Gettin' Goober to smile and a roadie to Miss Wessels...

She had that look on her face that said... "Uh oh... he's gonna use that in the blog."

And she would be right.

I went there.

I guess that's the price you pay when you bring an entourage to your senior session.

Let me explain.

East Marshall senior Trisha VanMaanen showed up for senior pictures and as she walked in... several more did behind her.

I asked if her Mom was coming... Miss VanMaanen replied, "well... no... but I've got lots of others!"

Grandma.... Step Mom... BFF.... Boss from work... co-worker.... another co-worker.   Did I mention that Kyra the Great Dane was along for the ride?

So, we had a studio audience... the peanut gallery or maybe more accurately, the Smile Coaches.

A quick glance at Trisha's facebook site told me that I had one of THOSE types on my hands.

Those types?

Yep... you know... the type that is reluctant to smile... a REAL smile.. so they draw on one of those close-mouthed numbers that look like how you pencil a smile on a yellow smiley face in grade school.

So the crowd was there to give Miss Trisha a nudge (or relentless razzing, as the case may be) so she'd have no choice but to let that toothy smile rip.

The results were great as you can see here.   As a consolation... I let HER version of her smile be the first image of the blog... and maybe that'll make up for the world wide web unveiling of her nickname.

Back to the VanMaanen Posse we go.

With a long name that gets butchered and spelled incorrectly often, I asked Trisha if she had a nickname... like "TVM" perhaps??   And of course, before she had a chance to answer, her entourage blurted out that her REAL nickname was Goober.

Goober?

Awwww... that's TOO good not to let out! 

Trisha looked down at the ground... the session was almost over... we had been together for several hours... even made a trip to her favorite teacher Miss Wessel's desk for an ornery set at the high school. (someone REALLY needs to do something about all that Iowa State stuff in that room, btw)   And just when she thought she had escaped, Goober gets out.

I can understand a young lady especially wanting to keep that under her hat... but nearly everyone in the studio audience laughed knowingly which was all the permission I needed to run with it.  So with Cathy, Gloria, Diana, Laura, Angie, Kyra the Dog and my partner in crime, Neighbor Blair as my witnesses, the smiles are in the books and Goober is global.

Thanks ladies... it was fun.  ;)

Stonewalled! Vol. 2: Madi May

I got my normal 5 hours of sleep... took a deep breath... and 8 a.m. rolled around and it was time for the other half of the womb as Madison Stonewall was ready for her crack at this senior picture thing.

Mama Micki had told me that her twins Morgan Jeanette and Madison Margaret had since been translated to Morgan Jay and Madi May, and now you know where the titles of their respective blogs have come from.

So round two was on.  This time rather than starting in Montour at the studio, I was off to the Stonewall Ranch to dodge the cats bright and early.

I got another shot at Papa Kenny's collection of vintage cars, and the soft morning light gave me a little better opportunity to get my preferred angles.   The 40 degree temps mixed with Madi's short shorts and skirts made for goosebumps a plenty, but I have to admit, the little gal showed plenty of toughness.

It was rusty truck and coupe time and then it was off to the nearby Wolken pond for a few.  One of Madi's have-to's included getting an image on the little used train tracks that run by the pond there.   We nailed that shot, but if you look REALLY closely at that image posted here, you'll see that we had a visitor for a few seconds.  ;)

Madison had to get an urban look of her own on this day, so we went the opposite direction of her twin and made it into her hometown's county seat and turned a few heads in the back alleys with her insane heels and pencil skirt.

A quick trip back to the Montour Greater Metropolitan area produced some of my favorite images from Madi's session as we nailed the answer to sister Morgan's bubble image with Madison's feathers.  How cool is that?

The future University of Iowa optometry student (God Bless Kenny and Micki for spreading the wealth to all the Regents!), along with her sister are some of the best students that East Marshall has to offer.   But better than that in my eyes is both of the girls wanting to incorporate scripture in their images.  That's real winning.

A nearly full 24-hours of all-Stonewall-all-the-time magic carpet ride had come to an end, and while the girls came from the same womb and had the same senior photographer, their images were anything but the same. That was my goal from the beginning... and after we had set the bar so high on day one... I was nervous... but now that they are both in the books, I can confidently say that I'm proud of what Team Stonewall and I accomplished.  I thank them SO much for their trust in me to make this happen for them... it was a group effort, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

Thanks ladies for putting all your hopes into something you had no way of seeing in advance.   That's true faith.  ;)

Stonewalled! Vol. 1: Morgan Jay

In one of the happiest moments of my senior season Version 2014, I received a phone call from Micki Stonewall.

