Jen Amato Photography Blog bio picture
  • Hi, my name is Jen and I am a Natural Light Photographer based out of New Orleans! Welcome! I specialize in Engagement, Maternity, Family, Children, and Birth Photography. As a wife and mom of 5, I understand how important capturing those fleeting moments are. Making my clients feel comfortable in front of the lens, photographing priceless memories and building relationships with people in the process are my main goals. There's always lots of fun couples, sweet families and precious babies gracing the presence of my site! Be sure to check back, I'm always posting new sessions! Click the "Information" tab above to email me if you're interested in scheduling a shoot :) I can't wait to hear from you!

Jennifer :: Bridals

Sooo, there’s a new JEN AMATO in town! As of last night, I have a sister-in-law and yes she will share my maiden name! I told her it was all good unless she started up her own photography business, then we were going to run into some problems ;)

I can’t explain to you how much enjoyed myself yesterday being a part of their Wedding day. All week we could see that there was going to be some rain coming in for this weekend, but never figured it would turn into a tropical storm! Friday night, I can honestly say I started to get a bit nervous, but knew in the end it would all work out. They lined up some of the best vendors in the city – who only had one intention – which was to make this the best day ever! There was no canceling anything, despite a little rain! The news really does a good job at trying to freak people out! So aggravating! Saturday morning came and I had plans to get to the Roosevelt around 9am where all the girls were doing prep. Our street was flooded since it had rained all night, so we couldn’t get our low cars out the driveway. Well my dad came and picked me up in his big pick up truck. We first stopped off at Academy and I bought Jen some baby blue polka dot rain boots! I thought it would be cute for her to wear them in a few photos!

Well the prep at the Roosevelt was fun, it was nice to just primp with the girls, drink mimosa’s and hang out. There were times in the day where the sun came out and was shinning so bright through the windows, this is when you’d hear a bunch of “wooo hoo’s”!! Overall, we only ran into a little rain which was when we were heading to the reception. The rain didn’t stop a thing – we had soo much fun. I danced my booty off, I can’t wait to see the photos and videos. I had a blast with my friends from Studio Tran and Dyle Films – love them! Of course there were parts in the night when I stole their cameras or helped with holding up the detail lights. I couldn’t help myself, I felt like I just needed to be doing something. I am so used to shooting Weddings! However, I had an amazing time being on the other side :)

So on to Jen’s Bridal pictures. We took these a few weeks ago and I have been patiently waiting to share these with you guys! I really wanted to make an effort to try and “style” this shoot a little bit. Jen and I brought along alot of props to make her shoot really unique. I’ve been giving some thought to these types of shoots and I’m looking forward to changing some things up next year with my business. I am at my most comfortable and most creative when I have certain things play out. That being atmosphere, props, lighting, mood, etc… These things are all so important to getting that “look” in photos. 2011 has been my busiest year yet and I am soo incredibly happy to have been given the opportunity to photograph lots of beautiful and unique people. Sometimes it gets hard to style each and every single one of my sessions. I’ve been thinking about sending out a questionnaire and tip email to my clients before their sessions. I want them to get their creative wheels turning too, so that we can make some really special photos together! I’m trying to stay committed to only booking a certain amount of Weddings for next year. I may be going in a new direction soon with a couple of areas of my business, more on that later when the time comes and I’m ready to talk about.

I just want to say Congratulations again to my sweet brother Chris and my new sister Jen! I love you both so very much! Thank you for trusting me enough to capture this special time in your lives! Your Engagement Session and these Bridals will always be special to me. I’m here when you need me. I can’t wait for the next chapter in our lives. I’ll be right here ready to capture it all. I am so lucky to have you guys in my life!

Here are my favs from Jen’s Bridal Session. All of these were taken in some of my favorite little spots in City Park.

Mi Familia.

It’s been a really busy week with wrapping up last minute details for Chris and Jen’s Wedding festivities. As most of you know, my brother is marrying his long time love, Jennifer tomorrow! We had the rehearsal last night at Mother’s and everything was wonderful. I just wanted to share a quick photo of my family. I’ve done a little editing this morning and about to head about the door to get a manicure with mom. I really want to bake Jen some cupcakes for tomorrow, too! She loves funfetti! Enjoying this time with my family and soaking it all in!

