This morning I headed over to Mandeville/Covington area to visit my good photographer friend, Melanie Talley. It’s always fun to hunt around for new props to keep things fresh. We found some really cute stuff, wish I could post but I like to wait until I use them for shoots. We’re both a little obsessed with distressed looking shutters, stools, picture frames, candle stick holders, etc. Sometimes I wish I could decorate the whole house like that. I’d either be broke or the house would begin to look a junkyard, whichever comes first, just kiddin! ;) I seemed to have picked up the shabby chic thing from my Aunt Lydia who has a very unique decorating eye. I love her house! My ideal backyard would be full of greenery, a ratty old broken/falling down fence, and lots of decorative odds and ends. Anyway, so as we were browsing today, I snapped a few pics with my iphone of things that caught my eye. I wish I would have bought more! I like artsy, funky, crafty, creative stuff!
Gabby: Teaser
I just took these photos a couple of hours ago! I’ve been photographing Gabby since she was a newborn and I love her smiles! She is BEAUTIFUL! Here’s a couple of peeks until I am finished editing her session.
Jen Amato Photography Albums
This post is for my brides who are choosing “THE WORKS PACKAGE”. Here are some photos of the three types of albums that I offer. Since it rained off an on yesterday and I feel like I’ve been cooped up in this house lately because of the weather, I decided to take pictures of all of my albums. They are now easily available for all of my inquiring brides to view online. I used some of Randy’s guitar picks that I found laying around the house to show a difference in the thickness of the pages.
Comparisons of:
Photo Wrapped Cover Coffee Table Album
Premium Flush Mount Album
Photo Wrapped Cover Flush Mount Album
Photo Wrapped Cover Coffee Table Album
Premium Flush Mount Album
Photo Wrapped Cover Flush Mount Album
Molly :: Children
I photographed Molly’s session yesterday morning, it’s not every week that I’m this caught up. What a great feeling though. I’ve known Molly’s mom, Stacie since we were young, she was best friends with my cousin Kelly growing up. I love when clients have ideas of where they want to take their photos. Stacie suggested Lafreniere Park and I can honestly tell you, I’ve never photographed a session there. (And it’s only 10 minutes away from where I live- odd I know) As a photographer, you get in your comfort zone of the places you shoot and you can literally visualize the good areas in your head before you even arrive. This happens because you’re so used to shooting there. So anyway, when someone suggests someplace new- I get really excited! It’s like a blank canvas that causes me to think extra hard while shooting. We walked almost the entire park and every 30 feet I would stop, observe and look for the next location to shoot. I am always mindful of 3 major things: lighting, background objects and safety. I put Molly in the tree for one shot and then I said, nahh… change of plans :) It’s all about trying things out and testing your limits. At the end, I was left with a ton of photos that I feel captured Molly’s personality perfectly. Playful, sweet, and girly!
Tonights Plans: Heading to the Saint’s game with some friends and then Randy’s band alias:orion is playing at Howlin’ Wolf around 11ish! HAPPY FRIDAY! :)
- Very cute, Jen! Stacie, I can't believe how big Molly is getting!
- These photos are fantastic....you really captured my little sweet pea's personality in every single shot.....soooo talented, will spread the word among all my classmates...many who are grandmothers too...thanks for such a great job with her!! Ms. Lynette (Molly's grams)
- Jen, this little girl is awesome!!! Such a cutie!!!! I am sure you had fun with this little one! Greeaat job girl!!! Beautiful images!
- can you say OMG!!!! she is so precious......... what beautiful pics of a beautiful little girl.........that is HER!!!
- Thanks for the comments, Molly was a DOLL! So fun to photograph! :)
- These are adooooorable!!!!
Back at it!
Overall, we had a great trip, it was nice to relax and just enjoy each others company. In 4 days, I did alot of eating, baking in the sun and laughing. Did I mention I ate way too much? Seriously, I have GOT to get back on track! Vacations ruin me! I didn’t take too many photos with my good camera because I always feel like I have to have my eye on it. Too much sand and water near by when I take it to the beach. My iphone seemed to be the easiest thing available for this quick little trip. I feel refreshed yet I hate the feeling when you get home… you almost need a day to just sleep that vacation brain off! It’s amazing how lazy you can be, haha! Anyway, some fun shoots coming up that I’m really looking forward to. The next month will be filled with lots of portrait session, then beginning October 1, I’ll have a wedding every weekend for about 9 weeks!! Craziness!
Wanted to share something…. On Sunday morning, I woke up and went to church in Destin. It was nice to visit someone elses church for a change. The priest started his homily with this funny story. (I just googled it and found it online)
Heavenly Bran Muffins
An 85-year-old couple, having been married almost 60 years, died in a car crash. They had been in good health the last 10 years, mainly due to the wife’s interest in health food and exercise.
When they reached the Pearly Gates, St. Peter took them to their mansion, which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen and master bath suite and Jacuzzi.
