Newborn photography is part art and part patience, and no one embodies that balance like Johna Musarra of Three J’s Photography.
In this episode, Johna joins me to share her journey from 20 years at Starbucks to 13 years behind the camera as a full-time newborn photographer. We talk about how her style evolved through trial and error, the importance of patience (both with babies and yourself), and how she helps students bridge the gap between “good” and “great.”
She also reveals her approach to color harmony and client styling, how she handles unusual requests (grab your antlers and baby poop stories), and what she’ll be teaching at the 2026 Online Newborn Retreat. Johna also shares the moment she stopped chasing trends and started creating from her heart and it’s a lesson every artist needs to hear.
What’s in this episode:
- [03:00] The story behind the name Three J’s Photography
- [05:00] How her style evolved through trial and error
- [06:00] Why patience matters more than perfection
- [10:00] Teaching workshops and helping photographers grow
- [11:00] Creating cohesive color harmony in every gallery
- [13:00] Staying confident when clients request something different
- [17:00] Following your creative instincts
- [19:00] Avoiding trends and finding what makes your work unique
- [20:00] Beating creative boredom without buying more props
- [27:00] Owning your growth and celebrating how far you’ve come
- [31:00] Johna’s 2026 Retreat class on wrapping and maximizing setups
If you’ve been wanting to find and claim your own photography style, this episode with Johna is one you can’t miss!
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Meet Johna Musarra
I’m a professional newborn photographer and newborn photography educator located on Long Island in NY for over 12 years. I have a warm, rustic and organic style that flows seamlessly through my work. I am known for my wrapped prop posing, setups and styling. I have a passion for using my creativity when it comes to putting together setups, styling and coordinating colors through my setups. My work is my art and it’s my goal for every image to show my passion, creativity and uniqueness. I’m also a newborn photography educator and mentor. I help other newborn photographers of all levels to grow in their work. I help them learn essential technical skills such as posing, shooting angles and lighting, which is so important, and I also help them find their own creative voice in their work!
Connect with Johna
Did this episode with Johna give you some insight on how to find and claim your own personal style? Check out this episode Lighting the Way: Building a Photography Style and Business with Marta Ponsko
Transcript
Johna: [00:00:00] what do you love? What does that look like?
And I think just following those instincts, creating, Work that you’re like, oh, I really love this. And I’ve had people say that like, oh, you know, this is the first time I really, truly loved an image that I did. And it’s like, oh, that’s awesome. That’s great. So you’re on the right track.
’cause if you really love that for you, which I love that for you that’s probably, you’re on the right track,
Lisa: Hello, my beautiful friends. Welcome back to the show. Today I’m hanging with Johna Musarra of Three J’S Photography, and if you haven’t seen [00:01:00] your work, you have to go check her out online. She’s on Instagram and Facebook, all the places. Her newborn work is stunning, so I’m really excited to have her join us today.
So welcome
Johna: Hi. So happy to be here.
Lisa: I love it. So share a little bit about who you are and what lights you up about newborn photography.
Johna: so obviously I’m Johna. I am Three J’S Photography. I been doing this for almost 13 years. I have four kids and yeah, I just love it. I love doing what I do. I love. Everything about it, you know, itty bitties and being able to snuggle and just, as cliche as it sounds, just being able to capture those moments and yeah, that’s, I love it.
I do. It’s one of my favorite things. I look forward to going to work. I did something I hated for, 20 plus years and this is actually, it’s nice to go to work and like what you do,
Lisa: I love it. So what did you do prior?
Johna: I actually worked for Starbucks for 20 [00:02:00] years,
Lisa: No way. but I worked part-time for 20 years. I worked full-time for a little bit.
Johna: I was a manager for a while. And I liked in the beginning and then I got out right before COVID, which was probably the best, was
Lisa: Totally,
Johna: I’ve always been into, you know, creative stuff and I did go to school for art and but not photography, though.
I never went for photography. So, but here we are,
Lisa: I love it. Now tell me about three J’s as the name of your photography business. Where did you come up with that and why?
