Nicole Haley | Michigan Wedding Photographer | Blog » Inspiration

Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:44:34 +0000

So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
- Dr. Seuss | Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

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Show and Tell | Pinterest

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:11:00 +0000

Before December, I refused to even look at the Pinterest website in fear of yet another social media site eating away at my days. But, with a little more time to relax and explore over the holidays, I allowed myself a visit and was pretty impressed with how useful and interesting the site could be within my business. So far, it has not taken over my life completely (I’m looking at you, Facebook.) and that makes me very happy. So, I thought I’d share a link to my boards here with you. If you’re a client or a potential client, I thought this would be a neat way for you to get to know me a little more. Maybe feel a little more comfortable knowing a bit about who is behind the camera. Or maybe you’ll just think I’m a little crazy for wanting to live in a treehouse. Either way.

I’d love to see your boards too! Let me know if you have a board for your wedding or portrait session, it’d be great to see your ideas!

Click here or on the image below to see my boards and follow along as the pinning frenzy approaches (I still think it’s coming)!

EMAIL NICOLE | SEE MORE OF NICOLE’S WORK AT WWW.NICOLEHALEY.COM | STAY UPDATED VIA FACEBOOK

Waiting for Snow

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:34:08 +0000

For the very end of 2011 and to ring in the new year, Eric and I went up to the Leelanau Peninsula with a couple of friends. We stayed at a little home within walking distance to the town of Glen Arbor and, much like our last visit to Glen Arbor just three weeks earlier, we were hoping for snow. The kind of snow that brings most activity to a halt. I had two cameras in tow, three rolls of film ready in the refrigerator and a silly amount of fleece and Smartwool socks. I wanted photographs of snow. I was ready. Alas, it did not snow. (Until we got on the road to head home.)

If it had snowed, I would have taken about 200 photographs of snow and loved it. But, in the end, I think I got something even better. Eric and I have been going up to Leelanau regularly for about nine years now and I have an embarrassingly small amount of town photos. So, I spent some time taking town photos and I am excited we will have these to look back on in another nine years when things may look a little different.

Happy new year, friends! I hope the year is full of unexpected surprises for you.

For now, enjoy some scenes from Cherry Republic:

And what seems to be THE local hangout because the street is always full when we go by, Art’s Tavern:

The Cottage Book Shop:

Our newest Glen Arbor finds – Great Lakes Tea & Spice (wow, try the Honey Sweet Oolong tea!) and The Totem Shop if you need more Smartwool:

I really love small town post offices. I really, really do.

Lake Street Studios:

And just our little walk home:

Then we headed over to Leland for some wine tasting. Since I’m a sucker for outdoor gear, here you have the Leland Harbor House:

How adorable is that post office?

And our new favorite winery, Verterra:

And, last, the Fishtown Candy Company (I have photos from the inside here):

I have a feeling this is a new project for me so hopefully on our next trip up I’ll have the chance to visit some of the other towns on the peninsula. Cheers!

EMAIL NICOLE | SEE MORE OF NICOLE’S WORK AT WWW.NICOLEHALEY.COM | STAY UPDATED VIA FACEBOOK

Thanksgiving

admin — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:07:48 +0000

My own list of thanks runs long but what I find always holds true is I think of each item on that list in pictures. Mental snapshots of a family member or a time in my life I will never forget. Of my favorite place. Of good health. Of fresh air. And I am thankful for each of these things – and so many more – and the pictures they call to mind.

Here are some photographs from a time I spent at Speck Pond in Maine feeling extremely thankful to be in such a beautiful place. Happy Thanksgiving, dear reader. I hope you are able to take a moment or a few today to enjoy something for which you are most thankful.

EMAIL NICOLE | SEE MORE OF NICOLE’S WORK AT WWW.NICOLEHALEY.COM | STAY UPDATED VIA FACEBOOK

Here Goes Nothin’ | Fall on the Leelanau Peninsula (And On Film)

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:13:30 +0000

Earlier this month, I posted about our trip up to the Leelanau Peninsula and promised to share some film photographs from that trip a little later. Well, here goes nothin’.

This here set of photos comes from the second roll of film I’ve used since I bought my film camera in October. It had been a while since I shot film, but there is already so much about it that I love. The colors, the slowness and the surprise are just a few of my favorite things.

For now, let me tell you a little about my favorite place (one more time)…

We rented this beautiful little place in Glen Arbor…

And we were surrounded by colorful trees:

Have I told you how I love trees?

And I felt comfortable that my fall experience was complete after we visited Christmas Cove Farm in Northport for some vintage apples:

I only love apples that much when I’m surrounded by them in the crisp fall air. This year, the Snow apple was my favorite.

I hope this finds you having a great Friday with lots to look forward to over the weekend.

EMAIL NICOLE | SEE MORE OF NICOLE’S WORK AT WWW.NICOLEHALEY.COM | STAY UPDATED VIA FACEBOOK

The Little Things: Slowing Down, Soaking It All In

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:27:09 +0000

Over the weekend, Eric and I headed to my favorite place on the planet to spend a weekend relaxing with friends, collecting apples, visiting wineries, taking walks and soaking in all of the colors. Over the years, this fall trip to the Leelanau Peninsula has turned into a bit of a rite of passage for me as the coming year approaches. It marks the final stretch of a busy year and the beginning of new list of possibilities and ideas.

