Julia's Photo Blog

Diana and Travis got married last June… they loved the dress, the tux, the flowers, the personal touches they planned, and of course, most especially, each other! Unfortunately, after hiring a photographer (not myself, and the company will remain nameless) that they hoped would capture their beautiful day, they were very disappointed with their pictures.  This is a sad story that I’ve heard from other couples… after the guests go home, the cake is eaten, the flowers wilt, and the dress is taken to the cleaners for preservation… the pictures are the lasting momento of your wedding day that you will cherish forever. So when Diana realized that she would always regret not having the beautiful pictures she’d hoped for… she decided to do something about it! She called me a few months ago and set up an “I Do” Redo session… Travis rented the same tuxedo and vest that he wore on their wedding day. Diana wore her dress (and what bride wouldn’t love the idea of getting to wear her dress again?), had her hair and makeup done, and got her original florist to recreate her wedding bouquet.  The session at Faust Park was fun and relaxed- it was a treat to work with a bride and groom with no wedding day time constraints, and she wasn’t afraid to sit on the ground or walk through tall grasses in her dress.  These two lovebirds are clearly still in the honeymoon phase of newlywed bliss, and I was honored to be chosen as the photographer they trusted to create beautiful images of this special time in their lives. Here are just a few of my favorites from the session…

On Tuesday I got a special treat: a get together with some old friends from college that I hadn’t seen in many years as well as a photo session with their beautiful family. Mitali and Derek live in Montreal, but they were in St. Louis because Derek’s brother Justin (another old college friend) was graduating from his PhD program at Washington University. We all had a nice visit over lunch (Thai food on the Delmar Loop… yum!), and I got to meet Mitali and Derek’s two precious little girls: Sonya and baby Leena, who are both super precious.  After a little afternoon nap, we met up again in Forest Park for a portrait session.  Uncle Justin was a great help goofing off and getting Sonya to smile, and we got some great images of the girls and the whole family together. At the end of the session I suggested to Mitali and Derek that I would like to get a few pictures of just the two of them.  They obviously adore their girls, but once we handed the babies off to Justin, Mitali and Derek started holding hands and laughing and actually skipping around like school kids. I remember them being a ridiculously cute attached-at-the-hip kind of couple in college, and I said, “After being together so long and having two babies… it looks like you two still kind of like each other.” They smiled at each other and Mitali said, “We like each other even more now.”  :) 

A week ago I had a wonderful time doing engagement pictures for a truly adorable couple: Julie & Kevin. These two let me take them out to one of my favorite hiking and nature spots, The Shaw Nature Reserve, in Gray Summit.  Pretty much from the second we stepped out of our cars and I lifted my camera to my eye, Julie & Kevin were ridiculously cute.  They are obviously gaga over each other, so I barely had to give them any direction because they were so naturally lovey, dovey, huggy, kissy, cuddly cute… after shooting for ten minutes I felt like I could almost say, “Okay, we got it.  I’m happy, we have lots of great shots.”  But of course at that point I was thinking… “Awww, they are so adorable! This is going to be fun!”  Add to this scenario two of my favorite things: tall prairie grasses and beautiful late afternoon light, and I was one happy photographer! If the sun hadn’t eventually set, I think I could have kept photographing them right up until their September wedding date (but I’m pretty sure they would have eventually gotten tired, and my other clients might have gotten upset with me).  So instead I just get to spend a few months looking forward to their wedding day when I get to photograph them again! Here are some of my favorites from our session. :)

Breanna’s mom called me a few weeks ago and asked, “Is it too late for senior pictures for a 2011 senior?”  I said “No, but we better do it soon if she wants them before graduation!” So we set up a session for this past Monday in a cool urban area in downtown St. Louis.  I had the best time working with this stunning young lady, who might as well have been a model with her gorgeous blue eyes, beautiful hair, long legs and high heels, and the way she rocked out her poses.  Breanna and her mom (who came along for the shoot and was a helpful stylist and assistant!), were also awesomely adventurous and even climbed over some piles of brick rubble and braved some areas of tall weeds and grasses, all in the name of getting the shots I could see in my head (thanks for trusting me to get results worth the effort, ladies!).  I couldn’t count the images that I loved from this session, but here are a few of my very favorites.  

Last Saturday I had a double dose of lovebird fun with back to back engagement sessions.  The first session was with Liz & Bill- a great couple who I almost didn’t get to do engagement pictures with since they live out of town. Luckily we squeezed it in during a final wedding planning trip home… these two are getting married on May 29! We lucked out with some gorgeous weather for their session, found some beautiful spots, and I had a great time working with them! In addition to enjoying just hanging out and getting to know them better, it was awesome hearing about all the homemade and personal details they are including in their wedding day plans.  I can’t wait for their big day!  Here are just a few favorites from our session. 