Johna: Yeah, so originally when I started it was, it was me my daughter and her dad. And we were all Jays and I actually, I actually took the name. So his family has a company called Three J’s Restorations, and they are based in New York City. So I took it from them and I was like, we’ll work, so I’ll just go three J’S photography.
Then we had , our second, which we named, with another J, so it still worked because it was the three of [00:03:00] them. Yeah. Then it didn’t work anymore because then I ended up having twins. So I have four kids, so it just, but I was already established at that point as 3 Js. So I but yeah, I just, I kept it, , and here we are.
So a lot of people asked me that. And but yes, that is the main thing. So it started that way,
Lisa: Yeah, so a lot of photographers, like myself included, I chose not to use my name and I have like milk and honey as my photography. And did you have a reason for not using your own name?
Johna: I don’t like my name. It’s really hard to pronounce and most people get it wrong, which is fine. I get it. Oh, I’ve been burdened with this name for too many years. No, it’s it just, you know, I, I wanted it to be something that represented what I loved and, you know, it, I had, the kids and things like that.
So it actually ended up working out. Obviously there’s four of them, and sometimes they asked me about that and I’m like, well, it just is what it is right now. I’m like, you [00:04:00] know, so I can’t change it because no one, it’s a little too far in. So it’s okay. But yeah, that’s, that’s it.
Lisa: So with photographing newborns, how have you found your style has evolved over the years?
Johna: when I first started, you know, I think I think a lot of people just kind of, I think just jump in and don’t really know what their style is. So I was one of those people, I just. , You know, you’re throwing things at the wall and whatever sticks, what do you like?
I guess when I first started, there really weren’t any, there weren’t any videos, you know, there were just more people posting on Facebook and things like that. There was, a photography resource, I can’t remember the name of it, or that had like a lot of well-known.
Photographers at the time, and I would look at their work and I would see like, what do I like about that? What do I like about that? And I would just kind of take bits and pieces and then I would think about like what I liked and I would kind of, mesh that together and make that, and that kind of evolved into my style as as I [00:05:00] went.
And I love anything vintage and I love antiquing. I love things like that. I love textures. I love Rustic and I kind of just went with that where, you know, if I look back kinda like everyone else, where everything was just kind of like. there was no uniformity, as I progressed, and it wasn’t just overnight, it took a long time to progress and, get to where I am today, which I’m super happy with where I am today and it took me a long time to get here though, so,
Lisa: A lot of trial and error, and I think
A lot of new students, or those just getting started in newborn photography, they’ll either go to a workshop or they’ll take an online class and then they go to that next session and they think they’re gonna be able to nail it all right away and think they’re gonna come out confident when that’s actually not really the case.
And can you speak to that?
Johna: yeah, for sure. Yes. And even going, with teaching workshops and things like that I think. It’s actually one of the things I say, you’re not gonna wake up tomorrow and be, you know, [00:06:00] the best of the best and you know you’re not gonna wake up tomorrow and all of a sudden you just know everything.
Like you have to really work at it. And I think that’s something that a lot of people, not that they don’t understand, but , it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. And I think it’s easy to look at other people and be like, well, they can do it. How come I can’t do it? And I used to, believe me, I used to sit there and say, , what am I doing?
or not doing that. I can’t seem to get to that next spot. And I actually never attended any workshops. I did a few one-to-ones, and even coming out of those. I remember going home and being like, all right, this is gonna be it. Like
I’m gonna be the best. the problem was, is that I would do it, I would apply, but I wouldn’t really work hard at it.
And, you know, and that kind of goes, like, that’s the kind of person I’ve kind of always been to. Like, I’ve always been like good at things. So, you know, I was always, you know, I was good at art and I was good at sports , but I was never great. And I was like, you know what [00:07:00] I wanna be great at something.
So it just, I was like, I need that, you know, I need something like that. So I took it and I really, really worked hard at it. And I think a lot of people kind of miss that, like, you know, doing model calls. It’s so hard. I’m like, go do a model call, do a model. Like you’ve gotta work on it.
You gotta work on it. And patience, it’s a marathon. it’s not a sprint. If that makes sense.
