Tag Archives: scotch plains

Birthday Photos | Cake Smash Photography | Scotch Plains, NJ

cake smash photography nj

Little Warrior!

What a special day having Ari back to The Studio for her Birthday Photos! This little beauty has come such a long way in her short little life (and so have her parents)!

Ari’s mom came to me looking for a photographer to take Newborn photos of her baby girl who I believe was already close to 3 months old. Alot of photographers won’t shoot a Newborn after they reach 2 weeks old. And there is nothing wrong with that. It isn’t personal. They just may not feel like they will be able to get those beautiful sleepy, cuddly, newborn shots after that small window.

I said YES for the Birthday Girl!

You see, Ari spent the first couple of months in the hospital because she was born early. Regardless, I will never turn down a newborn because of their age. I know that I can get at least some of those shots. I will set realistic expectations and then if it goes great, even better! You can see more of Ari’s newborn session here.

Ari’s mom had a Little Mermaid theme in mind for her Birthday Photos. And while I don’t normally do themed cake smashes (I like to keep it simple), I couldn’t say no! I mean…The Little Mermaid’s name is ARIEL!! ARI – ARIEL…get it?? It took me a minute but then I put it together LOL. So that’s what we did! But I include parent poses and birthday portraits in addition to the cake portion so we actually got alot of variety of this little peanut! And Ari’s parents got the most BEAUTIFUL velvet album to display them in. Something they will be able to look through with Ari for years and eventually be able to hand down to her. I am a SUCKER for beautiful albums!!

Here are some of the images we captured of Baby Ari with those big beautiful eyes <3

How can I book?

If you are interested in scheduling a cake smash or first birthday portraits, fill out the form on the bottom of this page.

Baby Photos | Scotch Plains, NJ

The Early Bear gets the Worm?

Momma was still scheduling her baby photos when Little Baby Noah came earthside earlier than expected. And momma had an HOUR drive to the hospital! What a warrior! She made it just in time for this beautiful little guy to show up.

Mom liked the idea of using sage green for Noah’s session and what a great choice that was! The color was perfect for him! Oh, and did I mention his beautiful HAIR??? OMG, I die!!!!

It’s a Family Affair!

We started the session with family portraits and big brother Matteo was so sweet with his little brother. He wanted to make sure that he was safe and wanted to help in all the ways including holding the pacifier for lil’ bro. We ended up getting some really beautiful family portraits. But this photo….this one right here…it takes the cake! It has my whole heart! I love a good family portrait. But do you know what I love even more?? The IN BETWEEN photos. The ones where not everyone is looking at the camera. The ones where you see GENUINE connection between people. The ones where you capture LOVE!

Do you see Abuela looking down at Noah? And Noah looking back at her?? And then Mom and Dad looking at big bro and big bro looking at me??? THIS!!! It’s EVERYTHING!

A girl, her camera and baby photos

I’ve been doing photography literally my whole life. I’ve always had a camera. But most people don’t the time, the studying, the work that goes into what we do. From setup to breakdown, the photoshoot, the editing. It’s alot of work. But when you LOVE what you do, it really pays off. I want to share a quick little example of what I’m talking about.

Noah was having a difficult time “settling” during our session. But towards the end, he finally did. And he was in a green romper. And when a baby finally settles after a long time working with them, the less you mess with them, the better. I was NOT about to take that little outfit off of him. We did a setup in a really cute marshmallow bucket. Mom loved it and chose it as one of her final images. But for me, I wanted it to match the bucket better. And with all my knowledge and experience with editing, that’s exactly what I did. Take a look at the before and after…

Before and After photos

The rest of the baby photos!

