At Home / No Email?

Hi everyone! I'm cozy at home with my family in Texas. :) It looks like the server for my website may be experiencing some downtime, and I am not yet sure what the impact will be on email. So *please* just give me a call if you have any questions or need anything! I'll be happy to hear from you. 408-206-8684

Happy Holidays!
Jillian

Mike And Colleen - Slideshow!

And another slideshow! So happy to share this with you. :)

(PS - I apologize for the quick posts, but I'm rushing to get these online before I leave for Texas! My shuttle comes for me at 3AM....ouch! But as always, I was too excited to wait. )

A few to tempt you...

Andrew & Caroline - Slideshow!

Here's what we've been waiting for! :) Check out the beautiful slideshow!

And a few to wet your palette:

Mike And Colleen Engaged!

On Sunday I had a second wonderful engagement shoot that I'd like to share some images from! Again, these are pre-sneak preview...kind of like getting to watch a leaked version of a clipping of a movie trailer....people get very excited about it! I'm excited about these too.

Colleen and Mike took me to Middle Harbor Park, and it was fascinating! You can see all the cargo ships go by, and look out on the bay, and it's just the cutest little park in the middle of all the huge industrial equipment...very cool. We also got to catch a beautiful sunset! I can't wait until the rest are done so I can share them with you!

Caroline & Andrew Engagement Pre-Sneak Peak!

Hello everyone! I'm doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work lately. That's what we wedding photographers do in the off season...we start messing with the system. :) We think about what worked great and what could have worked better. We analyze what we could do to make our clients' lives easier. :) I've been doing a lot of that, and I'll have a post on upcoming changes sometime this month I hope!

But the first change I want to introduce is the "pre-sneak peak"! In order to continue to create the highest quality images and present the bes-of-the-best in the slideshow, I've decided to make the slideshow once the images are all done editing. :) But I don't want anyone to wait long! So I'll be releasing a "pre-sneak peak", which will be a handful of images with minor edits. (Some images come out of the camera ready for the world, others I shoot with an artistic purpose in mind, and they take a little more time.) Of course, the exact form the final images will take may be different, but this will hold you over till it's all ready!


Caroline & Andrew!

Saturday afternoon I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Andrew and Caroline in the city (San Francisco for the non-locals) and we had a blast just wandering the neighborhoods around Grace Cathedral! I swear, it doesn't really matter where you go in San Francisco, it's all just amazing. :) Thanks so much Caroline & Andrew, and I can't wait to get your slideshow up! (I already know what song I want to use, and I keep humming it!)

Kate & John Engagement Photos!

It's so exciting to be shooting engagement sessions for next year! Right as this year's wedding season is coming to an end (which is depressing...I'm going to miss everyone so much!)...a new group of wonderful couples is popping up. :)

John & Kate were so much fun to shoot! We met at San Francisco's Fort Mason last Saturday and explored all the different fun places to photograph. The were up for anything...including wall walking and tree climbing!! I love all the color that we found, and how the overcast sky did wonderful things with the light...gorgeous!

Don't you just adore Kate's red hair?!!

Check out my favorites in the slideshow!

Leslie on Bourbon Street

So one of the really fun activities of the New Orleans trip was a funky night bridal shoot! We split into groups, and I was delighted to be in the group with Leslie as our model! Leslie's not a real model....she could be...but she's actually in law school. She was married a couple years back, and donned the dress for us for some really fun images!

She was such a great sport, I know it's not easy when there is a full set of paparazzi following you around! A bleach-blonde wearing a pink barbie dress and a "Miss Planet Beach" sash walked by, and I overheard one of her friends say "They should photograph you!". But no one even turned around! We were much too glued to Leslie! Part way through the session, a fire truck came (not for fire, for a medical emergency) and for about 90 seconds we had Leslie stand in front of it. :) Then we got out of the way!

This was a great learning experience for me and I think I'm going to ask for some fun lighting for Christmas. :) (Even though most were just taken with available light, there were a couple where a small video light took the image in a whole new direction!)

Super Fun Slideshow!

My fav's:

Gregg & Suzi's Sunset Wedding!

