Jillian Zamora Photography

Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew website

2010-11-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

Dearest blogspot,

You have served me well. I appreciate everything. But it's time to move on -- to jillianzamora.com

All future work will be posted to jillianzamora.com

L-o-v-e,
Jillian

Update

2010-11-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

Alright lovely blog friends --
I feel like I owe it to you to post an update. The new website is not FULLY functioning yet, so I am having to wait for the big reveal. It's actually probably only a "big reveal" for me, but I'll pretend that everyone else is waiting on the edges of their seats as well.
I'm still taking pictures and I'm super eager to make a few new posts from sessions I've done but I'm trying to hold out to post them to the new site. The thing is, that's just the problem. The photos on the new site are still uploading skewed and, well, I know nothing about making a website function correctly. The good news is that I have a few technologically-savvy friends who have offered to help out, so we'll see how that goes.

In other news, I can't fully extend my right arm. No worries -- I might have just slept on it funny.

Thank you for your patience! New pictures are coming soon, but until then, here are some teasers to hold you over:

Happy Tuesday!

Wedding, Nick and Carrie

2010-10-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

Two things in this post: 1) This will be the last post on this photoblog because I am about to unveil an ooooooooooooooooooooficial photography website next week that I have been tinkering with for-ev-er. Huzzah! It's about time, right?

2) Cousin Carrie's wedding!

Last month I went to a wedding as a guest. I can't even REMEMBER the last time I was just a guest at a wedding! That being said, there was no. way. in. the. world. I was going to that wedding without my camera. Not happening. So here are some shots I got throughout the course of the evening -- from a family perspective.

Carrie got married to Nick in the backyard of her parent's house where she grew up and the entire wedding was entirely heartfelt, genuine and sincere. They have such a sweet story, and I just could not be more thrilled for them.

We'll start with a lovely picture of my mother before the ceremony began.

Carrie and Nick used a typewriter for their guestbook -- how fun!

The theme for the wedding was trees -- trees on the invitations, the guestbook, programs, and on the ground. Everything about the wedding fit together as perfectly as a dream.

They got married under a tree that Carrie used to climb as a child

My Mommer and Aunt Fran fauning over pictures :)

Husband! He's so handsome!!

Quite often the things James says solicit faces like this . . . and it's ok!

It was entirely heart-warming to see the way that Nick and Carrie looked at each other. Complete adoration.

Mother-daughter moment

Meet my family. They're just really concerned for whatever was in my Aunt Joan's teeth.

My mom and two of her cousins -- typical stances.

A good flower girl just ought to twirl all the time, but that's just my opinion.

Sneak Peek, airplane engagement shoot

2010-10-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

AIRPLANES! AIRPLANES! ohmygoodnessAIRPLANES!!

Here's a sneak peek of Tiffany and Trevor's airplane engagement shoot from yesterday. A full blog post to follow.

Engagement, Amy and Caleb

2010-10-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

Meet Amy and Caleb.

Remember in the sneak peek I did of this shoot I said that I had no favorite picture because I liked them all? Well can you BLAME me? These two people are so fun to look at!! (And photograph, for that matter.) Each of their interactions with each other are so precious to watch and I am ecSTATIC that I got to have a front row seat to their lovelyness.

Oh yes, and did I mention that Amy used to model. Oh yeah. She used to model.

Fierce.

l-o-v-e.

Most. favorite. picture. of Amy. ever. (Granted, I have not seen every picture ever taken of Amy, so take that into consideration.)

Thank you, Caleb and Amy, for being so wonderful together.

Sneak Peek, Amy and Caleb

2010-10-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here's the deal, guys. I don't have a favorite from the engagement shoot with Amy and Caleb. I accidentally like them all.

I hope that's ok.

But here's a glimpse of a full blog post I hope to have up by beginning of next week.

Happy Friday!

A Weatherford wedding, Dara and Job

2010-09-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Dara and Job had everything they needed for a fine August wedding that celebrated their love for each other and the rest of their lives that they now have together for that love to do nothing but increase.

A beautiful view.

A great dress.

Handsome groomsmen.

And lovely bridesmaids.

In these photos I had instructed the bridesmaids to take one picture in a particular pose or facial expression that "explains why Dara chose you to be in her wedding." These were some of the shots I got.

This is Keller, Dara and Job's son. He. is. adorable. However, that cocked knee is not just a cute pose, I had to chase this guy down to get a picture of him. Consider this an action shot.

Job, the groom

Dara, the ever-so-lovely bride.

This is Dara attempting to entice her nephew to go give her a kiss. He totally caved.

Before the ceremony Dara and Job had placed love notes to each other, a bottle of wine and two glasses in an old wooden tool box. As a part of the ceremony they nailed the box closed in hopes that they would open it on their 25th wedding anniversary and read the notes they had written to each other in the days before their wedding and be reminded of and celebrate their love for each other.