Today is Mother’s Day.  First and foremost on Mother’s Day, I think about my own mother (of course). She is a really amazing woman who loves all three of her children tirelessly, even when we don’t always show enough appreciation, who worries about us endlessly, even when we tell her to stop worrying, and who has given each of us so much, selflessly, that I don’t think any of us will ever be able to thank her enough (I know that I won’t be able to!).  Also on Mother’s Day, I think about my grandmothers, who helped shape my mom and dad into wonderful parents and who then did an excellent job of loving and spoiling their grandchildren when the time came.  I start to think of all my friends who have started the journey of motherhood and admire their bravery in taking the plunge. And I think of all of the mothers I am fortunate enough to meet through my work, who are willing to share their precious families with me-who trust me with the responsibility of capturing fleeting moments and creating memories for them that they will be able to hold onto and cherish for many years to come.  I’m in awe of all of these women, and I don’t think one day a year is nearly enough to celebrate them! But since today is the dedicated day to celebrate mothers, I wanted to share just a few of the many wonderful mommy moments I have seen in the last year. These images are my little blog post celebration of all the moms, step-moms, and grandmothers out there, and the deep and unique love of a mother. Happy Mother’s Day!

Celebrating a mom and grandma!…

And to wrap it up: a picture of my own beautiful mother and my cute dad. :)  This reminds me, Mom, I want to get some pictures of just you and me. We’ll do it soon. Meanwhile, thanks for being you. :)

One of my absolute favorite parts of my job is that I get to see families and little ones grow over time.  I did my first portrait session for the Trampe family when Maddie was just 4 months old, then we did another session around Christmas time, and now- she has turned ONE and is toddling around! She’s just as beautiful as ever (dare I say getting prettier all the time?), and looked absolutely precious in her classic cherry dress and sailor suit.  It was so cool seeing how big she has gotten, and it is always a pleasure to photograph a family with parents who obviously dote so much on their baby girl.  Enjoy the sneak peek!

I am lucky enough in my everyday work to have the chance to be around people who are celebrating love and happy occasions- young love, wedding days, new babies, growing families… I am in the business of nostalgia and memories.  I LOVE that all of those things are part of what I do.  So this family portrait session was a real treat for me, because it was with old friends that I had not seen in probably 10 years, and the location was at a place that embodies nostalgia for me… my old home away from home for three summers of my life- YMCA Camp Lakewood.  When Jen and Grant contacted me to tell me they would like me to do family portraits for them, I was really excited! When they told me they were driving SIX HOURS EACH WAY with a TODDLER for me to do those pictures, I was flabbergasted and honored.  Like almost everyone I know that spent summers working at summer camp, these two are awesome, genuine, energetic people who are so much fun to be around. It was great working with them and their SUPER CUTE one-year-old daughter Veronica (who they call V for short), who had big smiles and big personality for nearly the whole session (although I did get that one, and only one, shot at the end of the session where she was quiet and still long enough for me to just focus in close on those beautiful blue eyes!).  Jen and Grant brought their old camp staff shirts to the shoot, which I LOVED, and we found some scenic spots around camp, and then some spots we hit just for memories’ sake.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our afternoon at camp!

This next one is pretty much purely for nostalgia’s sake… :)

Rain, rain, rain…. who else is sick of the rain?! But some good can come from the rain too…

Meet Erik and Ashley (high school sweethearts, clearly madly in love, Adorable with a capital A). The day of Erik & Ashley’s engagement session, Ashley and I looked up at the cloudy sky from each of our houses, checked the forecast, and chatted over the phone about whether we should reschedule. But we decided- why not give it a shot?…and we headed to Forest Park.  Just as we met up, it started raining!!! Ack! But we took shelter in our cars and after just about 5 minutes, the rain stopped, and we looked outside to see a rainbow! I’d say that was a good sign that God was smiling on their engagement session!  The rainbow lasted long enough for us to get a few quick pictures, and we had some fun with the puddles the rain left behind. Then we hopped around to a few beautiful spots in the park, and ended the session with a little picnic and some bubbly by the water, just in time to watch the sunset.  I had the most fun working with these two- they were fun, naturally playful, and super cute and cuddly without me having to give them much direction (I can’t wait to photograph their wedding in September)!  We got so many great images, it was SO hard to limit it down. But here are just a few of my favorites. 

Girl knows what she wants! :)