Timeless Memories Photography by Dan & Tanya Downs: JLW Photography Newborn Study Session

A while back - thanks to the joys of facebook, I found a great minature Dachshund breeder in Winter Haven, FL. Her name is Jessica Lewis Walker, and she is the owner of Pretty in Pink Doxies. We found her after we lost our beloved Chili Pepper and were looking for another weenie to bring home. We never did have a chance to get one of Jess's beautiful pups - she tends to have waiting lists, and our giant Snicker Doodle Dog was given to us at that time. But we kept her as a friend on facebook and have truly enjoyed watching her love of photography bloom. She has some awesome pictures of her doxie puppies that she takes with each litter. And from there, her love of all things baby-related and photography related grew and morphed into her photography studio - JLW Photography.

She really has a passion for little babies and kids, and I started calling her the baby whisperer! She is able to get newborns to get into those perfect cute poses that most other photographers have to do through a series of composite shots. When I asked her how she did it, she invited me up for a day to see her in action. This was awesome that she was so nice to extend an invitation to me so I can learn her secrets, tricks, etc. There are not many photographers around who are willing to do this! Many of them are very guarded with their secrets, or tips. Also, many of them who do share tips and tricks, charge fees and such and do it to get the money. But not Jess! It was soooo nice to meet her and get to see her in action! I learned just as much from being with her as I did from my workshop in Orlando the week before.

Here are some of my shots of the day. I cannot really take any credit for the posed shots. They are gorgeous! But I did nothing other than stand beside Jess after she worked so hard to get that baby asleep and posed. All I did was push a button on my camera.

Is he not the cutest thing ever?

Newborn sessions take a long time! No wonder a lot of photographers charge more to do them. While I am no stranger to them, Jess had a slightly different take on them. She does a lot of them in the clients' homes and makes everyone feel very relaxed and at ease. It's hard to be relaxed in a stuffy studio.

Of course new babies have to eat! Most of the time involved in the newborn sessions was feeding and getting the baby to sleep - not actual shooting and photography related stuff.

This was Jess setting up a really cool shot. Go check it out on her page.

She was really good about explaining poses and even showing pictures of the poses that she wanted to achieve. Duh! Why didn't I think of this before. A lot of times people look at me like I have two heads b/c they do not understand what I'm talking about. She has the pictures on her phone where she can just whip them out and say - this is the idea we are going for. Great thinking!