All Country Kajer...

Does it get any more country than this?

Three western style shirts.

Boots (that's a given).

Not one but TWO pickup trucks.

A John Deere 4440.

Two farmstead locales.

Mix in a healthy dose of barns, sheds, discs, grain bins and a  hay mound and then toss in an oversized belt buckle and a down home grin and whaddya get?

Andrew Kajer... that's what you get.

Did I mention he brought his Mama and his Tanned Legged Juliet?

;)

So you see the background as to what I was dealing with a week ago Thursday.

I kinda knew what to expect as I had photographed his lil' darlin' of a sister a few years back as Natasha prepared to graduate as a member of the South Tama Class of 2011.   She brought in LIVESTOCK for her session... so with that in mind... I had an inkling that we weren't going to be shooting an urban style session with little brother.

With Mama Linsdsay back for more, and my right hand gal, Kendra, providing assistance for her boyfriend around every corner... we were off to the family farm locations north of Toledo.

Not seeing the spots in advance... I had reservations about what we were gonna walk into.  I told the parties involved that I really hoped that we were walking into a rustic situation.  The older the better.   The more rust and wear we had... the happier I'd be.

Lindsay and Andrew assured me that we'd be ok... and you know what?   They were right.

First things first though.   We had marching orders to get Andrew's two Chevy S-10's captured on camera.   He informed me that he had a 1991... AND a 1999 version of the popular pickup.   And while the '99 looked like the one he drives around most, it was the '91 that was the most interesting.

In what Andrew called the brainchild of he and his handful of buddies, the older of the two S-10's was transformed into the truck version of The Dukes of Hazzard's "General Lee."

Complete with bright orange paint... and 01 along side... and even a Confederate Flag painted on top... make no mistake.   Bo and Luke Duke would be proud.

I forgot to ask Andrew if the doors were welded shut... and the ornery photographer in me regrets not knowing about this in advance so we could have had Kendra in a tied up shirt and frayed out cutoff jean shorts and boots for at least one image with her fella.  ;)

Nevertheless... Tama County's General Lee is now chronicled forever in the annals of this blog.   Awesome!  LOL.

Once we got the pickups out of the way... it was time to take full advantage of the opportunity I was given.   An old barn.. machine sheds... grain bins, gates, broken out windows, hay bales... you name it... it was a country boy's paradise.

I put the girls to work holding reflectors... strobes... grey cards... you name it...   But they were more than glad to lend a hand to make Andrew's rural visions come to life.

Sure we mixed in a LITTLE indoor stuff at the beginning and again at the end... but make no mistake, it would have been a crime to make this more about Photogenic Strobes and Larson light modifiers than John Deere's and Western wear.

I told Team Kajer that I've more recently had a deep desire to earn my stripes as an life-long Iowa boy.  Even going as far to look into becoming a farm hand with a family friend of mine to help bring in the crops.  Unfortunately... our crazy October schedule that succumbs a bit in November usually... come about one month too late for me to be able to do that.   But in the meantime.. the closest I can come to earning said stripes is to be able to relate a little with my authentic country clients like Andrew.   I hope I did that, and I also hope that while I'll never be mistaken for a metropolitan city kid... that after Andrew's session... I took one step closer to earning the right to legitimately wear my boots on a Saturday night.