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When I was a kid, I LOVED collections. I had sets of sea glass, stickers, stamps, playing cards, rocks…and even dirt (well, it was dirt from different parts of the world, which makes it a little cooler, no? haha). When I discovered Pinterest, it was perfect because I could collect all of the fun and inspiring things I found on the internet all in one place (minus the heavy box of rocks that I have to lug around every time I move, lol!).

What is Pinterest? It is a virtual “pinboard” that lets you organize and share all of the inspiring and fun things you find on the web. You can use it to plan an upcoming photo shoot, collect ideas for decorating your home, or even organize your favorite recipes.

Want to be on Pinterest? It’s easy — the first thing to do is request an invite. Pinterest is invite-only right now, so email me if you’d like to start an account at info@jillcarmel.com.

I love to use Pinterest to create inspiration boards for each different kind photography session that I might have: maternity, newborn, baby, family, and teens. You can also create your own inspiration board and share it with me so that we can be on the same page for your session.

Trying to think of what to wear for your maternity session? Check out the pregnancy inspiration board on my Pinterest page:

Wondering how to display the portraits you purchased? Come on over to my wall display ideas board:

Not sure where to start when it comes to clothing? It works best to start with one outfit and base the others on it. Here some ideas on my What to Wear – Women board:

You can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/jillcarmel

And once you get totally obsessed good at using it, you can have Pinterest on your iPhone like me…

If you’re already on Pinterest, leave me a comment letting me know how you like to use it.

Wow, I haven’t been around the blog much recently…things have been unexpectedly busy around here! January is usually a cold and rainy month, making it a little more difficult to get outside for a shoot, but the weather has been so beautiful, that I’ve been out there shooting my little you-know-what off. (It’s 60 degrees and sunny outside as I write this…on January 31st…crazy!)

The new year started off with a bang with being published in two different magazines (the second one to follow soon). The first was the January issue of Sacramento Parent Magazine. I was fortunate enough to be a participant in an article on tips for taking better pictures of your kids. You can find the online version of the article on the magazine website here.

More to come soon!

- J

I wanted to share some fun news! A few of my images were recently published in the Winter 2011 issue of Dandelion Magazine (on stands now), and how fun to find out that we made the cover!

Inside Spread:

You can read more about Jack’s amazing story by clicking HERE for the online version. And a warm “Thank you!” to the Petersen Family for including me in their journey!

– Jill

It just felt wrong announcing the “holiday” schedule in August, but now that most kids have gone back to school and it’s officially September, I’m opening my holiday schedule for full sessions and announcing the long-anticipated upcoming mini-session dates!

If you’d like to schedule a FULL SESSION, please call or email me and we’ll reserve a spot for you on the calendar. If you’re expecting a baby within the next few months, contact us with your due date so that we can pencil you in. Please keep in mind that if you’re wanting pictures in time for holiday gift-giving, your photography session will need to take place prior to NOVEMBER 15th. As of today, we only have a few weekend slots available before then, so let us know if you’d like to take one.

For MINI-SESSIONS, we’ve added a new location this year, which I’m very excited about! Here are the days that we will be holding the mini-sessions:

Friday, September 23rd | 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm – SOLD OUT
[Old Sacramento]

Sunday, October 2nd | 9:00 am – 11:00 am – SOLD OUT
[State Capitol]

Saturday, October 22nd | 9:00 am – 11:00 am – SOLD OUT
[McKinley Park]

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with our popular holiday mini-sessions, here are the details:

Session Fee: $50
Includes:
20 minute session for up to four people (each add’l person $15)
10-12 retouched images to view and select from
*Prints, holiday cards, digital files and albums may be purchased separately

Spaces are limited and are reserved on a first-come-first-served basis. Mini-sessions are great for updating pictures of the family and/or getting a few perfect shots for a beautiful custom holiday card.

