New Beginnings

When a friend told me about Etsy a long time ago, I decided to check it out. Maybe it really was a great place to find those little eyes for my amigurumis.... So I created an account by the name of Maximonstertje, a name inspired by one of my favourite children's book: 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak. Little did I know that I would start my own photography shop on Etsy within a few months! Well, when it comes down to it, I never really thought about a good name for my shop. I already had the account and I had nothing to lose, and thus Maximonstertje was born!

Although I love the name, I do realise it's not easy to pronounce, let alone remember. That's why I've decided to change it. The idea has been brooding in my head for a long time (and I tend to take my time with things, have you noticed? ;) and now it's finally official: Maximonstertje Photography will from now on be STUDIO YUKI!! Weeee, exciting times! :D

Now I've explained the why, I'll fill you in on the new name. 'Studio' pretty much explains itself, the name 'Yuki' is a name I've loved since childhood. I always had a thing for Japanese animation (and everything Japanese, for that matter) and, having a 'boy's name' myself, I dreamt of having a cute, girly name like Yuki (though Yuki is also a boy's name in Japan, to make it just a little bit more complicated). Yuki is a name that is used a lot for anime characters and it always stirred something inside me. It also is the Japanese word for snow!

So, what's going to change now?
Not that much. I'm still me and my work won't be any different! I will be focussing on doing some more photo shoots this year, on learning new techniques and on creating more of the ideas that have been jumping up and down in my head! And on getting organised, but I'm not going to talk about that now... it would fill an entire blog post!
What will (and has) changed is my facebookpage! I would love it if you'd visit me:

www.facebook.com/StudioYuki

Since facebook doesn't allow us to change our page names (isn't that ridiculous?), it felt like the right thing to do. And of course I'm changing the name of this blog, my Flickr page, my Fine Art America shop and so on too!
I'm also working on an actual website! Won't be long now! I'll keep you posted :)

And...... to celebrate new beginnings... I'll be doing a giveaway soon! Stay tuned and enjoy your week! xx

Christmas Giveaway!

Hello lovely people! It's time for a Christmas giveaway! I really can't thank all of you enough for being so wonderful and supportive, it has helped me so much over the past year! I'm a lucky girl, being able to do what I love the most :) And since Christmas is approaching fast, I want to share my passion with you!

One lucky winner will get one 8x10* AND one 5x7 photo! 
You'll have your own little instant collection!
* 8x10 may be replaced by 8x8 or 8x12!
The winner will be announced on Christmas Eve (Central European Time)!

So scroll down and enter through Rafflecopter! Just follow the easy steps to gain even more entries!

GOOD LUCK

AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Walk in the Forest

I love autumn, don't you? It's such a gorgeous season, filled with golden light and amazing shades of green, yellow, orange and red... This week was all about taking it slow. Everyone in our little family is or has been ill and it just didn't seem to go away (which might have something to do with our little one going to kindergarten now), so we decided to all just take a little time off and enjoy the peace and quiet.
One morning we were up very early as our munchkin was too excited about the new day to sleep and after a quick breakfast I decided to wrap myself in a big coat and shawl, grab my camera and head out into the woods. I promised myself to do that at least once a week from now on! It was so incredibly relaxing to just stroll a bit, admiring the scenery, taking photographs of everything that caught my interest!

When surrounded by only the faint sounds of wind rustling through the trees and the chirping of birds, it's easy to let the mind wander. Drink in the magic of the hour. Feel the light on your skin. Imagine yourself in a fantasy world, where anything goes and everything is possible and where little Hobbits live and offer you the best (second) breakfast you ever had...
Can you feel it? It's like inspiration becomes tangible at moments like this!


Not having to go anywhere opens up so many possibilities. In my excitement I drove past the forest I intended to go to at first, so I kept on driving and saw a good place to park the car a bit further. The logical way to go from there was to head up into the forest from there, but then I noticed a smaller path behind me leading a little bit off-road into a less dense part of the woods, where beautiful fields lay bathing in the morning sun. Just glorious. It's moments like this that make me realise how incredibly lucky I am :)

I'm thinking of offering some of these photos as a set,  I love the dreamy mood! What do you think?

