Jen Amato Photography Blog

It’s Sunday and I’m just getting home from church, I parked myself at my computer right when I got home to answer emails. The weather has been beautiful lately and I am very thankful to not be bundled up in gloves, coats and hats for my sessions anymore. It definitely can be a little restricting! I wanted to give a little update on some things. Right now I am booked until the end of May. From now until then, I have 8 Weddings, 25 portrait sessions, the 16 Mini Easter Sessions at the beginning of April, the dancing school I photograph every year at the end of April consisting of around 100 girls, oh and a few showers and parties to help plan for my brother and future sis in law! Easter is in there somewhere too, which I hope to take a few days off for. Looking forward to doing the Crescent City Classic the day before Easter as well.

So here I am….. sitting at my desk… so very very thankful. Wondering how I got to this point? Wondering how I can look at my calendar and see nothing but PHOTOGRAPHY on it. I hate turning anyone away and I want each session to be special for each client. It’s hard having to respond to emails to say I don’t have anymore spots open until such and such date. I never thought I would be where I am now- I am just being open and honest. I pray every single Sunday about my business, he must be listening. I pray when I can’t figure things out, when I need some guidance, and when I need help.

Lately, I’ve been taking it one day at a time, one session at a time because it can easily be overwhelming to look at my calendar and wonder how I’m going to get through it all. I’m just human- and there are days when I can get a little stressed. It’s just the time of year, there are long days ahead and lots of editing to be done. The one thing I have managed to be able to do it stay on top of it all- which is why I feel like I am able to take on what I do. Each clients session is edited in the order it was taken and I try not to take any longer than 7-10 days for each person. “To Do” lists are my best friend.

My blabbing is almost done- I just want everyone to know what page I’m on right now. Why do I write this kind of stuff on my blog? Because a year from now I’ll get to read this and reminisce about where I was at that very moment in life. I am so grateful for my family, friends, clients and those of you who just stop here daily to see whats new. The support is why I’m able to do what I love- thank you! I am so excited to start back up at Bootcamp tomorrow! This is my favorite time of year when we have longer days of sunshine! :)

Aright- I’m heading outside to get some fresh air take the dogs for a walk!! I have 3 Engagement sessions and a Maternity session to blog about this week! Whoop Whoooop!

I’ve been back from our trip to Vegas for about 2 weeks now, but I’m just getting a chance to upload some photos. Shame on me for only taking a few pictures. I carried my camera around the whole time too. At the end of everyday, my back was killing me! I’m not sure why I didn’t take more. I’ve been in sort of a funk lately with taking personal photos. I am so busy with staying on track with everyone else’s photos, I forget about shooting for myself. This is something that needs to change. I was always the one with the camera in my hand whenever we had “girls night out” or it was someone’s birthday. I think my problem is that I hate my “purse” camera. I really need to invest in a new camera for personal shooting. Not my big ole’ large one I carry around for sessions and weddings, but one that is lightweight and easy to carry around. Once this little beauty I’ve had my eye on reaches stores, I think I may just have to buy it for myself. I saw this little camera at the tradeshow, which by the way was awesome! It was nice to get to see the companies I am used to ordering from on a weekly basis.

So on to what I soaked in at WPPI. I went to a motivational seminar by this photographer Jasmine Star that I follow from Orange County, CA. She updates her blog just about every day. She has definitly inspired me to be personal here. She reminds me that people will fall in love with you just as much as they will fall in love with your work. And the ones who don’t like you, who really cares? I’ve somewhat held on to this way of thinking and it’s helped me to look at the bigger picture rather than just being this robot that photographs people. There is so much more to me than that.

Since I forgot my paper and pen in our hotel room, I just used the notepad on my iphone. Here are some things I typed that struck a cord with me. Stopping work at 6:30pm. There comes a time when you have to separate life from business. I have a problem with this and I really need to work on it. I am so afraid of letting people down or taking too long with their images. I am a tough boss on myself. Truly I am. She searches for inspiration from magazines instead of other photographers websites. This is something I need to start remembering to do. I am thinking of turning one wall of my office into an inspiration board of cool styles and poses from magazines. She takes her little dog for a walk 3x a day just to clear her head and get out of her office. Once again, this is something I need to do- I forget to take breaks and I just feel like I need to work work work. She talked about creating a unique web presence, learning to say no, daring to dream, breaking the rules to be more creative, and reading more. She talked about how easy it is to get bogged down. We picked this profession for a reason, so we need to take advantage of it.

I am just sharing a bit of what I learned, I hope I’m not coming across as if I am venting. Sometimes I just need to type things out to almost hear myself think. This is a career I chose for myself and I am so thankful for those of you out there who have allowed me to carry out my dream. I just need to start making better decisions so that I’m not overworked. Doing so, I will become a better person… a better photographer. I have so many dreams in mind for 2012 that I’m not really ready to talk about yet, but I just can’t wait to get there. I can’t wait to take the business to a new level. However there are certain things I need to do and get through this year in order for that to happen.

If anything, going to WPPI opened my eyes to a new way of thinking. It reminded me that it’s okay to be me. To the honest and open. To put myself out there. To get critiqued. To be hard on myself. To learn from my mistakes. To have patience. To keep my head up. To keep dreaming.

Our 3 nights and 3 days in Vegas went way too fast. We spent some time with our friends Dana and Tim walking the strip and hanging out. We also caught up with our friends Beebe, Corine, Dayna, Chad, Rachel and Jared – enjoyed the views at tip top of Vegas! We joked about how you couldn’t pay us money to do the bungie off the side of the Stratosphere Jump, it’s like 108 floors or something crazy! No thanks!

Overall- trip was great, here are a few photos I snapped along our travels! Oh yea…. and Happy Mardi Gras!