Family Photo Archives…..

I was just cleaning up my computer and came across my personal photo folder which is like the black hole for my family photos.  I hate to say it, but I’m like the housekeeper who’s house is always a mess…..The photographer with no family photo albums.   All my client files are so eloquently organized while mine end up in the black hole.   funny.

I did happen to come across this photo that I snapped of Madyline a couple months ago, The story of this photo goes something like this:

Madyline and I have a family bed which we’ve had since she was born, this works great for us except for the fact that Madyline is a serious BED HOG!  So a while back  I was just over it and told her that the time had come for her to get her own bed.  I enticed her with photos of beautiful princess beds with happy little girls sleeping peacefully and fancy things like that. She bought the bait and off we went to shop for her beautiful princess bed.  All was going well, I was getting ready to pay for the bed when our conversation unravelled something like this:

Madyline (jumping with excitement): “Emily and Asia (her imaginary friends) are going to LOVE their new bed!  We’ll finally have room to sleep mom!”

Me (gasping & horrified):  “WHAT?!  YOU’RE the reason there’s no room in the bed! This bed is for YOU!”

Madyline (bewildered):  “Mom, why on earth would I sleep in THAT bed?  We HAVE a bed.  If you want it, YOU sleep in that little bed and I can sleep in our bed.”

I don’t know why I found that conversation SO amusing!  I was cracking up so hard that I could barely contain myself!  Maybe because I really love our family bed and wasn’t ready to see it go…..Maybe becuase every time I go to bed and it looks like the photo below, I both sigh and smile.  I love these moments…..

Stay tuned,  tomorrow I will be getting back to our Real Life Wedding Tips column. If you have any questions about wedding planning, please shoot me an email and I’ll answer your wedding planning questions on my blog!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography

Nevada City Wedding Photographers, Grass Valley Weddings, Beautiful Boudoir Photography, wedding planning tips

The Artist’s Way Day 1

Wow, what a great (and busy) day I had today. This morning was our first meeting for The Artist’s Way group at my home. I had some awesome women join me and I’m super excited about getting started on this journey. If you want to follow along, this week we will be working through week 1… so grab the book, a journal, a fast writing pen, and set aside a little time for yourself! Feel free to email me or post comments anytime as we work through this together.

One of the first things we touched on today was making time for our self & for our inner artists.  Many, many years ago a therapist asked me: “when was the last time you took a vacation?” And my answer was something like…. “I have to work, who will cover me if I go on vacation….I don’t have time for vacation, or the money for vacation, or the….” you get it. (and that was all before I even had a child)

He stopped me so kindly and said “That’s a bunch of B.S.! The truth is that you don’t think you DESERVE a vacation…. the truth is that you’re putting everything and everyone before yourself.”
And of course, he was so right. That year, I took a vacation. And every year since!

When we talk about making room for our inner artists, I think that gentleness is the key. Not expecting too much from ourselves too quickly.  When we put a myrid of great expectations like  “I’m going to start doing yoga everyday, AND meditating, AND writing, AND…..”  then we set ourselves up for failure.

the key: start with baby steps. begin with gentleness.

One thing we talked about today was starting off with very small amounts of time…. 10 minutes.  Finding just 10 minutes in a 24 hour day sounds fairly simple, but I have to be  honest and say that in the past year many, many days have passed in which I have NOT taken a mere 10 minutes to myself… maybe not even 1 minute.   So starting tomorrow, I’ll be setting my alarm a little earlier to get that time back.  I urge you to join me in finding 10 minutes sometime during your day. Time when you don’t have to tend to children, or work, or even drive. Time that YOU can have for YOU.

Blessings to you!  (and I promise to actually post some photos tomorrow) 

Melanie Jaramillo

Essence Photography

Living an artful life….

Right now I’m swimming in a sea of inspiration…. I feel it coming from all around me… it’s exciting. and scary. and amazing!

This past week I’ve been meditation on what it means to live an artful life. Not just to be an artist, but to live artfully. To have life itself be my masterpiece. What a simple yet profound concept! I’ve had so many “ah-ha” moments as I’ve been focusing my attention on this.

To me, living an artful life means being a deliberate creator of every moment in my life…. creating vs. reacting to life and the world around me…. stepping out of the hustle and bustle of everyday life and setting an intention for the type of life I want to create.  Because the truth is weather we see ourselves as an artist or not, we are all the painters of our world. We’re creating all the time, it’s just a matter of becoming aware of what we’re creating and why. There is both so much power and so much responsibility when we awaken to this concept. wow.

