The story you are telling yourself

While shopping for a Christmas tree, I remembered what my father always said when I was young.
As usual, like my parents did, I shop around for days, looking at trees around town, checking sizes and shapes and colours. Looking for the perfect tree. Then I find it. It is the most beautiful tree, double sided leaves, silver coloured, all round and rich in branches, symmetric. This is when my father would say: “we’re getting this one, this tree is for champions.”
It was a little bit on the expensive side, but I didn’t care, I wanted that one. Why? For the feeling it would give me.

“This tree is for champions.”

We are busy all year long, working hard and this is our reward, we deserve it. We get it home and decorate it the best we can and then enjoy it for the whole Christmas season.

So then I started to think. What else do I treat in my life like that?

What are the stories I’m telling myself on a day to day to day basis.
What are the shoes I’m wearing? What is the mattress I’m sleeping on? Is the bed for champions?

Can you identify what is the story you are telling yourself?
Because I realize, this is how we live our lives, based on this little story we tell each other and ourselves every day.

“Oh, I’m not going to buy that dress, it is too expensive for me.”

Do you recognise this ? It is the value you assign yourself.
It’s the value you think you are worth. I am not telling you to go on a shopping spree and spend unconsciously, I am telling you to start paying attention to what you are saying to yourself. And see if you are happy with that story.

 

Does that story serves you well? Is it a success story ?

 

Is it a story that gives you confidence and lifts you up?

 

Are you treasuring yourself everyday and treating yourself like you’re the champion?

 

If not, challenge your inner voice and see if there’s any other way to look at yourself. The moment you accept your story, what ever that story is, you know that this story is becoming you. This story you are telling yourself becomes your life.

 

Do you need a visual, a way to look at your self ?

 

We, at Cristina Stoian Portraits, celebrate your inner champion. We show you you. The holidays are a perfect time to capture joy. Come share the spirit in a photo session. Are you ready to book your shoot? Or maybe you still have questions. If so, press the button below, and we’ll go through them together.

Celebrate your inner champion

The you as you imagined

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The woman I work for

One of my first clients and models in front of my camera for this new style of photography I embarked on, was Sunita Changoe.

 

“A versatile woman, who know exactly what she wants. A woman with a modus operandi. Making friends with patience has always been a challenge for her, like she always says: ‘If I knew where patience would be on sale, I’d let you know once I have purchased my own supply.’ Her mission is very clear: teaching everyone in a certain way to get back to the original state of power enabling one to embrace life with a fresh and clear vision. Therefore her vision is a world in which each individual takes and receives space to express his or her soul and thereby contributing value to the whole: life and thereafter.

The woman I work for is inspiring in the way she wishes everybody the best as an individual and as an entrepreneur. Being very social, she already connects the person she just met for the very first time with other people who could make this new acquaintance’s life more valuable.

The woman I work for is continually developing herself. She studies, follows courses so all the facets of her diamond, like she calls her life, are always illuminating and radiant.

People working with or for her know that her openness also has another side. She is very private. ‘In life one is entitled to have space for every aspect of yourself, so also for your family and relatives.’ She calls it her personal retreat. ‘There is no need to travel far, to get to yourself.’ She is spiritual, but knows that her body needs to be grounded: ‘’Released from your body and connected to all.’

Working with her sometimes is considered a serious challenge. Like she has the greatest expression of herself as a goal, she demands the same from the people she works with.

She is very allergic to the word ‘try’, Like Obi Wan Kenobi says: ‘There is no try’ and like her father taught her ‘Either you do it well or don’t do it at all.’ This places her in the category of woman with a ‘no-nonsense’ – mentality. She doesn’t see problems, but challenges to go inwards and shed a light on the valuable treasures one holds for him-/herself and the world.

As soon as I open my laptop I see the woman I work for. The picture was taken by the international photographer Cristina Stoian. She was able to capture her vulnerability, her power, her heritage and her essence at once and created with that her own legacy.

The woman that I work for with all my attention, love and passion, that woman … is me. ”

Cristina Stoian Photographer

 

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My Team

Even thought we are small, we are a team of passionate professionals that are en love with what we do. I  work together with them to make you feel your best beautiful and help you relax in front of the camera.

 

My team consists of: Make-up Artists, Hair Stylists, Photo Retouchers, Assistants, Stylists, Videographers, Designers:

Lorena Ciubotaru

Alina Stefan

Cristina Stoian

Tammy Parrish

Kristina Nesterova

Daniel Smeets

Steven Dow

Kristina Kutena

Anna Oats

 

 

 

 

 

Your natural self

I wanted to capture what it feels to go back into your natural way of being. Lorena was an actress and a dancer before she became a mother. She renounced her career to move to Holland and build a family. Her own power stepping into her natural self, who she really is as a person was astounding to see. She became the dancer again. The actress never left, it was always latent into her personality and eventually it was screaming to come out.

