Month: December 2006

The Children Aannerude, a Poem by Otis.

The Children Aannerud
Came to the FunCenter
Dang.
They’re good

There was a point in my life when I thought that I could be a poet. I had this friend, his name was Jake. Jake wrote poetry, and all the ladies swooned over him. He wrote poetry that had all sorts of fancy words, and strange thoughts. I thought, ‘Hey…if this gig works for Jake, maybe I should get a journal, a fancy pen, and create beautiful poetry.’

Unfortunately, everything that I wrote was just like the poem for The Children Aannerud featured at the start of this post. It appeared to be written by an emotionally stunted third grader. Somehow, I could not imagine the ladies swooning over this. Dang you, Jake.

Later in life, I would use this same journal in an attempt to become an artist. One night, in a fit of inspiration, I took out a black pen, and began what I thought would become an epic pen drawing of the most beautiful woman in my universe at that time (ahhh…the sweet love of youth), and by the time that I had completed the drawing, it resembled something that could only be described as a cross between a Gibbon and Chewbacca. Perhaps I shall just stick to photography.

Well, yes, back to the matter at hand, The Children Aannerud! THEY TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY ROCKED THE SOCKS OFF OF THE FUNCENTER.

And that’s that. You don’t want to take my word for it? Then wait for me to say ‘Enjoy’, and look at the pics to follow, because – as usual – they are awesome. MuchLove to the whole fam for stopping down to the FunCenter, and to all of you out there on this lovely sunshiney day (remember, it’s always lovely and sunshiney in the land of blog) – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

Next up on the Otis & James Cavalcade of Holiday Love (O&JCOHL) was a visit from old friends (not that they are old, it’s just that we’ve known them for more than a month, but less than ten years) of ours, none other than the Family Opperude!

Visitors to the blog may know them from the Wedding we had the goodgreat pleasure of working with them on this past summer, and – as is always the case with this absolutely gorgrous group – they totally and completely rocked up their shoot (which, the term ‘rocking up the shoot’ could be minsconstrued, but I assure you that this is a highly technical photographic term and it means that they were 100% + 26% Awesome. That’s 126%, folks. And that’s a lot.)

Gorgeous, simply stunning, and totally easy to work with. What else could an Otis or a James e’er ask to have??!! Alas, our time together was all too fleeting, but the results were sweet. MuchLove to The Family Opperude for stopping down to the FunCenter, and to all of you out there sitting in your homes of blog in the land of blog, which is right down the street from the Grocery Store of blog – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

There was a time that is in the past, and during this time we were visited by the Family Hanson! This time seems to be pretty recent, as judging from the supersamplesnaps that are only a few thousand words away (you can never have too many words, can you?) I would say that the youngest in this family seems to have gotten a little bit older! And it’s strange, because the older member of this family seem to have only gotten younger! Amazing! And for those of you wondering…the answer is yes! That was a total and completely over-the-top sucking up going on right there! Hooray!

But really now, we loved working with this family, as they are good ol’ friends to the Otis & James Empire (traded on NASDAQ as O&JE), and every time that we are graced with their presence, it is a joyous occasion! We would like to thank them for stopping on down to the FunCenter, and to all of you that sit in front of your com-pu-tah’s just waiting for another post to go up, wait no longer…and – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

There are some general rules of thumb (and really, what does that mean?) when it comes to producing superawesomefamilysnaps.

1. Smile.  Unless you like serious.  Then don’t smile.
2. Be serious.  Unless you like smiles.  Then don’t be serious
3. Jumping Pictures:  Good for the kidz, not so much for the whole family.
4. The family that color coordinates together, is the family that stays together.

If you follow these rules, like The Family Dockter did, than your picto-graphs will look as totally and completely awesome as theirs! We had a wonderful time working with this lovely family, and we would like to extend thanks, many thanks to them for making a little bit o’ time for the FunCenter, and to all y’all just waiting to leave these words behind and get to the snaps – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

I don’t know what happens when people call to schedule appointments with us. Like, I understand the whole process of the phone ringing, a question being asked, a statement of intention being given by the potential client, a calendar being checked, dates of availability being given, names exchanged, telephone numbers being entered into the supertechnical o&j mainframe computah, etc. I get all of this.

What I don’t get is how it is that we keep getting clients that are so totally and completely awesome! Is there some sort of a screening process going on that I don’t know about? Can only totallyawesome people see our number in the phone book? Are only the köölest of küül kidz able to visit our website? Is there something going on that I don’t know about? Is my omnipotence (and please, look that word up before you assume that it means something else) only self-perceived, and in reality there is a whole alternate universe going on around me that I really don’t know about?

