So you know what’s even better than senior portraits? Senior portraits of the younger siblings of past senior clients, yup that’s AWESOME! It’s like an SJP family reunion so when Jordan’s mom, Lori called me to schedule Jordan’s session I was sooo excited and it got even better when the session rolled around and not only did I get to hang with Lori and Jordan but her older sister (and past SJP senior) Britney came along too!!
We had a blast! Laughs, laughs and MORE laughs. Seriously, these girls are a total riot and talk about having some fun mother/daughter/sister quality time!
Well without further adieu here is a look at Jordan’s senior session! You can see MORE from her session by visiting our facebook page and viewing her gallery.
Welcome to our monthly small business feature! Willow Branch Boutique kicked off this brand new project to feature area small businesses and their owners right here in the Decatur, IL area and the response from business owners has been fantastic! We already have businesses scheduled to be featured through the end of the year and are now booking 2014 slots so if you’re a business owner in Decatur IL or other surrounding areas and would like to have your business featured on the SJP blog, complete with complimentary SJP images (ya, that’s right FREE!) please call/email me to get reserve your month.
Without further adu let me present to you the amazingly talented Ms. Elizabeth VanHoutan of Punch & Sizzle! I have to start by giving this girl a personal shout out because I personally LOVE what she does. And what is that? Well, in my words I think Elizabeth really brings the highest end art/style/design to the everyday people like you and me. She has worked with me over the past couple years to design and create one-of-a-kind custom backdrops (some featured below) as well as combining her portfolio with mine to allow me to create digital art work products for photographers to enhance their images: BoxDrops by SJP. Well that’s enough from me, let’s Hear from Elizabeth and see some of her work (plus, a peak inside her home where the magic happens).
The Details: Elizabeth VanHoutan, owner/artist at Punch & Sizzle and Paint Like Me Parties | In business: 16 Years / 11 Years in Decatur.
Hours: By Appointment | Location(s): Consultations and Installations on site and parties in YOUR home!
Tell us about your business… What do you do? I design and install surface treatments for all interior applications ( and occassionally exterior ones too!) Decorative finishes, faux finishes, poured resin countertops, murals, and handpainted details to name a few. I also create custom artworks for many residentail and commercial situations. I have recently started teaching others to paint abstract paintings with my new business “Paint Like Me” Parties.
What makes your business unique/special? I have a unique point of view– I am drawn to color, bold pattern, modern finishes, sleek design, bling-bling….I tend to shy away from Olde Worlde Style (although if the situation calls for that, I will do it!) I always find a way to put a unique twist on my finishes and artworks. I encourage my clients to decorate for THEMSELVES, not the next homeowners.
What item/service on your menu or in your shop do you just LOVE and think everyone needs? I believe that every room needs a ‘smile’…a painted quotation, a funky colored chest of drawers, a bold and chunky feature wall…..
In what way have you gone above/beyond in the past for a customer? I know that what I do is not brain surgery, but I do bring joy to my clients. And that’s the funnest part of my job! I take a tremendous amount of personal pride in helping others enjoy the spaces in which they live. I spend hours researching ideas for them and create a number of samples for them to choose from. It is my goal to provide the most up to date, interesting and appropriate finishes for each situation. I bid each project by the job, and if something takes longer than I expected, I stand by my pricing. I believe in good customer service.
What is the coolest thing you’ve ever had a client do for you? Send me to their vacation home by myself with instructions to ‘do what I do’….I think that speaks to the level of trust my clients have in my tastes and abilities. I have been to several vacation locations, which ranks as the biggest ‘perk’ of my job!
What tool/equipment/or other vendor could you not imagine doing business without? Why? I cannot live without Faux Effects International Products. They allow me to create high end finishes with their unique textural products. They also have amazing topcoats and base coats. I am very loyal to this line.
What other local business do you just LOVE? Why? I sell my paintings at The Perfect Pair in Warrensburg, but I also love to go in there and just look around at the ‘eye candy’. I always see things I want to buy!
I feel like I could not do my job without the helpful staff at Sherwin Williams. Whenever I have questions about technical things , this is where I go for answers and the correct products for each situation.
