Are you a mom living in The Hague area? Are you looking for a place to meet and connect with other moms? MOPS in Holland might be just the place you’re looking for!

I met some lovely moms at their meeting in Leidschendam this morning where I had been invited as a guest speaker to share some tips on how to photograph children.

And evidently, I couldn’t resist photographing these gorgeous flowers that I received as a thank you gift! :-)

They’re beautiful, thank you MOPS in Holland!

If you’re interested to find out more about the group you’ll find them at the Feel at Home in The Hague International Community Fair on Sunday 19 September 2010! Tigs Creations will be there too! ;-) Will I see you there? I hope so!

Best wishes,
~Natalie

Do you remember my CRAVE Amsterdam photo session with Erika from BOTH Assistance and Support?

I couldn’t resist also photographing her gorgeous cat, Watje…

Isn’t he the sweetest? I love his markings and his beautiful green eyes :-)

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! :-)

Best wishes,
~Natalie

Do you remember Frøya? I’m sure many of you do. She was one of my very first clients, and a Baby Plan client too! I absolutely loved our photo sessions together and watching her grow :-)

Exciting news… this wonderful family is now a family of 5 – Frøya has a baby brother!

Introducing Trym… 16 days new :-)

Trym is adorable; and even though he didn’t sleep a wink during his special photo session, he was so very calm throughout, an absolute delight!

Many congratulations to you all!

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek ;-)

Best wishes,
~Natalie

I think this has to be one of my favourite maternity sessions. With so many beautiful images to choose from, I had such a hard time deciding which images to share as a sneak peek.

These two gorgeous ladies are waiting for a very special arrival, and I can’t wait either! :-)

P. and S. are both so beautiful in front of the camera, so happy together and so in love. I can’t wait to share their gallery with them…

Hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek :-)

Best wishes,
~Natalie

Remember my peek-a-boo post last week? Here’s the official sneak peek for a wonderful family that I met in the centre of The Hague on the day of the World Cup Final (this explains the orange nail varnish ;-))

These two little girls were absolutely A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E. and they totally stole my heart. Look at the smile from Kirsten (above), and I’m thinking big sister, Laura (below), is perhaps a model in the making.. gorgeous!

Such a beautiful family :-)

As we walked through the Binnenhof, Kirsten was cute beyond words!

Doesn’t she put a huge smile on your face?

And the next image, technically an ‘out-take’, but just look at that little face and the pointing finger!

*love*

A gorgeous couple :-)

After a walk along the Lange Voorhout we went to find a cafe on the Denneweg…

What a fabulous Sunday morning! I had a wonderful time *thank you, Melinda* :-)

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek!

Best wishes,
~Natalie

I absolutely LOVED working with this particular family, their two little girls were A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.!!! I’m almost finished proofing their gallery but couldn’t resist sharing this one image as a quick teaser…

The real sneak peek is coming next week so stay tuned! ;-)

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Best wishes,
~ Natalie

Honestly, my heart leaps with joy each time I look through these images. I think they’re all the more special because I know the Bride and Groom as friends.

Through the camera I saw so much happiness, laughter, and fleeting glances of pure love and joy. It’s hard to find the right words to describe this perfect day, and so I hope that these images will do the talking for me.

And since the Bride and Groom have already seen their gallery of images, this sneak peek is an extra long one ;-)

The wedding ceremony took place at the fabulous Castle Duivenvoorde, a beautiful venue.

All the wedding guests gathered on the bridge, awaiting the Bride’s arrival.

Arriving on a beautiful white horse-drawn carriage, and met by the Groom, the Bride stepped down from the carriage and WOW! – her dress was amazing, she looked absolutely stunning!

Whilst the guests were being seated in the wedding hall, the Bride and Groom waited in a side room. I especially loved this fleeting moment between them.

Doesn’t the Bride look stunning? :-)

I love those loving looks the Groom gave his Bride :-)

And look at those beaming smiles as they exchanged rings!!

I also love this next image of the Bride’s Mother signing as a witness. Her smile speaks volumes, look how proud she is :-)

After the ceremony we took some formal group photographs in the castle grounds.

The fabulous Bride and Groom… :-)

The Bride, with her Mum and her Sister…

And I don’t remember what was so funny now, but l loved this out-take of the Groom’s family :-)

When all the guests had left, we also had a few special moments with just the Bride and Groom…

Yes, mostly kissing moments ;-)

*so happy for them*

And then it was time to head to De Knip, to meet all the guests for the Wedding Toast, Dinner and some dancing!

Unfortunately, due to timing, I wasn’t able to photograph the Wedding Toast and the cutting of the cake… Instead I was preparing a slideshow of the ceremony for the evening party! :-)

During the evening party, Irish dance group Kyra gave a great performance! One of the dances was improvised and without music – it was quite amazing to watch (and listen – I loved the ‘tap’ sound of their shoes as they danced)!

…and the Groom joined them for a quick Irish dance of his own ;-)

Late in the evening, the Bride and Groom took to the floor for their first dance…

And then everyone else joined in… :-)

Christa, you are a beautiful Bride, and Pete, a dashing Groom – or should I call you Mr Darcy ;) *a little inside joke for the wedding guests*.

It was truly an honour to photograph all of these very special moments. Thank you so much for allowing me to share your special day.

Wishing you both much love and happiness, always.

To Mr and Mrs. :-)

Proost! (Cheers!)

Best wishes,
~Natalie

If the answer is yes, definitely keep reading! :-)

Here’s another CRAVE Amsterdam photo session, this time for the Intelligentsia section! Introducing Erika, from BOTH Assistance & Support.

Erika is a good friend of mine, who I first met just over 2 years ago when I joined the WBII Business Breakthrough Team. I was delighted to hear that she would be featured in the CRAVE Amsterdam guidebook and that she had selected me as her photographer!

Erika has a creative spirit so when she approached me to set up the photo session she already had a great idea in mind for her photo in the book.

So, here it is…

I hope I met her expectations! I, for one, love the result! :-)

Blog readers… if your home office (or work office) is piled high with papers, a helping hand from Erika might be just what you need to whip your paperwork and administration into shape! As your personal ‘Virtual Assistant’, Erika can organise your office AND save you time. Stop by her website at www.bothassistanceandsupport.com for more information on her services.

Erika, I had so much fun that afternoon – thank you! I can’t wait to see your feature in the book! :-)

Best wishes,
~ Natalie

I’ve had so many photo sessions lately that I’m a little behind on blogging sneak peeks (in fact some may actually become post-peeks!) so watch out for several coming your way…

Just a few short weeks ago, on Father’s Day, I travelled to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (a lovely little village near Amstelveen) to meet this wonderful family, including Grandma :-)

Just look at that adorable face, doesn’t he make you smile?! :-)

We had a fun afternoon together – drawing pictures of Hello Kitty, blowing bubbles, making a hideaway from umbrellas and blankets, we also did some hula hooping too! ;-)

For the family photos we headed for the bedroom; the light was just gorgeous, streaming in from two large windows.

Such a happy family, it was lovely to spend the afternoon with them.

Oh, and I loved Monty’s t-shirt – it says “Dad is my Hero” :-)

Megan had a mountain of energy, barely staying still for a nano-second. However, after a series of forward rolls I caught her eye for a brief moment…

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek! There are more peeks coming soon so keep your eyes peeled! ;-)

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!

Best wishes,
~ Natalie

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!