The year has been a great one and somehow, without warning, it is November. I can barely remember how long summers used to feel as a kid when my days were spent hiding under trees and racing my bike up and down our street. So I remind myself to slow down. Relax with friends. Collect apples. Take walks. Drink wine. Soak it all in.

After more than eight years of using only digital cameras, I’ve started shooting film again lately. I already love how it has helped me to slow down again. To take a moment to soak in what it is I am trying to capture before I capture it. To be more deliberate.

The photographs above from the Bay View Trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore are all digital but the rest of my photographs from the weekend in Leelanau are film and I look forward to sharing some favorites soon. In the meantime, cheers to you and the things in your life that are worth slowing down for.

EMAIL NICOLE | SEE MORE OF NICOLE’S WORK AT WWW.NICOLEHALEY.COM | STAY UPDATED VIA FACEBOOK

Dream Big

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:18:25 +0000

Four years ago, I finished my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Seven months of hiking and slogging through the woods from Georgia to Maine. Seven months of never knowing what I’d find around the next bend of the trail or in the next town. Seven months of meeting the world’s kindest strangers. Seven months of living out a dream.

I still think about the trail daily, without fail. And, each day, I’m so thankful my journey led me to another dream. Without my long walk, I may have never talked myself into following this dream of photography.

In a little celebration, I wanted to share a special piece of my hike here. Before I left for Georgia in March of 2007, a dear friend gave me the poem below. I carried it with me all of those miles and have since passed it on to other hikers I’ve met before they set out on their adventure. It’s not only about hiking though…take it and apply it to your dream. Whatever your big dream might be.

If ever there were a time to dare,
to make a difference,
to embark on something worth doing,
it is now.
Not for some grand cause, necessarily,
but for something that tugs at your heart.
Something that is your aspiration.
Something that’s your dream.

You owe it to yourself
to make each day here count.
Have fun.
Dig deep.
Stretch.

Dream big.

Know, though, that things worth doing
seldom come easy.
There will be good days
and there will be bad days.
There will be times when
you want to turn around,
pack it up,
call it quits.
Those times tell you
that you are pushing yourself,
that you are not afraid to learn by trying.

Persist.

Because with an idea,
determination,
and the right tools,
you can do great things.
Let your instincts,
your intellect
and your heart
guide you.

Trust.

Believe in the incredible power
of all the things that will cross your path
this year.

The start of something new
brings the hope of something great.
Anything is possible.
There is only one you,
and you will only pass this way once.
Do it right.

EMAIL NICOLE | SEE MORE OF NICOLE’S WORK AT WWW.NICOLEHALEY.COM | STAY UPDATED VIA FACEBOOK

Vermont Hiking Fun: Appalachian Trail

admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:00:43 +0000

As I climbed to one of the many mountain peaks we passed in our fifty mile hike along the Appalachian Trail in Vermont, I stopped to take note. Truthfully, I stopped because I thought my heart might just beat right out of my chest and roll back down the mountain. But, in stopping, I took note of just how hard my heart was beating and began to wonder when it had last beaten that way. Because when your heartbeat takes over your whole body and you can feel it without even trying — that’s when you feel really alive.

My very favorite type of ground to hike on – pine needle carpeting.

On our last night out, we climbed to the top of Killington and watched the sun set. It was a beautifully clear night and it was the perfect way to spend my last evening in mountains of Vermont. How about you – what makes your heart beat remind you how alive you are?

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My Happy Place (Gone Hiking)

admin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:22:33 +0000

It was the twelfth state line we crossed during our hike along the Appalachian Trail. So we stopped and celebrated for a few moments. And then we hiked for a dozen days through a most memorable state filled with gorgeous hemlocks, alpine air, glass-like ponds, charming people and… Ben & Jerry’s. This weekend, I’ll be roadtripping to Vermont to pay a visit to one of my happy places – the Appalachian Trail. My hope is that there will be some time and space in the coming week to clear the mind and breathe lots of fresh air. Maybe even to think about bumble bees.

I’ll return on August 8 and, until then, I hope you get to visit – or at least daydream – about your happy place. Cheers,

nicole

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Walk Through a Wedding with Justin & Mary Marantz

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:07:21 +0000

Few workshops have ever left me feeling like I was going to burst at the seams with ideas about business, life and photography the way Justin & Mary’s Spread the Love stop in Chicago did last year. So I excitedly registered for their Walk Through a Wedding stop in Toronto this year – a full day of walking through an entire wedding and discussing not only the how behind our photographs but also the why. It was such a neat experience and I’m happy to have made a couple of hands full of photo friends from Canada…where, apparently, songs are not played on the radio unless some Canadian somewhere had a part in creating it at some point along the way. Odd, eh?

Here’s a little peek into our day with the Alice in Wonderland themed wedding:

The details of the day were almost all handmade and some were even rented – definitely something you could apply to your own wedding…

And a little behind-the-scenes peek:

Justin, Mary & Julia: Thank you for your willingness to dedicate such a huge part of your life to helping others in our industry – the small seeds you are planting around the country (and beyond!) today will surely provide beautiful shade in which we can rest (and take beautiful photographs) tomorrow.

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