Spur of the moment hyperbole? Maybe. But I'll tell you this... God doesn't make 'em much better than Sarah McCoy.
Her folks and I go way back, and one might think that that it would be real easy for a girl like this to say... "i don't wanna go there just because DAD went to school with him"... or "just because MOM says so" or "just because big SIS went there."
What does she say instead?
"Dad... It's BStew! He's like FAMOUS!"
While that's most certainly a stretch of epic magnitude, it probably at least falls somewhere in between the "local celebrity" status and making pops puke a little in his mouth when he heard his girl say such nonsense. ;) But what Sarah has learned at a young age, is that sometimes it's okay to schmooze a bit to win over someone that's about to do a job for you. #flatterygetsyoueverywhere
All kidding aside, you won't find a more genuine girl than this one... and while I'm not sure WHERE the nickname came from... I've taken to calling her what my old friend Papa Heath and Mama Chris call her.... "Bug."
So it came down to this... whatever Bug asked for... I could never tell her no. We've photographed a SLEW of all-state, all-district, all-conference and even the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Iowa, in the past few seasons from BCLUW... What hadn't we done? Photographed one at the place where yet another conference championship was won this year... the softball diamond in Conrad.
The decision was made a few weeks ago while sitting around the newly minted fire pit at her home as I was doing some schmoozing of my own with the folks... Why not do some images at the house that The General Dave Lee built? ;)
With yet another blazing forecast for her special day... I left the studio in Montour at 6:30 a.m. to try to minimize the inevitable issues that the sun would create for us, even at a one-hour-earlier-than-the-normal-way-too-early start time of 8 a.m. That's right... 7 a.m..... at the home of the Comets....
Take one look at what we did though! It certainly paid off... Both of us were squintin' and sweatin' to be sure... but I'm glad we made the sacrifice... because even an hour later woulda been even more difficult to execute.
With our special softball images in our hip pocket... we headed off to a private location to get shots taken with her beloved puppy, Chloe. From experience, I know this dog is like her very own baby girl... much to the chagrin of her father who again, nearly vomits at the thought of his daughter's fawning over such an unmanly and spoiled "best friend." ;) Before we could get to the shots of Chloe... I made an unexpected stop at the bridge in Conrad... and I SWEAR that Sarah's folks must know every soul in town. Not only THAT... but nearly all the town's residents decided that 9 a.m. was a good time to cross that bridge and flick Heath, Chris, Sarah and sister Shannon some crap. I didn't think we'd EVER get done there! Even recent senior mom Tambra Simpson made an appearance, somehow rolling out of bed and showing up with her hair PERFECTLY done. Weird. ;)
Once we were done being distracted there... we did the shots with Chloe and were THEN distracted by my brother in law, Josh Good, who just happened to be making a Pepsi delivery near by... After that we were off to Marshalltown. The brief detour in Mtown included a stop at a mutual friend of ours at Melanie Ewalt's home. Mel is a converted disciple to the good book of Stewart Photography... but just ask her... she's glad she made the switch to our preachings. :) I hope she enjoys getting to see some of her hard work in her backyard being portrayed in images with one of her good friend's daughters. How cool is that?
After an additional stop uptown, we finally made our way back to Montour to complete the indoor stuff and to, once again, come to the revelation that our session lengths are unrivaled by any other studio. Why? Because it's not about just numbers to me... never has been. Ask around.... But when someone close to me personally comes through our doors... and they just happen to be folks that have always been there for me... it's only natural to try to pick it up a notch above that already-insane-usual notch. Is that even possible?
Oh, they apologized for taking so much of my time... which I would have nothing of the sort... I was just trying to not wear out the Comet catcher for what would be yet another softball game that night. The girl cannot be phased, however. She's only been killin' it since she was asked to START on what would wind up being a state champion team as a freekin EIGHTH GRADER... And what does she do for an encore the next season as a freshman? Just make the Class 2A State Tournament all-tourney team with one of the greatest one-week offensive runs that the tournament has ever seen while her team was winning yet ANOTHER state title!
Rockin' it while winning doesn't suck.
Sarah McCoy will go down as one of another in a long line of great players that have come out of that Black-n-Gold laced school... but more importantly... she is an even better person... One of the best kids you'll ever meet... and if the worst thing she ever does is show up four minutes late for curfew one night... I'd say... someone, did the right thing somewhere along the line with that one.
Happy 4th of July everyone!
#hugsforbug
#bstewout
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