blissfully engaged , with this ring
with this ring: jenna + ian // barr mansion wedding photography
Jenna and Ian had a destination-at-home fusion type of wedding. Destination because they’re Texas transplants living in California flying in for their wedding, but home because it’s where their roots are.
The day before the wedding we met up (for the first time in person) at sunrise around Bull Creek for some engagement/day-before-we-get-married portraits. I know not everyone can swing a portrait session the day before their wedding, but I love that these portraits show Jenna + Ian just the way they were mere hours before getting married — chill, care-free and most comfortable together. (And sure, Jenna got a weird stomach bug/food poisoning after we parted ways that almost made her miss the rehearsal, but we’ll pretend that didn’t happen).
Wedding day // at the lovely, lovely Barr Mansion in Austin, Texas.
Jenna’s Grace Loves Lace dress was so dang striking and absolutely perfect for her.
These photos from Jenna + Ian’s first look make me smile because Ian said he was nervous until he heard Jenna ask me, before he turned around to see her, “Soooooo what do I do?” “That’s my girl,” he thought as all his nerves subsided.
That’s the thing about first looks that makes me such a fan of them, so much of a build up to a wedding day can sometimes feel like a production, but the first look is a pleasant reminder, “Oh right, it’s me and it’s you. And that’s why we’re doing this.”
Sometimes I’ll get asked if I take formal family portraits since I rarely blog them and the answer is YES, OF COURSE! But I tend to blog images that are more storytelling oriented, that capture mood or emotion or personality, which is why I love these goofy photos of Ian and his mom. This is what I got when I asked if they’d like to have a mother-son moment. It’s them, it’s their relationship. And those are my favorite photos to take.
Stems of Austin did suchhhhhhhhhh an amazing job on on all the bouquets + centerpieces — all the air plants all the places!!
As I was putting together this post of Allison + Johnny’s cloudy walk through Brooklyn, right up to the water’s edge, I haven’t been able to get the chorus of the Avett Brother’s “I and love and you” out of my head.
“Brooklyn Brooklyn take me in.”
Although these two have no trouble saying I and Love and You — as you’ll be able to tell from these photos.
Not going to lie, I probably edited every single one of these photos abouuuuut seven times. I kept going back and forth between trying to make the photos appear sunnier than it was but then I would hate it because then the photos didn’t feel like that nighttime, cloudy walk through the city felt. So, as you’ll see, I’ve finally embraced the grey that cloudy sky dealt. This session shows one of my absolute favorite ways to take portraits, just exploring with a couple — a general destination in mind but with the photos less about a performance as much as focusing on genuinely enjoying our time, the company, the evening and, in this case, the city.
Goodness gracious I’m obsessed with shooting in cities. I love the natural energy, excitement and exploration that comes with being in New York City. There’s so much story there, hence why I can never get enough and am always looking for an excuse to go back.
And in case you made it to the end of the post and are scratching your head like, “Wait, didn’t I JUST see these people on your blog, Jillian?” The answer is yes and yes. The reason is that they are wonderful and I’m obsessed with them. Which brings me to the second song this post reminds me of, a Whitney Houston classic:
“AND IIIIIIIIII-EE-IIIIII, WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUU-OOOOO-OOOO-OOOO”
That song goes out to Allison, Johnny and NYC — xoxo, Jillian
blissfully engaged , with this ring
portraits in paris: kelsey + talon // sunrise along the seine
You guys, I could just about cry looking at these photos, reminiscing about this morning spent with Kelsey and Talon at sunrise along the Seine. What a gift it was to take these photos, in this truly magical city, of two such refreshing, lovely people! This shoot was invigorating. There are times when I put work out into the world and I really hope that other people like it, that they get what I’m going for, that it’s well received. (That’s the majority of the time and I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I just don’t want it to own me, ya know?) And then there are times like right now when I feel SO DANG STRONGLY about this work being everything that I want it to be, about it capturing that very morning and these very people that I’m happy with it just existing. I’m happy just to have made these photos. I’m happy just to have been there.
In July James and I had the immense joy of visiting some friends of ours who moved to Paris at the end of last year (HI, COLIN AND CINDY!! OH MY GOSH I MISS Y’ALL) and in the months leading up to the trip I saw Kelsey post on her instagram that she and her husband were going to be in Paris THE SAME TIME AS US. Funny story, we all used to live in the same city (Denton, WOO!) but never had a chance to actually meet in person so logically the time to make that happen for the first time was on the other side of the world, at sunrise.
Kelsey and Talon love big and that is for real one of my most favorite things to photograph. Other things to note — it was super chilly and James shivered his way through the shoot, my brand new shoes wouldn’t stay on my feet and kept slipping off THE. ENTIRE. TIME. and my eyes watered so much that Kelsey lent me mascara for the second half of the shoot AND taught me how to curl my eyelashes (HASHTAGfriend material). Also when we were all finished taking photos (Kelsey took some of us too and I love love love them so!) we all had coffee at Shakespeare and Co and sat at a table next to Dianne Wiest (which was especially exciting to me because I had JUST finished watching “Life in Pieces”).
Take me back, take me back, take me baaaaaack. As they say (“they” being Audrey Hepburn as a character in the movie ‘Sabrina’ so like, do I attribute that to the writer?? QUANDRY! I digress.) — Paris is always a good idea. Enjoy some of my favorites from their shoot along the Seine.
As you were reading the opening paragraph of this post you were probably rolling your eyes like, “Yeah, I’m sure that’s reeeeeeeeally hard for you to feel this strongly about photos taken in PARIS, Jillian.” (and first of all, touchè haha) but also I think that’s one of the joys of traveling to a new place to shoot and, in my humble opinion, it’s a reason to at least not rule out hiring a photographer you really connect with to travel to you to shoot.
There’s wonder that comes with fresh eyes.
And please do not hear me say that it’s impossible for people to maintain their air of wonder about the place in which they dwell (Y’ALL KNOW I LOVE DENTON), and there’s certainly something that comes with a photographer who is knowledgable of an area. But all I’m saying is, wonder is a magical thing. It’s an inspiring thing. And I will always, always be open to traveling to shoot in new places and bringing all the wonder with me when I do!
You know those days where anything that could possibly go wrong does? That was Kayla and Jeremy’s originally scheduled engagement session day. And in case you think I’m being facetious let me list it out for you — the dress she ordered and paid for rush shipping was the wrong size, her make-up appointment went south so she ended up re-doing it herself (because getting make-up just right is hard, you guys!!) and then we were literally turned away from the gate where we were planning to shoot because they decided to close early. We needed a reset button for the whole dang day.
So that’s what we did. We shook off the bad day and met back up a week later and man, oh man, if we didn’t effortlessly get some of my most favorite photos of all time. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Kayla and Jeremy showed up to the second shoot with an Easter basket full of goodies for my daughter Juniper which was so sweet I could have cried. So now every time I read Juni her Peter Rabbit book I think of Kayla and Jeremy and the best, best reset day.
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