The married walk.

The nephew-ringbearer entertained me while everyone was eating dinner -- he's quite the camera hog and I loved it! Check him out rocking those silly bands with his suit!

The maid-of-honor speech, in which Dara instructed Paige, "Don't cry! Have some cake."

sisters of the bride, Porcia and Aja, working the dance floor

And a perfect married dance.

Congratulations Dara, Job and Keller!

A Garland wedding -- Jonas and Jillian

2010-09-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

Jillian and Jonas' story is a story of patience. The two of them dated for six years, while Jonas served in the Marines overseas for a period of that time.

All of it cumulating up to this day, August 14, 2010.

A sweet, sweet day it was.

I don't think anyone could possibly love these shoes as much as Jillian does, but I might have fallen pretty hard for them too . . . so I used them for a ring shot as well.

These are the verses Jonas and Jillian will read in their wedding ceremony.

Details, details.

This photo was taken right after Jillian (left) slipped into her wedding dress -- I adore Britny's reaction to seeing her dear friend become a bride.

Monogramed tissues = prepared bride

This couple did a first look, which gave us plenty of time before the ceremony to capture wedding portraits of just the two of them, pictures we wouldn't have time to snag after the ceremony. I love it when the couples I shoot choose to do a first look, because it gives me an opportunity to intimately capture their first moments together on their wedding day and helps the rest of the day to run smoothly and naturally.

So their wedding is in mid-August, right? It's dang hot. Jillian opted to take all the pictures inside, and who could blame her? Luckily, sun floods into the church foyer and gave us beautiful light to work with.

Jillian attatched her grandmother's brooch on her bouquet for her "something old."

Rawr.

Remember how it's incredibly hot outside? Well we had to get creative with our indoor shooting -- so how about a little baptistry stairwell action?

Jillian made all of the boutonnieres herself!

The bridesmaids gathered to pray around the bride in the last few minutes before the processional began.

No time for tears, Jillian! You're getting m-a-r-r-i-e-d!

Jillian and Jonas did something in their wedding that I had never seen before -- the pastor opened up an opportunity during the ceremony for any of the guests who wanted to, to gather around the couple and pray over them as they began their lives together. Jillian had confided in me before the wedding that she was worried it might be awkward for people to get up from their seats and come up on stage.

That wasn't a problem -- their guests immediately rose up and enveloped them. SO many prayers!

And this moment, this moment right before the prayer time ended, Jillian glanced up at her almost husband. And smiled. And it was beautiful.

I'll end this post where their lives as man and wife first began.

Open Mic Night

2010-08-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

For the past two days I've been watching my favorite photographer, Jasmine Star, prep for a wedding through creativelive.com live video stream. Her big advice to photographers is to figure out what it is about you personally that sells you -- what is it about your personal photography style that works to your advantage.
I've been putting a great deal of thought into this and I've decided that one of my biggest advantages is my desire to tell a story -- the journalist inside of me. I'm not satisfied with snagging individual moments but I want to also get the moment leading up and the reactions after -- I want the scene to be recreated in picture form before you when you look at the pictures. So, the goal is now to keep finding the people who are looking for a photojournalist to capture their story.
For now I'll continue to tell the stories around me! Wednesday night was Open Mic at the UNT Baptist Student Ministry, a student organization I've been an active part of since my first semester of my freshman year of college. This week is First Flight Week for thousands of new freshman at UNT -- and it was just this week that it dawned on me that it's not called First FLIGHT week at every college . . . it's because we're the Eagles (duh). Thanks for helping me figure that out, cousin Joshua.
Anyway, I am constantly blown away by the amount of sheer, raw talent that walks these Denton streets, and was again reminded of that on Wednesday by the mix of rapping, crooning, strumming, and stand-up that made up Open Mic Night.

Dustin Aguilar (he's actually the the new campus missionary for international students at UNT -- excitement!)

Leighton Pustejovsky

Tyler Collins

I wanted to end the post with my dear friend Brittney Bell. This is how she tells a story, and not just when she has a microphone and a captive audience. No, she uses all these expressions on a regular basis, and I love her for it.

Jonas + Jill - Wedding (SNEAK PREVIEW)

2010-08-21T00:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick glimpse of Jill and Jonas' first look before the ceremony.

A first look is when a bride and groom opt to see each other before the ceremony in any number of creative ways. This provides a way for the couple to share a private first wedding day moment together -- and provides this photographer an opportunity to snag pictures like these:

Pure, intimate wedding day reactions between just the two of them and a camera to capture it all.

