So, it’s official… I’m in the last year of my twenties – and it’s going to be a great year too! ;-) Just as the clock turned midnight, Heiko (my Husband) came to join me on the sofa to wish me a Happy Birthday – and he had a surprise for me too, a fabulous gift.

It was already past midnight so it was officially my birthday and I was allowed to open it :-)

He handed me a large brown envelope; it was addressed to me but with a friend’s address (so that I couldn’t intercept the mail lol). As I turned the envelope over I saw there was a return address written on the back. But before I had time to blink let alone read it, Heiko had taken the envelope off me to check if it was safe for me to read. I wouldn’t have guessed who the sender was so he gave the envelope back to me.

Inside were letters, photographs, a CD, postcards and… an adoption certificate. A smile spread across my face as I made an attempt to translate the (Dutch) text.

Through the local organisation Stichting SPOTS (Save & Protect Our TreasureS), my wonderful and thoughtful husband has adopted a cheetah in my name, a cheetah named Klein.

For several years we have gifted each other with wildlife adoptions on birthdays and Christmases, but this one is different from the rest. It’s not a yearly adoption with a small fee, it’s not a symbolic adoption either, it’s a REAL adoption. I’m one of 40 adoptive parents for Klein, supporting him his entire life at the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) Namibia. The adoption programme, set up by Stichting SPOTS, helps to care for the resident cheetahs at CCF which in turn, frees up more of CCF’s budget for use on their programmes for the protection of the wild cheetah population. Klein is the 3rd cheetah adopted by adoption parents in the Netherlands.

Are you wondering why his name is Klein? I thought it meant “small” but it doesn’t! In fact, he is far from small, he’s the largest of the male cheetahs at CCF. Klein was born in May 2000 and has two siblings; a brother named Calvin (who unfortunately passed away in 2002), and a sister named Chanel. Therefore, the trio: Calvin, Klein and Chanel. That explains his name a little better, hey? :-)

Klein and his siblings arrived at CCF when they were just one year old following the death of their mother – she was shot on a game farm and afterwards her skin was used to capture the three cubs. When CCF rescued them 3 weeks later, the cubs were in a very poor condition. Thankfully, following an intensive treatment for bleeding stomach ulcers, they recovered completely.

And here he is, now 10 years old:

:-) And now of course, I’m longing to travel to Namibia to visit Klein and all his cheetah friends! Especially after watching the small video clips of him that came in my adoption package! Heiko, thank you sooooooooo very much! I love it! The most perfect birthday gift ever! :-)))))

The day gets better too, I’m just back from spending a wonderful afternoon with my dear friend, Vinita. We indulged in a fabulous pedicure at the Dutch Oriental Spa in Scheveningen and oh boy, what an indulgence! It was the first time I’ve ever had a pedicure and with my ticklish feet I was so worried I was going to giggle and squirm…. which of course I did, but only a little, it was really lovely! Definitely recommend it! Afterwards we had a late lunch on the beach – nope, no spare ribs this time. Surprised you didn’t I?! But we did have ice cream. Unfortunately, they were out of After Eight so I doubled up on the white chocolate instead mmmm ;-)

And now.. Heiko is home from work and we’re about to leave for a behind the scenes visit to Blijdorp Zoo. *happy happy* :-)

ps. thank you to everyone that left such lovely birthday wishes on my Facebook page, I didn’t quite manage to reply to everyone yet, but I will :-)

ok, zoo is calling… gotta go!

Oh wow! Vinita and I enjoyed a fabulous evening with the winners of our Helping Hearts for Haiti romantic photo session. With beautiful Spring weather we spent the evening walking through the couple’s favourite streets in The Hague whilst listening to anecdotes of their lives together.

Love was definitely in the air…

The Hague provides some wonderful backdrops for portrait sessions. Love the architecture in this particular street!

We had so many favourite images from this session, it was almost impossible to choose just a small few for the sneak peek… here’s a couple more…

And the perfect end to a romantic photo session… mmm bubbles! :-)

Thank you so much for a wonderful session, and of course, for helping us help the victims of Haiti’s earthquake.

