Form submitted successfully, thank you.

Error submitting form, please try again.

Jules Trandem Photography bio picture

Welcome to Jules Trandem Photography

San Diego natural light, on location photographer

Please take some time to look around!  This blog is a reflection of my personal and professional images.  Thanks for stopping by to visit ... come often, and please remember ... I LOVE comments! 

If you're interested in a date for booking a session or would like to learn more about family and lifestyle sessions, please use the calendar and pricing links above!  

At this time, I am only booking two sessions a month.  Please plan ahead if you are considering booking a session. 

Please use the contact form if I can answer any questions for you!  I usually can get right back to you within 24 hours.  If you don't hear back from me, there may have been some problem with the email...please try again.

xoxo

Jules


mortensen family {2010} san diego family photographer

I’ve know the Mortensen family since the beautiful Miss Y was in my first grade class 10 years ago.  She was the smartest, sweetest little girl and her mother was always there ready to help out with anything I needed.  Fast forward many years and two schools later, I had the pleasure of Miss B in my first grade class.  Again, her mom was right there, always helping in any way she could.  Her presence filled a room with love, laughter and voice!  Shortly after the 2007 San Diego wildfires (when this family lost their beautiful home), Fayme was diagnosed with cancer.  For over 2 years, she fought with everything she had against this terrible disease.  With great sadness this fall, her family and friends said goodbye and celebrated the life of this incredible woman.  Fayme’s favorite place to be was at home with her family at sunset.  I know she was watching out for us on this beautiful evening and she couldn’t be prouder of her incredible husband and two beautiful daughters.

xoxo

our first stop of the day was to ‘color me mine’

mortensen web-1

mortensen web-3

mortensen web-2

mortensen web-4

mortensen web-5

mortensen web-6

mortensen web-24

mortensen web-7

mortensen web-8

mortensen web-25

mortensen web-9

mortensen web-10

mortensen web-13

mortensen web-11

mortensen web-12

mortensen web-14

mortensen web-15

mortensen web-16

mortensen web-17

mortensen web-18

mortensen web-19

mortensen web-21

we thought we were done for the night, but Miss Y came jumping back into the house … she wanted to show us this… stunning

mortensen web-22

and I really L.O.V.E. this …

mortensen web-23

January 24, 2010 - 11:39 am Tara - LOVE these!!! The color on those last two are AMAZING!!!

January 24, 2010 - 11:51 am Renee W - Oh Jules, you've got me in tears with this post! These are photos that this family, whom I can tell is very special to you, will cherish forever! These are all absolutely beautiful and filled with love!

January 24, 2010 - 12:17 pm tina m - these are so nice. I understand the loss of a mother at a young age, these are priceless. awesome work :) This 2nd to the last one really touches me. I'm in tears too!

January 24, 2010 - 2:27 pm MomMom - What beautiful girls. Yet the last two brought on the tears. They are gorgeous photographs and must be so meaningful for the family.

January 25, 2010 - 4:11 am Tabbie English - Thank you so much Ms, Trandem for taking these pictures. I agree, my nieces are wonderful and beautiful girls. Tabbie - Fayme's sister

January 25, 2010 - 1:48 pm amy - Jules these are beautiful. And SO SO special for this family. Great job as always.

January 25, 2010 - 4:54 pm Lori Mortensen Hammer - Awesome photographs all of you. There is nothing more beautiful than pictures of fathers and their daughters. You can see the love for one and other in each of their eyes. The photographer caught it all. Awesome job.

January 25, 2010 - 5:10 pm Maryam Abadi - I have the most beautiful nieces in the world. I miss Fayme so much. Thank you Rick for sharing these beautiful picutres.

January 25, 2010 - 6:34 pm Caren - Oh Jules, I am in tears as I read your paragraph and view these amazing photos. Fayme and I became friends after having both of our kids in your class and then they were together in Mr. Burrow's class last year. I often think of her and wonder how the family is doing. This is so nice to see- they are so STRONG and so beautiful! What a great gift you have given them. Caren

January 25, 2010 - 6:45 pm Jules Trandem - thank you all so much for your wonderful words. this is a very special family and they are always in my prayers!

