Missin' Morgan

Anyone that knows me has figured out that I'm an emotional guy.

And if you don't know me, now you've been warned...

Sap alert.

I know that typically our blog is heavily weighted toward our senior business, but I felt compelled this morning to give a tip of the cap to someone very special to Stewart Photography.

The images that follow are from a four generation session that I photographed a couple weeks back. I can only remember getting to do this type of group only a couple of times in 16 years, so it's always a unique situation... but this time it involved one of our own.

The youngest member of our foursome here is three-year Stewart Photography employee, Morgan Reisetter (pron. "REE-ster"). We typically have had a high school aged gal helping out around the studio with archiving, retouching, processing orders, answering the phone, helping with customers...

I'm probably just embarrassing her, but as we completed our first full week without her as she returned for her sophomore year at Simpson College in Indianola, I'm feeling the effects of not having her fine work at our disposal.

For awhile, it looked like Morgan wouldn't return to us this summer as it wasn't a certainty that she'd be back home, so we hired someone to replace her in Kristin "K-Dub" Wacha. But as it turned out, we were busier than snot.... I did a poor job of getting Kristin up to speed AND we had to replace our secretary in the middle of busy season... so all summer long it's been Morgan to the rescue.... not only just to do her normal awesome job... but to just be the glue that held us together.

I can't say enough about this young lady. I already miss popping in the door to the computer area and saying... "YO!" only to hear her laugh every time (laughing at your bosses' lame jokes gets you raises). It wasn't the same this week without Morgan-ism's "I'm not gonna lie".... "I'm not feelin' that"... "I think I'm feelin some La Caretta after work today" or my all time favorite... "That's just Naaasty."

As I mentioned, we just hired a sparkplug in Allie Wills to be our secretary, and she's only been with us for a couple weeks. However, it hasn't taken her long to figure out that she, too, was gonna miss having Morgan around... not only from a workload standpoint... but for laughs.

So, when Morgan wanted to squeeze in her four-gen image with Mama Jodi, Grandma Charlene and Great Grandma Marge (88 years young... climbing in and out of our Hummer like nobody's business)... we did it... and the last order that Morgan pretouched before leaving us to go back to pursuing her biology degree at Simpson? You guessed it.... her own families' order. Somehow, not surprised.

Take care, Miss Morgan. You are missed.

Touché

Ok, not gonna lie... like most jobs, you can get worn down. I know that most think that this gig is just pushing a button and BAM... art. Right? Well, stack up 13 straight 110+ hour weeks and it can wear on anyone, and I think most that have watched me shoot a session would agree... I'm getting my work in.

So the end of the week arrives and I'm trying to pick my knuckles off the ground and in walks an interesting fella in Ryan from Marshalltown.

Typically, I'm the one that's providing the comic relief and sarcasm to keep things light and get seniors at ease (hopefully)... But I tell you what... this guy took my lines and threw out a proverbial "touche'" back at me... figuratively... and literally a few times.

The point here is that Ryan and I (and mama Kelli) had a fun session. It was like hangin' out with an old friend despite the fact I'd know the guy for like 10 minutes. Talking music... food, restaurants, our life plans... world domination.... you know... small stuff. ;-)

Anyway... I would never expect a client to be required to give me a lift... but on this day, it happened.

Thanks, Ryan.

18 and life...

I told Quinn when he walked in the door Thursday morning that it's rare that a guy gets photographed in studio by me three times in one year.

But that's exactly what the deal was on this day as Quinn had visited me twice recently for promo images as he was chasing his dream to land a role in the wildly popular Twilight movies.

Many quests like this end up in mild disappointment when the powers that be tell you, "sorry, kid, you're just not what we're looking for."... however, I admire him for putting his best foot forward. You never know, right?

That being said... the story got more interesting for me Thursday as about 3/4 thru the session I get informed by Mama Heather that Quinn's BIRTHDAY was that day.

What?

18th?

"Yes."

So... I basically think that I'm a decent enough guy to hang out with. But senior pictures on your birthday? I can't say I remember that happening that often, if ever.

Happy Birthday, bro. Hope you had a good one!

Life's a Mitch

For awhile, it seemed as though someone... somewhere, didn't want me to photograph Mr. Mitch.

He had an appointment. Then got ill.

Reschedule.

So... he then comes in... and we have our one and only washout session of the year so far.

Indoor done.... reschedule the outdoor.

And then, as it usually goes.... good things come to those that wait.

Wednesday was a glorious fall afternoon and the third time was indeed the charm as Mitch and I completed his session once and for all.

An easy-goin' agreeable type guy, Mitch wanted casual images... t-shirts... backwards lid... bust out the Ford F-250... Mitch and I joked about how much MORE work his sis Paige (EM Class of 06... hey Paige!) was than he... but alas... that's how fellas roll most of the time, right guys?

Bo knows senior pictures

Tuesday's session was a rarity as we had ourselves a senior boy that was willing and wanting to upgrade to our "ultimate" session.

It's a common known deal that most senior guys will approach this process as something "mom is making me do." I'll see them with their one thing they're passionate about. It may be sports... their truck.... hunting... their guitar... you name it. They're into THAT... but the rest of the stuff.... eh.

That doesn't keep us from doing a bang-up job... but I think most will admit that despite my stereotyping... there's a lot of truth to my story.

Well, Bo here was ready for a 4 1/2 session with five outfits and location work... and that's exactly what he got.

We had a great time with his casual outfits... gettin' gansta in a few... :-) The highlight for me came at the end of the session when I was told about an old firetruck in a tucked-away place on his property.

So we get back to this thing... and it says "Gilman Fire Dept." on the side of it. In surprisingly good shape... I was kinda sentimental about it since I grew up in that town just south of here. So we got some fun stuff with it. My favorite one is posted at the profile image to the blog. Something really cool and different that all seniors say is a must have.

By the way, Bo. Thanks for the five-spot to get my butt back to Montour. Driving on E is never a good thing when you forget your wallet!