family session

June 30, 2021June 29, 2021

Decatur Illinois Families | Summer Portrait Sessions with Sarah Jane

Well SJP summers are usually chock full of the latest senior class (hey class of 2022, we see you!), but whew boy is summer 2021 all about these stunning Central Illinois (and Missouri…. yes, even though I said I wasn’t staring work in Missouri until 2022, oooops… I did!) families!

I’ve gotten to celebrate not one, but TWO, 50th wedding anniversaries this summer by creating brand new family portraits for these lovely couples and the generations they’ve grown. Plus, I created my first ever 4th of July ‘Christmas’ cards for a brand new SJP family.

First up, to share today are a few of my favorites from the Kuhn family. I am just so grateful and thankful for them trusting me over the years. They have two seriously great kids, who are I guess really not ‘kids’ anymore now! And they are always such a pleasure to work with and create for. We just put the finishing touches on their family album which we selected to match Alex & Lindy’s senior albums. Plus, I cannot wait to see their final canvas selection above their mantle soon.

I’m so excited for the three image collection we designed for this next family’s wall. My favorite part is the little surprise in the palm of the littest’s hand…. a daddy long leg she found got to join them for the session. Dad says she loves them so it was a perfect little dose of personality that only a knowing eye could find! And we ended up with almost perfectly mirrored images of both girls that worked perfectly on either side of the main family portrait.

Last up today I get to share the Anderson/Jones family! These guys were all laughs on session and their energy was infectious. I’m excited to get their whole family portrait framed up in the next week so it can make it to it’s home on their walls.

July 25, 2019July 3, 2019

| DeVico-Stalets Family Portraits | Decatur IL Family Photographer |

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It can often be hard to get the family all together when you aren’t close but one wonderful thing about us being located in central Illinois and easy to access from Bloomington, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Peoria, Springfield, Champaign, etc is that we can be your central meeting location and coordinate with you and your family to bring everyone together for a whole family portrait!

That’s exactly what we did for this beautiful family. And it was wonderful to meet them on session and create images that can bring them all together even when they are afar.

July 11, 2019July 3, 2019

| Willa | 2 Year Old Portraits | Decatur IL |

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I have such a soft spot in my heart (and a HUGE burst of gratitude) for the families that have been with me for years. I’m thrilled to say that I’ve been working with Myra since before this little lady existed! It’s been a treat to watch her grow (check out her first birthday session here) and we had such fun on her session this year playing in the dandelions.

January 9, 2019January 7, 2020

| Christian Family | Decatur IL Family Portrait Session |

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Happy New Year ya’ll! It’s the first SJP blog post of 2020… new year, new decade! Does it feel like a fresh start for you? Does it feel like just another day? I’m a big fan of the ‘blank page’ feeling of the new year. And after busy busy busy season here with fall-Christmas sessions with all you beautiful people I enjoy the solo time in the office to catch my breath and work on the back end of things as well.

I’m excited today to kick things off sharing one of our beautiful class of 2020 models, Alleson’s, family with you! They joined us for our ‘fall’ Limited Edition session this year (you know in the fall that never came, thanks 2019… hence all the beautiful greenery). I will seriously never forget this season when October started at 94* and looked/felt nothing like fall and then we got our first snow before Thanksgiving! #crazy

We’ve had so many of you request early booking this year that I’ve just set our 2020 Limited Edition dates and booking is open now HERE. Our LE sessions are 15 or 30 minutes starting at just $45 and are available 4x a year:

Saturday, February 15th – Morning/Mid-Day In-Studio
Sunday, May 17th – Afternoon On-Location
Saturday, September 12th – Morning/Mid-Day On-Location
Saturday, October 17th – FALL Prime Date (Only 6 Sessions Available)

And coming soon we’ll have a bonus Christmas weekend with both Santa Experience sessions (we have a very special experience planned with Santa this year that’s far more than just a photo session!) as well as themed indoor and outdoor Christmas sets.

March 28, 2017March 28, 2017

| Jamie + Mike Engagement & Family Portraits | Decatur, IL |

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OMG you guys! I cannot tell you how much I’ve been chomping at the bit to show off this snowy session. I’m honored to be photographing Jamie & Mike’s wedding day this year and this gal wanted a snowy engagement session SO BAD and we were almost certain it just wasn’t going to happen for us. After some disappointing snow flurries early in the season which amounted to little more than a dusting that was melting by the time either of us was on the phone to begin planning logistics we both resigned ourselves to hope for a late season snow but things were looking pretty bleak (ie sunny and WARM). I knew how much Jamie really wanted a snow session so I had even started calling around to my photography friends in other northern cities to call me if any snow hit their area and we’d just make a road trip…. it wasn’t looking promising.

But then….. this lovely and random one-day blizzard arrived in true mid-western style! And it was just what we needed! The stars really aligned for this with both Jamie and Mike off work that day already and the opening in my schedule falling right after school these two were able to pick up their little guy and make it over to the park in the midst of a gorgeous snowfall! After that perfect session we’re all so happy we hadn’t jumped the gun and tried to make a session work with a tiny bit of snow because our patience was rewarded with this BLIZZARD!

And from a kid’s point of view how cool is it you get to PLAY IN THE SNOW for your portrait session?!?!

I’m so excited these guys have opted to share their wedding day with me and have me be a part of creating their family legacy and even more thrilled we were able to create exactly what Jamie envisioned for their engagement/family session. We have ONE opening left for a 2017 wedding and are currently booking 2018 (only 8 openings left) so don’t hesitate to call to schedule a time when we can chat about creating your portrait vision. And be sure to pop over to Jamie & Mike’s facebook album to give them some love.