Shannon Walton Photography » Shannon

Valentine Fun ~ Illinois Child Photographer

Shannon — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:16:13 +0000

I have to apologize because I had intended to do a Valentine mini session and had so many newborns born this month that I didn’t have time. I’m behind a bit on designing birth announcements and proofing sessions because of the recent baby boom and just felt it wasn’t fair to my clients to add to the work load. It drives me crazy when people have to wait, I’m not a patient waiter myself Anyway, I bought this frame at the end of December with the idea to do this for Valentines day. I had seen a cute shot I believe on pinterest (the kisses set up) and wanted to try a few other things I came up with after the kisses inspiration. I love finding inspiration for images all around me, I really don’t like copying something exactly as I see it, but to use it to come up with my own ideas. I asked one of my clients who comes every few months to have me photograph her boys if she’d be interested in letting me try the setups during her session. Can I just say that for a last minute request she did not disappoint with the outfit selections. I told her she’d never be able to do a mini session because she brings too many adorable options!! I love these boys. They have become like family I see them so much. I even asked if it would be okay for Emma to come for their session because she has been begging to help me. She did such a great job and think the boys had fun hanging out with her.

I nearly forgot how to post it’s been so long!

Shannon — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:12:55 +0000

Last week I photographed yet another little doll and when I met her mom she said, “Do you ever post on your blog anymore?” “I read through most of it and really enjoyed reading it but noticed you hadn’t posted since September.” Yikes, that’s a LONG time!! So I decided that the first blog post of 2012 should be of her little cutie petutie! I really enjoyed working with this family. I always love getting the opportunity to work with someone new. I enjoy it even more when they come back year after year so I hope I get to see little Miss “A” again in the near future because she was absolutely awesome to photograph. Smiles came without much effort and to say that her parents were quite smitten with her would be an understatement. Prepare yourself…she is almost too cute to handle….

Little Miss Serious!

Shannon — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:44:23 +0000

I’m pretty sure I pulled out every trick in my hat to get this little beauty to flash those toothless gums. She just stared at me with those big beautiful eyes for pretty much our entire time together. I was interesting apparently, just not funny! We did manage to get a few smiles, but even still those eyes and cheeks are pretty much perfect grin or no grin! I loved her momma, what a pleasure working with these two and hope to see them for many more (smiley) sessions in the future!

Illinois Child Photographer ~ Simply Adorable

Shannon — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:34:26 +0000

Is it really possible to be this cute? How can so much cuteness be rolled into one little boy? How on earth will his parents ever look at this face and those eyes and tell him anything but YES? What is even more amazing is that his big brother is just as unbelievably adorable! One of my favorite little guys, at one of my very favorite ages (9 months)….

Mom mentioned she’d love to have one shot of his first little tooth popping through. Mission accomplished!

What did I tell you! I just want to eat them they are so cute!

Brothers and Laughter.

Shannon — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:53:25 +0000

I recently photographed these two with their little sister. I have a bunch of images to share from this session once mom has seen all of them. While I was proofing their images I came across this one. There is a quote that reads something along the lines of “laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” So true The three of them reminded me so much of my 3, especially the two big brothers. When I saw this photo I instantly thought of a similar image I have of my boys from a couple years back. It has been hanging on my wall until recently when we painted and prompted me to get it back up. It is one of my all time favorites and makes me smile every time I look at it. They aren’t looking at me, perfectly posed but I can almost hear the laughter when I look at each one of these. I don’t expect your kids to sit still like statues during our session together, in fact, my favorite sessions are the ones when my little clients feel comfortable enough to have some fun and most of all be themselves

Congratulations to Cori Roberts and Kristen D’Alfonso! You are the winners of a complimentary session and (25) holiday cards. Please e-mail shannon@shannonwalton.net to set up your November session! Thanks so much to all of you for posting your comments!! Have a great weekend!

Bean.

Shannon — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:05:10 +0000

That’s what we call her. Lately I’ve been obsessed with photographing her. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because she has a loose tooth and those top baby teeth will no longer be. She’s growing up, I don’t like it, but she is. She could be the most photographed child in Central Illinois. After all I started doing this when she was just 9 months old. Yep, nearly 7 years ago. So many things have changed in that time, I have grown as a photographer, and she has grown into a little lady. I look back at the thousands of images I’ve taken of our baby, our only girl, and am thankful to be able to give her beautiful photos when she is grown. My hope is that she looks at these images and feels how much we loved HER, not how much I loved photography.

Fall is almost here and the field was looking beautiful with all the yellow flowers in bloom. It was just calling for the new yellow chair, so her daddy and I made promises of an ice cream cone at DQ and she agreed to some fun in the field. The sun wasn’t quite low enough when we first arrived so she got that cone before our session She has always been pretty great as long as I’m patient while we are shooting. Most of the smiles are a result of her dad giving me bunny ears or pretending he sees a spider on my head.

We are completely booked for September and I only have 3 remaining spots in October. So if you want a fall session it’s best if you grab one now

**Anyone who posts a comment on THIS blog post will be entered to win a complimentary session and (25) custom holiday cards! That’s right, I’ll waive the session fee and you’ll get a set of (25) cards! The session will be booked for November 2011. Session can be immediate family or a sibling/kid session(no large groups or newborns). I’ll draw a winner Friday! **

Closed for VACATION!

Shannon — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:11:06 +0000

Just a little note to let everyone know that the studio and I will be closed for vacation Sat. July 23rd-August 1st. I am planning to disconnect from my phone and computer as much as humanly possible during this time. If you do leave a message or send me an e-mail I will return them as quickly as I can after August 1st. This summer has flown by faster than any summer I can remember. I’m sure it has to do a little with the fact that all three of my kids played baseball or softball. It will be nice to look them in the eyes and eat a meal together a few nights in a row. I’m very much looking forward to the break and hope to come back rejuvenated and full of great ideas for fall

We have had quite the baby boom at the studio the past couple weeks. Since I won’t be posting for a week or so I decided to put some of the newborn images I’ve taken for everyone to see. Congratulations to all the new parents and siblings!!

Isn’t she lovely!? ~ Illinois Baby Photographer

Shannon — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:58:55 +0000

Well, it sure has been awhile since I posted on my newly designed blog! Summer has been very busy for us here at the Walton household. We have 3 kids playing ball this year so I can count on 2 fingers how many free evenings we have this summer I have been trying very hard to manage my time this summer to allow for a little more family time. My son graduated 8th grade, my other son will be moving to the junior high, and our daughter will be a first grader. I suddenly realized how fast they’ve grown and that I may only have 4 more years with my oldest under my roof. I honestly don’t know where the past 14 years went. People say it all the time but I feel like time just keeps going faster and faster and to be honest it scared me just a little. Well, maybe a lot. So, with that being said, my blog was probably the least on my priority list.

Now, onto little miss “C”. She was absolutely perfect! Here she is with her two favorite people…

Where’s the baby?

There she is!!

At this point it started to rain. The beauty of my studio is that we have a great outdoor shooting area and if the weather is too hot, too cold or it starts to rain we can shoot some inside. So, that’s what we did…

So we took a bunch inside and notice it cleared off so back outside we went…

So I finally had to say to her mom, “If we keep shooting you are never going to be able to pick!” This is only a small portion of the images in her gallery. She is lovely, so are her parents. Happy half birthday “C”!!

Mother’s Day Special!!

Shannon — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:26:59 +0000

*********Update********** The Mother’s Day Special is FULL!! Thank you so much!

So I’m a little late to the game and I wasn’t really planning on doing a Mother’s day promotion but yesterday I was proofing this session and realized how much I loved photographing it and how much images like this would mean to me What do mom’s love more than diamonds and flowers…their kids of course!! So I put together a little Mother’s Day special! The great thing is that it won’t be specific to any certain date so you can plan ahead. The session will be one hour, I realize sometimes it takes kids a little bit to warm up and I don’t like to rush things. If weather permits we can go outside the studio too. For you dad’s out there this would be a FABULOUS gift to give your wife. Once you’ve booked and paid the session fee I will mail you a gift card specific to the mom and me sessions. You can choose either the high res files (3) or a set of accordion books(same design) once you view your images. You don’t have to choose now. I am only taking the first 10 who book so please don’t wait and this offer will expire on Monday!!

Two of my favorites!

Shannon — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:48:35 +0000

Not only are these two of my favorites, they are also at two of my favorite ages! Little “B” is 9 months and big brother “T” will be 3 very soon!! I had a terrible time choosing photos to share. I like having that problem This family is always up for anything. I had maybe 3 images of “B” where she wasn’t smiling from ear to ear and big brother is always FULL of expression! It was nice enough to go outside the studio that day and I LOVE shooting outside. I’m fortunate to be located in a place where we can take advantage of the green grass and foliage right out my front door. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!