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.
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