January 26, 2010 - 1:27 pm Tamara - Wow these are beautiful treasures!!

January 27, 2010 - 8:23 pm Sylvia Borgo - Your words bring tears to my eyes. Your images bring a song into my heart. They truly are a beautiful family.

January 29, 2010 - 10:49 pm jen berry - wow what a wonderful gift for this father and his family. these are gorgeous.

February 1, 2010 - 10:47 am maryannashley - You are a wonderful story teller Jules... I was there, enjoying each moment.

February 2, 2010 - 7:20 am ohana photographers - this story crushed us :( your words and images of this beautiful family are perfect.

February 6, 2010 - 6:57 pm hannah - OH jules... how incredible! love these so!!

boys only

Brooks and I planned an adventure in Little Italy and brought along good buddy C and new friends Sylvia Borgo (another fun photographer friend) and D.  C was so excited that he was up at 4:00 am … Brooks got his day started at 5:30 … we should have planned for a sunrise shoot!  :)

The boys loved climbing, jumping, running and chasing their airplanes through this beautiful neighborhood.
Sylvia and I loved watching them laugh and play!

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

this one rocks the fierce look!

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

look out girls … little c is too cool!

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

catchin’ some air!

boys only

boys only

she loves me… she loves me not … she loves me

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

boys only

LOVE his concentration!

boys only

boys only

I used ‘one willow retro candy presets’ once again and it couldn’t have been easier!  Just a touch in CS4 … played with some textures (still working on how/when to use them) …and a quick resize and these were done!

January 17, 2010 - 7:54 pm Christine V - Such a COOL urban looking session...

January 17, 2010 - 8:39 pm Renee W - Ok girl, we NEED to plan our meet up in SB! Either that or I'm coming down to SD! Love the colors and they boys are all adorable! I cannot pick a favorite, these all are great and FUN!!

January 17, 2010 - 10:31 pm Tamara - Oh my oh my! These are so so fun!! So many favorites!! Beautiful colors!

January 18, 2010 - 7:22 am MomMom - I really love these. Love the colors, the flowers and you can tell these boys were having a wonderful time. I want to join you next time you go to such a great place.

January 18, 2010 - 6:55 pm Christina - Awesome, awesome, awesome!!!! You are so good at taking pictures of boys and catching their "boyness" in pictures!!! *sigh* I wish I had a photog friend like you nearby!!!!

January 18, 2010 - 10:21 pm Sylvia Borgo - awwww! perfectly awesome! I so love all the wonderful colors! I love the one of B. peeking over the flowers. :)

January 19, 2010 - 11:13 am Jen Best - Love all the colors and those awesome boots-too cute!

January 20, 2010 - 9:06 am Heather Lynne - Oh my goodness, these are sooo adorable!! :) Saw your comment on Sylvia's blog & had to check your shots out! :)

January 20, 2010 - 9:23 pm Cama - Oh my goodness girl...you are so creative! I love the images with the flowers and the paper airplane!!! So cute!

January 22, 2010 - 9:27 pm gina - WOMAN!! You keep getting better and better... the first day of school post was my favorite post to date, but this has taken over its spot. LOVE IT!!

January 24, 2010 - 11:11 am Carrie - Oh boy! I love all the colors! I especially love the shots of the little boy in green, wearing the sunglasses and holding the flowers. Those were adorable!

February 1, 2010 - 5:27 pm megan - Oh my heck. These boys are quite the characters. Love all the creativity in this post. Great work, Jules!

a new year celebration

Before we left Santa Barbara, I got together with a photog friend, Tamara, from SLO to do a red and pink shoot!  With inspiration from New Year’s and Valentine’s day, we had a great time with all of the kiddos.  They, of course loved the treats, balloons, flowers and ’snow’.  We’ll be using some of these captures for Valentine’s day cards … there’s nothing like a darling personalized card with your child’s image!

