Decatur IL – Page 13

September 13, 2018September 13, 2018

| 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!

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).

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!

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) 😉

August 30, 2018August 28, 2018

| Decatur IL Small Business Feature | The Laurel & The Linden | Local Artist |

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The Details: Lindsey Harrison, Owner/Arist of The Laurel & The Linden (formerly L&L Studio)| In Business: 4.5 Years

Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 10-6, Thursday 12-8 Location: 2938 S. Mt. Zion Road, Decatur 62521 (formerly inside Heroic Age Art Center) | Phone: 217.201.0593 | Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/landlstudioil

Tell us about your business… What do you do?
I own L&L Studio. I am a metalsmith by trade and a painter by hobby. I create almost all of the jewelry in the studio and all of the paintings. I run the marketing, social media and other technical aspects of the studio and I also teach Acrylic Abstract Meditation classes, (which is painting with some crazy hippie meditative stuff mixed in). My ma, Laura, is the showcasing specialist. She loves to organize the displays, and she also makes all of the stained glass wine bottle lights. She’s been doing those since 2000. L&L Studio is also the headquarters for the New & Growing Artists of Central Illinois group.

What makes your business unique/special?
I think the fact that L&L is run by a mother/daughter team is unique. We attend events together and we both represent our business. L & L means Lindsey & Laura. I also think it’s pretty special that everything in our studio is completely one of a kind and handmade (besides our small line of upcycled clothing). Most of what we create is made from recycled materials, like the wine bottles that show up on our porches or by our studio door and the old junk jewelry I’ve turned into new, more modern pieces.

What item/service on your menu or in your shop do you just LOVE and think everyone needs?

I think everyone needs a bottle light and a statement necklace. Bottle lights make a perfect gift, and statement necklaces, specifically heirloom charm necklaces, can be completely personalized into something you can truly treasure.

In what way have you gone above/beyond in the past for a customer?

We don’t take these types of orders anymore, but a few years ago a customer brought me a big purple sheet of metal that she had harvested from her dad’s old car that finally bit the dust. She knew she wanted SOMETHING made from it for him. He cherished that car. So I cut the silhouette of the car out of the sheet of metal and turned it into a car-shaped keychain with the car’s nickname engraved on it.

What tool/equipment/or other vendor could you not imagine doing business without? Why?
My torch is my baby. Melted metal is my style and I can’t do it without fire.

What other local business do you just LOVE? Why?

All of them. Local businesses are what give towns character. But on the side of town that my studio is on, my favorite business would have to be Black Iron Coffee.

Introduce us to your STAFF…Lindsey Elaine Harrison (myself). I graduated from EHS in 2010 and immediately began to explore different subjects at Richland, from photography to culinary to world religion… I loved it all but never decided on anything. One thing that was always a constant in my life was jewelry. Friendship bracelets, beading, you name it, I was selling it on the playground from 2^nd grade on and helping my mom sell beaded jewelry and her bottles at craft shows. One day, after all of my trial runs at RCC came to an “I-can’t-afford-to-play-around-anymore” type of halt, a friend asked me why I don’t just go to jewelry school. I didn’t know there was such a thing. Within a week of that discussion, I visited Gem City College in Quincy, registered and moved. 9 months and I was a certified metalsmith and jewelry designer. I eventually trained in Los Angeles on 3D design, which I no longer use, and studied jewelry essentials through the Gemological Institute of America.

Aside from the jewelry aspect of my life, I’m passionate about local artists and their success. I run the New & Growing Artists of Central Illinois facebook group, which is a networking, sharing, and social gathering place for local artists of all skill levels. This group makes it possible for me to host the Local Artists “L.A.” Gallery Show, NAGACI Eat & Arts, popup art markets and more.
I’m happily engaged to my high school sweetheart of 9 years, Steven Michael Kirk. We reside in a sweet little house in Oreana with two guinea pigs.

Laura Louise Harrison. Laura is my mom and doesn’t do social media or internet related things, so I’ll do the talking for her. She grew up learning to do leather tooling and sew from her grandmother and learned macramé from her mother, who taught macramé classes at Richland. She’s always loved to recycled, getting a little thrill from turning trash into treasure. When neighbors started dropping wine bottles off at her house, thinking she could recycle them into something, her infamous stained glass wine bottle lights were born. When the Decanter Fine Wines opened in 2006, they became her first distributor. Laura has dabbled in many types of fine art as well, charcoal and oil pastels being her favorites.

