Four + Four = FORE!

Brandon and his mother, Mary, brought in four outfits on Wednesday. He had his guitar... he had his smile, he had an open mind.... but most of all...

He wanted to get his swing on.

His golf swing, that is.

I found it cool that he brought all four golf shirts from his four years of playing for the Marshalltown boys golf team. So, it was a no-brainer to me to bust him into each one and do a swing series.

Oh there was some "regular" stuff that we had to get to, including some rockstar album-cover type things with his six-string... but, Brandon and I didn't REALLY get our groove on until we got to the course at Elmwood at the end of the session.

Mary had asked if that was possible before they came in for the session, and I told her of course it was.

So we were off to the course and I really had a couple of ideas that I wanted to get. We ended up getting that and more... but my FAVORITE was one that we stumbled into.

We were trying to get an image of Brandon making a putt .... wide angle... just a fun, interesting low angle. On the second or third putt... (i probably made him do it 20 times, all toll)... the ball was coming pretty fast... hit the hold dead on... and popped up in the air and dropped in.

I had taken the shot prior to the ball hitting the hole... but I had wished I had waited. The vision I saw was something I just had to have.

So... we went about trying to recapture it... and fortunately for me... we got it. Must be living right... but if you look at the 3rd image below... that's the one.... and if you look closely... you can even make out the Bobcat logo on the side of the ball. SWEET!

Brandon and the 'Cats are in season and I wish them all the success in the world... Brandon told me he's currently the No. 4 player on the team... he may not stay there... but for purposes of this blog... another four is just perfect.

FORE!

Ashlee, Dena, Bre, Sandie, Jeff and I, Oh my!

We had quite the crew Tuesday afternoon. I'm not gonna lie, I know how we got her... it's the tumbling connection.

Every February, we do the images for the Marshalltown Area Tumbling Club in the Meadow Lane Mall. The MAT Club is headed up by old friend, Ron Brooks... and one of my favorite senior mom's of all time... Diane Peden. Between photographing that group and the two dance studios that we serve in Marshalltown, we have many-a-connection that we wouldn't otherwise have... so we are thankful for that.

Ashlee here has a Newton address, goes to Prairie City-Monroe and tumbles for MAT. Without that connection, I doubt we woulda gotten this young lady.

So, in comes Mama Dena, and best friend Bre Tuesday afternoon. And while we didn't see the INSANE amount of trophies that teammate Erika Hilleman brought in a month back (thank you for THAT, Ash!) we did have to represent for the MAT peeps. Furthermore... I was shown a special leotard that was pink and had a traditional pink ribbon on it representing the battle against breast cancer. This hits home for Ashlee as her grandmother Sandie is battling this horrible disease. So, that's why you see the pink ribbon in the first image here.

So, who's Jeff? I have a buddy, Jeff Schmatt who hails from Mount Vernon and runs Rubicon Photo in those parts. Jeff, ironically, has helped me with the MAT job the past couple of years... being a second set of hands... eyes... and probably most importantly... he was excellent at being a "trophy-wrangler." ;-) Jeff also helps me with one of our dance jobs... and is just generally a great friend. So, Mr. Schmatt was needing to swap out some gear and just wanted to see how we operated a senior session first hand... and we were glad to have him along for the ride.

So.. there was a lot of bodies... a lot of razzing for all... and in the end... another successful session. (i think perhaps the senior mom was having as much or more fun than the senior!) Regardless... just another day that I had to pinch myself and ask... "I get paid to do this?"

Thanks Team Ashlee! ;-)

Almighty Bruce

For a long time, I've always said that most guys feel a certain way about getting senior pictures.

Probably not their FAVORITE thing in the world to do... but there's USUALLY one thing that they're passionate about thatt they wanna work into their session.

Maybe it's sports... maybe it's their car... maybe it's their guitar or girlfriend... or their dog or whatever... there's usually SOMETHING that they wanna work in.

And then there's Bruce.

I'm probably forgetting something, but our Tuesday morning senior had, by my count SIX things that were in the "have-to" category.