Don’t forget to check Vinita’s blog for a sneak peek of her images!!! ;-)

Wow, first of all I would just like to say a huge THANK YOU! :-)

I have been a member of the Women’s Business Initiative International (WBII) since I first started my business, back in March 2008 (Yes, Tigs Creations turns 2 later this month!!) Each year they host an Annual Dinner on International Women’s Day, March 8.

This year’s event was held at the Bel Air Hotel in The Hague, with women and men of diverse nationalities and professional sectors all celebrating ‘Women and Opportunity’. It was an inspiring evening with a captivating keynote speech by H.E. Mrs Mary Whelan, Ambassador of Ireland to the Netherlands.

Three entrepreneurial awards were also presented on the night, one for Ambition, one for Social Innovation, and one for Networker of the Year…

When the winner of the Social Innovation Award 2010 was revealed, my jaw hit the floor! I watched the big screens with everyone else for the name, and then I read mine: Natalie Carstens, Tigs Creations Photography. What?! Really?! I was so shocked I was shaking.

I’m so proud to receive this award, which was largely due to the work I do for the Littlest Heroes Project, Helping Hearts for Haiti and zoocrew.eu

I am passionate about giving back and making a difference, let me tell you a little about these three projects…

The Littlest Heroes Project

I could not hold back the tears the first time I visited this website. The stories and the images of these brave children tugged at my heart strings and I knew instantly I wanted to be a part of this very special project. The Littlest Heroes Project provides our littlest heroes (children who suffer from any type of serious illness or life altering disability) and their family with a complimentary photo session and selection of photos. This is an extra special gift for these families that are dealing with hectic schedules as their child battles disease and sickness.

Helping Hearts for Haiti

After the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, I teamed up with another photographer and we wasted no time in joining the Helping Hearts initiative. Blog readers were invited to make a donation to the Dutch National Giro 555 in order to be entered into a raffle to win a romantic portrait session. We have a winner, so look out for the session sneak peek appearing on my blog in April! ;-)

zoocrew.eu – help us save our wildlife

I think everyone that knows me, knows I love wildlife. Who doesn’t know my favourite animal is the tiger? Come on, hands up! ;-) Together with my husband, Heiko, who is also passionate about wildlife, we launched a new website for wildlife conservation in January 2008: www.zoocrew.eu

Our aim is to raise awareness for wildlife conservation by promoting the conservation projects and breeding programmes that are supported by various zoos. We regularly update the site with zoo news and conservation updates, and frequently feature different conservation organisations ‘In the Spotlight‘.

As well as having our own personal wildlife adoptions, we’re encouraging others to adopt as well. This is a great way to give back and support these organisations. One of our recent adoptions is Maalim, a black rhino, born prematurely and abandoned by his mother he was rescued by DSWT. We loved his ‘Maalim and the Mattress‘ update :-)

We also make regular donations to Painted Dog Conservation.

Thank you WBII, and Congratulations to Arjanneke and Tina!

Many thanks to Suzy Ogé and Lisa Rouissi at the WBII for hosting a fabulous event on Monday. Thank you SO much for the award. Congratulations also to Arjanneke Teeuw, founder of Healthy People, who won the Ambition Award. (Thank you for sharing your story, and yum – your chilled juice is delicious, I’m adding it to my Albert Heijn shopping list!) And last but not least, congratulations to Tina Evans, Managing Director of Blue Lynx Group who won the Networker of the Year Award.

For highlights of the event (and photos) go visit the ‘International Women’s Day Dinner 2010 Highlights‘ article over on the WBII website.

With your donations you give the people of Haiti hope for the future. Giro555.nl announced on Thursday that the Netherlands has raised 100.6 Million Euros – that’s incredible! And the donations still continue…

For Haiti, we’re hoping for another Kobe miracle. It’s been 15 years since the Kobe earthquake, in which Vinita’s family were part of. We’d like to share with you a video entitled “Dear 15-year-old. You’re the reason we worked so hard to rebuild our city.” This short video symbolises hope. It’s a commercial clip from an electric company addressing the youth – 15 year olds in particular – with the message that the city has been rebuilt for them. Vinita has seen this happen with her own eyes. This is why our appeal for Haiti is so dear to our hearts.