Tell us about YOU… WHY did you choose to do what you do? I fell into this career quite by accident. I have a degree in Interior Design and began my career as a Textile Designer. After getting married and having 2 kids, I found myself suddenly in need of a creative outlet that would also help support my family as my ex-husband had gone back to college. I offered to paint a harlequin patterned powder room in my friend’s stationary shop, one of her clients saw it and Voila! A business was born. I learned most everything through trial and error and then later, through taking lots of product specific classes for Professional Decorative Artists. I call this business a ‘God thing’, I’m not sure I would have found this passion had I not painted that first powder room.
When did you know you wanted to go into this business? I always knew I’d be an artist of some kind. I’m extremely visual and love Interior Design. I also get bored easily, so I love the ‘every week is different’ nature of my job.
What are you passionate about outside of your business? Fitness and Clean Eating, My Spiritual walk, spending time with my 4 daughters , I love writing fiction and have been working on a book I’m sure I will never show anyone for the last 6 years!
^^^ Anyone else shouting ‘SHOW US!!!” in your head right now because I am! Ha
Describe your PERFECT day… A workout, some yoga, a massage…followed by a fantastic lunch in a street cafe in some interesting location. Getting a manicure and pedicure and hair style (I spend most of my life covered in paint and in a pony tail, so my perfect day contains lots of pampering!) Shopping and a musical event would round out my perfect day! Of course I would be accompanied by kids and my longtime boyfriend!
SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS: If you’d like to have your business featured on the SJP blog please visit the following link to download the information/questionnaire form which you can email back to mail@sjanephotography.com. We are not booking for 2014 features and showcase one business each month. Your feature includes FREE 20 minute location shoot by Sarah Jane Photography, blog feature and images to use on your online spaces (facebook/website/etc).
Mickayla did AWESOME on her session! Bet you can’t tell it’s like 1000 degrees outside?!?! Ok maybe not that hot, but in a huge prom dress with zero wind it sure felt that hot and this girl still rocked gorgeous expressions and I have to give a shout out to the talented Katie Fucinari at Salon 402 for creating a hair/makeup look that survived 2 hours in the heat perfectly!
Be sure to head over to our facebook page to see more and show Mickayla some love by LIKING her images so we can post MORE!
We all know it’s sometimes a rare occasion to get the WHOLE family together in one place after the kids leave the nest and start families of their own (often on other sides of the state/country or even world) so when you do have the chance there’s no better time for a family portrait session!
That’s exactly what Pamela had in mind when they got the whole family together a few weekends ago and I was so excited to get to spend a little time with them. Not only did we photograph the whole family together but why not take the time while we have everyone all spiffed (ya that’s a word) up for portraits to get family portraits for ALL! And then just the kids, AND moms/dads together too! We did it ALL!
It was a gorgeous day out at Scovill Zoo for the session too!
Check out more from this family session on our facebook page and be sure to LIKE their images so we can post even more.
| Starr Wedding | Jefferson City, Missouri Wedding Photographer|
Perfect Spring Wedding…. Ya, that about sums up Pam & Doug’s April wedding! Beautiful weather, amazing couple, fun bridal party, my hometown … what more could you ask for? We work hard before/during/after wedding days for our clients but on days like these it’s hard to believe it’s work. Pam and I went to high school together and I was so honored when she called and invited me to share in her big day and after meeting Doug for the first time I knew this was going to be a BLAST.
My absolute favorite part of this wedding wasn’t the beautiful unique cake, the fun ‘star’ designed reception, the delicious kettle corn party favors, the stunning natural light in the church or even the amazing fun people we got to share the day with (though that’s a close second)… but above all else, the love between these two wonderful people made the day unforgettable. By the end of the day I had laughed and cried right along side the whole family.
Here are a few of our favorite images from Pam & Doug’s big day! Plus, be sure to head over to our facebook page to see more and give them a few LIKES. (This wedding will soon be featured on our new wedding site here: http://www.sjanephotography.com too!).
And what better place to photograph in my beautiful home town?!?!?! Of course, we had to hit the capital steps!
| Garrett Family Portraits | Sarah Jane Photography | Charity Auction Winner |
I was thrilled to photograph the Garrett family! Kendra and I met when she stopped by our booth at the Neuhoff Media Lady Palooza shopping event. Kendra loved the work and we got her booked for a session right away, then just a few weeks later she saw our Pennies for Jenni facebook auction and she messaged me to say she’d love to bid but she’d already booked a session. Well, of course, I told her she could bid and win our auction and she WON!!
