| Taylor 2017 Family Portraits | Decatur IL |

I’m so excited to have seen this family again this year. Our last session was in 2014 (you can see it here)  and these guys survived a crazy COLD windy miserable day for their session then. So we were all thrilled to have their session on a, still windy, but much warmer day this year! And I cannot believe how much these kiddos have grown. They are so full of personality it was a super fun session!

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And, of course, we had to give each kiddo their own moment in the spotlight to let their personalities shine!

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Now that their Christmas cards have been sent I thought I’d update their blog post with their adorable Christmas card!

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| Allen Family | Annual Family Portraits | Summer Decatur, IL |

family portraits, family photography, family photographer, decatur il, decatur, illinois, photographer, central il photographer, central illinois photographer, family, siblings, siblings portraits, annual portraits, Look who’s up on the blog today! I’m so excited to share this beautiful family with you. I’ve had the privilege to photograph Melanie and her girls a few times over the past few years (you can check out last year’s session HERE) and this year we welcomed Chuck and Ethan into the fun.

I’ll be missing Melanie this year as we’ve worked together for the Warrensburg-Latham High School yearbook images for years now but she’s taken a great Librarian job in another district so I won’t be seeing as much of her as usual but wish her good luck in the new job.

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I have had so much fun watching Savannah and Sophie grow up so much over the last few years. They have such unique personalities and I always look forward to what we create for them both individually and together. I sort of get excited to think about them flipping through these photos a decade or two from now seeing how much they changed every year.

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And these three were SO sweet together. This may have been the first session I jumped WHILE shooting to get that smile on the left (thank God for image stabilization!). We knew going into the session we’d have to watch for forced smiles on Ethan so I had to up the silliness just a bit and worked perfectly!

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And, of course, we had to round out the session with some individual combinations. Every family relationship is unique and I love to show not only the whole family but all the little micro relationships too.

I know this will be an exciting year for this family and I cannot wait to see them even more grown up next year!

| Bauer Siblings Portraits | Mother’s Day Gift | Decatur IL Family Photographer |

Earlier this month I got to help Rachel and her brother surprise their mom with new portraits of themselves! It can often be logistically challenging to pull off a portrait surprise since there are a lot of things to explain (like why you’re dressed up, matching outfits, gone for an hour, etc) but we were able to time this perfectly so that we completed the session when their parents were away on an anniversary trip. Then came time for the surprise reveal. I often suggest using the Premiere day as the reveal for surprise sessions. This way not only do we get to make the unveiling a bit of an event in itself but this also gave their mother a chance to select what she wanted most.

Though she was convinced initially they were surprising her with a session she had to be in which ladies you can imagine how stressful that can be (wondering if your hair looks good, makeup is done well and if you wore something you’d want to be photographed in!).

I was so happy to get to be a part of creating this unique surprise to celebrate and appreciate their momma and now I’m excited to be able to share the images with you all too!

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| Hunter M | Senior Class of 2017 Portraits | Decatur IL |

It’s Hunter’s moment in the spotlight on the SJP blog today! She’s a senior at Central A & M and is super talented. Not only does she play both school and club volleyball and cheer but is also a fantastic artist! She brought in a selection of her favorite art pieces for her session so I was able to create a few images that combined her art with mine.

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Check out that game face!

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This sunset image was probably my favorite combination. It completely took this image to a different level and my favorite part is that it made it much more unique and personal to her.

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I did also really like the combo of the wolf and eye with this BoxDropsbySJP backdrop in a similar tone. Two of Hunter’s art pieces, plus a backdrop design by Punch & Sizzle all combined for my image… it’s like art overload!

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Hunter’s also a big fan of mixing up her lip color so I loved the idea of doing a series of images to highlight that. My favorite ended up being the dark lip in black and white which is so bold yet a bit classic.

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And don’t forget to check out her Facebook Album where you can get a closer look and give her some love with your likes/comments.

| Micaela T | Senior Class of 2017 | Decatur IL Photographer |

Today is Micaela’s day in the spotlight! She’s a class of 2017 senior at Eisenhower High School and was so fun to photograph. With that stunning hair and striking features she rocked her session and I loved every image!

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As a bookworm myself I was thrilled with Micaela showed up with her book collection and we found a couple ways to work them into her session both downtown for an urban look and at Rock Springs for a bit more natural setting (and just check out those eyes!!!).

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