Wolverine train keeps on rollin'...

I've been told that there's somewhere around 45 students in the GMG Class of 2011. It's only June and the Wolverines have shown up in FULL FORCE at Stewart Photography as over 1/3 of the class is on the books.

Love me some GMG.

Tuesday's senior from up Garwin-way was a blue-eyed freckled sweetheart with one dimple and a infectious smile. In fact... I made her NOT smile just a couple times... and somehow... it just felt wrong! Her bestfriends... Jamie (already been in)... and Hannah (her blog drops in August) will vouch for this, won't 'cha ladies?

Sharice is out for many things at Green Mountain-Garwin... but she chose to have me focus on her love for cheerleading. So... we had her jumpin' all over the studio and, of course, busted out one of our trademark collages (No extra charge for awesomeness, btw).

The girl had just gotten back from a leadership conference at Central College (shameless plug from a Dutch grad '94)... and I was also told that she was EXCITED to attend the midnight premier of Eclipse that evening... so... somehow... I had to live up to being sandwiched in between those events. Hard to hold a candle to that!!!! My hope is she had maybe as much fun with us as the other two events.

Without further delay... HILLARY!

Ok, not gonna lie... I was starting to get worried.

The girl has been SO excited for this session... She's been telling me how stoked she's been for it for at least a couple years... if not more.

I did sister Jessie's (MHS, '06) about five years ago... and I've done family portraits for the whole bunch... PLUS Hillary is a proud member of Carolyn Hoffman's Main Street Dance Academy which we now serve annually... so there's connections aplenty.

So... Hill's session was scheduled Monday at 8 a.m. Typically, clients are a few minutes early... unload... get into the first outfit... talk shop... you get the picture....

Except for in THIS case...

To save any further embarrassment... I won't say WHERE they were... I'll just say that, ummmm... a wrong turn was made and by the time it got corrected... I didn't take an image of Hillary until 9 a.m. :-)

No worries however... just delaying the inevitable AWESOME images from being created for just a few more minutes... what's an hour when you've been looking forward to it for YEARS!?

Anyway. Hill and Mama Sandy were fun as always... I also got to meet foreign exchange student and family friend, Maria, who also doubles as an EXCELLENT umbrella holder. Norway ain't so bad... I don't care what anyone tells ya, Maria. ;-)

Well... I could go on and on... because Hill is a special gal to our studio... but I KNOW, at this very moment.. she's hitting REFRESH like for the zillionth time waiting for the blog to be posted. Here ya go, girl. ENJOY! ;-)

Just a boy and a Chevy truck...

Tuesday afternoon brought me back a couple good guys as Dean brought in his youngest son for his senior images.

We had photographed older brother Zach (BCLUW - '09) not even a couple years back and I've learned one thing about the Halverson boys...

They like their automobiles.

Zach brought in a car and a Blazer.... not to be outdone, Brody had a Chevy Silverado and a Oldsmobile Bravada.

Brody told me he would be off to Hawkeye Tech next year to study something in the auto industry... not surprisingly... his older brother already is... Boys and their toys.

It was good to catch up with the Halversons... we had bumped into each other at an MFL game this last fall... and as Cubs' fans... we fittingly spend much of our time doing one thing....

Complaining.

It's a like a right of passage... and Papa Dean greeted me Tuesday with... "still following that crappy baseball team?"

Ah yes... self deprecating humor ALWAYS works for me.... and unfortunately.... in this case.... it fits.

All in all... although it was hot... it was nice to get out and have some sunshine. I thought APRIL was for showers. Monsoon season in June? Who knew? (Save the June Swoon jokes, Cardinal fans).

a SQUIRRELY session

Anyone else SICK of the rain?

Somehow we found a way to get Courtney's session done in between TORRENTIAL downpours Friday. She got here in the rain... left in the rain... but what happened in the middle was all sunshine. ;-)

In fact, the sun actually DID come out Friday afternoon for what was a mega fun session.

I think there was some serious planning and homework done on this happening. Court's wonderful mother, Sandra, was, if I'm not mistaken, the FIRST to get her daughter on our books this winter. This gal wasn't messin' around. She did her shopping around and OBVIOUSLY made the right choice! Little sis, Caitlin was also along for the experience... check out the adorable image of the two of 'em. Speaking of adorable... when we were out and about, Courtney found that a pair of heels and a saturated ground wasn't exactly a good combo... Never fear, however! Momma to the rescue as Sandra bucked up and gave her daughter a lift from here to there... I couldn't resist throwing that candid in on the blog as well!

On a more serious note... to those of you loyal blog followers, you'll know that we've already had a couple seniors pay tribute to a young lady named Claire who died suddenly a few years back. Courtney became the third senior to do so as she brought in Claire's now "trademark" smileys in the form of an umbrella... and while that umbrella may have been needed before and after the session... someone was looking over us when we needed it. Coincidence? I think not.

Finally, I've mentioned the fact that I like to pop out the back door of my studio in order to get just the right composition with a 200mm lens... and as I was doing so Friday... I got blamed for having an A.D.D. moment when I looked over to my left and just a couple feet from me was a squirrel having a little snack. Unfazed by my presence, he just kept munching away... so I thought... what the heck... Mr. Squirrel is gonna make the blog as well. Enjoy the fame, my little furry friend... It brought a smile to my senior's face... and that's my job. Thanks for the awesome session ladies.... it was sweet.