As I begin working through The Artist’s Way this week, I’ll be charting my course here for you to follow along. If you can’t join me at my home for the groups but want the experience, then please grab the book and follow along. It’s truly an amazing journey!

-Melanie Jaramillo

 

Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide.
Wedding Photographers in Nevada City, Grass Valley, Lake Tahoe. Beautiful Boudoir Photography. The Artist’s Way Grass Valley

Heather & Matt – Saratoga Wedding

Last weekend I headed out to Hakone Japanese Gardens in Saratoga for Heather & Matt’s wedding. The Japanese gardens are so beautiful, and we were lucky enough to have a beautiful wedding day with no rain. The reception was at Sent Sovi which is BY FAR the most amazing restaurant in Saratoga. If you’re ever in the area, make sure to get reservations and go! Here’s a few images from their day….

Don’t forget that I’ll be starting the Artist’s Way on Wednesday morning…  give me a ring if you want to join me!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

 

The Artist’s Way: Nevada City/ Grass Valley

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!  I have so many things to be Thankful for, I don’t even know where to start…. I love this time of year when the days get shorter, the leaves fall, and I find it so easy  stay inside and make soup or cuddle up with a book.   I’ve been doing alot of reflecting in the past couple of weeks, and now is my time to stay focused on what I’m creating in my life.  It’s such a great time.

For those of you who live locally in the Nevada City, Grass Valley, or Auburn areas I’d like to invite you to join me as I begin “The Artist’s Way”.  It’s a 12 week workbook that I’ve done in the past with profound results in my personal life…. Last year my friend Katie and I started it around this time, but she moved away and we kind of lost our group “umpf”. (I don’t think umpf is actually a word, but you know what I mean- momentum).   If you’ve ever thought about doing The Artist’s Way, or are even a bit enticed, please shoot me an email (essencephoto@att.net).    The group is starting Wednesday Dec 2 from 10-11 in my home and is FREE.  I’d love to have you join me.  You DO NOT have to be an “artist”, or see yourself as an artist.  This is all about discovering and recovering your creative self,  the creative journey is for us ALL.

Here’s a few things I’m thankful for today….

my health * my beautiful family*  amazing & honest friends * INSIGHT * rain * my crazy cat * my beautiful daughter who teaches me to be present *  mentors * flowers * abundance…. and so much more.

Blessings to you!

Melanie Jaramillo, Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide
Photographing Beautiful California Weddings

Hakone Japanese Gardens, Saratoga CA.

 

Erin & Matt’s Wedding at Wayfarers Chapel

Last weekend I had the chance to photograph Erin & Matt’s beautiful wedding at the Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verde’s Ca.   This is where my parents got married a zillion years ago, and it was so amazing to be in the chapel that I’d seen so many photos of as a child.  It was more beautiful than I had imagined!    And wow, wedding photography sure has evolved over the years.   Erin’s photos are nothing like the album I looked at as a child.  I hope you enjoy the preview!

 

-Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

 

 

Wedding Photography Nevada City, Lake Tahoe Weddings, Destination Wedding Photographers, Boudoir Photogrpahy

Erin & Matt’s Photo Booth

Ok my friends, I know you are all so anxious for the photos from this weekends photo booth at Erin & Matt’s wedding in Palos Verdes. I don’t think I’ve ever received so many phone calls saying “are the photos ready yet???!!”   All I have to say  is that the photo booth was THE MOST FUN I’ve had at a wedding reception – Ever!   And apparently from the 250 photos we snapped while people got crazy in the booth, everyone else had fun too! So…. go check out the photos with your password!  Here’s a little peek at the fun! Stay tuned because I’ll be blogging some beautiful images from their wedding at The Wayfarer’s Chapel tomorrow!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

photo booth, crazy booth, photobooth rental, wedding photography

Anne & Kevin Engagement Session

I’m so excited about photographing Anne & Kevin’s wedding this spring in Los Angeles! Anne and I used to run Cross Country together in High School and thanks to facebook,  we’re back in touch.   Last weekend while I was in Southern California I met with her and Kevin for an early morning engagement shoot near their home.   Here’s a sneak peek at the photos we shot.

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Wedding Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

Nevada City Wedding Photographers, Lake Tahoe Weddings, Destination wedding photography.

