I love watching families grow (I know I say that a lot), but there’s something really neat about “following” a family through their many chapters of life and documenting these pages. I photographed Baby Miles when he was a newborn as well as Mom and Dad for their maternity portraits. What a beautiful family!

Cheers!
-Saundra

My primary sessions are maternity, and I love creating images using drapings and keeping them timeless and beautiful.

This session was done in the studio, yet they can be easily photographed in your home as well.

One of my favorite locales ever is the beach, so when this fab family was asking for suggestions for their fall family portrait session, my mind skipped right to the beach. If you think the lakefront only has sand and water to offer, think again!

By the way, if these folks seem familiar to you, you may have seen their maternity and newborn portraits from earlier this year. Yep, Baby Maya is getting big!

The babies call the shots, and she was calling “done!”

Within the next month, I will be photographing Yessenia’s newborn baby. While waiting for that upcoming day, we created some beautiful maternity portraits in the studio to highlight this chapter in her life. Here is one of my favorites…

Watching families grow is an amazing experience, and I feel honored every time I am able to be witness to it! I first photographed maternity portraits of mom when she was pregnant with the older brother, when he was a newborn, and again when Baby Gia became an addition to the family. Thank you for having me at your home to capture these, and congratulations to you all!

It’s always neat making trips to my hometown of Valparaiso, Indiana to photograph. I actually went to high school with the new mom and dad of these beautiful twin babes. Twin newborn photography is not easy, but with patience and a lot of know-how, it’s do-able to create beautiful images! Congrats to the W Family- William and Abigail are gorgeous!

It’s not about the outfit or the pose; it’s about the soul…

A timeless portrait is not about the outfit or the pose. True, it can add or detract from the beauty of the image, but the essence of a great portrait comes from the connection between the photographer and the subject.

More coffee table books are going out this week! These beauties are some of my most popular products, and there are many reasons why. Usually, all I need to do is have a client open one up and run their hands across the pages and feel and see the simple, clean design to have them decide to order one for their own memories. Yeah, they’re that nice.

I just quickly took a couple of captures of these at my home before wrapping them up all purty….

I’ve been photographing these beauties since they were just six weeks old, and now they’re already two! We met in Highland Park at a park that was alongside the beach- perfecto! Toddlers are not the easiest to photograph because they are fast, temperamental, and did I mention fast? It’s good to be prepared with options and to look at it as more of a documentary shoot. They did so well, and I was impressed at the number of captures that we got- so many favorites! Besides that, we beat the rain, (and I got this HUGE cupcake from Max’s Deli that was quite delicious).

Here are a handful from our session together…

This past Friday, I opened my latest exhibit, “Eden: Expressions in Gender,” during the Chicago Arts District 2nd Fridays Gallery Night. Really, I think it had a great start with a very positive opening! If you missed it, I encourage you to try to see it while it is still here in Chicago and before it becomes so popular that you have to barter your first born in order to get a glimpse. Okay, maybe it won’t get to that point, but it is a great show and makes you think without getting pretentious.

“Eden” dives into examining gender and the expression of masculinity and femininity outside of the binary. The images are nude, black and white photographs, and the exhibit also features the written prose of my collaborator, Lee Knauer. No worries- it’s safe for young viewers’ eyes too.

The next showing will be during the East Pilsen Artists’ Open House September 30th from 6-10 p.m. and September 1st and 2nd from 12-7 p.m. at 1932 South Halsted St., 4th floor. I am also pleased to announce that the exhibit was selected to be in the curated show, so two portraits and one poem will be featured during the gala on Friday night! Yep- super exciting! If you love the portraits, prints are available during the showings and by contacting me directly.

Here is a link with more information on the open house: