As I mentioned briefly in the previous blog Friday's first session featured a fella that was a lifeguard in his spare time.

Well... as it turns out, evidently Friday was Lifeguard Day at Stewart Photography as our afternoon senior was none other than Tama Aquatic Center lifeguard extraordinaire, Sara Hinson.

Sara, like our previous client, declined to have any images done in their "work clothes," (sorry fellas!) but what she DID bring was several summertime outfits that made my job easy on this day.

I was given strict marching orders from Mama Juli to make sure, that under no uncertain circumstances, that her daughter was to at all times and in all poses... look nothing short of a lady.  

It made for some interesting discussion that I've debated with clients on several occasions about.   Where one draws the line with the potential provocative nature of an image may be completely different than another's opinion.   But, I caught her drift.  And honestly... I don't think our studio is known for that type of thing anyway... but the fact is that everyone's personality and clothing choice and body type is different... it's what makes us all unique... right?

All that being said... I gave... like I always do, "veto authority" to Mom.   And you know what?   Never once did it come up again.

That's what I call team work.

The great thing is that I think Sara still looks amazing in her images.... just look at that fab hair!  ;)   One can be classy and stunning and it doesn't necessarily have to mean you look prudish, either.  

So it's my job daily to find that delicate balance that each client is looking for.  And in between discussions about her school activities (vb, bb, track) and her college choice (Iowa State... ahem) and her boyfriend (names omitted to protect the innocent) I think we did that for BOTH Sara and her mom.

Your book is ready gang... come and get it when you're ready!  ;)

Takin' a look at Talbert...

It was finally Friday on our first real busy week of the senior campaign v.2013 and there would be no easing into the weekend as we had a full day led off by Marshalltown's Daniel Talbert.

I had photographed Dan's older brother Andrew just a couple years back when Mama Bethany brought in her first born.   Beth told me right away that child no. 2 was her most "laid back" of her three... and I guess I'd have to agree without having the opportunity to meet no. 3.

I found that while Daniel was quieter than his older bro, he was easy to talk to... and we discussed whether he was leaning more towards the University of Iowa or Dordt College, among other schools... We also had to yak it up about Mr. Talbert's involvement with the Bobcat track and cross country teams.   While I'll never be able to completely empathize with a miler/two miler guy like Dan... Track guys are always in the right place at my studio when they wanna talk running.  ;)

I had to give Daniel a hard time about it when I was informed that he got a nasty sunburn just a couple days prior to his session.  Our pre-session prep brochure specifically says to avoid too much time in the sun RIGHT before the session date... and just as I was ready to really give him the razzin' I thought he deserved... I was told that his summer job is LIFEGUARDING.

Oops.

I guess that means it's probably tough to stay out of the sun then?  :)

Overall, he did a good job of not letting that bother him too much it seemed, and we had ourselves another session in the books.  I've yet to hear from Bethany as to whether we met our goal of Daniel saying that the experience "wasn't as bad as he thought it would be." (which is always the goal for not-looking-forward-to-this/mom-is-making-me-do-this guys)... but I'm guessing he probably did...

Thanks Team Talbert.  Good to see you again.

Taking the long road from Hampton...

A quick mapquest tells me that Hampton, Iowa is an hour and forty minute trip from Montour, Iowa.

While everyone knows that mapquest estimates are always a tad on the long side... anyone that's been in business for any length of time knows that it's always best to under promise and over deliver.

So when Maurita Sietsema showed up with her awesome daughter, Madison some 35 minutes early for their 1 p.m. senior session... I wasn't surprised.

What I was surprised with was the fact that they booked in the first place.

Credit where credit is due here...  One of my very best clients EVER... is Conrad's Jayne Bryngelson who visited me most recently with her senior daughter, Denelle, last summer.

And as these things go, one mom talks to another mom... satisfied senior mom tells future senior mom that they HAVE to check out Stewart Photography... and BAM... we have a new client.

But from 90 minutes away?

A good friend in the business, Wayne Chamberlain, told me 15 years ago that sometimes you're not a saint in your own back yard.... and just when you are lamenting that very fact... someone, who clearly had numerous options close by... feels compelled to drive over 3 hours roundtrip to have YOU do their senior images.

Can there be any bigger compliment?

Humbling to be sure.

