Julie Harrell: Photographer

Last night, despite the day o’rain, we took the girls up to Semiahmoo for a little shoot when the clouds broke, and the sun came out for a couple hours.  The adorable headbands are made by Kelsey Parker of Urban Fields.  She makes headbands and clips for women and kids, with amazing quality.  I think the little white chiffon one on Juliet would be super cute on a little flower girl Below are just a couple of her creations. There are so many fun combinations and colors she has in her shop. I’m just happy to have 3 girls to play dress up with… but we’ll see how long that lasts, Clara already has her own tastes in clothes, which really means “If mommy picks it out I want something different!”  Anyways, happy 4th of July!  Be kinda safe tonight.

Cheers,
jewels

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering ‘it will be happier’…” ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

I love Tennyson’s eloquent writings, and his words seem so fitting for the journey of baby Hope!  Hopes birth is the first birth I have photographed… interestingly enough, the first birth I ever saw was that of her littlest brother when I was 14 year old!  When Ashley found out she was pregnant, she asked if I would do all her photography.  While I couldn’t commit to the birth, I said I would try as hard as I could to be there, since I live over 2 hours away.  When I got the notice she was in labor, I grew sad since I thought there was no way for me to be down with her that day due to previous commitments.  Her sister, Mary, told me things were going slow, so she would keep me updated through out the day… on whatever miracle I might be able to re-arrange plans.

By evening that night, when I was finally able to drive down, Ashely was still in early labor.  It had been 12 hours with very little progression.  She was moved from the birth center to the hospital.  She was disappointed, but I was a little hopeful that I might have a chance of being there to photograph her birth.  When I finally showed up at 10pm, she was basically where she was when she was admitted.  Ashley had become accustomed to pregnancy not going according to plan.  Steven and Ashley tried for 6 years to conceive their first child, and finally after learning a little more as to why they could not conceive they opted to try IVF.

One of the eggs implanted, and Ashely was finally pregnant!  She definitely had her vision for the pregnancy and birth, but after so long of no progression her midwife (who also happened to be my mom’s midwife when my mom had my little brother) suggested moving to the hospital, another step that was not part of the plan.  After 36 hours, and almost no progression, the doctor finally said it was time for a Cesarian (definitely not part of her plan).  Her doctor was awesome, though, and let her keep trying to have the birth be as natural as possible for 36 hours.  I was super impressed at how quickly Ashley was able to be with baby Hope after the operation, and even though most of the labor was not the way they imagined it would be, seeing Hope on her mother’s chest, with her father overlooking fit perfectly into the plan of being together, being a family–finally!

Cheers,
jewels

Did I ever mention Juliet turned 1 on October 31st, 2011?! She did, since I’m positive my first sentence wasn’t a dead giveaway. I am blessed to have a fully healed, and healthy little girl. What a long way we’ve come from her first few months of life. Since I’m slowly getting caught up on blogging, I thought I’d share a few images of the day. I started planning her party shortly after we came home from the hospital. Long days at home allowed me time to find inspiration, imagining the celebration. I know in the past I’ve made inspiration boards for various events, but this time I used Pinterest for my inspiration board. I started pinning at a time when people would look at you with the curled lip, squinted eye and tilted nose, and ask, “Huh?” when “Pinterest was mentioned. Its the same look my kids give me when I pull out an old corded phone. Today Pinterest is next to Facebook in recognition, and my late night addiction aside, it was a useful tool for getting an early start party planning. Is 11 months too early to plan a party? Here is the inspiration board. I was going for a sweet fall and girly feel. Since her birthday is on Halloween, I thought I’d embrace the day and add a slew of white pumpkins into the decor.  To add to the whole fall feel I used linen for the bunting banners… and that’s about it! To achieve a girly feel I incorporated a lot of glitter, roses, pinks and frills. Aside from 11 months of planning, I found myself up in the wee hours of the night before the party hanging bunting, making favors and filling jars… I appointed Chris head cake baker at midnight He really did make the cakes, I acted as sous chef and froster! We enjoyed her special first birthday with friends and family… and Juliet only cried when Chris put her birthday hat on and snapped the elastic under her chin. He still claims he didn’t know that would hurt… I still claim I wanted photos with a happy baby It didn’t matter, we ended the night with a gorgeous fiery sunset, my window photo doesn’t do it justice. Anyways, I hope that 6 months after her birthday these photos will still be appreciated.

