Jackie Culmer Photography

Crystal Cove Family Photography

Jackie — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:59:17 +0000

Congratulations to this lovely family on welcoming their new addition yesterday morning! We met up at one of my favorite places, Crystal Cove, to capture some special last moments as a family of three. Right now, the wildflowers are in full bloom and there are a million little hidden nooks and crannies perfect for pictures. You can see here what a wide variety of shots we got…from a field of flowers, to Dad’s requested shot of their awesome car in which he has special Daddy/Daughter trips with little miss M and, of course the beautiful beach and sunset.

Newport Beach Family Photographer at Home

Jackie — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 03:00:22 +0000

I just love this family. They invited me into their gorgeous home to take pictures of them…and that included the family pet, a gentle giant, Bernese mountaing dog. I loved this shoot because not only did I get to work with a cool dog, but I got to shoot two of the sweetest kids who were a little older than my normal baby and toddler clients. Ms. I recently got her ears pierced for her birthday and was just beaming with excitement to show them off, along with her new earring collection. Her little brother was great at giving me some cool kid smolder, but I was finally able to crack some natural smiles out of him when I started calling him Justin Beiber. Mom and Dad were super cool and loving and everything about this family just had a happy, cool vibe.

Lately Lily tees for girls

Jackie — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:48:05 +0000

I’ve recently become obsessed with a line of tee shirts for girls and I wanted to share. It’s called Lately Lily. Lily is a character who travels the world with her photographer Dad and her Mother who writes for the “world’s greatest Magazine.” Lily writes in her notebook about each place she visits. Every season or line of tees features a different country that Lily has been visiting. The illustrations and t-shirts are ADORABLE. The color palettes and stories are just too cute…even down to the hang tag. Kate is wearing Lily Parka and Marisa is wearing Northern Lights. We even had a whole discussion about what the Northern Lights were because of this shirt! What I also love is that they are super soft and cut just a little big longer and almost have a flare at the hip. Perfect for going over leggings. I love them all and almost have them all. I first found them in my favorite consignment store, Little Stylings. (By the way, If you live in Orange County, CA, go check this place out. Amazing designer finds for kids!!! = perfect options for photo shoots) I bought a few t-shirts, went back for more, and then later, my awesome blogger friend, Sharon of Cupcakes and Cutlery said hey, I’m doing a little thing with Lately Lily – will you take some pics of the girls in their t-shirts if we give you some? HECK YES!!! Thank you Lately Lily and Sharon for the tees!

Lately Lily is trying to get more likes on Facebook. The more likes they get, the more discount they are going to have on an upcoming sale – so go like them and spread the word so we can all enjoy Lately Lily.

Valentine’s Day Free Printable

Jackie — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:34:55 +0000

I love any excuse to throw a party. Enter Valentine’s Day. I went to my favorite place in the world, Target, and found these awesome Valentine’s day things! I love the snack cups – I buy them in every color and design whenever I see them because they’re great for the kids. I use them for oatmeal, goldfish, ice cream…everything. And the wool felt heart garland? Only $7!!! I will hopefully be turning the tissue paper into one of those fab DIY tassel garlands you see everywhere.

I won’t yet share the favors I’m making for my Valentine’s get together to surprise my guests, but I was inspired to make a little favor bag for some of Marisa’s other friends. I personalized my favor bags, but I made a plain one for all of you to use. It’s a quick and easy way to package up cute valentine favors for school, ballet class, the soccer team…any of your favorite people. Check it out, it’s super simple to make.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. Any size favor clear favor bag you want. I used Wilton clear party bags in size 4″x9″ found in the baking aisle at Michael’s.

2. Computer and Printer

3. Thick, white card stock

4. Scissors, or better yet a paper cutter for nice clean lines

5. Stapler

6. Optional – bone folder

Here’s what you do:

1. Download my free printable favor topper by clicking on this: Valentine Favor Bag Tops

2. Cut and fold.

3. Fill your bag with any treats you have…homemade cookies, candy, stickers, toys, etc.

4. Staple the bag shut…one little staple on each side.

5. Share!!

Styled Family Photo Session: Neon and Neutral Teepee

Jackie — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 04:48:47 +0000

I’m so excited to once again be featured on On To Baby! If you were ever a bride cruising the web for ideas, you probably stumbled upon the Wedding Chicks at one point or another. Well the Wedding Chicks know that after marriage comes a baby carriage, and so they created On To Baby. It’s great blog for inspiration on all things baby, beautiful newborn and family photography, party planning, and party printables. I am so honored to be featured among such other amazing photographers. (Also, check out my first On To Baby feature HERE!) Anyway, here’s my featured submission…done my way. You can see ALL of the pics from this session at On To Baby. This family session is just everything to me. I made a new friend out of this process and really used every creative bone in my body to pull off this vision. Meet Erin and her family. They are just the cutest. You’ll be seeing them a lot here, as Erin thankfully keeps booking me, and our kids are going on lots of dates lately. Erin and I share similar tastes and collaborated for weeks through some play dates and Pinterest (follow me HERE) to come up with a fun concept for her Christmas card shoot. Erin has amazing style and I really want every family shoot I do to reflect who they are at that moment. Here’s what we came up with. It’s a hippie dream meets neon and neutral color story. The location, the lighting, the set, the wardrobe, the gorgeous family…it all just came together. I’m thrilled with how everything turned out. And to make things even more special – I found out later that just before this shoot, Erin found out she was expecting baby number 2! For now, I leave you with the pictures, but stay tuned for more details on how I styled the set and how I made the neon and neutral teepee. You must try it this summer!

Cameo Shores Family Photo Session

Jackie — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:11:14 +0000

This was a family photo session for Christmas that I just love. (To all my families, I’m not blogging in any particular order or leaving you out! I hope to post EVERYTHING eventually!) I was majorly excited when my client, (we’ll call her Mrs. T), sent me this video from Planet Blue as inspiration and told me that we could shoot on a pretty much PRIVATE beach at the beautiful Cameo Shores. The beachy boho vibe is right up my alley!!! After getting some iphone pics of her planned wardrobe, I decided to bring along my peruvian rug, faux fur blanket, and some throw pillows to help create a boho beach setting. I also brought along my Sector 9 longboard…just in case. Mrs. T wasn’t too excited for the skateboard, but I was pleasantly surprised when the random shot of her baby boy turned out to be one of her favorites! It’s amazing that this shoot almost didn’t happen. On this day the fog was so thick, I called Mrs. T as I was driving down and we were both waffling on whether to go through with it or not. The fog turned out to create such a cool mood in the pictures that made for such a unique looking beach session.

Operation Shower “Go Baby Go”

Jackie — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:00:11 +0000

Last week I donated my photography services again to Operation Shower for the “Go Baby Go” themed shower at Torrey Pines Golf Course during the PGA Tour honoring military families. Check out the last shower I shot for them, here and here. I love this organization for making these military moms feel so special and giving them a day to forget all the worries of their husbands being away and when they might be coming home; as well as, the expecting service women themselves who give service to this country. The Operation Shower in La Jolla at Torrey Pines has been very special the last two years because Operation Shower invites special designers to compete in creative the most beautiful tables using given a theme and set of party printables designed by Jenn Sbranti of Hostess with the Mostess. As you can see, all of the volunteer designers and vendors did an amazing job showering these women. Moms, if you attended the shower and are looking for your individual portraits you took at the tent entrance, you’ll be receiving them in your email soon! Below are some of the highlights, but you can check out all the pictures on my facebook page and “like” me while you’re at it.

I loved these puffy clouds and retro suitcases for the “Go Baby Go” theme.

Another showstopper from Hey There, Cupcake!

The original push cakes from Meringue Bake Shop.

Not only did moms go home with gifts for their babies, they got some jewelry for themselves as well!

