Las Vegas Baby

Honestly, I promise I normally don't travel this much! Everything just seemed to happen all at once, and even though I'm still tired from my trip to Paris, it's now time for my trip to Vegas!

In Vegas I'll be attending the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) Convention. I get to meet up with hundreds of fabulous photographers that I talk to online, but rarely have the opportunity to meet or hang out! I am so excited, and I am certain to come back with fun ideas, new skills, and (if possible) an even bigger excitement for all of the splendid weddings I have this year!

My shuttle comes to pick me up in 4 hours (at 3:50am...yikes!), but I'm so excited I just might not sleep. I will still have access to my cell phone and email during the week. My responses might be slightly delayed, but please contact me for any reason!

Have a great weekend. :)

Twitterpated

Remember watching the old Bambi movie with the cute deer and the little rabbit Thumper? Remember the explination about love...it meant you were "Twitterpated!" Well Bianca and Andrew are so very cutely twitterpated. :)

We had a fun time on Sunday afternoon, walking up the Filter Street Garden stairs to Coit tower. It was cold, and yes, Bianca wore a thin (but oh so pretty) skirt in the cold wind, and HEELS for all those steps!! We went up through the gardens, around Coit Tower (which was unfortunately surrounded by fog), and then back through the city. It was a fun time, and I always love seeing parts of San Francisco I haven't explored yet!

All my favorites are in the slideshow!!

It's a Blog Life!

So, I am going to try to blog more, so that you not only get a sneak peak at the fun photography work I've been doing but also a little bit about my fabulous life! Of course, a big part of my life right now is reading blogs. :) I love blogs! I am watching 55 blogs using bloglines, a free service that updates you whenever a new entry is added to someone's blog. You just go to one website, and view all the latest news on blogs to which you have subscribed! Most of the blogs I watch are from my fellow photograhers, but several are wedding planning blogs.

Why wedding planning blogs? Nooooooo, your's truly isn't planning her own (haha!). I just love being able to peak inside the world of my brides. I want to know all the questions you're asking and the decisions you're making. I want to know trends and tips and really share in the excitement!

So it occurred to me that many of you might not know all this helpful information is out there! Allow me to get you started.

1. Go to http://bloglines.com & set up an account. (free!)
2. Add my blog:
- Go to "Feeds" and then "Add"
- Enter: http:jilliankayphotography.blogspot.com
- Voila!
(Now any time I have a new entry, you'll see it in your bloglines account!)

3. Next, add these FABULOUS blogs:
- From I-Will to I-Do:
(fun stuff, practical advice)
http://from-i-will-to-i-do.blogspot.com
- Offbeat Bride
(very different but not for the faint of heart!)
http://offbeatbride.com/
- Something Old, Something New
(Wonderful Ideas!!)
http://kenziekate.blogspot.com/index.html
- Style Me Pretty
(My FAVORITE, AMAZING LOVELY STUNNING!!!)
http://abbyjean.typepad.com/style_me_pretty/
- Wedding Bee!
(follow a dozen or so bride-to-be stories & help them along the way!)
http://www.weddingbee.com/

If you have a blog, let me know, I'd love to add you to my Bloglines list! I'd also love to hear what wedding blogs you can't live without!

25 To Watch

So I've got a lot of photography friends. I mean a LOT. Hundreds, from all over the country & world. We hang out in a forum and sometimes chat, and I really truly would not be the photographer I am today (or any photographer at all) without the support of this community. I love them!!

We're doing a fun blog link exchange right now, so I thought I'd share the blogs of some really incredible photographers. Enjoy!

Becker
Anne Ruthmann
Holritz Photography
Captivating Studios
Picture Infinity Studios
Jillian Kay
KMB Foto
Julie Walton Shaver
Jennifer Images
Lifespring Photography
Photo Forward
Lucky Red Hen
Frank Dimeo
Schaefer Photography
CU Photography
Blue Mountain Photo
Candy's Photography
April Rocha
Stevie's Cam
Polis Photography
Kari Douma
Kendall Price
Garrett Nudd Photography
Nataly Lemus
Jennifer Grigg

Paris Photos: Finally!

Well, I've been working on these all weekend, and thought I'd show you some of what I got. Obviously the trip was a blast!

View the FABULOUS slideshow!

All About Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday!