This post is loooooong overdue! Don't worry, I didn't make Suzi & Gregg (or their guests) wait this long, I just hadn't gotten around to putting it down in the blog for the rest of the world...but it's worth the wait!

I arrived at the Mark Hopkin's hotel just a wee bit early and ended up having some time with Suzi before her make-up artists arrived. It was so much fun! I love when I get to have that kind of one-on-one time, and I really believe that I connected with Gregg and Suzi better throughout the day because of it! Photography is really an emotional art and connecting is so important. Not to mention it was just fun to hang out...I love my job!

Schedules don't always go as planned but this one seemed to have a mind of it's own...a mind that said "please let the ceremony happen in front of the most gorgeous sunset ever!!" So while we were running a little late it couldn't have been more perfect timing! Cliff House is a beautiful , intimate venue overlooking the bay and the views from the terrace are just stunning.

At the moment when the winding introduction of "Bittersweet Symphony" reached it's peak and the opening verse was sung, Suzi stepped through the curtain and into the ceremony and I just caught my breath, almost forgetting where I was. Luckily, I kept photographing. :)

Well...I suppose I ought to let the pictures describe how stunning it was.

View the beautiful SLIDESHOW.

And see my favorites:

My "New Orleans Experience"

A week ago Saturday I photographed a wonderful wedding! I'm excited to share Suzi & Gregg's images, but since I'm still in Texas, that will have to wait a couple of days. I left on Sunday to go to New Orleans for one of my many photography conferences, which was just wonderful!

It was so awesome to meet a few of my good friends (who I'd spoken to by phone and email, but never gotten to hug)! It was also a lot of fun to make new friends and get to spend time with friends I'd made earlier in the year. The conferences are always a great mix of hanging out, learning, and fun photoshoots. Hopefully I'll have some images up from the photoshoot I attended soon. :)

This past week was also my first ever trip to New Orleans, and I loved it! That's my kind of place...so much color, people everywhere, just a total celebration of life and friendship! I hope to get to go back sometime soon. We drank on Bourbon St, ate hot wings, had a couple amazing night time photoshoots, and listened to really inspiring presentations...but my favorite "New Orleans Experience" happened Wednesday night.

It was late afternoon, and I had just decided to cut my time in Nola short so that I could swing by Texas to visit my family, who I hadn't seen since Christmas. After springing the news on my parents I started to get a little emotional, so I decided to take a walk. I walked to an internet cafe a few blocks off, and just got all of the teariness out of my system along the way. The people I met on the streets were so kind and available to help with anything. I spent some time catching up on my email, printing directions for my drive to Texas, and finally looked up and realized I'd allowed the city to grow dark.

Walking back to the hotel, I took a path a few blocks off the main strip to avoid the crowd. The people I passed weren't tourists, they were locals hanging out at lesser known cafes and bars. I walked a few blocks and began to come up on a corner where a man and a woman were singning. This was the first live music I'd heard on the streets, and it really hit me that in a town so known for it's music, I'd really not heard any.

The woman was likely in her 30s, the man in his 50s. The were singing some old blues song that I didn't recognize, and I glanced at a totally empty tip box as I walked by. Having just come from the ATM, I had knew I had 20s, but I stopped and searched till I found a single dollar bill to toss in.

She said thank you, and I escaped a few steps before he reached forward and said "wait a minute, we oughta sing you a special song....what do you want to hear?" he listed blues and jazz musicians I was embarrasingly unfamiliar with, so I asked him to pick his favorite. Even hidden behind huge dark sunglasses, I could tell his eyes were looking more in my general direction than at me.

I didn't recognize the first song, but they were incredible. I danced along as best I could... just me dancing to the music of a couple of street performers on a corner. And I thought "this is the New Orleans experience I want to have".

That song finished and they immediately moved in to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" by the Temptations. The man began to show me how to clap, and gently asked for my hands and started swinging me around so gracefully. I'm not a very good follower, because I never trust the lead dancer enough....but I was twirled in and out and moved side to side, just like a grandfather would teach a granddaughter how to dance. It was so much fun!

