I’m really enjoying these interviews I’m posting! If you want to be featured (it’s FREE) on the blog, send me a message here: http://www.TNGphoto.com/contact.html

Today’s post is an interview with Emily. She runs a very popular and informative blog that focuses on life and family in Las Vegas. She’s incredibly nice and very passionate about helping our community’s parents get the most out of their parenting and life with kids here in the valley. Make sure you check out her blog here: http://www.familylifeinlv.com/ Now, onto the interview!

1)      Tell a little bit about your blog…

When my son was born I started a blog in an effort to keep long distance family and friends up to date on all that was happening in his life.  What started off as a way to update family turned into a renewed love of writing for me.  I realized writing was a passion, and I began sharing not only photos and updated on my son, but also reviews of products that my family used and loved.  Three and a half years later I love sharing photos and updates of both my sons, product reviews, fitness endeavors, and generally just share my journey into motherhood and all the ups and downs that go along with it.

2)      What inspired you to start your own blog?

See above – my boys are my biggest inspirations in every aspect of my life, my blog is no exception.

3)      What do you feel is the biggest appeal of your blog?

I think being a mom is the most rewarding job out there, but it can also be one of the hardest.  With so many products on the market, and parenting styles out there it can be really hard to know what will work for your family.  I love that my blog has helped me share my voice in parenting and also allowed me to gush about great companies and awesome products!  If one person reads my blog on breastfeeding, sleep training, teething tips, or the lessons our children teach us and takes something away from it, I think that is worth it!

4)      What do you consider your big break—turning point?

Each comment I get from a parent I have never met that has thanked me for my post, sharing my voice, or writing a review makes my blog worth it, but I have to say being asked not once but twice to go on a press trip with Disney is pretty amazing.  I got to meet stars and go places that I never in a million years thought my blog would take me to!  Getting to put my arm around Hugh Jackman was pretty darn awesome! (Sorry Hubby!!)

5)      What is your deal breaker?

I don’t know that I have a “deal breaker” per say.  I have had times, like after the birth of my second child, where I have wanted to slow down and blogged less frequently.  My family is always going to come first in my life, and there will be times that my blog reflects that.  With my husband frequently deploying for his job, writing is my me time, my sanity.  I think when I stop loving what I am doing I will find a way to restructure, but I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future!

6)      Have anything special planned for 2013?

My blog has always been a reflection of what is going on in my family’s lives.  With the birth of my second son only a couple of months ago you can expect that this next year will be filled with parenting posts, product reviews, and lots of pictures of my two cuties!

Our Knight Life Twitter – Facebook – Instagram – Pinterest – Google +

A big THANK YOU to Emily for taking the time to be interviewed! Don’t forget to check out her blog here: http://www.familylifeinlv.com/

Nate

p.s.

BIG NEWS COMING SOON!

I’ve decided to start a new tradition this year for this little Las Vegas photography blog. I get to meet so many interesting people as a photographer so I’m going to be featuring local businesses, interesting or distinguished people, movers/shakers, etc. through short interviews. I’m so excited to be an interviewer! Just try to imagine Jay Leno’s voice asking the questions. 🙂

For my first interview, I chose something you don’t see everyday; a bagpiping band! Introducing, the DESERT SKYE PIPES AND DRUMS.

Tell a little bit about your band…

Desert Skye Pipes & Drums is a local pipe band, with headquarters right here in
Las Vegas and is the only civilian pipe band in Southern Nevada. At the present
time we have a membership of 18 Pipers and 12 Drummers.
Desert Skye Pipes & Drums is led by Pipe Major Andrew Fusco and Drum
Sergeant Reggie Rader.

What inspired the band to be created?
Desert Skye Pipes & Drums was formed in 1999 by Danny Packer, who served
as the first Pipe Major, with the goal of promoting Celtic culture throughout
Southern Nevada through the performance of traditional Scottish Highland music.
From that time, we have remained the premiere pipe band in Southern Nevada.
Our main function is to promote Celtic culture, but we are much more than that!
We are a competition band, a performance and entertainment band, a teaching
organization and a cultural group.
Desert Skye proudly wears the official Nevada State Tartan, which was designed
by one of our original members.

What do you feel is the biggest appeal of your group and your music?
The biggest appeal is definitely the overpowering sound of the band produced by
one of the most exciting musical instruments on earth, the Great Highland
Bagpipe. When you combine the Bagpipes with the Scottish drums, you have a
sound that is unequaled anywhere! People love the sound of a Scottish Pipe
Band. Also, seeing the band dressed in the traditional kilt evokes memories of
the romantic history of Scotland as well as memories of the many years of the
Scottish wars fighting for independence.
As part of the band’s goal to promote Scottish music and show support for the
community of Las Vegas, the band plays at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the
Veteran’s Day Parade and the Helldorado Parade as well as other community
events put on by the St. Andrew’s Society of Southern Nevada, the Las Vegas
Celtic Society and the Las Vegas Highland Dance Association. The band
routinely appears on stage, performing with the Sharon Lynn Academy of Irish
Dance. We are proud to be able to perform with pipers and drummers from the
local fire and police departments on special occasions.

