Julia Williams Photography » Uncategorized

Matt and Nikki: Tom Ham’s Lighthouse

admin — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:59:05 +0000

Well… I haven’t been blogging about it, but i’ve been busy! A sneak peek from a not-too-long ago wedding. More to come!

Tammy + Eming, Tea Ceremony, San Francisco Wedding Photographer

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:47:54 +0000

Tammy and E-ming didn’t just have a wedding… they had a wedding extravaganza, and we were lucky enough to shoot (almost) all of it! Tammy and E-ming were legally married in city hall in San Francisco on the appropriately auspicious day. Since it fell in the middle of the week, they had TWO other wedding ceremonies (in addition to myriad other wedding activities). We’ll be blogging other parts of their weddings (yep, more than one!) over the next few days. First up, they had a small ring exchange, followed by the tea ceremony, at Tammy’s parents’ house in San Francisco, on a beautiful sunny day. While the ring exchange wasn’t a “formal” ceremony, it had just as much (if not more) emotion. The light at Tammy’s parents house was simply divine, the excitement was palatable, and gave everything this amazing bright feel. I don’t think we could have asked for a nicer SF day. Stay tuned for more!

Molli + Noah Wedding, La Jolla Women’s Club, San Diego Wedding Photographer

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:32:14 +0000

As the storms rolled through last Saturday, there was at least one couple who was taking it all in stride. Molli and Noah had the most awesome attitude about the rain and windy weather on their wedding day, held at the La Jolla Presbyterian Church and the La Jolla Women’s Club. Molli and Noah had their first date under unusual circumstances, after an incident with water and her phone… which should have clued us all in to that water would then be apart of their wedding day! Molli and Noah’s first date, set up by a friend, was supposed to be at a Gordon Biersch Brewery. Molli was supposed to confirm the date first with a phone call. But – due to her dropping her phone in the water while getting a pedicure – she couldn’t make the call. As luck would have it, Noah decided to go anyways – just on the off chance that she would be there. She was. And they both described it as love at first sight! As time passed, the relationship grew, until they approached the point in the relationship that Noah knew he was going to propose. Noah planned a big trip to Santa Monica, with the intent of proposing under the fireworks, but what he hadn’t planned on was his impatience in his desire to propose. While sitting at the top of the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, he popped the question. And (as the pictures below illustrate) we all know the answer! Molli and Noah – I know only Brandon shot your wedding, but I can see from your wedding images that you two are truly in love! We wish you wonderful honeymoon in Spain and all the best in life together.

DJ Sunset Sound Productions got the first dance started.

FAQ: Wedding Albums

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:18:10 +0000

Brides frequently ask us about whether they should get an album with their wedding collection, and why they are so expensive. The answer is a resounding yes, you NEED an album! While wedding albums through your photographer might be more expensive than something like a Shutterfly book, they are well worth the extra costs. We use an album company that makes divine handmade albums, with plush leather and thick flush mount pages. In addition, to better serve our customers (and to help with juggling our family and work), we use professional graphic designers for all albums (check out a few sample pagespreads and an entire album below). As you can see, your albums are well worth the money – quality items meant to last forever.

You can just see the fantastic print quality – these prints will last your lifetime, as your heirloom wedding album should. The prints are bold and bright, making a lasting impression:

The thick pages and leather binding:

Our wedding albums have “seamless” pages, with no splits in each pagespread:

Here are a couple of spreads from our favorite album designer – albumesque!

Check out the entire album below!

Joe Photo

admin — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:11:00 +0000

Melissa McClure told me about this video… had to post it! Its a little long, but pretty funny (especially during the beginning and end).

Incredible!

admin — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:13:00 +0000

I have several photography blogs that I read on a regular basis, with the hope that one day my skills will develop to the point where I am as fabulous as them (jasmine*, jessicaclaire, [b]ecker, plus some up and coming people like sdohana – a favorite because my ohana all lives in Hawaii). I visit these blogs for inspiration, motivation and the affirmance that with hard work, one can really succeed in photograhy.

One of my favorites, the very most amazing and creative nate and jaclyn from theblogisfound had the most AWESOME post today about the most awesome idea ever – a photobooth. But instead of a regular boring old photobooth, each couple was posed in ridiculous staged ways (by the way, to see the pictures you have to scroll down bc I can’t link directly to the post).

Any brides interested in something like this… I am too! I always have a second shooter when I work, and this is a great use for them later in the reception. I also have all of the materials necessary to make a little homemade photobooth. So much fun!

Red Flags

admin — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:23:00 +0000

My horoscope* told me today that I would be spread too thin with too many projects, and that I would need to learn to prioritize. Oh, how right it is.