Yellow and Mint Birthday Party Invitations

Jackie — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 04:22:27 +0000

So just a quick post on what I’ve been up to…

I’m so excited to be teaming up with the gorgeous and talented Jeannie Savage of Details Details, and the amazing Larrissa Rehder of Inviting Occasion for a very special birthday 1st birthday party in the beginning of February! We’ve been planning and designing together and I can’t wait to go photograph the event. For now, I’m going to keep you in suspense and only show you the three different invitations I mocked up to help our client choose her theme. We were going for a mint and yellow color palette, with inspiration from Curious George…but there were still a lot of different ways we could go as far as party details. These are all special boutique shapes (which means once they are printed, they are not just your regular rectangle.) and come with a front and back (backs not shown.) Can you guess which one she picked?

Kids and family pets

Jackie — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 05:46:56 +0000

I’ve been mourning the loss of my iPhone 5. (It’s a long story. Well – maybe not. Old college buddy comes to town, we go out, Irish car bombs happened, and boom…iPhone lost.) I have gone into a deep depression over not having the iPhone 5 camera and I really, really miss you, Siri. But every cloud has it’s silver lining. Because I was using my iphone camera so much, I had stopped using my “big” camera to take everyday pictures – which is why I began taking classes and learning more about photography in the first place. This weekend I decided to just play around with my camera like I used to. For those of you who are interested, I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II. Normally, I shoot with a 24-70mm f 2.8 but this weekend I wanted some practice with my relatively new 50mm f 1.2. Here are some shots with the 50mm and edited with my also new VSCO lightroom presets.

Luckily, grandma stopped by with a big surprise that provided for some kodak moments…two of the most adorable dwarf rabbits. They were just like the rabbits she had bought me when I was a kid. She even told Marisa that I had named my rabbit Oreo, and Marisa decided to name the white rabbit Oreo as well. The dark one is named Buttercup. (Marisa named him.) His coat is so luxurious and soft, like velvet. The rabbits will thankfully be staying with Grandma, but it’s nice to know they are nearby for the kids. Marisa is so excited to help take care of them. She even asked us if we would drive her to Grandma’s everyday because she needed to help Grandma clean up the poop and feed the rabbits. Kate was just in love and did not want to put them down. We just need to work on her not hugging and squeezing too hard.

Help Natalija

Jackie — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 21:57:00 +0000

The holidays came and went so quickly, and here we are – already ten days into the new year. I can’t believe it. Happy 2013! I’m slowly coming out of what I call “Holiday Hangover.” You know…cleaning up the decorations, trying to get back into routine, and wrapping up all those loose ends on last year and cleaning that slate to start fresh in the new year. Of course, as I’m sure a lot of photographer-bloggers out there are resolving, I hope to catch up and share more on the blog. So here goes. This one’s important, and you might want to get your tissues.

Around Thanksgiving, I got a text from a mommy friend telling me that one of her best friend’s 3 year old daughter was just diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor with a very poor prognosis, and that the family would like to have pictures taken before she starts treatment. My thoughts immediately went to my own children and my eyes welled up with tears. I had a lot of family in from out of town, but I knew immediately that I had to find some time to take their pictures and give them every usable shot I could. I met Natalija and her family, the Reades, the Sunday after Thanksgiving at a local park. It was a little gloomy and chilly, but I was determined to capture some happy memories for this family. I was nervous walking up to the family – telling myself not to cry and not sure of how to act. Natalija’s parents were both so calm, upbeat, and warm when I met them that everything melted away, and I immediately just wanted to play with Natalija. Natalija and her sister were about the same age difference as my girls. Natalija and I sat on the curb and chatted while her sister got changed. She showed me all of her colorful bracelets, and we watched a few dogs go by with their owners which she got really excited about! From there on, it was your typical, loving family shoot. Hugs and tears, playing and running…no one wanting to really sit still -but that’s okay, because that’s how kids are at this age. And that’s all I wanted to get for them – her at this moment, and them as a family – together. Natalija’s family were told she may have 3 months to 3 years left. I hope you can see the strength and love they have for each other in these pictures. They are fighting together to make her as comfortable as possible and improve her quality of life for as long as they can. They are asking for help and support to ease some of the emotional and financial burden. If you are so inclined, please visit http://www.giveforward.com/helpnatalija to see updates on Natalija’s treatments and donate or at the very least, share a hug!