Daily Studio News – Sarah Jane Photography Decatur, IL – Thrive Magazine!
Yesterday, I met a couple AMAZING people at Thrive Magazine! I am so excited to start working with them and contributing to the magazine. Jay, managing editor, and Kat, publisher, both have HUGE dreams/plans just like me and I know we can find ways in the future to help each other reach those goals!
It is always amazing to have the opportunity to partner with other creative minds. I went in to pick up a few copies of the magazine, a press pass and to introduce myself and we all ended up talking for over an hour! It was GREAT. The magazine is free so check them out online and pick up a copy to find out what is up in Decatur. I will be covering the bridesmaid bar crawl tonight along with Crusin’ Eldo.
NILMDTS – Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend the day with about 30 other amazing photographers and medical staff who are a part of the wonderful Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep organization. I am so so happy to be a part of this charity and hope that those of you reading this who are photographers would take a moment to visit the NILMDTS website to learn more and to apply to photograph with the organization.
With about 8 hours of training including the sharing of many personal stories, there was not a dry eye in the house by 5:00. Even hearing about others stories was a difficult experience, however I feel that as a photographer I have a gift and it is my responsibility to offer that gift to those who need it most. I am not a doctor, so my talents cannot heal the physical wounds but I only hope that my art can help heal some emotions scars.
Again, I urge all of you to visit the organizations website to learn more about this wonderful charity and view some of the images created by our talented photographers. And THANK YOU to those of you reading this who are currently part of the NILMDTS program as a photographer, parent advocate, etc – you are appreciated every day!
European Wedding Style in Missouri/Illinois
Who says you can’t find (or should I say make) European style in the United States – in fact right here in the Mid-West? I am constantly inspired by Paris, Italy, Rome, Greece, etc. The architecture, the character, the beauty all take my breath away. So when I created this simple image in a church basement bathroom, I knew I would be taking it to Europe in post-production.
Mid-Missouri and Central Illinois brides (and brides all over the world) call me to find out how to get European style in your wedding photography! 
Kansas City Weddings 2009
Here are just a couple images from my most recent wedding in downtown Kansas City. I love photographing in KC, the hotels, churches and reception halls are all so beautiful. I am moving toward making my photographs more than just camera generated images. You will notice overlays like the one in this image in more of my recent work. To me it makes them art not just images. As always I appreciate feedback so let me know what you think of the latest look.
Recent Photo Shoot – Megan Snow
This is one image from a recent photoshoot with the beautiful Megan Snow (whom you may recognize as Ms. December from last year’s “Undergrads” swimsuit calendar). This is one image I took some time to play with. Though I have way to much work to do, I needed some photographic time to myself, and it manifested itself in the following image:
Customize your SJP experience!!!
The most recent wordpress update allows polls so here is my first (hopefully of many more to come). My business is for all of you! It is my job to create the images you have dreamed of and I can only do this with your help!
Help me customize your experience with this first poll!
Thank you in advance for your feedback!
Senior Pressbook – Unique, Edgy & Comtemporary Senior Products
Looking for a senior portrait artist with unique images AND unique products? Tired of the same old traditional wall portraits and albums? Then you will love Sarah Jane Photography’s custom designed pressbooks. Ranging in size from 5×5 to 10×10 with 20-90 pages, there is a pressbook for everyone! Here are the pages from one of my Jefferson City senior pressbooks.
The first few large images are my favorite layouts and the whole album can be seen in the gallery below.
(The first layout shows the custom designed cover, with a titled side binding).
Inspirational Wedding = Some of my favorite wedding images
This image is my favorite of many from my most recent wedding in Kansas City with Steve Williams. There will be more from this (and other recent weddings to come soon)
This image also features some new techniques and some actions that I learned during the Sallee Photography “I shoot people” tour. I hope that you will all begin to see my work take on a more “processed” look as I entend for each piece to be a unique work of art that combines my selective view through the camera with my passion for design and art through post-processing.
More Images from Mid-America Race @ Lasoski POSTED!
Click HERE to go directly to my ONLINE STORE!
The new images start on page five of the online gallery! There are now about 700 of the 800 total images posted, and I am doing my best to get more up daily.
Plus, keep an eye out for a new gallery in the store that will showcase your finishing options. This will include examples of all the text styles you can choose from if you want to add your name/track name etc to your image plus this gallery will also so some of the special effects you can choose to add to your images! Look for this to be up by the middle of next week!!!
Mid-America Speedway Nationals Comes to Lasoski Speedway
Click HERE to go directly to my ONLINE STORE!