Seen on Lisa Takeuchi Cullen’s blog post: Kobe, 15 years after the quake

We are so very grateful to you all for supporting Helping Hearts for Haiti.

And the winner is…

Many congratulations to Ms Suzy Ogé and her sweetheart for winning the romantic photo session with Vinita and I! :-)

Thank you again for your kind generosity and support.

Have a great week everyone – and Suzy, we’ll see you soon!

On 13 January, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 hit Haiti; the devastation is unimaginable. The death toll has risen above 150,000 people in the Port-au-Prince area alone. 1.5 million people have been left without a home, and more than 750,000 children have been left without parents. The numbers are growing. It brings tears to my eyes, I want to help.

I’m teaming up with my dear friend, Vinita Salomé of Vinita Salomé Photography, and together, we’ve joined the Helping Hearts initiative to try to do something to help. But, we need you, too! Please help us help the victims of Haiti’s earthquake.

Here’s how:

You and your sweetheart could win a romantic photo session on-location in the heart of Den Haag, Gouda or Utrecht!

• This session will be photographed by myself AND Vinita and will be held in the late-afternoon/evening of Saturday 17th April 2010. This gives you plenty of time to shop and find a babysitter, if need be ;-)
• Session is for up to 2 adults and will last between 1-2 hours.
• Winner will also receive 25 fully processed, high resolution images on CD. Print to your heart’s content!

How to win:

• Make a MINIMUM donation of €25 to Giro555. Please do this online via e-cumlaude so that you receive a receipt for your donation.
• If you pay by iDeal, be sure to check the box for “Stuur de betaalbevestiging naar mijn e-mailadres” and enter your email address to ensure you receive a receipt for your payment. Then, forward a copy of your receipt to haiti@tigscreations.com.
• All entries must be RECEIVED by midnight (GMT+1) on 31st January 2010.
• Winner will be drawn at random and announced on Monday 1st February 2010.
• You can enter as many times as you’d like, but each entry must be the minimum €25 donation.

Other details:

• Session participants must sign a model release.
• Session must be held in Den Haag, Gouda or Utrecht on 17 April 2010.
• If the winner does not claim his/her prize by Wednesday 3rd February 2010 or cannot claim the prize, then another winner will be drawn.
• This program is not sponsored or promoted by Giro555.nl and we are not receiving anything in return for this effort.

Are you a photographer and want to help?

This fabulous initiative is thanks to two inspiring photographers, Michele of Pinkletoes Photography and Lyndsay of Life in Motion Photography. If you are a photographer and would like to hold your own Helping Hearts event to help Haiti, please contact Helping Hearts ASAP so they can send you everything you need to get started!

But wait! There’s more!

PLEASE blog, Tweet or share the link to this blog post on Facebook! You can also follow Helping Hearts on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Together we can help those in need.

I was really looking forward to photographing this family; I received their request for a portrait session via the Littlest Heroes Project (our littlest heroes are children suffering from any type of serious illness or life altering disability). Their youngest daughter Britt, a wonderful and very loving little girl, has Down’s Syndrome.

We arranged to have an outdoor session in the park but it started raining just before their session and when they arrived to meet me there was no sign that the rain would stop any time soon. Since we weren’t far from Scheveningen, I suggested that we go to the Sea Life Centre at the beach; it would be fun for the girls and we’d escape the rain too! So off we went…

There are going to be lots of sneak peeks in this post, I really found it soooo very difficult to just choose a few photos to share!

Little fish, big fish, sharks and stingrays. It was so much fun to watch Britt explore with her big sister, Claire.

Britt and Claire found some “bubble” windows to look through…

…and here’s my view of Britt from the other side :-)

When we came out of the Sea Life Centre, the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking through the clouds. It was perfect for some portraits on the beach.

Britt and Claire had fun collecting shells and filling their pockets with them.