Jax & Jhett :: Children

I photographed Jax & Jhett last week at City Park. Their mom, Michelle had some great ideas! She really wanted some shots of them under the large Oak trees with her reading to them :) She also wanted some of them with old time fishing poles and overalls! Loved her ideas, I hope these photos are just what she imagined!

I’ve photographed this sweet family several times over the past few years and I am grateful to have them as friends. Jax and Jhett are so sweet and adorable! We had a great session!

Here are my favs from our shoot:

Little Mr. Jhett!Beautiful Michelle reading to her boys!!Love this one!Jax! What a cutie pie!Gone fishin’!!Love this one too!Eww this nasty thing scared us out the water! Nutria rat!

Lately

It feels weird to not be blogging every single weekday. I can usually plan out my blogs up to 2-3 weeks in advance and I know exactly what will be posted. Right now, I made sure to give myself some time off to enjoy my brother’s Wedding festivities. We had the Bridesmaids Luncheon this past Sunday at Metairie Country Club, the Rehearsal is this Thursday and the Wedding is this upcoming Saturday. I’ve been helping my mom plan the Rehearsal, which tonight we are making all the favors. Looking forward to sipping some wine and relaxing with the girls.

I woke up the other morning with a really bad backache that had been lingering since last week. Well after running some tests and 2 hours at the doctor’s yesterday, I got no news but ‘Oh, you must have pulled a muscle!” AWESOME! So, I put a medicated back strip on last night and that seemed to work a little bit. I can only sit at my desk and edit/do work for about 2-3 hours at a time without needing to go walk around and stretch my back. I am really hoping this passes by the weekend. I need to go take some more Advil!

I am excited about the new props that my mother in law bought me for my newborn shoots. It’s 3 adorable animal crocheted outfits to swaddle them in with matching beanies. My godson, Reed will be born in about 2 months- so I’ve been trying to think of some new ideas. I joined Pinterest a few days ago and my creative juices are flowing. I wish I would have joined earlier. That site is amazing!!! I am also on the lookout for some thin fabric in assorted colors to swaddle the babies in. Lot’s of new ideas in my head!

Well we finally have our guest room complete, it just needs something to hang over the bed. I found this idea on Pinterest that is an old picture frame with yarn draped across the center. You clothespin old black and white photos across it. I thought this would be an awesome idea for that bedroom. It’s amazing how finishing that bedroom has seemed to make our house a little cozier. I can look around our house now and see all of my and Randy’s hard work. He built our wooden headboard with his own hands. I am so proud of the way it came out. I did the distressing and I’m really pleased! I need to take some some photos of it soon. I wish I could have documented the whole process- but I got busy and blew it off. He said he wanted to make another one, so hopefully I snap away for the next one. There’s so many little areas in our house that make me smile – things that we’ve created together. That’s worth more than buying pre-made art or furniture any day.

I can’t wait to share my sister in laws Bridals with your guys, I had so much fun! She looks amazing in the photos! Another one of my brides, Sylvia had her session a couple of weeks ago, too! She’s another one… I was like OMGoodness while editing, breathetaking! I can’t wait to shareeeeee!

So I’ve taken over Randy’s little shed/workroom outside. My props were EVERYWHERE! So he went and bought ceiling hanger hooks from Home Depot. You walk in now and all of my props are hanging from the ceiling.. looks kind of crazy! But at least you can walk in there now and find things easily.

Okay enough typing for now, my back is starting to ache. Sometimes it feels good to just talk and get things out in my head. There are some many hours a day when I’m not shooting… that I’m sitting here alone in my home office. Often my blog is my platform and speaking space. Even though I have no clue who most of you are that read this, my blog is my voice and storefront. Thanks for stopping by! More posts to come soon :)

Here’s a peek at my cousins shoot from last week!

Jude :: Newborn

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing little Mr. Jude! He did great for us :) We took some outside and also got a few inside using some natural light coming through the door and windows. I loved the little crocheted beanie hat and diaper cover that his mom, Brittani had for him! Here are some of my favs from our morning: