Sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due no matter what the consequences.
Those that are unfortunate enough to follow my personal twitter and facebook accounts know there's a guy that out there that is my social media teammate... my partner in twitter crime... my hashtag soulmate, a lover of bacon and lamilube... a fellow member of the East Marshall valedictorian club... a guy that's taught me that country music and tractors are cool... and most importantly a brother in Christ on top of all of our silliness... it's none other than the guy I like to call Mack Daddy Johnson... Taylor Johnson.... an East Marshall and Stewart Photography alum from 2010.
A current decorated junior at the University of Northern Iowa, you might be wondering WHY this guy's name is being brought up when CLEARLY the pictures in this blog are NOT of a 6-foot-6 farm boy?
The deal is that BECAUSE of Mr. Johnson, I landed this senior girl from the other side of the county.
Long story as short as I can get it... Johnson and several of his East Marshall baseball teammates decided on a whim to send an olive branch of sorts to their rivals to the west in State Center three years ago by traveling to the home of our aforementioned senior gal, who has a brother that was a standout athlete for the Trojans. Evidently, Team Johnson felt compelled to deliver rice krispie treats to the home of Tracey and Peggy Beals to make good on not sharing them during a Rose Festival tournament picnic earlier.
Moved by the gesture, Mama Peggy invited the entire van load of Mustangs into her Trojan home and instantly, a friendship was forged.
While she would have been an underclassmen at the time, daughter Sydney Beals has been friends with with Taylor ever since the rice krispie treat truce... so when it came time for HER senior pictures... she knew exactly what to do.
Listen to the advice of one Mack Daddy Johnson.
Taylor had told me that it was a POSSIBILITY that Sydney may be coming my way... but I took a I'll-Believe-It-When-I-See-It approach.
Then Peggy called... booked the session... and I KNEW what I had to do.
Syd and Peg walked in a couple Wednesdays back for their session... got their hands unloaded... showed me the outfits... and then it happened.
Peggy walked to the table in the front room... glanced up... and there they were.
You guessed it... Rice Krispie Treats.
Laughter rang out as Peggy realized what I had done... and she had only two words as a response.
"TAYLOR JOHNSON!"
She was right... the other half of the Fearless Twitter Duo had inspired me to pay it forward... and once again, the Beals family were the recipients of some Snap Crackle Pop goodness.
We were off to an epic start... and the session never let up the entire time. I trust Taylor Johnson to the ends of the Earth and if he tells me that this gal and her family are the best thing this side of bacon laced rice krispie treats served at a Republican rally in the middle of a corn field... I believe him.
Truth is, the girls backed up everything he told me... because when they left... I felt like I had never been through a more rewarding session... ever.
Am I the king of hyperbole? Perhaps... but if you mix in the FACT that during Sydney's session, I quite literally tripped over my own feet and twisted my ankle resulting in a horrific fall that saw my legs being bludgeoned, my camera nearly being destroyed and any semblance of a remaining ego being obliterated... you KNOW that it HAD to be an amazing session if after all of THAT... I didn't waver from my opinion. If I'm going to embarrassingly wreck myself in a Marshalltown alley and end up on my back, I couldn't think of two better people to be standing over me concerned and exclaiming, "OH MY GOSH! ARE YOU OKAY," than Sydney and Peggy Beals.
Battered and bruised... we returned to the studio to get a few more epic images of our girl who LOVED her boots (check 'em out... AWESOME!)... But before we did... we knew that one more image HAD to be done while we were out and about.
Taylor and I have joked for the past year or so that his folks, Steve and Barb Johnson, are the "gatekeepers" of LeGrand, Iowa. Their property is nestled next to Highway 30 on the west edge of our hometown. Our ridiculous theory is that the reason that our wonderful small town is "safe" from the problems that plague bigger towns is that the Johnson's decide who will or won't be allowed in the sacred gates of LeGrand...
If you're wondering right now about my sanity and my relative immaturity... you would be accurate on both hunches. ;)
That being said... with a limp in my step... and an ornery grin on all of our faces... we stopped by the end of the epically long lane at the Johnson farm and we took the image that you see at the top of this blog. Sure it was in full sun... and the WIND was blowing at a gale force... but no matter... a tip of the hat was owed to Mr. Johnson, and we did just that. If you look closely, you can see Mama Johnson's vehicle (also known as the "Smart Van") in the background. Fitting because THAT van was full of Mustang boys that had nothing better to do three years ago than to set the wheels in motion that ultimately led to Sydney Beals becoming MY friend for life as well.
Thanks to Taylor Johnson for being so much more to me than just a former senior client... and hats off to Team Beals for a day that I will never forget.
You guys are the best.
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