Friday's session was none other than East Marshall's Jay Reisetter.
Up until Friday morning at 7 a.m... Jay, to me... was "the brother of my former employee."
His older sister worked several summers for me at the studio... and to say that she's special to me... would be an understatement.
The stories are endless... Inside jokes aplenty, and all the laughs were ones that would make your ribs hurt... and they still do.
But Friday was little bro's day... but I was tickled to see Morgz as soon as I pulled in the gravel drive of the Reisetter's at the crack of dawn at week's end.
She had taken the day off from Wolfe Eye Clinic to help Back Door Friend (a.k.a. Mama Jodi) and Papa Dave with the festivities...
I was warned in advance that Jay had lots of toys to highlight. A crotch rocket... a 57-Chevy, a vintage Camaro SS and his 1984 Silverado pickup.
So the first hour of the session was all about highlighting all the vehicles while the sun was barely up. Jay took total ownership of these images... as guys often do with stuff they are passionate about. Not even the usual Morgan mockery was gonna slow down our senior guy when it came to his rides.
After all the transportation shots were completed... the show got stolen.
No... not by my former employee... it was the four-legged variety this time.
Name... Max.... breed... Yellow Labrador.
Seems as though every Lab I've ran into over the years at the studio have been the friendliest and most loyal dogs a guy will ever meet... and Max was no different.
The series of images that we got in the next hour with Max were truly priceless... and had us all laughing. I was informed that Max sleeps in Jay's bed every night (and usually leaves little room for Jay). So, in addition to all the shots of Max showing off his obedience and playing fetch like it was his job, we HAD to get a shot of Max sprawled out where Jay lays his head nightly... hogging the bed, per usual! ;)
We then busted it into Marshalltown for some urban looks... and THAT's when things got weird... and a little painful.
I stopped at a few abandoned buildings on the north side of the viaduct that crosses the tracks on 3rd Avenue. We circled onto the south side of the first building where there was a neat old doorway with some vines around it.
Jay stepped up the broken stairs and into the doorway... and turned to face me.
And that was a mistake.
Neither one of us saw the wasp's nest that was at the top of the door... and unfortunately... we BOTH paid for it.
Jodi and Morgan didn't know what had happened.... but both the senior and photographer were suddenly scrambling and swatting like mad men... and then both holding our aching heads. Jay on the top of his head... the photographer right in the right eyebrow.
Time to scratch THAT idea. Moving on.
So we shuttled to the north to the next building... hoping that it might have a few less ticked off bugs with stingers... and I'm happy to say... the remainder of the session was sting-free.
What I DID stumble into, however... was an unintended coincidence.
Two buildings to the north, sits a red brick building that says, "Midwest Machine and Welding" at the top. Turns out... Jay's great grandfather started that business.... a few generations ago. Naturally... we HAD to use that building then... but the REALLY cool thing to me? Our senior guy just so happens to be named after the former owner of Midwest Machine... that's right... the original Jay Reisetter... is the namesake to Dave and Jodi's only son.
Talk about a blind squirrel getting a nut. ;)
We then returned to the studio to get our fill of indoor, work in some Mustang athletics (Jay starts at linebacker and will be a returning state qualifier in wrestling) and, of course, we had to let Morgan catch up in her old stomping grounds... That being said... we weren't done yet. I wasn't gonna let things end until I took Team Reisetter home to get one more shot.
Before we left the house the first time... I suggested that at the very end... we come back and get Jay in his home and away from home...
Under the hood of a vehicle.
Of course... getting all greasy wouldn't be a good idea until we were done with the rest of the images... so it was back to the Reisetter garage to get what i feel is Jay's trademark image... the first image of this blog... and the main image now on his montage. Part of my job is to tell senior's stories and bring out their personalities by figuring out what makes them tick... and this image is Jay to a T. That image is the very last shot I took on this day.
Talk about saving the best for the last. :)
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