I have to give a huge thank you to her for her generosity in donating over $600 with her winning bid. This money went directly to help my best friend who is fighting for her life battling Lupus. You can view more about Jenn’s story here: www.facebook.com/pennies4jenni
I got to spend 2 hours with Kendra’s beautiful family and O.M.G. were they awesome! I was fairly certain Kendra had lost her mind when she wanted to do the full 2 hour session with two young boys, but I’m always up for an adventure and WOW were Tristan and Tanner awesome?!?!! These two could have future modeling careers for sure. They were ‘working it’ for the camera with some awesome ‘attitude’ looks and perfect natural smiles. We even got some brotherly love images with a few hugs (that I’m sure they will hate in 5 years). 🙂
The session was definitely an adventure with a quick shower to kick it off downtown (even though there was 0% chance of rain) and then bug attack at Rock Springs to finish it off. Check out a few of our favorites from the session here AND be sure to hope over to the facebook page to view more.
| McCoy Family | Decatur IL Outdoor Family Portraits |
I have to start this blog post with a ‘thank you’ to the McCoy’s for participating in the online auction we posted to support Brooke, a little girl fighting Leukemia. Lori bid and WON our prize package and her donation went to help Brooke’s family get through this tough time.
Now, how about we see some of this adorable family!?!?!? They did amazing on a VERY chilly day. In between takes grandma and grandpa were on hand to give snuggles to the little ones with a load of blankets! Every image was like a big unveiling as we untucked all the covers and coaxed out the smiles. Poor Lori told me at her premier she was so afraid they wouldn’t even find a couple good ones because she knew it was so cold and windy, but we not only found a few she liked but a total of 30!!! Plus, a beautiful collection of their ‘LOVES’ which will be soon decorating their walls as a stunning canvas collage.
I loved working with this beautiful family and can’t wait to do it again.
| The Terell Girls | Sarah Jane Photography Studio Portraits |
Check out these gorgeous girls! This family was a blast … a whole love of energy and color and personality packed into the studio and we loved it! Take a look at a few of our favorites from this session and be sure to head over to the Facebook page to give this family some LIKES to see more!
^^^ Can’t wait to see this one as a beautiful canvas on their wall!! ^^^
Check out the lovely Miss. Taylor!!! This girl is queen of awesome expressions… Tira Banks would be proud because Taylor can ‘smize’ (smile with her eyes for those of you who are not Top Model fans). Taylor rocked her beautiful smile and the serious, no smile, looks!
We had a great day for her session though it was just a tad soggy after about a week of non-stop rain. I think her session is one of 7 I had scheduled that week and hers was the ONLY one we were able to get in between the storms. And she had no fear of a little soggy ground, we were traipsing through weeks, tall swampy grass and even laying her down in the forest for these portraits (it’s senior portrait time, come on, we’re not going to hold anything back)!
| 2013 Warrensburg-Latham High School Senior | Blake |
2013 Seniors it’s definitely NOT too late to start your senior portrait experience with Sarah Jane Photography! Yes, we know graduation is right around the corner but in 10 years you won’t remember what month you had your session. This month we fit in Blake from WLHS and even though we didn’t quite have the greenery we were hoping for he did a great job and we created a ton of images for them.
Blake was great, wading through a bit of a swamp with me (have a muddy flash to prove it) and we even found a few ever green trees to give us that lush ‘spring’ look. Here are a few of our favorites from the session…
Okay, so I post and post and post all about my awesome seniors, how much I love photographing seniors, and features from each session, etc, etc…. But today I got to thinking about WHY senior portraits are a ‘thing.’ Why do we take them? Why did we start taking them? Are the really that important? (Well, my answer is YES YES YES!!)
First, I thought back to my senior portraits. At the time, it was about getting cool pictures of me, about feeling pretty and feeling like a model for a bit. And boy did I!?!?! I loved my senior session and ‘worked it’ so to speak. It was the first time I’d ever really been in front of the camera professionally and definitely the first time by myself and it was AWESOME and made me feel wonderful about myself.
