the latest in-studio & on-location MO, IL and beyond
The gorgeous Kirkman family is up on the blog today!! These boys were so much fun and brought so much style and personality to their session. This was a rare urban location for a Limited Edition this fall. This year we have one studio LE session planned along with 3 outdoor dates. LE session dates have been sent out to our VIP email list (get on that HERE for first dibs and a free gift on your first session).
Merry Christmas ya’ll! I hope yesterday, and this whole week has been stocked full of Christmas magic. I’m not actually here (for real) this week but I keep a few family’s annual family portraits under wraps until after the holiday so they have the chance to unveil the images first to their friends/family in their Christmas cards. And I just couldn’t wait to share these with you so I (insider information) scheduled this post weeks (hmmm actually like a month) ago!
I’ve had the honor of photographing these kids for the last 6 years and there is absolutely nothing I love more about my job than having return clients like this. I posted a throwback to our past images last month on our facebook page (HERE) and it’s amazing to me to see how much they’ve changed. I’m beyond thankful this family has trusted me with their images year after year.
One of the biggest challenges with so many years of annual portraits is to create something new. I try to make sure we are selecting new locations each year but my real challenge is selecting updated poses that are still flattering, natural and show some connection. This year, we opted for what I call a ‘cross over’ location where I knew we could get some ivy for a more natural look (the family’s usual preference) but that this location would also give us the chance to mix in a more urban look with the steps. This was a new roll of the dice for them and I’m so glad Lori trusted me to go with it and guess what …. after the fact they were wishing we’d made it a whole family year so we could update the wall image with a more urban look! So glad they liked the new direction with these.
Today I get to share this beautiful family with you. I finished up their album design this week (check out the time lapse video of that below!) so their stunning metal wall collage and custom album will be headed home with them soon.
I loved giving each kiddo their own time in the spotlight on session. Plus, giving all three siblings a chance to snuggle up and how adorable is that!?!?
I love that the Miller’s chose our modern metal portraits for their wall. They will make these colors sing and mimic the backlit screens we spend our days looking at so have a bold rich look that is unique to our metal/glass options.
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.
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.