My biggest problem, I think, is overcommitment. I want to do everything for everyone. I hate giving up control – my workflow, album design, proofing; I want to do it all myself because I like being in control. I think that this has something to do with my aries nature.
But what suffers the most is… emails. I know, sounds weird, but I am SO bad at emailing people back or taking care of things that are emailed to me. I’ve started dealing with this by actually using the little red flags marker in outlook… and it actually seems to be working! Lets hope I can keep it up. And that other things don’t fall out as a result.

And, as far as prioritizing, i’ve found a new number one priority: finding second shooter positions. I’ve done weddings on my own and some as a second. But I really want to see other photogs in action. I want to see how they work and think, and how they keep their creative juices flowing. If anyone knows of anyone out there who needs a second… let them know i’ll make them my top priority!

*(yes, i’m still 15 at heart and get my horoscope emailed to me everyday)

Happy New Year!

admin — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:42:00 +0000

I don’t really believe in New Years resolutions. General goals, yes. But not so much resolutions – because I feel like that sets one up for failure.
Instead, I try to use the start of a new year to reflect on the past year, and how I incorporated my general life goals throughout the last year. I really took significant steps to starting a new business – something that I love to do, rather than something that I am good (but unhappy) at. I made a big move – from LA to San Diego – which has made my hubby and I happier. I have taken significant steps to save money and become bad debt-free.
This year, my overarching goal is to become better and more experienced in my craft. I want to really work on booking events and making more business connections. I want to take classes to enrich my personal life (that’s me, lifelong student). I also want to work on living healthier – not just lose weight (although I wouldn’t complain about that), but really more centered on exercising more, managing stress better, and eating a better and more balanced diet so that I am a healthier person.
Wait – and I do have one resolution. Back in October, I started working on my list of 101 things that I want to accomplish in the next 1,001 days. I got to about 65 and then lost my list. My one resolution: find the list, finish it, and then start working on those goals.
Hope that everyone had a happy new years!

Merry Christmas!

admin — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:36:00 +0000

First, I have to let everyone know – I made the switch! Last Friday, after I received my bonus, I went out and bought a beautiful new Canon 5d. And then my wonderful husband gave me a new speedlite and 50mm lens for Christmas! So now i’ve got a nice set up. I’ll have to rent lenses for a while for events, but not such a biggie, because now I have a gorgeous camera.

Christmas eve is a tradition that has (thankfully) mellowed as we have gotten older. My husband has two brothers and three stepbrothers, 3 older, 2 younger. The old Xmas eve ALWAYS involved a keg and Pass Out. And gift opening, but this was all secondary pre-children. Now two of his stepbrothers have kids, so gifts have become the center of things. And while we brought the keg back this year, there was more screaming children and less alcohol (for which my body thanks me today). Different, but nice. Because I just can’t drink up the way I used to when I was 19.

Some pictures of the chillens last night (taken with my new setup:

Did anyone see the pictures from the photographer, Jill Greenberg, that took away kids lollipops and then photoshopped the kids faces to be all red and contorted from crying? This kid wouldn’t need any of that photoshopping – he makes the weirdest faces. (if you haven’t seen the pics, you can check them out at her site, http://www.manipulator.com/, under “End Times”)

Decision Time

admin — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:45:00 +0000

I’ve been seriously debating whether I want to stay with Nikon or switch over to Canon over the last month. I need to upgrade my body regardless, and it will cost about the same either way. All I have for my Nikon in terms of lenses that I would like to keep are the 18-200 (which, while awesome with versitility, isn’t entirely giving me what I need) and a 50 1.8. The 50 1.8 was only $100 – and the corresponding Canon lens is only $70. And generally, good Canon lenses are slightly cheaper than good Nikon lenses. Since I have so little invested in the way of high end lenses, it really won’t add up to much (if anything) extra over time.

Pros of Canon: better color, cheaper lenses, better performance at high ISOs.

Pros of Nikon: sharper lenses, I know the system and have always used them.

I rented a 5D and 70-200, which is what I am thinking of upgrading to, just to try it out. I think that I might need to do so again – I freaked out because a bunch of my family portrait session pictures today were out of focus, but later found out its because someone screwed with the diopter and I never thought to check that when I started shooting with the rental (luckily, I brought my other camera too, so I have plenty of pictures that are good). So i’m not sold on Canon… just yet.

Its hard to break away from what you know (Nikon – or being a lawyer) and enter a new world (Canon – or being a photographer). But change seems to be the underlying theme of my blog – change is what I am going for in my life. So I think it might time to change my camera system too. We’ll see…