And for right now, in this moment, that is what it’s about. There’s a LOT going on in your lives right now, seniors… school work, tests, grades, deciding what you’re going to do next year (college, work, trade school), last year of sports, band competitions, and so much more; IT’S SENIOR YEAR folks!
How about for 2 hours you get to just be YOU and be the absolute center of the universe. Professional hair and makeup, stellar lighting, fun locations, unique poses and YOU (maybe a friend and momma too, but it’s all about YOU).
What about for the long run? In 2, 6, 10 years will you still have/love these portraits? YES! This is a pivotal time in your life before you embark out on your next journey and it’s a time that’s about who you are and who you’re going to be. Even as a photographer the next time I was professionally photographed after my senior portraits was for my engagement and then wedding portraits. And those weren’t about me, they were about US (and our two pups!). And the next portraits to come for us will all be family portraits, which is wonderful of course but the time for it to be all about me is past.
So we think senior portraits are VERY important and we know it’s more than just about the final product (though we LOVE those too) it’s about the Experience. So when you’re ready for the Senior Portrait Experience of a lifetime, give me a call! We can only take 100 seniors a year and we are well on our way to filling up already!!
| Sarah Jane Photography | Elizabeth – Warrensburg-Latham 2013 SENIOR |
Take a look at the absolutely stunning Elizabeth! We did a really quick studio shoot this week and will be following it up with her full senior session on location very soon, but, of course, I couldn’t wait until then to show y’all what we created in the studio!
I was so excited to get the call from Elizabeth and to start her senior portrait experience. I’ve had the pleasure to photograph her and her boyfriend, James, at a number of Warrensburg-Latham High School dances over the past couple years so I was thrilled to spend a little more time with Elizabeth in the studio to create something special just for her.
AND guess what!?!?! She’s possibly a future photographer herself and plans to go on to college and study to be a photographer, whoop whoop! It is, after all, the best industry in the world so I’m excited to see her passion for her future and wish her the best of luck following her dreams!
| Sarah Jane Photography | Decatur Shopping Event |
Hey Ladies!
I hope you made it to Neuhoff Media / Elite Bridal’s Lady Palooza night last night at the Mt. Zion Convention Center. It was a fabulous night with some amazing vendors (seriously, every cute thing you’ve ever wanted to own was there!).
I was across from a “Tom Boy Tools” – PINK tools girls, super cute! One of my favorite little girls, Haylei, was there rocking her booth with her momma selling the cutest bows, magnets, suckers, lotion and MORE (cute photo clips I had to buy!!). Purses, jewelry, salons, massages, even pizza!
I had over 50 ladies stop by the booth, register to win one of three amazing prizes and had the chance to chat with many of them as we booked and begin planning their SJP Portrait Experience! Those who didn’t win our grand prizes will still be receiving a little email gift (everyone’s a winner at SJP!).
Check out some images from my booth and all the awesome client products we were showing off.
| Cole | Sarah Jane Photography | 6 Month Portraits |
How can you have a bad day staring at this face?!?! Cole is growing like a weed and I think you’d be hard pressed to meet a happier baby. We had about a total of 2 tears during this session, not even enough to get a crying shot (I’m gonna have to start making scary faces to get those).
| Sarah Jane Photography | Balancing Live, Love, and Photography Career | Decatur IL |
In the spirit of full disclosure, this blog post is stemming from a bit of Friday afternoon un-productivity. In the past 45 minutes I have bounced between what feels like 100 different things including a bit of bookkeeping, facebooking, unpacking orders from the lab, designing an album page, sending an album to the printers, uploading part of an order to the lab, pulling orders to send to the retoucher and setting up for a premier…. uh, holy A.D.D up in here!
So, why not add ‘blogging’ to the crazy list of half done ‘to do’ list items for the afternoon right? Right! Welcome aboard (I promise this IS going somewhere… I don’t promise that it is anywhere important.)
Ok, back on track…. obviously most of you know I love my job and am passionate about photography and creating art for YOU. But, have you ever thought what a photographer does for FUN when their hobby/love/passion becomes their career? (Me too!) Well, 2 years ago when photography became my full time career it consumed my life. Starting the career in a new city from the ground up meant no guarantees, no past clients and for a long time no sleep! I was racing to make a name, get clients, create great work for current clients and didn’t take much time for anything else.
