Nachusa Grasslands, Franklin Grove, IL Family Portrait Photographer | Tom, Lauren, Ethan, & Isabel

Nachusa Grasslands, Franklin Grove, IL Family Portrait Photographer

It’s been about 4 years since I last photographed this crew, and man have these kids gotten HUGE!!! What really makes me feel old is that I photographed Isabel’s newborn pictures. IN 2011. I don’t even know what to do with that. I just fell down a rabbit hole looking back at those pictures, and then I remembered that I photographed Isabel’s newborn pictures the day after I found out I was pregnant with my daughter (who is my second born). I remember not feeling the best, and also being a little emotional seeing new little Isabel after just finding out I was going to have another baby. It’s funny how pictures of other people’s families and life events can bring up so many of my own memories! And I’m floored that that was SEVEN years ago! WHAT IN THE WORLD.

I met up with Tom, Lauren, & the kids at Nachusa Grasslands, which I had never heard of before Lauren suggested doing their shoot there. Have any of you out there heard of this place??? There are legit bison there! It’s so cool! And speaking of cool, it was FREEZING the day of their shoot. It was windy and cold and I felt so bad for making them traipse around without their coats on. Thankfully we moved to a more wooded area for the second part of the shoot and the wind-blocking trees made things much more bearable. They were troopers, and I have to say that I’m proud of them because I can’t even tell that they were freezing while looking through these pictures.

ANYWAYS. How ‘bout some pictures?!?