jill carmel photography | the blog

My Inspiration

I found this photo on a slide and had it scanned so that I could frame it. Can you guess who the baby is?

Check out the fat wrinkles, too!! Ha ha! 

Return from the Southwest

I went out of town on a road trip for six days and had a great time driving through New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. I've always had a fondness for the desert and the mountains and this trip provided ample amounts of both (as well as lots of unexpected snow - wow).

Here are few pics from the trip to share. I went with my closest friend whom I met in elementary school, Eva, and her whippet, Neba Geroi (means "Sky Hero" in Russian).

Neba and I up in the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico.

 

My good friend, Eva, with her trusty sidekick. 

 

I managed to take a few shots with my mini-polaroid camera. Me on a bridge in Jemez. Whoo-hoo!

 

Eva looking up at the trees. It was lovely there.

   

Here's an amazing cave home that we had the fortune to visit. There are about 25 of these in existence, all in New Mexico, and sculpted out of side of a sandstone mountain. Some of them are even plumbed and have electricity! It was really cold inside - about 50 degrees.

 

This is Ra, the artist who sculpts these amazing and beautiful homes.

 

The Rio Grande. It sure was Grand. We found some toasty hot springs right on the banks, but I'll avoid putting the bikini pictures up. Needless to say, the hot water on a cold day was wonderful.

 

I discovered "Earthships" on this trip. People in New Mexico were like, "You've NEVER heard of Earthships?! What?" I found out that they are illegal to build in California (which explains my ignorance), but they are definitely not illegal in New Mexico. We found an entire compound of them near Taos. They are homes that are like living machines. You can live completely off the grid while your home collects water, and makes its own electricity, heating and cooling. Plus you can grow your food in your home. I'm such a sucker for this stuff.

 

On up to chilly Colorado (below freezing there), we made a quick trip to see the amazing cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. People actually lived on the cliffs! Amazing. I have trouble just getting off the cliff of my bed some days...

 

Although the weather was a bit colder than we expected for the first half of our trip, we were greeting by puffy white clouds in Utah. Lovely.
 

Eva and I took it upon ourselves to find some very hidden cliff dwellings near Bluff, UT. We encountered about four different hikers who were coming back defeated and weary after not being able to find Monarch Cave, but we succeeded and I have pictures to prove it!

 

Some old petroglyphs from the ancestral puebloans.

 

Hand prints from the ancient peoples. I feel like it's their signature and they're saying, "I was here!" Funny thing, though. Their hand prints were about 2/3 the size of mine...so small!

 

Some old pottery shards left behind.

 

Monument Valley. What a strange, alien-like vista. We passed through it at sunset - you should have seen all of people out with their cameras!
 

  
All in all, I had a great time, but I love working too much. I'm glad to be back and seeing so many sweet faces already. I have a few sneak peeks to post soon, so keep a look out!     

- J

 

My Birthday

Today is my birthday. It's bit of a milestone for me since I'm turning 30. On my 29th birthday, I was pretty much dreading 30, thinking that it would be the end of...well, something, but I wasn't quite sure what.

But over the last year, I've learned so much about myself and to have faith in my dreams. I have also discovered an incredibly humbling love and understanding for others that can only be explained by all of the amazing people that I have had the fortune to encounter through my work. 

I am thankful for the path that I have walked on to get to where I'm at and all of this together has made me SO excited for the next decade of my life. I look ahead to the future with bright eyes and a welcoming heart. And if you've read this far, then you're pretty awesome. (Hi, Mom! You're probably the only one who will read down to here...)

And since many of you don't know what I look like, I thought I'd post a recent photo of me. I'm a real dork in front of the camera, but this one actually turned out alright . :-)

 

Spring Flower Photography

Every now and then I get a few spare minutes to just go out photograph something other than faces. I've always had a love for spring flowers and they were calling my name this afternoon, so I thought I'd share some of them with you.

