June 2008 – Otis & James Photography

Tara & Adam

Folks, I’m gonna give it to your straight here. Â It’s time once again to pack your bags and jump on the Otis & James Caravan of Love for a trip to a little town that sometimes goes by the name of Williston! Â Folks, I’m also gonna give you some other straight up truth information. Â We did not just point the Caravan (wouldn’t it be awesome if we actually showed up in a mid-eighties Dodge Caravan, replete with wood paneling and everything else good that goes right along with that! Â Personally, I would love that. Â There has been some objection to my affinity toward mini-vans in the past in the company, so I don’t think it would ever really be a possibility. Â But a man has got to dream, after all…) to the west because Jim Morrison told us to. Â We didn’t even do it because we hadn’t been to the Airport International for a while. Â No no no. Â None of these were the reasons.

The true reason we had the good fortune of paying this lovely town a visit was for the wedding of Tara & Adam! Â You see, my dear good people of blogville, we were the official photographical engineers (dude, I swear, it’s what we’re called) of this wedding, and rest assured – we photographically engineered the heck out of this thang. Â True story.

But you want to know something else? Â The sweetlyawesomeness that are these photographs are for one reason only: Â because Tara, Adam, and everyone else that worked with us on this day made it sweetlyawesome. Â And that’s the straight dope. Â We had a wonderful time, and would now like to take the rest of this sentence to offer MuchLove & ManyThanks to Tara & Adam for being so wonderful, and to all my good people out there in Land of Blog, sitting on your front porches watching the sun set on another wonderful day – Enjoy!

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Shelby!

Gather round the digital glow of your internet fires, my dear Children of Blog, as I am about to weave you a yarn about a supersweet senior named Shelby that we had the goodgolly great pleasure of working with just this past week!

Now, I know from the start of that paragraph, what with me speaking of the weaving of yarns, and whatnot, that this story is going to be something similar to what Laura Ingalls may have written. Â Well, I assure, my intrepid bloggerites, that there will be no stories of Ma & Pa, or when Albert moved in, or even the Christmas that Laura sold her horse to Nellie Olson in order to buy her mom a stove…ummm…ok. Â It’s alright. Â I’ll admit it. Â I’m a hardcore Little House fan. Â Gotta problem with that? Â Good. Â Now, where was I…yes! Â Shelby!

I assure you, our time was filled to the brim with nothing other than magical fantastical SeniorSnaps, and this was all because she was (and still is) so completely awesome! Â We’d like to give MuchLove & ManyThanks to Shelby for being so wonderful to work with, and to all my wonderful peeps out there in blogland on a night so lovely, I say to you – Enjoy!

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Brendan. Straight Up. Brendan.

Check this out. Â The other day, me and my trusted partner – I’ll call her Queen James – (and anybody that knows anything knows that my name may come first, but her word always comes last. Â I’m not sure what that means.), well, her and I woke up, and came down to the FunCenter for Fun just for the heck of it. Â On a side note, I used to live above a store that sold fish (the kind that you put in a tank, not the kind you put in your stomach), and I had this one friend that used to always say, ‘Hey Bieri (that being my last name), we should stop at your place…just for the halibut. Â He thought that this was the best line ever. Â It wasn’t. Â I played along, however, and tried to muster up a fake laugh every time he made this lame joke. Â The more you know, right?

So, for the heck of it (not the halibut), we found ourselves just standing around the studio at 9:00AM wondering what to do, and who should walk into our lives than the one and only, the Master of Disaster, the King of Pain, the Keeper of the Faith, the Sultan of Swing, than Brendan! Â And, as it turned out, he was in need of some supersweetseniorsnaps! Â Well, we had cameras, he had outfits, he jumped in our car and off we went.

The result of all this happenstance, you may be asking yourselves…well, it was pure magic. Â With that, my dear friends of Blog, I will leave you now to witness what it is I speak of, but before I leave you – I give MadProps, ManyThanks & MuchLove to Brendan for just happening to be at our studio this past week, and to all my good peeps out there in Land of Blog – Enjoy!

