family – Jewel Photography

Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area with Courtney

I’m blogging again…I swear! Ok, so my photographer friend Courtney Carlmark and I have been location scouting a few times and this time we checked out the Yolo Bypass Wildlife area to see what it had to offer for a sunset shoot. I have driven by a million times (ok, maybe two million) and have always thought it was so pretty. My fam couldn’t join, but Courtney brought her 3 littles with us on the adventure. These are the cutest little beings, I just love them. I got to hold the baby (bonus*) and take some picks of Courtney being the amazing photographer that she is and she also took a few of me…

So….we got kicked out at sunset, but now we know they close the gate exactly at sunset. There were a lot of people there checking out the bats, which was super cool and I would like to go back with my daughter to show her. The bats are under the Yolo bypass during the day and they all fly out at sunset to eat!

Here’s what I took from the excursion…note that Courtney is taking photos with a baby strapped to her and yes, her photos still turn out absolutely gorgeous. I will share those photos later! I would love to go back again to take some more family photos. The area is HUGE and it is a beautiful open space for photography!

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Fun was had by all! Get a hold of me if you would like to go on a little adventure with your family for photos…it’s so fun!

Until next time! Ciao!

Find my website HERE

August 26, 2019August 26, 2019 by Jewel Photography

Amy & Michael | Vizcaya, Sacramento

I have been excited to share Amy and Michael’s beautiful brunch wedding at the Vizcaya. The Vizcaya is a beautiful venue in Midtown Sacramento. I love the gardens (great for the ceremony), the huge windows, and nice architecture. If you haven’t been there or are thinking of having your wedding there, definitely check it out!

Amy and Michael, along with their family and friends, were so nice, fun, and easy to be around. Here is a glimpse of the wedding…I picked a lot more photos to share than usual for a blog post, but I feel like these really tell the story of their special day…

enjoy!

Bon Voyage! What an amazing day!!

To see more of my photos, check out more blog posts or my website!

xoxoxoxox ~Julie

April 14, 2017 by Jewel Photography

Tahoe City Snow

I’m a sucker for Lake Tahoe. Give me a view of the lake and I’m a happy camper. Not so much a “camper” in January after several feet of snow, but very happy to stay at the awesome Basecamp Hotel. The hubbs wants to go snow camping someday, but for now I will enjoy hot cocoa by the fire in the cozy (and well decorated) lodge.

After dumping snow for days, there was a perfectly clear day begging us to go exploring. We happened upon this amazing meadow of freshly fallen snow that had a perfect foot path carved out for us. This area is for cross-country skiing and also has a little trail around the perimeter for us walkers (not to be confused with TWD...sorry just watched the new episode)!

Anywho, I thought I would share a few pics from our little snow trip, just like I did last year…maybe this will become a tradition!

I’d love to hear from you! Comment here or head over to my website for much, much more!

xoxoxox ~Julie

February 17, 2017 by Jewel Photography

Year in Review: 2016

Happy New Year! 2016 was a bit of a whirlwind for me (being extremely busy and personally challenging) but when I look back at some of my favorite 2016 photos, I can’t help but to be excited about the joy and love that I captured for my clients. And I must say, I have amazing clients! Each one is special to me and I’m lucky to have met everyone I did in 2016, as well as photographing those that I have known for years.

Speaking of being busy…I still have folders of photos patiently waiting to be put up on the blog. I was going to pick a couple of favorites from 2016 and show them here, however, it’s slightly difficult to choose a few photos from 55 folders! Instead I decided to recap the holiday family sessions using Blogstomp (a really cool tool for resizing photos to share on various social media platforms). Enjoy!

Here’s to a wonderful 2017!!!

I hope you liked a little preview of my 2016 holiday photo sessions! To see more of my work go to the Jewel Photography website. It’s never to early to think about family sessions, so drop me an email if you would like to set something up.

I’m also booking weddings for 2017, so feel free to fill out the contact form on my website so we can chat about your wedding photography!

xoxoxo ~Julie

January 19, 2017January 19, 2017 by Jewel Photography

New baby Harper

It has been waaaaaaay too long since I have blogged! Fall is my busiest time of year (usually) but I have been going non-stop since early spring! Right now I am finishing up the last 3 weddings of 2016 and also doing a lot of family photos for those holiday cards. I won’t take away too much time from editing, but i had to share what I was working on today. As soon as I have these holiday projects completed and take a little vacay, I will be catching you up on all that has happened this year! But for now here is some new baby yumminess to tide you over.

Harper was born the week before Halloween and this was definitely the cutest little pumpkin around. This little sweetie was dreaming away as I took some of her first photos…

Newborn photo sessions are exhausting!!

Caio for now!! Feel free to check out more of my work HERE! xoxoxo ~J

November 11, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Apple Hill! Camino, CA Summer Wedding

I admit it, I am a little behind in blogging weddings! It is not summer, it is winter. But you know, a girl gets busy and blogging gets put to the bottom of the to-do list. So here is a summer wedding to warm you up, since it is cold and rainy here in Northern California. And yay for rain and snow! Keep it coming, we don’t like this horrible drought.

There is not much I love more than the mountains, so this wedding was in the perfect foothill location in Camino, CA…right in our very own Apple Hill. Most people know this area for it’s apple pies, like mama Vicky makes at Apple Pantry Farm, which we passed on the way there. The wedding was at a private residence, which was surrounded by wooded areas and amazing greenery. When your neighbor has a Christmas tree farm, you can consider yourself pretty lucky!

This wedding was a group of friends that we had already photographed weddings for, so it was nice to see familiar people and catch up since we last saw them. I had trouble picking photos for this blog…the people were awesome and the scenery was pretty great too.

Instead of regular seating for the ceremony, they gathered a bunch of quilts and spread them over the grassy hill. It made the ceremony very casual and unique.

It was a beautiful and emotional wedding ceremony and I could see that afterwards, everyone was ready to ~~party~~ celebrate! 😉

This wedding was one where the toasts stood out to me. You didn’t need to be an insider to see how strong these friendships are…they all had me tearing up!

Here’s to many more years of celebrating for these friends and families. I wish them the best.

To see more of this and other weddings, please visit my website…HERE!

March 21, 2016March 21, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Northern California Snow!

On Valentine’s day, our little family decided to go up to the snow for the day. I had a few spots in mind for taking photos. One of them was Donner Summit Tunnel…except we played a little too hard the first half of the day and our 5 year old fell asleep before we could get to the tunnel. I wanted to set up a tripod and take a romantic little photo of me and my husband in the snow for V-day, but we didn’t quite get to that part! I did take some other photos that I thought everyone would enjoy. We love our little family road trips and feel very lucky to live in such a beautiful place as Northern California.

To see more of my photos, click here.

To schedule a snow session, click here!

xoxo

Julie 🙂

February 20, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Wilton Country Wedding | Sacramento Wedding Photographer

This small country wedding was so relaxed and intimate, I felt like a guest and not a wedding photographer. Tara and Zac rented a country house 45 minutes from Downtown Sacramento, in Wilton, CA. Their quaint wedding had a pond backdrop surrounded by trees and countryside. Tara made her bouquet, favors, and much of the decor. The groom made amazing enchiladas for the guests…yum! Everything was so laid back and personal, it was a great way to spend their most important day. The sun was setting behind the big house when they said their vows. It was perfect.

Succulent wedding favors (my favorite) and very cool DIY paper bouquets.

I got to hang out with the groom and groomsmen for a change. These guys were goofing around and having fun. True friends.

Tara and Zac were lucky enough to have Zac’s dad officiate the wedding.

The bride and groom had each other’s wedding bands engraved and waited for a special moment to read what the other wrote…let’s just say Zac has a good sense of humor!

I wish Tara and Zac a lifetime of happiness!

For more examples of my work as a Sacramento wedding photographer, feel free to peruse the galleries on my website. Thanks for stopping by!

xoxox ~Julie

January 19, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Loomis Flower Farm Inn…A country wedding venue

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing a wedding at the Loomis Flower Farm Inn. I had never been to this venue before and I was excited to see what it was all about. Not far from Sacramento, the property was perfect for a quaint outdoor wedding with all of the comforts of home. A country home that is! I loved this place and I took a few snapshots of the little vintage details that made the place unique. While I am not quite ready to post the wedding photos, I thought I would sneak in some quick photos I took while walking around. I can’t wait to photograph another wedding at the Flower Farm Inn!

The gardens everywhere made many perfect backdrops for photos. In one garden there was a rusted little vintage tricycle that caught my eye. I am sure some kiddos had fun riding this a long time ago!

The main house was amazing and the guest cottages were so cute! Perfect for wedding guests or family to stay. These fluffy little chickens were roaming the grounds!

I can imagine a yummy post wedding day brunch in this spacious dining room in the main house!

The kitchen was packed with vintage charm!

What a fun place to have a wedding!

Wedding photos coming soon…until then, you can see more of my work on my website! Thanks!

October 13, 2015 by Jewel Photography

Friends and Family at the UC Davis Arboretum

I recently met some friends out at the UC Davis Arboretum for some multiple family photos. I love the Arboretum for all it has to offer. Every photo shoot looks completely different because of it’s enormous size and varying vegitation. The kiddos had fun running around and we got some beautiful photos at sunset. Sometimes (when you are a photographer), it is ok to mix business with pleasure!

View more of my galleries here!

September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 by Jewel Photography