Lisa: yeah, totally. especially working with babies is like you have to just surrender and just let them be the boss. They are completely in control of the show. And it’s funny ’cause in life I am not a patient person. But I have unlimited patience for these little ones. Right. Do you find that too?
Johna: Yeah. So yeah, so I’m not patient. my kids will probably tell you that I’m probably the least patient person ever. but I have all the patients in the world when I do sessions, and that’s something that my clients will tell me. They said, oh, you’re so patient.
I’m like, yeah. When I go home, it’s all over though. Like, my poor kids, you know? So, but no, I, I’ve learned a lot. That’s one of the biggest things [00:08:00] I’ve learned, and even through teaching too. Just learn patience wise, how to, just adapt and utilize, that patience of just digging down.
but everything takes patience if you’re the, you know, super experienced to the, you know, just starting, you know, especially when you’re just starting, I think it’s hard to grab those patients. So,
Lisa: we have like an instant world, like we can order anything and it’s arriving the next day and a lot of the time we think we can shortcut learning too. And it’s just like, and it’s just the practice and like getting better. A lot of the time with new photographers, they actually don’t see.
What they’re doing wrong and what is different between their work and someone who’s been doing it as long as you have. Right? And so when you have someone that comes to your workshop that actually can’t see those detailed difference, how do you explain it to them? So it’s not a way, like, we’re not saying that you suck, we’re just saying these are just areas that you really you don’t see them yet, but this is how you’re gonna go from good to great.
Johna: one of the first [00:09:00] things I do or I try to do is I try to look at their work. , What are you doing right now? Okay, . Let’s see what that looks like and how do we get from here to here? and it’s a learning curve too, and even for people that have been doing it for a while, it tends to be a learning curve.
I guess, when people see my work, they want to know how I do it. And when they get to the workshop, sometimes I think they’re a little thrown off about how I’m getting the images, how I’m posing the angles, things like that. And for the newer people I just try to, do it very slowly and step by step.
You know, it is definitely harder when you have like the new, new people coming through. But it’s just, for me, it’s like, all right, let’s make sure we’re getting, the technicals down, you know, lighting angles, we’re not up, lighting, things like that. And let’s get that. And now, okay, let’s now move on to like, how we’re gonna pose.
How are we doing that? Why are we doing this? You know, for me it’s, I want baby’s face to be front and [00:10:00] center. So when I’m posing. That’s number one for me. And I’m sure it’s number one for every, but I’m just saying from my standpoint of posing, like that’s how I go about it. It’s just, it’s small little steps, and I always try to continue to connect even after workshops, so I’m never not available. So for every workshop I do, anyone can reach out to me, ask questions, things like that.
Lisa: I love that. Now, you clearly have an eye for color harmony. So do you approach styling intuitively or do you have a system that you follow?
Johna: Okay. I kind of do this. Both ways. And I’ve actually had my, a friend of mine that had asked me about how I go about, colors and things like that. I work with an assistant, has actually learned a lot about colors and how well, not how I do it, but I have a little bit of like a quirk about it.
So, from a systematic standpoint, I send out a questionnaire. to all my clients. So on the questionnaire it’s, you know, , your favorite colors, least favorite colors, and then colors that you’d be open to [00:11:00] me using during your session. So from there I. Take those colors and then I create setups based on that.
And for me, , my setups have to flow the color-wise, so nothing can clash. It has to follow in my head and I’ll know because if something is off, I can’t continue. I can’t continue with it. So I’m very. Strategic. So everything flows from the time I’m doing from table posing through props, everything flows.
And it also to me is too, is like, you know, for clients, you then don’t have like clashing colors. Your gallery is cohesive, if that Some people want me to like try to explain this and like, can I teach it? Like I can’t really teach it. It’s really more like color theory.
and just knowing what goes with what, what is complimentary. And in my head I am like, okay, like something isn’t right about this color [00:12:00] and this color and something is I can do four to five prop setups in a session and all those colors have to match, not match, but you know, be cohesive
Lisa: yes,
Johna: and I’ll tell you the time of year that really throws me off is Christmas because I have those colors in there, you know, like some people want Christmas setups, and I’ll have these colors where I’m like, oh my gosh. It doesn’t, it doesn’t flow.