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Pam & Allen

Hello there my good people of Blogville! Â I come to you on this afternoon so fine with the oh so wondrous news that the Otis & James Caravan of Love pulled out of the Minot station and into the Rugby station, not just to play a good, lively, and spirited game of rugby, but to also partake in the wedded bliss of none other than the wondrous and fine couple that are known as Pam & Allen! [ed. Â Apparently wondrous and fine were your last two words of the day, right.]

This year, the Caravan of Love (sounds kind of hippydippy, I know) has spent more time on the road and less time in Minot than ever, and it’s been all so exciting! Â It’s kind of like being on a world tour, if the world only consisted of North Dakota, which would be kind of strange, because in that case, Fargo would be China and Williston would be…well…whatever the other side of the world from China would be, and then Minot would be, well…Australia? Â Somebody with more skills in cartography is going to have to work this up for me, as I’m not here to speak of any more worldly events, other than the totally and complete awesomeness that was the Wedding of Pam & Allen!

As is the norm with all of our wedding clients, we had a completely righteous time working with them (ha – you want to call it work, I call it making glorious pictosnaps!), and they couldn’t have been any easier to work with, and our day flew by with awesomeness! Â We would like to sincerely thank one and all that helped us make these pics so great – to Pam & Allen MuchLove & Many Thanks – and to all my good peeps out there in Land of Blog sunning themselves on their rooftop terraces, – Enjoy!

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Karissa!

Oh hi. Â It’s me again. Â I bet you thought I wouldn’t be back here again this soon. Â But I’m telling you, I’ve turned over a new leaf, and you gotta come back every day. Â Sometimes multiple times a day, because there’s gonna be all sorts of supersweet goods going up here. Â You know what, having said one of my favorite words there (supersweet, not goods…although, I have always liked asking if someone, ‘has the goods’), supersweet, it makes me think of the one and only, the superlovely Karissa that stopped by our studio for her totally awesome and completely rocking seniorsnaps!

We had a wonderful time together; there was no rain, no crazy wind, no nothing of the sort. Â You see, we’ve been plagued for the past week or so with either an old case of high wind or rain. Â But in the words of my Aunt Rosie, if we didn’t have the wind, it wouldn’t be North Dakota, and due to the fact that we are in a bit of a drought, the rain is much appreciated! Â But God, if you happen to be reading this blog post (and I know that’s a bit presumptuous of me to even think that, but maybe you just need a break every now and again and just take a minute or two to surf the net, but seeing as how you are an all knowing deity, perhaps you just know it all, and there’s no reason for you to check it, because you are it, and it is you…whoa…I think my brain just exploded there….yep…it did…give me a second here to put it back inside my head…there we go. Â Now, where was I…oh yes. Â God, if you are reading this, how about rain and wind during the non-sunlit hours of the day. Â Alright. Â I know. Â There are far greater concerns than this. Â OK, I’ll take it however you give it.

Well, you see, Karissa didn’t have any of these issues of rain & wind, and because of that, our time with her was filled to the brim with nothing but absolute and totallysweetgoodness, times 1,000. Â That’s a whole bunch, my dear friends of blog that happen to know a thing or two about math. Â So, as you probably are already thinking, the results were fantastical! Â Magical! Â Popsicle!

MuchLove & ManyThanks to Karissa for taking time off from her busy life and giving us a bit of her sweet self, and to all my good peeps out there in the Land of Blog on a night so fine – Enjoy!

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Kristen!

Hello. Â Hi. Â It’s me again. Â I kind of come and go from your blog lives as I see fit, but lately I’ve been spending a little bit more time here, and I think I like it. Â I’m not doing this because I just want to bother you, like the neighbor that keeps coming over to borrow a cup of sugar (don’t you just hate that), or the person on the telephone that is all, ‘Please hold for an important call…’, and you know the only reason they are calling is because you owe someone out there money for a subscription to ModernÂ MercenaryÂ magazine and you’re a few months behind on your subscription fees…uhhh…I’m just saying…it’s not like I’m speaking from personal experience, but trust me when I say this – robot phone woman asking me to hold – I know it’s you, and I’m not going to hold.