Portrait Photography: Cristina Stoian
Photography Assistant: Taylor Zopie
Hair & Makeup: Lorena Ciubotaru
Filmed and Edited: Taylor Zopie

That Chick in Amsterdam

That Chick in Amsterdam is a new community for international girls that just want to have fun, meet other girls that want to go out and hangout. It grew to 1500 people over night and it’s very active online. Me and my colleague photographer Teresa Hulst, hosted a photo shoot for this group. We wanted to meet-up with some of the cool chicks we have been chatting with online. It was super fun!

Teresa did the behind the scenes photography and styling and I did the portrait shooting. Check more of the behind the scenes photos on her website, Californiagirl.


Behind the scenes photography: Teresa Hulst

 

Portrait Photography: Cristina Stoian

Portrait Photography: Cristina Stoian

Portrait Photography: Cristina Stoian

Portrait Photography: Cristina Stoian

Portrait Photography: Cristina Stoian

Have a girls day out with a photo shoot and makeover.

Photoshoot Party

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I believe

Not long after I made my mood board I found my studio! Literally, after I saved the collage to Evernote, within the hour I found this place online and within the week I had the keys of the studio.

It is an amazing space. It has big windows, wooden floor, it’s white and it’s facing SW. Most importantly it’s 10 minutes away from my house. I felt so blessed to find this place. I really think it was Godsent. I am busy now cleaning it up and refreshing it for you. I will be able to welcome you in my new space as early as February!

So now that I have this new big space, let the games begin! I can finally welcome more of you at once to have fun.

 

This space will allow me to do more of this:

1 Couples portraits session

2 Mother Daughter session, Mother Son Portrait Session

3 Family Portraits, 3 Generations

4 Dancer, ballerinas

5 Girls Day Out session

 

 

Time to be seen

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Inspiration for the New Year

For these entire 2 years since I started with my new photography business, I have followed this extraordinary woman online: she’s a fantastic photographer and a talented educator. Her name is Sue Bryce and she really created a portrait revolution across the globe. She is very motivational but also so very skilled. I really enjoy attending her classes online and learning the craft from her.

She’s my new mentor in photography. (see my previous mentor one here).
After following her online for 3 years now, she came to Europe, to London to teach a workshop within the Portrait Society Convention in London. I could not skip this opportunity and so I have boarded a plane and – off I went to see her.

I thought it would bring me some inspiration and motivation for the beginning of the year and also, I wanted to give her a hug and thank her for all that she does for photography and for us, portrait photographers. She is really changing the industry and we will see a big portrait comeback in the near future thanks to her.

 

Here she is! So wonderful to finally meet my educator and she’s lovelyIKJY9221 copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Couple of take-aways from her 6 hours workshop:

  • We are breaking new ground every day with our craft – we are certainly not the first to create portraits, but we are the ones to bring this beautiful craft back into our communitySue Bryce Portrait Photographer
  • It is our duty to Educate, Entertain, Engage, Entice, Elevate
    Sue Bryce
  • The rule of 33:34:33 in business, 33 for taxes, 34 for back into the business, and 33 for ourselves.
  • What we do for people is creating a legacy which timeless and the value of it is priceless
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    DSCF1067
    “I have a deep fascination for portraits.
    Everything you experience I want to photograph.

    I have a deep desire to photograph every woman for every year of her life, until she is an old woman and every year she’s gonna see herself age and mature and grow up and she’s gonna fall in love with herself every year with the changes when you get older, when you get curvier, as you get wrinklier, as you age and build a family, as you build a career, as you build a life, I want to document that and show it back to you. ”

    Sue Bryce

What are your questions about it?

Have a makeover and shoot

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Mentors

paul-butterfield

Paul Butterfield is a photographer from Seattle I met while he was visiting Amsterdam, in 2009. Him and his wife Melody Biringer are owners of the CRAVE Company, empowering women in business.

Following them and their passion for Amsterdam, little by little I got to experience their lush lifestyle and get to crave it.

There was no surprise that at the end of their holidays, I accepted their bold invitation to start a version of their company in Amsterdam as a project manager and photographer and ultimately partner.

This is how I started my Portrait Photography career, connecting with women entrepreneurs, featuring them in a book, having fun getting to know many great women and pursuing my dream as a photographer.

He is the second one (after my husband) that recognised my talent in photography and pushed me to do it as a profession.

 

In 2010, Paul, gave me a present. He printed and matted 20 of my iPhone photos. Right then I realised that a photo is so much more than an image on a screen.

And now I do these Portraits for People and they treasure them and they will stay in their family forever. I am so proud to do that!

 

“What we vividly imagine, most ardently desire, enthusiastically act upon, must inevitably come to pass” ~ Collin P. Sisson

Studio Space

It’s been fun welcoming you into my home and creating portraits in my living room. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing my space with you. But sometimes it feels a bit small and photographing families is a bit more difficult in the space.

This is why, this year, one of my goals is to find a studio for my portrait photography.
I have created a moodboard to visualise my dream space and what sort of atmosphere I want to create in it. So, tag me, or let me know, if you see anything like this popping up in your way/timeline.

 

cris-mood-board_web