Lisa: No,
Johna: It’s a little hard.
Lisa: I know
Johna: Right, the colors they want, I’m like, oh no. So I have to kind of turn off that part of my brain. But yeah, it actually is something that, and my assistant actually knows now. Like she can see how it flows. Like I love, like seeing color palettes and things like that.
But I literally will create my own color palette based on. My setups through that, and I’ve done that a couple of times, and I just love seeing how it, It makes me happy
Lisa: totally, do you ever find that your clients maybe have a different vision than what your style is, and you’re like, oh, I’m kind of surprised that you’ve picked me as your photographer, because [00:13:00] this is very different than what I.
Johna: no, not much anymore. most of my clients are picking me because they see my work and they want that. I would say probably. the only time that it maybe shifts is if somebody wants like a more lighter feel. And I do show that at times, I actually do have a cream floor that I use which some people get really thrown off by, but I do.
I like, I like to change that up, but it still flows with my work and I stay within my style. I guess there’s been a couple things, like where someone might throw out. Something out there where I’m like, eh, I don’t know, but lemme see how it works in my style. You know? I mean, like, if it’s not crazy, like I’m not gonna go out and do, composites with, floral everywhere.
Like, you’re not gonna see me do that. I’ve come to the point where I’ll tell people like, well that’s not what I do. But you know, here’s my work. Let’s see what we can come up with. That might be within my style. But the people that like are really like, well I want this, I have no problem telling them.
Like, listen, I know [00:14:00] this photographer, this photographer, this photographer. Go check them out. ’cause they might be more, suited to do what you would like them to do. And it took me a long time to get there,
you have to be really confident to tell people like. Yeah, I might not be for
Lisa: the, I’m not the right
Johna: know, I might not be the best fit for you style wise. I would say 97% of the time people are booking me for my work and my style,
Lisa: yeah. There’s been a few occasions where I’ve had like maybe a maternity client or a family session client where they send me things and I’m like, this is really lifestyle and I am very opposed like. I’m gonna tell you what to do in a field, and I’m gonna make you look at the camera. Like, that’s my style.
It is what it is. And if you’re looking for someone lifestyle, who’s gonna get all these motion ones. It’s not me, I’m not your girl. But it took me a long time I would almost shame myself that I couldn’t do it, but it was like this is just who I am. This is what comes naturally to me. So lean into that instead of being sad you’re not someone else.
Johna: Well, that’s it. [00:15:00] And I think also, going back to like, spending so much time doing something that I just didn’t like, and actually there was a small portion of time where I was doing other thing, like I was doing families and I was doing first birthdays and things like that.
And I didn’t, I, I don’t like it, you know, I just don’t, and I. Have come too far and I’m just too old
to be doing things I don’t like. it just makes me upset. It gives me anxiety. I don’t like it even, like I’ll do paternity. I have anxiety until I do it, and then I’m like, oh, that was a nice, you know, change of pace.
But I do outdoor maternity and most people don’t even know I do maternity,
but I actually do do it. I just don’t I don’t enjoy it until I’m in it, and then I’m like, oh, okay, this isn’t so bad,
Lisa: Yeah, I, ’cause I feel like a lot of the time I’ll freeze up and I’ll be like, okay, what’s my pose? Where am I going? Even after doing it all these years, right, and I’m always learning and that’s like the part of the retreat I love the most is I take the classes too and I’m always brushing up.
And I think it’s important to be a [00:16:00] lifetime learner and continue that education.
Johna: percent. that’s funny they said that because actually I had, last year I had a maternity session and they wanted it indoors. I went to one of the, I forget who it was, let me see how they do it.
You know, like, let me see what’s what, because I have doors, I have no problem. I, you know what I mean? Like, that’s like my backdrop. , I love it, but indoors, I’m like, that’s a little different. And that’s not really my style. So I guess that’s kind of all right. That’s, you know, I was going out of something.
But but yeah, I forget who I, I forget whose I watched and I was like, oh, okay. I can, I’ll take that part. There’s still, there’s always learning. There’s always more to learn, I feel like.
