It is my pleasure to introduce you to Kimberly and Christopher.
She was sitting at the front of the bus on the way to her choir concert before she worked up the nerve to go back and talk to him.
He was a senior and she was a sophomore. And a friend had told her that Christopher had a crush on her.
He was an older guy, and, what can Kimberly say? He dressed well too. How could she possibly resist?
Thankfully she didn’t resist it. She walked down the bus aisle to where Christopher was sitting and introduced herself. And now, several years later, that trip is leading her back down an aisle to where Christopher is — but this time it’s down the wedding aisle.
When we first met up and Christopher stepped out of the car I said something about him looked really spiffy for his engagement pictures. He looked down at his clothes a little confused and said, “I dress this way all the time . . .”
I love that big Kimberly laugh in the background. I love a laugh that won’t even let you stand up straight it’s so uncontainable.
Kimberly and Christopher’s wedding next March will include vintage bicycles and lots and LOTS of home-made pinwheels.
Christopher is involved in SGA at the University of North Texas, which is why he knew that UNT is powerd partially by a wind turbine farm in Munster. And really, wind turnbines are just like really, really massive pinwheels, right?
That little nose crinkle that Kimberly does gets me EVERY. TIME. Probably does a little number on Christopher’s heart too, I”m just saying.
Looooooooooooooove this photo. It breathes hug and holding and closeness.
For the last leg of the session we brought out the box of pinwheels that Kimberly had made herself to create ourselves a pinwheel field.
It just seems to me that there probably isn’t anything quite like sitting in your own personal pinwheel field in the arms of the one you love.
Kimberly’s ring is from 1933 and the stlye fits her perfectly — she and Christopher both leave the “old soul” impression.
I treasure the time I got to spend with you, Christopher and Kimberly. Time spent learning about your lives and documenting your love, your sweetness, and your engaged-ness.
I’m so excited for your FABULOUS Off the Grid wedding in March!
LOVED meeting such a delightful couple this afternoon.
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(This shot was inspired by a shoot done by Clayton Austin, an international wedding photographer whose work I can’t get enough of.)
Meet Ryan.
Ryan, his mother Tana and I met up a couple weeks ago to snag some senior pictures of this Southlake Carroll senior.
Now, there are several reasons I was particularly excited about this shoot: 1) Tana was referred to me by a very dear couple to my photography (and regular)Â heart, Jillian and Jonas and 2) this was my first shoot using my new camera!! Double win.
Now Ryan certainly had me fooled — I thought Ryan was a natural in front of the camera but Tana kept telling him to relax and give me a real smile. Mother knows best.
Ryan is the pitcher for the Southlake Caroll high school baseball team, so we obviously needed to work that into the shoot with a few shots of his letter jacket and trusty baseball hat.
Now, I’m going to be honest with you, Ryan did NOT want to take pictures wearing his hat. But his mother wanted him to. So he did — AND he smiled while doing it.
‘Atta boy, Ryan. Any respectable man ought to care what his momma wants.
We finished up the shoot with one last shirt switch and some wonnnnnnnnderful light shining through some slats.
Ryan and Tana, I had such an enjoyable afternoon with y’all! Happy graduation, Ryan! I wish you the very best.
I approached the counter slowly. I felt the butterflies in my stomach.
“What can I do for you?” the man behind the counter asked curtly. He always speaks so straight-forward — he’s a no-nonsense fellow. I always appreciate this about him because you know he’s never trying to be a charming salesman. He gets you what you need and that is that.
I tried to look as nonchalant as possible as I said, “I’m interested in purchasing the 5D Mark II.” But there was no masking the giddyness in my eyes as he set the display camera in front of me. James’ joke for months had been asking me when I was going to finally get the “Mark2-D2” — I’m a sucker for a good Star Wars joke.
I fiddled around with it, snapped some pictures of James and inspected its features as if I still needed to come to a conclusion as to whether or not to buy it, but I knew before I walked into the store. There would be no walking out of that store without this camera.
The man came back to me. “I’ll take it,” I say, again trying to sound casual, but it didn’t work. My face cracked into a massive, uncontrollable and uncontainable smile. As he wrote up my ticket the owner of the store walked by and caught my eye. He had seen me in there for months and months as I would come in and rent camera equipment from his store for shoots and weddings. Today he had a proud sparkle in his eyes, the kind of sparkle that told me he knew how big a purchase this was for me.
He smiled a genuine smile at me and with his big voice said, “So you’re finally trading in your Rebel?”
I nodded emphatically and the smile stretched even farther across my face. This. was. big.
The man behind the counter bagged up my new camera and my new lens and handed it across the counter. And for the first time that I had ever witnessed, he smiled. It was a short smile, and close-lipped, but it was a smile. He too could sense how momentous an occasion this was for me.
As James and I left the store, I hugged the bag to my chest and surprised myself when my eyes started to tear up.
This was not just a purchase of some new camera equipment — for me, this new camera solidified my transition into the realm of professional photography. I had done the shoots, the research, the weddings enough to be called a professional, and now I finally had the big leagues equipment. As cheesy as it sounds, this marked a dream taking one step closer to reality.
James and I sang and laughed like children on the way home. He wanted this for me as much as I had wanted it.
Once we got home, it was down to work . . . as in, how in the world do I work this camera??
As I felt-out the changes in 5D Mark II, James played with my previous camera beeecause he’s now in training to become my full-time second-shooter!
It wasn’t the most smooth learning session — I could not for the LIFE of me figure out how to change the f-stop so I gave up and made James find it in the manual for me. He’s so sweet — he’s seriously always learning something for me. He’s a big fan of google — googles more than anyone I know.
And, when he couldn’t find it in the manual, I asked him to call his friend Ben (a fellow 5D Mark II-er and videographer) to ask HIM how to change the f-stop.
Don’t worry. We finally figured it out and I am now fully proficient in 5D Mark II f-stop changing!
I know this is a long post, but I wanted to share the WONDERFUL news! In addition to the new camera body, I’m also working on a neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew website! Please note the change — the blog url is now www.jillianzamorablog.com and the new website (once its launched in the next few days) will take the place of www.jillianzamora.com
To close, here are a few shots James snagged of me at my first engagement shoot (with the lovely Kimberly and Christopher — blogpost coming soon!) using the new camera.
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