cindy cieluch photography . blog

Here is an excerpt from Great Falls author, Carol Bradley’s new book, Saving Gracie.

The Tricolor Cavalier stood, frozen. Four dogs were left in her crate, and the other three were huddled in the rear, pressed as far back as they could get. The little dog stared straight ahead as the man returned, lifted her off the urine-soaked newspapers, and hugged her close. “Let’s get you out of here,” he said.

To say that Carol is passionate about animals would be an understatement.  As a Great Falls Tribune reporter, Carol investigated and wrote about several aspects of animal welfare, including horse slaughtering, rodeos, animal hoarding, and animal cruelty.  She then left the newspaper to devote all of her time to writing a book about puppy mills.  Saving Gracie is her first book and will be in stores March 2010.  You can also pre-order it on Amazon.com!

I would like to tell you more about the book and about Carol, but I think it’s better coming straight from her!  PLEASE support Carol and raise awareness about puppy mills by going to her BRAND NEW BLOG!  Leave her a comment, show your love for dogs and check out some headshots I took of Carol and her pups.

Congratulations Carol!  Your passion, effort and hard work make my heart swell up.  Duncan and Boerne say thank you, too!!!

As I sit here on the couch nursing a cold with Jell-O, soup and OJ, I’m keeping myself occupied by cleaning up the files on my laptop.  I came across so many images tonight that stirred up memories and emotions.  I almost forgot about some of these photos, although these memories mean the world to me.  I think that I get so overwhelmed with all of the photos I take, that I don’t take the time to do anything with my own personal photos!

OK, enough talking.  Here are just a few photos I dug out of the archives today…

You may remember Stephanie, but you probably don’t recognize her in this photo!  She’s the gorgeous bride in the *day after* shoot that I did in Alaska this summer….and she’s one of my bestest friends in the universe.  This was taken in June on our hike up to Flattop in Anchorage.

Alaska is breathtaking!  This is right off of the Seward Highway.

Ryland. His mom April is another one of my best friends.  I took these in San Antonio back in May, when he was about 1 and a half years old.  Those eyes…those lips!

LOVE those little teeth.

That’s it for now!  I’ve got to hit the sack and get rid of this dumb cold!!!

There was an even dozen this year.  From a snowy, 20 below zero wedding in Great Falls…to a sunny, warm day in Washington D.C….to a cloudy, rainy morning in Wyoming…each and every wedding was unique, stunning and special in its own way.  The year wrapped up just a few weeks ago right back here in Great Falls on a very fitting day - windy!  And it was PERFECT.  Romantic, sweet, intimate, breezy, and soft.  I can’t think of a better way to end the 2009 wedding season!  More from Laurel + Eric’s wedding, as well as every single wedding I shot this year in one massive blog post.  Stay tuned!

There is no way I would’ve missed Lauren Brown’s baby shower!  Lauren is one of the most talented photographers I know, but that’s not why I adore this girl.  She has such a caring, real and gentle spirit and completely sparkles.  She’s even more sparkly now!  Seriously, HOW CUTE IS SHE?!?!?  I met Lauren about 3 years ago when she and Larry Stanley took a photo of me for a Benefis Healthcare ad.  From there, we sparked a friendship and even met up in Las Vegas for WPPI.

Duncan, Boerne and I hit the road this morning to spend 2 days in Bozeman for Lauren’s baby shower and a maternity session.  I am blessed to know her and loved being a part of this celebration.

Here is the Bozeman gang: Lauren, Elsa of The Woodlands, Morgan of Morgan Roof Photography, Leslie of Leslie Lukas Weddings & Events and Angela Trudeau of Fresh Designs.

As you can see, we are ingenious with the posing: PROM POSE!

More lovely posing.  Here are all of the photographers!  Morgan is always there for support.

Another incredible and sweet photographer - Cali Sparing!

Everyone held hands and listened to Lauren’s mom give a touching speech.  It was one of the most moving messages I’ve ever heard.  Congratulations, Lauren!!!

I’ll be back in Great Falls tonight, after Lauren’s maternity shoot.  Have a fun day!