Nope. Â I’m coming around the Neighborhood of Blogville (we’ve got a great Park & Rec system, if you’re wondering, AND we fully fund our schools and have a vision for the future and aren’t afraid to spend a little bit of money to get these things done…but then again, I’m speaking of an imaginary community, not a real community – now aren’t I?) because we are fully in the midst of Senior Madness here at the Otis & James Center for the Study of PickupDog and PuppyTruck Hybrid Engineering (O&JCFTSOPAPHE)!

This edition of wonderful seniorpictographicawesomeness features new friend to o&j, Kristen! Â If I were to sit here and type from my tower on high of how truly wonderful she was to work with, we could be here for hours reading word after word after word. Â I think, however, that my dear Friends of Blog (FOB’s) would rather just know in our hearts that Kristen was a joy to work with, and the time we spent making photographic goodness was well spent!

ManyThanks & MuchLove to Kristen and her assistant (Mom) for coming up the the FunCenter, and to all my good peeps out there in Blogville – Enjoy!

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Meagan & Josh

And here we found ourselves again, in the magicalmystery land that is called Harvey, which – much to my chagrin – is not home to large make-believe rabbits. Â In my mind, however, I will continue to think that it is, and that the Harvey Board of Tourism and Cultural Enrichment [ed. Â Are you sure about the title of this group?? Â It seems a little…ummm…how do I put this, not democratic? Â Just wondering.] Â should continue to promote the idea that seeing a large rabbit named Harvey is always a possibility in Harvey.

We were not in Harvey looking for such things that only reside in our heads, The Otis & James Caravan of Love actually had the good pleasure of pulling into the Harvey station in order to partake in the wedding of – none other than wonderful friends to the o&j family – Meagan & Josh!

Now that I think of it, I do think that this Harvey Board of Tourism and Cultural Enrichment should actually promote the fact that the town was lucky enough to host an event so wondrous as their wedded bliss! Â I can see it now, ‘Welcome To Harvey! Â The Place Where The Wedding of Meagan & Josh Happened!’ Â Well, we can work on the title, but you get my drift.

As is the norm with all of our beautifullywonderul clients, we had an awesome time working with them and their equally lovely wedding party, and we would like to offer MuchLove & ManyThanks to one and all that worked with us on this day! Â Remember, we just bring the camera’s – you guys bring the goods! Â Well, I think it be time that we put all of these words to bed, count our blessings for another wonderful wedding, and say to all of my good peeps in Blogville on a night so fine – Enjoy!

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Karsen!

Oh my dear ladies and gents of the Wide World of Blog (WWOB…which is – coincidentally – a really bad smooth jazz station specializing in the music that according to their tagline, ‘Makes the Cougars Roar’, but we’re way off track with that) I come to you at this fine hour of a day so lovely with the news that we have officially entered the season of Senior Portraits!

I’m sure, at the moment you may be asking yourself, what does this mean to me? Â Well, it means that we have entered the time of summer, of fun, of wonderfully gorgeous pictosnaps of beautiful people in the prime of their lives – the summer before their Senior Year!

Ahhhh yes…the summer before Senior Year. Â I remember it as if it was yesterday. Â Seriously, probably some of the best times of my youth – the world stands before you, and you see it through eyes that are wide open, and bright with hope and wonder! Â Alas, I wax poetic for a time that has since passed me by, but that always lives in my heart.

I think this is one of the reasons shooting Senior Portraits is so totally awesome; because doing so let’s us step inside of that world for one more brief moment, and experience just a taste of it again. Â Well, that and the fact that working with Seniors is always totally awesome, and I can think of no one more deserving of being our first Graduating 2009 Senior to have a blog post than the one and only Karsen!

