Do you guys remember this adorable squishy little newborn Samuel? Well he’s definitely not so little anymore! I just had the chance to go home to Jefferson City to photograph his 9 month portraits and we let mommy and daddy join in too.
I cannot say how much I love being a part of this little guy’s first year and watching this family grow. So looking forward to his first birthday portraits which will be here before we know it!
Another perk to having a session back home is I got to shoot at the Runge Nature Center which I haven’t photographed at for years but was a staple location of my younger days.
Be sure to head over to our Facebook Page to give them some love with your comments, likes and shares!
I’m beyond excited to get to share this beautiful senior with you today. Kaitlin is one of our class of 2017 senior models and I’ve had the pleasure to photograph her a number of times throughout her senior year.
She was a part of our parachute dress model session at the Decatur Airport and for her senior session we spent a little time in the studio where we were sure to highlight her dancing talent along with creating a few colorful looks. I had the most fun out around town though. We stopped at a little rustic place I’d been itching to have the right session for and I think it worked perfectly for a casual look for her and we spent the rest of our time (spring and this fall) creating a variety of nature looks at a number of beautiful areas around town.
I also had the chance to photograph Kaitlin with her best friends at her BFF session!
Take a look at all her favorites and be sure to head over to our Facebook Page to show her some love with your likes, comments and shares.
I saw an article pop up in my facebook browsing this week that had me intrigued, confused and mostly just a whole lot of ‘oh no you didn’t’ … The article was the 5 reasons you shouldn’t get engagement photos (let me insert a big fat sad face right here to start). This was one of the rare cases where I couldn’t just keep scrolling SO with this bonus extra blog post for the week I’d like to tell you why I think you SHOULD have engagement images!
Granted there’s really no way that this ‘rebuttal’ doesn’t come across as self-serving (you know, because I’m a wedding/portrait photographer who, yes, sells and profits from the creation of engagement portraits – eh). BUT, I promise, I want you to get engagement portraits even if I’m NOT the photographer who creates them for you (and I’ll tell you the reasons why below).
ONE – It’s the most in-depth wedding photographer interview you can ever hope for! You hire your wedding photographer 6 months to 2 years in advance. Hopefully, you’ve done your research and have viewed past wedding work, whole galleries, finished albums, heard reviews from past clients (maybe even personal referrals of friends), etc etc. You’ve met with them or at least chatted with them and you feel good about your choice. BUT, of course, they showed you their BEST work, they put their best foot forward to impress you and win your business. More than likely what you see IS what you’ll get, but wouldn’t you like to KNOW for sure?
What if you could work with this photographer and be photographed by them on a before your one and only wedding day? This would give you a little preview of how they work, let you see if you interact well with them, if they get you, if they make you feel comfortable. AND if they can give what they’ve promised. You’ll be able to see if you like their images of YOU (not just past clients) before your big day. Imagine how confident you’ll be when they walk in at the wedding when you already KNOW they can produce images of yourself that you love and deliver on everything they promised, because they already have once; at your engagement session!
TWO – It helps your photographer prepare for your wedding day! Just as much as it can be helpful for you to work with your photographer before the big day, it can be even more helpful for them to have previously photographed. As a photographer, I study people. I study your face to see what angle is most flattering, if you have one eye that closes a bit more when you smile, if you’re a squinter or fake smiler, and I work to pose you in ways to highlight your best features! Time and time again my client’s will have more favorite images toward the end of their sessions for this reason. It takes me TIME to see these things so the images of you just get better and better as I photograph you more.
I am also able to see what images of yourself you liked best. Did you fall in love with the romantic fun images we encouraged or did you gravitate toward the traditional portraits we posed and crafted? This information lets me custom-tailor your wedding-day photography to what YOU love most. If I know you or your fiancé is a little more reserved or shy when there is a crowd we might plan to have some solo portrait time where you can both relax and be yourselves away from others. On the other hand you may both be more comfortable and come alive in front of your friends and family and feel too ‘in the spotlight’ when it’s just us…. I could go on and on about all the things I’m able to learn about you from 45-90 minutes at your engagement session but it might start to sound a little creepy (just know that I’m watching…. bahahaha <<< see creepy!).
The fact is, engagement sessions HELP me create better wedding day images. And as Ms. Emma Mcgowan (writer of that article I mentioned above) points out in her article, weddings are expensive so might as well get the best bang for your buck and ensure I can do the best job possible on your big day.
