October 2006 – Page 3 – Otis & James Photography

Sunday Rocking With Cassie…Straight Up.

All things happen for a reason. I believe this with every ounce of my being. So, the reason must have been great that it took us many long weeks, and much gnashing of teeth in order to find the perfect time to work with old friend of Otis & James, the eternally lovely Cassie, and her quest for the MostPerfectSeniorSnaps!

It seems like so long ago now that we first met Cassie. In fact, I think that she was in the third grade. She came up to us – and keep in mind that this was seven years before we would even start the business – she came up to us and said, “Someday, you are going to gake my SeniorSnaps, and they are gonna be freakin’ cool.”

And then I was all like, “Uhhh…who are you? Are you from the future? Are you like some sort of a ‘Terminator’ except way more child-like? Do you come in peace?”, and then I was all like, “I gotta get outta here, because this whole thing is freaking me out, harshcore”, and then I totally split. I didn’t think any more of this…that was…until a few days ago.

Seriously, that was the lamest grouping of sentences that I have ever managed to string togethah, and I would like to offer up my sincerest apologies to all of you lovely peeps out there in blogland for putting up with me during not just this, but also for the past few years. Think of the time you have wasted on my silly words. I’m not gonna reimburse you or anything for your lost time, it’s just something to ponder. Now, back to Cassie. Dang. Wow. Holy. Crazy. Good. Great. GoodGoshAlmighty, she was good.

Now, I knew that she was gonna be good, but what she pulled off during her shoot wasn’t just good, it was perfection wrapped in a freshly knit blanket, and tied with a big red bow. Now, that’s mad good. Crazy good. Twisted good. All of those, and sixteen more.

So, I think we have reached that time that we need to put aside all of these words and get down to the business at hand, and that is the straight up staring at the awesomeosity that is, Cassie [muchlove to Cassie for being so awesome] – Enjoy!

Tari!

Hey yo…hold up now, ’cause you need to hear the story that I’m about ready to unfurl upon you, and it involves a studio that was called the FunCenter, and a young woman by the name of Tari.

In this story, there will be many plot turns and twists, and the FunCenter & Tari will go from location to location, all in the name of finding the parfect picture. There will be a strong start, an amusing and at the same time poignant middle section that will touch at the funnybone as well as the heart-strings, and it will finally conclude with a mighty roar, a veritable crescendo of awesomeosity, as our time with the lovely and talented Tari was, quite simply put, total and complete awesomelisciousness. Now, I’m not one to play with your emotions, so you can take me at my word when I say that these words to you.

I’m not gonna come on down the mountain of blog to give you a bunch of empty words. I’m not gonna come down to you at this hour and babble to and fro, on and on with a bunch of empty words. No, dear friends, instead the story that I bring is filled to the top with nuthin’ but truth, sweet truth that this laday named Tari indeed came to the Center of Fun (which, briefly, served as our name before we switched to the more convenient FunCenter that all of you have come to know and love), and our time together was righteous + 7x(2).

These are the words that I bring. You can choose to do with them as you please, but what I offer you next is something that I don’t know if you can handle. I bring you something far bettah than these words, I bring you what I will just refer to as being some supersweetsamplesnaps, because that’s what they are. You can look this word up. It exists. In my dictionary that I have been working on for some time now, and will be available for only $29.95 this holiday season, only at Otis & James.

But enough of all this ‘hawking of wares’, and let us instead get to the real reason that you all have come down to the land of the blog, and this is the sample snaps. So, after this quick shout out to Tari for being so completely and totally awesome – Enjoy!

Liz!

Knock Knock.

Who’s There?

Awesome.

Awesome Who?

Liz.

That’s how good Liz is…she doesn’t even really need to have a punchline, as it doesn’t make a difference to you or anyone else whether or not it makes any sense, because she doesn’t care.

You see (and, btw, it looks like I love to start my sentences the expression ‘you see’ – we all gotta have our weaknesses, and mine is iced cream and vulgarity, which, coincidentally, was the name of my boy band that I used to sing in during my High School years, but really, who wants to hear about this part of my life?) Liz was absolutely fantastical to work with, and the results are not to be found in my dumb words, the resutls are instead to be foundin what we like to call the SampleSnaps.

Before we go down this freshly paved road, we need to give thanks to Liz Almighty for being so great to work with, and for having so many wonderful ideas! You made the shoot awesome, we just provided beverages and a camera (which, again was the name of a glam rock heavy metal outfit that I used to sing backup with during the late eighties), and she brought the awesome. Much[love] to Liz for doing this, and to all of you out there in Land of Blog – Enjoy!

Kristin!

And then, this past Tuesday (and again, I’m talkin’ ’bout the one that has come and gone already, not the one that we’re still tryin’ to get through’) a young lady by the name of Kristin came to the O&J Center of Fun (FunCenter, for those in the know) for some SuperAwesomelySweetSeniorSnaps!