If you are interested in our holiday mini-sessions, please email us at info@jillcarmel.com with your preferred date. Be prepared to pre-pay for your session slot so that we may reserve it for you.

And here’s a fun picture from a recent session – goodness, aren’t boys great!

Hope to see you soon!

Jill

Hi, All! Many of you already know, but I thought I’d just put it *officially* on the blog — I’m getting married in less than a week! Wow, it’s so wild that I’ll be a “Mrs.” by next Monday!

We will be closed from July 7th through August 3rd, while I take a bit of time off for the wedding and honeymoon. If you’ve been thinking of booking a session for August or September, it would be best to call this week, so that we can guarantee your session date, as the August – December session slots are already filling in. If you’re not able to reach me before I leave, feel free to email with your preferred date at info@jillcarmel.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

I’m going to try my best to blog while away (who knows what our internet connection is going to be like) to keep you updated on our adventures. On our first stop of the trip, we are having a small wedding ceremony in the company of our parents and siblings at a very charming eco-resort, just north of Santa Cruz called Costanoa. With its 30,000 acres of protected wilderness, it’s the perfect spot for the eco-geek in me, complete with canvas bungalows (although we’ll be staying in the lodge) and the perfect spot for our ceremony: a mountain ridge, overlooking the ocean.

(images via costanoa.com)

And I’m sooooo excited about the honeymoon – 14 days in Croatia and 5 days in England! And, since 9 out of 10 people ask me, “Why Croatia?” here’s a sneak peek of what we have in store for us while on our REI adventure trip:

First off, where is Croatia anyway? There it is, tucked away, just east of Italy and north of Greece, bordered by the beautiful Adriatic Sea.

One of the places we’re most excited about visiting is the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia:

(Image by Jack Brauer)

We’ll also be touring the city of Dubrovnik, a place famous for its walls, which are 4-6 meters thick and run uninterrupted for 1.2 miles around the city (you can see part of it on the right below).

(Image via www.48hourvisit.com)

And who doesn’t love a view like this? Dubrovnik is covered with roofs like these.

(Image by Jack Brauer)

We have quite a bit of kayaking ahead of us as well. In my teens and early 20s, I was really into scuba diving and kayaking in the Channel Islands, so it will be fun to get back to one of my favorite activities.

(images via responsibletravel.com + sustainabilityatkentstate.wordpress.com)

Soon, I’ll be able to post up some of my own pictures of Croatia and England! Once again, I’m not sure what our internet connection is going to be like, but you can follow me here on the blog or via Facebook and Twitter. I’ll be posting any chance I can get!

In the meantime, I’ve set the blog to keep posting with some sneak peeks from client sessions as well as some fun new framing tips, so stay tuned!

All my best,

- J

I was inspired to write this post after photographing a few different families who got really involved in the collaborative process for their photography sessions and it truly hit home for me what a HUGE contribution it makes towards creating stunning images that can really mean something more than the average “family photos”.

But what does it mean to collaborate and why is it so important?

col·labo·rate (kə lab′ə rāt′) – to work together, esp. in some literary, artistic, or scientific undertaking

I’m VERY passionate about my work and strive to create images that satisfy my own artistic demands — that’s very important to me. However, what’s even more important to me is that I want to produce the images that YOU’VE been dreaming of. Whether it’s taking the family sledding in the snow, swimming in the backyard pool or going flying with Dad in his plane, I really, truly want you to be thrilled with the results from your photography session. So, what are some examples of how we can collaborate or work together?

1) For locations, tell me about a place that really MEANS something to you. It could be anywhere — it might be your bed where the family comes together and reads books every night or it may be the park where you and your honey would sneak off to when you were high-school sweethearts or it could be at the beach where your best memories as a family have been. You may not have a special location BUT, if you do — let’s use it! (I’m more than happy to suggest a place, too, if needed — I have a zillion spots filed away in my little brain.)

