| Beckman Family Portraits & Graduation/Going Away Party | Forsyth IL |

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Today, I get to share the Beckman family with you. Though I hadn’t had a chance to meet them more than a couple times in passing over our almost decade here I can tell you that these folks (Chris in particular) are a huge part of our story and life/business trajectory. How/why?!? Well, Chris is the man who hired my husband right out of college. That job brought him (and my extension, myself and SJP) to Decatur and we are both so thankful for that. We’ve found so much here including a wonderful community, friends, success in both our careers and it’s amazing to think about how much that one little yes that Chris gave my husband (who was not the first or last person he’s hired over the years I’m sure) effected the story we’ve written so far. But, this post is NOT about us or our story (just had to give the appreciation we feel while we had the chance!), instead today’s post is really about them and their family and their journey here in Decatur and their next chapter as well.

I was honored when Donna called me to be a part of creating their last family portraits in their home. The home where they’ve raised their children, celebrated milestones and invited friends to share in them for years. This last milestone was both a graduation and a going away part and the place was packed with their friends and family here to celebrate them! 

With our busy schedules it makes sense to combine occasions like these when everyone’s coming together already with a family portrait session to create images for everyone too. We not only did a session for the Beckman’s but also were there for their guests and extended family to get portraits too, plus to photograph candids of the guests enjoying themselves and it was an absolute blast. 

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| Morgan | Pageant Headshot Portrait Session |

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Checkout Morgan’s latest headshots! (And for fun, checkout her first headshot session with me HERE). I absolutely love the beauty and elegance and personality we try to create in these pageant headshot sessions. Portrait sessions are often just for you and your loved ones, to capture both the big milestones and everyday moments of your lives.

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But branding, commercial and headshot sessions like this are about portraying a message (personality, style, products, etc) to an audience who doesn’t already love you (like your family does!) so the pressure is on! My hope with pageant images is always to create a portrait that makes these gals stand out. An image where the model, Morgan in this case, is the most important element in the image with lighting and background selection choices here to enhance the mood and message we want to tell. We’re hoping these images grab the attention of some judges in her upcoming pageants. Good luck Morgan, we’re rooting for you!!

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Hair & Makeup by Laci

| Miller Family Maternity Portraits Decatur IL |

Guys!!!! I just got a message today with a super fun surprise. Baby Miller decided he couldn’t wait to come meet his awesome family and made his debut a bit early which means I get to meet him NEXT WEEK! I cannot wait and in celebration of his arrival how about a look at the Miller Family maternity session. I love the product they chose to feature these images with, our image folio was a limited edition product we released last fall as a special gift and it’s the perfect way to show off a few images in a special way that’s easy to display, share and even pass down.

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I’ve been photographing the Miller family since Grant was a newborn and I’m beyond excited to meet the newest member of the family so soon.

| 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.