Abbie Joy Photography

Fall colors, sweet vows, and a fun family + friends made for a great day photographing these delightful folks! ✨🍂

Ellie and I were both art majors at Olivet Nazarene University. We became buddies during darkroom photography class, thus she remains in my phone to this day as "Ellie Darkroom." 😂 We graduated in 2017, and really reconnected in 2020 when she asked me to co-photograph an upcoming wedding, I am so glad that she did! Since then, we see each other just about monthly to swing dance, drink coffee, explore bookstores, sometimes co-photograph, it's always a delightful adventure. :) In October, for fun she photographed me and I photographed her, these are a few of my favorites of her!

I love this family! It was so much fun to photograph them when they came through CU for a visit. :)

It's been fun getting to photograph families this fall! More family photos coming soon. This was a September shoot, their littlest one has arrived since these photos happened! :)

Getting to photograph weddings with my friend Ellie is always a delight! Here are some of my favorite shots from a wedding we co-shot in May. 👰‍♀️🤵‍♂️💕

Getting to photograph first looks at the bride is always a blast, whether that be the groom, a dad, a grandpa, or in this case, the bridal party! What I've always enjoyed about photography is being able to capture the range of emotions people experience in life's big moments. :)

Y'all, it's been awhile since my last post! I've still been taking some photo gigs alongside graduate school. This May I will be graduating! I will be in Champaign-Urbana this summer and am available for shoots, let's get something on the calendar! (Or even sooner, all the flowering trees make me want to make some portraits!) I will also begin posting some of the shots that took place during my Facebook posting hiatus- like this gorgeous wedding I got to co-shoot last October with my friend Ellie! 😍

In 2008 as an 8th grader, I bought my first Point-and-Shoot camera, from that point forward throughout high school I was almost never without a camera in hand. It wasn't hard to track down some camera-toting Abbie photos from my high school years. While I can't tell you what happened to the pictured cowgirl boots, I can tell you the camera part of my life remains! ;)
The same love of stories that draws me to photography and capturing memories, has also drawn me to the Library Science field that I am pursuing in grad school. I can't wait to see how I can incorporate photography into my future school library jobs!

This season has brought so many surprises. If you had asked me prior to this year if I was a wedding photographer, I probably would have shied from the question, because weddings felt intimidating. Now I can say confidently I am a wedding photographer! COVID-19 didn't stop love stories from unfolding, and in the process, 3 solo photographed weddings later, I can say "I enjoy photographing weddings!"

As I enter this new season of graduate school, I will step away from weddings during the school year, BUT I would love to keep shooting, specifically I would love to photograph more seniors, families, and babies (in the most socially distanced and safe way possible of course!) So definitely feel free to reach out about photos, let's make some images!

When I took Sam's senior photos when I was in college, I had no idea I would someday have the privilege of capturing his wedding day! So happy for Sam and Katelyn- they are both such genuinely loving and sweet people! It is a delight to count them both among my friends! Congratulations!

Being able to photograph some of life’s biggest milestones is always such a joy! It was so much fun to capture Adrianna and Andy’s wedding last Saturday! Congratulations! ❤️

Recently got to celebrate the wedding of Andrew and Areli with them! It is always a privilege to be able to capture such precious memories with couples and their loved ones!

My folks make pretty wonderful models!

It was such a joy to be able to photograph sweet baby Hope yesterday!

I was recently invited to attend and photograph a duckling party- 14 young ducks were in attendance and it was an experience I will not soon forget. Being a photographer has opened so many fun opportunities over the years! Here are a few of my favorite shots!

Last summer while doing some traveling, I felt inspired to combine the sounds and sights of the places I was. So I started taking audio snippets to go with photos in places where I found myself- This ended up being the Mini Audio Tour component of my website. Not sure if it will be a longer term component or not- What do you think? :) Click the link to hop to the website and then click on the play buttons for the audio and let me know! Disclaimer: the Dublin Alleyway is much louder than the other more natural sounds :)

https://www.abbiejoyphoto.com/mini-audio-tour

As I move back to Champaign-Urbana, I have been working on reviving my photography website! Once we can all be within 6 feet of one another again, I will be back to doing sessions in the Chambana area! Let me know if you would like to schedule a shoot and until then feel free to take a peek at my website as it unfolds. 🌻 Some throwback sessions and some newer ones represented in the portfolio 📸

Portfolio | abbiejoyphoto

From time to time, Facebook notifies me that someone has viewed this page- for those of you that didn't know, I am still working in photography! I've been working for Image Group Photography in Bourbonnais for two years now! (I probably should have mentioned that sooner, oops!) Which is a lot of fun and a stellar place to learn and grow as a photographer- but also means that unless I am volunteering photography services for a church/non-profit/etc. I am not taking any gigs outside of the studio right now. I do hope to delve into more fun potentially documentary style projects similar to my senior show again soon though because I loved doing that! (If you have any brilliant ideas for new projects or want to work on one together, let me know! :))

One fun mini project I got to do at the end of last year was a Route 66 Road Trip with my dad starting in Williams, Arizona and ending in Springfield, IL. Someday I would love to travel alongside all of it, but until then, here's a picture of my dad in Holbrook, Arizona with a few of their famed dinos.