That pace isn’t a long-term sustainable option (especially with a hubby) so over the past year things like (semi) normal ‘work-hours’ were introduced into our home. In my down time away from my business I’ve discovered a fun ‘hobby’ and new passion… teaching. It’s no secret I LOVE photography and am passionate about making it a career and encouraging of anyone who wants to turn that dream into a career. But there are millions of photographers who try/fail to do so (sad).
Alongside the photographers trying to make a sustainable living in portraiture there are also many who just love the field as a hobby (and that’s AWESOME too!). But where can they learn all the finite details of creating create portrait art? Lighting, posing, natural light, flash, etc? No everyone wants/needs or has access to a college degree in photography so they attend seminars, listen to speakers and receive online education.
And I’m super excited to be a part of that. In the past year I’ve been able to speak to professionals at FotoChoas and the Greater Kansas City Area Professional Photographers of America event. And just last night I was able to speak for the second time for the Decatur Camera Club whom I’ve spoken for once before and even had the honor of judging their annual print competition.
Last night I was able to share my knowledge and passion about off camera location lighting and even had time to do a live shoot demo! It was a blast and so exciting to share my knowledge of the subject with a room full of fellow photographers.
I hope to have continuing opportunities to help others grow their passion whether it be hobby/business by speaking at more events, continuing to offer one-on-one in-depth courses and through my blog (and recently started book!!).
Anyways, hope you enjoyed this Friday, kinda-lengthy, rambly, casual blog post. Haha, I’m now going to run off and start a few more items on my to do list.
Oh my gosh I LOVE this couple! Now, all my clients ROCK, this is true but I absolutely love getting to work with clients that become friends. I think Stephanie and I just chatted for almost half their premier today and I’m sure we could have kicked back with a cup of coffee and kept chatting about both our weddings for much longer today if we hadn’t been keeping poor Mike waiting on us to stop gabbing. And we were the same way on their session, so I cannot wait until their wedding day this October.
This image Mike refers to as my stalker image! Yes, true I did stalk them a bit, exploring a variety of angles in this set!
| Central IL Senior Photography Studio | Sarah Jane |
Check out Allie!!! I was so excited after our design consultation with Allie because she’s an artist, and a very talented one at that. My creativity and passion for photography began in my early art classes so I’m always excited to work with other artists and look for ways to combine our work to make personal and interesting portraits.
Allie gave me the perfect chance to combine her work and mine with this stunning drawing which I worked with to incorporate in one of her images.
This beauty portrait ended up being one of my absolute favorites from Allie’s entire session and Allie, mom and grandma all agreed! I was so excited that we found not one, but multiple beautiful ways to feature this image!
Many seniors realize that their senior year is really a special time in their lives. For all our seniors, we make their senior portrait experience one of the highlights of this awesome time. This is their chance to be in the spotlight, show off who they are now and who they aspire to be in the future. It’s about more than what they look like, it’s about who they are. By the end of Allie’s premier there wasn’t a dry eye in the place as grandma, mom and senior all realized, this was it – SENIOR YEAR!!
Congratulations Allie on all your accomplishments so far and all you will do in the future. We are so proud to have you as an SJP senior! You rocked your session!!
It’s time! This is your chance to get the Unique SJP Portrait Experience at just a fraction of the price! Plus, current clients, have you been thinking about adding that CD so you can print more of your images? Now, is the best time! Add web disks for as low as $79 and high resolution disks for as little at $189. That’s over $410 in savings!
Plus, give your family and friends something personal and 100% unique this Holiday season with an SJP gift cards. They can use the gift card for anything from family portraits to seniors and even weddings. And each gift comes with a fun frame and special note from me!
Don’t wait this sale is ONLY one day and ONLY on Black Friday. Shop online at www.sjanephotography.com.
Check out a list of the sale items below (click the link above to start shopping and see the prices too low to show here!)