Kristin was class and grace, sprinkled with talent and beauty, and what more can a person really ask for on a Tuesday Morning? Like, I’m usually a puddle of nothing on a Tuesday morning. I can’t tie my shoes on a Tuesday morning. I can’t even find my way to the door on a Tuesday morning, but yet here was Kristin, making everything look so effortless.

What was her method? Why was she able to be so awesome? I wish there was a simple answer to this. I wish I could just tell all of my peeps of the blog that she just had her Shredded Wheat for breakfast, and it was all good after this. But the truth, the sweet truth lies a little further out than just that.

As it turns out, Kristin just has the gift. And this is not something that can be learned from watching an informercial late at night, or from a book. You either are, or you aren’t, you either got it, or you don’t. For example, I don’t. If you take a picture of me, it will invariably wind up looking like I’ve just eaten something rotten and stepped on a nail…and my eyes will be shut. This is my curse.

Kristin, on the other hand, she is blessed with the ability to rock it up, crazy style for her picto-graphic session. I don’t know the reasons why some have it and others don’t, but I don’t need to know. All that I know is that we should take some time right now to give a little bit of love in the direction of Kristin for being so awesome to work with, and to all of my little children of the blog – Enjoy!

The Family Vincent!

Sometimes, all you gotta do is open up the doors to the FunCenter, and stand back. This is what we did with the Family Vincent, for they came into our lives one fine evening not so long ago, but yet long ago enough that the day itself seems to be a little foggy, but again, many days in my life seem to be a little foggy, perhaps what I need are life fog lights.

As I was saying before my tangent interupted was that we opened up the doors of the FunCenter to this absolutely wonderfullllllysuperfamily, and we just stood back whilst they turned on their magic. Like, I’m not sure what the dilly-yo is, but it seemed to me that they had been practicing the finer arts of family portraits, like, Dad had some hard-core practice sessions with the whole fam, running over all sorts of different poses they could work through.

This had to be how it was, because I don’t know of any other way that they could have rocked this hard!! Did you see that, two exclamation points!!! Make that three!!!! Crap!!!!! I’m stuck in some sort of a space/time loop thang…must…break…free. Alright, as I was saying, our time with this fam was sweet, and all to fleeting, and filled with love & hugs! Much love to all members of the Family Vincent for being so crazygood to work with, and to all of you peeps out there in the land of blog – Enjoy!

Tim, Dang Man, Tim.

Tim, let me be brutally honest with you. The other day, perhaps it was a couple of days ago, or perhaps it was longer than that…I can’t really tell, as when you are rocking at the level that we are, the days bleed into weeks, and you can indeed tell the town by the bottle that you drink (like, if you are in Cleveland, you will have a bottle of Tobasco, but if you are in Des Moines, I usually have a bottle of Wesson Cooking Oil, but that’s just me. Seeing as how tonight I had a bottle of Robitussin, we must be in Minot, but in reality, I’m not really sure where I am…), but all of this is besides the point.

What I’m gonna be honest with you about is the fact that when you came through the doors of the FunCenter, you very well could have set your rocking level to ‘kenny g’ level, but instead, you set it to ‘Jimi Hendrix’ level. And let me be the first to tell you, it showed. You see, some people would have been content with the ‘lameness’ of the ‘kenny g’, but not you. Instead of this ‘horrible music’, you instead went for ‘freaking awesome rock explosion’, and let me be the first to say, this was a good call.

Our time together with Tim was all to fleeting. Our memories of this day may fade with time, our minds may become cloudy, but we’ll always have these supersweetlyawesomesamplesnaps, and what more do we need? A’ight, much love to Tim for stopping by and giving us a little bit of his time, and to all you all our there in blog land – Enjoy!

Kelsi, Master of the Fall Day!

Sometimes, people can control their own destiny. Sometimes, people can control others’ destinies. Sometimes, but it is very rare, you will meet someone that will be in control of much more than this, and Kelsi was just one of these people. You see, she was the Master of the Fall Day, and that’s crazy.

She was able to walk outside and find herself in absolutely wonderful situations, time and time again. She was able to communicate with the sky, the trees, and their leaves. I heard she even talked to a squirrel, and told this squirrel to make her a nice pair of winter boots, and two hours later this same squirrel came back with the nicest pair of winter boots that you have ever laid eyes on.

This reminds me, there was one time that we worked with a person that actually had the title of ‘Not In Control of Anything…Including Myself, and Anything That I Come In Contact With’, and that shoot was very difficult. This person just ran in circles in the studio flapping their arms and screaming something about a duck named Nacho, that’s really a goose. But Kelsi, oh no, she was nothing like this at all, because she was Master of the Fall Day!