As they “oohed and aahed,” the old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost.
“It’s free,” Peter replied, “this is Heaven.”
Next they went out back to survey the championship golf course that the home backed up to. They would have golfing privileges every day, and each week the course changed to a new one, representing the great golf courses on Earth. The old man asked, “What are the green fees?”
Peter’s reply, “This is Heaven, you play for free.”
Next they went to the club house and saw the lavish buffet lunch with the cuisines of the world laid out.
“How much to eat?” asked the old man. “Don’t you understand yet? This is Heaven, it’s free!” Peter replied with some exasperation.
“Well, where are the low-fat and low-cholesterol tables?” the old man asked timidly.
Peter lectured, “That’s the best part — you can eat as much as you like of whatever you like, and you never get fat or sick. This is Heaven.”
With that the old man went into a fit of anger, throwing down his hat and stomping on it, shrieking wildly.
Peter and his wife both tried to calm him down, asking him what was wrong.
The old man looked at his wife and said, “This is all your fault. If it weren’t for your bran muffins, I could have been here 10 years ago!”
Thought that was a cute little story :)
Random pics … a little glimpse from our trip.
Destin
We are here in Destin enjoying our little break from work. The weather has been a little blah, it starts out beautiful in the morning and then around 3:00 it starts to rain. By that time we are all ready to come in from the sun anyway, so it’s not too bad. Last night we took advantage of the yuck weather and went to the outlet malls for a little bit. It was then I realized that I hadn’t bought new clothes since the wedding. I swear it felt like every weekend there was something to do, so I was constantly at the mall. Now and I look in my closet and realize I’ve got some shopping to do! I have a problem with finding things I love yet telling myself…. I realllly don’t need it. (Like my 3rd Michael Kors watch . . . not necessary) Right now, I am just hanging out, waiting to go to dinner. We are about to go to our favorite restaurant, Harbor Docks. Sometimes I feel like we only come to Destin to go eat there ;)
I hope the weather is looking up for tomorrow since it’ll be our last full day here. Enjoying the time spent with Randy, my brother Chris and his girlfriend Jen. We have so much fun when we get together! My brother is a constant source of entertainment with his random dance moves. Last night, we just hung out, grilled some steaks and watched the Saints game from the Condo.
We are staying at Destin Towers, we have a beautiful view!
The view from our condo balcony:
The Leingang’s :: Family
I photographed this sweet little family on Monday in the French Quarter! Eric, Janie and Jovie!! How much do I love Jovie’s name? She was so sassy and playful for our shoot. I feeling of this session just makes me happy! The candid ones of them loving on their little girl are precious :) Jovie has one of those smiles that can’t help but make you do the same. I caught so many little smirks from her!
I am happy to say that I am ALLLL caught up on my work and I am headed out to Destin in the morning for relaxation and to clear my head for an exciting next few months! I’m packing my gear and hope to take some photos while there. Maybe I’ll get to blog a little too? Be back Tuesday!
Have a great weekend everyone!
- I love these pictures... Jovie is so cute and adorable, she brings life to these pictures...
- What a Beautiful Family!!!
Wesley & Erica :: Rehearsal
You may remember Wesley & Erica from when I photographed their Engagement Portraits. I grew up with Wesley and our families are great friends. I was honored to photograph both their Engagement and Rehearsal Dinner. I remember Erica asking me if I wanted to be their Wedding photographer and I told her I wanted to enjoy going to her Wedding as a guest :) I couldn’t help but think the entire time at their Wedding how I just wanted to go pick up the photographers extra camera and start firing away! So here I am again, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Our friends are all starting to get engaged and several have asked me to photograph their Wedding, do I shoot or it or enjoy the night celebrating with them? Still trying to figure out how to answer this one.
Their Rehearsal Dinner was at Cafe Giovanni, which is one of my favorite restaurants downtown. Delicious! So take a peek into their Rehearsal night, one of my favorite things is capturing people’s emotions. The room was full of love, heartfelt speeches, well wishes and people who truly care about Erica and Wes. It brought me back to the night of my Rehearsal Dinner and made me emotional. This is another thing I truly enjoy photographing.
Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Wesley Ramsey, your Wedding Saturday night was beautiful!
- I wish we had booked you for our rehearsal dinner...we barely have any pictures from ours!
- I hired Dre to shoot ours!! I wish we would have had a videographer there toooo!!!!!
- They are such a cute couple. Great Job, Jen!
- Thanks Kristin, can't wait to see their Wedding pics, I know you did a great job! :)
The Leingang’s :: Teaser
It’s another rainy day…. which means I’ll be showing my ‘To Do List’ who’s boss! We are headed to Destin this weekend and I really hope the rain is gone by then. I could use a little sun and relaxation as Summer comes to an end. The upcoming months are going to be biz-zay! I had a great time on my shoot yesterday with The Leingang Family in the French Quarter. Here’s one of my favorites from the day, more to come soon!
