featured on Style Me Pretty's new Napa vendor listings!

I'm SO happy to announce that I've been chosen as one of 3 wedding photographers in the Sonoma/ Napa Wine Country area (and there are a LOT, believe me) for Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book.

Style Me Pretty is one of my favorite blogs to look at. If you're looking for color, design, vendor or details ideas for your wedding, they are definitely the best place I can think of for ideas and photography. The branding for SMP is very elegant, artistic, beautiful yet simple. Their focus is on classic, non-trendy vendors and designs, which I love.

They are also very select, which is why it is such an honor to be chosen as one of only three photographers per area!

You can see my listing here. I'm the only one for now, soon to be joined by the fabulous Lisa and James and by Adeline and Grace. Fantastic company, and just amazingly sweet and kind people.




From the Little Black Book's FAQ:

"How do you choose the vendors for your Little Black Book?

The process to become a Little Black Book member is actually quite extensive. Each vendor is carefully selected by Abby based on a series of criteria...

First, they need to have been recommended by an SMP reader, a recent bride or an industry professional. We don't simply look for a referral but rather for a passionate reason as to why a particular vendor deserves to be in the book... Whatever the connection, it must be strong and based on a real knowledge of the vendor's work.

... We really pride ourselves on being able to separate good design from great design. The vendors that we have chosen are setting trends, they are looking for new ways to approach traditional design, they are creative, passionate and most of all, talented.

And finally, after a long discussion with the vendor, we must feel confident that they are honest, have a high level of integrity and are truly dedicated to their craft. At the end of the day, this is what really matters...

Why are there only three vendors per category, when there are so many more great vendors in any given city?

There are so many sites out there that list all of the vendors in a particular city which is often really overwhelming! We wanted to give you our favorites...not based on size, or advertising dollars...but based on reputation and quality."

portraits of Sarah, plus her sister and mom

(Attention! There are a few more discounted portrait sessions available, shoot me an email or give me a call if you're interested!)

I had the pleasure of shooting my college friend Sarah's family for my first free portrait session on Monday! It was great to combine business with pleasure - Sarah was a great model for me, and since she now lives in Budapest (?!) I see her even less than when she lived in Brooklyn. What, Oakland's no longer exciting enough for you? Well, okay, so she moved to Hungary in order to write freelance, work on music and her playwriting... in that case I guess it's acceptable.





It's always fun to see my Bennington friends after years and years (yikes, almost 8 years since graduation - how on earth can that be?!) because though we are all changing and getting older, we also are all kind of the same. Each time I see friends I haven't seen in 5 years, it's exciting to see them but also so normal TO be seeing them that it feels almost like a wonderful normalcy. I used to see these people every day, so I guess they will always feel a bit like family.



Sarah grew up in Oakland, so we had lots of time to catch up during the summers and field work terms, etc, but now she's further away than almost anyone I know. I got to see some great photos of Hungary, Croatia, Transylvania (yes!), and more.



She also made a fantastic model! I wasn't sure how it would go, but after a wee bit of initial nervousness (and with me blathering on and on asking her a million questions, trying to simultaneously catch up and take advantage of the light before the sun was gone), I got a ton of photos I am really happy with. I had a tough time narrowing them down!







I also got some lovely shots of Sarah with her sister, Elizabeth, who shouldn't be older than the 14 she was when I met her... but is somehow a college graduate and just found her own apartment last weekend.









It was also nice to see the girls' mom and get some sweet photos of the three ladies in their living room:





All in all, I think that this was the perfect way to kick off Portrait February (and it was only January).

Sarah, thanks again for doing these! I'm so happy with the way they turned out, and had a great time doing them. Tell your mom thanks again for the delicious dinner! xoxoxo


Oh, and in case Emily or Sascha read this - how perfect was it that 3 blocks away from Sarah's house, I turned on KMEL and the Humpty Dance was just starting!

Matte Stephens makes art that I heart

Wow! I just found this guy's work on this blog, and went to his etsy shop to find this painting. It is totally making me have a crush on this guy's art, as well as his cute wife (the inspiration behind the painting), and I must have it!



It reminds me of me... is that weird? :)

(Bear in mind that this is only like the 3rd painting I made it to, and each one had me going, "ooh, I love this one. No, this one's the best! No, it's definitely this one!". I've subscribed to his blog and I'm excited to see more!

Back to editing photos - I'll be sharing some great new portrait tomorrow!

Updated as I looked at a few more awesome paintings for sale - these are not originals so they are CHEAP! My birthday isn't until August 1st, but, as I will be turning (gulp) 30, I'm figuring the more gifts, the better.

Just kidding. Kinda.

More favorites and then I swear it's back to work:

Stripey Socks

Happy Monday! Here are a few silly shots I did for my stock archive.

Catching up in my office feels a bit like this:



And... I just like the stripes!

some belated Christmas tree photos

It's totally dark, grey and rainy outside, and I have these (really late) Christmas tree photos to share... somehow that combo seems nice, and will go with some hot cocoa!

Have a lovely, snuggly weekend. I still have some discounted portrait sessions left, so give me a shout if you're interested in one!



I made these lights with faux flowers on them a few years ago.




I love them, and our unique topper!









Our funky tree was a gift from my mom one year when we didn't have a Christmas tree. It started out about 8" tall, and it has thrived with Devon and I. We don't even know what to do with it outside - now it's sitting outside next to our carport getting rained on (sad!). Anyone have somewhere to plant this lovely thing?



