Until last week.
Life long friend and now business partner, Kimi Benson, contacted me way back in the spring about an idea she had for her first senior off of Team Benson. I could almost "hear" her wincing as she asked me....
"Whaddya think about taking pictures of Gabee at the Iowa State Fair... at night?!"
I started breaking out into a cold sweat just thinking about it.
Those that know me well are aware that I am a complete control freak... and when it comes to creating images... no one is more particular or will take more time to get it right.
And then there was the little issue that most people probably DIDN'T know about me...
Born and bred Iowa boy... Reared and raised in Central Iowa... never have left....
And NEVER had been to the Iowa State Fair.
N-E-V-E-R.
While I know that most folks find this some crime against humanity... I had close friends of mine assure me that my sheltered youth, followed by an athletic life filled with baseball-into-football... and then college, followed by being thrust headlong into a 150 senior-per-year summer/fall schedule at the age of 22... I had become resigned to the fact that I would never see the midway... a show on the grandstand... the buttercow... or any of the freaks walking around wearing jhorts that were WAY too tight, and then adding to the problem by eating fried snickers on a stick.
:)
So, when I told Kimi that I had never been there... suddenly their idea took on a whole new twist...
It was no longer JUST about getting Miss Gabee unique images... it also had a unique tangent of FORCING the photographer into breaking his 40 year drought.
I'm not gonna lie... The Control Freak in me had concerns... I had hear stories... and I had seen pictures... shoulder-to-shoulder people... and all I could think was... how in the WORLD am I gonna pull THIS off?
Plan A) Tell Kimi that she has to clear this with the fine folks at the Iowa State Fair first. Maybe THEY'LL tell her no.. and the cold sweats will come to an end. Problem solved, right?
Wrong.
Kimberlee Jo called down immediately... Green light.
DANG IT!
Plan B) Ok, Benson family... I'll do this... but here's the conditions... you HAVE to sign up for our RockStar package (which most PARENTS look at the pricetag and break out in a cold sweat) AND we have to get hotel rooms in Des Moines to accommodate us before and after this late night shoot.
Kimi? "No problem!"
DOUBLE DANG IT!
It seemed as though my fate was sealed... my streak was coming to an end... Bryan Stewart was gonna go to the Fair...
I'm not sure whether the Bensons were more excited to do something that no one around here had done... or if the fact that they were broadening my horizons by FORCING me to take pictures in the Midway with a dude standing over me chowing down on a sandwich. (just an interested by-stander... among hundreds.... more on that later).
Anyway... the dates were picked... the hotel booked... and the wheels were in motion... the only thing we had to do was keep it a SECRET!
Team Benson and I didn't want anyone to know of our master plan... so there was a little buzz about what we were actually up to... but... I photographed Gabee's BFF the week before.. and SHE didn't know what we were doing... so... it WAS a mystery to everyone but us.
We left mid afternoon a week ago Sunday to try to get some urban scenes done before sun down... and I think I may have caught Miss Kimi doing a few anti-rain dances as it rained off and on all day. Her sheer will power kept the rain away just long enough for us to get lots of awesome stuff done around town... until about 8 p.m.
Then came the rain.
There's a shot of Gabee (second to last on this blog... in black-n-white) where she's standing in the fountain water that surrounds the Science Center of Iowa... and if you look closely.. you'll see the rain pouring down on us.
That led to the Benson ladies and I taking a one hour T.O. to eat at Buzzard Billy's... and after chow... like clockwork... the photo gods smiled down on us again... and we were off to the fair.
Little known fact: evidently having three attractive women in your car allows you to park for free when you get to the fair... Who knew? So I was already liking this deal.
We came in the gate, and in classic Bryan fashion... I was probably too focused to enjoy the fact that, as Kimi put it, my Iowa Boy Story was now complete. :)
Kimi assured me that we had hit the jackpot because the rain had kept some of the crazies away... and the fact that Miranda Lambert had most people's attention in the grandstand... we had more room than normal to do our thang.
Oh there were still plenty of on lookers... Right inside the gate, the aforementioned interested sandwich eating fella stood over me as i crouched to get the monster Ferris Wheel behind our senior beauty who was rockin a little dress and heels. How I didn't notice the guy... Kimi will never know... but she assured me that he was most likely dropping crumbs on my head while i photographed her daughter. THAT's FOCUS, folks. :)
We made our way around the midway... trying to take advantage of all the colors and lights and dizzying craziness... Miss Gabee was turning heads left and right... and I bet we got asked ten times something along these lines...
