Commercial Photography – Page 5

August 31, 2017March 23, 2018

| Styles & Smiles | Consignment Boutique Mt. Zion, IL | Small Business Features |

The Details: Styles & Smiles Length of time in business: 2 Years

Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 10:00am-5:00pm Saturday: 10:00am-4:00pm | Location: 205 Debby Drive, Mt. Zion, Illinois

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Tell us about your business….what do you do? Styles & Smiles is an upscale clothing boutique featuring new and gently loved apparel, shoes, purses, and accessories for men, women, and children.

What makes your business unique/special? Styles & Smiles is not just another resale shop. We take pride in making the client experience one they will not forget. We personally assist you with all of your fashion needs and will help you find the perfect outfit for any occasion. We provide style with a smile!

What item/service on your menu or in your shop do you just love and think everyone needs? Name brand clothing at an affordable price and top notch customer service.

In what way have you gone above /beyond in the past for a customer? We appreciate our client’s demanding lives and never hesitate to come in early or stay late to help accommodate their schedules. On occasion, we have even delivered! We also work closely with local charities and donate a great deal of clothing to help support causes such as the Cinderella Project and Northeast Community Fund.

What was the coolest thing you’ve ever had a client do for you? My clients are amazing. One of our special clients, Shirley, brought me an amazing gift one day, a guardian angel. It sits right in front of my store.

What tool/equipment/or other vendor could you not imagine doing business without? Why? I can’t imagine business without our customers. THEY are our most important vendor! Without them, we would not have the awesome styles and great inventory that we do!

What other local businesses do you love? Why? I can’t imagine a day without Krave or the Black Iron. We love our iced coffee drinks and sweet treats! They keep us energized and help keep a smile on our faces!

Introduce us to your STAFF: Lori McDaniel is our styling and marketing expert. Lori is a Decatur native and a student at Millikin University. She has extensive background in sales and marketing and flair for design… AND… Lori is an energizer bunny!

Tell us about you? Why did you choose to do what you do? I am recently retired after years in the world of finance. I Love style, I love to shop, and I love to make people happy. I have always wanted to own my own business, so when the opportunity came up to buy Styles & Smiles, I thought it would be a great way to fulfill my dream, so here I am.

What are you passionate about outside of your business? My three grandchildren, Avery, Piper, and Jace, and my children, Clint and Nicole are the loves of my life. When I am not at the store I am enjoying time with them.

Describe your perfect day… My perfect day would be waking up around 7am to a beautiful sunny day, enjoying a cup of coffee, and chatting with my daughter and grandkids about what we should do for fun. I would bop into the store and see that it was in great hands with my staff, so if I wanted to check out and go fishing or to the zoo or park, I would. About 6pm, settle back at home and hang out with the kiddos, enjoy all the love and the laughter, then sit back and say, “yes, life is good.”

See the latest news and items available from Styles & Smiles HERE.

See our other past small business features to connect with more businesses in our area:

See more on our Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter @sjanephotog, Instagram @sjanephotograhy, and Snapchat @sjanephotog

If you’d like to have YOUR small business featured for FREE on the SJP blog (or know a small business we should feature) you can find details HERE! These features are 100% free and we’d love to feature you next.

August 3, 2017August 31, 2017

| Decatur Coin & Jewelry | Small Business Feature |

Oh boy guys it’s been BUSY around here this summer and that means it has unfortunately been quiet here on the blog. But not to worry we are back up and running and I promise there are some fun sessions headed this way, starting today with a very unique local business located right in downtown Decatur!

The Details: Decatur Coin & Jewelry (Facebook Page) | Bennie & Samantha, Co-Owner | In Business: 44 years (started in 1973)

Hours: Monday 9-4, Tuesday 9-4, Wednesday, 9-4, Thursday 9-7, Friday 9-4 (closed on weekends & closed every day 1-1:30 for lunch) | Location: 104 N Main St, Decatur IL

This shop is full of really unique and interesting pieces both for authentic collectors and those looking for fun and interesting gifts. Who wouldn’t want a one million dollar bill this Christmas!

