Deerfield Studio To Be a First in Illinois

Deerfield’s newest business, Cilento Photography, found a home in the Village more than two years ahead of its scheduled opening in Deerfield Square this autumn.

The company, currently operating as Flash Digital Photography in Northbrook, came upon two years ago in its constant search for the right settings for its portrait photography of families and individuals.

“It’s a great place for kids,” Cilento Photography Assistant Manager Samantha Wade said. “We can use the old buildings as backdrops. They’re so well maintained. I love the way children react to them.”

The company has been taking photographs of families and individuals in the Historic Village ever since. Now it will be making its local home in Deerfield.

By autumn, the company will be operating in a much larger studio than it currently occupies in Northbrook Court. It will be on the south side Deerfield Square near Barnes & Noble. The move and the name change are part of the company’s changing mission.

“We want to be there for christenings, baptisms, bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings, all the important events in people’s lives” Wade said. “We want them to think of us. We want to be part of that.”

The move to Deerfield brings more customer space and a new name, Cilento Photography. Tony Cilento has been affiliated with 76-year-old Life Touch Inc. for more than 20 years, according to Corporate Vice President for Communications Kelvin Miller.

Cilento is one of the country’s preeminent photographers, according to Miller. As the company establishes larger studios like the one coming to Deerfield they want his name front and center as part of the image. The enlarged Cilento Photography studio will be the corporation’s fifth and the first in Illinois.

“He represents professionalism,” Miller said. “We are pleased to have his leadership seen as a part of it.” Miller also speaks with pride about what he calls “camera craftsmen” in the company like Wade and Manager Deanna Money taking pictures.

Wade translates the term craftsmen in part into the hand held cameras she, Money and others use help make a difference in the quality of pictures.

“We can follow a kid around and capture the right moment,” Wade said. “I love it when people say ‘you captured that look,’” she added referring to a special gaze or feature a parent knows characterizes their child.

Wade also thinks the enlarged size of the new studio and environment of Deerfield Square will make it friendlier for customers. Cilento Photography will be free of restrictions imposed at a mall and better able to meet client needs.

“We want to accommodate our clients,” Wade said. “Even though we do that now, we will be better able in Deerfield.” Though there will be set hours of operation, special appointments will be made when necessary.

Money and Wade will bring something else to the Village when Cilento Photography opens. “We will have owners in Deerfield,” Miller said. They are two of 17,000 employee owners of the business, according to Miller. He calls it the nation’s largest employee owned venture.

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