Peoria, Illinois High School Senior Photographer: [Austin] Sneak Peak

Sneak Peak of Morton High School Senior, Austin. More to come later this week.

Peoria, Illinois High School Senior Photography for Free during February.

Are you a Junior or a Senior in High School? Do you know one? Yellow Brick Road Photo is offering free Senior sessions during the month of February. YBRP is looking to expand its’ portfolio to High School Seniors. What do they get for their time? A CD of 40 edited high resolution photos from their shoot. How long? 45 minutes. Where? I have a location in mind but am always up for suggestions. Yes, this would be outside as I am an on location photographer. When? All weekends during February. So, know a Junior or Senior? Book the session now. E-mail me at dsappj@yahoo.com to set up a date and time

{CHLOE}. Peoria, Illinois Photographer

She's furry and multi-colored. He as a beaty mark in the center of her forehead which makes her all that much more cute and cuddly. She loves bacon strips and anything that comes out of a treat bag. She has a collection of over 15 bandanas that she exchanges out regularly. She loves long walks even when it's 7 below. She loves to be the center of attention, and when she's not, she mopes around and pretends like she is dying, aka, the mystery of the broken back last summer. She gets jealous that she cannot go to Florida every year. If she sits next to you that means she likes you. She loves spending quiet time with her Momma every morning before each crazy day begins. During the week, she can be found sitting on her white victorian era chair in the home library gazing out at the birds and barking at the mailman. She loves her new sister, Savannah (golden retriever), but hasn't found an easy to to express it yet. She is our baby and I felt has earned a post on the blog.

I miss her everyday. In Remembrance of my Grandmother

I can’t tell you how much I miss her. Some people might wonder what I’m doing, digging into my personal life on my business blog. Well, I feel if I can’t be myself with my clients then I’m not being real. I’m not your ordinary photographer who likes to rush session, get paid the day of and tell you that your CD won’t be ready for 6 weeks. I do things different. I don’t like short sessions even though I do the mini sessions in the summer, I don’t even ask for a drop of cash the day of, and CDs are always ready before 3 weeks. I try very hard to make things good for my clients as they are choosing me to document their lives. So, thus, I’m going to get personal here, so bare with me. I wasn't feeling good last nite whatsoever, so I zonked out early, otherwise I would've done this last nite.  Don’t worry, I included pictures of course.

I miss her very much. My grandma passed away in September. September 10, 2009. I had this whole idea of branding a new business name, Yellow Brick Road Photo. My grand opening was to be on 9/9/09. My grand opening never happened, it just wasn’t the right timing. I had asked my grandma for some business advice in August. I can remember sitting at the table and looking at images on my laptop. She thought it was so neat that pictures could be sent to computers these days. She shared some thoughts and gave me some pointers that no one else would’ve. I was planning to do a grand opening on 10/17/09, the date picked by my Grandmother because it wasn’t too close to Halloween but close enough where kids would have costumes.

We came up with the idea to have a Halloween mini session day at McNaughton Park, where kids would show up in their costumes, I’d pass out treat bags, and parents would walk away with a CD of 15 edited images from the session on a CD for $30. My grandma had told me to bring candy to her and she’d prepare the treat bags. The grand opening of Yellow Brick Road Photo never happened. It breaks my heart to think it was nearly a month away. I never saw it coming. I can remember her perfectly polished nails as she’d reach across the table and pat my hand as she giggled about something. She had a heart full of gold, and was beautiful in everyway. I went over to her house atleast two Sundays a month and then some in between. I regret not going over there more often. I find myself taking a country drive on a winding road now sometimes on Sundays and listening to a CD that reminds me of no one but her. Sometimes I need that.

There’s so much that has happened recently I would love to share with her and listen to her advice. She gave the best advice. Whether it was about saving money for a house, spirituality, family feuds, relationships, or anything from food recipes to movies to watch, she had wisdom for it all.

She passed away on a Thursday. I was suppose to go up near Madison, WI to visit a friend for the weekend. I was living by myself in an old historic apartment that I was in the process of moving out of. It was pretty bare, and I was pretty much alone that day and Friday when I wasn’t over listening to family talk about arrangements. I decided I needed to get away, so I was going to Wisconsin as weird as it felt. I would stay on 29 and take 26 strait to Wisconsin, so basically all backroads. I’d pass the turn off for the town my grandma grew up in, Walnut, Illinois, but I had never stopped. I felt like everytime I made that trip up to Wisconsin (even before she passed) that I was reliving apart of my grandma’s youth. I remember telling her, I went through Manlius, or Dixon today, and she’d have something to say about each town and what her and her friends use to do there. I got to Wisconsin Friday evening about 7:00PM. I was miserable. I felt like going to Wisconsin was a mistake.  At 7:00AM on Saturday morning I was on the road again coming home because it was what felt right. I passed the sign that said Walnut, IL ten miles and I decided I was going to stop there. I was going to the cemetery to make sure there were flowers on the graves of my Grandmother’s parents, sister, and some others she had always took care of. I felt like she would’ve wanted me to check in on things. I was at the cemetery when a very classy woman stepped out of her little convertible and yelled “I knew someone was here but didn’t see you, youre so short.” I told her I was there just passing through, and asked if she lived in Walnut her entire life. She answered yes. I told her my grandmother was raised and went to high school there. She asked, “Who’s your grandmother?” “Well, she would’ve been Betty Bourquin back then”, I replied. “What! Betty Bourquin, we’ve been trying to get in touch with her about making it up for a reunion. We went to school together.” I proceded to tell her she passed a couple days earlier, and she then told me to get in her convertible. She wanted to show me where my grandma lived, where my great-grandfathers barber shop was, and some other things. I was overcome with surprise, what are the odds? She even stopped by the house of my grandma’s high school best friend, Sue.  I felt like that day happened all because of my grandmother. That was my sign. My sign that just because we couldn’t have our Sunday conversations or annual Burger King day or talk about anything between the ground and the moon, didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be with me. My grandma is with us everyday in our hearts. Here’s a picture of the woman, Rita, who picked me up to show me the town of Walnut, and my grandma’s best friend in high school, Sue. (I hate pictures of myself, and please understand I was a trainwreck during this time, do don't judge me on my appearance :)


This past week has seemed like a very long one. It’s been full of anxiety, sitting on the edge of my chair excitement, happiness, laughter, disappointment, and a a whirlwind of everything crashing down at one point. One good thing did happen this week, I assure you that. You’ll hear more about it in the future. I know, I am keeping you on the edge of your seat now, huh? Anyways. I know my Grandma would’ve been so comforting after she heard about some of the things that were going on. I would love to have a diet rite with her and ask her about grocery store deals and listen to her talk about anything. I recently read this book, For One More Day by Mitch Albom. It literally reached out and grabbed my heart and squeezed it. I recommend it if you’ve lost your mother or grandmother. It really opens your eyes to a mother’s love. I am so thankful for my mom and can’t imagine how hard it’s been for her to cope after losing grandma. She would be turning 78 on January 18th. We would have taken her to he favorite place, Texas Roadhouse. She would've looked beautiful as ever.To my angel, my second mother, my Grandmother Betty Jean Sapp.. I miss you everyday.
 

She's so Chicago | And I'm a little late on this post

One. 7. Sometimes I wonder if it’s better than turning 16. Falynn and her good friend Kaitlyn shopped until they dropped in Chi-town to celebrate Falynn’s birthday...which was over three months ago. As I looked through these pictures, I can’t help but think, “She’s so Chicago”. One thing I love about shooting in Chicago is that the photographs seem so REAL. That’s what I want in the pictures I take. I want it to feel real to whoever is viewing them.

Jason | Lifestyle Photographer, Peoria, IL

Meet my Uncle Jason. About a 14 months ago my Aunt, Shawna,  had me take some photos of her for her husband, Jason, and for each of her kids to keep in a little photo album. I thought it was a great idea. Jason asked me over Thanksgiving dinner if I would take some photos of him for Shawna and their four children also. For Jason we decided an urban shoot would be best. We went to several locations and it was one of my favorite sessions yet. Jay was so cool about working with me, being patient, and had natural poses. Most of my clients are a tad bit nervous which is very normal, but not Jason. Thank you Jason, I had a blast and I know Shawna and the kids will cherish these photos.

{Savannah. Skyler. Spencer. Family from Missouri} | Rolla, Missouri Photographer

Savannah. When Savannah laughs she has the most contagious smile. She loves American Girl dolls, her dog Rocky, and her brand new laptop. She once said something that I had said at her age “I’m not the princess type.” I had asked her to go see the Princess and the Frog and that was her response. She just doesn’t realize that all girls can be princesses. Just because she didn’t like gymnastics or didn’t care too much for dance, doesn’t mean she’s not a little princess. In fact, her first year of dance was last year. She didn’t register this year, but she did such an awesome job last May in her dance recital. It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of an audience performing a routine you practiced for 6 months. She calls me Danny, yes with a y, and I’m okay with that.


Skyler. Skyler is quiet, but he is very talented with the arts. He draws really well and I think he might someday really be a talented artist like his Dad was in high school and college. He loves bmx, races in the summer. He enjoys spending time with his brother and even his sister too. He likes Facebook and is too young to care that I am on his friends list and occasionally “supervise” his wall posts.

Spencer. Spencer is not shy whatsoever. He has never been shy. When he was 4 he use to sing this song about how he had the best sisters in the whole wide world. He loves to play baseball in the summer and is appreciative of the baseball diamond and batting cages that Dad built for him a couple years ago.

My two brothers and sister from Missouri. All of my friends here may hear about them in conversation, but here they are. I am such a lucky person to have two amazing sisters and 2 awesome brothers. I love my family very much and whether they are 5 hours away in Missouri or thirty minutes away in Pekin, I don’t know what I’d do without any of them. They are the best.