Jamie is best known for the thousands of portraits she has taken of Bay Area children and families. While she is technically a master photographer, her unique gift is in creating an environment where people relax enough to let her beautiful pictures happen. Her portraits (featured at numerous shows as well as in countless homes) come out looking like the best candid photo ever taken of the subject. Whether she's photographing babies, children, parents, grandparents, couples, business people, musicians, performers, dogs, birds, whoever--the miracle is that the final photo ends up capturing the unique spirit of that particular personality. Her clients are always pleased with the results and are surprised by how much fun it is to be photographed by Jamie. In the relaxed environment she creates, even the most inhibited subjects end up striking natural and evocative poses. Whether they are shy or outgoing, each subject always ends up enjoying the experience. Jamie first became skilled as a professional photographer while working in the Labor and Delivery Unit at Alta Bates Hospital, taking dramatic pregnancy portraits, and artistically documenting the dramas and events of childbirth. It was in dealing with the difficult lighting situations, the spontaneous events and emotions, and the human interactions of childbirth photography that Jamie mastered her unique portrait skills and sense of timing. During this period she volunteered to photograph the children at her daughter's nursery school. Within a year, the word had spread, and she was the photographer for 20 Bay Area nursery schools! For the past seven years, Jamie's busy and successful studio has been located at Orinda Theater Square. Her clients new and old--most from the Bay Area, but some as far away as Australia--will enjoy her new location with its lovely shops, theaters, restaurants, ample parking, and easy access from the freeway and BART. And for the rest of their lives they will enjoy the unique pleasure of possessing a photograph taken by Jamie Westdal.