| Abby S | LSA Senior Model Class of 2017 | Decatur IL |

I’m so glad the time has come to show off and share Abby’s full senior portrait experience with you! The lovely Ms. Abby is a senior at LSA high school here in Decatur and she was one of our class of 2017 senior models. That means that her portrait experience with us started small, with a quick 5 minute debut session here in the studio….

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and it grew and grew…. That individual quick session was followed by our model session event in the beautiful (but WINDY) spring weather at Ryder’s Garden center. The yellow blooms were perfect with her golden blond hair and I love the Greek goddess look that the floral crown by The Secret Garden gave her! ryder's garden center, mt. zion il garden center, senior photos, senior photographer, senior portraits, high school seniors, siblings, outdoor portraits, outside, sun flare, sunshine, forest, trees, decatur il photographer, photographer, photography studio, lsa, lsa seniors, spring flowers, yellow flowers

After those two model sessions, which were really about creating fun looks I loved, it was time for HER senior sessions which are all about creating looks that SHE loves. We hopped back in the studio for a few more looks in the early spring but the real magic happened in the summer when we hit the town…seniors photos, sarah janephotography, decatur il, central illinois photographer, forsyth park, outdoor portraits, class of 2017, argenta oreana high school, downtown portraits, forsyth il, outdoor photography, rock springs nature center, outdoor, fall, what to wear, hat, ivy, best senior photographer, senior models, decatur lake, studio, cheerleading, cheerleader, lsa high school, lsa, decatur il photographer, photographer decatur il, central illinois photographer, photography studio, high key, low key, sports photos, boxdropsbysjp, boxdrops, box dropsseniors photos, sarah janephotography, decatur il, central illinois photographer, forsyth park, outdoor portraits, class of 2017, argenta oreana high school, downtown portraits, forsyth il, outdoor photography, rock springs nature center, outdoor, fall, what to wear, hat, ivy, best senior photographer, senior models, decatur lake, studio, cheerleading, cheerleader, lsa high school, lsa, decatur il photographer, photographer decatur il, central illinois photographer, photography studio, high key, low key, sports photos, boxdropsbysjp, boxdrops, box dropsseniors photos, sarah janephotography, decatur il, central illinois photographer, forsyth park, outdoor portraits, class of 2017, argenta oreana high school, downtown portraits, forsyth il, outdoor photography, rock springs nature center, outdoor, fall, what to wear, hat, ivy, best senior photographer, senior models, decatur lake, studio, cheerleading, cheerleader, lsa high school, lsa, decatur il photographer, photographer decatur il, central illinois photographer, photography studio, high key, low key, sports photos, boxdropsbysjp, boxdrops, box dropsseniors photos, sarah janephotography, decatur il, central illinois photographer, forsyth park, outdoor portraits, class of 2017, argenta oreana high school, downtown portraits, forsyth il, outdoor photography, rock springs nature center, outdoor, fall, what to wear, hat, ivy, best senior photographer, senior models, decatur lake, studio, cheerleading, cheerleader, lsa high school, lsa, decatur il photographer, photographer decatur il, central illinois photographer, photography studio, high key, low key, sports photos, boxdropsbysjp, boxdrops, box drops, high key, white backdrop

We started downtown before hitting some backroads in search of something fresh and new and we found it. A perfect little one-lane-gravel road where we had a great sunset and some wild tall weeds! 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Don’t forget you can still apply for your chance to be a class of 2018 senior model for a full year portrait experience just like this! Model applications are accepted from now until March 31st so don’t wait!

And be sure to head over to Abby’s Facebook Album to give her some likes/comments.

** Some images edited using BoxDropsbySJP overlays and most backdrops used are available to purchase at www.boxdropsbysjp.com!

| Haylei | Tween Model Session | Decatur IL | Sarah Jane Photography |

sarah jane photography, sjp, sjanephotography, decatur il, tweens, tween portraits, outdoor portraits, children photography, photographers, decatur ilI have been photographing this beautiful young lady for YEARS and I absolutely love watching her grow up! She is quite the accomplished pageant gal and when it was time for the tween model session event I knew it was PERFECT for her! And as always, she rocked her session and we created SO many looks in just 15 minutes.

Take a look at a couple of our favorites and be sure to get your ‘tween’ (age 7-15) booked for our next mini event in-studio on Thursday, March 3 and on-location Saturday, April 9th (spaces are very limited!)

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See more from our Tween Model Search on our Facebook Page and follow us on Instagram!

TweenModelCall

Seth Godin ROCKS… Steal his/my/your/everyone’s ideas!

Today I read a great article by Seth Godin talking about the ‘theft’ of ideas… You can read it here: http://ideas.ted.com/2014/02/03/the-big-mistake-we-all-make-about-ideas/

In my industry I see this all the time. People get hurt/bitter/mad/etc (‘butthurt’ as my husband and other workaholics fans would call it) when another photographer ‘steals’ their signature pose, lighting style, location… but really unless your Amazon (who apparently invented and recently patented the idea of photographing on a white background) you more than likely didn’t invent the idea of posing someone in that way. Nor is it likely that you are the first to photograph on that brick wall or patch of grass.

BUT instead it’s more likely that one of two awesome things happened 1) someone was INSPIRED by you to push their own style and create images using your style as an inspiration. Your work opened up a world of new possibilities for them and encouraged them to push their work farther, outside their comfort zone and to try something new.  And yes, they may even do it BETTER than you (ooo I know that burns sometimes). OR 2) (as unbelievable as it may be) they in their unfailing creativity may have thought of the same idea that your genius mind did (ever hear ‘great minds think alike’?!?).

In either case, the theft of these ideas is leading to a growth in the industry. And I would wager that you yourself have ‘stollen’ an idea or two and with a spark of a stollen idea you may have added your flare/flavor/style to that idea to grow an even bigger/better one. In our industry I think it’s VERY important to find your own voice (as a popular blog post I shared on my facebook page this week said: http://dedpxl.com/essay-i-hate-wedding-photography/) but I think the taking/sharing of ideas is the foundation of creating a well-rounded aesthetic.

I’ve seen this in my own work and that of those in my market too…. A year ago I photographed nearly ALL (99.5%) of my work with off-camera-flash but greatly admired the work of others in my area who worked nearly exclusively in natural light. SO (while I’m still at about 75-80% flash work) I have branched out and work to create at least one or two looks per session using only natural light to create a variety of style for my clients.

Conversely, I taught a class last year to other working professionals in this area on how to shoot with OCF and have seen recent work by some of those natural light photographers using ‘my’ techniques for OCF to create BEAUTIFUL work ‘like mine.’ These techniques aren’t mine and their work is completely their own, I’m happy they found value in what I had to share and have taken those ideas and run with them… often creating work I admire greatly!

So to any photographers who read this, jump in, explore the blog and STEAL away!