Spreading his wings and raisin' Kane...

Just when Mama Jill thought she had it all figured out...

A year ago one of the very last seniors I photographed was none other than Jill's daughter, Hunter.   It was in the spring... not that far from graduation, and when it came up that Jill's son, Kane was due to be photographed in the very next senior class... I made it clear...

Don't wait till SPRING to do 'em!

Not that it's the end of the world... and certainly, Hunter's images were very nice... but there's a reason most do 'em between June and October of their senior year... and make no mistake.. the weather and are seasonal looks have a lot to do with that.

Sure... yearbook and publication deadlines play a role, but for the most part... when things look nice out... THAT's when seniors wanna be photographed.

Well, the second go-around proved that Jill had learned her lesson and while it was the very end of "busy season," it certainly wasn't spring!

Jill and I joked about that... and then we went to work making Kane look his very best.

An easy goin' guy, Kane really just had two requests...

He wanted me to find a way to honor his Meskwaki birth name, and the other request was to highlight his love for Oregon Duck football.

I was fascinated by getting some of the Meskwaki culture explained to me by Jill and Kane.  I hope that, in my limited knowledge, I did justice to his name that stand for "Red Dawn."

The football request was a little more in my immediate wheelhouse.  Due to my prolonged delay in getting through the pile of work we had stacked up a month ago when we were coming down the home stretch of busy shooting season, the fortunes of Kane's beloved Ducks have changed.

At the time of his session... Chip Kelly's multi-uniformed boys were unbeaten... and ranked in the top three in the nation depending on the poll you looked at.  Pretty much everyone, including Kane was staring down the barrel of a Kansas State vs. Oregon or Alabama vs. Oregon BCS finale.   In the meantime, Alabama lost to Texas A&M, and K-State and Oregon both lost two weekends ago to Baylor and Stanford, respectively... and as a result.  Notre Dame fans are punching their ticket to Miami... and Kane is well... on the outside looking in with Phil Knight and the rest of Duck Nation.

Nevertheless, I did my best to honor the Ducks and the nationwide mania that has gripped the new era of flashy uniforms that values speed and style over tradition and substance.

I've been a grumpy crotchety old traditionalist in this regard, as somehow I prefer USC, Penn State or Michigan's uniforms over Oregon's or any of the other Nike influenced combat uni's that are taking over college football .

I'll step off my soap box and realize that I guess I could see that if I were 17, I could see how Oregon would seem way cool... and instead of dragging it out and belaboring the point even further... I'll just admit that having the jack to bust out a new uniform every week is probably something to be admired by today's generation... and I'll also admit that I've made Jill and Kane wait way too long to see these images.   :)

Blown Away... Atcher Style...

There was a part of me that wondered if it EVER was gonna happen...

At LEAST once a month since last spring's golf season, I've heard from them.

At the school... at the game... at a grad party... at cheerleading pictures... and nearly once every couple of weeks on facebook chat.. the refrain was the same.

"We gotta get senior pictures set up!"

Day after day... week after week... and month after month... the "busy season" that typically runs from June 1 until the end of October came and went.

Still. No. Amy. Atcher.

Finally the calender turned from October to November... and there she was... will all over her spunk and sass.   Make no mistake... Amy can not be stopped... one can only hope to CONTAIN her!  ;)

About a week before the session, it was brought to my attention that Amy had an idea...

I braced myself.

"Could you get an image of by the wind turbines over here by Laurel right at the break of dawn?"

If anyone knows me well... they know I love a challenge... and they ALSO know that a 7:30 a.m. sunrise is NOT an issue for THIS guy when I regularly report to work at about 4 a.m.-ish.

So it was ON.

I met Amy and her equally energetic mom, Lynda at their home and we jumped in the H3 and zipped out west of Laurel in search of just the right spot for this image that Amy had to have.

There I was... laying on my stomach... in the mud... in a picked cornfield at 7:30 a.m... in 20 degree temps that nearly cause me to get frost bite on my trigger hand.   But you know what?   I LOVE it when kids take possession of their session in some form or fashion... have some inspiration of their own and then ask me to make it happen for them.   And that's exactly what we did here.   Sure, there's some photoshop wizardry going on in that image... but even if you strip it all away... it's still a stunning image of the new skyline of rural Laurel.

Speaking of rural Laurel... we weren't done there.   Amy had also done some leg-work in securing a new place for me to shoot for the majority of her outdoor session.  Her father, Larry, hunts a private location south and east of Laurel on the property of Art and Sharon Carson.   A get-away home for the Carson's that's laid out and stocked as a hunter's paradise, made a perfect playground for our November session.  Sure, much of the fall leaves had gone by the wayside... but the rolling natural hills worked out just fine for Amy, Lynda and I to get unique images.   Led by our trusty "tour guide,"  Rex the wonder dog... we put the H3 into 4-wheel... and we covered nearly acre of the expansive hunting grounds. 