2) For clothing, I’ve noticed that it makes a really big difference if you start thinking about this LONG before the day of your session. When it comes to clothes, well, more is more. Give yourself a few options, and see what you feel BEAUTIFUL in and reflects who YOU are. Go shopping and buy three or four outrageously priced but I’ve always wanted them outfits and return the ones you don’t use (plus it’s a great excuse to buy some new clothes…hint, hint). Also, a good tip is to select the same colors for your clothes as you find in your home — that way, when you put the pictures up on the walls, they will match your interior decor. He, he – pretty slick, if I do say so myself! And feel free to ask me for suggestions if you’re drawing a blank — I can refer to you to lots of different sites for inspiration.

3) What ideas do YOU have for your session? Yes, I realize that you come to me for my ideas (of which I have many and I will always bring something unique and fresh to your session) BUT I’ve found over time that clients who bring their OWN ideas/concepts to the table, seem to enjoy the images that much more because it reflects their family’s personality more honestly and genuinely than if I put the whole concept together myself.

I think one of the biggest barriers to this is that people are too shy to tell me their ideas, but please don’t be — I will love them! For example, is there a theme that you adore such as “flying kites at the beach” or “picking apples at the orchard” or “having a picnic in the mountains”? If you do, let’s do it! Bring tear-outs from magazines or email me screen-shots from websites where you’ve seen images that made your heart do a flip.

I’m not personally a big fan of traditional props, but it’s okay to bring a few things to your photography session that will strengthen the theme. The family shown below brought baskets, apples, blankets and even some books with them to their session — how perfect!

I love hearing your ideas and it is incredibly INSPIRATIONAL when you open that little window into your lives for me to look through.

Last of all, if you don’t have any places you’d like to use, or any ideas for clothes, or any tear-outs from magazines, it’s OKAY. Call me and we can brainstorm together — it’s one of my favorite ways to pull ideas out of thin air.

Thanks for reading and tolerating my over-use of the caps lock button and if you’ve made it this far, you get a happy-face sticker! Leave me a comment and say “hi!”. I would love to hear from you.

- J

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The Spring Mini-Sessions are here! I can’t believe it’s already been nearly a year since our last Spring Mini-Sessions! Last time, they sold out within 24 hours of announcing them, so snag one while you can! Here’s what we have planned:

SPRING MINI-SESSIONS

El Dorado Hills
Saturday, March 12th
10am – 1pm

The State Capitol
Sunday, April 17th
10am – 1pm

Your $50 mini-session includes:

• 20 minute session for up to four people (each add’l person is $15)
• viewing gallery of 10-12 images from which to place your order

To reserve your spot, please send an email to info@jillcarmel.com

Since blog posts are no fun without images, here are a few selections from last year’s Spring Minis:

We’re coming out of a very busy holiday season and I can’t believe January is almost over! I also can’t believe this beautiful weather — it feels like spring is here already!

We are now booking for February, March and April. It’s a beautiful time of year as the flowers are coming up and the sky is blue and filled with white, puffy clouds. The schedule is already filling up quickly as this is a very popular time for maternity and newborn sessions. If you’d like to get on the schedule, let us know. Also, if you are interested in taking pregnancy or newborn pictures, please contact me well before your due date so that we can find a good spot for you on the calendar.

And this is a perfect opportunity to share some darling pictures of a recent little newborn. Isn’t such a pretty little girl?

Didn’t have a chance to send out Christmas cards? This is the perfect opportunity to have some fresh, new images of the family for a Valentine’s Day card or New Year’s card.

Mini-Sessions are $50 and include the following:

• 20 minute session for up to four people (each add’l person – $15)
• viewing gallery of 10-12 images from which to place your order

This month, our mini-session day will be held on FRIDAY, JANUARY 21ST from 10am to 1pm in El Dorado Hills.

Slots are limited so give me a call (916.933.8352) or shoot me an email (jill@jillcarmel.com) if you’re interested in reserving a spot for your family.

Hope to see your beautiful faces soon!

– jill