Sacramento – Jewel Photography

Fall Kids Portraits | Sacramento

I’m here to tell you there is such a thing as a stress free photo shoot. It might be full of silly faces and funny noises….and you might need a nap afterwards…but please make a vow to let your next kid’s photo shoot be worry and stress free! I have a few tips that make things easier with little ones.

Yes to bribes and no to threats. Don’t fill the kids head with pending punishment if they don’t behave perfectly…make it sound like something extremely fun and follow up with a little bribe if needed.
Let them pick out their clothes. YES! Don’t worry, it will be from a few outfits you have selected. Make sure you are happy with anything they choose (from the pre-picked and pre-approved outfits). This gives them some control over what is going to happen.
Keep things light and let the photographer take the lead. I usually have some warm up time to talk to the kids to get a feel for what they will allow.
Back up the silliness. I love it when parents or family members join in on the goofiness to get some genuine smiles and laughter. Play, tickle, joke around…just be silly. Your kids will have more fun and you will get happy photos and not forced smiles.
Let go of perfection. No kids are perfect or behave perfectly. Let them be kids and I promise we will get some great photos that you will love forever!

I’m a Sacramento family photographer. Click HERE to contact me about Fall 2021 mini session dates and times.

xoxox,

Julie

September 14, 2021September 20, 2021 by Jewel Photography

Sacramento Maternity / Outdoor photography

Beautiful outdoor maternity photography in the Sacramento and surrounding areas. Call or email to book.

Jewel Photography 916-213-8384

4jewelphotography@gmail.com

www.jewel-photography.com

June 10, 2021September 20, 2021 by Jewel Photography

Moroccan Styled Bridal Shower

Planning the ultimate ladies party is pretty fun when you can go over the top with a theme like Moroccan! Sometimes we go a bit more subdued for the wedding color palate, so it’s fun to live it up at the bridal shower. This private restaurant patio was a beautiful setting for a party. Many restaurants let you rent out their patio, so this is a great option!

Peruse these fun photos for ideas!

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 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

Lake Tahoe-South Shore Wedding

I love Lake Tahoe weddings! This was a south shore wedding at the Beach Retreat & Lodge taken along side my buddy Josh of Josh Gatlin Photography. I think these photos speak for themselves as to what a great lake front spot this is! It was a gorgeous day in Tahoe, and everyone had such a great time. Sneaking away with Kristin and Chase to walk out to the end of the pier was the icing on the cake and these two had no trouble creating chemistry for the photos…i’m not sure if they even noticed we were there!

We finished just in time…the wildfire smoke was coming over the mountains.

As you can see in the last photos, the smoke from wildfires started creeping in on the lake as we were finishing up the bride and groom portraits out on the peer. There were many firefighting crews from all over California coming to fight the blaze. These two sisters and their dad took time to thank the fire crews for all their hard work! It was really a cool thing to see. We all love Lake Tahoe and are thankful for those who protect it!

xoxoxox ~ Julie

January 31, 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