Well I’ve got a long list of to-do’s to get through today (don’t tell my sister that I’m blogging instead of finishing her engagement pictures at the moment), but I just had to take a minute to share with my blog readers the exciting new addition to one of the Jillian Zamora Photography wedding packages — a custom painting of the wedding day ring portrait! Of course we needed an example to show, so James started with a portrait I took of our wedding rings (bonus is that I get to keep this one!):
My husband James works as a full-time artist (you can view his site here) in addition to second-shooting with me at weddings each weekend and we’ve been looking for a way to fuse those two worlds together in a way that would benefit the Jillian Zamora Photography client base. James has been developing a body of 6″  x 6″ paintings for personal practice — paintings of coffee cups, old coca-a-cola bottles, and other day-to-day objects to show them in a different, more valued perspective.
“I will from time to time gaze on an object and think, ‘That reflective color is pretty awesome,'” James said, ” And I want people to see what I just saw. Â So the mundane, everyday object is now something that someone will pay attention to. Â Another characteristic I want to emphasize is nostalgia. Â A nostalgic smell, taste, touch.. that pleases people.”
We wanted to offer our clients something different, something that only a photographer-painter-duo could offer and thus came about the idea to offer paintings of  the wedding day ring portraits. The ring portrait is a shot I aim to set up at every wedding in an effort to document the great symbolism that wedding rings hold to each couple. To give you a better idea of what exactly a wedding ring portrait is, here are some examples of a few recent ones I’ve shot:
At the Bennett-Terrill wedding I noticed that the bride, Jessica, had chosen Lamb’s Ear as an element in her bouquet and all the other floral arrangements at her wedding. Knowing Jessica to be an intensely purposeful designer, I figured she really liked Lamb’s Ear. When I saw a piece of it on a table, I grabbed it and decided it would be a perfect element to use in the ring portrait shot for this wedding.
When bride Laura was telling me that the wedding rings were stored with all the “other important stuff” including hers and her groom, Matt’s passports I asked if I might borrow the passports as well. I knew that travel is an important part of both Laura and Matt’s stories, both individually and together as they plan to one day be missionaries overseas, so it was the perfect element to use in their ring portrait from their wedding day!
And lastly, here is the wedding ring portrait I shot at Jacklyn and Matt’s wedding a little over a week ago. All of the centerpieces at their reception integrated old books, so, to reflect the feeling and design of the wedding day, I used that same decorating element in the ring-portrait set-up!
James and I are very excited about this addition to the newest Jillian Zamora Photography packages and I just wanted to take a moment to share it on the blog! But now I’ve got to get back to editing my sister’s engagement pictures. Since I began this post I received this text from her: “What’s the pic sitch???” I texted her the same thing she texted me yesterday when I asked, for the fifth time, for a guest list for a wedding shower I’m planning for her : “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh working on it . . . :D”
Fafafa! Have a happy Tuesday!
Sidenote: Recently I’ve been opting to post sneak peeks from shoots and weddings to my JZP photography Facebook like page instead of to the blog — it’s just a little bit quicker for me. So if you’re looking for some JZP sneak peek indulgence, be sure to check (and click “like” on) the Jillian Zamora Photography Facebook “like” page!
Ever been paid in ceramic acorns? I have.
I took some photos to document one of my very dear friend, Amanda Ratheal’s senior ceramics show and to thank me she gave me a jar of ceramic acorns she had made for her Intentional Varience show. Her work was focused on seeds, water, trees and (as always) windmills. If you’re interested in seeing any of her work, you can view it at this facebook photo album on the Jillian Zamora Photography like page.
In other news — I finally got business cards!
Annnnnnnnnnnnd I got this cute business card holder from Ellejay’s etsy shop for just TWO DOLLARS. Steal.
Hit me up if you’d like to score some of these cards — I’d love to further disperse them!
 And, because I spent all Mothers’ Day with my momma, here’s a late (photographic) shout-out to my darling mother. I wouldn’t have my quirky quips, grammar intuitiveness, my love of reading, or as much drive for Scripture memory had it not been for this woman right here. Momma, I love you and I thank you.
 
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.
I shot an engagement session today. The couple laughed and laughed and laughed. The entire shoot.
I loved it.
Once I got in my car after the shoot was over, I caught a glimpse of myself in the rear-view mirror. Woof. “Now I know why they were laughing the whole shoot . . . ” The wind had blown my hair into a giant frizz-ball. The same wind had made my eyes water for the past hour and a half and left my make-up half on and half off.
All jokes aside, I loved shooting Emily and Logan’s engagements today. They’re so in love they probably didn’t even notice my windblown look.
This week is spring break and most people have been getting ready to sit back and relax but I’m just gearing up — I have five photo shoots this week. FIVE. I may or may not listen to Taylor Swift to pump myself up before shoots (don’t judge).
Get ready for lots and lots of blog updates. Happy spring break!
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