senior | birth | newborn | maternity photography ~ Stacey Rainer Photography

A study in contrasts

Stacey — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:03:48 +0000

We got a lot of snow over night/early this morning. I mean a lot. In fact, shortly before these were taken, Emily and I went and pushed our neighbor through where she got stuck in the middle of the road.

Anyway, my van was stuck in the drive. My wonderful daughter decided she’d shovel the drive for me. She’s so cool. That’s her on the right. She was working hard. She got a lot done. Then after a bit, I hear the noise of a snow blower. That’s our neighbor, Lou. He’s not the one who got stuck. She’s in the next house over from Lou. Well, as I was watching Lou snow blow his drive, the contrast of how hard Emily was working and how quickly Lou was working. It made me really want to go out and buy a snow blower. I couldn’t of course, because my van was stuck in the drive way. About 5 minutes after I took these pictures, this happened:

That’s Lou snow blowing our sidewalk. He went ahead and did the whole driveway. He’s so cool. I think we’re going to go back him cookies or brownies or something now.

Twice as Nice! {Champaign Newborn Photographer}

Stacey — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:53:07 +0000

One newborn is pretty tricky. But, toss in a twin and it really is double trouble!! This was my first go at twins, and I definitely learned one very valuable lesson: bring a change of clothes! There are three different ways a baby can”get” you and I was lucky enough to be gotten all three ways.

On the upside, being around these little newborn twins took me back to my own early days as a new twin mom. My guys are 9 now, and while they don’t “get” me the same ways these little newborns did, they certainly have their own ways.

Good luck to this mama as twins make 6 for your family. It’s a crazy and wild ride, that’s for sure!

Measuring Up {Mahomet Newborn Photographer}

Stacey — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:21:05 +0000

I really should be doing one of the million other things I need to do before vacation starts, but I simply could not resist sharing this adorable little guy with you. Josiah is two weeks old and nearly back to his TEN POUND birth weight. Yes, that’s right. TEN POUNDS. Let us all have a moment of silence for the strength of his mama. Ok. Now, enjoy this portrait in all its yummy-ness.

Outtakes {Champaign Children’s Photographer}

Stacey — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:42:06 +0000

Some of my most favorite shots ever are out takes. And this one? Well, I think it wins the prize for the year. No, it’s not staged. These are just some silly kiddos. We got a nice shot, too. I’ll show that tomorrow. I just thought this needed to be appreciated for a bit, first.

Stocking Stuffer {Champaign Newborn Photographer}

Stacey — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:35:11 +0000

What do you hope Santa brings for your stocking?

This baby was beautiful and so nice to photograph. The stocking was fun, but we did some non-holiday shots as well. Here are a couple.

I don’t want to leave Dad out. He’s a huge Illini fan.

Beautiful Baby Bump {Champaign Maternity Photographer}

Stacey — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:00:31 +0000

How beautiful is this belly?? There is about nothing I love to look at more than a baby bump. A mom, carrying new life in her belly is just the most miraculous thing ever, and I just think there is nothing more beautiful.

Here are some more shots that include Dad.

Amazing Birth {Central Illinois Birth Photographer}

Stacey — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:11:55 +0000

As promised yesterday, here is the slideshow from this amazing birth. Mom was incredible. Suela the Doula was there to support her in labor. It was just such a nice birth. Now, I won’t take any responsibility for your keyboard, so please get a tissue before you click play.

Photo Boxes {Cool Stuff}

Stacey — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:50:16 +0000

I sell digital sessions. That means that after your session, if you just have to have every image and want to be able to print as many as you want, this is the way to go. What you receive is of course, a disc, with your files on it. Included are large, full resolution files for printing, smaller, web sized files with a small watermark for posting on Facebook or your blog. But that’s just not enough. You also get a 5×7 digitally matted reference print of every file on your disc (which is custom designed and printed – no stick on labels here!). These are for you to use when you order your prints. I can’t control where you order from but I want your images to look as great as I intend them to look. This way you can compare clarity and color with the prints you order to be sure they are printed with the best possible quality. Of course, to make ordering prints easier for you, I will also upload your files to Mpix. They use professionally calibrated equipment and are my favorite consumer lab. That’s a lot of stuff, right? Well, you need somewhere to keep it all. It all comes packaging in a beautiful, custom made photo box. Remember that lovely birth from here? Well, she ordered the digital session. Really, this is the best way to handle any event session and birth is quite an event! Here are some shots of her digital session package. You may notice that her box includes two DVDs. That’s because she also ordered the slide show that I’ll show you tomorrow. One disc contains her files and the other her slideshow.

My Crazy Crew {Mine}

Stacey — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:00:18 +0000

These are the shots I took for our Christmas card this year. Well, I didn’t take all of them. Hubby helped out. He took the shots of me. I was very excited to learn how to make my youngest give me a real smile instead of one like this:

Yep. That is his smile when I say, “smile.” I even tried it his way. When he pretends to take a picture he says, “pile.” That doesn’t work either. I had to go way traditional and tell him to say, “cheese” and it worked. I really love his goofy smile. In fact, this is the picture I printed big and chose to display in my home last year. I guess I should have told him to smile for his goofy picture. But, he has this thing he likes to do called “see my ew.” His “ew” is what you see when he pulls his face down from his eyes like that. So, I decided I needed to memorialize his “ew” and share it with my entire Christmas card list and now you, my blog reader.

Anyway, we have a great card that I’m very happy with. It’s too late for this year, but never too early to plan for next year! Custom photo holiday cards are great and people love to receive them. However, they aren’t just for Christmas. Birthdays, just moved, birth announcements are all great times to use custom photo cards. Let me know next time you have a special event you need to announce!

