I'm at a new place online.

over time I've been a little here & a little here online but I've officially got my own place online so you can find me here from now on>>>>> nikkimartinez.com. Click the link & follow me there!!!

Thanks!

XX. Nikki

you are mine and i love you.

before the womb. 

you were mine and i loved you. 

your sweet face i saw. 

you were mine and I loved you. 

the more you grow. the more you bloom. 

you are mine and i love you. 

your dreams shoot above the sky. 

you are mine and i love you. 

My daughter turned six today. It made me think of these pictures. I took them a while back. I remember this day so clearly (well, semi-clearly, haha). I took these shots just playing around with my camera. I had never tried flare with film before & I thought it was the perfect moment. My daughter was in such a calm state, just admiring her surroundings. Basking in the sun & picking at the grass, sort of just admiring it's textures. She's like me. She enjoys pretty & rugged things in a mix;) I just love her. 

Can't remember which camera I used | 35mm  | kodak bw 400cn

a daughter. a son.

your face. 

innocence casts.

your touch is like no other. 

mirror like image. 

angel kisses. 

you will never abandon me.

a daughter. 

a son.  

(I'm sorry, I cannot remember what film I shot these photos with or on what. Thinking on my olympus om-4 & with kodak b/w 400cn desaturated) They were taken months ago. 

the learning process.

I've been aching to write about a weekend from December. Eddie & I went to Redondo Beach. It was such an amazing weekend. Filled with beautiful views, great food, alone time with my husband & the highlight of the weekend was getting to visit a friend of mine named Tory. She's a film photographer there in Redondo. You can find her blog here, I just love her & her work! She also co-writes with another awesomely talented friend of mine Wendy on the Let The Kids blog! They are both Amazingly talented women & inspire me in so so many ways!!!!

I was really excited for our weekend. It was the perfect opportunity for Tory & I to shoot our cameras together. She had an engagement session & the couple was as cute as can be! I mean, I was super stoked. I had got all my camera gear together & was soooo ready! Or so I thought...

Let's just say when it came to my cameras that weekend.  Total FAIL. Ha! I mean, I knew my Mamiya had been giving me some issues at the time but I had no idea how bad my camera would be "not working" soon. By the day of the shoot with Tory. My camera was completely useless. I had wasted so many rolls of film making sure it wasn't something "I" was doing. But ya, It was a total no go. I totally wanted to cry! Didn't of course. (Just imagine me laying on the ground balling my eyes out on the beach with three grown people above starring at me) <--That would have been funny! Um, not so much. You know, I'm a big girl;) & I just threw a little hissy fit. LOL. Just did what I could & watched Tory work her magic-still completely scatterbrained of course (because you know all I could think about was "WHY, WHY??!!") LOL. 

But to break it down, it ended up being this Amazing day where my friend rocked it & I got to be a part of it. I gotta say, even though I ended up having no photos from the shoot I would not have changed a thing! I mean, honestly. I'm a woman of experiences. It's like, If I don't experience something, I don't learn. I'm kinda happily blessed & cursed in this way. I'm pretty sure if my camera wouldn't have died on me I wouldn't have learned a bunch of other stuff I hadn't quite been aware of beforehand. You know, odds & ends stuff. It forced me to really learn my camera & It makes me want to shoot it more. 

So, I'm happy to say my Mamiya is in the shop as we speak. I'm looking forward to having her back & in great working order. Hopefully it won't be too long...

see more. do more.

It's always the same thing. "we should really get away more". 

We always mean to.

 It's that thing that we say we're going to do, you know..."next weekend, next month". 

Sometimes it's short finances that keep us from just taking off & running a muck every weekend on end & sometimes it's just our busy lives & not so busy lives. 
Whatever it is that stops us from getting away as much as we'd like.
 We've decided to change it up. 


See more. Do more. 


Whether it be more long drives to no where land, extra trips to the beach, amusement parks we've been meaning to visit or just visiting friends and family in different cities. 


Whatever. 


We're just going to make sure we do it.


 If we don't do it now. When will we ever do it? 

photos taken in october 2011 

shot on: mamiya 645pro | illford 3200

the moon.

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." -Les Brown. 

shot with: Mamiya 645pro | fuji400h

to my best friend.

To my best friend. I had a bunch of random crap blogged here. I read it today. It made no sense to me. So what did I do? I changed it. It reminded me of an unorganized bad attempt at a poem;) so ya, it had to go. You know me. I fuss over things a billion times until I get them right. Well, right in my eyes anyhow. Whatever that may be. All I really wanna say is "Thank you". Thank you for being my Best Friend. You're always there when I need you. Always there when I don't. 

(My best friend happens to be a muse of mine, you will see her often) 

"Truth and tears clear the way to a deep and lasting friendship." ~unknown.

(part 1 of photos) 

shot with: mamiya 645pro | illord3200