Tell us about your business….what do you do? We are coin dealers or as we like to say in our industry…Numismatists. We study any and all things about money. We buy and sell money literally! We look at coin collections daily. We help determine value based on age, condition, content and quantity. Maybe try googling numismatics to help you better understand what a numismatist is. We also buy and sell any jewelry that is made of a precious metal: Gold, platinum and silver. We buy diamonds, turquoise jewelry, old vintage costume jewelry, sterling flatware, silver plated flatware, wrist watches, old pocket watches. We have even bought old test mortar rounds before. We were able to find a buyer so we bought them from the client. You just never know what we will buy. We make a living at buying stuff. So, maybe you have some neat old cool stuff laying around your house. Bring it on in and we’ll take a look.

What makes your business unique/special? We buy and sell actual money! We are coin and jewelry dealers. There is nobody else like us around. We explain everything in depth so you get a clear understanding of what is going on. We are qualified traders in medium to high dollar assets.

What item/service on your menu or in your shop do you just love and think everyone needs? Sam says “everyone needs help in understanding what all their stuff is worth. Too many folks just throw stuff out thinking it’s worth nothing. She thinks giving knowledge is what everyone really needs and “A right hand ring of course! Bennie says “investment quality Morgan dollars” Doug says “everybody should have some artistic antique paper money”.

In what way have you gone above /beyond in the past for a customer? Bennie says “we pay out a lot of money. We’ve gone to folk’s houses and looked at their stuff because they couldn’t drive or were too ill to come in”. Doug says “we always help carry in boxes and bags from their vehicles because the stuff is too heavy…so WE GOT THE MUSCLE LOL” Sam says “I’ve fetched someone’s range rover and drove it around to the front of the shop because she was worried she couldn’t get out of the original parking place due to someone parking so close to her”.

What was the coolest thing you’ve ever had a client do for you? Sam says “people have bought my newborn son stuffed animals or clothes. I get hugs often too from some of my regulars OR even strangers”. Doug says “people have brought him in food coupons”. I always call Doug a growing boy still LOL He sure can eat. People will bring in chocolate for Bennie. He is patiently waiting for chocolate covered pretzels from Dells by the way. <<< Yum, me too!

What tool/equipment/or other vendor could you not imagine doing business without? Why? Our customers. They supply us with stuff to either sell into the network, online or across the counter. They provide jobs for us and for the others that work with us. Everybody wins in the end. Without our customers life would be pretty boring! Couldn’t imagine Coney McKanes not being down the street from us. Their pie and cookies are amazing.

What other local businesses do you love? Why? Coney McKanes feeds us often. Really all the local restaurants do☺ All downtown local businesses are great.

STAFF: Samantha is funny and loving but very serious when she needs to be. Doug is referred to as the professor. Don’t call Bennie the boss he doesn’t like that. He prefers to be called the Captain. All the ladies that work with us are leaders.

Tell us about you? Why did you choose to do what you do? I am speaking for us all here when I say we all love and enjoy it because we love serving the community for the greater good. We want to give the people as much money as we can for their stuff.

When did you know you wanted to go into the business? Bennie says “after I found my first Indian head penny while delivering the Grit newspaper door to door years ago when I was just a kid. That is when it all started. Back in those days the ladies at the bank would let me look through all their bags of silver dollars. I probably was a nuisance after a while. My father also used to bring home his pay for the day and put it on the kitchen table. The sound of those silver coins always sparked my interest. I have been driven since then to learn all about numismatics”. Doug says he got into paper money for the art. And an added benefit was investment potential. Sam says” I’ve been looking at coins and jewelry since I was a kid. It was always in me through my father and now we run the business together.

What are you passionate about outside of your business? This is Samantha answering for her father because he is, as usual, extremely busy. He is passionate about teaching. He will give knowledge and wisdom to anyone with an open ear. He likes being physically fit eating healthy and enjoys spending time with his new grandson Jaxon. Sam likes to work in the garden and watch things grow☺ Aside from all the duties that go along with being a happy wife and mother now.