My parents gave us some of my childhood ornaments this season, including this adorable one of my sister as a baby (wayyyyy back in 1975, ack!), and the pink bear behind it, which was made by my great grandmother for my dad.

some wedding updates

I just posted some additional photos and a brand new slideshow to my post about Lauren and Derek's wedding in 2004.

I also have recently updated quite a few of the galleries at jessamynharrisweddings.com. Especially note the album, engagement portrait, and brand new Sara and Eric detailed wedding gallery (I took Lauren and Derek out thinking I should update after over 3 years, but obviously people are still hungry for those photos :) so I'm glad I put them up on the blog!). Sara and Eric came up from LA to get married here in Wine Country, and they had so many colors and details that perfectly captured the gorgeous sunshiney fall day that I was excited to pick their wedding for its own gallery!

Anyway, there lots of new photos interspersed throughout the site, so check it out! Coming up next: a brand new music gallery at jessamynharrisphoto.com, where my editorial/ lifestyle work lives.

snippetandink blog and more inspiration!

A photographer friend forwarded me the link to this blog post, which showcases one of my favorite 2007 shots (from Alex and Rich's wedding in a color/ design/ inspiration board, yay!



Then, clicking through the rest of the lovely blog, I found a ton of inspiration, color, and... two more photos of mine on boards! :)

Click on the photo to be forwarded to the board she came up with:

From Ana and Nick's wedding - love that tie!




From Lisa and Kirk's 2004 wedding - this is apparently a traditional Italian wedding cake, covered in fruit and leaves, and everyone LOVES the style of this cake!




I am so enjoying finding all of these gorgeous design (and, specifically, wedding design) blogs! These women have wonderful eyes for color, simplicity, utilitarianism, and art. I posted some on my inspiration blog the other day, but really you should just start clicking through all of these ladies' pages to check out their favorites... that's a great way to kill an hour (or several)!

Another new favorite for me is simply breakfast. This is a great way to remember to eat something each morning, that it can be beautiful and nutritious and doesn't have to be totally fancy to do so. Plus the photography is just gorgeous!

"Argh, Healdsburg!", indeed!

This has nothing to do with anything, but I loved the homepage SFGate headline of this story so much I had to share. If you don't feel like clicking, the summary of it is: a tropical frigatebird ended up in Healdsburg, California (about 20 minutes north of where we live) after all the weird hurricane-like storms we encountered this winter.

Crazy!



On a side note from the side note, when I was growing up Healdsburg was kind of a middle-of-nowhere logging town with some fun river spots in the summer and not much else going on - in the late 90s or so it was totally revitalized as a hip, wine country getaway downtown and boutique-y kind of place. Although there is the usual Sonoma County grumbling of the yuppification of our little country ways, and it can be intense to have a lot of very wealthy people coming in for the weekends, I must admit... it's pretty dang cute now, with lots of shops, restaurants, bakeries, and even some high end hotels!

Plus I know where the great thrift store and the blue plate special kind of spots are :)

Back to work for me!

Golden Gate Park and the Conservatory of Flowers

These photos are from way back in November. Devon and I finally got a day off together and enjoyed rambling around Golden Gate Park and checking out the Conservatory of Flowers - which neither of us had ever been to before! I haven't been in the springtime so I don't know how many things are normally in bloom, but there were a surprising amount of tropical plants blooming (mostly orchids) and all kinds of weird-o green plants too.

Here's an embarrassing picture Devon took of me - but I love the background and want to do some portraits there! Anyone up for it during the month of portrait craziness? :)



The beautiful Conservatory of Flowers:



I love the way the stained glass window's light flits over the tropical plants in this photo:



Careful Devon!



The exhibit's theme was "color" - can you tell my favorite was yellow?







I loved the odd framing of this plant:



Devon helping me envision using this little nook as an engagement shoot spot:



These flowers look like candy! Maybe I've seen one too many wedding cakes.









It was nice to be all warm and steamy in there... could've smelled a lot better though.





I hope Dev forgives me for posting this less than flattering photo of him peeking into this weird, slipper shaped carnivorous plant:



More pretty flowers:



Wandering through the park:



Oops, there's some trash! Very cleverly concealed.



Is anybody else getting excited for the reopening of the newly greened Academy of Sciences?! I was so bummed when they tore it down (having many wonderful childhood and field trip-ish memories of the place), but the more I hear about it, the cooler I think it will be!




Here's the amazing architecture of the new De Young museum, once again:








I love going up in the observation deck - and the secret is (shh!) that if you hit the museum at I think about 4:30 (a half hour or hour before closing), you can go up to the deck (always free), look around at the magic hour of the sun sinking over the city, and then go into the museum itself for free! You don't get a lot of time, but they open it up as free after they close the observation deck at 5 or so, and you still have maybe a half hour to take in the latest exhibits. I love it!





This is something that reminds me of how powerful photography can be - even though there's this amazing, panoramic view of SF and the bay (which photos CAN'T do justice to!), another huge attraction of the observation level is this huge satellite shot of the whole city that takes up one wall. I'm dying to get a print of it framed in my house! I've never been great at navigating, so more and more I am finding that I have an affinity for maps, since they help me to place myself in the world and put together my experiences in a way that connects to a larger picture.



Lovely date day!