THREE – They are more authentically YOU! Ok, sorry Emma but this is in direct contrast to her reason number two NOT to get engagement portraits because they can be inauthentic according to her. This reason of hers actually made me LOL. Just curious how many times you wear a frilly white gown and your man is in a tux surrounded by all your friends in matching chiffon, taffeta and holding or wearing flowers. My guess is this is not how you spend most of your weekends.
No, your wedding day is not authentic to your daily life, nor should it be, it’s a BIG event, do it up! But I often suggest to my clients that we do showcase who you are on a more regular basis with your engagement session. Wear what’s more typical for you, choose a location that might have personal meaning or at least showcases your personalities a bit. Maybe we revisit a favorite date location, proposal spot or iconic home town monument. The fact is your engagement sessions are your opportunity to be authentic. To tell your love story! Which leads me right into reason four….
Taken at their first date location! (Plus the DOG! What’s not to love??!)
FOUR – They tell your story… As we already said above these portraits can tell your story at a depth we aren’t always able to create in the time we have on a wedding day. But your story isn’t really ‘told’ until we have a medium to showcase the images. Personally, my favorite way to do this is with one of our custom-designed guest books (see some designs below). This replaces the old tradition of just having a lined book where guests sign their names (who ever looks at THAT after the wedding day?!?!). Instead of this, we create a beautiful custom album design featuring 20-45 of your engagement images, showing off your whole story (locations, outfits, personalities, pets!) with blank areas for your guests to sign their names and leave well wishes for you to hold onto forever. Now imagine flipping through THAT book with your kids or grand kids in the coming decades!
We also create wall art for nearly 80% of our wedding clients with images from their engagement sessions. The fact of the matter is that your dress (however stylish today) will be outdated in a decade or less (think about your mom or grandmother’s dresses… were there shoulder pads? a huge veil/headdress? long fluffy sleeves?). So a portrait of you on the wall in that dress in 10 years is going to LOOK 10 years old. But what about a portrait of your engagement session … in love, yes! outdated, no!
FIVE – Just a bit of time that’s all about you and your LOVE. My absolute favorite part of my own engagement session (and even my husband’s as well) was that it was a little bit of time, carved out of our lives where it was, not only all about us, but it was all about being in and showing off our love. In the hustle and bustle of our lives how often do you just stop, slow down and hold your man? How often does he just stop and run his hands through your hair in a movie-worthy long slow kiss? Not often enough, I tell you!
But on your session… that’s exactly what we do! We laugh, we play, you kiss, you hug… you slow down to just focus on the fact that you LOVE each other and it’s an amazing thing.
SIX – Because you WANT to! (Ok, I really planned for this to be 5 reasons but I guess there really are MORE reasons for than against hahaha). After all this it’s really just a bunch of she said, she said… Whether you listen to Emma or me, the last real reason to have engagement images is because you WANT them! At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if I think you should (and I do) or if Emma things you shouldn’t. You are only at this time in your life once, enjoy your engagement just as much as you do your wedding (and all that comes after it) and if engagement images are part of that joy for you do it! Don’t let anyone steal that from you. And if you DON’T want them, I’m really surprised you read this far, but you’re free to go on not having them taken.
Thanks for sticking with me through this out of the box blog post for me! The most fun part was getting to flip back through some past engagement portraits!!
This summer I completed something like my 4th annual image for the Avon Theater! I’m so excited to have be a part of such a great local business now and for their Legacy. If you haven’t seen them, these images are hanging in the Avon to show their staff throughout the years (how cool is that?!?!). They celebrate their staff as part of their family and display them proudly all throughout the theater. We’ve had a lot of fun over the years, at their Christmas party, throwing popcorn at Skip and more.
This year, I’m excited to announce that you’ll see the faces of OUR clients in the Avon too! Though out this year we’ll feature many of our client images on the big screen during the Previews, which is pretty exciting (we think you’re all movie stars so it was time to take you to the silver screen for sure).
I’m so excited to share Abby’s senior portraits with you!!! She is an absolute sweetheart and has been so fun to work with. One of her first experiences with SJP was literally being a part of our parachute dress with Kayle. Pretty much EVERY shot with Kayle in her pink Terani Couture dress had Abby UNDER the dress holding her up or fluffing it out. She was a HUGE help and 100% on board to jumping in to be hands on! (You can see more of her model images and the parachute shoot HERE).
I was so excited to get to Abby’s time in the spotlight and she was a blast to photograph. We wanted something personal to her so not only did we highlight a bit of who she was (great athlete & FFA gal) in the studio but we also highlighted a bit of her family story by photographing part of her session at her grandparent’s house with their Forlines Farms semi!!! (Plus a bunny!! Seriously fun session guys!).