When I was in Florida, something dawned on me: I’ve never done a photo shoot of my own husband!  Sad, pathetic, no excuse.  I couldn’t believe it.  That led my next realization: I need to slow down and soak in my life.

If you know me well, you know that I’m constantly on the go.  I’m always “too busy” for this and “too busy” for that.  Prime example: we did this photo shoot in 5 minutes and then we ran off to our next adventure.  No kidding.  Both Matt and I are always running from one thing to the next.  We’ve decided that this cannot continue.

I was going to wait until January 1st to make the goal my new year’s resolution, but I’m going to implement it NOW.  I’ve decided to spend the entire month of November with Matt in Florida as he wraps up his F-15 training at Tyndall Air Force Base - (he’s been gone since July).  I’ll have my computer and photos with me, so I’ll still be able to work on albums and process images.  For all orders, I will ship everything to your home (for free, of course)!  When I’m in Florida, I also plan on working on details of our new studio (which we hope to open in a few months).

I will always make sure I take care of you, my clients.  But while I’m away, I’m going to focus on making my spirituality, my health, my husband, my family & friends and my love of photography the top priorities in my life.  I believe that will benefit the business and my clients. I know it won’t happen overnight (or in a month), but I want to get back to the root of why I started this photography business.  Was it to squeeze in as many sessions as possible?  No.  Was it to pump out as many projects as humanly possible?  No.  The reasons why I love photography are THE PEOPLE and THEIR STORIES.  One thing I’m going to do to make sure this becomes a reality is book fewer sessions and weddings next year.  That way, I can continue putting everything I have into every photo shoot and still have energy left over for other parts of my life.

To my clients: I’ll be in Florida from November 6th until the first week of December.  If you’d like to meet in person, please email or call me to set up a meeting.

Thank you Matt for an incredible vacation….and for reminding me why I picked up a camera again 3 years ago.

I’m not sure what he’s trying to tell me here.  I’ll pretend the L is for LOVE.  ;-)  I love you, Matt.

Here’s a quick recap of my trip to Florida.

Road tripping = Flew into Panama City to meet up with my husband Matt, then drove 5.5 hours to Orlando to meet up with the Erhard family.

Heat index = 105 degrees.  Yes, it was even sweltering for Floridians.  Definitely not normal for this time of the year.

DisneyWorld = Did not happen because the kids wanted to go to the waterpark to cool off.  The kids had all been to DW before (I’ve been there, too)…but I almost cried like a little girl.  What made up for it?  The look on my nephews’ and nieces’ faces when we went down the waterslides and almost got an enema!

My camera isn’t waterproof, so we brought our point-and-shoot instead.  I know you’ve heard this A LOT lately…but I will post my Florida trip SOON.  I’m still trying to catch up since I got back and I’m prepping for 2 BIG shoots this weekend (a family of 8 on Friday and a family of 22 on Saturday!).  Until I return…here’s a peek at my interesting week.

Mexico Beach, Florida (taken Monday)

Great Falls, Montana (taken Wednesday)

I PROMISE: I’m NOT trying to rub it in.  I’m headed to Florida again to hang out with my husband and, yep, Mickey Mouse.  And THIS TIME, I’m bringing my camera!!!  We’re going to DisneyWorld with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and 4 nephews and nieces.  Posts are boring without images, so here are the main 6 reasons why Matt and I are looking forward to walking around a theme park.  See you soon, Erhard Family! 

*We did this shoot in Summer of 2008 and I haven’t seen them since Christmas, so I can’t wait to see how much the kids have grown.  I’ll be back next week with some goofy photos.  Maybe even some with Goofy…

I told Jayme that I wanted to use these yellow tanks as a backdrop.  Then she busted out these shoes.  Perfect!

Yes.  Her eyes are really this color.  BEAUTIFUL!

Jayme + I wrapped up the shoot with her best friend, Gunnar.

Thank you Jayme + Gunnar for such a FUN shoot!!!!!  I had sharp grass stuck in my pants for the rest of the night, but it was worth it.  HA!