The Couple’s Musical | Photography session with a ton of instruments

We had quite a little adventure in downtown San Jose with Katie and Matt’s photography session.   As I talked with Katie about their session and what would make it unique to them I found out they are both professional musicians.  In fact, at the time of the shoot,  both were performing for San Francisco’s run of “Wicked” and it was in it’s final days.  As we chatted I found out that between the two of them they played like 20 different insturments and they wanted to incorporate them in to their shoot.  I  had been brewing with an idea about a piano and to was so pleased when I found out that they both played.  So the wheels started turning and this is what we created.  I love how we incorporated their love for each with their passion for music.  This couple is easy going, fun-loving, and a little quirky giving their photos a magical and fun twist.

When we did the sequence shots we had so much fun.  The best part was how many people would just walk through the set while were shooting instead of walking around us.  Others would stop and ask if they were a band, or were we having a garage sale,  or just wanted to know if they were jamming and could they join in.  My favorite was this guy showed up on his bicycle with a a big conga drum attached to his handle bars already to play. In the shots below was a guys dog just walking by.  We laughed so hard because we were putting this ensemble together and said “Wouldn’t it be great if we had a dog  in it?”  Seconds later around the corner came “bear” the doggie pictured below.  It was perfect.  To see more from their session click here and please leave them some love below so they know you were here. 

Michael and Casie |Engagement/Elopement photos part two

Like I mentioned on their earlier post they eloped at lunch.  I asked “Casie what did you wear?” and she said ” my jeans”.  With Michael shipping off for Korea there wasn’t alot of time to get a wedding planned and they did what many people in the armed services do-eloped.  Many of us in the family really wanted them to have some wedding photos and we came up with the following idea.  Little did I know how hard it would be to really photograph a couple in a rowboat but it was a good time.  If it wasn’t for the sun breaking out for the last 15 minutes of the day we wouldn’t of gotten these images.  Thank you sunshine and my wonderful cousin who had the rowboat at his home.    What is funny about some of these photos is my cousin is either sitting in the boat or holding on to it so they didn’t flip over.  It was quite an adventure but it turned out to be a fabulous day, and no everyone ended up dry at the end of the day.

And behind the scenes one of my favorite crew members ever.  Cousin Brian you make a fantastic best boy.

Michael and Casie| Part One Engagement/Elopement

These two tied the knot quite a few months ago in South Carolina over their lunch hour at the US Naval base.  So when you do something like that there isn’t a lot of pictures.  I had so much fun ( but a little stressful) doing  their engagement session and their wedding session all in one day.  In fact, Michael was on leave from Korea and we had only one day to do these rain or shine.  And as luck would have it we had both but the weather blessed us with some sun at some great moments between the clouds and well a few chicken showed up for the session.  But these photos truly show how goofy and playful the two of them are with each other.  Here is part one of their engagement-elopement marathon photo shoot.

Behind the scene of an engagement session| Jill Johnson Photography Promo Video

I’ve been talking about doing a promo video forever so it feels great to have this little project wrapped up.  I’m so excited to show you what makes our engagements a little different from most, and yes it really is an experience.  The technical term is a production style shoot,  I just like to call it a whole lot of fun. When everything finally just fell in to place I couldn’t help but jump on board with a wonderful couple and team.  I had to admit I was in a little bit of a daze because I couldn’t believe the project was really on its way.  Now that it is finished I can’t wait to start on the wedding photography promo.

Jeff and Sam’s engagement session was great and when the talents of Stylist, Tia Reagan and videographer Luke Goodman of Luke Goodman films came along beside me it became fabulous! It was really important to me to show you how wacky, yet romantic and beautiful can all be wrapped in to one day.  I really do love doing engagement sessions. They are one of my favorite photo sessions because I get to spend quality time with my bride and groom and spend a beautiful day along the Santa Cruz coast (or wherever the shoot leads us ) doing what I love SHOOTING! Call me selfish but it is fun to have the couple all to myself for a day.

Besides doing a great promo video for me Luke did a wonderful film fusing together the video and stills together. It makes a great save the date video or just a small movie to show guest at the cocktail hour as they wait for you. There is so many possibilities with it and we would love to talk the possibilities over with you.  But for know enjoy your fly on the wall view of how we work and take a peak at how an engagement, creative portrait, or boudoir might go.  We would love to hear what you think.

Jill Johnson Promo Video Final from Luke Goodman on Vimeo.

Engagement Photography Session| Jeff and Sam along the Santa Cruz Coast

When talking to Sam about her engagement session she said we wanted a modern day look but her real dream was to feel like she stepped off the set of the movie “The Notebook”. I told her no problem we can do that, I have a secret weapon that can transform you through time and her name is “Tia the Magnificent”! These two were so fun and was game to do anything. They had a great spirit of adventure and we laughed all day as we drove along the Santa Cruz Coast. I don’t know how many times I heard Tia say “Their great kissers!” and we laughed some more. We did do a little trespassing, we learned not to crunch down if a mountain lion appeared, we transported back about 50 years, and I ruined one of my favorite pairs of shoes but it was all worth it. My favorite part was in the middle of all that we did a little mystery shoot for Jeff. The best part is he was in the photos blind folded and has no idea what was happening. The best part is he won’t get to see them til his wedding night. How fun and creative is that girls? It was the best kind of a torture. Will share those images in August when Jeff has had a chance to see them.

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