Home for Christmas

Our first Christmas since moving to Charlotte and it couldn’t have been better! We jam-packed our schedule to see and be with as many family members and friends as possible.

I told myself I was going take photos with Hans to capture all my favorite moments and…it did not happen.

I just get so caught up with all my favorite people and would just rather be “in the moment” with them. Ya’ know?

I’ll do better next time. Maybe with just my camera phone, which is easier to whip out.

But I did convince the Tran Clan to take “dressy photos”. It was a hot mess, but I’m still happy we did it. Photographing 12 people at one time with a self-timer is no easy feat.

We were in our “Christmas Eve mass outfits” (we took these photos on the 22nd) in our parents’ backyard.

I took a few individuals too. Apparently I was having a focus-issue and didn’t know till I got these scans back.

One of the few negatives when shooting film: Not knowing what you did wrong and adjusting right away. But I think I know what I did wrong.

Photo cred: Jill!!
Love my Mommy and Daddy <3
Our best one!! Missing my brother-in-law, Ronald though.
This was our “serious pose” but I think it’s pretty hilarious.
So Jill and I really wanted to take sunset photos and the only day we could make it happen was Christmas Eve right before mass. And well that’s what we did. Ha.

Khang opted to “stay back with Mom so I can drive her to church”.

It was just me, Jill, and the beautiful sunset.

Jill always carrying that “Cali glow” with her. This is probably one of my favorite shots ever. 

And she took beautiful shots of me too!
I planned to take photos of my in-laws too, but Mom was sick and the weather didn’t cooperate with us. Poo. We will try again this year. 

But I did manage to get some sweet shots of our family in New Orleans. 

Side note: St. Roch Market is a must! Not only is the food culturally diverse and delicious, the wonderful atmosphere is high in energy, yet warm in conversations with people from all different paths. 

We were confined to a corner that made everyone face a wall. This made it hard to take photos, so I decided to play paparazzi and took some through the windows. I was trying to get candid shots. 

Missing a bunch of faces. But happy we got to see our cousins!! It’s always a fun time!!

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays with their loved ones. Khang and I sure did!

Thanks for reading and following along 

with me,

Jules.

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Ginni+Andrew

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m one out of five, that’s right,  FIVE girls.

Bless my parents.

Ginni is the second oldest and we’re 7 years apart, so naturally I grew up looking UP to her.

I think older siblings are some of the strongest people in someone’s life, at least that’s the case for me. You feel safe and protected around them.

When I had questions about my FAFSA, I went to her.

When I moved away to college and the AC Man gave me a difficult time with fixing my AC, crying my eyes out, I called her.

When our Daddy is sick and needs to go to the doctor, I call her (this actually happened 3 weeks ago!)

I’m used to seeing her a tad bit stressed because she’s pretty much always helping people (family, friends, work clients) with their problems.

She’s unbelievably selfless.

And I’m very proud to call her my big sister.

But here’s the thing, while photograhing her and Andrew, I was taken by surprise.

Ginni’s usual demeanor slowly melted away with every tickle, laugh, and little joke from Andrew.

It took me off guard.

It was as if I was looking at her with fresh eyes.

The two of them were so playful with each other and laughed for most of the session.

It dawned on me that I was truly seeing my sister in love for the first time.

Like really really in love.

And it was such a sweet experience for me to witness.

Keep scrolling to see what I’m talking about…

They did these adorable gestures when they thought I wasn’t looking, 

but I was.See what I meant by how cute they are?!

So many small lovely details!

Ginni’s a Master Crocheter and crocheted everything you see: blanket, bowtie, gloves, shield (it’ll make more sense in a bit).

I love how they made their photo session their own.

I’m screaming. So freakin’ gorgeous!!
They’re avid Marvel fans, so of course, these two cute nerds just HAD to incorporate it into their shoot somehow.

Yes, Ginni crocheted that badass Captain America Shield.

Yes, Andrew totally owned it.

And yes, Ginni would probably still kick his butt as Iron Man, but only if she was in the suit.

Otherwise, Tony Stark would lose to The Captain.

And then we finished it off at the beach for more dreamy shots.

Andrew is from Cleveland so he’s not just “some bandwagon fan”.

That’s the end of their session. I wished it didn’t end because I could’ve kept going and going!

Chi Hoa and Andrew, thank youuu so much for giving me the opportunity to photograph y’all!

I’m beyond excited to see what this new year has in store for “GinnDrew”!!

Sidenote: I’m learning one of the reasons why I love photography so much is because I can feel what my clients are feeling and these two had me feeling happy and sappy the whole time.

If you are interested in me capturing the love and laughter YOU hold, then email me at hello@withjulespham.com and let’s create some magic together.

Thanks for reading and following along 

with me,

Jules.

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