16 Feb
Newborn Sessions Revisited
For someone who is not a newborn photographer, I sure have done a lot of posting about baby photography! My very first photo shoot (done with a point-and-shoot 
) was with a baby, I took some pictures of T1 when he was 8 days old, I gave you some tips for photographing a one-month old, I showed you some before+after examples that show how Kelli Nicole takes pretty photos and turns them into something amazing, and I wrote about my first attempt at a newborn session with my friend’s 14 day old baby, deciding afterward that I was so unhappy with the results I didn’t want to do newborn portraits ever again.
Then a friend of mine from BYU got in contact with me, told me she was living in Chicago, and that she wanted me to do a session with her, her husband, and her new baby. At first I was going to say no, and I was very up front about my lack of experience, so I asked for her budget and planned to refer her on to someone else. As I browsed around the internet looking for people to refer her to though, I realized that with a budget like hers *I* could do a better job than most anyone she could hire with the amount she had to pay them. I offered her a friends+family discount and set things up for a weekday session in my light-flooded apartment.
I ran around collecting items from our apartment that would work as props (you may have noticed that part of newborn photography is about putting cute babies in cool containers) and digging through our storage closet to find blankets and cloth diapers that weren’t unusable due to stains.
They showed up, my friend and I spent a few minutes reminiscing, and then I got down to business. It’s been months since I shot a session, so I was a little bit nervous at first, but I used some of the tips that Kelli Nicole has been kind enough to share with me, and I worked that soft/sweet/bendy baby and beautiful light as best I could.
When I sat down to edit I was thrilled to see the difference between the session I attempted in Texas and this one. I don’t think this means I will try to start competing with Kelli Nicole and her unbelievably amazing posing skills, but I will definitely be more receptive to newborn sessions in the future when I’m approached about them. I still believe in the importance of specializing, but I also believe in focusing your skills in the areas where you have natural talent, and I think there might be a possible well of untapped talent in this area that I have yet to explore.
I wasn’t going to post this session on Jenna Cole, but Amy said I should, so I’m going to. Great suggestion Amy!
The lesson you can learn from my epxerience? When someone is going to pay you for something you should certainly do it well, but don’t write yourself off from doing something a second time because you weren’t brilliant at it on your first try!
Are there areas in your life where you tried something once, thought you disliked it/weren’t good at it, and then changed your mind after giving it another go?
On a fun little side note, it’s TinyChat night tonight! That Sister, Shaylene, will be my guest, so if you want the dirt on what I was like as a kid/teenager, this is a session you don’t want to miss.
A big HUGE P.S.-After I finished typing up this post I received some amazing news. I am going to be doing the mentoring with Kelli France after all! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN FOR ME! I’m actually tearing up as I type this. I wanted this so badly, and you guys, my little That Wife community, made it happen. You really are all my favorites.
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
OMG!!! I am so excited for you! Congratulations!!!!!! (yep I love exclamation points)
Reply
1LOVE that baby picture, Jenna! You rock.
AND I’m so, so jazzed about you getting to do the mentoring session with Kelli France! SO exciting!! I hope you continue to grow and change because you are one talented lady!
Reply
2Oh yay! So glad it all worked out in the end!
Reply
3What a cute photo! I can’t imagine how hard it must be to photograph a newborn. You have to be a baby whisperer or something.
It’s funny you mention revisiting something you thought you weren’t good at… I adored film photography, and thought digital just “wasn’t the same” - it wasn’t until about a year ago when I used a friend’s 50D to take some photos for PetFinder that I really found the joy in shooting manual again (and yes, realized that as always, it was me and not the camera before!) I obviously still have really far to go, but I’m enjoying learning.
And I know I already said this, but I’m so excited for you about the Kelli France contest! That’s amazing news!
Reply
4yay that is so exciting!!! and that pic is adorable
Reply
5Oh my gosh, how amazing! Congratulations!! How did that work out?
Writing was like that for me. I used to post stories online so people could read and critique them and I never had a huge following so I assumed I wasn’t good at it. But I loved doing it so I kept at it and now I’m writing my second novel!
Reply
6I think almost anything deserves a couple tries before you write it off! So glad you had success the second time around.
Are you allowed to say how it came about that you got the session with Kelli France? Glad that worked out and hope that talking with her gives you good ideas for how you can better manage/juggle motherhood and photography! =)
Reply
Jenna Reply:
February 16th, 2011 at 9:48 am
Just a voting discrepancy that I noticed when she emailed us the results with a breakdown of names, number of votes, etc (very nice of her, btw!). I sent her an email stating my case and thinks worked out for me in the end!
Reply
TJ Reply:
February 16th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Do you mind explaining the discrepancy? I don’t understand…
Reply
Meg Reply:
February 16th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Did she take the winnings from the “original” winner?
Reply
Andrea Reply:
February 16th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Yeah I feel bad for the other person who was told she had won. Does she still get the mentoring session too? Can you explain more about the discrepancy?
I think you should both get the mentoring session, otherwise it’s not really fair to her.
Reply
Sarah Reply:
February 16th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
I agree with this!
Reply
Cute little baby lips!
Reply
8Oh jeez - I’m always giving up on something too quickly! If I let myself do that *all* the time, I wouldn’t be able to today play the piano or sew something cute. Those were the first things I thought of. I was hating piano so much at at time when I was a young teenager that I drafted a contract for my mom and I to sign saying that if when I turned 18 I still disliked playing the piano and wanted to stop, she’d give me $100. If I learned to love it after all, I’d owe her $100. Well, I ended up having to pay up (and I can no longer remember if I actually did! Yikes! Though I bought her a Kitchen Aid mixer some years ago so perhaps we’re even). I’m very glad my mom wouldn’t let me give up and I’m glad I’ve stuck with it because now I actually love it!
I’m so glad that you’ve got your Kelli France session!!! That is great and I’m sure you are so excited!
Reply
9I love newborn photography and hope to grow in that area.
Can you share why you are now able to do the Kelli France mentorship? I think it’s great, just wanting to know what changed?
Reply
10That is so awesome that you are getting the mentorship! You deserve it
I also think that picture of the wee little one is absolutely precious! If I were to do a type of photography (not brave enough to try at the moment) I would want to specialize in newborn photography.
Reply
11This could not have come at a better time. I am a budding professional photographer, who is working for friends/family for free right now to practice and build a portfolio. I shot newborn TWINS this weekend and it was a huge challenge for me. The babies were awake the whole time and the light in their home was not quite right and I am still learning all about my external flash. I was not 100% happy with the results, but I did get a couple good ones and I learned a TON! Newborns may never be my specialty, but I trust that I will learn to shoot them well…
Reply
12Amazing photo!
Congrats!!!
Reply
13Wow! Your skills have improved so much-go you!
Congrats on the mentoring!
Reply
14Love the baby photo. It’s always good to give things a second try.
Can’t wait for TinyChat!
Hooray! I’m so glad that it all turned out well in the end. You totally deserve it.
Reply
15Yay Jenna, I’m so happy for you! It seemed so strange that you didn’t win in the first place.. Was there some sort of mix-up or something? Anyway, congrats!
Reply
16Hooray for Jenna! You definitely got my vote!
Reply
17Yay! Congrats!
Reply
18You are so far better at baby pics than you give yourself credit for. And hooray on winning! woot!
Reply
19Great Job with the photo shoot! That baby is so cute.
Congratulations on getting a session with Kelli France!! That is so exciting!
Reply
20Adorable photo! If you are ever back in SF, you’ll have to do a session with my rascal.
Revisiting stuff you thought you were no good at. I have a math learning disability and growing up did VERY poorly at math. Not just, “bummer I got a C again” bad but “doing math is so incomprehensible that I get sweaty and start crying and get awkwardly overwhelmed” bad. Turns out, I have dyscalculia, which is like dyslexia but with numbers!
After that was revealed, I learned how to work with it and now I don’t freak out. Excel has made a huge difference in my world. I’ve learned to push pride aside and ask other people to check my work.
The interesting thing is that after college I worked at a mutual fund company, got my series 6 license (lets you sell mutual funds), and have been in the tech or finance world ever since. I think I have more patience with people and learned to try and figure out creative ways to solve problems because of it too!
Reply
21I’m so glad you got the mentoring session! Yahoo!!! I always feel like one person (me) can’t make a difference on voting things like that, I’m so happy to know it did!
Reply
22Yay! So glad you won! I can’t wait to hear about it.
Reply
23Congrats on the mentoring session! So happy for you! And the baby is super cute. Awesome photo
Reply
241. adorable photo
2. I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!
Reply
25-Beautiful photo.
-So glad you won! So glad we could help you out ;o)
Reply
26The baby session looks so great!
Congrats on winning the Kelli France mentoring programs. That is an amazing blessing!
Reply
27Yes, actually! I find that when I try something, give up, and then resume it at another time that I find it to be not only easier, but more enjoyable.
Reply
28I hope I have a baby before you move so that I can hire you to take pictures
OR, you can just not move and then I wouldn’t have to worry about the timing! Yes, I like that suggestion much better!
Reply
29Oh my goodness, the photos came out wonderfully! You should photograph my newborn when he or she arrives in July! I was thinking I’d wing it and take some with my own camera but I would never be able to replicate something that looks as nice.
Congrats on the mentoring session. What an awesome opportunity for you!
Reply
30Beautiful photo! I love seeing newborn sessions…so glad you want to do more of them!
Reply
31Congratulations!!!
I am so happy for you that you get to do the mentoring sessions! It is so nice when something you REALLY want works out.
And the baby pictures are beautiful.
Reply
32