Advantage... Platt

 If I've learned one thing when photographing Dean and Danielle Platt's boys, it's this:   Make sure to nail the tennis shots.

Not ones to be high maintenance, Derek (MHS Class of '11) and Dakota ('13), weren't gonna blow my doors off with a myriad of outfit changes... but what I knew coming in was that we had to do much more than just hold serve with the tennis stuff.

So, I was ready for that.

What I WASN'T ready for, was the name change.   Okay... maybe not a change per se.   But when the booking says "Dakota" and then Mama Danielle says he goes by "Clay,"  I harkened back to the great Arsenio Hall in Coming To America as Morris the barber when he delivered the line... "His Mama called him Clay... I'm gonna call him Clay."

;)

Actually... it' just SOUNDS like Clay... it's actually part of our senior guy's Hawaiian heritage, it's his middle name and it's spelled, "Kalei."

Now that we have our formalities and movie quotes out of the way... Let's continue.

Now that I was aware that everyone knows him as Kalei... we were off and running.  I made Kalei suffer through the formalities of getting the regular stuff in before we got to what he came for...  The tennis.

Kalei told me that his squad is being hit hard by graduation, leaving him most likely in the No. 1 singles position for the Bobcats next season.   So, my marching orders were laid out... We had to have images worthy of a No.1.

Just like brother Derek, then... we were off to the newly resurfaced courts at Marshalltown, and while the courts were like new again... one thing remained the same... they were blazing HOT.

I suppose that's what I get for trying to lay prone on a tennis court during the heat of late afternoon, but sometimes you gotta do whatcha gotta do to get the right angle. 

After getting our low angle images... I had a vision of Kalei playing tennis with a stiff opponent... Himself.   I asked him if he could nail a shot between his legs and we could then work on superimposing Kalei's "evil twin brother... we'll call him Dakota in this image, and he assured me that he could.  In fact, Mama Danielle informed me that Kalei picked up some banquet award for his propensity to pull off the between the legs stunt on a regular basis... so it was fitting to be sure.

After frying my legs, chest and arms on the court surface for what seemed like an hour... it was time for my revenge of sorts as I ran Kalei through repetition after repetition of the trick shot until i had it just perfect.   :)   Finally... I had my image... and Mr. Platt had a good sweat goin' on.   I was pleased with the result we got... and in the end... it made it worth the extra effort.

 

Football, FFA, 4H, Photography and a Flippin' Chicken

 I was told by Mathew Blink's mother that his session needed to include his love for all things farm and maybe his football stuff.   A trip to the family farm was originally planned, but when push came to shove, Team Blink decided that instead of having the photographer come to the farm... that they would bring the farm to the photographer.

Enter into the studio... a chicken.

I had photographed a live chicken several years back (Jacob Patterson, East Marshall class of '09... chicken farmer extraordinaire), but this would be our maiden voyage with a chicken IN the studio!

In addition... a myriad of Future Farmers of America stuff made it's way in the door, as well as a whole host of 4H pictures, projects and paraphernalia, and BAM.... The farm was represented.

As I will often do... I waited till the END of the session to do the stuff that means the most to the senior guy (as to keep their attention from waning too early)... so it was a couple "regular" outfits for our fella that I was told just might be kinda.... well.... let's say he wasn't really looking forward to the experience.

The fact that he might have to A) take off his Iowa State cap and B) actually smile... didn't appeal to Mr. Blink.

A funny thing happened on the way... and with Mama Traci and Kid Sis Mallory as my witnesses... I was told he smiled more in outfit ONE of the session than he had in his entire life previously!

No lie!

Another small victory for me!

Once the regular outfits were out of the way... the 45 minute task of setting up all the FFA/4H/Photography stuff was on... and the final piece of the puzzle was the fluffiest chicken I had ever seen.   It was really well behaved actually... even though I couldn't see its eyes do to all the FLUFF.   The best part was when Traci placed our feathered friend on Matt's shoulder like a parrot almost!   PRICELESS!

My job never gets boring, let me tell you.