A first look afforded us plenty of time before the ceremony to capture wedding portraits of just the two of them, pictures we wouldn't have time to snag after the ceremony. I love it when the couples I shoot choose to do a first look, because it gives me an opportunity to intimately capture their first moments together on their wedding day and helps the rest of the day to run smoothly and naturally.

If you're interested in hearing more about first looks or if you would like me to share my experiences (as a former bride myself in addition to my photographer experiences) with first looks, please e-mail me (jilliandaniels@my.unt.edu) and I would love to share them with you!

The pursuit of photography

2010-08-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

I know the goal was to dial down on the computer time yesterday, but last night I couldn't stop -- I was in a photographic whirlwind! I found a jackpot of four professional California photographers' blogs that I got lost in, which led to me taking notes, jotting down ideas and observations from my own photography, and then started having all these questions I wanted to ask these photographers who've been in the business way longer than me.
James tried to keep up with me, but finally succumbed to sleep during an episode of 'Hey Arnold' (his new favorite show to watch on Netfix recently) around 1 a.m. He tried so diligently though.

Before I knew it, it was 4 a.m. James woke up from on the couch and came where I was at the dining room table. "I know you were taking pictures of me," he said groggily. Can't slip anything past this vigilent fellow. It was time to stop the photography research for the night (morning?) and go to bed.

But I went to bed completely and entirely excited about photography, where I want to be as a photographer and the journey of getting there.

Seven hours

2010-08-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I worked with pictures on my computer for seven straight hours.
I made myself sick.
Not actually sick, but I did have a headache and my stomach felt like I had eaten airplane food.
So today I've it down several notches on the time I spend editing/researching wedding photos -- I just get over-eagar, okay?

I also spent a lot of time thinking about who I am as a photographer. I spend so much time looking at dozens of professional photography blogs and websites that I worry about loosing my own signature photography style in the attempt to make my work emulate other photographers'. I don't really know what to do with these thoughts, just know I'm thinking them. Reflecting on the subject.

In other news, yesterday James and I bought 20 bananas at Kroger. And this morning I woke up with the Strawberry Shortcake theme song stuck in my head (I babysat a 4-yr-old and a 2-yr-old several days last week).

Have a happy Monday!

Jill, Bridals

2010-08-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

It has been such an pleasure to work with Jill throughout the past few weeks -- engagements, an almost bridal session, and then this bridal session I'm posting -- all leading up to her wedding yesterday! She is a beautiful bride and a beautiful person. I'm excited to finally be able to post just a few of her bridals: Ladies and gentlemen, meet Mrs. Palomino.

We started the session in a library. We were very quiet.

Kelly and Rachel came along to help, which turned out to be especially helpful when the bride needed to climb up onto a desk and then prop herself up in a very narrow window "sill."

And I quote: "I love my shoes almost more than I love my dress."

Braving the forest . . .

In the words of Tyra Banks: fierce.

Alas, the mosquitos were biting so we had to rush that bride out of there. Big, red, mosquito bites are terribly unbecoming.

Wedding pictures to come!!

While we're on the subject of babies . . .

2010-08-13T23:29:00.001-07:00

Here is one of my in-law's baby chickens that just hatched while we were visiting them this week. This one is held here by my sweet nephew Ethan, who did a very good job watching over the chicks while he was in Graham.

Myla, baby portraits

2010-08-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

Meet Myla.

Myla is 11 days old. She is my new niece.

She is daughter to Maribel, my sister-in-law.

She sleeps on a soft, white blanket.

She's got a great outlook on life.

She looks very sweet in pink bows BUT . . .

. . . do not, I repeat, do not take homegirl's pacifier away from her.

She has tiny baby ears.

And she wears tiny, croqueted baby shoes . . .

. . . on her tiny baby feet.

World, meet Myla.
Myla, meet the World.

Soteapan

2010-08-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

I went to Soteapan, Mexico a couple weeks ago to work with a missionary couple who have been friends of my family for many years. Jonnie and Juanita work with the Popoluca people in that area -- making relationships, communicating the gospel of Jesus and discipling. I was so blessed to be able to work along side them, meet their friends and make new ones.
Two days of the trip we hiked down and then back up the mountain into the town of Nuevo Mexico, a village of 12 small homes. The town official insisted we stay at his home with his family and that evening we showed the Jesus film on the side of his wooden house. The hike into the valley was three long, grueling hours of . . . hike, but it was well worth it -- the two pictures of people walking through jungle are from that hike, and the laundry line is from down in Nuevo Mexico.
Blanca Flor is the name of the little girl towards the bottom. She would laugh and laugh and laugh. I got to spend a lot of time with her and her cousins (last picture).
Enjoy a glimpse of the trip!

Jillian Zamora . . .

2010-08-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

. . . just REALLY would like to post the bridals she just finished editing for Jillian Houghton, but knows she has to wait until after the wedding in two weeks. FINE!

