Hittin' the road...

It was yet another BCLUW Comet Tuesday morning and in our continual effort to not cookie-cutter our seniors... Corey and I took a roadie in the H3 to give him an urban session. (I'm not gonna lie... Montour ain't so urban) :-)

The result is that this guy got some real edgy stuff. As we're parading around, we get some funny looks from old folks in cars, moms with strollers and business owners wondering why we're leaning on their buildings or using their fire escapes... but, man, it was totally worth it.

Corey was yet another Hawk/Cubs fan that has blessed me this year... so we were priming our palette for the upcoming football season and forth coming MLB pennant race/playoffs. We also talked numerous strategies... including fantasy football draft plans... among other things :-).

I wanted to give a shoutout to older sis, Chelsea, who visited us a couple years back and no doubt did some arm twisting in getting her bro at our studio.

Bikin' Bartlett

Tanner capped the docket last week with another active senior session.

This East Marshall senior recently completed the ENTIRE trek across Iowa during Ragbrai. I wasn't there... but I'm guessing that riding from the Missouri to the Mississippi with your dad and your brother has to be one of the best experiences a guy could have. We've commemorated the event with some killer images below.

Tanner's dad is the second father that I've seen in the past couple of weeks that is a member of the SEMCO Class of '83. More glory days discussion took place.... and thanks to Darrell for bringin' the bike and gettin' it ready.

Best wishes to Tanner, Coach Wheater and the rest of the Mustang football team as they embark on another season this Friday.

More Wolken Odds and Ends..

Not only were we graced last week with the aforementioned Talia... but we also saw brother Travis the next day. Fun Size made a return appearance to razz her bro.... (i'm not gonna lie... she can push his buttons.... just notice this image below where she clearly is enjoying being taller than someone... anyone...) :-)

Travis may be small in stature, but he has the heart of a 7-footer. This guy was having a blast keeping up with the precedent set by his sis. I felt good about how different the images turned out considering that they were just a day apart in the same time slot. Trav got in some quality trespassing (sorry Union Pacific)... climbed a tree and muscled up with the piggy back carry of Big T. Kudos to In Stitches for coming thru with the letterjacket delivery in the nick of time!

I wanted to just take a minute to thank Warren and Jan Wolken for trusting me with their two children. It always means a lot.... but especially coming from another small business owner. I'll take this opportunity to plug their Main Street Marshalltown business... Odds and Ends.... get in there and support those folks you music and gamer buffs!

FUN SIZE

We've been photographing some tiny gals of late... but none prouder or her "smallness" than Talia. My understanding is that she's been dubbed "Fun Size" by people close to her.... so we did our best to promote that with lots of little funness. :-)

Before I was informed with her moniker that her 4-foot 11-inch frame has earned... I had began to call her "Big T". Perhaps the biggest thing this girl has is her smile. It lights up the room. Her 100+ poses have only a couple serious images.... one is below, just to prove that she could pull it off on occasion.

Check out the image of Talia up in the tree! She's probably 20 feet off the ground and scared the begeebers out of her mom and I as she shimmied right up there and then did a no-hands balancing high wire act getting back down. Holy schnikees. Little.... and fearless. No doubt.

What follows is the result of the first of two days of dealing with Talia. She returned a day later with her mom and her brother.... who will be forth coming.

Stay tuned.

TLow + BStew = Daniel Romalotti?

Ok, it may be a stretch... but my help at the studio was CONVINCED that Thursday's senior was indeed, none other than Michael Grazadei, who is better known as Daniel Romalotti from the daytime drama, The Young and the Restless.

Google Grazadei's name and I think you'll find a strong resemblance... but the truth is that Tyler here, is actually NOT a famous actor... but instead... a highly photogenic GMG senior that also shares a strong interest in the Iowa Hawkeyes with this photographer.

Also known to his buddies as T-Low, Tyler is prepping for a trip to Kinnick next Saturday for the season opener vs. Maine. Let's hope that he sees a victory.

Tyler is also the 3-year beau of Jessie (see our first ever blog entry from 2 weeks back). Hats off to Jess for steering Tyler our way.

Btw, these outdoor images were taken in what was a steady rain nearly all morning. Special thanks to my lovely 'assistant' Kathi (Mama T-Low) who roughed it with with the umbrella in order to get the session in without another trip back!

Beye, Beye, Beye

This Marshalltown Bobcat came our way Wednesday morning thanks to MHS junior sister and MSDA dancer extraordinaire, Anna. I asked Matt and his father, Kevin, how they tracked me down and they simply pointed to the smiling guilty party who was along for support on this day. (I think she was just taking notes for NEXT summer) :-)

Matt was a quiet fella for about 1/2 the session until I opened up a can of worms by bringing up Major League Baseball. My senior on this day was either just being polite when he noticed my Chicago Cubs hat on the dash of the H3... or.... perhaps he was just lying in the weeds waiting to pounce. :-) For you see, Mr. Matt is a die hard St. Louis Cardinals fan...... and if you know anything about the MLB..... rivalries don't get any more tense this side of The Big Apple and Beantown.

So... it was ON the rest of the session as Matt and I traded barbs about our favorite squads. I will admit that he was very knowledgeable...... but I did have to break the news to him that his closer Jason Isringhausen's career may be over with an apparent elbow injury. Sorry, dude. Ok... maybe not so much. ;-)

It's always easier to be gracious when your team has an 8 game lead in the standings.