The trip was amazing! Of course, now that I'm back I have a million and one things to do and I'm just exhausted, but I'm still incredibly glad that I went! Here's the scoop on the rest of the trip...and I promise I'll get to the photos soon. :)

Sunday
After finishing up all the photographs of the apartment, the gang decided to take me to have lunch next to the Louvre (where they had explored the day before). We hopped on the metro and headed to Le Fumoir, a beautiful cafe where I had quite possibly one of the best lunches EVER! From there we got back on the Metro and headed to the Opera House, which was simply stunning, and we walked all the way around it.

For some reason, there was a small protest on one side of the building, and about 40 police cars and a fire truck hanging out on the other side of the building....so we decided we should probably hop a little red open-air bus and get out of there. :) The tour bus took us down Champs-Elysees and around the Arc de Triomphe. We saw the Eiffel Tower and several really beautiful buildings (and I'll have to look up what they were because the earpieces of my headset were too big for my ears). And finally got off at the Notre Dame because it was getting dark!

We watched the rollerblading street performers for a bit, and stoped every 10 feet to photograph something beautiful! After a long dinner, we went back to the apartment, and I finaly decided to go to bed at a reasonable time. :)

Monday
Monday I accidentally woke everyone up at 7:30am, thinking it was 8:30...but on the brightside we were all up and out pretty early! I wandered the neighborhood for a few morning photographs. We checked email at the internet cafe, ate brunch, walked around and inside Notre Dame, and got back on the open air bus to see the big sites! We were most excited to get out at a vista point for the Eiffel Tower, where we spent nearly 20 minutes trying to perfect a jumping-in-front-of-the-tower shot...that was hilarious!

We explored the grounds of the tower for a bit, but decided not to wait in the line to go up...too much to see! The tour was beautiful, and we did a little postcard and souvenier shopping along the river next to Notre Dame. After a little down time at the apartment, I of course got ready for an evening at The Beaver!

I know, it still sounds silly to spend time in Paris couped up in a smokey little bar. But Monday night was open mic night, and we heard some of the most amazing local musicians! We got to talk and rub elbows with the people who really live there and see their attitudes and personalities.....I love that! It was really a lot of fun, and it was so sad to walk back to the apartment and go to bed, since we knew it was our last experience in Paris.

Tuesday
In the morning we woke up (reluctantly) and said goodbye to the apartment and to Paris. It was tough, knowing everything we had to go back to. Paris was amazing! The full day of travel was rough, but luckily we didn't have any issues. I stayed up and talked on the first flight, but slept like a rock on the second.

I don't really feel jetlagged now, just have a little extra trouble getting up in the mornings. :) And there's so much to do! Well, I'll work on pictures tomorrow and hopefully have something fun to show you!

All about Friday and Saturday!

So yesterday was supposed to be my day to shoot the apartment. I got up and bought flowers and fruit, but yesterday just wasn't set out to be my day. Aside from falling a couple of times and eating a bit of salmon that just didn't agree with me....I dropped a lens! Ouch! Well, we can replace it at home, but still not fun. So I decided not to finish the shooting in a bad mood.

After a little while I found my friends and things took a wonderful turn! We wandered around the city until we found a cute little place to eat dinner. (And the waiter was cute too!) We had a great bottle of merlot (and I don't normally like merlot), and AMAZING dessert. I had an upside down apple tart that was simply splendid!

The other 3 (who had walked all around during the day, and were quite tired) were ready to head back to the apartment, so we did. I of course had been in the apartment all day long, so I was ready to go out! I talked Tim into heading three doors down to a little hole-in-the-wall pub called "The Beaver". WOW!! I had so much fun.

The Beaver had live music, a really nice cool guy named Francais (sp?) , and quite a few fun people. I nearly melted into my chair when he sung Anna Begins by Counting Crows....one of my favorite songs of all time!! I was amazed, and he was really really good. We closed the place down, and had a great time talking to our new friends Francais, Elan, and Amy. :) That's my ideal way to experience a city, just to sit down in a local place, meet people from the city, and hear the music. As odd as it sounds, I think that will be my favorite part of the trip!

Well, since we stayed up so late, we kind of woke up late. Everyone pulled together and helped me finish shooting the apartmentquickly, which I really appreciated because as much as I love the apartment....Paris is right outside! Then we took the metro over to a wonderful little restaurant where I just the best meal of goat cheese, roast peppers, and sundried tomatoes on toast. MMMMM. Then we hopped on a tour bus and enjoyed the open air tour of the city.

We're now back at the internet cafe, hoping to make our way to dinner soon. I'm sure I'll check in with you later!

All about Thursday

Bonjour! It's just past 11am here in Paris, and we are starting our day. I am sitting in a little internet cafe near to Notre Dame, and about a 10 minute walk from our apartment.