Jill and Jonas

2010-07-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

Meet Jill and Jonas.

I knew a real, live model once. Kelsey's dorm room-mate second semester freshman year was a professional model.

Now I can add another model to the list that I know: Jill Houghton.

And now here come the dip kiss pictures. I couldn't narrow them down any more than this --

The heart was Jonas' idea!

I just loved Jonas' facial expression in this one too much to leave it out:

One of my (many) favorites:

I wasn't lying when I said she was a model, guys. Check out that hip pop.

Wedding color!!

We all needed a break so we went into J&J's and Jonas generously bought us all drinks to cool down -- it's a lot of work looking that good for so long.

Soon we were back to work. Jill brought some sidewalk chalk and we, ahem, decorated the square with their names and wedding date.

No phone calls allowed during engagement pictures!! Just kidding . . . but really . . . just kidding.

Thank you guys for letting me take your engagement pictures. It is an absolute honor. I'm so excited to shoot Jill's bridals in a couple weeks and then the wedding in August! So much to look forward to!

Textures

2010-07-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

I've been looking into learning some new photography editing tricks recently -- THERE'S SO MUCH TO LEARN. Yesterday my sweet photographer friend Neely (www.neelyjacobson.com) helped me figure out how to add texture into some of my photos.

Here are a few that I played around with:

Erica and Josh engagements

2010-07-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Meet Erica and Josh.

For their engagements all they knew was that they wanted railroad tracks. When Erica told me this, I knew exactly where to take them in Denton. We started off in this field and then made our way over to the tracks.

On the way to the site, Erica apologized in advance for being "non-photogenic." Everyone who knows Erica, you have my permission to slap her when you see her next. Look at her working it in this next photo:

My personal favorite:

So we're sitting on the train tracks shooting away when James goes, "A train's coming." We didn't believe him until we heard the train horn blow and look up to see an approaching train. We scrambled off the tracks and were content to let it pass us by. But as I watched the train zipping past us, inspiration hit and I start YELLING at Josh over the blaring noise of the train, "KISS HER!!! KISS HER!!" while I flail my arms around in hand motions trying to communicate. I think it worked out rather nicely.

I wanted to say thank you to my sweet husband who came along and assisted with the reflector -- such a great help!

Absence

2010-07-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't blogged any new posts in a while but that certainly doesn't mean I haven't been taking pictures! I have, I have!!
I've also been getting married, moving in to a new apartment, writing a TON of thank you cards (because there are a TON of people to thank after a wedding because everyone is so great and generous and helpful), 4th of July-ing, and editing pictures. Forgive me, bloggie. But I will neglect you no longer!

Space between the wedding photos

2010-03-02T15:16:00.001-08:00

I just really hate all the extry white space between all the pictures -- just letting you know.

The Newbywedding

2010-03-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

Here it is -- the much anticipated Newbywedding. I love them.

The bridal Toms :)

THE MOST beautiful wedding venue I have ever seen in my entire life.

Very much a Toms wedding . . .

Somewhere in here the pictures change size on the blog -- my bad. But I wanted to get them up so badly that I didn't care enough to take 15 more minutes to go back and change it . . . sorry . . .

Prayers from the bridesmaids before the wedding

The cake that Liand could NOT stop talking about :)

"They're going on FOOD NETWORK!!"

Chris' specialty cupcakes

Caleb's Sr Pictures

2010-03-02T09:45:00.001-08:00

I had the honor of taking Caleb's senior pictures a couple of weekends ago. When I was first brainstorming where to take his pictures I automatically thought, "The track!" But, little did I know, Caleb is quite a nature-lover -- the field ones turned out to be my favorites.

2010-02-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some Sr. pictures I took for Drew last year around Southlake, TX.

closest thing I could get to a smile :)

Chris and Carrie Engagement

2009-11-13T06:28:00.001-08:00

I shot my cousin Chris and his fiance Carrie's engagement pictures in Plano near their homes. The two told me upfront that they wanted pretty traditional, straight-laced shots.

And we did get those -- but my favorites are when the couple got out of the poses and gave me this:

Best of luck to the two of you!

It's about time . . .

2009-11-13T06:27:00.001-08:00

I've been needing to create a blog for some time now but no time seemed as enticing as this morning.

I got up to get ready for work (opening shift at Delias) and in the shower I just decided to make a photoblog today. No more messing around. No more thinking about it. It's about time to just do it.

So I did.

And here it is.

I'm going to upload some past photos I've done, just to give people an idea of my work. Be paitent with me as I figure out how this photoblog thing works, I'd appreciate it.

Sincerely, Jillian

Odem family

2009-11-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

I've been lucky enough to have been used as the Odem Family photographer twice now. Here are a couple from the most recent shoot