Mama Micki was giving us a jingle to set up not one senior session... but two.

The mother of brilliant twin senior girls, Micki needed to set up a couple of sessions.  There was just one problem...

We were waiting for braces to come off.

If anyone has had to play THAT game.   The will-they-finally-come-off-or-won't they carouse, it can be an exercise in extreme frustration.  Especially for those NEEDING senior images, but seeing the Fall window of opportunity, or it's closure, bearing down on them.

Fortunately for the Stonewall sisters, the braces came off... and it was on.  The last sessions in their photographer's 41st year on Earth, it was scheduled.

First up was Miss Morgan Jeanette.

I had recommended to Micki that we photograph the girls at opposite time slots in an effort to ensure the girls' images looked and felt different.  After all, that's why they had come to me in the first place... wanting something different.

So that Wednesday afternoon it was the long haired twin that volunteered to go first... and the one with the short doo would go the next morning (stay tuned for Madison's blog next, Stonewall Fans!).

But Wednesday was Morgz' turn.   The future Iowa State University kinesiology major that will eventually rule the physical therapy universe was ready to get movin' and I was ready to take our game on the road.

It was important for the girls to take some images at home in Bermuda triangle area in between Ferguson, Dillon and Gilman, so we took our afternoon trip to Casa de Stonewall.   The girls could tell I was in a photographer's playground with tons of vintage cars and outbuilding galore as we bounced from spot to spot creating Morgan originals... all the while keeping one eye on what would be available the NEXT day when I returned for Madi, with the same but opposite lighting scenario.

We dealt with the brisk winds and avoided the plethora of felines that were all-too-willing to help with the proceedings. and I felt great about what we got done there.

After that, we had a couple of urban-esque outfits that required a trip to the bricks and alleyways of the twin cities of Tama County.   I joked with Morgan when we saw several emergency vehicles and a TV news truck buzzing by that she was CLEARLY too  sizzlin' hot that the cops and media were being called in.  Truth is... something way more serious had went down just a block away... guess we couldn't stay out of harms way!

Once we escaped that unfortunate situation, we rolled back into Montour with a just a couple more have-to's left on the long docket.   Morgz wanted to rock it in the road... and on a railroad... and while our scrapes with death continued as we jumped off the tracks as a engine came rollin down the tracks, I knew that we had already set the bar WAY high.... but we were only halfway home.   I ran Morgan's color and got my tush on home and got to bed.  Because in just a few short hours... it would all begin again... with the gal that shared the other half of Micki's womb.  Could I rise to the same epically high level again?  Only time would tell...

Stay tuned...

LOOK! It's a bird... it's a Plaehn!!

 We should all have such problems...

When Barb Plaehn called to set up her son's senior session... we debated.

We bounced ideas back and forth.

We changed our minds.

And eventually... a decision had to be made.

Golf, basketball... baseball??

What to emphasize? ... Where to photograph it?... When?

For you see, Barb's son, Chad is a state golfer... In addition, Chad has been an integral part a rebuilding project that aims at putting GMG back near the top of its conference standings in hoops (and work is being done in old ball yard to return the black-n-silver to prominence)

Ultimately it was decided.   We were to meet at Garwin's still relatively new digs at Green Mountain-Garwin's gymnasium, and the task would then begin to unfold as we created images both real... and fantasy.

Can Chad Plaehn jump from the free throw line and dunk it?  Maybe not... but we were sure as heck gonna have fun making it LOOK like he can.  Thanks to his Airness, Michael Jordan for the inspiration.

In addition, not only were we gonna highlight Chad's position as a leader on one of the teams that will be favored to challenge for an Iowa Star Conference basketball title, but we had to depict some high school golf action as well.

So, we were off to the GMG home golf course (Oakwood in Conrad) after our work was done in Garwin.   The BCLUW cross country teams greeted us there at Oakwood, and Barb and Chad had fun tearing around the golf course with their photographer hanging on for dear life on the back of their golf cart...

After several hours there... (with a brief intermission to fix a lens.. thanks Carla Skramovsky for the small screwdriver) we were off to Casa de Plaehn with just a few more bases to cover.   A couple black labs... some out buildings with character... and at that point is was all done but the obligatory trip to Montour to polish off his session.

While we were back at the studio... we got some more "meat-n-potatoes" images done for the Plaehn's, but in the end, the sports motif is what was most important to Chad.  He had looked around before he decided where to go.... and determined that there was only one place that could deliver the sports images that he wanted.

It's been several weeks, but I can confidently now say:  Delivery confirmation.