Either way, The Family Austin came down to the FunCenter, and fun was had by all! Well, at least I know that fun was had by us, and we’re really hoping that fun was had by them, and – if not – they are true professionals because it really looks like fun was had by them. Either way (again), we would like to throw some love in their direction for stopping down to the FunCenter, and to all my peeps of blog – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

Shall we quote from the book of Manson? Shall we talk about the ‘Beautiful People’? Perhaps our core blog demographic is not fully ready to traverse the halls of Marilyn in search of the perfect blog entry, so instead, I will only allude to it. Why for, you ask?

Because sometime between yesterday and 17 years ago, the Otis & James Center for the Aquisition of Trinkets, Toys & Treasures (O&JCFTAOTT&T) welcomed (back) to the studio the Children Pearson (even though the term ‘children’ implies that they brought a bucket of Lego’s and Tonka Trucks…which, I’m pretty sure they didn’t, but, I guess I’m really not 100% sure of this, as Paul did have a large bucket with him as he entered the studio, but I just assumed that inside was his collection of ‘Old-Timey Hats’ that he always has with him…oh well) for some totally sweet and flippin’ awesome childrenpearsonsupersnaps!

Form previously working with Paul, we knew going into the shoot that the goods were going to be brought to the shoot. There would be no need for our ‘Child Wrangler’ Benjamin D. to prance around the studio like some sort of a cross between a stark raving lunatic and a cartoon character in order to illicit a smile from this group. No. No. No. They brought the goods.

MuchLove to this group for giving a lil’ bit o’ time to the FunCenter for the cause (of sweetlysnaps), and to all of you out there in the always bright and sunny land of blog – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

There was a time when the doors of the FunCenter opened up, and into the confines of red hallways, dark shadows, and strange metallic Christmas trees bounded the Family Berg for some supahdupahsweetlysweet Family Snaps!

Man, oh man…we had a wonderful time working with this totally awesome family! Sometimes we wonder if we are going to be able to achieve what in photographic circles is known as the A-game. You know what I’m talking about. You got one chance to get it right, it’s your time to shine…and sometimes you wonder if the pressure to make sweetlysweetsnaps is going to be too much!

Mystery! Drama! Suspense! Alas, The Family Berg brought their A-game to the studio (I love it when I use sports clichés, because anybody that knows me knows that the last thing on the face of the earth that I am fully versed in is sports…Go Vikings? Yeah…it doesn’t quite sound right coming from me…I’m more of an ‘artistic’ ((and don’t go reading too far into that )) type), and judging from the samplesnaps just a few words away, I would say that this statement will prove to be true.

Did that make any sense? Hmmmm. Only time will tell. Whilst we await the verdict on coherence, let us take a moment to thank The Family Berg for being so friendly to work with, and to all of you out there in the land of blog – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

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uuuuuuuuuuke!

How can I be the man when you’re the man? Hmmmmm?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

MuchLove to you and your ever-lovely part-time personal-assistant/Full-Time Mother, the always lovely Hope for stopping down to the FunCenter for your supersweetpics!

Who loves ya, buddy? Let’s see here…WE DO!

Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

At some point during this past week (remember, my readers of the blog, specifics in regards to space and time in the blog has passed from relevance to another area that might be called ‘irrelevance’, if you are so inclined to words to such things) the doors of the FunCenter opened on up, and we had the good fortune of welcoming Cheryl & Lowell to the never-ending party!

They came in, and showed us how it is done. Just that simple. We didn’t have to tell them anything, we just put the camera on a tripod, and let them turn on the magic. Dang. Now that’s good.

We cherish shoots like this, where our clients have supreme confidence in their abilities to rock the socks off of any and/or all photographs that will be taken! We would like to thank this lovely couple for making some time for the FunCenter, and to all of you out there in your comfortable abodes in the land of blog – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography

Guess what, Yo.
Family Johnson came on down to the FunCenter.
They came down not for good times, and companionship which can often be found here (especially if you stop by the front office and ask for our intrepid Front Office Man (FOM), Ben), nonono, they came down for some goodtimey happytime familytime pics!

Yes!

Now, my faithful of the blog, do you think that they got up on some of the goodtimey happytime familytime pics? Hmmmmmmm? Alright, let’s all say it together, they came down for some goodtimey happytime familytime pics, and get some goodtimey happytime familytime pics is exactly what they did do did do did did do did!

MuchLove to the Family Johnson for giving us some of the sweet and prescious time, and to all of you out there just a-sitting and a-waiting for another blog post – Enjoy!

All Content ©2006 Otis & James Photography