She has been married to her husband (and my dad) Scott Harrison for more than 30 years and they always have a dog or two.

Tell us about YOU… WHY did you choose to do what you do?

Which part of what I do? My studio is a creative outlet for us. We create ALL of the time, and we really needed an outlet for everything we made. I created the NAGACI group and the LA Gallery Shows because I saw a need in our community to offer recognition to artists who may not have gone to Millikin and may not want to be part of a prestigious art organization. Artists are everywhere. They need to be seen.

When did you know you wanted to go into this business?
I have always wanted to be in business surrounded by the arts and creative minds. We officially decided to take the plunge at Christmas of 2013. We heard about the art center, decided we could afford it and we jumped in.

What are you passionate about outside of your business?

Outside of L&L and the NAGACI group and art shows, I’m passionate about other small businesses and raising awareness of/for them. I’m also passionate about writing, though I don’t do it often anymore. I also have a deep fascination with sustainable life. You know, tiny houses, recycling, solar energy, composting, growing your own food (though if I did grow my own food I’d have to become a vegetarian because you’ll never catch me slaughtering an animal).

Describe your PERFECT day…

My perfect day would look like this:
Wake up when my alarm goes off the first time. Do yoga in my art/yoga studio. Have breakfast with fiancé. Watch a favorite show. Leave for work. Stop by Black Iron for coffee. Show up to the studio, turn on my favorite pandora station, flip the open sign and hit the torch (my best days are when I get on a roll making forged jewelry). Have at least 15 customers come in before closing. A friend brings lunch and we lunch together, maybe close for 30 minutes for a walk in the sunshine. Leave to meet fiancé for sushi dinner at Fuji. Come home to a magically clean house and a dog. Browse my two favorite things on Instagram (coffee mugs and jewelry). Go to bed early.
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See our other past small business features to connect with more businesses in our area:

See more on our Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter @sjanephotog, Instagram @sjanephotograhy, and Snapchat @sjanephotog

If you’d like to have YOUR small business featured for FREE on the SJP blog (or know a small business we should feature) you can find details HERE! These features are 100% free and we’d love to feature you next.

August 28, 2018August 28, 2018

| Jessica + Lucas | Decatur IL Couple’s Portraits at Sunset |

Some couple’s happiness and joy is just infectious and that’s so true of Jessica and Lucas. They completely embraced their time together on session and had so much fun while we created images designed to show off that relationship. So often in the hecticness of prep for the session (getting clothes together, hair and makeup done, worrying about leaving on time, checking the weather – is it too hot? will it rain?) we can forget or lose sight of the fact that for an hour it’s all about YOU… and for a couple’s session about your love.

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How many other times do you get to spend a hour of your day without cell phones, no notifications, no TV, no dishes or laundry begging to be done… just you two, together. Holding hands, hugging, kissing, laughing at eachother! These two soaked it up and it was such a joy to be a part of this session with them. Sometimes, sessions are as much about the experience as they are the final images and this was one of those times.

If an hour (or even 15 minutes) away from the hustle and grind of your daily life to hang out with the one(s) you love most sounds like just what you need, head over to www.sjanephotography.com and click BOOK NOW to reserve your fall session. We have both full sessions and short Limited Edition sessions left and would love to save a spot for YOU.

August 23, 2018

| 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.

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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August 14, 2018August 16, 2018

| Hannah | Second Senior Session | Decatur IL Senior Photographer |

I just finished up Hannah’s full 60-page album design and I LOVE it! This design pushed me to get creative and stay creative to make each design unique on it’s own yet coordinate with all the others.

One thing that I love that Hannah did from her session is create a feature image for her to take with her to college (in her college gear – see those images and her full first session here), plus we created two wall collages for her to keep here at home. I love this because senior images are a really fun transition between your childhood chapter and your adult chapter so I like that she left some behind for her (and mom) to enjoy at home and took some with her to have a piece of her past there too.

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I posted about the below images a while back on our facebook page. I realized I’ve talked up sunset sessions a lot and had some clients concerned their images would be ‘less-than’ if we didn’t have a sunset session open for them. That is SO not the case! Hannah’s session started 3 HOURS before sunset, but I chose a location I knew had a bit of an early sunset look since it’s very wooded and sort of in a little valley and even hours before sunset we can create looks like this with the right location and lighting. No matter what time of day your session is, it’s always my job to make your images ones you will LOVE so don’t you worry if it’s sunrise, sunset or noon I will do just that!