We polished off the session with a tribute to the area's strongest high school football program as Mathew is a member the we-win-the-district-and-go-to-state annually, West Marshall Trojans.

All in all, I think the best thing was seeing how happy Mother Traci was in KNOWING her son was actually having fun... and the anxiety about getting great images was put to rest early on.

Just like the Trojan football team... we know a thing or two about #winning here.  ;)

Dancing with the Farmer's Daughter...

Ok... I'm submitting my official application to be the President of the Sami Fan Club.

As a member of the community that she has grown up in, I can unequivocally tell you they don't make them much better than Samantha Jo Roseland.

Class President... cheer captain... 3.974 GPA... a natural ability to teach and lead... a smile that will light up a room, poise that is rarely found most adults, let alone a teen... did I mention she has the voice of an angel?

The list of accolades could stretch on and on... but I think you get the point. This girl is as good as it gets.

My wife and I took a parenting class when we had our first child back in 1997 and the overriding theme that I took from the class was that it was OUR job as parents to raise children that were joys for OTHERS to be around.

Papa Russ and Mama Kelley... hats off... mission accomplished.

Close followers of our blog remember that a month ago we got a head start of sorts on photographing Miss Roseland as we sponsored an designed her pages for her inclusion as a cheerleader in the 2013 Shine Bowl.  Sami told me then that due to an upcoming trip to New York with her dance studio, that we should probably wait until August to do her senior session.

Or not.   :)

As the self-appointed fan club president, I WANTED to get Sami done earlier rather than later... so I selfishly suggested a Monday in June to her.

Sami suggested/asked then... "If I go in June... I probably won't have to wait as long to get my proof book, right?"

You can't get much past this gal, now can ya?

She was right, as usual... our schedule certainly hasn't allowed us to back log like it will by the time we get to August or September... so, that was all she needed to hear.

That Monday rolled around on the 17th, and you'd be a fool to think after all you've read up until this point that I wasn't looking forward to session as much as Lindsey Lohan loves taking merchandise out of stores that she hasn't paid for.

But I digress.

Monday at 8 a.m. rolled around and after several shots across the bow on twitter telling me how STOKED she was for the session, it was finally here.

Cousin Karly, Sister Holly and Mama Kelley were in attendance... even big brother Blake made a brief appearance.  But for the long haul... it was the photographer and the three CrAzY ladies.

We made a trip to State Center early on to get Samantha some urban looks with her blingy outfits... We had the pleasure of meeting the Rose Festival Capital's favorite son, Marvin, who clearly was no dummy and asked for, and was granted permission, to have an image taken with our guest of honor.   In a situation that most teens may have found an excuse to be less-than-gracious... Sami went with it and was classy... as usual.  I have no doubt it made Marvin's day to have an image taken with the beautiful Miss Roseland.

After completing our goals there, we were off to Marshalltown to get some images uptown, and ultimately to end up capturing Sami's real passion.... Dance.

The aforementioned leading and teaching takes place, for the most part at the Marshalltown Community Y's School of Dance... the Dance Konnection... at the Y's Cultural Center.

The girl has been a member of Kimberlee Jo Benson's studio for 11+ years... and with a daughter there with her for half of them... and being the studio's official photographer for the other half... I've quite literally watched Sami grow up there.

While she's grown from a little girl into a beautiful young woman, that smile has been there all along... and when she said we needed to go there one more time because it was her home away from home... who was I to keep that smile from coming back one more time?

Some of our most moving images were made at the Cultural Center that afternoon, which made me glad that we decided to go there.  In addition... Sami used the facility after we were done to curl her hair for the rest of the session... and for Team Sami to chow down on Taco John's while she primped.  :)

We then returned to the studio to wrap up the day with her smoking-hot-yet-papa-approved hot pink dress.... and then appropriately enough finished with Samantha launching herself through the air in a flowing lyrical outfit across the Iowa skies.  Fittingly, the farmer's daughter had to wait for a tractor to clear our view in the the background for us to get our final image... but she finished just like she started... by impressing me.