Everything for Kelsi was perfect, including Kelsi herself! She was totally awesome to work with, and our time together was filled with nothing but sunshine, smiles and good times! If you close your eyes, you can practically hear the sound of happiness eminating from your computer…go ahead…close them…but only for a minute…because we’re now at that point that we give much[love] to Kelsi for stopping by the FunCenter and giving us a little bit of time, and y’all know that right after this we always go to the part where you get to look at the samplesnaps, so if your eyes are closed, you – like – totally won’t be able to see them. So open them up, and get ready for – Enjoy!

Jordan!

As long as we’re traveling back to the land of two Wednesdays ago, let us take some time to look at the crazyawesomeseniorsnaps of a man that we like to call…and I’m assuming that probably most everybody else out there likes to call him, the one & only Jordan!

He graced us with his presence for the cause of some senior snaps, and let me be the first one to tell you, we are lucky that he did. You see, he was our first appointment of the day, and if this first one is not rocking, there is a cloud that comes over the rest of the day. But I’m here to tell you, my fellow devotees of the blog, that there was no dark cloud at the conclusion of our time.

You see, he rocked. He tore it up, plain & simple. After our time with him came to a close, we knew that the rest of our day, heck man, the rest of our week was gonna be nothing but blue skies! We would like to now send a little o&j shoutout[muchlove] to Jordan for being great to work with, and for making our time together sweetlysweet.

Well, before I turn into a pile of nonsensical adjective spewing goo, I think it be time for us to stop all of this lameo reading, and get on to the part where we look at shiny pictures! Sound good? Thought so – Enjoy!

Josh & Nichole!

All you all ready for a little trip back into the O&J WayBack Machine??!! I know it’s been a long time, but I think that it’s time for us to fire it up again. It’s back from the shop, and I just had it detailed, so I don’t think the ride will be that bad…except for the fact that it still has the Captain & Tenille 8 track stuck on play…but, I really think that they’re about ready to become hip again. Sometimes I think of myself as the Captain, and Jamie as Tenille.

Alright, let’s travel all the way back to a land, space, and time that we shall from hereafter refer to as being not this past Wednesday, but this Wednesday Wednesday past. “Why Uncle Otis, Why are we putting our lives on the line like this in this crazy WayBack Machine with this awful 70’s music??!!” the children of the blog were asking.

“It’s so we can be a part of the superfantastical e.pics of the one and only, the couple that shall be known as Josh & Nichole!!”, replied Uncle Otis, as he turned up the volume on the 8 Track just a little bit louder. Nothing relaxes UO like the sweet sounds of C&T.

Man, I’ll tell you something, brah…this couple owned their session. The totally owned it. They were incredible. They were fantastical. They were magical. It was as if we had gone to their FunCenter, and we were lucky that they let us into their world for one brief moment. And then, before we knew it, our time together had come…and gone. But we’ll always have some supersweetsample snaps, so – Enjoy!

Nick & Ali!

Sometimes, you love working with a couple so much, that you ask them to come back for a second time. This was the case with the überlovely Nick & Ali, as we loved our first time with them so much that we pleaded (or is it pled…is that even a word? Ahh man, where’s me proof readers when I need them most…) and begged (there’s a word that I know how to use, as a good Otis always knows when it’s time to beg…good Otis…sit…stay…) them to come back for one more round at the FunCenter For the study of Fun and Centers, currently specializing in the study of the center of creme filled cookies (FCFTSOFACCSITSOTCOCFC, for short) to get just a few more super-sweet e.pics taken.

Having worked with this totallyawesomesuperübercouple before, we knew that they were going to enter the session as total and complete pro’s (that meas pro-freakin-fessional, y’all), and they did not dissappoint us. In fact, they took the awesomeness that was their first time with us, which was 100% awesome, and doubled that. Did you hear that, THEY MADE IT 200%…WHICH IS DOUBLE!! DOOOOOOOUUUUUUUBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLE!

That would mean, like, let’s say you have all of the money in the world, like, all the money that anyone has ever had, it would be like taking all of that and making two of each. Now, I don’t need to hear any logic arguments from anyone saying things like, ‘Actually, dear exalted Otis, even though it is doubled, you would still only have 100% of all the money, because the percentile remains constant to the amount as a whole…’, so, to all you math dorks out there, just zip it. I don’t need to hear it. Like, I’m proud of you for being good at math, but that ain’t my bag, baby.

So…yeah…Nick & Ali! They tore it up…they rocked the house, they may have even raised the roof. That’s how insanely good they were. But enough of all this pablum that I’m throwing in your faces, let’s get to the real reason that all of you are proud enough to call yourselves ‘students of the blog’, the pics. Without any further delay, it’s Nick & Ali – Enjoy!