the merriest christmas wishes from my family to yours!
may your holidays be filled with loved ones and laughter, good food and good fun, christmas music and christmas magic!
and may 2016 bring you happiness and health, love and success, lots of family time, plenty of magical moments worth remembering – and a few new laugh lines on your faces! ;)
the crisis of syrian refugees leaves no one indifferent. there are thousands who risk their lives in inhuman conditions, not for a better life, but for the hope of their survival!
for the sake of the children (the main victims in any situation of conflict or crisis) a group of initially 30 (and now worldwide many more!) children and family photographers decided to unite in a symbolic action of raising funds and are asking photographers from all round the world to join in.
as child photographers we deal with happy families and children on a daily basis, so it makes perfect sense that we can use our time and effort to help, little that is, those children who are going through impossible conditions. therefore, each of us will auction a photo shoot, where 100% of the bid value will be donated directly to UNICEF’s SYRIAN CHILDREN’S APPEAL.
it is a coordinated event! it will start today and end 6pm 18th September.
the winning bid receives:
– a 1-2 hour child, baby or family session. up to you.
– delivery of the at least 30 images in high resolution.
– validity of the voucher: 6 months from the end of the auction
– the starting bid is : S$300
please note that the session must take place in singapore. the winning bid must send a receipt of your payment to UNICEF of the winning amount to me at nina@ninatantzen.com once the bidding has stopped.
to bid please go to my facebook page by following this link:
nina tantzen photography facebook page
it would be wonderful to raise as much attention as possible and i’m crossing all fingers and toes that someone bids!
xoxo
six years ago today was one of the most important, most beautiful, most life-changing, most breath-taking days of my life – our first daughter was born. (it was also the most exhausting and most painful day of my life so far, but that part conveniently fades into the back of my memory. ;)) i can’t quite believe she’s already six years old! one more week of holidays and then i will have a school child. when did that happen?!
for nele’s birthday photo session, i asked her what she wanted to do.
she chose a fairy session, ‚with glitter, and wings, and a picture where i’m flying!‘.
so we went into the woods during our summer break back in germany, and played around a bit.
as you can see below, of course i also granted her her ‚glitter-and-flying‘-wish… ;)
it was lots of fun – and to me my little fairy certainly is purely magical!
happy birthday, nele!!
… to all the awesome dads out there!
for mother’s day, i had a quote from mark twain for you, and – tada! – i found another one for father’s day. it will be especially appreciated by all dads of teenagers… ;)
‚when i was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant
i could hardly stand to have the old man around.
but when i got to be twenty-one, i was astonished
at how much he had learned in seven years.‘
– mark twain –
in my last post i introduced you to michelle.
a beautiful young woman with a gorgeous, infectious smile.
michelle found me through the ’shoots for a cure‘ network, where i’m a participating photographer. she wanted to share her story, and asked me if i would help her – and of course i’m honoured to do that! we had a portrait session, and michelle told me her story – and today i want to share it with you.
there’s a reason why i’m choosing today to share michelle’s story:
today is surgery day.
michelle is undergoing a massive, 8-hour-surgery, and facing a difficult recovery process afterwards. on her facebook page, she posted: ‚i need an army!‘
so i promised her to post this blog post today, and that everybody who reads it will send some positive vibes her way – everybody who reads it will join her army!
so, here’s michelle’s story – in her own words:
„I am 29, I was diagnosed with colon cancer stage III when I was 27. It was a huge deal for me and my family. I underwent a massive surgery and 12 sessions of chemo that left me in a state of a zombie for 6 months. I was really like ‚the walking dead‘. I felt like my world was about to end and my dreams and goals seemed really distant.
But, I got through it. I salute myself and the very important people in my life for supporting me.
How did I do it?
When I first was diagnosed, my husband and I were on a transition to migrating to Australia. But everything that I had going for me had to stop for this satanic drug that would take over my life for six whole months. There were days when I stayed in bed crying but there were also days when I knew I had to get out. I never stopped myself from attending parties, family events and the occasional frequenting of bars with my fantastic friends. Of course, no alcohol involved. I’d order a glass of water, still feeling sorry for myself.
It was through this time that I had to discover and realize that life doesn’t stop when you are sick. So what if I had a line running into my chest that discreetly released drugs directly into me every hour, I still had to have some kind of fun. My friends knew what I had on me. They would ask me about it from time to time worrying that I am suffering too much to be at a place with loud music. But I kept telling them that I was fine, because sometimes I was. I knew I had to be. I never told many people that I was sick. I was afraid of being pitied. I did not need the ‚extra‘ sadness and I also never wanted anyone to be awkward around me. I for one cannot deal with sentiments.
