Jen Amato Photography Blog

Year: 2011

  • Beverly :: Bridals

    Hey gang, I hope you all had a great weekend- I was pretty busy with shooting, but did manage to get a couple of hours of pool time in yesterday at my parents. I’ll try to keep up with my posts over the next couple of weeks, but my schedule is looking pretty crazy. I have so much editing to do right now. I don’t think I’ve ever been this backed up. I’m not complaining though- I am so thankful for each and every one of you who follow my blog or have had me as your photographer. Your support is where I find the strength to wake up everyday and work. Having your own business can be difficult to manage and balance your time. Even though I work from home while editing- I keep business hours as if I was “clocking in” somewhere. I work a lot of overtime, too ;) It can be tempting to want to wake up every day and just go get my nails done, go out to lunch, lay out by the pool and watch movies on the sofa. As relaxing as that sounds- I’ve learned to “save up” for those moments. I find balance by working really hard, so the times when I do get a “break” – – I’m able to enjoy it that much more knowing that I’ve “earned” it. I’m probably getting a little too personal right now- but I don’t really care. Every Sunday at mass I pray that God allows me to continue with this career that I am so fortunate to have. There will be a lot of late nights in the weeks ahead just trying to get caught up and that’s perfectly fine by me. My beach trips that are coming up will just be that much more rewarding.

    I have been waiting to share these Bridals with you all for sooo long! I took these of Beverly in Baton Rouge, just a month or so before her Wedding. She was just breathe taking! Her makeup looked incredible, which was done by Suzette from UpSa Daisy salon. Hands down – the best! Beverly’s family reminded me alot of my own. BIG ITALIAN FAMILY! More on that tomorrow- when I’ll be blogging her Wedding images :) She had a crew of about 5-6 people with her during her Bridal Session, doing everything they could to make sure her photos were perfect! So here is a peek from our day. I drove the entire way back to New Orleans thinking about my job and how lucky I am to capture shoots like this.

    So here she is……. these were some of my favs :)

    Seriously, she belongs on the cover of a Bridal Magazine!

  • Lately :: Quotes, Goals & Random Dreams

    I don’t really have too much to share picture wise today, just trying to get caught up and organize myself for the upcoming weeks. Been an editing, album design, and photo ordering fool lately when I’m not out shooting. I’ve been back at bootcamp full force too which is always a nice release to just let my mind be in the present moment. I had taken a good month or so off. There is an upcoming race at City Park that our whole workout crew is planning to attend together. As rough and tough as “bootcamp” sounds- it really isn’t. It’s a place where we leave everything else at the door and come to give it all we have. I’ve made some great friends in the group, we now have a running coach named Jennifer that owns Louisiana Running Company. She comes out there with us sometimes and kicks our butt. This morning she emailed us a quote that really hit me. Thought I would share it with you.

    “There is no limit to what you can imagine. And with commitment, with effort, what you can imagine… you can become. Put your mind to work for you. Believe that you can do it. The world will tell you that you can’t. Yet, in your belief… you’ll find the strength, you’ll find the ability, to do it anyway.” Ralph Marston

    I’m sure we can all apply that to our lives in one area or another. I’ve seen so many dreams become a reality for not only myself but for many people around me. It takes waking up every morning with a different attitude, a certain hunger for something better in life, yearning for a challenge and not stopping until you get there. I think about this all the time. Wondering where I’d be if I didn’t become a photographer – the world would look different to me. It wouldn’t be as happy. I’ve experienced so much in the last several years. Each day I learn something new. I learn what I want for my life. Things I really love doing, things I want to change. Areas of my business that I’d like to re-evaluate, etc. I get down on myself sometimes because I wish there were just more hours in the day to get out all this creative stuff I have jumbling around in my head. One day I will find that balance and things will begin to make sense in my brain. Until then I will continue on while I live out this journey. The growing process is sometimes the best part right? Painful and uncertain, but completely necessary to reach the place we want to be in life. I am working towards a certain goal. Are you? We talk about this a lot in bootcamp. Reaching certain goals – – whether it be physically or in everyday work life.

    I can always tell when I have alot going on because I dream alot, do you guys do that? I wake up in the morning and think to myself… what the heck was that all about?? I think my mind is always moving so fast that when I finally do fall asleep it’s like a jumble of thoughts! My latest dream was my dog Lexie swimming at the bottom of the ocean, yet somehow she could breathe under there? (Like a little fish! So freaking weird? LOL!)

    Anyway… Happy Wednesday! More posts to come soon ;)

     

  • Christina & Eddie :: Engagement

    I’ve known Christina for a while now, she is a friend of my cousins. We met back in High School. It was great to see her again when we met up for our Wedding meeting last year. I was thrilled that chose me to be her photographer! Last week I shot Christina & Eddie’s Engagement Session in the French Quarter. We first went to Muriel’s which is the place they went to hang out right after getting engaged. They said that place brought back a lot of happy memories from that very special day! We then headed towards the River and took a few there by the streetcar line. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, the Quarter was packed. I am always so happy to see it booming again down there! Looking forward to photographing these two lovebirds for their April 2012 Wedding, it will be here before we know it! They have such great chemistry and were truly a blast to photograph.

    Here is just a few favs!

    They laughed alot and I loved that!Such a beauty!Really love this one!

  • Busy Season is here!

    Just wanted to say hello! :) Things have been a whirlwind over here in Jen Amato Photography land. It’s a great time of year for Weddings and Portraits! My mom just left- she came over to help me stuff 100+ dancing school packages, there were photos all over the place! It would have taken me 3x as long if she didn’t come over. Tomorrow I need to edit 3 sessions and design a Wedding album- we will see how far I get! I know I won’t finish, I never finish my to-do lists because I always make them impossible to accomplish in one day! My calendar looks like something blew up, along with my desk and this house. Just kidding- I like to exaggerate. I think I’m delirious from looking at a million photo prints! Off to fold clothes, shower and hit the hay.

    Here’s a couple of little sneak peeks that will hit the blog soon. I have several Bridal sessions too that are waiting to be blogged. One is my bride Beverly who’s Wedding I will be photographing on Saturday! She is gorgeous! Can’t wait to post those!

    Christina & Eddie’s Engagement Session!

    Alex is ONE!

  • Tripp :: Newborn

    My friends Larry and Leslie welcomed their little bundle of joy into the world on April Fools Day! Knowing both of them, when I read the post on facebook that their baby had arrived, I really thought they were joking ;) I had a great time photographing Tripp last week, he totally worked the camera! His Dad Larry went to High School with my husband Randy, so we’ve all been friends for a long time! I still think it’s crazy how we’re all grown up now. I can tell you that seeing Tripp last week really made me happy, there is just something about photographing newborns! When you see your friends and how they are adjusting to their first born- the world just seems brighter. Newborns are so innocent and sweet, how can you not just want to hold them all day long. His mom Leslie is good friends with my friend Bridget, and I just took Bridget and Ryan’s little girl Agnes Mae’s newborn photos last month. So this is Agnes Mae’s boyfriend and his name is Tripp ;) HAHA!

    So here he is…. the little cutie pie!