Sacramento – 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

Engagement photos-American River

I’m thrilled to share these engagement photos that we did on the American River near Paradise Beach. Kristina contacted me and had a vision of what she wanted. Whimsical, fun, and dramatic engagement photos. I was not about to let her down! I recommended one of my favorite American River locations in east Sacramento–Paradise Beach! They had a little over an hour drive to get here, but they were definitely game. This river spot is nice and wide open, as well as having some secluded areas with a lot of cool vegetation (also nice for changing wardrobes). So…I met Kristina and Jeremy (and their adorable Yorkie) a bit before sunset at Glenn Hall Park, packed up the wagon and headed over the levee and out to the river.

We had so much fun finding spots and creating fun photos for their engagement shoot. The sunset was perfectly warm and cast a nice glow over the area. Kristina and Jeremy were very excited about their photos and couldn’t be happier.

Congratulations Kristina & Jeremy! So glad I could share this experience with you and show you some beautiful areas in Sacramento! Best wishes to you two!!

As always, you can check out more photos on my website 🙂

xoxox~ Julie

March 17, 2017April 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

Finding treasures | Downtown Sacramento

Headshots often require the perfect backdrop and the perfect lighting. On this beautiful morning, Heather and I were walking around and I was hunting for a spot that would both convey her personality and highlight her sky blue eyes. We started on K street in Downtown Sacramento, since I hadn’t been able to appreciate the murals up close and I really thought they would make a cool backdrop.

We happened across the most wonderful mural that seemed to tell her story and suited her to a tee. Heather Wood Rudolph is a strong, talented writer is most often seen writing for Cosmopolitan, Refinery29, and DAME. Therefore, when we saw this mural by #bamrtheartist we were just in awe of it’s vivid portrayal of strength and beauty.

There have been many more murals popping up in Downtown Sacramento, so if you get a chance, make it a point to go check them out. There is also a Sacramento Mural Festival that I would love to go to. Seeing the artists in action would be amazing.

We took some headshots with neutral backgrounds, but these were by far my favorite!

Pop over to my website to see more portraits! I love exploring new places so contact me and we can come up with a plan to make your ideas happen!

xoxoxox ~Julie

February 9, 2017February 7, 2017 by Jewel Photography

Little Miss Yogi

I’m excited to share these photos of a friend of mine, not only because she is beautiful, but because she really let me in to her world and let me create these wonderful portraits. Judi is a Sacramento yoga instructor and really embraces all the powers of yoga. Yoga is not only good exercise, but also spiritual and the perfect way to meditate, heal, and reflect. I was there in front of her with two big cameras, but she just did her own thing and I was really happy to be a part of it.

One of the places you can find Judi is at Solfire Yoga, a yoga studio in downtown Sacramento.

What is your passion? Call or email me if you want to do something out of the ordinary and capture you doing what you love. There is no better time than now to capture those memories!

xoxoxo ~Julie

February 6, 2017February 6, 2017 by Jewel Photography

Historic Folsom Engagement

Kristin and Shawn met me in the little old town of Folsom, CA. I was glad to see them again and also excited to chat about their upcoming Mission Ranch wedding in Monterey! We had a relaxing jaunt around Old Folsom, which is a beautiful area right along the American River. The Folsom historic district, Folsom Powerhouse State Park , and Rainbow Bridge make great areas to hang out, sightsee or take photos! Engagement sessions are always fun, and these two make it really easy to take great photos that captured how cute they are together.

Thanks Kristin and Shawn for choosing me to take your engagement and wedding photos. I wish the two of you a lifetime of happiness!

xoxoxox ~Julie

Check out more photos HERE!

January 24, 2017January 24, 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

Where to find California wildflowers

This spring has kept me busy! From engagements, to high school senior portraits…this beautiful weather and rain have made for some colorful photos. I love finding new spots around the American River, there are so many great paths to take. Here are a few shots of wildflowers I grabbed during recent escapades. So far I have managed to avoid ticks, mosquitos, and snakes. Knock on wood! I won’t be leaving my bug spray home quite yet. I am really thankful for my clients that trust me to take them out on little mini adventures. I can’t wait to blog about more photo shoots and weddings (past, present, and future!)…stay tuned!

This is a path at the Effie Yeaw nature center. What a great place, I highly recommend visiting this state park, especially with kiddos, there is so much wildlife to see!

I wish I could identify some of these wildflowers! If only I wasn’t so busy being a photographer, I could go back to my botany roots and try to remember some of these flower names, or at least bring a California native book along with me!

Sometimes I get to bring a little helper along too. Which is kinda nice 🙂 These photos are taken along the American River near Sacramento State University, where I just happened to graduate from. It was such a fun place for the family to run around and for us to get some great senior portraits. This senior happens to be Argia’s cousin. Alyssa is off to UCSB…exciting!

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This photo was taken on the way up to Foresthill, CA. I was shooting an engagement session at the Forest House Lodge and had to stop several times because the drive was so beautiful and they had convenient little turn outs. (You can see those engagement photos here.) Anyway, at this elevation the lupine looks a bit different, so once again, I needed my CA native plant book with me! Silver tip bush lupine? Maybe…

If you have any fun spots you would like to take photos at, let me know! I love new locations (and hunting for wildflowers)!

Check out my BLOG and more of my work HERE

Or just contact me at jewelphotographysacramento@gmail.com!

xoxoxox~Julie

May 4, 2016 by Jewel Photography