Ashlee Struchen was pleasantly surprised when one of her newborn photoshoots recently went viral on TikTok. The South Texas-based photographer received a request from a Latine family to do a shoot with their baby surrounded by conchas – a traditional Mexican pan dulce. The family had seen a similar photo shoot Struchen had done and were interested in capturing their Latine culture in their baby’s first professional pictures.
Struchen, who owns Sweetest Snaps Photography in Corpus Christi, Texas, posted the video of the shoot last Tuesday (July 19). It has since racked up more than 571,000 views on TikTok. In the video, Baby Juliet is seen swaddled in a tiny, white blanket and laying gently on a crocheted pink and yellow blanket inside a bowl. She is wearing a headband adorned with a pink rose. Outside of the bowl are an assortment of conchas on both sides of the baby.
“I love to do fun, out-of-the-box things like this,” Struchen told Remezcla during an interview this week, adding that approximately 80 percent of her clients are Latine families. “We like to put a little bit of a different spin on each one.”
Last week, Struchen did her third “Concha Baby” photoshoot and placed a tiny coffee cup in the baby’s hands. “We love to customize something for our clients,” she said. “I don’t want anybody’s images to be the same. The [Concha Baby] photos encompass our culture down here in Corpus, so it was a no-brainer.”
Next month, Struchen is booked to do another Latine-themed newborn photo shoot. This time, the parents asked for one that will incorporate late Tejano superstar Selena into the mix, who was originally from Corpus Christi. “I’m going to order an outfit, and we’re going to have a mini microphone,” she said. “I’m super excited for that one.”