BLOG – Page 52 – the latest in-studio & on-location MO, IL and beyond

January 17, 2017January 17, 2017

| Orrick Family Portraits | Downtown + Country Club of Decatur |

Check out the Orrick Family!!! I swear these guys are the most photogenic and well-behaved little guys I’ve photographed (maybe ever lol). The Orrick family was amazing to work with and when Kristi said she wanted to do our longer session to work in two locations I was a little skeptical that I could hold the attention of three young boys for that long. But these three (and mom and dad) did amazing! They were perfect at following directions and boy did they bring the charm (just look at those smiles).

And Kristi already knew she wanted to make sure we fit in time for images around the Country Club golf course since Steve works there and these guys are quite the golfers! Well I love any time we can add a personal touch to a session like this and the golf course is absolutely beautiful (one of my FAVORITE Decatur wedding venues!!)

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I’m so glad that we were able to not only design a feature wall art piece and some accents for their home but also that they decided to showcase all their favorite images in one of our legacy albums. This is always my favorite way to preserve and highlight this slice of time in my client’s lives.

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Don’t forget to head over to our facebook page soon to give them some love with your likes & comments! And if you’d like to work with us to design a family session this year give us a call. We are now booking all of 2017 (including fall which fills quickly) and we’d love to work with YOU.

January 13, 2017January 11, 2017

| Lucas | 1 Month Old Portraits | Jefferson City MO |

BONUS Friday post! And what better way to end your week (before a cold/icy weekend) than with cuddly baby photos?!?!

Being a single momma has to be one of the toughest jobs on the planet and the ladies who are raising their little ones solo are some of the strongest, smartest, most loving and hard-working people I’ve met. But though they want/love/cherish photographs of their perfect little ones it’s often something they have to do without so they can provide the other more-essential items.

Well I was lucky enough to be able to gift this lovely new momma and her little man Lucas a session while I was back home in Missouri this fall. And in 2017 I’m excited to be working on a project to gift other single moms family portraits… the project is just in the beginning stages but I will be planning something around early August in memory of my own momma (stay tuned I hope we are able to create something really special!).

If you follow me on instagram (@sjanephotography) you may remember seeing some behind the scenes from this session. Knowing we were shooting on a cool morning and on location (since I was just passing through Missouri for the day) I decided to crank the heat in the car and create a little studio spot right there! This is definitely my first time in over 12 years of work that I’ve shot in my trunk but it worked out great and we were able to keep Lucas warm and comfy!

January 12, 2017January 10, 2017

| Smith Family Portraits | Decatur IL Limited Edition Sessions | Sarah Jane Photography |

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It’s time to show off the Smith family today! We fit this gorgeous family into an EARLY morning Limited Edition session this fall and I’m so glad we did. We were working to find time to fit them in before a day full of activities/games and it came together perfectly with this beautiful sunrise light.

While I loved this session, I’m most excited about how this family decided to display their images! This was the first time this family had worked with us and Aimee was excited to not only have professional images created but also to display them in their home. She came in with a number of wall images so we could design something perfect for their space (one that already featured a gorgeous shabby chic door hung right on their wall – real statement piece!). While she wasn’t opposed to moving that large piece to replace it with a portrait similar in size (60″ +) we instead decided to design with it in mind and create a smaller series of images that could be hung together or moved around as they like.

Doing a number of canvases also allowed us to feature each of the kids’ favorite portraits of themselves and a couple different family poses for different spaces in the house.

By far my favorite thing to create for families are their personal home galleries! We wake up to 3 of our wedding images each day, and walk down stairs past 60 inches of portraits of ourselves (which will soon be growing with the addition of at least 5 new wall art pieces in our gallery to show off BabyB). And while writing this it seems a bit narcissistic, in reality it doesn’t feel that way at all. It instead fills my heart with love and joy for my family each day when I get to see us happy, loving and together on our walls. And the best part is little BabyB points and says ‘mommy, daddy, bear, lily’ when she sees them too!

Full family sessions are often tough to fit into your busy schedules (I know, scheduling acrobatics is a bit part of my job!) but imagine what we can create for your family and for your home with just 15/30 minutes… just a single Limited Edition in 2017 could add a little love and light to your home and I’d love to be a part of creating that for you.

Booking is open NOW for our 2017 Limited Edition Session dates and full sessions are already filling fast (sunset spaces in for fall especially!). You can book your Limited Edition Session right HERE right NOW!

January 10, 2017January 10, 2017

| The Allen Gals Annual Family Portrait | Decatur IL | Christmas Photos |

I absolutely LOVE working with this beautiful family! I get to work with Melanie every year for the senior yearbook, dances and organizational photos for Warrensburg-Latham High School. And for the last couple years I’ve had the chance to photograph both Melanie and her lovely girls, Savannah & Sophie.

This year we did an in-studio session for a little change and created a Christmas look on our fireplace, something a little traditional and classic and then finished up with a little personality with our very own BoxDropsbySJP Sweet Scarves backdrop (a personal favorite).

I think this family image below ended up being my favorite. The laughs and cuddles with just a tiny hint of tween ‘ew do I have to’ mixed in made that one the most genuine to me and I just love it!

Head on over to our Facebook Page to give this family some love with your likes & comments!

January 6, 2017January 5, 2017

| Beery Family Portraits | Christmas 2016 | Decatur IL |

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BONUS Friday blog post, whoop whoop! Ya’ll kept me BUSY the last quarter of 2016 and I wouldn’t have it any other way… but that means I have so many sessions waiting in the wings for their moment in the sun here on the blog. Doing our usual 2 a week features we’d be still posting fall photos come summer (seriously I have them scheduled out to APRIL already)…. so it’s time to amp up the blog with some bonus post Fridays (and heck we might get real crazy for a few weeks with a Monday or two).

And I can’t think of a better way to end your week than with this adorable family! How cute is Mila?!?!? She is just a year or so older that our very own BabyB and I see my future in this gal who is 100% energy and giggles (with maybe a dash of sas). I had a blast photographing, playing (and chasing) her around for their fall Limited Edition Session.

This was part of our Christmas Limited Edition event so we, of course, created some curated holiday images but with such beautiful fall color on the ground we couldn’t pass up the chance to create a few more timeless images for them.

I’m in love with the card design we created for this family too. It’s fun classy with just a little love and whimsy! PLUS check out these custom address labels to add a really unique touch:

Our Limited Edition Sessions are a bit different than our full boutique sessions especially in that we do not begin with our design consultation (where we customize/design/plan your session and discuss the final destination for where we want these portraits to land: on the wall, in an album, gifts, card, etc etc). So though we hadn’t pre-planned to create some custom artwork for the Beery’s homes, Lindsay fell in love with the image below (on the left) which is just such a clear depiction of life with a toddler. I love that it shows her and her husband, Robert, walking together and looking lovingly at their beautiful daughter as she runs unbridled through the park (that’s about what our life looks like with a toddler!).

Don’t forget we have already announced and opened out Limited Edition sessions for 2017. These filled very quickly last year and we want to give you plenty of time to plan ahead. These sessions are NOT themed (though we’ll have a Christmas set available in November) but we’ve positioned them to allow for Holiday portraits coinciding with Easter in April and of course our November date is in time for Christmas. May is a great time for some spring color outside and will be PROM time for you high schoolers and our goal for August is to fit in all those extended family portrait sessions ESPECIALLY for any college students who will head back to school.