The first was a trip to Southard Implement in Tama to get our farm equipment on. Not gonna lie, I'm no farmer myself, but we got some classic Iowa Boy images with John Deere gear.

Check-1

Next we buzzed over to Toledo to photograph Bruce's tiny horse.

Check-2

After that were were off to Bruce's home to get his dog photographed. This pup was none too happy to see me... and from the sounds of it... I was lucky to not get my hand chewed off when I unknowingly risk my life by handing her a doggie treat.

Check-3

At that point we made our way back to Montourville to shoot Bruce's sweet Pontiac GT. Did I mention that our senior boy has a little lady? She was along for the entire day... and you know what that means.... Hailey became my trusty assistant. So... Hales was holding a flash for me some of the time... and, of course... she worked her way into a few images with her man as well.

Check-4 and Check-5

Finally, Mr. Gjetley is a member of the South Tama soccer team, and we had to get THAT done as well. Trojan soccer... consider yourself represented.

Check-6.

So, needless to say, Bruce got his monies' worth on this morning. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Kinda refreshing to see a fella so into it. Hats off, my man.

Five years later...

I've mentioned it before. There's a reason I normally don't open my big mouth in asking for business... because I usually end up sounding like an idiot.

Case and point.

December 17, 2005. Our studio was embarking on a new endeavor as we had been asked to take dance pictures for the first time ever for Carolyn Hoffman's Main Street Dance Academy. MSDA was putting the finishing touches on their rendition of The Nutcracker and Carolyn asked me if I would take their images for them.

While there, I met the first of many dance mom's that have been very good to us over the years in Caleen Wieland. Like most hairdressers (Creative Touche' salon in Marshalltown.... {shameless plug}) , Caleen isn't afraid to do her share of talking... so we chatted it up in between dance group poses when I broke my own policy.

My policy is to usually just let my work speak for itself... and if Caleen (or anyone else for that matter) likes it... they'll find me.... and judging from the fact that I'm six senior sessions and nine senior orders behind as we speak... people have found us.

But, being the dummy that I am, this time, I spoke up. Caleen points out her beautiful daughter to me... and I say something like, "so... she's probably about ready for senior pictures, right?"

Caleen: "ummm... she's an EIGHTH grader."

Ooops.

Our relationship with MSDA has continued for the past five years... as has our friendship with the Wielands... Caleen makes a point to ensure that my wife and I don't go hungry on the Friday night of pictures every spring... and we've met the rest of the family (see the blog from last fall) as I got to know Mark Wieland and his wonderful son, Daniel as well.

So, it was NO surprise last Monday when Caleen burst in the door at 8 a.m. with that 8th grader who had, seemingly overnight, become a senior.

Alicia's session was indeed, finally upon us. I have watched the girl pose in front of the mirrors at MSDA for the past half decade, and have always gotten a kick out of it. I can tell she's "critiquing" herself as she does it... tweaking the expression, the pose, the hair... until it's just so.

Monday, it was my turn to do the tweaking and did we ever tweak. I took the ladies to my old stomping grounds in Gilman and after fighting early morning rush hour traffic (ahem) we took the old town and its' every nook and cranny.

After we got back from our trek, we had a some indoor to polish off, and I would be remiss if I didn't explain the four-image combo of Alicia you see below.

Sometimes I cringe at seniors involving boyfriends/girlfriends in their senior sessions due to the potential pitfalls that can occur with young love. But in this case, Alicia's been dating the same fella for two years... so I suppose she's earned the right to get her request. In addition her boyfriend, Logan Boehm, is a Stewart Photography alum, so it's all good. ;-)

The request was to work in one of Logan's hockey jerseys. Logan came to us as a member of the Class of 2009. He was in a prep school (Gilmoure Academy) in Ohio at that point on hockey scholarship. Eventually he found his way back to Marshalltown and graduated from MHS and won the heart of young Miss Alicia in the process. Anyway... Logan is still playing hockey and his team wore the pink jersey you see here as a benefit to breast cancer. So, this image, I have a feeling, is an extra special gift to Mr. Boehm... from his extra special gal.