❋ Behind Baby Bean Portraits

San Diego Newborn & Milestone Photographer | La Mesa Home Studio

Hi! I’m Sara Kovacs, artist, poet, and the baby-obsessed heart behind Baby Bean Portraits, a San Diego newborn and milestone photography studio serving families throughout La Mesa, Pacific Beach, and all of San Diego County.

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A woman with long hair in a ponytail leaning over a baby who is lying on a bed. The baby is wearing a hat and wrapped in a blanket, looking at the woman. The room has a window with curtains.

Serving Families Across San Diego

Baby Bean Portraits proudly serves families in:

La Mesa • Pacific Beach • Mission Valley • El Cajon • San Diego • Del Mar • La Jolla • North County • Carlsbad • Encinitas

A Lifelong Love for Babies and Art

My love for babies began long before Baby Bean Portraits existed.

Many clients have asked me how I started doing baby photography.  And my answer to them is one that my family and close friends can surely attest to: I have loved babies for all of my life.  So it was a natural progression to combine this love with my photography.

As a child, I read every infant care book in the local library, subscribed to Parents Magazine at just eight years old, and spent afternoons helping neighbors care for their babies. I filled notebooks with illustrated stories and poems inspired by childhood, color, and imagination — themes that still shape my photography today. (My baby bean logo is my own artwork!)

As a young woman, I studied art and photography while babysitting and working at a daycare with infants, including babies with special needs. Those early experiences not only taught me baby psychology, but taught me patience, gentleness, and how to create a calm, safe, and joyful environment for little ones.

From Poetry to Newborn Photography in San Diego

As an adult, my life as a creative continued to grow alongside my love for babies.

I volunteered in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, deepening my appreciation for the smallest, and most precious, people of all.

I later earned my Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from San Diego State University and published my poetry.

My professional photography journey began by gifting photos to friends of their children. Very quickly, I discovered that newborn and baby photography was my “soul-job,” a perfect blend of my artistic background and lifelong love of babies.

Baby Bean Portraits sprung up from those small childhood seeds — and it has been growing ever since.

And now, after 17 years in the newborn and baby photography industry, and thousands of San Diego families later, I can still joyfully say with all of my heart that baby photography is what makes my heart sing!

Who We Are

  • We schedule 1-3 hours (depending on the session type), but no baby, family, or session is rushed. Every session is created with patience, care, and attention to detail so your images feel timeless, joyful, and full of life.

  • • Extensive experience working with infants and newborns
    • Background in art, poetry, and storytelling
    • Baby-led, safety-focused posing
    • Cozy La Mesa studio designed for families
    • Soft, colorful fine-art photography style
    • Passion for documenting the magic of babyhood

  • Baby Bean Portraits is located in a private home studio in La Mesa, California, serving families throughout San Diego County.

    The studio is designed to be cozy, calm, and baby-friendly, with plenty of easy parking and everything needed for a relaxed newborn or milestone session.

    For older baby and milestone sessions, we also offer outdoor photography in Pacific Beach and a gorgeous San Diego lake location, perfect for golden-hour portraits filled with natural light and beautiful scenery.

  • Milestone and older baby sessions can take place in the La Mesa studio or outdoors, depending on the look you love most.

    For outdoor sessions, we offer photography in Pacific Beach and at a beautiful San Diego lake location, perfect for golden-hour portraits filled with natural light, soft scenery, and plenty of space for little ones to explore.

  • Item description
Book A Consult Call With Sara Today
Book A Consult Call With Sara Today

Sara Through The Years:

  • A young girl with curly red hair running on a lawn, holding a doll in her hand, with a fenced yard and a slide in the background.
  • A woman and a young girl standing in a living room, with a dog sitting in front of the girl. The woman is seated on a dark brown leather couch, and there is a potted plant and framed pictures on the wall behind them. A box and some objects are on a small table in the background.
  • Child in colorful swimsuit holding plush lion toy, standing on balcony with wooden floor, shadows cast by railing, outdoor trees in background.
  • A blurry image showing a small part of a wooden surface with some objects that are not clearly identifiable.
  • A young girl with red hair wearing a patterned dress, sitting on a white rocking chair, holding a curly-haired doll.
  • A young girl with curly hair, wearing a floral top and dark pants, smiling and standing next to a toy stroller with a large wrapped gift on top.
  • A young girl with curly hair holding a small curly-haired baby in front of a beige refrigerator in a kitchen. Text on the image reads, 'Sept 1979 Sara and her baby'.
  • Two young girls with red hair standing on a carpeted floor indoors, holding dolls. One girl is shorter, wearing a white top with pink accents and red pants, while the taller girl is in pajamas with a floral pattern, holding a doll.
  • A young girl with curly hair and light skin hugging a smaller child with straight dark hair and light skin in a room with wooden furniture and framed pictures on the wall.
  • A young girl with long hair holding a baby with a pacifier in its mouth, sitting on a black chair in a cozy living room.
  • A woman dressed as a Christmas elf holding a young boy also dressed as an elf in a home interior setting. The woman is wearing a green elf costume with a matching hat, and the boy is wearing a green elf outfit with a hat. Both are wearing colorful striped socks.
  • A baby lying on a bed with a yellow and white blanket, looking at the camera. An adult woman with short curly hair and a light-colored shirt is leaning close, smiling at the baby. In the background, a television displaying a sports game, a flowered plant in a vase, and a patterned sofa with towels or cloth on it are visible in a room with curtains and a window.
  • A woman and a baby lying face to face on a quilted blanket, smiling and looking at each other.
  • A woman with curly blonde hair holding a young child dressed in a white garment, both smiling at the camera outside a house.
  • Young woman with curly blonde hair smiling and holding a young child with light hair wearing a colorful striped shirt, against a rainbow-colored background.