Lisa: So many photographers really struggle to trust their own creative instincts. So how did you learn to follow yours? Or is that something you sort of have always done?
Johna: Well, no, I mean, yeah, creative instincts, it’s, it’s hard, right? Because for me it was trying to figure out, you know, what I wanted to do, you [00:17:00] know, what if do I wanna do? pretty early on was like, I wanna do rustic.
I wanted to be those colors, you know, like the earthy tones and the blues and the greens, and I wanted to be rustic. I loved rustic things and definitely I’ve evolved for sure. But I think it’s just . Again, throwing things at the wall. What makes you happy? You know, what do you like in life?
Like, I like plants, And I still, I like rustic things. I like vintage and antiquing and things like that. and I think it’s just trying to apply that stuff into your work as well. Like, what do you love? What does that look like?
And I think just following those instincts, creating, Work that you’re like, oh, I really love this. And I’ve had people say that like, oh, you know, this is the first time I really, truly loved an image that I did. And it’s like, oh, that’s awesome. That’s great. So you’re on the right track.
’cause if you really love that for you, which I love that for you that’s probably, you’re on the right track, you know,
Lisa: Yeah, I love that. I think it’s funny ’cause a lot of the time we’ll have these trends that’ll come up or it’ll be like super [00:18:00] popular with something. It could be luvies, it could be wrapping, it could be more lifestyle. And so there’s all these different trends, which sometimes when you’re not in the trend, it makes you feel like, oh.
Am I not cool anymore? Do you know what I mean? Do people still like my work? And that’s hard because like you kind of just get this second guessing. Do I even fit in? I don’t look like everything on Instagram right now. So how do you deal with that?
Johna: Yeah, I kind of just, march to the beat your own drum. I don’t really like trends, so I really try to stay away from trends. Like I notice lately more people are like gravitating towards like lifestyle or adding lifestyle into their, post sessions or things like that. And that’s great. I love that for people. I don’t love that for me. But no, I really just, I really put my head down and just keep going forward with what I’m doing.
And honestly, what I really love is finding things that are unique. So [00:19:00] I love supporting my vendors. I really do, and I think that’s very important in this industry to support your vendors,
and people that that you truly love , and you love their stuff. But for me, I also like to branch out.
So I like to find things that are unique. I like to find things that are gonna set me apart, where I know someone’s not gonna find that because I found it in a shop on, you know, on Long Island and no, no one’s finding that, you know, or at a flea market in Connecticut, you know, like I just love to find those things that, no one’s gonna be able to do that. And it’s gonna make it more. I like to stand out a bit more. So that’s kind of how I’ve done things and that’s what I tell, people. Like, find those things that, you know, maybe we will just kind of set you apart
Lisa: I love that. like getting bored with our props or getting bored with the things that we have can happen even though our clients have never seen them before. Sometimes to us we’re like, meh I’m bored. So how do you battle that boredom without breaking the bank?
Johna: that’s a great question and one of the big [00:20:00] things that I try to tell people, like, do we get bored with our stuff? Yes. But. Those people that are also just starting out, like, I think a lot of them think they need to go out and buy everything, right? Like, I need everything. I need all the, fangled props and do hickeys and, and whatever.
And for me, I have three staple props that I use like all the time. Probably should not, I should probably rotated out a little bit more. But I probably have like three to five props that I call Staples, And the thing is for me. I really try to use them in different ways.
I can use three props and I can use three props for three straight sessions. And you might not even know that I use those props, those three straight sessions. do I get bored of my props? I mean, sometimes I’m like, all right, like, sometimes it get a little boring, but I think that is what sparks our creativeness. ’cause it’s like, well what can I do to not make this boring? And I also think like having, like I am a sucker for layers. But I [00:21:00] also go out and find my own layers too. So that’s like something for me that kind of taps into the creative.
part of it as well. So that kind of takes the boredom away a bit, but yeah, I’m kind of a creature of habit, so I do kind of use the same things a lot. so my advice is like, I listen, go out, you can go out and buy. But I really do think people can make, beautiful work with just, like three to five staple props.
Lisa: What I’ve recently started doing is I’m doing in-home post newborn sessions, and I’ve never done this before, so I’ve done a couple and I’m falling in love
with them, which is, it’s because everything, like I have my staples and I have my pattern of things, and I, used to think, I was like, you know what, Lisa, you’re so boring, you’re so predictable.
You literally use the same thing over and over. And I was like, but actually maybe that’s not a bad thing. Maybe that’s good because now I only have these specific things I wanna take and if my clients want something else they gotta tell me beforehand. So that’s been really fun because I’ve realized how much stuff I have and how much stuff I don’t [00:22:00] use.
Johna: Yeah.
Lisa: It’s
wild.
Johna: I have tons of crates and baskets that just are now, you know, decorating the studio. But no, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. And, like, I have a workflow that I use every time, and I don’t think it’s boring. I think that truly, it actually helps us.
it helps me stay on task. It helps me to be like, okay, this is what I need to do. So yeah, like I said, I’m a creature of habit.
Lisa: I love
it.
Johna: with everything.
Lisa: Yes. Girl. Same. Same. Now, how do you balance shooting for clients and do you shoot for yourself creatively
Johna: Sometimes I do. I actually, like, I love like I’ll bring my camera out into the nature. I like doing those sort of things and I think you have to I have a friend of mine that actually pushes me a lot we will go out a lot and she’ll be like, you gotta bring your camera, you gotta bring your camera.
And I’ve done it. I’ve done it many times, and it’s nice to do things that are outside of, newborn photography, whatever you do, maternity, things like that. And I do think it actually will like, kind of wake you up [00:23:00] creatively and it kind of just gives you a break, especially if you’re feeling like you’re in a funk and things like that.
I also like to do, I draw and things like that. I really do think it helps you. Get out of those funks. And especially when we’re, on the slower side and we’re not sure what am I doing wrong?
Just put it away and go out and, take your camera out some, just go do something you know, with it.
Lisa: So often we get super weird requests. I wanna know, what’s the strangest or oddest request you’ve ever had or done for a client?
Johna: I don’t know if this is strange requests. This isn’t a, like, really strange request. It was a strange, guess reaction to that request That might be by the client. So I had a client that had asked if the dad wanted to do naked dad pose, like he wasn’t naked.
That would be weird. The baby was naked. And he was like very adamant about it. I said, okay, like, we can do that, that’s fine. I said, but you have to be aware. Like, this baby has not pooped. There’s no gonna be no diaper.
So we did it, literally, now my assistant’s right there, [00:24:00] literally the baby starts
just, doing baby poopies, you know, and I got, and I have a mat floor, like, so I’m more like, oh no, the floor. But like I try to play it off like, oh, that’s great.
It’s fine. When I tell you that this dad, now I warned him. he like threw the baby at us. He, oh yeah. He, my assistant was like, what is going on right now? He literally like gave the baby to us, we were like, oh my gosh.
No, he wasn’t like throwing the baby, but it was , like I never told him that the baby was gonna poop ever. And he has never been aware of baby’s pooping. , I’m like, I warned you.
Lisa: That’s So funny.
Johna: like, I mean like it’s not unique, you know, it’s not crazy, but like the reaction was crazy. Like I warned you
that could happen. And he was mortified that the baby pooped on his hand, on his leg and like, well,
Lisa: I had this one dad who was an avid hunter, like super avid, and he liked taxidermy as well, so he brought [00:25:00] five stuffed gross. And wanted me to pose the baby in the center of the stuff gross. I did it. It is probably the funniest photo I’ve ever taken in my life. Like it is, I have this hall of shame of all the crazy things that I’ve done.
I actually don’t even think I’ve ever shared it publicly. It is so funny. It is so funny. And my clients love it ’cause they were their requests, of course. Right. But man, I’ve done some really, really odd things like. Odd and hilarious, and they, my clients love them and I’m kooky, so whatever.
Johna: Yeah, I’ve had the antler requests. You know, I’ve had those. I’ve had those outfits that come and you’re like, really,
you know, I, but I I always say like, let just get through all my stuff and then we’ll get at the end we’ll do that.