Keeping a Personal Business
Boy did I have a lazy day yesterday or what… and it felt good. I didn’t need to be anywhere or do anything! Lately if I’m not shooting, editing, or designing albums, there always seems to be something going on. Yesterday, I enjoyed being a BUM! By 7pm, I realized I hadn’t left the house all day and I plain out looked a mess! I think sometimes we just need a day like that, no plans! My work was right here waiting for me this morning, HELLO Monday! Because all my shoots where rescheduled last week from the rain (minus the Rehearsal Dinner I shot), I was actually able to catch up on most of my work. It felt good to be back on track…. rain isn’t always a bad thing. (My palm trees need it, too!!)
I’ve been reading alot of books lately about business and setting yourself apart… being the “Purple Cow” for instance. We’ve all seen the Black and White Cows, but how remarkable are the Purple Ones? The Purple Ones are what people talk about. I can tell you that about 95% of my business is word of mouth and still sometimes it blows my mind. I just recently started advertising on TheKnot.com vendor list because I felt it would be good for me to stretch out my wings a little. After a few months, I’ll decide if it’s worth it.
After doing a lot of reading, I want to address something that I think is super important in my line of work. It’s been weighing on me. I’ve been thinking about how many Weddings I should shoot per year. As I talked about in a recent blogpost, I’ve booked quite a bit of Weddings in the past couple of months. I have about 9 Weddings booked for the rest of this year and I have between 15-20 booked for 2011. And then some for 2012. Per year, I think 25 is a good number. I want to make sure I keep time for all my portrait sessions because I love them so much! And to be honest, I am so afraid of not being able to handle booking more than 25 Weddings. ALOT goes into each Wedding from start to finish. I want to make sure that my business keeps its personal touch, because to me, its very important.
There are certain things I’ve learned from my mom as I’ve watched her handle my Dad’s business for the past 30+ years. Staying organized, always being kind, hand writing notes, making to do lists and also reminding your clients how important they are to you. She has taught me how to be responsible from a very young age, including paying every bill on time: meaning sending off a paper check, putting a stamp on it and dropping it in the mailbox. (Randy is having a hard time convincing me to do automatic draft for our bills) I just can’t, ya know why? Because my mom and grandma still do the mail method, DUH! Control freak, yes I think so. Sending a hand written note out with my contracts is something I feel is very important too, I don’t want anyone to feel like just another client or just another bride – so like I said, 25 is a good number for me.
There is only one of me and I can’t imagine giving up control of the things I’ve worked so hard at. Ranging from taking extra time at shoots when we need it, editing, emailing clients, phone calls, photo orders, shipping things out, organizing pick ups, typing each and every contract, blogging as much as I can, balancing my business checkbook, doing my taxes, attending workshops, etc….. I want to make sure non of those things fall short. I am so thankful to have Randy and Dre as my wedding second shooters, they are the best and I am so glad I get to work with them. However, the behind the scenes stuff is ALL me :)
There are different ways that I try to handle my work flow to make sure the client stays the top priority. I always work on client editing from the order that they were taken. I try not to book more than 3 Portrait Sessions per week. On weekends I have Weddings, I know that I will be doing alot of editing the following week, so I may limit it to just 1 or 2 sessions that next week. It depends on the time of year too, I don’t always have a perfect schedule, sometimes things get busy and sometimes I’m free for a week or so. (Which is usually when I dive into some type of creative project for myself) My goal is to make the best of every week.
With all this being said, I wonder where I would be if I wasn’t a photographer. It makes me really sad to think about. I truly enjoy every bit that goes into it, even the mornings I am up until 2am working. I feel like this world of photography and blogging my journey has become an extension of me. It feels nice to call something my own, if that makes any sense? I’m really happy and proud, I guess it’s similar to what it feels like to have a child? This business is my baby and I’m a bit protective of it.
Thank you to all of my clients and future clients who read my blog. This is just another way that I try to stay close to you guys and let you know more about how I do things! I want you to know what I’m up to, just as you all keep me informed about your lives. Congrats to my friends Bridget and Ryan, who’s Wedding I photographed in February of 2009. They are welcoming their first child in March 2011, Bridget already has me all lined up for Maternity and Baby pics ;) Can’t wait to capture another wonderful stage in their lives!
Bridget & Ryan
- awwwww thanks, Jen!!!!! you're doing an amazing job, and we can't wait to have you photograph the rest of our journey together :)
- aaaand if you come to our house for the newborn photo shoot, you'll see about a billion of your pictures throughout our house haha
- YAY!! Can't wait- I'm so excited :)
- Awww :) I'm a secret blog stalker :) Have been since Bridget told me about you :) You did such a great job capturing their wedding. :) I can't wait to see Baby Robicheaux's blog post :)
- Thanks for dropping by Kristin! Looking forward to when that little bambino gets here :)
by Jen Amato
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