Describe your perfect day… Sam says the beach, a large umbrella, the ocean minus the sharks and being surrounded by the people I love. Bennie says hitting the grand slam in the stock market, making a big trade or riding on a real steam train with my grandson.

See the latest news and items available from Decatur Coin and Jewelry HERE!

See our other past small business features to connect with more businesses in our area:

See more on our Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter @sjanephotog, Instagram @sjanephotograhy, and Snapchat @sjanephotog

June 20, 2017June 20, 2017

| Senior Model Volunteer Event – Take ONE | PawPrints Ministries Decatur, IL Comfort Dogs |

Last week we had the first ever SJP senior model service day! If you have been following our 2018 senior models on facebook and instagram you know this year, more than ever, we are making senior year about more than just portraits… it’s about creating experiences! While some of these are fun and just for us (like the new pop-up sessions which just recently included carnival lights and rides and super melty ice cream and a few fireworks), I wanted to also make sure that some of these experiences were about others. So, one day last week we scheduled some time to give back to a fabulous local organization Paw Prints Ministries.

You might remember them from the recent headshots I did for a few of the pups on the team. I was so happy that Jennifer (a past client of mine) was excited to partner with us and let us come in to lend a hand. While we’d hoped to have more hands to lend, those of you with teenagers know summer schedules can fill up quite quickly and between camps, summer jobs and illness our full lineup of models was quickly reduced to Jaiden and I! We may have been a small ‘group’ but we sure were mighty and stuffed over a box load of cancer care packages and tragedy gift bags.

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Payton and Enzo were there to lend a hand too!

Payton’s clearly supervising here!

Check out all the goodies packaged into these care bags.

If you follow me on snapchat you got a lot of behind the scenes looks at what we were up to that day including some fun videos of us attempting a group photo with the pups!

After our time at headquarters we headed over the the Decatur Conference Center for a training session. It was so fun to see a few dogs at different stages of training. To see what they struggled with and what they were able to pick up and learn in even just one session. Check out Enzo fighting the distractions (even of a favorite toy) and staying put on his table.

And this happy guy was working so hard and learning so quick to ignore all us distractions in the room and follow his owner’s lead.

Jaiden got in there to attempt to distract them too, this awesome guy didn’t move once!

Pawprints provides cancer care packages to those going through the often tough cancer treatments and include items like chapstick, hand sanitizer, lotion, tissues, candy, socks, scarves, hats, etc. They also provide small care packages with a prayer, tissues, candy and chapstick when they attend gatherings where there may have been a disaster or life loss. These are small offerings provided to bring comfort along with the presence of their dogs.

Last year when I spent much of the year in the hospitals and long-term care facilities with my mother there was one particular hospital which had a beagle comfort dog free-roaming the halls/rooms at least a dozen times I was there and in places like these, especially long-term care hospitals where there’s not much hope of your visit being short or even pleasant, this pup brought a smile to so many faces and a lightness to the air felt by both staff, patients and families like myself. Since that experience, I’ve had a special place in my heart for these dogs and I’m so glad that our first service project could be with them!

You can learn more about PawPrints Ministries HERE and you can contribute to these cancer care kits by dropping off items to the PawPrints Ministries office at 226 W Eldorado in Decatur and you can learn more about what the kids can contain HERE. To continue our support of this organization we’ll be adding a cancer care kit box to the studio where clients can bring donations to add to these kits!

May 11, 2017September 22, 2017

| Paw Prints Ministries | Comfort Dogs Get a Close Up | Pet Portraits |

This year I’m really excited to be adding a charity aspect to our Senior Model Program! I remember high school being a time when my world revolved around the halls of my own school, the volleyball court, weight room, homework, grades (college applications/ACT scores) and Friday night plans. And the bulk of my community and the rest of the world was unknown, or at least went unthought of most of my days.

Yet that was also a time when I COULD have made a lot of impact on my world. For at least 1/2 my high school career I wasn’t working and at least my summers were fairly unscheduled so I had a lot of time I could have been using to learn more about my community and create impact where needed. So this year I thought I’d try to give my senior models the chance to do just that this summer! And the most eager charity I reached out to was one run by one of my very own family clients the Dahns.