Here’s Mom with her two beautiful daughters; and a funny face from Britt!

These beautiful girls made me smile the whole day, I really love this one of them together :-)

Ok, last one in the sneak peek. Here’s Britt, drawing in the sand.

Thank you so much for a wonderful Littlest Heroes Project session! Hope you enjoyed your sneak peek!! Hope Dad did too, shame he couldn’t be there to join you on the day. There will be many more beautiful portraits in your gallery, it’s coming very soon!

Have a good weekend everyone! Thanks for stopping by :-)

I have some exciting news to share! Some of you will know that my husband, Heiko, and I are very passionate about wildlife and in an effort to raise awareness for wildlife conservation we set up a website: www.zoocrew.eu Please do stop by to check it out, you’ll find zoo news/reviews, conservation articles, forums and photo galleries. We also have a Facebook fan page and you can follow us on Twitter too :-) But before you go off exploring, let’s first get back to my exciting news, it starts with a short story…

In August 2008, Heiko and I visited the Painted Dog Conservation project in Zimbabwe. Their efforts to educate the local community and involve them in the protection of Africa’s Painted Dogs is just brilliant. We were impressed!

There are very few Painted Dogs (also known as Wild Dogs) remaining in the wild. Being nomadic, they travel great distances, only staying in the same location when they have pups. So when we came across a pack of 24 dogs during our trip to Tanzania in February 2009, it was incredible; we could not believe our eyes. It was one of the highlights of our trip! I’ve blogged about our sighting in a previous post and you can see some of my photos here.

In March 2009 after we returned home, we visited Beekse Bergen Safaripark to attend a talk given by Greg Rasmussen and Peter Blinston from the Painted Dog Conservation project and it was great to see how the project was progressing. We also learned that a lot of the support for the project comes from the Netherlands, there is a foundation here: Stichting Painted Dog Conservation.

We wrote an article about the talk on our website (here’s the link) and not long after, we received an email from the Chairman of Stichting PDC and our support of the Painted Dogs snowballed, as did their support of zoocrew.eu.

When it came time to design the Painted Dog Conservation 2010 Calendar, Stichting PDC asked if they could use the photos we had taken in Tanzania and we sent off several high resolution images to their designer/printer.

Last week I went to visit the Chairman to collect several of the calendars for our own distribution. We weren’t sure what to expect but we knew that one of our images had been selected. I assumed it would be a standard wall calendar with 12 images, one for each month. What I discovered was a 100x70cm poster-size wall calendar, with only one image: mine! And the image credit is for zoocrew.eu! So exciting!

I know some of you have been waiting to see what it looks like, and it’s so hard to give a sense of scale in a photo… but here you go, here’s a peek:

Yay, image credit for zoocrew.eu :-)

And here’s the whole poster:

Awesome! Thank you Stichting PDC!

If you see this poster in your local zoo, or anywhere – the distribution is big! Let me know, or send me a pic, I’d love to see! :-)

Have you heard of the Littlest Heroes Project? This wonderful non-profit organisation is made up of professional photographers worldwide that have come together to help give back and capture miracles through the beauty of photography. These photographers provide our littlest heroes (children who suffer from any type of serious illness or life altering disability) with a complimentary photo session and a selection of photos.

The Littlest Heroes Project is an effort to open the eyes of the world to a part of it that so many ignore or pretend (or don’t even realise) exists. The idea is to capture some special memories for families that are dealing with hectic schedules due to their child’s battle with disease and sickness; things like getting photos taken is sometimes a huge challenge and is one of the last things these families are thinking about.

Reading the stories and seeing photos of these very special children really touched my heart and I knew immediately it was something I wanted to be a part of and I applied to join their team of photographers. I’m so proud to be a part of this Project. It’s such an amazing gift to be able to give these families.

If you have a child, or know a child, who suffers from any type of serious illness or life altering disability, please do get in touch or visit the Littlest Heroes Project website at: www.littlestheroesproject.org. I would love to capture some very special moments of your littlest hero, for you to treasure always.