Yes… I know I posted too many, but I was so excited to have these beautiful girls to shoot and play with.  Our favorite hill in Santa Barbara never looked so good!  Brooks didn’t mind being the only boy at all.  :)

Thanks Tamara!  Can’t wait for our next session together in SLO!

red-pink V-DAY shoot-1

red-pink V-DAY shoot-2

red-pink V-DAY shoot-3

red-pink V-DAY shoot-4

red-pink V-DAY shoot-6

red-pink V-DAY shoot-7

red-pink V-DAY shoot-8

red-pink V-DAY shoot-9

red-pink V-DAY shoot-10

red-pink V-DAY shoot-11

red-pink V-DAY shoot-13

red-pink V-DAY shoot-14

red-pink V-DAY shoot-15

red-pink V-DAY shoot-16

red-pink V-DAY shoot-17

red-pink V-DAY shoot-18

red-pink V-DAY shoot-19

red-pink V-DAY shoot-20

red-pink V-DAY shoot-21

red-pink V-DAY shoot-22

red-pink V-DAY shoot-23

red-pink V-DAY shoot-24

red-pink V-DAY shoot-25

red-pink V-DAY shoot-26

red-pink V-DAY shoot-27

red-pink V-DAY shoot-30

red-pink V-DAY shoot-31

red-pink V-DAY shoot-28

January 10, 2010 - 4:32 pm Sylvia Borgo - Well! Aren't these the most delightful and sunny and cheery and delicious images ever? Yes. Yes, I do believe they are. Jules - LOVE them! I especially adore the one of B. jumping while the girls look on!

January 10, 2010 - 5:16 pm Christina - These are great! I especially love the bw w/ Brooks and the little girl. It looks like young love!

January 10, 2010 - 8:27 pm jen berry - i'm so impressed with all the shoots you are doing. You are so creative. i love the shot of brooks jumping and the girls watching. it's like nothing i've seen before. you inspire me.

January 10, 2010 - 8:28 pm gina - LOVE these!!

January 10, 2010 - 8:42 pm Tamara - Oh I love these. My sister is going to love the ones of my niece. Beautiful and fun. So many favorites. Mine are still on my camera. Everyone goes back to school tomorrow so that is on my to do list.

January 10, 2010 - 9:04 pm tina m - these all look like an amazing ad campaign! Very cool. I especially like the black and white of Brooks and I think your neice(??) looking straight at the camera, it's such a cool shot. ALL great!

January 10, 2010 - 9:05 pm tina m - ok, and the picture of the little girl with the curly hair and the lolly pop? If she was mine, I'd blow that one up big time! So cute.

January 12, 2010 - 7:18 pm Debbi - Jules - this is just an amazing session. Love the photos, pping, - everything! So fun!

January 13, 2010 - 12:32 pm Jen Best - How fun that you guys got to get together!! These are great!

January 20, 2010 - 9:29 pm Cama - I am dieing here...these are so cute!!! I love seeing Brooks with Tamara's girls. How fun!!!! I love the one with Brooks and the chaulk board!! You are seriously inspiring me to get out and do something sweet for Valentines day with my kiddos!

rose parade {family 2010}

What better way to celebrate the new year than a curb side seat at the Rose Parade!

Thank you so much to the Newman family for inviting us to join the fun with their friends and family!

Brooks and I got off to an early start by leaving Santa Barbara at 4:00 am. … and no, Brooks didn’t fall back asleep for the drive.  It only took 1 1/2 hours to get to Pasadena, but more than an hour to go just a few miles to our meeting spot.  Extra thanks to Rich who spent 2 chilly nights curbside to save a great spot for the viewing crew.

As you can see by the photos, the marching bands were my favorite part of the parade … especially the bagpipes toward the end.  Brooks loved the snowboarding bulldogs!

