September 2008 – Otis & James Photography

Brianne & Tyler!

I could sit here, in my nook, next to my puppy dog, in front of my computer, in my kitchen, at the counter, with the sound of Freddie King softly wailing out some blues, with the occasional sound of a car passing by, and the voices of those on the street below wafting up to my ears, with my mind filled with thoughts of when is a good time for lunch, while I keep glancing at the clock thinking that my circadian rhythms are all wrong, and my 2:06 in the afternoon is really like 9AM for most people, and wondering if this is alright, but then realizing that often times the hours between midnight and three AM are some of my most productive, but yet knowing that there is a voice inside my head saying that I should acclimate myself to society better, that I can’t be a vampire forever, I mean – I’m practically thirty…or something like that, and it’s time to grow up, but why – I mean, is there really some sort of a pressing impetus that requires I do this, or would it just be me succumbing to what society deems to be normal behavior, and I could sit here, and I could type all sort of gibberish about things that will long be forgotten once they travel out into the space that is the inteweb, and I could sit here, with these things filling my head, and I could sit here and I could produce some sort of gibberishly long way of saying that we took pictures of the absolutely beautiful Brianne & Tyler, and they were incredible.

I could do that.

I’m not going to. Â I’m just going to say that they came into our studio, and they tore it up. Â They knew what the story was, and they owned it. Â Straight up, my babies. Â So I’ll save you all the words, and I’ll just give a huge MuchLove & ManyThanks to this wonderful couple for gracing us with some of their sweet & precious time! Â Oh, and to all my good peeps out there in Land of Blog sitting in your chairs – Enjoy!

:: Â click images for larger Â ::

[Show as slideshow]

Ladies & Gents…Once Again…The Family Livingston!

We have a few of these, well, what we call the OC’s. Â And I’m not talking about any TV shows that I never really got into, but I totally understand have had some sort of a generational impact upon a certain demographic of people (the same way that the first couple seasons of The Real World had upon my generation…I mean, who could forget season three?) Â When we use the term ‘OC’ we are referring to ‘Original Clients.’ Â Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure there was quite an extended period of my life where the term ‘OC’ also mean that someone was ‘totally out of control’…I miss using that expression. Â But back to what I was talking about.

You see, there were these people. Â These lovely & trusting people that – for some unknown reason – wound up at the FunCenter before there really was a FunCenter. Â When the business really consisted of just myself, Jamie and a letterhead with ‘Otis & James’ printed on it. Â These clients will always be near and dear to our hearts, and The Family Livingston was one of these OC’s! Â Way back in the day, when we first had the opportunity of working with them, they were getting ready for the birth of their first lovely child, and now look at them!

As their family has grown, our Otis & James family has grown! Â We’ve got more helpful & friendly faces around our studio, and – speaking of our studio – we’ve moved on from little rented rooms to the shiny & lovely FunCenter as we know it now! Â One thing, my friends, that has not changed is how much our clients mean to us – it’s because of all them that any of this is possible! Â It’s because of good peeps like The Family Livingston that our little dream is able to survive, and we truly offer up soooo MuchLove to one and all that has made it all possible!

Well, before I start to get weepy, I think it’s time that we once again thank this lovely familyfantastic for stopping by FunCenter and for being totally awesome (as usual!) Â To all my other good peeps out there in Blogland on a day so fine – Enjoy!

:: Â click images for larger Â ::

[Show as slideshow]

The Friendly Family Passaglia!

Come along, continue with my on this photographic Magical Mystery TourÂ Â that we call The Otis & James Caravan of Love, as our voyage is about to experience the totally awesome, the one and only Family Passaglia!

Now, dear Friends of Blog (FOB’s), I’m gonna tell you something. Â Well, I’m more likely to tell you many things, but for the sake of your sanity I’m only going to tell you a couple of things. Â First of all, the world is round. Â Secondly, we knew going into this shoot that it was going to be a wonderful time for one and all because we had the good pleasure of working with one of the members of this family during her Senior Portraits, so we knew that – genetically – we were in store for a real treat!

And, we were not let down. Â I’m going to tell you something else, and this one is going out to all the kids reading this. Â Never begin a sentence with the word ‘and’ – you can do it when you’re an adult, and don’t question why it’s not right for you to do it and why it is ok for me to do this, it’s just one of those hard lessons in life about equality and fairness. Â Don’t worry, however, because someday you will be in charge and you can hold those of you that put you in this position accountable, but you’re going to have to wait, because we have a blog post to finish up. Â As I was saying, we were not let down, because this family was goodness to the power of ten, and for those of you that know anything about math, that’s a whole bunch!

Enough of all this talk, we gotta get to the goods! Â So, a big bucket full of MuchLove & ManyThanks to this wonderful family for making time for us in this busy hectic world that we live in, and to all my good people out there in Land of Blog that are currently stuffing their mattresses with money in preparation for when this whole thing goes down – Enjoy!

:: Â click images for larger Â ::

[Show as slideshow]

Jenn & Chad!

A long time ago, not really in a galaxy far away, but on the other side of town, the Otis & the James used to be members of a society of school going people. Â We attended a college that happens to go by the name of Minot State University. Â The Otis part toiled away on the third floor of Admin as a History Ed major, and the James worked in the undergroundÂ labyrinthÂ in Old Main known as the Music Department as a Music Ed major. Â Which, of course, led to us being professional photog’s.

Way back when, in these days of school is where we first made the acquaintance of the lovely Jenn part of this dynamic duo! Â As I reflect upon these days now (and, I do love making statements like that which sound so pompous and grandiose), it’s crazy to think that all these years later (again, it seems like I should be sitting in my library with a pipe wearing my smoking jacket sitting in my leather chair wistfully stroking my beard) we would get the opportunity to work not just with the Jenn part, but also the equally wonderful Chad part of this fantastic couple!

The first time we were supposed to work with them, good ol’ Mother Nature threw a curve ball at the festivities (sports references, I don’t know what they mean but I see other people doing it so I figure that I should as well), but the second time around was totally and completely perfect! Â But why should you just listen to me blabber on about it when I can offer up some photographic proof of these words. Â So, I will stop the blabber, give MuchLove to Jenn & Chad for letting us have some of their sweetlytime on this Earth, and to all my good citizens of Blogville listening to Kenny G soothe your soul – Enjoy!

:: Â click images for larger Â ::

[Show as slideshow]

Bethany & Josh!

I used to come up with witty titles for these blog posts, but after a few years of that your mind goes numb and you just kind of stick with names. Â For example, I could have called this one ‘Fun In The Park With Bethany & Josh!’, or ‘The SweetlySnap E.Pics of Bethany & Josh!’, but it just becomes white noise after a while, and I’m notÂ dilutedÂ enough to think you are here for the titles or even for these words.

You’re here, in case you have forgotten, to see the totally awesome samplesnaps of this wonderful couple! Â Now, going back to the title thing, a part of me wants to think that I should shorten it up to just ‘Beth’ (which is a totally awesome song by Kiss, by the way), but I’m going with the full version. Â Again, I think I could just put ‘Insert Couples Name Here’ as the blog title, and it wouldn’t affect your feelings toward the samplesnaps, because of that whole white noise thing again.

So, I’m going to stop all of this jibberjabber right now, because this totally awesome couple that we will be working with again on their wedding day need no additional words – their total awesomeosity is enough! Â Before we leave, we want to give MuchLove & ManyThanks to this wonderful couple for giving us a little bit of their sweet and precious time, and to all my good people of blogworld out there in a fall day so lovely – Enjoy!

:: Â click images for larger Â ::