all to my husband to do. My part is to design, shop and decorate for the house. I enjoy doing my part!
Here's the aftermath of the putting in the hardwood and baseboards in...
What paint and little decor can do to a bedroom...
This bedroom took us 5 years to fix and update and it is not even near being done yet. I'd say, it's about 90% complete. It still needs quite a few other work. For instance, the closet and painting the trims. Actually, the closet needs a lot of work, we are still figuring out how to build a shoe closet in there. This closet project in our bedroom is on hold and will probably take a couple of months - 1 year to finish. Just because we have our family room and exterior curb appeal work to focus on as of right now. But, do stay tune for those future house projects.
Anyway, at first, I wanted my bedroom to be yellow, grey, black, and white (as you can see in the pictures above). However, after staging my bedroom for a bridal boudoir photo session with some new white decorative pillows, I decided to change the colors. I feel like with the white and grey combo, it gives it a more airy, dreamy, and soft look to the whole bedroom. And, it's more me! So, I stuck with the grey and white combo and eliminated the yellow. One of my picture frame on the wall is still yellow, but that's an easy fix with spray paint. Figure I'll just spray paint it white. Haven't done so yet, but will do it sometime this summer. As for my yellow mustard bench, I'm quite sad that I have to cover it up with a white blanket. It is such a beautiful bench. Ill prob move that bench down to the family room and get a different bench for my bedroom. My family room colors are grey, white, gold, bronze, silver and black. So the mustard yellow bench will prob fit better down there more than in my bedroom. But we will see how my family room turns out in order to make a decision.
My baby thinks my decorations is his toys, I have to constantly remind him NOT to touch anything on this bed tray. Sometimes he listen and sometimes he doesn't. But, he's a lot better than his dad! His dad (my husband) is the worst, he'll actually move my decors around, put all of his clothes and garbage on it. I have to constantly remind him as well, but he's a terrible listener, worst than his own child. I know, my husband is pretty bad, he's lucky he has a partially OCD wife, me!
The majority of money was spent on decorations and furnishings, not so much on the hardwood floors and baseboards which was only about a total of $550.00. We saved half of the cost by doing it ourselves, well more like my husband did all the handy work. Thank you dear! The most expensive item in this bedroom is our mattress.
I'll try to break the items down by where I bought it from and how much...Queen size black bed frame- Steinhafels ($400), bed bench- Target ($175), Breakfast bed tray- Amazon ($30), Night stand end tables- Walmart ($25/each), Decorative pillows- Homegoods ($85), White comforter blanket- Walmart ($30), White curtains- Ikea ($30), Grey lamps- Ikea ($20/each), White deer taxidermy wall art- Homegoods ($30), Laminate floors- Lumbar liquidation ($400), White baseboards- Home depot ($150), Crystal tea light chandelier- Amazon ($40), picture frames and decors- gift from friends/families and some are bought from Homegoods, and labor cost- Free over the past 5.5 years.
There you have it, my bedroom in progress. I hope this blog inspired you to re-create or start on a house project. Please stay tune for more future home sweet home blog posts!
UPDATE: 06/12/2015..... NEW BED BENCH from HOMEGOODS!
I'm putting the old yellow mustard bed bench in the family room.
Love, CXyNB
]]>
If you'd like me to photograph your family, please contact me to book a session!
Love, CXyNB
]]>
FYI: these are not all the photos from the session. Only a few are selected to share. Move mouse over on some of the photos to see clip notes. Must be on PC to see the notes, otherwise it's not visible using mobile devices.
Colin Hang - Hello little love!
If you'd like me to photograph your family, please contact me to book a session!
Love, CXyNB
]]>
We took these photos at 6:30-7:30 pm around sunset time. I absolutely love photographing around this time due to the beautiful natural light that it sets off. While having sun is good, there's no harsh sun to work with, so I was able to capture the couple's face without having any dark shadows and or overexposed light. And, it is why it didn't take me that long to post processed these photos. They're such an adorable couple, they made the session extremely enjoyable and easy!
"You may hold my hand for awhile, but you hold my heart forever" - Unknown
If you would like to do a couple photo shoot, please contact me to book a session!
Thank You!
Love, CXyNB
]]>
A few things about the session...all 12 girls are from the same church (Grace Point) in Milwaukee,WI. I had asked them if they were all friends and or sisters? and they responded... we are all Sisters in Christ. It was definitely a beautiful answer and it fits so well with their whole theme and character, I absolutely loved it. And, again, the weather hasn't been kind to us, so there's not much greenery to work with. But that's ok, because the gorgeous girls in their pretty gowns made up for it. I love every single dress that each wore and they all model in it very well! See for yourself...
