| 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.

| Madelaine | Class of 2019 Senior Model | Decatur IL |

I’m a day behind on our blog post this week (which usually comes out Tuesdays) but for good reason. Yesterday, my husband and I spent a little over two hours (had NO idea it would take quite that long, hence not all my planned work getting done in the office) at our studio site walking through every room to outline our electrical plans. Those of you who have built things in the past will know what we learned that you essentially get to choose where every switch, bulb and outlet goes and we have just a couple tricky areas including a hand designed huge lighting piece that I’ve dreamed up and need the help of my electrician, contractor and local woodworker to pull off! If you haven’t been following along on our build check out my IG featured stories and you can see everything from day one when we purchased the land last fall!

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So as we prep for a super exciting change in the SJP world I am also finishing up things for our amazing class of 2019 senior models including Madelaine. This girl was seriously a joy to work with! She didn’t have a single bad angle and braved everything from FREEZING cold shoots in Indianapolis to HOT summer sessions at the Decatur Celebration.

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We had her full senior session at Allerton which is always a beautiful location to work at. One thing I try to do with a location that a number of seniors request is to try to use the location differently each year for each senior. There’s so many beautiful areas to explore there that there’s no reason for your images to look just like anyone else’s even if that means having you climb into some shrubs for something fun under the trees.

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The last area we stopped at on the way out of Allerton was a little side road I had wanted to stop and shoot at for years but just hadn’t made it happen. I knew going in to her session we were going to do it that day and it did not disappoint.

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I’m thrilled to share with you all today not only her favorite images but a number of her album pages too! Don’t miss your chance to join us for a year long senior portrait experience by applying now at sjanephotograph.com

| Christian Family | Decatur IL Family Portrait Session |

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Happy New Year ya’ll! It’s the first SJP blog post of 2020… new year, new decade! Does it feel like a fresh start for you? Does it feel like just another day? I’m a big fan of the ‘blank page’ feeling of the new year. And after busy busy busy season here with fall-Christmas sessions with all you beautiful people I enjoy the solo time in the office to catch my breath and work on the back end of things as well.

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I’m excited today to kick things off sharing one of our beautiful class of 2020 models, Alleson’s, family with you! They joined us for our ‘fall’ Limited Edition session this year (you know in the fall that never came, thanks 2019… hence all the beautiful greenery). I will seriously never forget this season when October started at 94* and looked/felt nothing like fall and then we got our first snow before Thanksgiving! #crazy

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We’ve had so many of you request early booking this year that I’ve just set our 2020 Limited Edition dates and booking is open now HERE. Our LE sessions are 15 or 30 minutes starting at just $45 and are available 4x a year:

  • Saturday, February 15th – Morning/Mid-Day In-Studio
  • Sunday, May 17th – Afternoon On-Location
  • Saturday, September 12th – Morning/Mid-Day On-Location
  • Saturday, October 17th – FALL Prime Date (Only 6 Sessions Available)

And coming soon we’ll have a bonus Christmas weekend with both Santa Experience sessions (we have a very special experience planned with Santa this year that’s far more than just a photo session!) as well as themed indoor and outdoor Christmas sets.