Cheers,
jewels

Meet little 8 day old Calliope Gene! I know some of you Greek History buffs can say her name, but for those of you reading her name for the 3rd time, wondering how her name is pronounced, phonetically its “kəˈlaɪəpi” but my way is “cah LIE oh pee.” … Right Tracy?

Calliope was as sleepy and sweet as a newborn should be. She wasn’t into all the curled and scrunched up newborn photos, but she did love a good swaddle! Calliope is the 2nd baby of Nina and Matthew, and if you’ve seen that sweet boy I’ve photographed a couple times with incredible blue eyes, and a onesie from his 1 year old photos that say’s “Made in Portland,” well this is his little sister! Destined, I’m sure, to have the same stunning blue eyes.

Through out the pregnancy, Nina photographed her progress in photos of herself with a chalkboard wall they painted in their home, with the week marked on the board. I knew when I saw her pregnancy progression photos we had to use that chalkboard with Calliope. I am not a graphic artist, but I tried my hardest to write her name in something other than my normal chicken scratch writing! I hope Nina and Matthew still have it up in their home… I will be sad when it gets erased

Thanks for the fabulous weekend Horn family, hope you are in love with these images as much as I am!

Cheers,
jewels

About a week after Ashley found out she was pregnant, she asked me if I would be interested in photographing her maternity, birth, and newborn photos for her first baby. After 6 years of trying to get pregnant, She and her husband Brian Steven successfully conceived via IVF! (Steven has a brother named Brian, and the whole session I kept calling Steven by his brother’s name). I knew how important these photos would be for her, so of course I was honored she asked me, and excited to spend time with her. I’ve known Ashley a very long time. Her sister Mary and I were in the same grade and were the best of friends, but not in 1st grade cause she cheated at wallball during recess, but besides that brief disruption in our friendship their family and our family have always been close. Ashley, who is also an amazing dancer (she performed the young Clara for the Pacific Northwest Ballet), is super friendly and funny. She is so beautiful… and her hair… please don’t get me started, jealous is a mild way to describe how I feel about it! She and Steven compliment each other perfectly, he is so compassionate and in love with her. You would never guess they’ve been married 9 years, they act like they are newly weds! Its pretty cute and very refreshing to be around. I had a wonderful afternoon shooting Ashley and Steven at the Lairmont Manor in Fairhaven, then finishing off the session on the water looking out at the islands. The rain held off until the very end of our session as we reached our vehicles. I’m so excited to share these images… and pretty soon to also share their birth photos from the other night

Cheers,
jewels

I think Granville Island is one of the best places in Canada. I know Canada like the back of my hand (meaning, not at all), but I fell in love with the whimsy and charm of this little corner of Vancouver, BC. For part of Nat’s birthday present , Dave arranged to have a fun couple’s photo shoot. They hadn’t had photos together in years, so I felt honored to spend the afternoon capturing their giggles and sweet whispers of sweet nothings. I’ve known Dave and Nat for many years, so the photo session was more like a fun date with old friends where I just so happened to have my camera with me… and happened to be posing and checking out nooks for good lighting and crannies for spare change… I mean potential for background elements! After hardly being able to turn a corner without feeling some urge to stop walking and start shooting, we finished the frist part of the session at Granville island then headed into an older, almost Parisian part of town (Gastown) for some moody, early evening lit shots, where I think I’ve captured one of my all time favorite images to date (the one of Dave and Nat kissing in the middle of an old cobblestone/brick street with the lights surrounding them). I’m pretty excited with the variety of settings from this session, and I’m even more excited to go back and shoot at either Granville Island or gastown in Vancouver (any Canadians out there reading this, I’m up for hire!). So after you are done looking at Dave and Nat’s smiles and playfulness… check out Nat’s blog, where she shared some of her favorites from the day. She has a great style of writing, so after you’re finished reading her blog and realize an hour has passed, consider yourself warned