Eight year old Rex charged out ahead of the Hummer as we hopped from spot to spot... even taking a few minutes off from his sniffing and pointing to take an image... along with 7 week old pup, Waldo!   How CUTE is that puppy!!!!  Awwwwh!   I will say that as happy as Rex was to be roaming the country side... Young Waldo was frustrated by not being allowed to earn his stripes on this day.  :)

We thanked Art and Sharon for their generosity and made our way back to Montour to make sure Amy had her chance to rock the studio as well.   This girl wasn't afraid to stomp around in the wild in her 4 inch heels... but they looked much more at home in the camera room... I know THAT much. 

In the end... I feel like I made the Atchers wait to get their proofs nearly as long as they made ME wait to get the session in the first place.

The moral of the story is that all's well that ends well.   Enjoy Team Atcher... we finally got 'er done!  :)

Scratchin' where it Mitches...

Sue Berry had her work cut out for her...

She was working every angle... looking for ANY possible way to get her son's senior session photographed.

Not a problem right?

Well... not so fast.

First of all... he couldn't miss football practice...

Second of all... he couldn't miss school...

So what about weekends or evenings?

Studio policy says:  No. Can. Do.

The result?

Sue got resourceful and got out the calendar.

"How about October 15?"

(East Marshall day off for staff development... Nope... Blake Roseland beat ya to the punch)

"How about October 26th?"

(East Marshall day off for parent teacher conferences...)

Bingo.

It was several weeks in advance and typically all the fall color is gone by then (and it was for the most part) but Team Berry jumped all over it.

The day finally arrived and it ended up being just a guys day away as Mitch and I attacked the session like we both used to attack go-routes on the football field in LeGrand.

It was brutally cold that morning, and Mitch seemed intent on showing me how tough he could be as a couple of his outfits were mere t-shirts!  I started him in the one warm outfit he had as he jumped his argyle sweater and we were off to rural Dillon.

The Wolken pond was our first destination.  I had been there on at least a couple of other occasions over the years... so I knew the lay of the land.  It looked like they had done a lot of work out there since I was there a year ago with Dakotah Wolken.   The bridge that crossed the pond to the island in the middle that made me really nervous a year ago, had been replaced.   I made sure to thank Dakotah the next time I saw him, because my 240 pounds combined with that rickety old bridge may have equaled a COLD bath that morning otherwise!

After we were done there, we buzzed into Marshalltown to get some urban looks... and this is where Mitch showed some intestinal fortitude with the temps.  If I zoom in close enough on these images, it's goosebump city for Mr. Berry.

The results were well worth his sacrifice, however.   Mitch has waited longer than nearly anyone in studio history for me to finally get to his previews, but I think he may have needed all that time to DEFROST!  :)

Seriously though, we finally returned to the studio to bang out the indoor.   I was informed that his Batman boxers needed to be highlighted... (I did my best)  and like most athletes, Mr. Mitch had lots of input (again... two hours wasn't enough to finish that sports collage... but worth every minute.

While the wait was abnormally long, hopefully Mitch and company feel the wait was worth every minute as well.

A double-dose of T-Buck...

It's not uncommon when we get to late October... you've seen this movie before.

Cold, rainy... windy.... greyer than then center of my infamous grey cards.

That was the day that Mother Nature ordered up for Trent Buckley's original date for senior pictures.

A whole lotta yuck.

So... being resourceful like we are, I welcomed his wonderful mom, Chris, in the door for her THIRD senior session with us.   Add in a family session or two over the years and the fact that Rudy the cat that roams the Buckley house... used to roam OUR residence... there's plenty of connections here.

Day one was indoor only of course, and Mr. Trent had a couple of "regular" things for me to take care of... but then he also had a double-dose of football... which was right up my alley.

Well... sort of.

Trent needed one of our trademark sports collages to mark his love for all things East Marshall.   That I was okay with.   The other?   Well.. let's just say that's why I'm a pro.  

;)

A quick glance over the blog images here will tell you that I had to swallow my pride... lose my religion... and make some images that included a jersey that represented the fine university over in Ames.

Ahem.

That's why I get paid the big bucks, right?  :)

With day one in the books, it was about a week and a half before Trent and Chris returned.

This time it was still grey... but no rain in sight, so we were good to go.

The highlight was yet one more trip to the gridiron home of the Mustangs in LeGrand.   I think this year may have set a record number of appearances there, and I'm okay with that... it shows a return of pride there that I think had been missing.

The same kind of pride that Chris and Scott Buckley have for their son, Trent, who I will report to you, has come a long way as I've watched this young man grow up over the years.   He's had a lot to over come, and judging from how much fun he was having at his session, I would say that he's doing it with flying colors.   A giant of a guy with a big heart to match, I couldn't help but want to do my very best for these friends of mine that go way back to when we were living on the same street in LeGrand.   We might not be just down the street anymore... but we'll always be neighbors.

Thanks Team Buckley... for everything over the years.