This weekend the Mid-America Speedway Nationals brought some great go-kart racing to our own Lasoski Speedway in Warrensburg! Saturday was a beautiful day to race and photograph! The hot news from the day includes the spectacular showing from two young LADIES out of North Carolina. There was a resounding “Did you see that GIRL? She is fast!!!” from crowds of Mid-America racers who are not accustomed to seeing many ladies on the tracks. (One of these ladies is seen below sitting on the pole for the feature race in her fittingly marked “Hammer Time” kart)
Wendell Shorthose also had a great day, picking up the fast lap time of the day (and unofficially in track history) with a “blazingly” fast lap time of 10.127 second lap during his qualifying race in his Killam Racing Engines powered Icon.
And unfortunately each big race seems to need a bit of excitement that usually ends with a bit of damage, and this race was no different, as you can see below a flip out of turn two gave the crowd quite a show. The driver, being the eternal racer, kept the kart running through the flip in hope of hopping back in to finish the race.
Click HERE to see more images from the May 31 race day at my ONLINE STORE!
There are about 800 images total (with only about 120 posted now) so check back soon as I will do my best to get them up as quick as possible!
Also, keep an eye out for my “effects” post where you can see the different available effects to add to your images FREE to get more than just the traditional racing images!!! These are unlike anything you have ever seen.
University of Central Missouri – Another Part of my Life
Well you guys get a view into the photography aspects of my life on a weekly basis, but while I am a photographer (and that is probably the most prominent aspect of my life) I am also a student at the Univeristy of Central Missouri. I actually work in the Campus Visit Office helping introduce new and prospective students to the campus.
This does relate back to photography, because I wanted to share this flickr site with you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10891463@N08. This site contains beautiful images of the UCM campus.
Also, for those of you interested in student life, some of my fellow students/co-workers are also fellow bloggers, blogging about their life at UCM. You can check out their latest news here: http://www.cmsu.edu/undergrad/live/.
Bellies & Babies Tour w/ Sandy “Sam” Puc’
Seven to Eight hours in a room with 450 professional photographers with one of the best baby photographer’s of our time sharing her secrets to a great baby plan…HEAVEN! I spent my afternoon, evening and most of the night yesterday in Kansas City at the Bellies & Babies Tour with Sandy (Sam) Puc’ and aside from Imaging USA this was one of the greatest learning experiences of my photographic life.
For those of you who are not photographers, or those photographers who do not share the absolute passion and love for the field that I do, this may seem an extreme statement. But for the handful of you that share my passion for photography and have been to a similar conference you know that you leave the program with a regenerated drive, a desire to try most if not all the ideas you were shown, and simply feel the need to go shoot.
For those of you who get the chance to see Sandy Puc’… her show is worth the ticket price and more, she offers great ideas, shares her tirals and “what not to do” stories and walks the audience through a successful baby plan. She will be returning on tour next year with a maternity plan, then a child plan, and the following year with a family plan.
For those of you that are interested in viewing Sandy’s work and/or signing up to see her on tour here are some websites that might be of interest to you:
http://bellies-babies.com/index.html
http://www.expressionsphotos.com/home.shtml
For my clients: You will all be happy to know that with the inspiration from this program I will be designing a baby plan this summer and looking for models to use in the creation of my promotional products and studio samples. Look for an AD in the Jefferson City News Tribune and for more information to come here on my blog!
Senior Portraits – Jefferson City Missouri – Advanced Color Portrait Senior Assignment
My most recent advanced color portrait assignment was one of the most fun. Senior portraits are my true passion and my first love in photography. I had a blast hanging out with Danielle (and my new assistant Allysa). We spend the afternoon checking out new shooting locations in the Jefferson City area, starting with the basics of the governor’s garden, railroad station, and then heading down to the industrial park to get some edgier portraits (my favorite).
Here are a few of my favorite images from the session (it was hard to pick just a few favorites). Click here to view more images from this session!
Lasoski Go Kart 2008 Season Opened Saturday: It was the first race for one young racer.
Lasoski Speedway opened the 2008 go-kart racing season this last Saturday with a four hour practice day. The day allowed area karters to get in a day’s practice before the racing season begins next week, but for one racer the day marked his first time on the track.
With dad cheering on trackside, this young racer took the first laps of his first season.
Images from practice can be viewed/purchased at my online store.
Also, check back soon to see new product designs here just in time for the 2008 race season.
Inspiration – Fine Art – Sarah Jane Photography
I was inspired by the line of the lamp in the images in my last post (http://sjanephotography.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/advanced-studio-techniques-set-building/). And (wanting to do something different) this is what I ended up with.
Advanced Studio Techniques – Set Building
Commercial/advertising photography of “Glow” perfume by JLo.
This is the result of my latest advanced studio techniques assignment. The assignment was to build a believable set within the studio environment. I also had the chance to have fun with some of my favorite lightroom presets (and try some new ones).
I have to pick one of these image as my final image to submit (and I can’t decide which one is my favorite) so vote for your favorite! Also, let me know if you like the “tweaked” images or the “originals.”
Thanks!