Alicia & Matt

I just returned from a week in Arizona and have so much to share. First though, I’m catching up on my wedding blogs from before my trip. A couple of weeks ago I photographed Alicia & Matt’s awesome  wedding at St. Joseph’s Cultural Center in Grass Valley. I love this place, it has so much texture and photo-goodness! Alicia was the perfect Bride for St. Josephs, she actually offered to jump up onto a dirty cement archway beam to get photographed (photographers dream come true!). Alicia is also an artist, and I love when I have the chance to photograph artists, as we always get some very creative images. We had a chance to get some beautiful non-traditional shots, and I’m so excited about the images we captured. Here’s just a few from the day, more to come this week as I sort through all the beautiful wedding pictures. I am in love with her dress which is surely the sexiest wedding dress I’ve ever seen, she wore it so beautifully!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

The Belfry Brothers….

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of meeting the Belfry Brothers at a wedding I was photographing in Nevada City. My Bride had asked me about bluegrass bands, and after calling and asking all over town I was finally lead to them. I have to say that I was a little nervous at first, because I was recommending someone I didn’t know (which I normally don’t do), but they came so highly spoken of in the community, that I sent her the referral anyway. I just have to say that I was so happy- the Belfry Brothers were hands down THE BEST wedding entertainment that I’ve seen in a long long time! Everyone at the wedding had such a great time listening to them and I heard so many rave reviews about them from guests!
Later on, we headed down to Nevada City, where they took over a street corner in front of Friar Tucks and gathered quite a crowd – it was such a great night! Here’s a few photos of them playing at the wedding and on the street corner…. I’m thinking I want to have a party JUST so that I can have them come and play!
Today I kicked off fall break by heading up to The Autumn Shin-Dig at the North Columbia Schoolhouse to see them play again, and what a great day it turned out to be. Have a great fall break this week!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

Nevada City Weddings, Wedding Photography in Nevada City , Wedding Photographers in Lake Tahoe and Nevada County, wedding tips and planning, Boudoir Photography,

Kick-Off Party Success!

Thank you SO MUCH to all the wonderful wedding vendors who came out and made the Sierra Wedding Guide Kick-Off Party a  huge success and a whole lot of fun.  We had great food from Shawn over at APEX catering, great wine from Indian Springs, and great networking!

The count down is on now…. there are only  a certain number of advertising slots available for each vendor category, and some categories are already almost sold out!  So if you want to get in the wedding guide please send an email for current rate cards and contracts.   10,000 copies will hit the streets starting January 1st, and distribution will continue throughout the year.  I also just got a sample of the great  acrylic display stands that will be displaying the Sierra Wedding Guide, I love them!  I’ll be placing an order for 200 of them, so they will be all over town come January.

I’m so excited about the evolution of the 2010 guide. We’re going to have some of the best wedding vendors in the county represented, and I can’t wait to have a beautiful publication that really reflects the caliber of professionalism that we can offer Brides here!

Thanks again to everyone who came out last night!  It’s great to see so much enthusiasm and support from the wedding industry here, I feel so blessed to work with such great wedding professionals!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

Nevada City Weddings, Lake Tahoe Weddings, Wedding Photographers in Nevada City, Wedding Photography in Nevada County, Boudoir Photography

All the pretty details….

I was in absolute heaven last weekend at Denise and Matt’s wedding at Harmony Ridge Lodge in Nevada City. Denise hired some of the best wedding vendors in the area, and everything was amazing. I mean AMAZING! The whole evening was eye candy, any direction you looked. And of course, Denise was an absolutely radiant Bride! I had so much fun working with some of my favorite vendors….

Donna at Joy of Life Events is so detail oriented, I just can’t find enough kind words to say about the caliber of event that she put together! Leah at Illuminated Invitations helped to create a beautiful theme that carried  from the invitations straight through to the menu cards. Rachel Eakins at Art In Bloom Floral Design  created her master wedding floral arrangements as usual, Tina and Pamela at I Do Lips & Locks were awesome, The Harmony Ridge was beautiful, The Belfry Brothers performed and were off the hook, The Waterboy Restaurant provided a beautiful family style meal and they made even the BUTTER beautiful!!! The whole evening was topped off with awesome dance music from Greg at Mountain Event Productions.  It was one of the most beautiful events I’ve been to all year!  I just have to share some of the awesome details of this wedding…. more to come.

-Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

Real Life Wedding Tips #11

Bring a Beautiful Hanger for your wedding dress….
I know this sounds silly, but as a wedding photographer the FIRST thing I do when I arrive on scene is to wash my hands, and take the bride’s beautiful wedding dress out to be photographed. I LOVE photographing wedding gowns, especially before they’ve been worn…. there’s just something magical about it! However, when you receive your dress from the bridal shop, it will most likely be on a plain plastic hanger and stuffed with tissue/plastic filling. Most photographers don’t travel with beautiful wood hangers. It seems every wedding I used to show up and say “snap, I wish I had a beautiful hanger for this dress”. Luckily, if you’re my client, I just placed a beautiful wood hanger in my car where it’s taking up permanent residence, so I will ALWAYS have one on hand for my brides (amongst other things that have taken residence in my car- you probably don’t want to hear about the other things though).

But for those of you who I don’t have the privilege of working with, please be sure to place a “hanger” on your list of things to bring along as you prepare for your wedding. If your wedding photographer takes as much care as I do in photographing your dress, I’m sure you won’t be sorry!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide
Beautiful Wedding and Boudoir Photography in Nevada City, Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, and Beyond!

The little ones….

Between weddings, photo shoots, and planning the Sierra Wedding Guide Kick-Off Party, I’ve been so swamped!! Of course being overworked never stopped me from adding a ton of extra work to my plate, just to test my personal limits. ha ha. Anyway, this week I’ve been knee deep in helping Fairy Mother bring the “Little Ones” to my daughters school…. Now, if you don’t know what a “little one” is, I don’t know that I can really explain them…. to adults or the casual onlooker they appear as beautiful faceless, handmade dolls about 6 inches tall (I’d estimate about 4 hours to create just one- and I’ve been helping fairy mother with 7 this week). But if you dare call a “little one” a “doll” to a waldorf child, they will quickly correct you. Little ones are NOT dolls, say the children. They come from Fairy Mother and are as real as you or I…. going on wild adventures, healing wounds, causing mischief. I love them. Absolutely LOVE them! Anyway, My daughter’s little one, Starlight recently went on a wild adventure and ended up back in “little land” with Fairy Mother. Adult Translation: she went to school one day and never came back. My daughter was devastated by the loss. I mean devastated! We searched for days, wrote letters to Fairy Mother, did spells, said prayers, my daughter cried herself to sleep for days. Luckily I’ve heard that Fairy Mother will soon be sending Starlights cousin to watch over my daughter…. I can’t wait to post a photo when she arrives. stay tuned. he he he.

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography and The Sierra Wedding Guide

Sierra Wedding Guide Kick-Off Party- Oct. 15th!!

I’m so excited to announce The Sierra Wedding Guide Kick Off Party on October 15th from 5:30-7:30 at the Indian Springs Vineyards Tasting Room in downtown Nevada City! If you’re a wedding professional in the area, then you are invited and this will surely be the best event of the season! We will have amazing wine, food, great networking with some of the most talented (& friendly) Wedding Vendors in the field, and you will get a sneak peek at the amazing SierraWeddingGuide.com website and 2010 Guide! I’m so excited about the Sierra Wedding Guide! We are really raising the bar – this will be the first exclusive wedding guide and magazine that will reflect the caliber of work we provide to brides here in Nevada County! Please come and celebrate with us as we launch into something great!

** If you’d like to attend, please RSVP to SierraWeddingGuide@att.net
** A special thanks to Julie over at Indian Springs Winery for being the host of this great event!!

-Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide!

The Sierra Wedding Guide

I’ve been working around the clock on the Sierra Wedding Guide!  This is the first high quality, high distribution, exclusive wedding guide for our area-  something much needed here!   We have such an exceptional wedding industry in Nevada County, it’s almost like Napa yet with 4 wonderful wedding seasons. You can have a winter, spring, summer, or fall wedding in the beautiful Sierras and we are lucky enough to have some of the top professionals in our industry right here in our backyard!

The Sierra Wedding Guide will be coming out in January 2010, and will be widely available countywide all year long!  I’m certain that this is the best advertising opportunity available to connect local vendors with local brides!  Stay tuned as we prepare for our kick-off party and celebrate the wonderful wedding professionals in Nevada County!   If you’re interested in advertising, please contact me ASAP as spots are limited.  Final artwork is due no later than November 16th, so we can be sure to meet our deadline! Also, if you’re a photographer and have great shots of weddings in Nevada County, please pass them my way as I’m looking for a great variety of artwork to be published in the wedding guide.