These photos show just a bit of the spectacular parade and they also show that I don’t have much of a future in parade photography!  :)

Brooks was mesmerized by the knights waiting for the parade to start!

roseparade-1

roseparade-3

roseparade-4

roseparade-5

roseparade-6

roseparade-2

roseparade-7

roseparade-8

roseparade-9

roseparade-10

roseparade-11

roseparade-12

roseparade-13

Love the flippers these duck fans were wearing!

roseparade-14

roseparade-15

roseparade-16

roseparade-17

OK … he was not as happy with the marching bands as I was near the end

roseparade-23

roseparade-18

roseparade-19

roseparade-20

roseparade-21

roseparade-22

roseparade-24

roseparade-25

roseparade-26

roseparade-27

roseparade-28

roseparade-29

These photos were done in Lightroom using my new ‘one willow retro candy  raw presets’ … I lOVE them!  I especially love that I didn’t need to do a thing in Photoshop except for resize and watermark!  :)

January 3, 2010 - 11:25 am Christine - Fantastic photos! Brooks is such a ham! Cute!

January 3, 2010 - 11:59 am Jessica Paige - These are gorgeous photos! Amazing! Thanks so much for sharing the link. You work is fantastic... can't wait to browse more of your site. :) JP

January 3, 2010 - 12:04 pm Christina - Awesome pictures! I think I need Lightroom!!!!

January 3, 2010 - 12:07 pm tina m - such a nice job of capturing the morning! we saw the Rose Parade in pasadena for the 1st time last year. We had bleacher seats across from the Getty but I like your curbside perspective, so cool!!

January 4, 2010 - 4:00 pm Tamara - Beautiful Job Jules. We thought of you as we watched the parade from home. Dogsled was a favorite here too!

carter at cardiff {family 2009}

Brooks’ cousin has just started to surf competitively and lucky for us, many of his competitions are in SoCal!  The weekend before Christmas, we met Carter and Uncle Joey for the morning in Cardiff!  Little Santa Brooks didn’t seem to care that it was December, he just wanted to hang out in the sand and surf while watching Carter surf!

A little pep talk from dad…

carter

carter

carter

carter

carter

Brooks would have loved to follow Carter right out if he had a wetsuit on…

carter

carter

carter

carter

carter

his own little happy dance…

carter

carter

carter

carter

January 1, 2010 - 6:41 pm Kerry - Again wonderful shots Jules! Love it!

January 1, 2010 - 7:29 pm Christina - How awesome! Love the way you captured the event!

January 1, 2010 - 8:47 pm Tamara - Love these! Lots of favorites. Before you know it you will be hanging photos from the ceiling.

January 3, 2010 - 10:25 pm Christine Dammann - Love these photos Jules!! If you have any free time this month we should meet for coffee or a drink and talk photography!

January 4, 2010 - 3:44 pm maryannashley - What a fabulous day! You told the story with vibrant, beautiful images.

January 5, 2010 - 1:24 pm Jen Best - Love these-it's safe to say you've mastered the beach at all times of day!

January 12, 2010 - 10:31 am Irene Frankhouse - Awesome shots, Jules!! Love the Santa hat in all the pictures.

reed and throop * cousins {2009}

These kiddos were the perfect way to end my holiday sessions.  We had a great time at the park and captured lots of fun shots for their holiday cards.  Thanks for the fun!  Love you!!!

20091205-IMG_4955reed throop-Edit-web

20091205-IMG_4949BW-web

20091205-IMG_4952-web-web

20091205-IMG_5036bw-web

20091205-IMG_5202reed throop-Edit-web

Throop-6-Edit-web

Throop-18-Edit-web

Throop-22-EditBW-web

Throop-23-Edit-web

Throop-25-EditBW-web

Throop-33-Edit-web

December 29, 2009 - 5:37 am Mary Marantz - LOVE em!!!

December 29, 2009 - 5:37 am Debbi - Jules - these are so wonderful! I haven't been able to check out blogs in a while and have had so much fun catching up on your work!

December 29, 2009 - 3:38 pm Christina - These are awesome!!! You are rockin' every single holiday shoot!!!! Great inspiration!!!!

mees family {2009}

During Thanksgiving break, I also had the opportunity to do a quick session with my sister’s darling family to get some shots for their holiday card.

Before we left for the beach, Brooks enjoyed showing off some of his new reading books.  His cousins are always so sweet and encouraging!  Love this family!