What do you do when you're up early? Do you like to take walks by yourself? Head into the woods? How do you clear your mind? I'd love to hear from you! xx

A Collection of Firsts

Finally a new blogpost! I've had some major issues with my computer lately. It kept blocking everything that is powered by Google, which includes this blog and I hate working on my hubbies computer (I'm weird like that), so that's why I haven't posted anything! Luckily all is (or seems) fixed again and we're good to go!

Wow, the past month was a complete BLAST! I'm not going to write much about it, I think the photos say so much more! First of all: I had my very first official photoshoot! I was so lucky to have the opportunity to shoot this gorgeous family (as a matter of speaking ;) How cute are they!? Such a magical day!

The lovely pretty lady in these photos is Rakhee and she's the owner and artist of Poppeke - Art for happy people, a wonderfully cute and colorful shop on Etsy! You can find her on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Poppeke-Art-for-happy-people and of course in her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoppekeArt

I love this painting she made of a girl named Tickle! 

And now she's making these gorgeous little custom dolls as well! That's me on the right, see the camera? :)

Another first was our little boy going to kindergarten for the first time! It was a lot more nerve-wracking for me than it was for him, I have to admit.                          He's doing really well, he's been going for 2 weeks now and he loves it!
Proud mommy here! I love seeing him play and sing and dance with the other kids, our munchkin is growing up so fast! Here he is being all excited for his first day.

And finally I can proudly present my first calendar! It took me a while to make, but I'm happy with the result! Captain Peacock insisted on being on the cover and he got his way too (somehow he always does, the little brat...)!

And, since I haven't posted in a while, last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to have a photo shoot with these lovely girls! I feel so immensely blessed to be able to do what I love most! Please bubble, don't burst ;) I love shooting outside and these girls were just fabulous to work with! 

Ok, now I'm finally back blogging I'd love to keep talking, but I can't do that to you, so I'll save my rambling until the next post ;) So tell me, what is new with you? Any firsts you would like to tell us about (no, not those... pervert!) ;)

Have a magical day! x

One Year Old & A Giveaway!

Yay! Today it is exactly one year ago that I started my Etsy shop! You wouldn't believe how scared I was! My very first customer was from Australia and I remember having trouble sleeping until she mailed me that her order had arrived. Wow, what a trip it's been! And I loved every minute of it :)

I have found so many wonderful, supportive people through Etsy, facebook and several other places and as a big THANK YOU to all of you, I'm having a giveaway! Just have a little browse through my shop and tell me which photos you would choose if you win and why. There are several more ways to gain extra entries! Just scroll down to the Rafflecopter menu and enter, it's really easy! 

 

And now for the PRIZES: ONE lucky winner will get one 8"x10" photograph AND two 5"x7" prints!! Pretty cool, eh? 

On to bigger, better and bolder things!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Little Family Photo Shoot

It might be a bit late for an introduction, but I've been doing some photo shoots lately and thought it would be fun to make one of our own little family! Yesterday was a gorgeous day, so we went to a nearby park and had some fun! It seems to me it happens all too often that I take photographs of everything I find interesting, of our little boy, but never of us as a family (and then there's that thing that I hate to be in front of the camera ;), so here you go: it's us!

Just the two of us (our munchkin kept running away to play, can't blame him!) I couldn't help the bunny ears, I have a very geeky sense of humor.

  We caught him eventually! It didn't last long...

Our sweet little boy standing perfectly still for a minute :) Love him to bits!



See you soon and have a wonderful weekend! xxx

India!

India. They say you either love it or you hate it. We went to Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi (and to Nepal from there) 5 years ago and we've been dreaming of going back ever since. We've been to other countries in Asia and absolutely loved it, but there's just nothing that can compare with the overwhelming, all-embracing, otherworldly, incomprehensible experience that is called India. And finally we're going back! Well, in January that is, so we have to wait for a bit, but still...  YAY! It is such a wonderful feeling, I could dance all day!