Here’s a look at one of my new business cards

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

Brittney & Tyrell Wedding at Kissler Ranch

Last weekend I had the pleasure of shooting Brittney’s beautiful wedding at Kissler Ranch in Grass Valley. I’m always shocked at how I start to cry when I see the bride walk down the isle…. It’s funny to me since I’m with the bride as she gets ready, puts on her dress, does portraits…. so it’s no surprise to see her so beautiful. But for some reason, when that moment arrives and I see her walking down the isle glowing, I cry like a baby. It makes me realize how lucky I am to be able to capture these special moments forever. Brittney and Tyrell’s wedding was so beautiful- they wrote their own wedding vows which made me cry even more, they were so honest and real which is what I think weddings should be about! I feel so blessed by my job everyday!

Here’s a few teaser images for you……

-Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography in Grass Valley

Wedding and boudoir photography. Nevada City weddings. Sierra Weddings. Sacramento wedding photographer, weddings at Kissler Ranch Grass Valley

Cleaning up.

I just love it when my weeks get off to a great start!  I had a beautiful wedding this weekend at Kissler Ranch, the first time working with my new camera after my old one took a plop on me.  It was such a great wedding.  Tonight I’ve been cleaning up my office and I just came across a note I wrote to myself a while back,  it was a note about something profound my daughter said to me a few months back…..

My friend Jessica was over for dinner and we were talking about life’s stresses.  Complaining, I’m sure, about something totally non-important in the greater scheme of things.  Then right in the middle of our conversation Madyline busts out some of her brilliant zen philosophy….

“You know, you’ve just got to forget about the days that are behind you, forget about the days ahead, and just focus on the day you’re on! Just focus on where you’re at!”  and then she paused and said “You know, I AM a miracle!!, I AM a MIRACLE!!”

My jaw dropped!  I wanted to say:  “WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?”  but I think I already know the answer to that one.   The zen mastery that people work on for years, or even lifetimes was just blurted out of my 6 year olds mouth.  priceless.  Jess and I were so amazed that I jotted down her little phrase on a piece of paper that ended up in my endless office pile….. until now. funny.

here’s a shot of my little Buddha girl at the temples in Thailand a few years ago, and one from our walk last week…..  I should have known she would be my greatest teacher. Stay tuned for some great images from last weekends beautiful Grass Valley wedding at Kissler Ranch.

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography

Beautiful Wedding and Boudoir Photography in Nevada City, Lake Tahoe, Sacramento and Beyond!.

Erin & Matt // La Jolla Engagement Session

Last weekend I flew down to San Diego to photograph Erin and Matt’s engagement session in La Jolla. I’m SO excited about their wedding in November! They are super sweet, and their wedding is at Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes which just happens to be the same place my parents got married 35+ years ago. I loved looking through my mothers wedding album as a kid, and now I can actually shoot at that exact spot. I’m sure that Erin and Matt’s photos will be much much different than those pictures I spent hours looking at as a child. I can’t wait! My good friend Chip will also be at the wedding to shoot their photo booth at the reception, and the whole day is sure to be fun. Right now I’m trying to catch up after being out for a few days last week- I’m doing everything I can to get this cold out of my body before my wedding this weekend at Kissler Ranch. I also need some entries for the Family Photo Session give away, so don’t forget to send yours in! Here’s a few shots from our shoot..

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography

California Wedding Photographer, Nevada City Weddings, Lake Tahoe Wedding Photographer, Boudoir Photography, Sacramento Weddings, San Diego wedding and boudoir photography

Family Photo Session Give Away!!!

Hmmm, I’ve been thinking alot lately about our community, about connectedness, about service….. The other day I woke up to smoke and looked outside to see the building a few blocks away was on fire- the same day many families lost everything in the Auburn fires.   In a few moments, I’m reminded of how blessed I am and how very fragile life can be.  There are so many families in our community that are struggling with one thing or another- financess, family illenss, fires, you name it-  and I know that when things are down probably the last thing you’d think of to spend your time, money, energy on is a family portrait session.   But even when things are down, life keeps on going… our children keep on growing, we keep on loving, and it’s so important to capture our families on film.

So I’ve decided to giveaway a family photo session complete with  session sitting fee, online proofing, digital editing, DVD slideshow, and custom photo album ($500 value) to a family in need in our community.   You can enter your family, or submit an entry for a family you know in the community who would benefit from this. There are no restrictions except that the photo session will take place in Nevada County.

How to Enter: Just send an e-mail to essencephoto@att.net titled “family portrait give away”.  Please write a brief description of why your family, or the family you are entering should be the recipients of the photo shoot.   I will be accepting entries  until October 5, 2009 and the winner will be announced October 9.

Blessings!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography