family – Page 5

December 28, 2017January 8, 2018

| Taylor Family 2017 | Decatur IL |

I’m so excited to share another favorite SJP family with you guys today! Sticking with the Christmas week family theme it’s time for the Taylor family’s moment in the spotlight on the blog. I’ve had the chance to work with this family a couple times over the past few years for family or kiddo portraits mostly during our Limited Edition events.

This year we did a full session to spend a bit more time creating a variety of looks for them. Not only did we need some family portraits but this talented lady earned this fun Jeep this year with her company so we wanted to show it off too. So we featured the Jeep in a few family portraits as well as a promo image of her and her hubs! They even got One Sure Insurance to cover their van for them, it was such a perfect day!

Lastly, while we were at it Danielle needed a headshot for some promotions as well so we went ahead and knocked out that project too! I mean when you do the work to get all perfectly put together and get the whole family out and the car shined up we might as well do it all right?!!?

Here are their favorite images from this year’s session!

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November 7, 2017April 8, 2018

| McCoy Family Annual Portraits | Just the Kids | Decatur IL

I’m so excited to show off this year’s annual portraits of the McCoy Family kiddos! Doing annual family portraits is seriously no joke (trust me, I know we do them too). Every year it feels like you JUST did these and it’s time again to plan for new outfits (that don’t look too much like the past ones but are still your style). Do that for 3-5 years in a row and it just gets exponentially tougher to keep things looking new and fresh.

But is it worth it? YES!!! I absolutely think so but why? For one, your kiddos do change quite a bit from year to year and it’s hard to know just when those big changes will hit and annual family portraits make sure we don’t miss a thing. We’ll catch the year your kiddo hits that big growth spurt. The year the boys finally catch up in height to the girls. The year he lost both front teeth. The awkward haircut year. The year they all of a sudden go from looking like little kids to little adults still doing Squadcopters activities (seriously it happens all of a sudden!).

I’ve been lucky enough to photograph this beautiful family annually for the past few years since Cruz was just a baby and it’s AMAZING to see how much they’ve grown. And I have to give a major shout out to Lori their momma who always makes sure to make time for this session and never fails to come up with the BEST outfit combinations.

Take a look at some of their past sessions:

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2016: http://blog.sjanephotography.com/?p=18265

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Chloe even got her own moment in the spotlight a couple years ago HERE.

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In 2013 we actually did two sessions since Cruz was so little and changing so fast. And ironically the first session was in the spring and freakishly freezing cold and their second session was in the fall and crazy warm but these guys did great despite their wardrobe and weather clashing.

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One thing that keeps me on my toes with annual sessions is the constant effort to create dynamic poses since you don’t want your portraits each year to look exactly the same. It’s fun to try to challenge myself to create new and interesting poses for these families every year.

This year, with busy schedule of very active kiddos we decided to have just the kids (plus Maverick) in the session to make things easier on mom and dad.

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September 12, 2017September 8, 2017

| Allen Family | Annual Family Portraits | Summer Decatur, IL |

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I’ll be missing Melanie this year as we’ve worked together for the Warrensburg-Latham High School yearbook images for years now but she’s taken a great Librarian job in another district so I won’t be seeing as much of her as usual but wish her good luck in the new job.

I have had so much fun watching Savannah and Sophie grow up so much over the last few years. They have such unique personalities and I always look forward to what we create for them both individually and together. I sort of get excited to think about them flipping through these photos a decade or two from now seeing how much they changed every year.

And these three were SO sweet together. This may have been the first session I jumped WHILE shooting to get that smile on the left (thank God for image stabilization!). We knew going into the session we’d have to watch for forced smiles on Ethan so I had to up the silliness just a bit and worked perfectly!

And, of course, we had to round out the session with some individual combinations. Every family relationship is unique and I love to show not only the whole family but all the little micro relationships too.

I know this will be an exciting year for this family and I cannot wait to see them even more grown up next year!

May 30, 2017May 30, 2017

| Bauer Siblings Portraits | Mother’s Day Gift | Decatur IL Family Photographer |

Earlier this month I got to help Rachel and her brother surprise their mom with new portraits of themselves! It can often be logistically challenging to pull off a portrait surprise since there are a lot of things to explain (like why you’re dressed up, matching outfits, gone for an hour, etc) but we were able to time this perfectly so that we completed the session when their parents were away on an anniversary trip. Then came time for the surprise reveal. I often suggest using the Premiere day as the reveal for surprise sessions. This way not only do we get to make the unveiling a bit of an event in itself but this also gave their mother a chance to select what she wanted most.

Though she was convinced initially they were surprising her with a session she had to be in which ladies you can imagine how stressful that can be (wondering if your hair looks good, makeup is done well and if you wore something you’d want to be photographed in!).

I was so happy to get to be a part of creating this unique surprise to celebrate and appreciate their momma and now I’m excited to be able to share the images with you all too!

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January 24, 2017January 23, 2017

| Kuznia Family Portraits | Decatur IL Photography Studio |

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Today, I get to share the Kuznia Family with you! Katie has to be the sweetest daughter ever and she called me to book this family session for a Christmas gift for her parents! And, of course, when she asked if they could bring along their dog Jake the answer was ABSOLUTELY! We had these four in for our last Limited Edition session date right before the holidays and I swear Jake is the perfect little model. Usually, I have to pull out a number of trade secret tricks to get pets to pose and/or pay attention to me during our sessions but not with Jake! He sat perfectly for nearly every photo in whatever pose we chose and not only looked right at me but even did a few top model head tilts to add just a bit of extra flare.

It’s always important to me with every family session (even at our shorter Limited Edition sessions) that we take time to not only photograph the whole family but also couple’s portraits with mom and dad, and some individuals with each parent and kid. And for this session we even took individuals of Jake with everyone!!

Last, but not least it’s time to share the family’s favorite image! I’m so glad this made it to their wall as a classic framed portrait so they can not only enjoy it for this year but for many to come!

Don’t forget to pre-book your 2017 Limited Edition Session. Dates have already been set and have begun to fill. You can book ONLINE HERE. These sessions will not be themed so all session types are welcome; children, birthdays, families, prom, couples, pets, seniors, etc.