Have anything special planned for 2013?
The goal of the band for the coming year is to grow in number of members, as
well as to raise our performances to an even higher level of musical excellence.
We plan to attend at least four different Highland Games throughout the West to
perform with other pipe band and to enter the pipe band competitions. Based on
last years performances in those band competitions, we expect this year, to place
first or second in every competition.
Desert Skye Pipes & Drums will once again be the host band for the Las Vegas
Celtic Gathering and Highland Games, as we have been for the past five years.
Also, we have several classes planned for those interested in learning to play the
Great Highland Bagpipe or Scottish Drums. We teach beginners even if they
have no music experience what so ever and we have a place in the band for all
skill levels. If you are interested in learning the Great Highland Bagpipe or
Highland Drums, give us a call or visit our website at www.desertskye.org.

If you have any questions or would like to get pricing information for hiring the full
band or solo piper to play at your function, please call us at:
Pipe Major Andrew Fusco 702-518-7473
Band Director Van W. Frazier 702-994-5314
Desert Skye Pipes & Drums…Keeping Celtic pride alive in the Silver State

A HUGE thank you to the Desert Skye Pipes and Drums for taking the time to answer a few questions for us. Don’t forget to check out their website: www.desertskye.org

-Nate

TNGphoto.com

TNGseniors.com

I don’t know if you’ve seen these things on YouTube called “Honest Movie Trailers” but I gotta say, they’re the new chia pets, the new pet rocks, the new spray on toupée, the new Snuggie and the new pogs for today’s generation. They’re THAT good! I have watched these but find myself constantly coming back for more because I love the satire of it all. Here’s my favorite one: Paranormal Activity

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZW2b0FzPc[/youtube]

“Get ready for 86 minutes of a guitar…a door…a fridge..some empty rooms…” cracks me up every single time.

Check out the rest on their channel and leave a comment saying which is your favorite!

Also, check out this new, edgy portrait I created for my web designer’s website. He wanted something that would show him as a creative/deep thinker and artist. So we went driving after dark and found an interesting spot and this is what we came up with. Make sure you check out his website: http://www.ProperTalentMedia.com

There was an small shred of time to photograph this little 11 month old. At this time of year, it’s very busy photographing families here in Las Vegas and I get a lot of last minute or spur of the moment requests to photograph great people at this time of year. If I can make the time, I will do the work. This is the busiest time of year for me and I love to be busy!

This little guy was such a fun baby! He’s only about two weeks younger than my own son and they are about the same size and both happy kids. Happy kids are the best, aren’t they? One thing I love about these images is his little black suit. The suit was actually worn by his great grandfather (if I’m not mistaken) when he was a baby. What a great tradition!

Here are some of my personal favorites from this fun session in their home.

Leave a comment and tell me your family’s Christmas traditions!

Don’t forget that the holidays are the PERFECT TIME to have a family portrait created! Even during this busy time of year, I can make room to create something very beautiful and truly meaningful for you and your family. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by! CALL TODAY (702)809-9763

As summer’s refreshing 300 degree weather slowly fades away with the coming fall, I am back to blogging every week.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjjZGyYcH9E[/youtube]

As I was contemplating about what I should blog about I thought it would be fun to show off some really old images I created when I was more of a beginner photographer. I’m pretty sure I’ve done this before on an old blog but I’m far too busy to use that little search bar to the right to double check. If you don’t know my complete story by the way, head over to the main website and read all about it here.

The reader’s digest version goes like this: I was 19 when I started reading about photography, researching cameras and studying photography lingo, first camera was about $1000, wanted to do landscape photography, ate a pretzel, upgraded camera a year later after realizing how much I enjoyed my new hobby, improved, ate a pretzel again (no cheese) and then was fine tuned once discovered by “Photography by Van.”

This was my first, what I considered, good landscape photograph I ever took. This is Kolob Canyon of Zion National Park at sunset. It is about 5 images stitched into one and it’s still one of my favorites.

TNG Photography

When I was just a wee lad, with nothing to do on a Thursday night, I practiced my photography skills a few times at the free Sirens show outside of Treasure Island. Here’s one that turned out ok for my skill level at the time:

Of course as a new and budding photographer I had to point my camera at clouds, trees and boring sky whenever I could…

Are you impressed yet? Sheeeeeeeesh! I had a lot of improving to do didn’t I? 🙂 At the time, I always thought photography would be my hobby and I would go on to become a salesman by day but luckily for me, I met the right people, did the right things and enjoy my career choice more and more everyday! Opportunities present themselves, everyone. I started off photographing lifeless, boring images and now get to create portrait art with all of my clients It’s been interesting where just buying my first camera has taken me.

