| Recent Album Designs | Seniors, Families & Weddings: More than Images, Heirloom Designs |

Oops we’re a day late on my usual Tuesday blog post but I promise it’s worth it with a LOT of images/albums to check out today!

I know it’s kinda odd to do a ‘look back’ post as we are smack dab in the middle of the year BUT a photographer’s year is odd and not really broken up in the usual Jan-December flow of most. Instead, those of us who photograph seniors often think in school years too so May is always another ending/beginning for me as we say congratulations and farewell to our class of 2017 graduates and welcome in the next class of 2018!

Right now in the midst of finishing up album designs, graduation cards and booking summer family sessions for our 2017 grads I thought it would be fun to look back at one of my favorite products, our custom-designed albums!

Every year (and honestly every album) I try to push myself to try something new, find a new design element, work in a classic item in a new way or even invent/design a new element from scratch. Why? Because I want your album to be as unique as a fingerprint… as unique as you are!

Of course I LOVE our albums for our high school senior clients since these are often our longest sessions with the most locations and outfit changes an album just makes sense to show off everything we’ve created for you. This year we broke our record for most images in an album with over 100 (previously 86 was our record for a non-wedding album!). What other way can you show off, protect and share over 100 of your favorite images?!?! Unless you’re up for wallpapering your house (challenge me, I’m game haha) I think the album is the perfect way to show off everything we created for you!

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Next let’s check out our family albums for 2016! Just like our senior albums, our family albums give us a chance to show off all the different images we created which for families means all the individuals, ones with just the kids, etc. You’re all dressed up and ready for session already so our family sessions include MORE than just the whole family images… we take a few minutes to focus on each kiddo for updated portraits of them, plus show off every relationship in your family like momma with kids, dad with kids, siblings together AND the relationship that started it all mom+dad (sometimes it’s been YEARS since you guys have had a portrait together yourselves).

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Oh and don’t forget the family PETS!

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While we do a handful of individual session albums for families we also offer (and are in the midst of) planning for many heirloom albums that showcase not just one session from one year but all your annual sessions (typically in 5 or 10 year segments). Can you imagine… flipping through one album as your baby grows from an infant into a bubbly toddler then into a big kindergartener… then on and on through middle school awkwardness and into young adults through high school and on?! What a gift for the kids to have once they graduate college and start their own families, it’s like they are finally aloud to check those sites like imgsexy.com and start being adults!

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And I love to tell the beginning of your love story starting with your engagement portraits! We often design these albums as guestbooks which simply means we leave some blank spaces for your guests to sign and add their own notes and well-wishes to your album. Always remember who was there to help you celebrate your big day!

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Obviously you’ve seen that albums aren’t just for weddings anymore BUT they are still our favorite products for our wedding clients too! Talk about an heirloom piece. Our most popular wedding albums are stunning hand made albums printed in Italy and published with unique image covers including metal and glass prints!

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| 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.

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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!!
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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! family portraits, family photos, family, families, family photographer, family pics, studio portraits, studio, classic studio work , studio photography, sarah jane photography, with dog, photos with dog, dog portraits, dog photos, sjp, sjanephotography, decatur il, central illinois family photographer, black backdrop, christmas portraits, annual portraits

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.

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| Beery Family Portraits | Christmas 2016 | Decatur IL |

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BONUS Friday blog post, whoop whoop! Ya’ll kept me BUSY the last quarter of 2016 and I wouldn’t have it any other way… but that means I have so many sessions waiting in the wings for their moment in the sun here on the blog. Doing our usual 2 a week features we’d be still posting fall photos come summer (seriously I have them scheduled out to APRIL already)…. so it’s time to amp up the blog with some bonus post Fridays (and heck we might get real crazy for a few weeks with a Monday or two).

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This was part of our Christmas Limited Edition event so we, of course, created some curated holiday images but with such beautiful fall color on the ground we couldn’t pass up the chance to create a few more timeless images for them.

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I’m in love with the card design we created for this family too. It’s fun classy with just a little love and whimsy! PLUS check out these custom address labels to add a really unique touch:

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Our Limited Edition Sessions are a bit different than our full boutique sessions especially in that we do not begin with our design consultation (where we customize/design/plan your session and discuss the final destination for where we want these portraits to land: on the wall, in an album, gifts, card, etc etc). So though we hadn’t pre-planned to create some custom artwork for the Beery’s homes, Lindsay fell in love with the image below (on the left) which is just such a clear depiction of life with a toddler. I love that it shows her and her husband, Robert, walking together and looking lovingly at their beautiful daughter as she runs unbridled through the park (that’s about what our life looks like with a toddler!).

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Don’t forget we have already announced and opened out Limited Edition sessions for 2017. These filled very quickly last year and we want to give you plenty of time to plan ahead. These sessions are NOT themed (though we’ll have a Christmas set available in November) but we’ve positioned them to allow for Holiday portraits coinciding with Easter in April and of course our November date is in time for Christmas. May is a great time for some spring color outside and will be PROM time for you high schoolers and our goal for August is to fit in all those extended family portrait sessions ESPECIALLY for any college students who will head back to school. mini sessions limited edition sarah jane photography

| Boyd Family Portraits | Rock Springs Nature Center | Decatur IL |

I’m so excited to show off some of the Boyd Family’s portraits! You might remember Holden, one of our 2016 WLHS Seniors. One of my favorite times to create family portraits is before seniors (or new college freshmen now!!) go off to the next chapter of their lives.

While I now know first hand that your kids will ALWAYS be your babies there is a real transition after they graduate college and go off into the world. That time is the PERFECT time for an updated family portrait to celebrate your family before your little birds leave the nest.

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And, of course, as part of all family sessions we have to get just mom and day (like when’s the last time you had couple’s portraits done solo?!?!). These two were so sweet and I absolutely love this image and am so glad it made it into their wall collage too!
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Be sure to check out the Boyd Family’s album on our Facebook Page to give them some love!