Call me the master of hyperbole for getting caught up in the moment, but I feel blessed that Sami and her family chose our studio to capture these images for them.  To hear them tell me things like, "you're the best," and "we felt like we've hit the lottery with you," may feel like cliche' that I take for granted or get used to... I can assure you it doesn't... It means alot.   The lottery winner is writing this blog.  

P-Flugg's Wild Ride...

I came away from last Thursday's session with East Marshall's Paige Flugge thinking one word.

Whew!

A marathon session that touched nearly every imaginable style and pose, this girl knows how to get the maximum outta life!

In fact, the fun didn't just start on Thursday... it was several MONTHS ago.  Late February to be more exact.

You see, I wasn't messing around when I said Paige was gonna squeeze every ounce of life out of her senior picture experience!   The deal was that she wanted snow images, and talked with me late in 2012 to see HOW we could make that happen.  I told her that we should do them during the end of her JUNIOR year... put them in our figurative hip pocket and then bust them out when we do her "real session" in the summer.

Thursday was finally that real session.

Just because P-Flugg had some of her wants/needs scratched off the list, didn't mean she was gonna relax.  No....  not in ANY way.   This girl knows only one speed...  FAST.

So she showed up at 8 a.m. that day and we opened that throttle and didn't slow down 'till mid afternoon.   The only time we stubbed our collective toes was right out of the gate when her short boots that she borrowed for the session cracked a heel (sorry Gabee!).  They still worked for the remainder of what we needed them to do... so it was a mere speed bump for our 100 mph girl.

I told Paige that I've watched her grow up as this rough and tumble tom-boy and after seeing her in those boots/dress/jean jacket followed by that super cute white dress... she was gonna have to be careful, because someone might accuse her of being, *gasp* HOT!

Never fear however.   After the two dresses, the hot pink pants and then the leather and heels were completed, the Paige that most have come to know and love was ready to BUST out in a big way.

Our first stop was at East Marshall High School where we made some images in the gym.  One to let everyone know just where her heart is.... and I'm happy to report it's with the Lord.   The second was her request to give mad props to... well... herself.   So... #12 Paige is giving proper respect on her way OUT of the EM locker rooms while #13 Paige is on her way IN to the showers.  Hilarious!

We were 5 or 6 hours into the session, and yet... our Flugge Firecracker wasn't done maximizing her session.  We still needed to go out to her home northwest of Marshalltown to take care of a couple of her passions...

Four wheelin' and runnin'.

As if standing on my shoulders in the gym so she could re-hang the net wasn't enough... I got a couple more "firsts" with our crazy girl when we hit Casa de Flugge.

The 4-wheelin images were first.   Paige had asked me if it would be okay to get shots of her tearin' it up... I thought... is that even a QUESTION??  Of COURSE!   So after getting the obligatory images that everyone does... we then got down and dirty....  Literally.

I can safely say I've never been ordered by a senior gal to smear mud on their face so it "looks good."   Until this session, that is.   Once that was done... we had to head out to the pasture to get the room to get the image Paige REALLY wanted, which was her leaning HARD on her ATV and getting up on two wheels.   Paige took one look at the long walk ahead and my heavy gear and said... "Get ON!"

I was like... "Ummm... well... I've never rode a 4-wheeler."  (being the pathetic excuse for a guy that I am).   Well... that all came to an end.

As Paige and I are speeding thru the grassy pasture with the wind whipping through, well... HER hair, I was thinking... Is this real life?   How cool is MY job?  :)

After getting mud thrown on us several times, we DID get Paige's 4-wheeler on two wheels and then it was off to complete our day fittingly... running.

Paige is a cross country standout at East Marshall that has been hindered by a rare disease called Compartmental Disease... look it up... it's complicated... but all the layman needs to know is that the muscles in the leg swell... they dont have enough room to do their thing... and it becomes EXTREMELY painful.

No matter, however, Paige still keeps on fighting the fight and putting in her miles... so she had a vision that I needed to bring to life.   I was tickled with what we came up with after doing some serious gravel travel with her and Mama Tammy.

We then retreated to their home to say our goodbyes... I exhaled and headed back to Montour.

It will come as no surprise to report that this photographer slept easy that night. 

;)