Well hot damn, i'm excited you're here. I'm Emily - you can call me em.
welcome to the blog!
I love taking adventures all over the world, photographing weddings. seniors, boudoir, and helping other photographers perfect their craft. When I have my shit together, I blog about them using way too many exclamation points. What can I say, I love my job! Grab a coffee and stay a while!
October 27, 2016
River Bend Forest Preserve, Mahomet, IL When it comes to picking the location for any session, I strive to try new places. The popular parks and landmarks are great, but eventually do get tiring to the eye. Plus, I find that the places closest to your heart photograph the best anyways because there’s more of […]
October 20, 2016
Michigan City Beach + Lighthouse, Michigan City, Indiana Love birds since college, Grant and Kailyn talked about where she wanted to say “yes” on their first date. After seeing a photo of a lighthouse in the sushi restaurant, she mentioned her love for lighthouses and said she would love to have the man of her […]
October 14, 2016
Loda Sportsman’s Club, Loda, IL When Maisie + Dylan met me a few weeks ago for their engagement session, we quickly deducted that a part 2 was going to be in order. We still wanted to do so much, so we met back up outside of Loda. Maisie came ready to work and so did […]
September 30, 2016
Meadowbrook Park, Urbana, IL In my experience, most clients book their photographer a few steps into the process of planning their wedding. For Maisie, I was one of the first people she talked to (even before she decided on her venue!), and could tell she was super excited. If I’m being honest, I was not […]
September 21, 2016
Choosing what to wear can be one of the hardest parts about your engagement session. Well no worries, I’m here to help. I love assisting each of my brides with any part of their wedding planning process, and often will help them find the perfect look. I wanted to put together my top tips in […]
September 9, 2016
Green Acres Sportsmans Club, Roberts, IL I cannot believe I haven’t blogged this engagement session from last winter! As one of my more challenging (I’ll explain in a bit) sessions, it turned out to be one of my favorites. Stephanie and Jake are both high school friends of mine from up north, and I was […]
July 7, 2016
Curtis Orchard & Pumpkin Patch, Champaign, IL It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for a #throwbackthursday post. Since Abbey + Kale’s wedding is right around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate for me to finally show off their engagement photos we took last fall. I know guys. I’m way behind, but trying to play catch […]
May 27, 2016
Ten Mile Grove, Paxton, IL Kassandra + Jordan’s paths most likely crossed more than once before they remember meeting, since both of their families show pigs at the local county fairs. However, it wasn’t until Jordan was roommates with Kassandra’s older brother in college that she fell for him. She had developed a crush on […]
May 22, 2016
Allerton Park and Retreat Center, Monticello, IL Spring can be so frustratingly unpredictable sometimes. Brittany + Bradley’s engagement session was about a week away and there was rain in the forecast. But we waited it out and as the day got closer the forecast was looking better, but still not great. After talking over our […]
May 13, 2016
Japanese Gardens and University of Illinois Campus, Urbana, IL Happy Friday, everyone! Today I am super excited to share on of my favorite engagement sessions, maybe ever! Kaitlyn + Tom met up with me in Urbana to explore a bit at the Japanese Gardens and end directly on the University of Illinois campus, right where […]
May 2, 2016
University of Illinois Campus, Urbana, IL Taylor + Dustin are seriously perfect for each other. I first met Taylor a few months back when we met to talk wedding. She’s so sweet and down to earth, and talked about Dustin as if there was no one else on Earth. She talked about how he proposed […]
April 27, 2016
Rustic Family Farm, Kempton, IL Hannah + Tyler chose to schedule their engagement session early spring, just before Tyler had to head out to the fields. What we didn’t know, is that the day we met would happen to land us on one of the windiest, coldest days this spring! Due to busy schedules, we […]
April 4, 2016
This is the hardest part. From deciding what to wear, how to coordinate with your fiancé, to how to do your makeup and hair, prepping for your engagement session can be stressful! That’s where I come in. I want to go over a few guidelines + tips to help my current and future #mibrides feel their […]
February 1, 2016
In my opinion, engagement sessions are just as important as a wedding day. Are you debating on skipping your engagement session? Well let me tell you a little story… In 2012, when Brandon and I got engaged, we jumped right into planning our wedding. This was before Mager Image existed, and I didn’t have the experience […]
January 14, 2016
Adrian was a rockstar in my eyes in high school. She was absolutely gorgeous, talented, hilarious, and such a sweetheart. I was honestly scared to talk to her for the first time. I was the new girl in a town where I hardly knew anyone, and Adrian was one of those girls that you felt like […]
May 4, 2015
Erika + Trent are two people that you can’t help but have fun around, and their engagement session was no exception. We met in Paxton on a Saturday morning after having to reschedule due to a family emergency. To say these two are busy hard workers is an understatement, since Erika works multiple jobs and Trent […]
April 4, 2015
I first met Alexandra + Andrew in college, and it wasn’t hard to tell that this was a love that only comes once in a lifetime. After years and years of dating, they both moved out on their own together. Two years later as Valentine’s Day was approaching, and Alexandra + Andrew both decided to take […]
March 26, 2015
While Ellie + Greg are in the middle of planning their June 2015 wedding, they took some time off for engagement pictures. After the last big snow of the season, I was a bit worried about the weather. We had not seen the sun for days, and things looked pretty gloomy outside. However, the sun was […]
January 8, 2015
When I first met with Sarah to go over wedding + engagement photography details, I could tell right away that she was such a sweet, genuine person, inside and out. As we sat in the little coffee shop we shared stories, discussed the ups and downs of wedding planning, and she told me about Justin, […]
November 4, 2014
Lodge Park Sunrise Session with Heidi & Clayton I met with Heidi + Clayton early, and I do mean early that Sunday. Sunrise provides gorgeous light. The only downfall? It’s sunrise. Luckily, Heidi + Clayton had a gem of a location up their sleeve. I had been to Lodge Park once before, but we hardly made it […]
October 6, 2014
Back in the day, Ramey and I were both in the same ballet class. It was something like five years that we danced, laughed, and I’m sure caused a little trouble talking and running around! When ballet ended, and it was too hard to communicate via the string and cup method, we lost touch, until […]
September 17, 2014
Sayre’s hometown is in Hawaii, and Chet grew up in Urbana, Illinois. However, they first met when in college in an entirely different state! As their love grew in college, they soon would be separated to go back to their hometowns, across the country. That’s when Sayre made the ultimate sacrifice, and followed her one […]
July 19, 2014
I can’t tell you just how excited I am for Jaclyn and Mike’s wedding this fall! From what details I have heard about, it’s going to be a photographer’s dream! For their engagement session, we met in Champaign, IL at Trevitt/Finch Park and ended up walking all around downtown Champaign for some of the cool […]
