A Talented Friend

Although I first met Nikki online, living within a few hours of each other meant that we've met several times in real life (IRL). On our first major cross-country, she helped me to drag my nursing toddler from San Diego to Cincinnati. At other times we took our kids to Sea World, attended art museums in San Diego, and have attended retreats across the country together. When Becky was able to come out from Louisiana, Nikki came down and we enjoyed walking along the beach and talk, talk, talking.

Three years ago, several women in our online community started 365 blogs -- posting photos each day for a year. Several of the women, Nikki included, have shown real talent in photography and have taken classes, going far further into this art form than any of us thought possible when we first started this project.

Here's one of her photos below (posted with her permission, of course):


Nikki told us some wonderful news lately ... she won a national photography contest! Here's the article from her local paper, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Photographer Nicole Rae was one of four winners among more than 10,000 entries in a national photography contest.

Rae, owner of Nicole Rae Studio in Rancho Cucamonga, was selected as a winner in the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop contest.

The contest was sponsored in part by Apple, maker of the professional photo-editing application, Aperture.

As a winner she was invited to attend a workshop at Yosemite National Park to take scenic images and learn to edit the final products with the guidance of Aperture experts.

In addition to the instruction, she received photography and editing equipment, books and other photography-related materials.

Rae got into photography only two years ago through a year-long daily photo project she called Project 365. This inspired her to take it up as career, attending classes at a local photography school.

She focuses primarily on landscape and nature photography, as well as one-of-a-kind art pieces.

Views of her work are available at www.nicoleraestudio.com or through her blog at www.nicoleraestudio.com/blog

I am a devoted follower of Nikki's work and if I could afford it, I would buy several of her pieces. Her work is for sale through her website, and it's simply amazing stuff. I'm hoping she can come down to our area and do a presentation for our arts council. Anyway, she does incredible work, won a terrific prize for said incredible work, and she deserves every bit of it!