“Sweet” Family {Mahomet Family Photographer}

Stacey — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:00:25 +0000

I recently upgraded my equipment. Before I got into shooting “real” clients with it, I needed to familiarize myself with everything, so I put out a request on my Facebook Fan Page for some help. In exchange, the folks who volunteered to help me out got a free session and 50% off their order. This is family number one.

What was “sweet” about this deal is that Kris is a fantabulous cake designer. So we worked a deal. Here are the first two cakes I’ve gotten. I am very happy with this deal and can’t wait for my next cake worthy occasion!! A little back ground on the cakes: The dragon was for my twins’ golden birthday. They turned 9 on the 9th of this month. Can’t believe I’ve survived 9 years of twin motherhood!! The second cake was for a New Moon release party my teenager and I had. After the food, cake and large screen viewing of Twilight, she and I headed off to the theater for the midnight release viewing of New Moon. It was a great evening!

If you need a cake, please check out I Dream In Sugar and get your own “Kris Cake.”

Fun Fall Family {Champaign Family Photographer}

Stacey — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:28:18 +0000

This is Percy. He was a lot of fun. I like dogs. I think we got on ok. Oh, and that’s his family there in the background. It was a gorgeous day as far as the temperature goes, but it was incredibly windy! We battled blowing hair and teary eyes, but certainly got a few good shots. However, we decided to try some studio shots at a later day out of the wind. I’ll post those soon! But for now, just check these guys out. They could be models!

Me and Mine {Mine}

Stacey — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:54:40 +0000

Thanks to Holly Birth Photography for coming out and capturing my crew with me included!! We don’t have many shots with me in them, so this is such a nice treat, and she did a great job!

Time for a facelift!

Stacey — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:50:48 +0000

I’ve been receiving reports of my blog not functioning properly. So, I’ve decided to do some upgrading. Please bear with me as I work this process out over the weekend. If you are looking for a gallery, at this moment, they are listed under Info, then Proofs.

Thanks so much for your patience!!

Another Beautiful Senior {Unity Senior Photographer}

Stacey — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:01:08 +0000

This is Brittney. She’s just gorgeous!! I had so much fun getting to know her and her adorable family. One of my favorite things about photographing seniors is scouting out new great locations. I try and find something new to do for every one. I was not disappointed! We found some very cool places to shoot and I had so much fun! Brittney, I hope you love your pictures as much as I do!

High School guys wanted! {Central Illinois Senior Photographer}

Stacey — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:33:58 +0000

Looking for junior and senior guys for portfolio pieces. Get a free mini session with session disc – a $500 value!

Anyone else, share this link on your Facebook wall, comment here to tell me about it and you’ll enter a drawing for a free mini session of your own.

Welcome, Kiptyn! {Central Illinois Birth Photographer}

Stacey — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:21:02 +0000

I was so blessed to be able to do my most favorite kind of photography, and to do it with Suela again!

Here are just a few favorites.

Fall Tastes So Yummy! {Urbana Family Photographer}

Stacey — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:19:26 +0000

So I was in the middle of working on this session and I finished this image. I couldn’t even wait to finish the whole session. It just grabbed at me and I had to come and post it right away. Little Dale thinks those leaves are quite yummy. I think the beautiful fall light is the yummiest! Between the two of us, I think we made a quite yummy image.

A couple of princesses {Urbana Family Photographer}

Stacey — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:44:57 +0000

These two princesses gave me a run for my money, that’s for sure!! They each chose to wear these beautiful white dresses for their pictures. Mom wasn’t too sure at first, but I think they worked perfectly!

Little Maya is actually quite a happy little girl. She just did that serious face so nicely! I used TRA’s Dirty Pictures on that image. I just love that plug in!

Thanks, guys, for a great session! Your girls are just beautiful!!

I love “dirty pictures” {Champaign Photographer}

Stacey — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:22:38 +0000

Now, that’s not what you think. This is a family blog, after all. It’s a style. It’s my style for Senior Portraits. What’s so exciting, and what I want to talk about is that Totally Rad Actions is releasing a new plug in for Photoshop in just a few short days that will do in just a tiny bit of the time it takes me to do it by hand. To give you an idea of what Dirty Pictures are, here are some examples. I’m showing you the before and after so you can see just how cool this process is.

TRA is giving away a FREE copy of their new plug in. Boy, I’d love to win this!

School’s back in session! {Central Illinois Photographer}

Stacey — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:14:28 +0000

So, three of my kiddos started back to school today, and Monday my little kindergartener will start. That’s a lot of new friends to keep track of! While this doesn’t help ME keep track of THEIR new friends, I thought I would do what I could to help the other moms out because they are probably going to be in a similar situation – well, maybe not with quite so many school aged children of their own. Anyway, I’ve toyed around with the idea of offering “411 Cards.” These are cards with all your contact information. Kind of like a business card, only way cuter. After all, they include your little one’s adorable faces. So, I threw together a couple of samples. The first is the actual card I made for my middle schooler. And the others are from a recent family session I did.

My totally cute, growing up too fast middle schooler, Hannah.

From the family session. Also a very cute girl.

While I was putting these together, I thought how cool it would be for Mom to have her own cards. You know the scenario. You go to a new play group, meet a couple of really great moms that you click with and want to be able to meet up again. Well, if you are anything like me, remembering names and putting the mom face with the right kid faces can be a challenge. The “Momformation” card makes it a breeze!

To make these cards quick and easy to get, I’m now scheduling mini-sessions just for this purpose. You will get one 30 minute session with 8 proofs to choose from and fifty 411 cards. for $100. You will also be able to order my special “mini-session only” mini-collection. Call now! Slots fill up quickly!