Family Portraits

HAve you ever heard of Chicago Parents Magazine? It is a free magazine that you can get or you can go to their website www.chicagoparents.com. They have a lot of places listed that you can go to take pictures or the photographer will come to you.

PICTURE IS THE BEST! THEY ARE GREAT WITH KIDS AND VERY NICE, IF YOU DO GET PICTURES TAKEN EVERY SO OFTEN DO BUY THE CLUB MEMBERSHIP IT PAYS FOR ITS SELF THE SECOND TIME YOU USE IT.

I have used the Picture People and have not found the pictures to be very good. The lighting is poor so my kids' coloring is always off (too pale). They are also pretty expensive.

For two photo shoots I have used Hilda Burke at Angel Eyes Photography. She is wonderful. She takes candid and formal shots at your home (or any other location). She does not have a studio. You can check out samples of her pictures at www.angeleyesphotography.com She uses natural lighting which makes a huge difference in the quality of the shots. She takes tons of pictures and then gives you a proof book. Her number is ###-###-####. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

My sister uses kiddie candids for her daughter, don't know if they do adults or not but her pics are wonderful.

In Johnsburg Just outside of McHenry There is a church St. Johns next to the church there is a cemetary BUT at the back of the cemetary there is a pond and a great setting for pictures we did out parents 50th anniversary pictures there. You just have to call the church to make sure there is not a wedding that day because this is where most wedding pictures are taken. I know it is a little far but on a nice day this spot is very nice.

I would suggest a place called Celebrity Kids. Even though the name implies “Kid” photography, they do family portraiture and all sorts of stuff. They are located in Algonquin, Geneva, and Wheaton.

I highly recommend them! First and foremost, their work is phenomenal; easily comparable with private studios, in quality, creativity, and capability, but not in pricing. Their packages are pretty flexible, and priced reasonably. They are much less than a private studio, but of course more than a franchise studio such as Sears. An actual example would be with Lanza Portraits, in Bloomingdale (a private studio), our average package was about $1200, but at Celebrity Kids we average about $400 – but then again, we tend to go overboard when it comes to pictures of our girls.

Sears is my second recommendation, as they have recently upgraded all their equipment in all their studios, and they are fair priced with good quality work. The pricing is much less than Celebrity Kids too.

With all that said: if you go the Celebrity Kids route, I suggest visiting the Radio Shopping Show [http://radioshoppingshow.com] or listening to it, as you can purchase gift certificates there at an extremely low rate. I forget now, but the certificate was something like an $80 certificate for $10 or something like that. I was skeptical at first, but the certificate was the real deal, and was actually worth the claim.

As a side note. Take a look at the radio shopping show for a bunch of other really, I mean really, low priced certificates and vouchers. I was at first very skeptical, but I’ve literally made dozens of purchase over the past two years and never been disappointed.

-K.

I used the Angel Lips Photography studio before and the Photographer is great with children.

A couple of my friends used this photographer for family reunions and I saw the booklets that were made afterwards by the Angel Lips Photographer. They were just incredible. It made me want to have a family reunion.