This past week, she strolled on into the FunCenter, ready to pretty much tear it up. Â And, my friends, I assure, we tore it up. Â Karsen was totally and completely wonderful to work with (work…if you want to call it that…more like chillaxin’, drivin’ and snappin’ some pics), and we thank her for being so totally and completely awesome!

Well, this post has gone on way to long, and I think it best just to welcome all of you back to the wonderful world of Senior Portraits, and to all of my good people of blog trying to stay dry on a day so rainy – Enjoy!

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Tennele & Gus

What’s this your saying now…the goodness of Wedding Love is about to continue, and this time it’s starring the one, the only, the totally and completely fabulous, the givers of fun, the supercouple that is known as Tennele & Gus?! Â And you telling me that I’m not just here to tell you how awesome they are, but I’m also here to tell you that on a day not all that long ago, but actually a little bit of time ago, we had the goodlywondrous pleasure of working with them on their Wedding Day?!

That’s what your telling me, inner-voice that won’t stop talking?! Â Well, how about thatI Â Inner-voice, thank you for giving me such awesome news, as usually you’re filling me with all sorts of conspiracy theories…so this is incredible news! Â Ahhh shucks, as the voice inside my head has told me, I’m coming to you at this hour so fine with a story of the wedding of good friends to the Otis & James Empire (OJE), none other than Tennele & Gus!

Well, I could go on and give you the ‘story’ but most of my intrepid readers of blog (and not just those driving Entrepids) usually know the story of how a wedding works. Â So I’m just gonna tell you what I know, and here it is, plain and simple. Â Tennele & Gus, you know, the people that I keep on talking about? Â Well, they had a wedding. Â We were there – even brought our camera’s. Â And, do you want to know what happened next? Â Let me give you a hint…it rhymes with ‘Lajick’. Â Any guesses? Â If you still haven’t got it…I’ll tell you. Â It was magic. Â No joke. Â No kidding around. Â The totally rocked it up. Â I’m not here to pull your chain (again, I have no idea what that means), I’m just giving you the straight story.

Our time with Tennele & Gus & their awesome wedding party was short, sweet, and we thank them one and all for making us a part of their wedding day! Â So, without any more of these silly words, I’d just like to add one more thing – MuchLove!

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Liz & Jay

Hold on now, my good Children of Blog, for the Otis & James Caravan of Wedding Love (O&JCOWL – OJ Cowl?) kept on a cruising through the galaxy (I was going to say ‘area’, but that sounded too lame, and then I was going to say ‘world’, and that sounded too new-agey, and so I settled on ‘galaxy’, which makes it sound lame, but I’m hoping it sounds a little bit techodorycute, which is the title of my one man techno-band I have created – we play birthday parties Â and extreme bowling events), and the next stop was the wonderful wedding of Liz & Jay!

This was yet another wedding where we weren’t just hired by the Bride & Groom (well, technically, we were hired by them, so I guess that we were kind of obligated to be there, but I’m going to continue with this line of thought anyway), since we know Liz’s side of the family so well, it seemed like we were part of the dilly-yo, except we didn’t have to buy gifts.

It’s always such a delightful treat to work with wedding parties where you know a lot of the players, so – and I’m going to be honest here – we had simply fantastic time working with this gorgeous group! Â I sometimes wonder if they look at us and think we’re a gorgeous group, or if were more of an interesting to look at group. Â Perhaps that question is best left unanswered.

Moving back into the story, the Caravan of Love stopped, we all hopped out, and got the goods. Â Now, let me translate that for all you supersquares out there that didn’t get that. Â We got with the Bride & Groom, took some wonderful pictosnaps, and eventually had to say goodbye – but not before fun was had by one and all!

Now, my good Peeps of Blog (POB’s), I need to thank everyone that made this day so wonderful, congratulations to Liz & Jay, and to all of you out there in your comfortable Blog houses on such a wonderful night – Enjoy!

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