Yesterday Ashley and I arrived around 8am, got settled into the apartment. I took a little adventure and explored the neighborhood! Well, to be perfectly honest I just meant to go to the internet cafe, but I got lost 3 times. LOL! Oh well, I learned all about Ille St Louis, the neighborhood where we are staying. And I eventually found it!

I adjusted to the time change much better than I expected, and I was fully awake for most of yesterday. I explored the area, cooked some lunch, and basically we hung out at the apartment and in the neighborhood because we needed to be there when Lori arrived to let her in. Lori made it in and we went and explored the neighborhood a little more.

Poor Tim. Tim wasn't able to get on his original flight plan (which was the same as ours), so instead he caught a plane to London. He didn't really have a plan to get from London to Paris, so we had no idea when he would arrive. He decided to catch a plane from London to Paris, and we decided the best thing was to wait in the apartment for him.

So we took a nap, maybe 3 hours, that evening. We evidently never heard his cries for help or his knocking on the door. It seems Tim spent all afternoon (3-4 hours or so) in the cold. He spent a lot of time on our doorstep, and talked to a lot of the neighbors (who are very very nice). Eventually we woke up, and let him in. Sorry Tim!

Did I mention he didn't have a coat? Yikes! Luckily, his dad just so happened to be in Paris at the same time, and he dropped by to take us to dinner. We walked over to the Latin district and had a really wonderful meal. I tried escargot, and I LOVED it!! It was nearly midnight when we left the restaurant, but we were all quite awake by now (well, at least those of us who took a nap) so we walked with Tim's dad back towards the Eifel Tower.

The walk through Paris at night was wonderful! So many people just out enjoying life, and all the store windows were so posh and designer. We arrived at the Eifel Tower around 1am, and decided to wait around to see if it would light up on the hour. We expected it to do the light up pattern where it lights from top to bottom in tiers.

Instead it suddenly burst into bright twinkling sparking lights! The whole tower was flashing like one of those sparklers that children play with on the 4th of July. It was incredible! Of course, the longer we stood there, the faster it went, and we all became very dizzy. We took a quick cab back to the apartment, and stayed up till 3am just chatting and enjoying the thought of being in Paris!

Today I woke up late, and I'm about to go get flowers and pasteries and other notions to decorate the apartment for it's photographs. It is such a charming, cozy, rustic little home. I think the best part is that it really does feel like a home, not an impersonal hotel. It's just lovely!

Anyway, still no photographs, as I can't get the wireless to work on my laptop. I am sure I will have plenty when I return!

In Paris!

Just wanted to check in from my internet cafe (across from Notre Dame) to let you know that Ashley and I made it to Paris just fine. I'm sure we'll find Lori and Tim eventually. :)

Paris is abosolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to share photos!

Update: We've got Lori, and Tim is en route! :)

Paris!!!!!!!!!!!

Bonjour!

In just a few hours (aka 4:30am) a shuttle will be picking me up to go to the airport. So why am I still online? Because I just had to share the news! I've been so busy lately with all of your wonderful photographs, that I forgot to mention I'm going to Paris!

I'll be on travel from March 8th - March 13th. I will not be accessible by phone, but I will likely be checking email daily so please just email if you need anything. I'll be taking many many many photographs and hanging out with some wonderful photographers that I know! This is primarily a business trip (I'll be photographing a FABULOUS french apartment), but of course I left a ton of time to explore the city and absorb the beautiful culture.

Who knows....maybe I'll find a cute French guy? No matter what, I'm so excited, and I just know I'm not going to sleep a wink!

Bonsoir!
Jillian

Paula & Ron E Session!

On Sunday I headed to Saratoga for a fun engagement session with Ron & Paula. I love enagement sessions; I think that's where the couple and I really break the ice and start having fun! Even though we had to make a last minute change of venue, the photos were awesome! I think that is a great reminder that it's not the location, it's the relationship that matters!

Check out the chemistry in the slideshow!

Or sneak a few here:

William & Tiana E-Session!

I met William & Tiana last year at Chris & Bridgit's wedding, and had a wonderful time talking to them while I grabbed a bite of cake. So I was absolutely delighted when they asked me to photograph their wedding this year! Finally I got to hang out with them again yesterday, when we shot their engagement session. I didn't remember them being this much fun!

Check out all the smiles & laughter in the slideshow!

Tiana mentioned she wanted a lot of color, and I think we were able to deliver: