I keep passing that house on Krohn Place — the one with the deep porch and windows that look like they're paying attention. It's Embracing Soul Imagery, and calling it a photography studio feels incomplete, like describing a river as just water moving.
Stephanie runs the place, and she shoots portraits the way some people write letters — with intention, like she's trying to say something true. I've seen her work around town, mostly through word-of-mouth channels where mothers recommend photographers to other mothers. The images have this quality of catching people mid-thought rather than mid-smile, which is harder than it sounds.
She does newborns, families, seniors — the expected roster — but there's something in her approach that skips the standard poses. I think it's that she shoots slow. Not inefficient, just unhurried. The kind of patience that makes a fidgety three-year-old forget there's a camera in the room.
The studio itself sits in that quiet residential stretch where Krohn dead-ends near 12th Street, easy to drive past if you're not looking. No storefront gloss, no lobby full of framed wall art designed to upsell you. Just the front room of a home converted into a workspace, natural light doing most of the heavy lifting.
What she doesn't offer is same-day turnaround — this isn't passport photos or quick headshots between errands. Her process takes time, both during the session and after. If you need prints by Friday for a thing on Saturday, you're looking at the wrong photographer. But if you want images that feel like they were made *for* your family rather than *of* your family, this is the turn you take.
Sixteen five-star reviews, all of them reading less like testimonials and more like thank-you notes. That ratio tells you something about scale and care — she's not running volume, she's running depth.
I think Sioux Falls has more photographers per capita than coffee shops at this point, but Stephanie's held that Google rating without compromise, which in this business means she's learned to say no almost as well as she's learned to say yes.
— Grace
I keep passing that house on Krohn Place — the one with the deep porch and windows that look like they're paying attention.