"Who IS she?"
"Is she FAMOUS?!?"
"What ARE you doing this for? Like a magazine or something?"
Of course you gotta throw in the obligatory boys shouldering up to Mama Kimi and telling her how HOT that girl is... to which Kimi politely agreed and then informed them that she was the Mom...
"Oh... did I say hot??? I meant... she's REALLY beautiful, ma'am."
Ahem.
The drooling fellas did get a little tiresome after a while, but I'm guessing that Gabee didn't mind ONE bit.
Overall, the fair experience was a challenge... but as you can see... the results were amazing... and I couldn't think of three better, (or more insane) ladies to take this maiden voyage with.
We walked out of the gate of the fair... and got back to the Hummer and started to load up... and just as we're about to leave...
FIREWORKS
I yelled at the girls to grab the strobes one more time... Gabee hustled over into position... and wow... LOOK at that image! First one on the blog... could NOT have been a more fitting ending to our day. You'll have to ask Miss Kimi what she said after seeing the image on the back of my camera... because the phrase is not suitable for a family oriented public blog like this one! :)
Monday morning broke and we were back at it for more... the "highlight" of the morning was trying to find graffiti in Des Moines. I kid you not... we drove around for at LEAST 90 minutes in every seedy corner of the metro trying to find some classic spray painted ghetto art... and what did we find? We found out that there's more graffiti on the post office in MONTOUR than there is in all of the capital city. WAY too much civic pride goin' on there, I'd say. So... after that exhausting hunt for our perfect spot to don Gabee's hip-hop look... we had to settle for plain brick walls... or DID we?!? Check it out Benson family! #nochargeforawesomeness. :)
The rest of the day consisted of getting some epic images of Gabee at her home-away-from home at the Community Y Cultural Center... also known as the home of the Dance Konnection... which Kimi has led for over two decades... and one of her all-time prize pupils, of course... was our Rockstar senior... Miss Gabee Benson. I hope I did those images justice... because while the State Fair was the unknown for me... THIS was something I knew... and what I knew was this... THAT place... is meshed into the very fabric of of the Benson family. It's who they are... it's what they do. And what they've done... is given their heart and soul to that endeavor... to the benefit of SO many young ladies... and a few young men, over the years. Hard work, discipline, accountability, teamwork, art, mind and body. It's all there... and I know that while the fair was fun... THESE images probably meant the most.
Some of you may not know... that if not for some skilled doctors... this epic Sunday/Monday extravaganza... may never have happened.
Through all over her obvious beauty and sensational spunk... and an overflowing amount of pizzazz, Miss Gabee was almost never got out of the starting blocks in this game called life.
I couldn't tell you the name of the condition... but what I do know is... when you're born... your insides are not supposed to be on the outside. In a nutshell... that was the nightmare that Jeff and Kimi Benson had to get through with their first born.
She still bears the scars on her tummy from that rough start to her young life... Things that some of us take for granted... like wearing a swimsuit... aren't slamdunk decisions for Gabee...
Lucky for all of us... God spared us her life a little over a decade and a half ago. And the gift is a beautiful young lady... who's grace is an amazing sight when she puts on her dancing shoes. It's no surprise that Gabee falls into a long line of accomplished dancers that her mother has tutored over the years... but I'm guessing that THIS one is just a little extra special to the instructor.... and who could blame her.
Furthermore... while I think that most people that follow our blog and my business know I take great effort to treat everyone with a bend-over-backwards-for-ya approach... I'd be lying if I said that this senior wasn't a little extra special to me, too.
Kimi and I go back to our torrid 2nd grade love affair in Mrs. Schactilie's class at SEMCO Elementary schools in Laurel. She broke my heart and moved to some place far, far away (Marshalltown). But it may as well have been to Texas to a 7 year old! ;) Regardless... I had the honor of photographing her engagement pictures with Jeff... and have done family images and each of the kids several times... culminating in finally getting the chance to photograph the crown jewel in our yearly docket at the studio.... The Dance Konnection Picture Day dance pictures...
The whirlwind that IS picture day at DK... is something I will never take for granted... and I'm not ashamed to say that that single job my very well keep our studio a float each spring when it rolls around. So when the Benson family asked me to go to the fair... I may have put up a funny story about not wanting to tackle that project... but the truth is... Kimi and Gabee could have asked me to go to the Moon with them... and I would have said yes...
You guys mean that much to me.
Thanks for an amazing experience. I'll never forget it.
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