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3499-web

we tried to sneak a few of Brooks in but he just wasn’t ‘feeling it’

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3599-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3626-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3634-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3705-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3670-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3677-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3686-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3768-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3815-web

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3727-web

mom mom and grampy with all of the grandkids!

20091125-20091125MeesIMG_3753-web

this is always my favorite time of a shoot , when all of the more posed shots are done, the fun begins … too bad we had hungry kids, I would have loved to capture more of this fun!

20091125MeesIMG_3836

20091125MeesIMG_3851

20091125MeesIMG_3852

December 27, 2009 - 9:26 am Debbie Arvizu - This is so fantastic, too see your sister, mom & dad & all these beautiful kids. Not just a beautiful family but wonderful picture taking!

December 28, 2009 - 7:14 am Tamara - These turned out GREAT! Love the cousin fun!! I am sure your sister is thrilled with these

December 31, 2009 - 11:13 am Melissa - Your family is beautiful! These are gorgeous!

Brooks {a 5 minute Christmas shoot}

2009 Christmas card!

One of our traditions on Thanksgiving day is to take a walk up to our favorite hill … Elings Park … it overlooks the ocean on one side and the city of Santa Barbara on the other.  B.L.I.S.S.  This is one of Brooks’ favorite places to be!  Before dinner was ready, we went for our walk with all of the kiddos … I brought along my camera ‘just in case’.  When I asked Brooks if he wanted to take some pictures, he politely answered ‘no thanks’.  I still had nothing to put in a Christmas card so I offered the big bribe … hot tamales!  He’s a sucker for hot tamales!  All he gave me was 5 minutes and he earned his prize box of hot cinnamon goodness.  I love these captures because they truly show who he is right now… sticks and all!

I had picked out a tri-fold template last summer and couldn’t be happier with how it went with the images!  I picked my favorite for the full panel center image…4th one down … that’s my boy!

Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Merry wishes trifol front

Merry wishes trifold Inside Right

Merry wishes trifold Flap Front

Merry wishes Inside Center

Merry wishes Inside Left

Merry wishes Trifold Back

December 23, 2009 - 4:55 am makia - Merry Christmas Jules! I love that silhouette photo.

December 23, 2009 - 12:13 pm Cama - Jules, these are awesome!! You rock! Is this one card? I love it and would love to know where you got it! Beautiful!!!!

December 23, 2009 - 6:04 pm Christina - What a great card! And your little man is such a good sport for hot tamales! Gotta love bribes.

December 24, 2009 - 8:08 am Tamara - L O V E I T!!!!! These turned out great what a cutie he is. Merry Christmas

December 24, 2009 - 8:02 pm Jen Best - Beautiful card-Have a Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2009 - 10:25 pm megan - Merry Christmas, Jules and Brooks!

santa at quail botanic {2009}

Brooks and I enjoyed a wonderful ‘adventure’ with the Sullivans, at the Quail Botanical Garden to kick off our holiday vacation.  We hadn’t had a chance to visit the new children’s garden so we picked a warm December night to enjoy some fun and to see Santa.  This was the Sullivans first visit to the Gardens and they LOVED it just as much as we did.  If you haven’t been there, be sure to check it out!

The new children’s garden has so many fun things for kids!  These three loved the giant treehouse, the watering garden, the instrument area and so much more.  When it got dark, there were marshmallows to roast and a visit with Santa.  Brooks and Phoebe even enjoyed a turn on the dance floor.  :)

Thanks for such a fun night out!

xoxo

quailBotanic-web_sized-1

quailBotanic-web_sized-2

quailBotanic-web_sized-3

quailBotanic-web_sized-4

quailBotanic-web_sized-5

quailBotanic-web_sized-6

naughty little boy … trying to sneak a peek

quailBotanic-web_sized-7

quailBotanic-web_sized-8

quailBotanic-web_sized-9

quailBotanic-web_sized-10

quailBotanic-web_sized-11

quailBotanic-web_sized-12

someone needs to give Brooks some gardening lessons

quailBotanic-web_sized-13

quailBotanic-web_sized-14

quailBotanic-web_sized-15

quailBotanic-web_sized-16

quailBotanic-web_sized-17

quailBotanic-web_sized-18

quailBotanic-web_sized-19

quailBotanic-web_sized-20

BOO!!!