Well, welcome to the new blog everyone! I hope you like the new look and features. All the old articles and posts are here and I’ll probably change the overall look again soon but thank you so much for reading and stalking this Las Vegas photographer‘s blog. 🙂 See you next week!

Nate

TNGphoto.com

We have a yearly tradition of going up to Zion National Park in the fall to enjoy the beautiful scenery and colors. I don’t think I ever truly noticed just how brown and colorless Las Vegas is until I spent a week in Hawaii last year. Just before our plane touched back down I was looking out the window to an endless land of brown and grey. After being in a tropical environment, filled with greens and flowers of never ending varieties, my home for the first time looked dead and wasted.

“Why do we live here again?” I joked. After a few days my deceased home of Las Vegas was back to its vibrant self and the memories of green mountains, blue oceans and tourist filled beaches was just a beautiful memory. Still, Zion National Park is a place I always look forward to in the fall. After the summer crowds are gone, the park is much more quiet and serene and the cool air feels so clean to breathe. There is so much to see there that I don’t think I’ll ever see it all. Fall in Zion is relaxing and therapeutic (and my wife says I need therapy 🙂 ) and I’m so happy to invite a few families with me every fall for family portraits. Our annual “Portraits in the Leaves” event is scheduled for October 27th, 2012. Here is the info:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

We’re only accepting 5 families for this event so don’t wait on deciding, just call or e-mail now and you won’t be sorry. Send me an e-mail and I’ll send you my Family Portrait Planning & Clothing Guide to help you get ready for Zion. It’s going to be so much fun!

Before I go, here’s a quick little video highlighting last year’s “Portraits in the Leaves.” Enjoy!

Nate

TNGphoto.com

I recently had a very fun 6 month old session with little Emma and her parents. I met these nice people at a wedding reception I was photographing and they asked me if I photographed babies. I told them yes then asked what they had in mind and was able to tell them about my Baby’s 1st Year Plan. They loved the idea of having several portrait sessions throughout the year to be able to see how much their baby had grown in that time. The following images were a lot of fun and we had a blast at Lake Las Vegas for Emma’s 6 month session! Enjoy!

For more information about the Baby’s 1st Year Program, fill out our contact form by clicking here.

Nate

TNGphoto.com

The great thing about being a photographer is you never know what you’re next project is going to be. It’s one of the most fun aspects of this career. Every phone call that I receive is a possibility to create something unique and exciting! The following images reflect this quite well. There is a twist, however -GASP!- The twist to these images for me isn’t just the fact that they are images of a unique subject but the fact that the subject is my mentor, Master Photographer Van Frazier. Well, I call him my mentor but he might refer to me as a big pest… 🙂

Van was the original owner of the Las Vegas portrait studio, Photography by Van. While working there he taught me the finer parts of portraiture and helped lift my work out of the dark abyss that it once slithered and crawled in. I remember being a human sponge whenever we would speak together about lighting, expression, posing, composition, business, marketing, language and anything else we would invest our time in verbalizing. It was so much fun having my work torn apart and dissected over and over again so that I could improve. I have a pretty thick skin so it wasn’t hard to take the constructive criticism. I was just thrilled to have someone share their 30+ years of knowledge with me. Up until that point, I had taught myself photography through reading books and researching online and being critiqued by a few photographer on forums. My style was basically a mix of what I saw others doing and a lot (ok, too much) Photoshop work. I knew nothing about real portraiture until Van whipped me into shape. Fast forward a few years and I’ve now photographed his family, his son’s family and grandchildren, his bagpiping band ( http://www.desertskye.org/ ) and now Van by himself with his bagpipes.

When Van first told me about this session I immediately thought we should go find a a green forest with lush mountains and big skies. He quickly told me how every piper on earth does that but no piper that he knew of had ever taken any at our very own Red Rock Canyon. Van’s definitely a man who knows what he likes. 🙂 Enjoy! Leave a comment!

Van is available for all sorts of events including eagle court of honors, weddings, and more. He even teaches how to play the bagpipes!

Check out his website: http://www.bagpipingbyvan.com/

(click to enlarge)

Nate

TNGphoto.com

The end of the school year is almost here so that means last minute seniors are rolling in! Here’s a few recent portraits.

Nate

http://www.TNGphoto.com

http://www.TNGseniors.com <- SENIORS, GO HERE!

We are accepting Class of 2013 models! Click here to apply.

Here is one of our newest models!