Somedays it really hits me how absolutely blessed I am to get to follow my passion and do what I love as my career. With 2:30 AM work nights and 7 day work weeks and little time for sleep or relaxation it’s often really easy to get lost in the hectic day-to-day of running the business. But the joy of being able to create beautiful images for each of my clients and seeing the impact these pieces create makes every 17 hour work day completely worth it. Having a mom cry when she sees my images for the first time, whether it is of her newborn infant, her senior or her grown up daughter on her wedding day, it’s priceless.
And knowing that my images hang and will hang in my clients homes for years is such an honor. Thank you to every client who has gifted me with the joy of photographing your family, your memories and being a part of your legacy.
I wouldn’t trade my 17 hour day doing what I love for even a year off on vacation (or doing anything else).
As a person, I am pretty much always in motion. I have never quite mastered the art of relaxation and complacent isn’t really in my vocabulary (metaphorically that is, obviously I just wrote it so it’s in the word arsenal…anyways). So as my imagery, art and design evolve it is often difficult for me to reign in the creative exploration of the SJP brand. For the past seven years I have come from ‘Portraits by Sarah’ to ‘SMG Photography’ and then finally landing on Sarah Jane Photography (to the disappointment of my mother who points out that this is NOT my name).
And in the past four years SJP has searched for a look, and trust me each time landing on the new look appears to be the final destination, so I make no claims that we have arrived at our iconic “Coca-cola” red BUT with the help of Miss Hannah Shaw of La Petite Salon (who offered some fresh eyes on the original design and offered a little direction which led to this final product) I am excited to show off the new look for my cards, signs, and blog!
The cards in person! Arrived today (literally in about a day and a half from overnightprints.com)… and yes this was taken on my iPhone, and yes I do own a multi-thousand dollar camera which could have been used to take this image and make it look MUCH better, but um… NA this works.
AND side note, though most of my time is devoted to the creation of images and custom artwork for my portrait and wedding clients I do love design and have a lot of fun working with other small businesses so if anyone reading this blog (IF there is anyone reading this blog) is a small business owner struggling to create a look or brand give me a call! I hope you all love the design as much as I do (in this moment when it is new and shiny … as the Thrive team would say “Oh look, a Nickel”)
Thanks for reading! (or at least looking at the pictures – that’s what really matters)
Carina’s session was so much fun. We started in the morning, trying to avoid some heat, at a wildflower field located not far from the studio. Many of my existing clients may know this field from the golden panoramic canvas I have hanging in the studio of Heather & Travis, but it looks very different this time of year with lush greens and purples some very tall ‘cat tail’ type weeds.
Carina was fearless and hopped right in the weeds so we could create some beautiful portraits. And all the ‘senior portrait gods’ came together that morning and we kept joking how she could not have been having a more perfect hair day and the wind always seemed to be blowing it in just the right direction for the images. It was a great session and with a variety of images at the wildflower field and around some of the more urban grunge areas close to downtown Decatur we got a wide variety of images for her, even including a couple with mom (those are always a blast).
I’m still working on catching up on my blog posts so I have to admit that this session is from earlier this summer. Keith was a lot of fun to photograph and I was excited to be able to really feature who he is as a high school senior… an athlete! I joked throughout the session about if there was a sport he didn’t play as we worked to feature everything. In the choices below, you will see that soccer was a staple in some of my favorite images but don’t be fooled, we worked in basketball and track in his images as well!
Check out a few of our favorite images from his session…
Well if you have been anywhere near my blog in the past month you know that my BFF got married 2 weeks ago! I had the honor of being her Maid of Honor so I was not the official photographer of the day but I, of course, had my camera with me all day and here are some of the images from her big day.
Surviving living with me for 4 years earns her some quick previews on FB and the blog 🙂 …
The little man is going to be a heart breaker someday! Just 10 minutes into the session he had me in the palm of his little hand. Brandon, mom (Carol) and dad (Sam) and I had blast during the session and were all laughs by the time the hour was finished. As usual with an energetic little boy like Brandon, mom and dad were quite surprised to see that we slowed him down enough to capture the images we did.
Here are some of my favorite images from Brandon’s session! Can’t wait to have this family Wall Art ready for them to show off.
Meet my best friend in the whole world, the beautiful Miss Jennifer Greer and her fiance Scott Murray. You may remember the single image I posted of these two a while back… but as we gear up for her wedding in less than 2 weeks, I thought it was time to post a few more.