Sarah Jane Photography – Designer Series
I am currently working to redesign and improve my senior pricing structure and this includes adding a lot more designer products. These are some of the items that will appear in the 2008 price list. These products will appear in the Designer Series and each will come frames and ready for hanging. Let me know what you think!
8×8 or 10×10 Composite Series
5×15 Art Strip
5×30 Deluxe Art Strip
Steve McCurry’s National Geographic Image – The Subject of My Latest Photography Project
My latest project is to emulate one of Steve McCurry’s most recognizable and famous images. The first image is (obviously) Steve McCurry’s image, and the second image is my emulation of this striking image. This proved to be a difficult task but Sarah (my model) was great, she even volunteered to put paper towels in her mouth to round out her strong jaw-line. We painted her face with brown water-color paints and even used some chapstick to try to get a little “sweat” shine. The fabric proved the toughest aspect, but overall it was a fun learning experience and a challenge.
Sarah Jane Photography – Award Winning
I had some success at the UCM Photographic Expo Competition this year. I took first place in both the Fashion and Commercial categories with the following images:
“Top Gun” – 1st Place Fashion
“Rough Rider” – 1st Place Commercial
This is an improvement on my 1st and 2nd place wins at last year’s competition. This year most of my focus was on working to organize the show and the two winning entries were printed and mounted at the very last minute. My hope is that next year I will have more time to put more images in the competition and hopefully come out with more wins.
Advanced Color Portrait – Male Portraits
In my advanced color portrait class it became apparent that many of us were falling into the trap of only photographing young beautiful women, so it was no surprise when we were given the assignment to shoot a male portrait to challenge ourselves. My answer to this challenge came in a fun high-energy photo shoot with Greg. Greg brings his high-energy personality to every situation and this was no exception, so I took advantage of my willing model to try some off the wall ideas including: in-air action shots, James Bond “hand gun” moves, and strong-man bike tosses.
I’m extremely happy with the variety of images I got from this shoot and look forward to continuing to challenge myself to think outside the border of traditional photography.
Click here to view more images from this exciting photo shoot!
Sarah Jane Photography – Busy Schedule
Hello Everyone!
I’m posting just to let you all know I’m still alive. While I use this blog to keep clients, friend, and other interested viewers informed of my latest endevors, for the past few weeks life’s busy schedule has not included any time for blogging. And now that I have found a moment of time to blog, I am not at my home computer so am without any recent work to show you.
The good news is that my busy schedule has been full of photographic adventures (some more exciting than others). All of which I plan to share with you in the near (hopefully very near) future. Just as a preview, here are some of the projects I have been busy with lately, each of which you will see in more detail soon.
Over spring break, I went back to work a couple days for Arkansas Valley Feathers/Zucker Feather Products to shoot some new and interesting products. Unfortunately, Brooke, our model, was unable to fly in that week so I will be returning again in April to shoot their newest clothing items.
Back at UCM, I had one of my most fun photo projects yet: A SWIMSUIT CALENDAR!!! While taking the images was a blast, and the beautiful girls made my getting great images very easy, the most fun has come in putting the calendar together. This project was started by a friend of mine in order raise money for her roommate. I took on the project, not for a monetary gain, but to help the girls and because it offered me a challenge, and I have had more fun doing it than any other project this year. This great calendar will be available soon, and I’m sure the girls would be more than willing to send it to any interested customers.
I have also been preparing for the UCM Photo Society Expo Print Competition in the past few weeks, and once it is over I plan to post the winners, and post the image I entered as well (hopefully some of which we also be winners).
My upcoming projects include; a photo shoot for a UCM aviation student (with his plane!!) and tons more racing photography as the season opens up at Lasoski Speedway in Warrensburg.
Please keep checking back, I am still around and hope to be posting more soon!!
Thanks!
Imaging USA
This January I had the opportunity to visit the largest Professional Photographers of America (PPA) conference in Tampa, Florida… Imaging USA. While the trip was partly about the opportunity to travel to beautiful Tampa with fellow photography students, obviously the trip’s most important value was in the opportunity it gave me to be immersed in a world completely focused on my passion with over 8,000 other passionate photographers.
At the conference, I had the opportunity to visit with hundreds of photographers, attend dozens of sessions, and spend a week where nothing mattered but photography. At Imaging, photographers from around the country share their latest trends, sales secrets and general interests. I was introduced to the work of JB and DeEtte Sallee, Yervant, Howard Schatz, Kevin Kubota and many more amazing image-makers from around the world. I also had the chance to have my work reviewed and critiqued by a handful of these professionals, and all I will say is that the general opinion was quite positive.
The whole experience confirmed the fact that photography is my passion and a successful, customer focused studio is definitely in my future. Photography is my dream and Imaging USA was my dreamland, my Disney World.
Keep your eyes open for links to photographers I met in Tampa. They shared with me, and I plan to share with you.
