decatur lake

March 22, 2019March 21, 2019

| Lemons Fall Family Portraits | Jefferson City, Missouri Photographer |

decatur il, family portraits, family photographer, pets, dogs, family photos with pets, family pictures with dogs, rainy day, couples, sarah jane photography, sjp, sjanephotography, best family photographer, decatur, illinois, the beach house, decatur lake, toddler, toddler life, child, only child, family poses, family portrait ideas, winter, snow, portraits in the snow, senior year, grown children portraits, central missouri, jefferson city, missouri photographer, best family photographer missouri, pets, dog,

Once or twice a year I make it a point to come back to my hometown to work. I was born and raised in Jefferson City, Missouri and while I don’t see us ever moving back it will always have a huge piece of my heart. It is, after all, the town that helped make me ME. It’s also where I started my photography business at the ripe old age of 16. It’s been a very long time since I’d done a session back at one of my original go-to locations the beautiful Governor’s garden so when we set the Lemons’ family session I knew that’s where I wanted to shoot.

While your family session is all about the full family, we always make sure to take time to show off everyone in the family and all your relationships to each other because each one of you is kind of a big deal!

I’m an only child but am absolutely loving seeing the relationship of sisterhood between our two girls, so showing it off on session is a must.

And at the end of every session I always make sure to ask if there’s anything at all that we haven’t done that YOU want to do. While it’s definitely my job to come up with the ideas and my goal is for you to not have to work on session one little bit, these are your images and if you have an idea we for sure will do it! And below was the girls’ idea for an image with their adorable pup and it’s just so fun I love it.

If you’re a mid-Missouri family and would like portraits this year (or senior, couple, pet, etc) I will be coming back to your area at least once this summer. Email for date specifics and to reserve your time.

March 15, 2019March 15, 2019

| Thomas Family Portraits in the SNOW | Decatur IL Photographer |

Can you guys believe it’s SNOWING again today… At least it’s not full blown blizzard 368327 of the year. I’ve said it earlier in the season, I was for sure one of the ones LOVING all this snow. I haven’t worked in the snow this much for YEARS and we had the big fluffy beautiful fluffy kind that stuck around for days which let me just keep shooting in the snow which was SO much fun. But… now I’ve gone over to the dark side with everyone who’s absolutely tired of winter and ready for spring. After 60* this week and SUNSHINE which let me get out and go for a run outside for the first time this year now I’m so over winter and ready for all the sun and warmth (you know until it’s like 82* and I start complaining about being hot hahaha).

The Thomas family was up for an adventure in the snow and I’m so glad they ventured out to join this day of sessions. This was attempt two as the first day we had scheduled sessions was literally snowmageddon and I made the call that everyone needed to stay home safe and we tried again the next day and with perfect results. Not only was there less wind but we got treated with a little bit more snow fall for a gorgeous winter wonderland look.

Is warm weather more up your alley? Do you want a unique look for your family portraits? Spring is the perfect time for BEAUTIFUL family portraits with gorgeous outfits available as Easter looks hit the stores and with fall being the #1 season for portraits, spring gives your family a unique look (like the Thomas family) only far less cold! Our April/May calendars are already filling so give us a call now to start designing your session and feel free to pre-book online HERE.

February 1, 2019February 1, 2019

| Phillips Fall Family Portraits | Limited Edition Sessions by Sarah Jane Photography |

I’ve been working with Emily basically since we moved to the area in 2010. She’s been a big part of much of the SJP PR/advertising strategies over the past (almost) decade so, of course, I was excited to create some extended family portraits for her and in-laws this fall. Believe it or not ALL this was done in less than 30 minutes (I mean you have to work pretty fast with a handful of little ones on session!). We had PERFECT color this week and aren’t their outfits just adorable?!?!

I figured it was a good time to throw back to this fall session now that we are stuck in the middle of the ice age again… remember that better seasons will come again ya’ll.

decatur il, family portraits, family photographer, pets, dogs, family photos with pets, family pictures with dogs, rainy day, couples, sarah jane photography, sjp, sjanephotography, best family photographer, decatur, illinois, the beach house, decatur lake, toddler, toddler life, child, only child, family poses, family portrait ideas, fall colors, autumn, decatur il, family portraits, family photographer, pets, dogs, family photos with pets, family pictures with dogs, rainy day, couples, sarah jane photography, sjp, sjanephotography, best family photographer, decatur, illinois, the beach house, decatur lake, toddler, toddler life, child, only child, family poses, family portrait ideas, fall colors, autumn, decatur il, family portraits, family photographer, pets, dogs, family photos with pets, family pictures with dogs, rainy day, couples, sarah jane photography, sjp, sjanephotography, best family photographer, decatur, illinois, the beach house, decatur lake, toddler, toddler life, child, only child, family poses, family portrait ideas, fall colors, autumn, decatur il, family portraits, family photographer, pets, dogs, family photos with pets, family pictures with dogs, rainy day, couples, sarah jane photography, sjp, sjanephotography, best family photographer, decatur, illinois, the beach house, decatur lake, toddler, toddler life, child, only child, family poses, family portrait ideas, fall colors, autumn,

Believe it or not we’re already booking FALL 2019 sessions so if this is the look you’d like for your family portraits this year, whether your family is just you and your love, a fur baby or two, or the full shebang like the Phillips family, we can create something perfect for you!

January 28, 2019January 28, 2019

| Parker Fall Family Portraits | Decatur IL Photographer | Sarah Jane |

Well after prepping this post to go live Friday a very sick toddler threw off my plans and I didn’t even realized until today that I hadn’t actually clicked ‘publish’ so we have a bonus post this week (aka late post from last week, but better late than never ya’ll and it’s going to be a great way to START your week!)……

Today I get to share with you a family that’s become an important one to our little family. Three years ago we faced the daunting task of finding a babysitter for our little lady “baby B” … Though we’ve been in the Decatur area for nearly 9 years now, times like these you realize that there are not a lot of people you really know personally so we reached out to our wonderful neighbors and on facebook to trust in the word of those in our circle to help us find someone we could trust with our brand new baby.

That one choice is so huge and being new parents we didn’t even know what to look for or what questions to ask or how this whole thing even worked. Well Jinny was the first and only sitter we went to visit with… we knew we’d be taking essentially a blind leap of faith and just hoping for the best and we could not have made a better choice. Not only is she super flexible with us with a not so set schedule that is the life of an entrepreneur but my kid feels just as much a part of their family as she does ours (like no joke she introduced herself as “B Parker” for like a year before we convinced her that no she was actually a Shorthose just like us).

Even having a sitter is something that I think many working moms struggle with but when your kiddo gets excited and runs to the door when Ms. Jinny comes (yes this awesome lady even comes to pick up my kid from here often) and when she asks at least once a weekend if she’s going to Ms. Jinny’s today it makes it 100% easier to let her go. She’s somewhere she loves and is loved and that warms my heart so so much.

Ok now if you’ve stuck in here this long through the ramblings of a super grateful momma I guess it’s time to show you some images we created this fall for Jinny and her brother to gift to their momma for Christmas. I was so happy to be able to create these for them and give each of these kiddos a bit of their own time in the spotlight as we know these moments don’t last long. I hope you join me in showering these beautiful people with love!

If 2019 is the year for YOU to update your family portraits (whether it’s been a year or a decade since the last one) we’d love to talk with you and design something special for the personalities in your house!

January 3, 2019January 3, 2019

| Miller Annual Family Portraits | Fall Limited Edition Sessions | Decatur IL |

Today is the day for me to share this beautiful family with you! Each year I test my patience by keeping their photos underwraps until after the holidays so I don’t ruin any mailbox surprises for their friends and family. So now it’s time that I get to show off their updated images and I swear they just get cuter and cuter every single year. Believe it or not, I’ve photographed this family since Grant was a tiny little baby (ahhhhh they are SO big!).

As you can imagine with years of sessions in Illinois they’ve had their fair share of interesting weather conditions but this year was a first for us having their session scheduled on a day where RAIN was on the menu. Becky totally put her faith in me to move forward with the session even with the dodgy forecast and though I got to look amazing in a huge poncho I’m so glad we went ahead with their session as I love the location and the unique look we got for them. Giving my annual families something different each year is something I really challenge myself to do and I think we were successful this year for sure!