Cheers,
jewels

Dave and Rachel drove up from the Seattle area to have their photo session in Bellingham.  I was particularly excited for this shooting engagement, because I had not seen Rachel in almost 11 years.  We went to high school together at good o’l White River High School, in Buckley, WA, and even after countless promisses of keeping in touch after highschool, all our new “adult” lives happened.  And speaking of high school,  my dad recently brought to my attention that White River just lost the state basketball championships to Lynden HS here in Whatcom County… the team Chris’ boss’ son plays for.  So I don’t know which team I’m supposed to support!  Both, right?  Anyways, I was happy when I found out Rachel was engaged, but really excited that they wanted to drive here for me to shoot their engagement photos.  Rachel is now studying photography at UW, so I felt a tiny (cough, huge) bit of pressure to prove I was worth hiring  I think their photos are lovely, and captures their easy-going love for each other.  Congratulations again Dave and Rach, this is such a special time for you and your families, thanks for letting me capture a couple moment’s of it!

Cheers,

jewels

I’m so excited to now offer mini sites. For my 2012 wedding clients, it comes free with any package! The sites are very customizable and can go live ASAP. There are a handful of customized templates to choose from, and further customization is easy throughout the duration of the engagement, wedding, and post-wedding. All the information for the bride and groom, families, and guests are on one page. This is a great tool for sharing slideshows, streaming images from flickr, tweeting, and making sure all the wedding day information is readily accessible with links to important venues, and of course links to registry boutiques

Take a look at Brian and Shannon’s Bainbridge Island Wedding Sample Site: julieharrell.com/santos/

A slideshow of their engagement session at the Tacoma Museum of Glass is viewable from the mini site, wedding images from anyone can stream via flickr, and of course a brief “actual” love story is always an option for posting. I do like Brian and Shannon’s current sample love story myself though

For this year only, These sites are at no additional costs to for my wedding clients. Are you interested in booking your 2012 wedding? You can use the contact tab above to reach me, or via email at: info@julieharrell.com. Pricing is located at the top right, but I’ll include my pricing in this post too!

I met Lisa at MOPS, but I felt a special connection with her after we were both in the hospital together with our newborns, well almost in the same hospital. 3 weeks after Juliet was born, Lisa gave birth to Sophie… but there were complications, and after spending her first 8 minutes without oxygen, Sophie was airlifted from St. Josephs to Children’s Hospital in Seattle. This was the the same time of day same day that Juliet was being transported from Children’s to St. Joseph’s here in town. Over a year later, we both are completely blessed to have two healthy little girls without any known issues. So when Lisa asked me to do their family photos, I couldn’t wait, and not just because they are a great looking family, but because I felt I had a connection from shared experiences. Aaron and Lisa, with their daughters Addy and Sophie, are that family that you wish you had grown up with since you were a kid, and would be friends with till death, and that your kids would all marry each other, you know what I mean! They are warm, open, friendly and so fun to photograph!

Cheers,
jewels

Nicole and I took Amy on a wild adventure for her maternity shoot galavanting in both city and woods… well OK, Barkley Village and the little patch of trees across the street, but for Bellingham its subdued adventure. Amy is so beautiful pregnant, and enjoys her pregnancy quite a lot! The three of us photographer chit chatted about more mom things than our usual shop talk. And since my camera bodies were both in the shop at the time of our shoot, Nicole graciously agreed to bring a 2nd body along for me to use, but she forgot it so we shared a camera, alternating poses. I’m pretty sure these are my images from the day, but if they aren’t I know I’ll get a letter from her lawyer nice comment at the bottom of the post… Love you girls!

Cheers,
jewels