| Oladipupo Family | Beautiful Winter Sunset Family Portrait Session |

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With kids that don’t all live at home any longer scheduling family sessions can get complicated. We had a small window of time to get in the Oladipupo’s family portraits and with that window being in the first week of January we knew we were gambling on the weather… was it going to be a blizzard? Negative 12* outside? Windy? Well, honestly it could not have been any better! I’m not sure how we lucked out into the unseasonably warm sunny day we got but it was absolutely perfect!

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We just had Kolapo’s senior session earlier this year on their property and having the family session there was a no brainer. I always encourage families to think about having their sessions at home. The backyard, front porch, heck even the driveway can be perfect for your images and best of all it’s personal. It’s the place that’s a part of your family right now (or from the beginning, or forever!).

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And, of course, when we have everyone dressed up and together we always take a few minutes to photograph everyone solo (and mom and dad together too!).

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Don’t worry if it’s been a few years or a decade since your last family portrait. I know scheduling will be tough (I joke that it’s about 80% of my job!)… but finding the perfect time to photograph your whole family and working hard to take any and all stress out of the process is absolutely my job.

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| Rick Family Winter Snow Maternity Session |

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Today I get to share with you one of my favorite families who I’m so excited to be spending the next TWO years with watching this new little man grow up! I had the pleasure of photographing their beautiful wedding day and close to a year later celebrated their upcoming anniversary with them with a perfect maternity session. There may have been snow but the sunset couldn’t have been better.

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This week is all about this family because coming up on Thursday I get to show off Hudson’s newborn portraits, you wont want to miss that!

| Cory | Maroa-Forsyth High School Senior Guy Portraits | Class of 2019 |

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Hey guys (like literally GUYS)… senior portraits are not just for the ladies! Sure, maybe you haven’t been thinking about your senior pictures for years (or maybe you have – we love that!).. maybe you think it will be uncomfortable or weird. I get it, for real… I have been a photographer for 15 years and with my husband for all 15. Luckily for him the annual photo sessions didn’t really start until after we got married and had kids but NOW I make this poor man have his photo taken EVERY SINGLE YEAR (I mean, he married a photographer, he should have known).

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So what does that mean for you senior guys?!?! It means that not only behind the camera but also in front of it I’ve learned how to make you 100% comfortable… I’ll make sure you know what to do in front of the camera and then we’ll laugh and joke and hang out and make it way less stressful and boring than you may think it could be.

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We do have to start with a plan, this is YOUR session and we need to design it to fit you and show off who you are. Love your truck? Bring it! Love your dog? You better bring him/her! Love your gun, bow, 4 wheeler, boat, sports, games, guitar, drums (you name it)…. BRING IT!

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| Executive Portraits | Richland Career Week | Decatur IL |

In January I was invited to speak at the Richland Community College 8th grade career fair on the art panel along with my fellow creatives and entrepreneurs Kat Smalley (Thrive Entertainment Guide), radio personalities Toby Tucker and Tat Taylor, Kate Flemming (Millikin University) and performer Jerry Johnson. This was a blast and I was excited to see a number of these 8th graders have a great interest in not only photography but many areas of arts and entrepreneurship.

Through that event I connect with John Oliver with Richland’s Student services office and they invited me in as part of their career week to offer executive portraits for some of their staff and students. As college students, either entering their college careers or about to graduate and searching for their full time career, many of them are starting to adjust their online profiles to reflect a more professional appearance and/or creating new professional social profiles through sites like LinkedIn. Clearly, when you set up your LinkedIn profile it’s time to phase out that selfie on the beach for something a little more formal and professional. But what students often may not think about or know is that a professional executive portrait session can easily run you a couple hundred dollars investment and much more for a full executive branding package*.

So I was excited to partner with Richland to bring the students these portraits for use on their growing web resumes absolutely FREE to them! And a few of their staff and visiting personalities (like Tat and Nicole) jumped in at the opportunity as well. And I’m excited to be offering a similar opportunity to the professionals in Decatur this coming Tuesday, March 13th from 3:30-5:30. We’ve partnered now with Network Solutions Unlimited to offer a public Executive Portrait event to once again create professional headshot images for the professionals in our area 100% FREE.

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Our NSU event will be held at NSU (1234 N Water St, Decatur, IL 62521) on Tuesday, March 13 from 3:30 -5:30 and will include FREE quick 2-3 minute sessions (black background) with immediate viewing of your images to select your favorite. PLUS, we’ll provide a fully retouched web-size file for use online (printing rights are available for as little as $50). And while you wait, you’ll be able to network with other area professionals and enjoy a few light refreshments.

To help us prepare please RSVP here.  Walk-ins are welcome but may incur longer wait times.

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Can’t make it to the event Tuesday, but still need updated portraits for you and/or your staff? We offer in-studio individual executive portrait sessions for only $45 plus the ability to bring out studio to YOU for in-house portraits your staff can complete in just a few minutes. Bulk pricing is available for larger offices/schools/etc.

| Andrew + Abbey | Fall Engagement Portraits Decatur IL |

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While I like what we created for them downtown (especially love that they showed up with Coffee Connection coffee in hand!) I absolutely love what we found/created down at Lake Decatur. Believe it or not we found all this lovely fall color at their DECEMBER session.

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Check out how perfectly these two coordinated their outfits… heck even her eyes match it!

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Since I knew when we pulled into the parking lot that the best color I saw was at the top of this very steep hill, I decided to make the best of that climb up and try something a little out of the box with a little silhouette image.

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You can head over to their Facebook Album to give them some love with your likes/comments.