| Michael | WLHS Senior Portraits | Decatur IL |

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It’s Michael’s day on the blog today! We had such a great mix at his session of the classic and the new/edgy. We kicked things off here in the studio since we had to create his yearbook headshot anyways we decided to do a few other more formal images here before we headed out.

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One fun thing on Michael’s session was being spotted by a few of his friends who threw out some cat calls as we were shooting. Our girls kick up a ruckus and even brides and grooms elicit passing honks and hollers of congrats but it’s kind of the most fun when the guys get spotted by their friends.

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Below are the top two picks of both Michael and his momma. The left black and white will grace the cover of his album and the middle will hang on their wall soon (it just arrived from the lab!). I think they picked perfectly for both.

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I have just a couple after school openings left for you guys this fall … down to just October 9-11, 18th & 25th and Saturday 11/3 is our LAST fall Saturday. If you’re hoping for a fall senior/family/couple session shoot me an email to setup your consultation today.

| McKaela | Decatur IL Senior Portraits 2017 |

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I’m excited today to share a throwback to this beautiful class of 2017 Mt. Zion high school senior, McKaela! Her studio/Allerton combo was one of my favorites. I simply love creating sports images in studio (as I talked about in Jarius’ post recently). Not only do I love the way your uniform colors will pop on our rich black background but I often pair this with our mirrored floor to create a unique reflection look like the one below. McKaela did that pose so well (you have to really become ONE with that floor to get close enough for a good reflection!).

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Her album design became one of my absolute favorites too. While I don’t use a TON of text in our designs sometimes just a bit can really elevate a design and I had fun with a new style of text in hers to give more of a ticker tape feel that was super fun.

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As we round out the last 90 degree days (it is September right?!?!) here’s a peek back at the spring colors/flowers that will be here before we know it. If spring is your favorite time of year and you’re itching for a session in the tulips be sure to call us soon and we can get your spring session saved just for you!

| Jarius | WLHS Senior Portraits | Decatur IL |

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We’re BACK! Your usually weekly programing here on the blog was interrupted a bit by a server switch that threw off our publishing program a bit so things weren’t connecting as usual and even our already scheduled and ready blog posts were getting a bit jumbled! But, much smarter people than myself, have put things back together (I HATE programing just so you know … I only like the pretty front interface of my blog/scheduler and let someone else handle the code YUK). I’m glad to be back up and running for our usual Thursday post and today it’s Jarius! Can I just tell you how much I LOVE that Jarius was all-in for his senior portraits….. like ALL the metals, ALL the shoes (he has just a couple), all in!

It’s so so so easy to talk yourself out of bringing #allthethings to your session because YES you will totally feel like it’s too much and you’re basically moving in, but that’s OK. These things are part of who you are right now guys. When I find out we have a talented athlete (or competitor of any kind) with this many metals you better believe I am trying to talk you into bringing them all in with you. That’s a heck of an accomplishment and this talent and dedication (you all know the time it takes to be a high school or college athlete, it’s no joke) needs to be celebrated. And, just because he makes it look easy don’t be fooled. He got his arm workout that day – those metals aren’t light!

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I also really love it when athletes choose to have their uniform portion of the session in-studio. Look at your favorite pro-athletes on the covers of magazines, in their endorsement ads, etc and I bet MOST of them are in studio. There’s such a crisp, professional and fierce look to the lighting we can do there, and your uniform colors and numbers will really pop too! And, of course, we mixed it up a bit and didn’t do JUST sports images in studio with Jarius. A few lighting tweaks to something a bit more classic and a background swap and we went from sports illustrated pro athlete to GQ model in a snap (I mean really, can’t he pull off both rolls pretty darn good).

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One of the most fun things about Jarius’ session was his momma joining in on the fun too. She’s a blast and so full of energy I just love it. One things that’s always fun to me is to see the transformation from what a parent initially thinks of a location/image while we’re standing there shooting to what they think of it in the final product. His momma might not even remember this but she voiced a small concern while we were shooting at the below area that she wondered if he was blending in with the color of the trees/ivy and his green shirt. And ironically enough I chose this outfit for this specific location because I loved the way we’d get a two tone look with his skin/brick and ivy/shirt really melding well together and in the end product she did really like these much more than the second option I photographed with this same outfit with a much higher contract in the background. I always want to make sure parents and even seniors DO feel 100% able to speak up, jump in, fix details, voice concerns, request poses, etc … after all this is YOUR senior session! But sometimes, I’ll also say ‘just trust me’ … we’ll always try what you want to do too but come along for the ride and we can create some really cool things together!

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See senior guys, sessions are ‘that bad’ and they can even be fun (but don’t worry we don’t have to tell anyone [besides all my blog readers] if you actually have fun on session) 😉

| Colin | Warrensburg-Latham High School Senior Portraits |

I just finished Collin’s album design today and I get to share it with you all now!! I had the pleasure to photograph Collin’s older brother Holden a few years ago and then his family portraits and now it was his turn in the spotlight. I so so love working with his family and his mom is just the sweetest thing ever.

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Albums are seriously one of my favorite projects for seniors and families (they’re not just for weddings anymore!) because they let us show off ALL your favorite images and it takes the job of printing them off your plate. Plus, though I know my seniors don’t really think about this now, I love the idea that in 15, 20, 30 years their kids and grand kids will run across this album and get to tease him about his senior portraits.
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| Jaren | Class of 2018 Senior Session | Decatur IL |

We had a perfect day for Jaren’s senior session this spring. He’s definitely got his serious ‘model face’ on lock but it was super fun to get his great smile and laugh on camera too. We wandered around a few of my favorite alleyways around Decatur for his session to get some urban texture. As you can see he’s a bit of a Bulls/Jordan fan so since it’s always my goal to showcase not only what you look like but who you are in your images it was a great fit to add in that interest to his wardrobe.

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I’m back to sessions TODAY after a bit of time off with our new little one and cannot wait! If you’re a 2019 senior give us a call, we’ve still got a few summer dates and are booking into the fall now and can definitely make room for YOU!