Though we haven’t had our work days for them yet we did just host a few session days in the studio to get some of their comfort dogs updated headshots (#corporatelife). Our goal was just a single headshot of each pup but OMG I was overloaded with cuteness and just couldn’t stop!

Ms. Mabel was the first up and she was quite the model, posing perfectly even with the fabulous little head tilt and hand in her paws poses all on her own!

Then it was time for Finn! This guy has the smile AND puppy dog eyes down pat.

And next it was time for Zoe to make me WORK. Check out her outtakes which will show you what she thought of our plans to start… look at those sly puppy dog eyes, attempt to ignore the treat and escape plans… finally just one big yawn before she put on her model face for some PERFECT puppy portraits!

And then Mr. Enzo! This guy was a little shy to start and didn’t let his personality shine until we cleared out Hazel to give him his own stage but then those ears finally came up and he was a champ!

And we ended everything with the lovely Ms. Hazel who just like Mabel was quite the natural in front of the camera with perfect smile and head tilt she was done in about 30 seconds with plenty of options!

My favorite thing about pet sessions is that, just like toddler sessions, they are ALL personality and 100% unique. Sure all these sessions were in the same place on the same backdrop but not a single one was the same. These pups brought a big smile to my face on session day and I’m so glad to know they are out working in our community daily to bring smiles to all of you. New transmittable diseases are becoming more common with our canine companions, top rated dna test can usually predict if you have an at risk dog. You can find out MORE about Paw Prints Ministries, what they do, who they help and how YOU can help support them on their website here! And linked above each official PawPrintsPup has their very own facebook page you can follow.

I look forward to getting our seniors involved with them this summer and sharing more of that fun with all of you here.

April 27, 2017April 28, 2017

Paco’s Sol Bistro | Small Business Feature

A day late on our monthly small business feature since yesterday was #BabyB’s second birthday so I wasn’t in the office, but I promise it’s worth the wait for the delicious local business! It’s our date night fav.

The Details: Pack’s Sol Bistro | Paco Greenwell, Owner | In Business: 7 years

Hours: Tues – Thurs, 11am-8pm; Fri-Sat 11am-9pm Mondays 11am-8pm beginning June 5th! | Location: 237 N Main St. Downtown Decatur

Tell us about your business… What do you do? Full service bar and restaurant that features 2 private party spaces.

What makes your business unique/special? Unique, made-from-scratch menu featuring all original recipes.

What item/service on your menu or in your shop do you just LOVE and think everyone needs? Everyone should try the chicken meatloaf or southwest egg rolls. And guacamole if you are a fan.

In what way have you gone above/beyond in the past for a customer? We have made a special food feature for several of our regular guests for their birthday. (Actually did this today) We also have Tervis cups for our most loyal bar regular with their name on them. We have also featured art from several local artists.

What is the coolest thing you’ve ever had a client do for you? When hosting a charity event, some regulars purchased a painting they knew we liked and gave it to us to hang in the restaurant.

What tool/equipment/or other vendor could you not imagine doing business without? My staff! They make it all happen.

What other local business do you just LOVE? Why? I would rather not single out any. We always try to support any and all that we can.

Tell us about YOU… WHY did you choose to do what you do? I love to make people happy. There’s no better way to the heart than through the stomach.

When did you know you wanted to go into this business? I didn’t choose it. It chose me. I needed a job at 18. I started as a server and had my first management job at 18. I just took to it naturally. Thru my time I discovered my passion and ability to cook and come up with recipes. I love the combination of art and science in cooking.

What are you passionate about outside of your business? My wife and I are avid pool players and St. Louis Cardinal fans.

Describe your PERFECT day… 85 degrees without a cloud in the sky, hanging in the pool with my beautiful wife, my dogs, our family and friends. Music blasting, food on the grill and laughter all around.

See the latest news at:

http://www.solbistro.com/

See our other past small business features to connect with more businesses in our area:

See more on our Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter @sjanephotog, Instagram @sjanephotograhy, and Snapchat @sjanephotog

If you’d like to have YOUR small business featured for FREE on the SJP blog (or know a small business we should feature) you can find details HERE!