But like, I don’t know if I’ve ever had any like crazy I don’t think so. Not like where I obviously not if I’m not, it was the only one was the, was the dad that didn’t realize baby’s poop. Other than that, I have no, I don’t think I’ve had the antlers. I’ve never had taxidermy though.
That’s,
Lisa: It was, it was pretty
funny and [00:26:00] yeah. Yeah. I also had a dad. I’m Canadian, so I’m pretty like anti-gun, But one dad wanted to bring his like shotgun, and I was like, no, I am. I just, I’m sorry. Not in my studio.
Johna: We don’t need that
Lisa: It’s all, it’s all good. Yeah. That’s a little. awkward.
I was like, no. Although I actually had a dad in full, he was a police officer and he was a SWAT team, police officer, so he was like in his full SWAT team uniform holding the newborn, which I thought was wild. And I’ve done that with like firefighters and I’m like, I don’t know if we should do this ’cause all the chemicals, so,
but they
Johna: Yeah. anytime I do because we have a lot of FDNY around here, so, you know, New York City Fire Department and things. And I’ve done those a few times and I really try to make sure that. There’s something always between baby, and I’m always a little apprehensive about it, but I always make sure like the baby’s not touching anything.
Or even if the dad, like, it’s like right off the dad, not actually on his stuff. And a lot of times they’ll clean it before they come, which is kind of nice too. [00:27:00] So, but yeah, I’ve had full like police garb and, and things like that. A trooper with his hat and that’s, that’s cool.
You know, I like doing stuff like that though. It
Lisa: I know they’re fun, like posing them. I remember posing one in this police officer’s they have Canadian, these Canadian hats that they wear in their full regalia and the baby pooped in his hat, full
Johna: no, that’s amazing.
Lisa: Yeah. It was hilarious. We still laugh about it, but
Johna: awesome.
Lisa: I love it.
Okay, we’re gonna head to our lightning round. So what is your go-to coffee or tea order?
Johna: I usually love getting like cafe mochas, or mocha lattes,
Lisa: your photography style was a season, which one would it be?
Johna: fall.
I feel like fall, like really kind of encompasses that.
Lisa: I love it. If your business had an animal mascot, what would it be?
Johna: A fox,
Lisa: What’s your current favorite editing playlist or vibe?
Johna: I use Spotify and it’s pretty much all eighties and nineties.
Lisa: Nice,
Johna: more probably [00:28:00] leaning towards the eighties.
Lisa: Yeah, same. What’s your comfort food after a big week in the studio?
Johna: Comfort food or comfort liquor, because,
Lisa: Uh, either, either.
Johna: I’m a big fan of tequila. No comfort food. Weekends are my, cheat times, so comfort foods I like going out to eat. So anything that’s so like a burger. I love cheeseburgers. So I would say probably something like that.
with tequila,
Lisa: I love that. Cheeseburgers are my husband’s love language
Johna: It’s really hard to find good ones. So,
Lisa: Now, what’s one word you’d use to describe your work right now?
Johna: Well, it sounding cheesy. I don’t know. Inspiring,
Lisa: I like that. Yes.
Johna: I just love that, people reach out and they have such kind things to say about my work and they go out of their way to, ’cause it’s, again, it’s, it took a long time to get here,
Lisa: we don’t really own that confidence of like, I am good at what I do. that’s hard
to, like sit with that , and not feel braggy. [00:29:00] Yeah.
Johna: Well, that’s it. Like, I try not to you know, I have friends that like to , promote me , and I don’t like it, it makes me uncomfortable. But I also think it took me a long time to get here and
I didn’t think I would get here. I didn’t think I would get to the point where I’d be able to teach people or I’d be on a podcast talking about my work , and what I do. Like I really didn’t like, you know what I mean? I wanted to, but I’m more of what you see is what you get.
So this is, I just love doing it. I love teaching. I love being able to talk about it and just the whole deal. It sounds cheesy, but like, yeah, I worked hard to get here and I work hard at my work and I think really, like, if I can do it, anyone can get
Lisa: Yeah,
seriously, my early work is so bad. I’ve actually never seen a student whose work was as bad as mine at the beginning.
