| Lemons Fall Family Portraits | Jefferson City, Missouri Photographer |

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Once or twice a year I make it a point to come back to my hometown to work. I was born and raised in Jefferson City, Missouri and while I don’t see us ever moving back it will always have a huge piece of my heart. It is, after all, the town that helped make me ME. It’s also where I started my photography business at the ripe old age of 16. It’s been a very long time since I’d done a session back at one of my original go-to locations the beautiful Governor’s garden so when we set the Lemons’ family session I knew that’s where I wanted to shoot.

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While your family session is all about the full family, we always make sure to take time to show off everyone in the family and all your relationships to each other because each one of you is kind of a big deal!

I’m an only child but am absolutely loving seeing the relationship of sisterhood between our two girls, so showing it off on session is a must.

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And at the end of every session I always make sure to ask if there’s anything at all that we haven’t done that YOU want to do. While it’s definitely my job to come up with the ideas and my goal is for you to not have to work on session one little bit, these are your images and if you have an idea we for sure will do it! And below was the girls’ idea for an image with their adorable pup and it’s just so fun I love it.

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If you’re a mid-Missouri family and would like portraits this year (or senior, couple, pet, etc) I will be coming back to your area at least once this summer. Email for date specifics and to reserve your time.

| Thomas Family Portraits in the SNOW | Decatur IL Photographer |

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Can you guys believe it’s SNOWING again today… At least it’s not full blown blizzard 368327 of the year. I’ve said it earlier in the season, I was for sure one of the ones LOVING all this snow. I haven’t worked in the snow this much for YEARS and we had the big fluffy beautiful fluffy kind that stuck around for days which let me just keep shooting in the snow which was SO much fun. But… now I’ve gone over to the dark side with everyone who’s absolutely tired of winter and ready for spring. After 60* this week and SUNSHINE which let me get out and go for a run outside for the first time this year now I’m so over winter and ready for all the sun and warmth (you know until it’s like 82* and I start complaining about being hot hahaha).

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The Thomas family was up for an adventure in the snow and I’m so glad they ventured out to join this day of sessions. This was attempt two as the first day we had scheduled sessions was literally snowmageddon and I made the call that everyone needed to stay home safe and we tried again the next day and with perfect results. Not only was there less wind but we got treated with a little bit more snow fall for a gorgeous winter wonderland look.

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Is warm weather more up your alley? Do you want a unique look for your family portraits? Spring is the perfect time for BEAUTIFUL family portraits with gorgeous outfits available as Easter looks hit the stores and with fall being the #1 season for portraits, spring gives your family a unique look (like the Thomas family) only far less cold! Our April/May calendars are already filling so give us a call now to start designing your session and feel free to pre-book online HERE.

| 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!

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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.

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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!).

| 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?!?!

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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.

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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.

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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!

| Muirheid Fall Family Limited Edition Session | Decatur IL |

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.