(highlight your mouse over on some of the pictures, it will give little clip note's)
Note: these are not all of the photos from the session, I selected a few to share only.
Grace Point Sisters
Having a deep conversation ;)
Soft & Romantic was their theme! Therefore I edited it to what they and I had envisioned.
Such a pretty expectant mama!
With a group of 12, we gotta have a jumping picture! :)
Forever Sisters in Christ
Thank you girls for a wonderful session!
I hope you all enjoyed these lovely pictures.
If you want to book a friends/sisters themed photo shoot with me, please email me to book your session!
Love, CXyNB
]]>
Prior to the session, Ms Brookie's mommy had a special request... she wanted a spring theme photo shoot. Well, living in Wisconsin, the cold temperature here has not been kind to us. It's been a rough start this Spring season so far. There isn't much greenery to work with when shooting outdoors. But I was able to pull some props together and do some editing to the photos to mimic the spring look. That way the ugly dried out and dead grass didn't overpower the photos. As for the photos, I chose pastel colors to give it that spring look, I figure I'd go with this pastel like look because pastels always reminds me of spring.
Happy 2nd Birthday Brooklyn.
Thank you Nou and Brooklyn for a wonderful session!
Love, CXyNB
]]>
Some of these photos were taken with using my tripod stand, my husband, and or a friend. And, all of these photos were taken with my Canon T2i camera (my very first DSLR, given to me by my husband as a gift). If you scroll over the pictures with your mouse, you'll see who is behind the camera doing the work. All hair, makeup and outfits are done/styled by me. Enjoy!
My husband took these photos of me.
Canon T2i, 50mm lens, no flash.
My husband took these photos of me.
Canon T2i, 50mm lens, no flash.
My friend Mai Neng took these photos of me.
My friend Mai Neng took these photos of me.
My tripod took these photos of me.
My tripod took these photos of me.
My tripod took these photos of me.
My tripod took these photos of me.
My tripod took these photos of me.
My tripod took these photo of me.
These photos were taken with my tripod.
These photos were taken with my tripod.
How I look like now (2015)
2015, my husband took these photos of me.
Love, CXyNB
]]>
After the successful maternity session, she contacted me again to photograph her and her newborn son Oscar, and Oscar's dad. It was literally only 1 week after the maternity session that she had her darling little bundle of joy- Oscar. He is so cute and quite a charmer with his gorgeous hazel-green-blue eyes. I can definitely see a ton of girls falling for this little handsome guy.
Here are a few favorites from both sessions. For Karla's maternity session, I decided to edit a few photos in black and white, although the entire collection was not in black and white. These black and white ones are just for you visitor's viewing. Enjoy.
Baby and Daddy, a precious moment!
Thank you Karla K for a wonderful opportunity and for the great successful session's.
Also, I'd like to thank you Cindy Y. for referring Karla K to me too. And, to all, Thank You so much for all the love, support, and referrals.
If you want maternity photos and or photos of your newborn, contact me to book a session! Thank You!
Love, CXyNB
]]>
Also, I just want to thank ALL the other participants who entered in for my free photo-shoot contest. Be sure to referred friends and family to 'LIKE' my Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/cxynb) so that I can do another FREE photo-shoot contest again. My goal is to get 2,000 likes and if I do reach that, this time there will be 2 winners with a few extra surprises!!
Enjoy Bre and Bryce's photos!
If you'd like me to photograph you and your adorable kids, please contact me to book a session!
Love, CXyNB
]]>
We then went out to the walking/bike trail in her backyard and snap a few photos. There were quite a few other photographers there too that day and a lot of passer's. She was too shy to pose because of all the people there, but since she loves me, she did it anyway. She was a trooper.
The photos above, she was standing on a hill and I was at the bottom looking up. I love this spot, but because of the sun, we didn't stay here long. I didn't have an assistant to help me with the reflector to bounce the sun off her face. Eventually, we had to move to a different area.
She didn't reveal the gender of her baby to anyone yet until this photoshoot. I'm glad she waited, because prior to this session, everyone wanted to know what she was having. To think of it, in a way, it was a maternity/gender reveal photoshoot.
My sister had her baby in February, and named her son, Felix Vang. Of course, I had to photograph my little newborn nephew. He is such a darling, & most definitely there will be a post about that session soon. I'm still trying to finish post-processing the photos at the moment. Stay tune and be on the look out for a blog post about his newborn session.
