You may have noticed things are a bit quiet around here.  I have decided to scale my photography business way back.  For several years I was drowning in it. The last couple, since the birth of my daughter, I’ve been a bit better about saying “no” and keeping my sessions to a manageable level. However, my kids will be 2 and 8 this summer, and those are busy ages!  I feel like this is the best time of my life, and I am missing out on some of it by working too hard.

That being said, I have some incredibly loyal and fabulous clients, and I will still be doing sessions for them. So, if I have photographed you before, feel free to contact me for a session in 2012.  The good news is my schedule will most likely be a lot more open!  Last year, I had to say no to so many of my favorite families because I was booked, but this year will be different!

As I have the past several years, I am offering a free photography workshop for beginning photographers. Just like last year, the workshop has two parts. First, we will talk about basic photography tips that can be accomplished with any camera. Things like composition, light, etc. We will take a break, and then we will talk about using an SLR camera, including what all of the modes and functions mean, what different lenses do, etc. The workshop is not geared towards professional or aspiring professional photographers, and we will not be discussing business-related things at all.

I created a Facebook event to keep track of who’s coming and to have a way to contact all participants. Click here to view the event and to join us:

Photography Workshop  **Edited to add: The workshop is on Friday, January 27 at 6 p.m. I’m guessing it will last 2-2.5 hours. For some reason, it didn’t show up correctly for someone on Facebook, so I wanted to make sure you were all there at the right time!

Two-year-olds can be a challenge to photograph, but it’s one of my favorites. They are who they are, and there’s nothing phony about it! I loved the images from this beautiful family’s session:

This particular image is one of my favorites that I’ve taken in a long time! Definitely would’ve made my “favorites” post from a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve photographed a lot of senior boys this fall! Here’s another handsome guy we photographed in November.

I’ve photographed this little guy a few other times and I think he gets cuter every time!

This beautiful woman is the photographer for All Smiles Photography in Tampico, Illinois (she’s very talented–check out her site HERE). She was smart and hired someone else to take her family portraits, instead of using a self-timer and racing back and forth like I always try to do. They are such a sweet little family, and I was honored to take their family portraits!

Check out this gorgeous young lady and her stunning blue eyes!

We had a great time photographing this handsome young man at the the country club in Morrison.

We included some family shots, too!

How beautiful and in love are these two? They were incredibly sweet together. I love capturing the “in between” moments during engagement sessions.

Catch-up day 2…another stunning family at Rockwood State Park!