Jessica Lemmons Photography Blog, Longview Washington (Wa.) photographer.

Miss Esther was the baby I was photographing when photographer Bill Wagner photographed me for the Daily News article and I thought I would share with you a few of my favorites from the session with her.   She was such a peaceful little one throughout the whole session and did amazing despite me being incredibly nervous about having someone taking pictures of me!  (and yes, I get nervous too…..there is a reason I’m always the one BEHIND the camera!) 

Those of you that follow my blog know that, for awhile now, I’ve been working hard to raise awareness about a charity organization that I am involved in – The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS).   About a month ago I made contact with The Daily News here in Longview and left them a brochure.  In my mind I was thinking maybe they’ll do a quick little excerpt on it for the area news or something along those lines.   I was actually a little surprised when they called me in for an interview, and then even more surprised when Brenda (the reporter) asked if Bill Wagner (a photographer for The Daily News)  could photograph me during a newborn session I had the following day.

Having a photographer photograph you during a photography session is a strange experience….haha! I was nervous going into it, and even more nervous after Bill mentioned that it might be the front page story for Monday.  Turns out he was right, and here it is….

You can read the online version of it here.

Bill, Brenda and the daily news staff did an amazing job, and I am so thankful that they chose to write about this amazing charity. I know that this article will bring a huge amount of awareness in our area and that in the future many families will be touched!   Thank you so much!!!

I just finished up with Brian a few hours ago and I had an awesome time!  We hit up some great urban locations around Longview and Kelso and then finished out at Willow Grove right around sunset.      The lighting was just perfect as we were finishing up and I was loving it – I’m slightly obsessed with getting that perfect evening time light, and try to always make it a point to schedule my outdoor sessions so that we finish up right as the sun is setting.  It totally worked out perfectly this time, and the last shot of this set is my absolute favorite that I’ve taken in awhile! 

Thanks again Brian and family for having me as your photographer and I hope you enjoy your preview!

I met up with the “S” family in Toledo yesterday afternoon for a family session at the Lewis and Clark State park.   It was so beautiful up there!  I had never used this location before and I just fell in love with it!

The family had just got a new puppy – a little St. Bernard named “Mona”.  She was so cute and the boys were having so much fun playing with her.  It made for some great photos and I really enjoyed just playing around with them all.

Thank you guys for having me as your photographer and I hope you enjoy the preview!

This one is processed a little different than my normal look,  I just thought his serious face was so precious and for some reason it totally screamed vintage to me! 

This weekend instead of shooting a wedding I’m switching it up a bit – I will be in a wedding!  Yep, that’s right!  I’m a bridesmaid, big poofy pink dress and all (I actually like it, don’t worry!).  My kiddos and I will be donning wedding attire and walking down the aisle at her wedding.   You can see who Beth is in her proposal photos and engagement photos.  Matt (her fiance) is amazing, and I’m so happy that these two are ending up together!  It’s been almost 4 years since I got married and I will be so glad to have her join with me in the married peoples club.  

So….in honor of her getting married I will be offering a 10% discount for all weddings booked during the months of March or April (wedding can be any date) and I will also be offering full payment plans.   So you can pay with a credit card, pay with check, or pay with cash, in whatever amount you need to pay monthly (or bi-monthly, or quarterly!) as long as the initial retainer fee is paid on booking and the full amount is paid by the wedding day.  The retainer fee has also  been lowered to 25% as of today!

Just a heads up to anyone needing to contact me  – being that I’m in a wedding this weekend I may be a little slower to respond to e-mails and phone calls than I normally am.  Pretty much every second is planned out in my life for the next 96 hours.  So bear with me….I will be doing my best to get all caught up first thing Monday.  Thank you for understanding!

My wonderful friend Maggie had her baby late Monday night (you can see her maternity session here).  I was so honored to be asked to be in the room when little Miss Esther arrived!  It was BY FAR the most amazing experiences that I have had the opportunity to photograph.  There is nothing on earth that is more raw and real than childbirth….it’s just simply AMAZING!  Maggie did awesome, the whole process went so quick (though Maggie might disagree!)  and she was just a trooper through the whole thing….including having having to have baby’s head turned part way through pushing (OUCH!).