Without further ado, here are the final images that momma selected for her Collection. There were so many good ones, but these were the overall winners! Plus another one that I worked on as well because, well, it’s gorgeous 🙂

Print Products and Heirloom Keepsakes

mother lies in a field wearing a red dress and holding her little baby girl in an embrace

In the end, I do believe, the two things we will cherish most, are memories and photographs. And photographs have the ability to bring you closer to those memories. It is quite a powerful thing indeed…

COLLECTIONS


LUXURY

2990 (Value: 8390)

30 small portraits in an elegant walnut box with acrylic lid

choice of 5×7’s matted to 8×10 or mounted 8×10 print

complimentary session within 12 months

20% off a la carte products

SIGNATURE

1990 (Value: 4640)

15 small portraits in an elegant walnut box with acrylic lid

choice of 5×7’s matted to 8×10 or mounted 8×10 print

10% off a la carte products

CLASSIC

990 (Value: 1250)

5 small portraits in a standard portrait box

choice of 5×7’s matted to 8×10 or mounted 8×10 print

DIGITALS

10 PACK – 1590

20 PACK – 2590

A LA CARTE


ACRYLICS

60″ – 10000

40″ – 6000

30″ – 4500

20″ – 3000

14″ – 2500

WALL ART


UP TO

60″

40″

30″

24″

20″

14″

10″

CANVAS

2490

1590

1090

890

790

590

390

PRINT

1290

890

690

590

390

250

SMALL PORTRAITS

8×10 – 250 / 60

CUSTOM CARDS

Set of 25 – 100

* A digital file is included with each print that you purchase. You may use that file to make reproductions up to 8×10 inches.

**Session fee does not include prints or files unless otherwise stated in Collection Information

HEIRLOOM ALBUMS



HEIRLOOM ALBUMS

10″ Album with 15 or 25 images – 1990 / 2990

6″ Parent Album (Duplicate) – 790

Bundle (1) 12×12″, (2) 10×10″ – 3890 / 4890

SPECIALTY SESSIONS


PETITE NEWBORN – 490

Up to 1 hour in-studio, baby only, wrapped

3 retouched images delivered via digital download

BUMP TO BIRTHDAY – 3690

maternity to baby’s first birthday

maternity, newborn, milestone, 1st Birthday

5 digital files from each session

QUICKIE – 290

Child portrait on a simple solid backdrop

3 retouched images delivered via digital download

* MONDAYS ONLY, EXCLUDES NEWBORN AND HEADSHOTS

Model Call | Scotch Plains NJ | Newborn

It’s a newborn photo model call!

I am looking for a newborn between 14 – 21 days new for a new service that I will be offering. The purpose of this Model Call is to capture marketing material for my new Petite Wrapped Sessions. The shoot is complimentary and includes 3 digital files. Session is 45 minutes, includes baby only, and will take place in my Scotch Plains, NJ Studio on Oct 18th or Oct 20th at approximately 9AM.

If you or someone you know would like to be considered, please fill out the form below and I will be in touch!

Sign up below

Newborn Photography NJ | Chatham

One month of sweetness <3

Sometimes mommas contact me after baby has been born to schedule their Newborn shoot. And while we (speaking for Newborn Photographers across the world) always recommend booking in advance, we understand that is not always what happens. Why? Well, because, LIFE! Life in general can be crazy and busy and overwhelming. Now throw in growing a baby in your belly and all the planning that takes place just to be prepared for the baby!

What’s the best age for a newborn shoot?

All Newborn Photographers have different thoughts on the “ideal” time to photograph a newborn. And the windows can vary greatly. Some don’t take on Newborns after they reach a certain age, like oh, I don’t know, over 2 weeks. And while that may sound crazy calling a 2 week old baby “too old”, the reality is that the photographer doesn’t believe they will be able to deliver the images that they would be happy with. So thank them for being honest with you and themself about it! It CAN get more difficult to do a newborn shoot as the baby gets older because they are awake more often and can be more difficult to pose.

Then there are also some photographers who legit don’t have any availability for a newborn session because they have a full calendar of shoots that were booked 6 months before baby was born.

But the good news is…there are a lot of us! Especially here in NJ! With various price ranges and packages and experience and props and equipment and training. There is no shortage of Newborn Photographers in NJ to choose from. 🙂

And I am so happy that I had availability on my calendar when this momma called me. I actually only take a number of Newborn Sessions a month so that I am able to accommodate parents who didn’t have a chance to book months in advance. He was just super adorable and so were his big sis and bro!

So Ladies and Gentlemen, I now present to you, this adorably handsome little boy Mateyko…

joan marie

Scotch Plains, NJ 07076

908.312.1788 | info@joanmariephotography.com

 

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