nicholeV photography [the blog]

Flourish Contest Winners!!

Ok everyone! Sooooo sorry for the long wait . . . . sigh . . . . I feel like I'm just constantly making excuses, so I'll skip the sob story tonight!

Basically, the judging for this contest was just unbelievably hard. There were so many amazing entries, we had an almost impossible time trying to narrow things down. Needless to say, the judging took a lot longer than it should have! But, I think that we've finally got it narrowed down!

Ok, so I did come up with three winners. Each winner will receive a $50 gift certificate for products on Flourish. So here are the winners in no particular order!

First we have Amanda R. and this beautiful shot! It loaded all skewed in the gallery (sorry, Amanda, I couldn't fix it there), but I fell in love with it the first time I saw it!

The next winner is Crystal H. for this amazingly emotional photo.  I just loved the use of texture and crop with this shot . . . just really brings everything together!
 

And the final winner is Jessica C. for this tender moment between Mom and child!

So I managed to choose the winners, but I also had three other photos that I just couldn't not mention! So I decided to add an additional three runner-up winners. Wooohooo!!

Each of these winners will receive a $15 gift certificate to Flourish! So again, in no particular order:

I adored this amazing shot by Michelle N. . . .  It's just a really beautiful wedding photo!

And this adorable shot by Vivky W. was a favorite of all the judges!

And this last photo by Nancy C. is one of those stunning images of life and emotion that I just can't get out of my head!

Congrats to all the winners; winners, email me to claim your prize! But again, let me say how hard the judging was for this contest. I felt that all the photos that were submitted were just amazing and most would win awards in just about any contest!

Thanks again for all who participated!

Ok, we're back up, folks!

Alright! My poor computer isn't fixed yet, but I managed to get the files that I needed off of it.

So here is a link to all the wonderful submissions that I received this week.

Link to Flourish Contest Gallery 

I've posted the link so my judges can go through and get going on the judging process . . . . it's going to be a terribly hard decision!

Not quite sure how long it will take to make a final decision, but at least several hours . . . . so stay tuned!

Flourish Contest

Just wanted to give an update on the Flourish photo contest. I got a lot of amazing entries. I'm seriously don't even know how I'm going to decide! You guys make it so hard for me! And I so appreciate everyone who took the time to enter the contest. It's been so fun to watch all the wonderful entries come in over the last week.

I actually wanted to post images before now, but long story short, the motherboard on my desktop computer is dying a slow, gasping death. And well, the images and photoshop are on my desktop computer. And my computer currently won't boot and hasn't since Friday. I'm hoping to be able to fix the problem by later on today, but until I get my computer back and running, I won't be able to judge the contest. Soooo sorry for those of you who have been waiting for this! Trust me. I'm just as frustrated as you are!!

And while I'm on the topic, am I the only one who feels blind when my main computer goes down? I feel like I've lost a fundamental part of myself. . . . and my laptop, though nice, just isn't quite the same. Sigh. It's pathetic how attached I am to a peice of technology!

So, all I can say, is stay tuned . . . .

Flourish Photo Contest

Ok, I have to start by saying THANK YOU to all those of you who took the time to stop by my new Flourish site over the weekend. I really appreciate all your kind emails and comments about the new site. It's been a lot of work and I think that we got most of the first day hiccups worked out. So THANK YOU!!

And please continue to use the discount coupon in the post below. The coupon is valid until Feb.1, 2008 (the numbers at the end of the code), just so you know.

And I am MORE than ready to start a wonderful photo competition as part of this launch. So let's get to the details!

Photo Contest Details

When I designed Flourish, I really looked to art nouveau for my inspiration. I wanted something that was organic and flowing, like William Morris wallpaper or Pre-Raphaelite art. So I developed and used design elements from that period in order to create the site.

So I would like this contest to be about Flourish, more about the feeling of the site rather than the actual elements of it. For this contest,  I'm envisioning organic, emotional images. These images can be vintage or not, can have textures or not, can be have people in them or not . . . you get the idea. I'm more about capturing the emotion of it here, rather than any one particular style. Interpret it how you will!

This contest is open to anyone and everyone. If you would like to enter, please send me a small file of your image, no larger than 500kb to nichole@nicholeV.com. You may only enter one photo. I will post entries here on my blog, so please feel free to watermark your image if you would like. If you would not like your image posted, please let me know. It will still be eligible for the contest!

The deadline for the contest will be 10:00 pm EST on Sunday, Jan. 27th. I will announce winners on Monday, Jan. 28th. I will select 3 winners and each winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to Flourish!

Can't wait to see all the wonderful photos you send my way!

Flourish is LIVE

Just wanted to let everyone know that my new site is finally LIVE and ready to go!

Finally!!

Can you tell how excited I am???!!!

http://shop.nicholev.com/

And the current url, actions.nicholeV.com will send you to the new site as well (or it will soon!).