The plum...

 

The pear...

 

I don't know what this one is, but it sure is delightful.

 

Bueller even gets sucked into their beauty. he he

 

It's a great time for ladybug searches with the kids. They're everywhere in the long, spring grass.

 

...and if you've read this far, you deserve a little ladybug chuckle. ;-)

The Latest

You know you blog a lot when someone calls you to ask if you're okay because you haven't updated your blog in a few days...which prompted me to post today! Love you, Michelle!

Over the last week, I've been taking a little "me" time in between working -- going snowboarding on the weekends, taking Bueller to the dog park (he got pretty neglected over the holiday season...) and getting familiar with my new toy: the Fuji Instax Mini 7s...my latest obsession. It's a polaroid camera and it takes mini-polaroid pictures. 

I took it up to Squaw Valley for a test run last weekend and quickly discovered that shooting in manual all of the time for work makes taking pictures with an automatic camera harder than I remember! Ahh, the plight of the "big camera" people...

Anyhow, here are two quick and fun shots that I got from the day - enjoy!

Just so ya know, I'm cooking up some fun new products for 2010 - can't wait to tell you all about them in the next month or two!

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Bueller has decided to become my assistant. I had post this up. It was too cute.

I wonder if he has any accounting experience....

-- Jill

Beautiful Utah

Took a quick break last weekend to visit some friends at their beautiful ranch in Oakley, Utah. I'm a big lover of the outdoors and can sleep on dirt like the rest of them, but there's just something to be said about whacking around outside all day and then coming back to a warm bed with double down mattresses...

Here's the view from my bedroom:

 

Drew (my sweet boyfriend) riding the ATVs with friends. Check out that view behind them.

I had to get myself in at least one picture... I can't believe it but Lauren and I have been friends since the 8th grade!

Can you believe this is one house? Before I had seen it for the first time, Lauren said that the best way to describe its size (12,000 sq ft of livable space) was that some people drove up the driveway last year inquiring about purchasing a condo.  Ooops.

 We can't forget Bella, the ever-present Puggle.

I'm refreshed and very excited about the upcoming months.  The schedule is filling up fast, so if you've been thinking about booking a session, give me a call or shoot me an email. I love how busy things are this time of the year and I can't wait to photograph you and your beautiful family.

Hugs,

Jill

Keane the Bean | Sacramento Child Photographer

During my visit to LA this last weekend, I had to fit in a little shoot with my godson, Keane.  I thought I'd share of a few of this handsome guy with you.

Love his big, beautiful eyes.

Playing in the fountain is fun!

Hiding out in the tunnel (a.k.a. - ready for a nap)

 

Dorkin' Out in the Wilderness

Since I was a little girl, my mom made sure I was hiking, camping, water-rafting, rock climbing, horseback riding...you name it, we were doing it, and I've never fallen out of love with the outdoors. Even through college, I majored in natural sciences (alongside photography, of course) and I still get giddy just thinking about aspen groves, alpine meadows and rock formations.

This fourth of July weekend I told myself that I had to go for hike -- no fail. So my obliging boyfriend and I ventured forth into the wilderness to get my hiking fix after almost a year of no hiking (bad Jill).

Just past Kirkwood, there is a BEAUTIFUL trail that leads to Meiss Lake.  I chose this spot because the wildflowers are going nuts this time of year.

Hey!! This is like the third picture of me in the last three years!! Yay! I think that's Silver Lake down there (VERY popular fishing spot).

Beautiful vistas, complete with blue sky and floaty white clouds.

A few lovely wildflowers --

I get a kick out of stuff like this.  A heart made out of grass.

And lunch at my favorite spot.  Turkey wrap...mmmm.

Bye for now!

Promised a Video

Here's a recent video of "Bueller the Puppy".  Enjoy!

(If you're subscribed to my email updates and can't see the video, click on the title of the post and it will send you to my blog where you can view it.)