So, big props to my friend Jayne are in order, to be sure.   I'm informed that in a previous life, Jayne and Maurita were in a young mom's club in Hampton... so they go way back... and now they have daughters that were photographed by the same schmuck.  :)

We enjoyed sharing that connection back and forth throughout the early part of the session.   But that wasn't our only connection.

Why you ask?

Well... Hampton-Dumont High School also is the home of one the finest educator/coaches in all the land in the form of Dan Aalbers.

Mr. Aalbers just happens to be one of my very best friends ln the world that dates back to our college days at the Central University of Iowa in Pella.

Word is that Madison will be taking the grueling Pre-Calculus course with Aalbers in the fall... and all I can say is that she'd better be awakened real early  by a bare-bulbed second-brightest-light-in-the-universe type light every day in order to study enough to keep Instructor Dan satisified.  ;)

The other prerequisite is that she MUST have a nervous knee-bob going during every exam... and I'm not so sure that she shouldn't pronounce all her T's as D's (i.e. button should be enunciated as "buddon") and she would be best served to haul fellow Bulldogs around town in a mini-truck with a homemade camper on back and affectionately call it "house-on-truck."

Ok... enough of a trip down memory lane with one of my all-time favorite guys and all the inside jokes that make my time at Central College so memorable...  because in all seriousness... Madison is already the neatest gal that anyone will ever find... and if she hasn't had a class with Aalbers yet... I can't imagine that she won't come out even more awesome afterwards!  ;)

I would be foolish to think that Madison would have ended up in Montour, Iowa without the help of my soldiers on the ground in the form of Jayne and Dan... so I owe them both a big thank you.   I hope I lived up to expectations... and I thank both Maurita and Madison for allowing me the opportunity to not only make her once-in-a-lifetime images.. but also for letting me reminisce about a couple of close mutual friends.

Go Bulldogs! ;)

Kickin' it with Kratoska...

There's somethin' about a shy gal...

Not sure what exactly it is, I guess... but sometimes I think it's when I do my best work.

Maureen Kratoska told me at the very beginning of her daughter's session that I was gonna have to work at it to get her Allison to open up a bit and have fun with her session.

Translation:  Good luck buddy, because she can be a tough nut to crack.

Sure, I got lots of one word answers and could tell that my over-the-top personality was a bit too much for her right out of the gate... but there was NO way I was gonna let this gal's images be any less than spectacular.

Four AWESOME outfits, a variety of expressions and just enough wind to give us a small-town version of a supermodel effect... it felt like everything we did turned out.  Sometimes athletes will claim to be "in the zone" on a night when they suddenly drain nine 3-pointers from downtown... well... not quite sure that i know how THAT feels... but I'm guessing it may feel something like having all the elements fall together like they did with Allison's session.

Sure, we've had plenty of sessions over the years where things have gone well... otherwise we'd be not-for-long in keeping our doors open... but there's a particular satisfaction that comes from getting an unassuming type to let loose and find their way into a comfort zone of their own.  

It wasn't the first time I had ever photographed Miss Kratoska... I had seen her as part of the South Tama basketball cheer squad this past winter when we did their team images... and then again this spring for the girls' track team.   Sometimes I take that kinda stuff for granted as our crank-it-out heard-em-thru assembly line photography that often times is called for when the coach is standing there tapping their foot waiting for you to finish so they can get to more "important" stuff like actual practice.... but evidently I did something right there, too... because I'm pretty sure that the way THOSE images turned out last winter and spring convinced Allison to come our way for her once-in-a-lifetime senior session.

Undoubtedly, if Mama Maureen's claims about her daughter's disposition are accurate, I'm probably just embarrassing her baby girl even more by going on and on in this blog... but that's ok... she only has to do this once... and I'm glad that she chose us for this event in her life... One look at the finished product, I think most will agree that I was successful at getting her out of her shell for a few hours on Wednesday.   I told Allison that all she had to do to ensure that the ball kept rolling was to keep on listening and cooperating... and above all else... always agree with me...

If I could get her to answer "yes" one more time after the question, "do you like your images?"... I'd feel like we came through on the challenge set forth by Mrs. Kratoska.

I know what my eyes tell me... but I'll let Allison be the judge...  thanks for the fun day, Team Kratoska.  :)