quailBotanic-web_sized-21

it was starting to get dark so I upped my ISO to 4000-6400 … I love this camera!

quailBotanic-web_sized-22

quailBotanic-web_sized-23

quailBotanic-web_sized-24

quailBotanic-web_sized-25

I brought my external flash along just in case … it worked perfectly to capture the rest of the night!

quailBotanic-web_sized-26

quailBotanic-web_sized-27

quailBotanic-web_sized-28

quailBotanic-web_sized-29

quailBotanic-web_sized-30

quailBotanic-web_sized-31

December 24, 2009 - 8:50 am Jennifer Smith - Those are awesome pictures!!! Jules you really have an eye for taking pictures! Each picture is like a piece of artwork you can hang in a gallery.

December 24, 2009 - 9:05 am Christina - Gorgeous scenery! Looks like fun times!!! I'm jealous of your ISO capability. I miss out on so many night shots because of my camera.

wintersteen family {2009}

I couldn’t wait for this session with 6 beautiful girls…including the gorgeous mom!  We had tried to schedule this session last summer, but just couldn’t get the timing to work.  I was so glad to meet up with them when I was home in Santa Barbara for Thanksgiving.  They spent the holidays at this beautiful family ranch outside of Santa Barbara.  The days leading up the the session were filled with warm weather and a blue sky… perfect fall weather.  The evening of the session was soooo windy and cold … the girls were such good sports … you can’t even tell that they were freezing.  :)

Thanks!

xoxo

wintersteen-web_sized-1

wintersteen-web_sized-2

wintersteen-web_sized-3

wintersteen-web_sized-4

wintersteen-web_sized-5

wintersteen-web_sized-6

wintersteen-web_sized-7

wintersteen-web_sized-9

wintersteen-web_sized-10

wintersteen-web_sized-12

wintersteen-web_sized-11

wintersteen-web_sized-13

wintersteen-web_sized-30

wintersteen-web_sized-15

wintersteen-web_sized-16

wintersteen-web_sized-17

wintersteen-web_sized-18

wintersteen-web_sized-19

wintersteen-web_sized-21

wintersteen-web_sized-24

wintersteen-web_sized-26

wintersteen-web_sized-25

wintersteen-web_sized-27

wintersteen-web_sized-28

December 21, 2009 - 8:19 pm Lara - These pictures are beyond gorgeous!!

December 21, 2009 - 8:30 pm Kia Gregory - Wow! Gorgeous mom, indeed! I had a hard time picking out the mom! Gorgeous family and it looked like the session was fun!

December 21, 2009 - 9:14 pm Renee W - Jules, this might be my favorite session of yours! It's fabulous and very creative! What a beautiful family too!

December 21, 2009 - 9:45 pm Brigit fowler - These are so beautiful what a wonderful family, so fun and all so sweet and beautiful, blessed.

December 22, 2009 - 3:07 am Christina - I love this session!!!!! What a beautiful family and your processing is perfect!!!

December 22, 2009 - 8:55 am admin - Thanks so much friends! This mom is a designer, so I knew the session would be perfectly styled and the girls adore one another so much that we had tons of laughs and love. Their darling dad is so kind and so obviously loves each and every one of his beautiful girls. There are lots of captures posted here, but this is only a small amount of what we got that day ... I could do 2 or 3 more posts with images from this session. :) Mom has ordered LOTS of BIG prints from this session so I may have to invite myself over one day to see them all! xoxo

December 22, 2009 - 3:08 pm maryannashley - Stunning Jules! The movement, the energy, the lighting - a wonderful family collection. Wishing you guys a wonderful Christmas!

December 23, 2009 - 12:11 pm Cama - Jules.....amazing! My favorite is the one with the parents in focus and the girls in the back doing their own thing! Stunning! That needs to be a wall portrait! You are awesome! Merry Christmas!!!

December 28, 2009 - 11:04 pm Claire - WOW!! absolutely gorgeous!!