portrait studio

January 14, 2020January 22, 2020

| Jennie | Executive Headshot | Rodan and Fields |

I had the opportunity to meet and photograph Jennie last year for a quick turn around headshot session. She’s a thriving business woman on the Rodan Field team (if you don’t know R+F, girls this is next level skin care and I’m a fan and user myself!).

Under deadline to get the company an image (for life-size banner’s!) we had to get her in quick and that’s the thing I LOVE about how we do our executive portraits because it’s always under a deadline of like yesterday isn’t it?!? None of us (even me!!) are good about having consistently updated images of ourselves. Then, when we hit it out of the park and get featured in a magazine article or land a platform event, we have to scramble a bit to create an image we love to put our face/brand/personality out there to the masses.

Well, the good news is, that’s 100% my job! Our headshot sessions are 15 minutes in-studio with IMMEDIATE (yes like right NOW) viewing/selection on our 106″ Premiere screen. We make sure you LOVE that image life size (even if the final destination is an email-signature) and you walk out of the studio without any items on your to do list… no proofs to view/choose, nothing to wait on except your final image delivered often in 24-48 hours!

And since I know putting this off is easy and we could all use an update, I’m making it even easier this year with a two-day executive portrait event right here in the studio. Thursday, February 13th and Saturday, February 15th you can join us for your choice of:

Quick 15 Minute Headshot Session + Immediate viewing & selection of 2 digital artist files. Regularly $285, just $95!
Full in-studio one hour Branding Session + 20 Web Images & 2 digital artist files (artist selection). Regularly $575, just $295!

Booking is open now HERE.

November 12, 2019November 7, 2019

| Kerper Family | Decatur IL Family Portraits Fall 2019 |

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I got to meet Joanne and her absolutely lovely family this fall for their family Limited Edition session. How perfectly did they coordinate their outfits. Joanne took our few tips to ‘coordinate, not match’ and ‘mix in 1-2 colors throughout everyone’s looks’ and ran with it!

They were a joy to photograph and I’m so excited to see how the images Joanne selected for her walls look in their space.

Do you know about our Limited Edition sessions?!?! We now do most of our family sessions each year as part of our Limited Edition line. These work so well for immediate family sessions. They are short… your choice of 15 or 30 minutes which keeps both dad & the kids happy!

We suggest the longer session for families with little ones but for families with older kids like the Kerper’s 15 minutes is perfect. These sessions are (as the name suggests) Limited! We only offer these 4 times a year and we’ll open up booking for 2020 sessions after the first of the year. To get first dibs on these sessions dates DM us on social (www.instagram.com/sjanephotography or https://www.facebook.com/sjanephotog/), text 573.590.7427, call 217.330.7012 or email mail@sjanephotography.com! We’d love to create for your family in 2020 whether it’s been a year or 10 since your last family portrait.

February 28, 2019March 4, 2019

| Williams Winter Family Portrait Session in the SNOW | Decatur IL Photographer |

Random, bonus Monday blog post because I didn’t catch an error in this publishing last week as usual. But this is fitting today as we all try to unthaw in this 1* icy and snowy morning. I might be finally coming around to all you guys lamenting the snow and begging for spring (my feet are freezing today and my car doors froze closed!). Anyways, the snow IS still pretty…. see!!!

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I got to photograph Kelly & Jacob’s wedding this past year and they decided to hang on to their free engagement session to use this winter as a family session and I’m so glad they did. Roger and I had a blast playing in the snow (mini snow dust fight may have gone down). And even though it was cold, it was so pretty!

I’m excited for their full image box to be headed home this week so they can share all their favorite images with friends and family. Our image box is a really fun twist on an album which we recommend often to make sure you have a beautiful space to keep/share all your favorite images in one place. The image box is a custom box featuring your favorite image on the cover/inside which we fill with 40 of your favorite images! These you can then rotate through image frames in your home while still having a special place to keep everything together.

Our 2019 calendar is OPEN for your family sessions! No matter the season you have envisioned for your family portraits you can call us now to book your consultation so we can work with you to design your session and reserve your spot on the calendar (especially if you like the idea of a sunset session like these guys!).

February 22, 2019February 20, 2019

| Lynch Family Portraits | Decatur IL | Sarah Jane Photography |

Omg the session I have to share with you today has me grinning again just uploading the images (you’ll see why when you get a load of these faces!). We had SO much fun on Tiffanie’s session. I mean playing with these kiddos how could you not have a great time?!?!

I met Tiffanie when we featured the Mt. Zion Convention Center as one of our featured small businesses and not long after that she got in touch to schedule a session for her kiddos and I’m so glad she did.

We got her in for a quick session as part of our Limited Edition session event. These sessions are perfect bite-sized versions of our full portrait experiences. We know you don’t always need over an hour of portrait time (I mean even my kids who are no stranger to the camera don’t have nearly an hour’s worth of good behavior in them … #toddlermom #truth). So 4 times a year we offer our Limited Edition 15 or 30 minute sessions which are designed to be simple, quick and still full of everything you’d expect from an SJP session! PLUS, these sessions include a whopping 50% off (yes, you heard that right!) of our Limited product line.

If you’d like a taste of the SJP portrait experience this year and like the idea of getting everything you want in less time than it takes to watch your favorite TV drama, then head on over to sjanephotography.com to BOOK NOW!

2019 Limited Edition Session dates: Saturday, May 4 | Saturday, Sept 14 | Saturday, Nov 16th!

February 21, 2019February 20, 2019

| Muirheid Fall Family Limited Edition Session | Decatur IL |

It’s time for some ‘bonus blog posts’ since I have LOTS of sessions to share with you from the past few months and not enough days in the week to fit them all in if we don’t start adding in some extras. So our first BONUS post this week is of this beautiful family who lucked out with scheduling and landed perfectly on the best, most beautiful, fall week of our entire year. Just look at that stunning fall color we had for their day!

I hear from mommas all the time who haven’t had family portraits taken in a year, 5 years, a decade or more and it always comes with a tone of guilt… ladies, let me be the first to tell you I 100% do not judge you for not having family portraits taken! It’s hard work, it’s stressful and the #1 reason I do it every year is simply so I do not ever forget how freaking hard it is to be on the other side of the camera. I get it! And we all have enough mom-guilt about EVERYTHING (literally I just posted on my IG yesterday about having it about not grocery shopping <eye roll>). Melissa mentioned that it had been quite some time since they’d had family portraits taken and she wanted to be sure to get one while they had the chance to celebrate their family before the next chapters and additions with her son going on to create his own life as an adult.

As we’ve started along the path as parents recently, I’ve grown more and more fond of photographing families at all stages because I can so appreciate the ever-changing fabric of our families. This guy is grown, he’s venturing out to create his own life but he’s still their baby boy (ok mushy mom moment) and it was important to all of us to create a final family portrait of JUST their family before any future additions.

I’ve been doing this long enough to have been able to share in creating family portraits for my past senior clients as they welcome new babies and I SO look forward to the day when I start to photograph my senior’s senior kids (boy will that make me feel old), but that’s the dream right?!? I’m a decade and a half into this so bring on the next decade and more.

I’m so excited for a fun year of family portraits this year including families of brand new babies and families with their babies headed out of the nest! If you’d like to join us this year I’d love to work with YOU to create the portraits that celebrate the ones you love.