If you or someone you know who is looking to do a maternity session, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or www.facebook.com/cxynb - My contact info can be found on my website's homepage too. Thank you for reading.
Love, CXyNB
]]>
I took my son to the beach by my house (North Oasis Beach in Racine,WI). It is a gorgeous beach, and I'm so happy we live 5-8 min drive away from it. Now that my son knows how to walk and run, I'm planning to take him here more often. Last year, I couldn't really because he was still tiny and still falling around every where when he walks, he still does now but he's gotten better. Anyway, when we got to the beach, the huge castle playground was all covered in snow. We had a snow storm with sleets last week and I guess it hasn't melted away. So, I couldn't take my son to play on it, instead we played in the parking lot. Which didn't last long either, because it was wet and full of small little puddles everywhere. He couldn't even bounce his ball. If he did, water would get on him and in his face/eyes. He didn't like it very much, so he held onto this ball for the most part. Again, we didn't stay long, because he fell face down into a puddle of water and got himself all wet! He was drenched in cold water. He really does have clown feet (big feet), he stumbles and falls everywhere. Clumsy boy! Since he was covered in water and extremely wet- I decided to just pack up and go back home. Had to change him out of his wet clothes, I didn't want him to get hypothermia (which I'm sure he wasn't going to get) but as a worried mother, I had to get him dry as soon as possible. Of course, he was upset, he didn't want to go home at all.
After changing him out of his wet clothes, I took some more photos of my son (indoor). He was laying on the ground playing with his toys and making a mess like he always does. He wasn't too thrilled about me snapping photos of him, since he was still upset at me. But I played peek-a-boo with him and that cheered him up right away.
These photos were taken with my new lens that I bought back in January of this year. It is the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS and I used natural light to capture all these photos of my son. I did do a few minior edits to all the photos. The minor edit tweaks I did were- changing the exposure, contrast, and sharpen the image a little bit, and increase the blues. The rest is all natural. My weekend with my son was well spent!
]]>
Today marks my first day of blogging! I'm excited to start blogging and documenting all of my photo sessions. I have so many great photo sessions that I'd like to share with you all- past, recent, and future ones. I'll be blogging more about the upcoming photo sessions, and not so much of the past ones, however, if I have time, I'll blog about those too. I will also be blogging about announcements and a few personal life stories so that you all can get to know me, the photographer, a little bit more.
This blog post isn't really about any photo shoots but primarily to announce the launch of my blog. AND, to say a huge THANK YOU to my supporters and fans of my work, I've reached 1,500 likes on my facebook page www.facebook.com/cxynb. Because you all helped me reach my goal, I will be doing a FREE PHOTOSHOOT contest. A few details to follow, so be sure to check my facebook page, and if you haven't yet, be sure to LIKE my Facebook page as well!
Last but not least, I'd like to make a quick comment before I end this blog post... the reason why I chose the name "Natural Bliss Photography" as my main photography name is because (1) I am primarily a natural light photographer, I hardly use flash unless I really have to and I don't do any major editing/compositions to my photos. It's natural, and it represents the kind of person I am and the people I photograph. Another thing, I also believe that if I have these expensive camera's and gears, why not get it right in camera first, right? Well, at least I try to for the most part. Don't get me wrong, I do do edits to my photos- by that, I mean, retouching, changing lights and colors if I have to. Again, I want to leave a great impression of how well I know my photography- therefore giving you all the natural look if at all possible. (2) No photo is ugly and or horrible; I believe every single shot I take are beautiful. It captures the moment in time, and thus it's blissful in every way possible. Bad or good, it's natural and blissful. And, lastly (3) Let's face it, no one can pronounce my full name- Choua Xiong-Yang. If I had gone with Choua Xiong-Yang Photography it will be too original and it will be hard for my clients to pronounce. I wanted a name that is simple and easy to pronounce, and to flow with "photography" and you might ask, why not then to go with 'CXy Photography'...Well, then I'll be too selfish, because.. while I am the main photographer who controls this website, email, and Facebook page, my husband and sisters are my backbones. They are the reason why I started this photography business in the first place. They are my assistants and strongest supporters. They helped me achieve and thrive in this photography business and that is why I dedicate part of this logo name to them. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am today. I hope this will give you all a better understanding of why I chose the name I chose and a little bit of who I am and what my photos represents.
Thank you Everyone for all the love and support!
]]>