Over the past weeks I've been checking out possible routes to follow, places to visit, train schedules and so on. This time we'll be visiting the south of India, the states Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The south is a whole lot more relaxed and less crowded than the north and since there are three of us now, we've decided to take it slow! Our little boy is all kinds of excited and wants to see the elephants!

And of course I just had to dig up all the old photos I had from India. Believe me, that took some time! My computer crashed a few years ago and I lost some files, got some back after a while and now they're scattered all over the place. Let's just say my computer could do with a clean up, which I now have done ;)
I really enjoyed looking through these pictures, reliving all the wonderful adventures :)

The holy city of Varanasi (aka Benares) is by far the most beautiful place I've ever seen (and possibly the oldest living city on earth)! Watching life, death and religion go together hand in hand from the sacred Ganges river was an amazing experience..

I miss the hustle and bustle and the complete craziness on the streets. Traffic in India is like nothing you've ever seen! Everybody is honking and it seems there are no rules in traffic whatsoever! To us it seemed the biggest vehicle or the loudest one got to go first. And of course the holy cow is king on the streets. Everywhere they go, drivers go out of the way! I can't wait to get in a tuktuk again!
I even miss the famous Indian head-wobble. It can mean 'yes', 'maybe' or even 'no' and you just have to trust your feeling when asking to take pictures of people!  

India is a world of contradictions. It breathes magic and its beauty is overpowering. India has it all: from the snowy tops of the Himalaya, to the lush green tea plantations, the vast plains, palm beaches, holy cities, sacred rivers, fantastic wildlife... But it has its downsides too. There is extreme poverty, pollution, corruption and so on... We'll be on the look out for schools and orphanages we can provide with books and other things they might need, which we will buy there to stimulate the local economy.  

Do you have a favourite place in the world? It doesn't have to be a specific country or even far away! It could be your own back yard! A place that makes your heart leap when you think of it? Please tell me, I'd love to hear it! xxx



Take a walk with me...

Why, hello there! Do you fancy taking a walk? I'd love it if you would join me. I'd like to tell you something while we stroll along...
You know... I love photography. Quite obvious, yes, but I really do, for a lot of different reasons. It is about capturing the moment: that one perfect smile, that stunning view at sunset, especially when there's a huge chance you'll never get to capture it again! There is so much beauty around us and the art of photography helps me see and experience it every moment of every day. Places I used to walk past without noticing the beautiful flowers, the charm of a rusty old door, the magic of a spiderweb in a keyhole. I am so grateful for that, it really feels as a gift. 

  

  

It's about waiting, holding back and being patient. I like taking portraits when people don't notice me. It's when they're pure and at ease that I like them best. In Asia I usually asked people if it would be ok to take a photograph, then I took a few, but the shots I loved the most were those taken after, when they had forgotten about me and went on with their lives. 

It's about creating a world of my own. When I'm back home after a shoot and I sit behind my computer (with a considerate amount of coffee), I go through the photos and check them for a lot of things: sharpness, composition, lighting, but most of all I check them for a certain 'feel'. It can be anything really. I love to add a little magic to my images. It's just the way I like to see the world! I did a series based on Red Riding Hoods trip through the magic forest on her way to grandma, where I could really let myself go to create magic! I loved that!

But most of all I love it because photographs are tangible memories. I thrive on memories and dreams. So many wonderful moments, such fantastic travels and amazing places that we've seen and so many that still have to come... I can hardly wait! When I look back at the many, many photographs (thousands!) I've taken over the years, I feel so lucky.  

   

The photographs I shared in this post were all taken over the past few weeks and all in the south of Holland, most even within a one mile radius from our home. It's so easy to forget sometimes, but we are all surrounded by beauty. Nature is magical in itself! I love how our son likes to hug trees...

I cherish the wonderful moments we share with good friends and lovely food.

And keep trying to find magic in everyday life.



Where do you find magic? Where do you dream about? And do you stop to smell the roses often enough? Please let me know. I'd love to hear from you :)