Dozens Wild...

A couple of weeks ago I triumphantly announced that for the first time in almost six months that we were caught up and there were no seniors left on the list that were waiting for me to finally get to their images.

I did mention at the time that while we were caught up... there was at least ONE more senior on our books that was yet to be photographed, however...   That senior?

Alix Hesmer.

Miss Hesmer had contacted me way back in the summer looking for an August session... and then one thing led to another and that didn't happen... and I wondered if it would happen at all???

The call finally came in November and Mama Julie requested a soft spot on the schedule in mid-December.

MID-DECEMBER?!?

I had visions of blizzard warnings and icy roads.   There's a reason that typically most seniors are photographed around these parts from June until the end of October.   Aside from yearbook deadlines... the main factor is... well... that's when the Iowa outdoors look the best.

So, when my secretary informed me that Alix was in December... I had my concerns.

As it turned out... we had yet another relatively nice day in what is turning out to be a mild winter thus far.   No snow... no ice... a little WIND... but for December 12th... no one was complaining.

Speaking of the 12th... we were nearly done with Alex's session... when it came up that we were photographing on the quirkiest of quirky days on the calendar.

It was the twelfth day of the twelfth month in the twelfth year of this century.   Julie and I talked about how we had both heard that 12-12-12 would not happen again for another 1000 years...

Then it happened...

I looked down at Alix's basketball uniform...

You guessed it.

Number 12.

Same for her softball uniform.

I laughed and thought to myself... what a fitting way for my 2012 calendar year to come to an end on the senior front... Number 12 on 12-12-12.  

The year of seniors ended the way it began... with a GMG senior girl.   From Cheyenne to Alix and every one in between... I have a lot to be thankful for... and while we're just over a week away from Christmas now, I just wanted to thank each and every one of my amazing seniors and faithful readers of my musings for your loyalty and support... it's been another crazy ride!   Looking forward to what 2013 brings!

All the way to the end with Alma...

Back in mid November, the barrage of senior shooting finally came to an end.

Backlogged like we had never seen before... OUR way of doing things had left us sitting on a pile of seniors that measured no less than 14 in number.   A daunting total that seemed nearly insurmountable to me at first... one after another, I began to chip away.

For the weeks leading up to this, my advanced apology refrain remained the same...

"Bear with me... it will take some time... but I won't cut corners... and you will be rewarded..."

"Eventually."

Fourteen turned into thirteen, into twelve... and so on.. and finally, on this fifth night of December... a day that I've been waiting for since the first of June has finally arrived.

The day in which NO seniors are waiting on me.

We've since had a few inquiries on our services that we've yet to photograph, but for now... the mountain has finally been climbed... the summit has been reached... and for the first time in over a half a year... my head will hit the pillow knowing there's not a single excited 17 or 18 year old that's DYING for me to get to them.

Truth is... I wouldn't have it any other way... or I would have abandoned this crazy way we do things a LONG time ago.   Yes... we show nearly 4 or 5 times more speculative art than anyone else in the area... yes... we tell a personal story with each and every one of our seniors that we photograph... yes... it takes a lot more time to show the Stewart Photography experience is unlike one you can get anywhere else.   Yes to all of those things.  

What's the one question I'll say no to?

"Why don't you do a little less for these kids before you kill yourself?"

What began on June 1st when GMG's Cheyenne Wurr kicked off the Class of 2013 on a Friday afternoon, fittingly came to a busy-season-close on a Friday afternoon in November.   Alma Pesina, armed with her stunning eyes, her excited mom, and her wonderful brothers came thru our doors  ready to go pedal to the metal one more time.

I told Mama Garika that her kids held a special place in my heart after the session...   And no... not because it was because I could finally manage to take a sniff of the proverbial finish line... but because of a similar dynamic in our families.

As it turns out... the Pesinas and the Stewarts both have three children that go, in order... girl... then boy, boy.  

Even the personalities and characteristics were ironically similar.   A stunning daughter with a flair for style... followed by a chill middle school fella that prefers XBox over photography any day of the week... and then finally... The THIRD child.

Why IS it that No. 3 is always the ornery one???

After our senior, Alma... and then Victor (I call him 'Big Vic')... there was the five year old ball-of-fire, Adair.

This kid would steal the show on any occasion.    And even though it was clearly Alma's day, she gladly shared the spotlight with the Kindergarten Sensation.

I normally don't include sibling images on this crazy blog, but I felt a strong sense of connection to these three kids because of the similarities to my own.   Over the past six months, my own kids, like they do every year, make a sacrifice as their Dad leaves the house at 4 a.m. daily to put his best foot forward for everyone else's kids.  Eighteen hours days for days, weeks and months on end... with missed trips to the pool... volleyball games... church functions and kisses goodnight... all will come to an end tonight as I now shift into SuperDad/Mr. Mom mode until spring.   I'd be lying if I said I haven't been looking forward to this day to get here so I could turn in my Psycho Small Business Owner Hat for the chance to get some normal sleep... do the dishes and laundry for my saint of a wife and just start being the father and husband that God calls me to be.

It's a great life that I've been blessed with... and while it's a grind that I often times have no one else to blame for the stress but myself due to self-inflicted scheduling and procedures.   I thank my maker every day for giving me the opportunity to give of myself to others in the only way I know how... in a job that I love.

While I have no doubt that it won't be completely over for quite sometime... tonight I want to thank the Class of 2013 for what has been an amazing year.   Your photographer needs some sleep... and tonight... I plan on getting it.   ;)

Going on an eight month Benda bender...

Eight months?  More like seventeen years!

If we hop into the way-back machine and rewind to April 5, 1996, Bruce and Kitty Benda brought me a 13-month old little blondie named Rhiannon for a family/one-year old session.

And while there's been several more opportunities for me to photograph Rhiannon over the years as a member of Miss Kimi's Dance Konnection, she hadn't returned to the studio in Montour.

Until this year.

That thirteen month old had nearly all grown up and it was finally time for senior pictures.   As luck would have it, she received a gift certificate at West Marshall's afterprom and things were all set!

Or were they?

Kitty probably asked me a handful of times if the earlybird afterprom certificate HAD to used in June to get the extra financial considerations.   I assured her that it did... so the session was set up for the last day in June... but I could tell it was reluctantly done so.

Her mama made it clear that they really wanted to do the session in the fall, and come late June... that original want won over.

"We're gonna postpone....'till the fall."

The calender turned to November before Rhiannon made her triumphant return to the studio... a mere four thousand, five hundred and ninety-one days after her last appearance!

It was a cold grey November day, but no matter... the long wait was over and the Benda girls brought a closet full of clothes and props.

There was a slew of West Marshall gear... a couple tributes to the gang at DK and a sequined prom dress and four inch silver heels in a dark alley (hey... why not?!?).   Did I mention a cowboy hat, a leather coat, some shades, as well as a pair of bright blue capris and purple high tops?

All over the map?  I prefer calling it covering all her bases... and after 4591 days away... why not!

Thanks Team Benda... it took a lot longer for us to get from that first phone call in May to your proofs being ready eight months later in December than either of us planned... but I'm proud of what we accomplished... and I hope you are, too.

Serviin' up a slice of (Mag)pie...

They did their due diligence...

It's rare anymore, but they stopped in to the studio... wanted to see work... asked every question in the book... talked pricing, and after nearly an hour of giving the Magpie's my full court press, they got up and walked away.

Perhaps it was just more of the aforementioned diligence or just not rushing into a decision... but Jennifer and Samantha were gonna play hard to get.  :)

Eventually we DID get that call back... and Sami was on the books.

I had met Samantha a year ago as part of the Class 3A No. 1-ranked South Tama basketball team that we did the pictures for.   And Sami's booking locked down the FIFTH of five seniors on this year's version of the Trojan girls hoopsters.   One after another... Kaleigh, Jade, Megan, Shelby and then, finally... #45.   Safe to say that when Team Trojan makes their own decisions on where to go for images... they choose Stewart Photography.  ;)

So I finally got her in the doors, and just because Samantha was near the end of the busy season line... there were no punches pulled.  A couple of road trips sandwiched around three stints in the camera room, and our former New York girl got big city looks from a small town guy.

We saved the best for last, however as just like most of the athletes before her, Sami was after one of our trademark sport collages.  One of Coach Emily Chyma's quarter milers, we paired Samantha's track with her hoops and, well... the result speaks for itself.

After an unprecedented wait for her previews, I will hush up and let the rest of the images speak for themselves as well.   Good luck to Samantha and all the Trojan girls this winter... I'm in your corner.