The whole time I began to notice the little things you couldn't easily tell in the dim light. How tattered their clothes were, but clean and pressed. When he'd re-adjust his glasses, you could faintly see the damage to his eyes, the white that had overcome them. The wear on their shoes. I was reminded of how incredibly difficult the previous years must have been for these two, and how so many people would have stopped singing. And I squeezed this man's hands tight in mine, and felt so humbled and amazed to have been in the very spot I was dancing.

When they started the next song, I regrettably had to make an apologetic exit. I couldn't stay and dance all night, alone on a dark street corner. I hastily pulled a 20 out of my purse, handed it to the lady, gave a hug to the man, and turned away...feeling a slight sense of satisfaction in my donation.

Then I heard, ever so faintly, the woman say to the blind man "it's a 20". It was the sound of quiet relief in her voice that struck me. I thought of the song "King of New Orleans" and the line "probably make 20 dollars 'fore the weekends over", and I was overcome by how rediculously small that was to me, and how incredibly important it was to them.

And I wept the rest of the way back.

Of all the things I'll remember about New Orleans...that was the most powerful, that was the most perspective changing.

The next day I hopped in a rental and made my way home to see my family! It's been a really wonderful visit over the past couple of days, and I can't wait to be back at Christmas. I'll be flying back to California tomorrow night, and everything should be back to normal by Monday. If you're waiting to hear back from me, just hang in for another day!

Eco - Friendly Wedding Tips!

As the wedding season winds down entirely, and I become more occupied with the holidays, I'll have fewer and fewer lovely photos to show you! So I want to start introducing you to some of the thousands and thousands of awesome ideas I encounter through the blogs and websites I follow. I thought this was a perfect one to start with.



Preston Bailey,whose event designs are incredibly lush and glamorous, has recently started his own blog: http://www.prestonbailey.blogspot.com/ ! This is so very exciting for me. :)

He recently posted tips on how to have an ecco-friendly wedding, my favorites are:

- Have your ceremony and reception at the same site so your guests do not have to drive from place to place.
- Choose a botanical garden or greenhouse as your venue. Not only are you surrounded by lush natural beauty, but the site fee goes to support the garden.
- By serving local wines, you incorporate your setting, and also cut down on carbon costs.
- Most food banks do not except perishable food, but organizations like Second Harvest (http://www.secondharvest.org/how_to_help/donate_food/) will collect the food from the reception and use it to feed the hungry.


Check out all his wonderful tips here: http://prestonbailey.blogspot.com/2007/10/eco-chic-weddings.html

Thanks Preston!

Matt & Ligaya Wed!

When I first met with Ligaya to discuss her wedding, we sat down at a booth in Green's Restaurant where the reception would be held. She asked cautiously about having the bride & groom meet before the wedding, and I don't quite remember what I said, but it made her cry.

On Sunday, Ligaya made me cry when the "first meting" actually happened. It's hard to keep photographing when you're all choked up! It was just the most powerful moment, I was totally in awe of how awesome it was.

I have so many photos to share, please enjoy the slideshow!

The girls had Ligaya put tissue paper over her head so she wouldn't get makeup on the dress...


....once the tissue paper was off, she was really stunning:



Matt had Erin (the florist, http://erintait.com) make a "bouquet" of roses made out of spinach, prosciutto, and cheese as part of an inside joke...and he brought them to her for the first meeting. I think the funniest part is that in the photos, they look really pretty! Almost like they aren't made of meat! :)




The first meeting:




A few portraits:


A quick one from the ceremony:


Ligaya is also a florist (http://florantedesign.com), so I knew that all the floral arrangements would be amazing! These are by her florist, Erin Tait (http://erintait.com)



Matt & Ligaya planned for their reception to start at sunset, so that their guests could view this gorgeous sunset over the bay:


They didn't plan on having a first dance....but when they started dancing no one could stop watching them long enough to join:


I heard everyone laugh, but didn't know why until I scanned the photos in my camera...if you look closely, you can see him eating her nose. :)


Thank you for a gorgeous evening!! Can't wait for you to see these when you get back from your honeymoon!