Like it was horrific. Oh, I will show you. It was
Johna: could show you. I could show you. some work,
Lisa: Oh, it was my own baby boy and yeah, I don’t, I don’t even know how I had that confidence that I thought I could be a photographer, but I’m so glad I did.
Johna: Listen, my nephew was my first ever, and I was like, I got this, I watched a YouTube video, I don’t know who it was at the time. There was [00:30:00] like one YouTube video. Like, I was like wrapping and I was like, I got this, I can do this. Oh no, it was a disaster.
And he’s gonna be 13 in January. And I’m like, I’m sorry,
Lisa: Yeah.
Johna: so bad. I don’t know. Mine’s pretty bad, and I have no problem sharing it. I have no
problem showing people how bad it was.
Lisa: I’m gonna get you to send it to us and we’ll actually put these in the
recording.
Johna: let’s go.
that’s what I tell you. Everybody starts at the beginning. Nobody’s starting, at, higher levels. Everyone starts at the beginning. Everyone’s putting that baby in some sort of blanket or basket or something
Lisa: Yep.
Johna: think looks good.
Lisa: And in a terrible lighting that,
’cause you don’t know, anything
about lighting.
You don’t know
anything about
Johna: You left the overhead light on
Lisa: Yep.
Johna: and you put it next to a window.
Lisa: Yep. Shooting in jpeg,
Johna: at the beginning.
Lisa: like.
Johna: you know, not being able to save any images whatsoever because you know it’s yellow as yellow can be.
Yes. Everybody starts at the beginning. We all do. I didn’t wake up one day and am who I am now.
I mean, I did, but how many years later?
Lisa: yeah, [00:31:00] agree. I love it. So on that note, what will you be teaching on for the online newborn retreat coming up?
Johna: Yeah, I’m super excited and thank you again , for asking me back. I really, I really appreciate it had a really great time. It really helps me , get over my anxiety and things like that and then just gives me new anxiety to do again now. But I’ll be teaching wrapping in props, we’ll go over some wrapping things like that. And also really just being able to maximize our setups. So what else can we add to our setups? Because I think a lot of people struggle with, especially newer, how to build a gallery and having enough images to give to their clients.
And I really feel there’s some things that we can add. And just having, that workflow under our belt too. So wrapping, in props and being able to have. A workflow and then maximizing those setups as well.
Lisa: Yeah. So where could our listeners learn more from you?
Johna: Well, on the retreats, I do mentoring. And I do workshops when my, schedule allows, I try to do like one or two a year, but I have a group [00:32:00] on Facebook the Baby Whispers group which it’s just a safe place for people to share their work and things like that.
But yeah, I love mentoring and I love doing. Workshop. So, Instagram is where I put a lot of, announcements and things like
Lisa: Yeah.
We’ll make sure that’s in the show notes. Now I love to end my interviews just with this last question, and it is, what are you currently curious about or artistically curious about?
Johna: I enjoy like finding . Flowers or things like that. And I like, like pressing them and drying them and then creating like art from that.
I’ve done this new thing now where I have this giant like ink pad, so I will ink the, like the flowers or the, the leaves and I’ll, create art from that. So, and I’ll set it up that way and then I’ll, draw in a little bit of extra stuff and that’s kinda what I’ve been working on lately.
Just new ways to, I guess, be creative.
Lisa: Have you played with AI at all? You much playing with like generative fill and all the different
Johna: [00:33:00] No,
I am not. Technologically advanced in any which way. So the only time I even remotely use AI is to sometimes help with a frogy composite that’s about as much as I do. Or, editing wise. You know, take some stuff out of an image. But no, I I haven’t ventured into AI at all.
It kind of scares me a little bit. And tech, I’m lucky I got on here honestly,
Lisa: I,
love it. I
love
Johna: so I I lucky I got here.
Lisa: Well, Johnna, thank you so much for joining me today
Johna: Thank you so much for having me today. I really appreciate it. It was so nice talking with you.
This is fun. This was very fun.
Lisa: Oh my. Beautiful friends. I hope you have loved this episode just as much as I have. I’m sending you so much of my light and my love today and every single day. We’ll see you next time.