Miss Esther came out perfectly healthy and with a very healthy set of lungs (you know it’s loud when even the Doctor says “wow, that ones got a good set of lungs in her!”).  The entire staff at St.Johns was just great through the whole thing – flexible and very attentive to Maggie, and  patient with me and all the photos that I was taking.   I tried to stay out of their way as much as possible, but I know a flashed one of the staff at least once in the eyes with my flash…I’m sorry!!!!  Thank you St. Johns staff for being so flexible with me, I really appreciate it!  And thank you Maggie for having me there!  She is just beautiful and God’s gift to you for such a time as this!

I’m just showing a quick preview of some of my favorites from the day.  I’m hoping to get a slideshow finished for Maggie here soon!

WARNING: Contains a few semi-graphic photos, no nudity – don’t worry, but if you are bugged by the site of umbilical cords than don’t look.   Thank you for understanding! 

The setting……

Checking the monitors.

Texting  “She’s at an 8!”

All the “stuff.”

Labor…..

Dr. Nippert did amazing!

6lbs 15 oz

Meeting Mom for the first time. 

Is’nt she just precious!?!

Getting the prints.

First of  all I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you that participated in the National Model Search.  I so appreciate each and every one of you, and please know that you are helping out an amazing cause!

For those of you that have no idea what I’m talking about, I recently ran a national model search for children ages 18 months to 14 years of age.  You can see all of the info on the contest here.

The contest is really awesome in that all proceeds from the contest go to an amazing charity called the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep was featured on the Today Show last year – go ahead and watch the video….it’s a bit of a tearjerker though, so grab a box of tissues first!

So I’m here to ask all my amazing clients, friends and family to take a moment and go vote for a model. All votes cost $1 each and like I said, it’s all going to the NILMDTS foundation. To vote visit www.sandypucmodels.com/vote. I’ve listed the names and photos of all my participants below to make it easy for you to locate them in the galleries.  Also, I am working hard to raise awareness of this program’s availability in Longview. If you know or know of someone that is a medical professional here at St. Johns or even a photographer who might be interested in joining me, please let them know about this program. They can feel free to contact me if they have any questions regarding local details, or contact NILMDTS through their website.

Thank you in advance to everyone that takes the time to go and vote for these kiddos!  I appreciate it, their families appreciate it,  and the future families blessed by the NILMDTS organization will appreciate it too.  

Luke Hoseney

Gabrielle Johanson

Ryan Gillett

Jaden Hoseney

Abigail Brennan

Jett Beck

Evangeline Brennan

Elisha Yanez

Joe and Katie are getting married this September!

I first met Katie last October when she initially booked her wedding with me – shortly after that she was interviewed to be on Good Morning America for what she had been going through.  Katie is a cancer survivor, and due to an early mis-diagnoses nearly lost her life.  Katie e-mailed me the link to her interview a few weeks back and I thought you all might appreciate the information shared in her interview -
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6355703&page=1

From what I understand Joe has been an amazing support to Katie through everything, and she is doing well – the cancer is in remission and they are getting married this fall!

I’m so honored to be able to be a part of their wedding!  Thank you guys for having me and my thoughts and prayers are with you!

Last year in May I did a newborn session for this family, their two daughters were both just precious and I had such a fun time with all of them (you can see the session here).  Well….before I even had a chance to deliver the photos to the family, I got message saying that they were expecting….again!   The two youngest girls are going to be about 11 months apart.  I’m so excited for them, it’s going to be so fun to have two girls that close in age, though I’m sure it will super busy for awhile! 

Miss “E” is due to arrive here in 2 weeks or so and I can’t wait to meet her!  Congratulations guys!

I met up with the “H” family at the lake here in Longview for a children’s session with their 3 kiddos and then finished up with a newborn session  for new baby “M” back at their home.    All 3 of the kids did amazing for their session, I had so much fun meeting all of them – especially Miss “B”,  she had such a fun outgoing personality and was just a joy to photograph. 

Congratulations to the “H” family on their new addition to the family and thank you for having me as your photographer!