So woohooo for the launch! I wil be posting info tonight about the photo contest!

And for all you lovely people, here is a coupon code that will give you 10% your entire order when you check out!

flourishlaunch020108

So have fun browsing the new site and let me know if you encounter any errors. We've tried really hard to make sure that everything is working smoothly, but you know how it goes sometimes!

Thanks again, everyone!

Flourish Update

Ok, so despite our best intentions and efforts, Flourish just isn't going to go live today. I know, I'm bummed, but that's just the way it is. Fingers crossed, the site should go live tomorrow.

The site is done and everything looks wonderful. The new ordering system is amazing, as it creates an account for you and then allows you to instantly download the products you purchase. However, our testers found a small snag with the account set up for some users and well, we spent the better part of today troubleshooting that one small problem. Basically, I'm not going to launch a site that I know will cause problems for some people.

So we wait . . . .

Sooooo sorry everyone! The site should go live tomorrow. The new products are finished and ready to go. Several people emailed me earlier today wanting to purchase them before the site went live. So if you want something, just drop me a line, nichole@nicholeV.com. You can paypal me the amount (and I will happily give you the launch discount coupon price on things) and then I can manually set up a download account for you.

Thanks again, everyone, for your patience!

Flourish Going Live!!

Ok, folks. Yes, it is the 18th and Flourish is about to go live. Thanks for all your patience. This new site is incredibly improved and has significantly more functionality than the old site, which also means that it's been an insane amount of work. We're currently working through the final stages of testing and should put it live sometime today! Sorry, I can't be more definite! We just have to work out those last few kinks!

Here's a preview of the new products for those of you who just can't wait anymore!

The new Retro Action and Textures set includes 18 actions and 10 textures. It has actions that mimic lomo, holga, pinhole, tintype and old toy cameras. It also has a new color action: Faded Color. It's an amazing set!

There are also 3 new texture sets. These textures are all high-res files measuring 4000px at 300 dpi. The textures are for all versions of photoshop, photoshop elements and quite frankly any other program that will allow you to open a jpeg texture and integrate it with a photo. The sets include instructions on how to integrate textures using PS and PSE.

The first set is the very lovely Fine Art Tapestry Textures that I posted about below. These are a set of 10 amazingly beautiful textures that recreate the look of age old textiles and stencils.

The next texture set are the Heirloom Textures. This set of 15 textures will give a photo a vintage, age old look, though they will work on just about any type of photo, not just vintage ones.

The last texture set are the Worn Textures. This set of 15 textures is an amazing set of work horse kinda textures. They will add a grungy, worn look to any photo and include a lot of the textures that I've been using recently in most of my Urban action photos.

And the last new product is a set of 30 high-res brushes: Flourish Brushes. This set of brushes are HUGE with most averaging at least 1500 px and are meant for printing. They include all the brushes I created and used to make all the designs and such on Flourish, as well as all the brushes I used to create the blog header above. I've loved all these brushes and am so happy to offer them to others. The set includes the .abr brush set as well as all the .png files for those on older or different systems.

This is just a small sampling of the brushes in the set:

So that's all the new products, folks! For all those of you who can't wait, email me. The products are ready for sale, we just need to work out a last few kinks. If you want yours before the site goes live, let me know!

In the meantime, I will be emailing out launch coupon codes later on today (as soon as the site is live) for all those of you who opted in to my mailing list.

Stay tuned! As soon as the site is live, I'll be announcing a photo contest with some wonderful prizes!

Flourish Set to Launch!!

Well folks, sooooo sorry for my LONG delay in posting another entry. Needless to say, I've been hard at work on the new Flourish: An Emporium for Photographers website. And it is set to launch next Friday, January 18th! I've been working on the new site and new products it seems almost non-stop for the last month or two. But it's been so much fun!

So when Flourish launches next week, it will include all the products from my old site, as well as some new products. Namely, the new site will include a line of high-res beautiful textures, high-res amazing brushes and the new Retro Action and Textures set.

Did I mention that I'm absolutely in LOVE with these new products? I've been using the textures and brushes for my own personal stuff for months now (i.e. like the brushes I used to create my blog header above!), and I'm so glad to finally be able to offer these items to others.

In particular, the textures will include a set of antique textures, grunge textures and my personal favorite--a high-end, exclusive set of floral art textures. These are textures but beautiful enough to stand on their own as papers too.

A sample or two from this set:

   

Anyway, I am planning a launch party to go along with the new site . . . . think discount coupons, giveaways and a photo contest! Details to follow . . . .

So if you haven't opted in to my mailing list, you might want to! If you would like to receive emails from me about new products and special offers, just shoot me an email to nichole@nicholeV.com. And don't worry. Of course, I won't sell my mailing list and I definitely won't spam you. I just want to keep those who are interested updated!