I talk about my dreaded illness with my close friends. I’d humour them about my toilet habits. It made me laugh too. It was the easiest way to get through this sickness and it was easy for friends and family to understand me. After all it was my bottom that had cancer- that is somewhat funny. So I did things I still would do if I wasn’t sick. I travelled on a plane with a drug pinned onto me, often thinking what if it explodes mid air. I partied and danced, I booked into a hotel and sat by the pool with my best friend, I sat at coffee shops and had a good time despite being sick. There were odd days where I would have to leave to go home because nausea would come knocking but that didn’t stop me from having the bit of fun that I deserved.
Then it was over. I had killed cancer. I moved down under to join my husband, filled my new apartment with love, applied for schools to teach at, but it was short lived. In December 2014 I was struck again by another horrible news.
Here I am today with a colorectal cancer relapse, with metastasis to my liver. A little bit worse this time.
This time it was radiotherapy that drove me insane. The countless ER trips I made to the hospital at nights and the many pain jabs that left me in a state of ‚wonderland‘ kept everyone on an edge.
Getting through the days alone was difficult. I had to find ways to keep myself happy. Seeing how I was in the bedroom for the whole day, I knew I had to make it my happy place. I bought new bedsheets and made sure it was the highest thread count. I’d lay in bed rubbing my legs on those sheets day and night. I bought lovely lamps to light my room, take long showers with candles, I had new speakers just so that I could blast my favorite music to drown out my thoughts. And Facebook was what I’d spend most of time going through, and learnt a lot about everyone’s lives on my list. Online shopping was the best thing- it was a discovery. I read up a lot about my illness. Googling every medical term on my countless reports. Searching for people who wrote blogs about the same disease, finding some light that I could shed on myself. I also decided to pursue my masters. Hey, I had time at my disposal! What else could I do to occupy myself?
I love food. I love eating. Why couldn’t I just have had toe cancer. Wouldn’t that be much easier than to stay away from the hokkien noodles down the road or the best nasi briyani that I look forward to each Sunday. Now that is hard. Things had to change. So I fervently juice and avoid the hawker. But, I have cheat days.
Staying positive was very important and it still is. Cancer doesn’t kill your good vibes. I make my days happy so that I can be a little more positive each day. I try to find happiness in everything I do today. If it doesn’t make me happy I don’t do it. Seeing the cute radio therapist at each session made me happy each time I knew I was going to be sick. Taking a taxi everywhere I go made me lazy but happy. When I get to meet my lovely friends I dress up, because being in pyjamas all day is just boring. Life doesn’t change. I see it the way I want to. Nurses often ask me, ‚are you really sick?‘ and that would just make my day!
My family has been the best and my friends have been fabulous. There are days where I tell them that I am thoroughly fed up with this disease. ‚Fight on‘ they say. That’s just what I’m doing today. Another surgery to go, and just maybe this time would I really be okay?“
michelle, i’ll be thinking of you and praying for you today!
your positive attitude and your strength are an inspiration.
and to everybody who reads this: please send michelle lots of positive vibes!
she needs an army!
this is michelle. a beautiful and incredibly strong young woman.
today, let me just introduce her and her gorgeous, infectious smile –
i have a lot more of her and her story to share with you later!
‚my mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but i think she enjoyed it.‘
– mark twain –
despite all the challenges of motherhood – the lack of sleep, the constant worry, the sacrifice of ‚me-time‘, dealing with tantrums, being ‚hated‘ (not looking forward to those teenage years… ;)), having to repeat yourself 20 times per day, … – it’s still worth it. always has been. always will be.
becoming a mom yourself makes you appreciate your own mom even more, don’t you think?
so: happy mother’s day to all moms!
you are awesome!
gong xi fa cai! happy chinese new year!
my family and i wish you a happy and prosperous new year of the goat!
~ nina
together with my whole family, i wish you all a wonderful christmas – filled with love and joy, family time, sparkling lights, yummy cookies and delicious christmas roasts, carol singing, gift unwrapping, and most importantly the shining eyes and infectious giggles of your children!
thank you for your support in 2014, and i look forward to capturing many more memories for you and your families in 2015!
~ nina
interested in a custom designed coffee table album, but not sure what it would look like?
as an example, here’s the one that my lovely clients from the last blog post purchased for their newborn session.
have a look at the custom designed layout, and the images underneath show the actual coffee table album.
these albums are really special, don’t you think?
here’s what the clients said:
‚we were absolutely delighted with the coffee table album produced for us by nina. it is perfect to flick through and to show to guests, family and friends. it is great to have a beautifully designed ‘old fashioned’ physical photo album that we can keep forever and show to our baby when she is all grown-up and ipads and smart phones are antiques!‘
and this is the actual album:
