Author: otis

When I was young and the world was an open book.  Let’s try that again.  When I was a kid, there used to be this show on the television.  It was called This Week in Baseball and was hosted by a man named Mel Allen.  It would air on Saturday mornings.  Now, even though I was and never will be considered a ‘sports-person’, there was something about this show that I enjoyed watching.  The show was in the days before SportsCenter and all that jazz, and the show was basically highlights of the previous week in baseball.

I know, to most of you that sounds totally and completely boring.  You have not come to blog for stories of broadcasting and baseball.  But the show wasn’t boring.  Instead I was absolutely transfixed by the show, and I think the main reason was Mel Allen himself.  This man was a pure baseball broadcaster, and he had a catchphrase he used, which was, ‘How about that!’  It was old-school, and it was wonderful.

What does that story have to do with anything?  Nothing.  It’s just that after writing a couple thousand of these blog posts, you have to starting mining deep to find titles.  And at that very moment when my fingers were on the keyboard and the cursor was flashing in the title box, my mind drifted back to the summer before my senior year, and sitting in front of the little TV that was in between the kitchen and the dining room, and how I would roll my chair (yes – we had awesome rolling dining room table chairs) over to the TV at 11AM on a Saturday morning and turn it to channel 11, and the familiar voice of Mel Allen would be there.  And to my right was a sliding glass door to our deck, and beyond that our yard.  And the smell of fresh cut grass would be in the air, and clean clothes would be on the line.  And life was simple, and life was good.

And that’s how we wound up here.  Eighteen years later.  And this time it’s Carlie that gets to have her senior year, and I know that she will look back at these times and think of how wonderful they were – and I know this because Carlie is absolutely wonderful, and we know this because we had the goodlygreat pleasure of working with her on a day not all that long ago (if you even want to call it working) on her senior pics!  My friends, we have enough words, we need now to give MuchLove to Carlie for being so awesome, and now we need to sit back, relax, and – Enjoy!

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Even though the word ‘behold’ is not solely used for religious purposes (or porpoises), it seems that the only time that the word is used is during things of biblical proportions.  These days, nobody ever really enters into a room with a pancake and says ‘BEHOLD!  I have a pancake.’  But there’s really no reason why this can’t happen, as no particular group actually owns this word.  So, let’s make it our purpose to use this word a little more often.

For example, I am using it as the title of this blog post – not just to work the word into casual conversation, but because I want  you to stop what you are doing and take a moment to behold the wonderfulness that is the superseniorsamplepictosnaps of the ever-lovely Kaleigh!  I don’t want you to just quickly glance at these pics as you cruise through the world of interweb, oh no…I want you to stop and take a moment to smell the roses…uh…or rather look at the pictures that are just waiting for you beneath all of these silly words!

But not yet!  Because before we start gazing, we need to give MuchLove to Kaleigh for giving us some of her sweet & precious time – you were wonderful!  And to all of our goodly peeps out there in Blogville just doin’ their best to earn an honest days wage – Enjoy!

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Alrighty then!  After a quick little break where the Otis & James Caravan of Fun got all busy with shooting a wedding and then resting our heads for a couple of days, we’re back at it again with many more happy blog images that are going to be floating through the interwebs and smashing into your synapses in just a few moments!

And this time, we have the goodlygreat pleasure of bringing to you the superfantastical Taryn!  On a day that wasn’t all that long ago, but could be considered to be some time ago (it all depends on where you’re standing – time is weird like that – it’s all about perception) we looked at our o&j super calendar (have you ever noticed that everything we have has a ‘super’ in front of it?) and the name of this lovely lady is what was right in front of us.

Before we knew it, the name that had previously just been in a book was a living, breathing human being that we were working with!  It was not a robot, it was a person – and she was called Taryn!  Not only was she all human and what not, she was also totally and completely awesome (and I’m assuming that she most likely still is!)  She made our time with her fly by as she both rocked and rolled and made photographic goodness happen.

My peeps, enough of these words, it’s time for us to get to the goods.  Before we do that, however, we gotta give a big MuchLove to Taryn for being so wonderful, and to all you’s peeps out there in land of blog just waiting for work/school to be over – Enjoy!

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Do you speak the universal language of computer?  Does you only communicate through ones, zero’s and beep-boops & flip-flops?  Because if so, then you should have had no problems reading the title of this post.  Roughly translated, it means ‘oh my goodness, how did we get so lucky to work with this lovely individual??!!’

I know this because I live in Blogville.  Everything is digital there, not just the clocks.  I am the mayor of this town – I oversee all that goes on.  I’m like The Wizard from The Wizard of Oz (even though some people think I’m more like the Lion – and they’re right too.  And really, if you knew me, you would know just how close to the Gods honest truth that statement is, but now is not the time to get into that.

So occasionally, I’ll bust out my knowledge of speaking in digital terms – but only on the rarest of occasions.  And our time we spent with Clare during her supersweetly seniorpictosnaps most definitely is cause for speaking digitalese.  But since most of you out there don’t know this complex & crazy language as I do, we will stick with English and thank Clare for stopping by the FunCenter, wish her MuchLove, and tell all of you to – Enjoy!

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Did you think that this hot afternoon of senior blog insanity was going to end?  Well then, my friend, you are sadly mistaken.  Because I’m just about to whack you over the head with some pictographic goodness from the ever wondrous and always charming Kathryn!

I’m actually not going to hit you, because I really don’t want to spend the weekend in jail for assault (I only go to court over parking tickets – I know I’m dangerous, but at least I’m don’t my part for the City of Minot) so I’m speaking metaphorically, if you will.  Did I just type ‘if you will?’  Am I that guy that says that now?  Ugh.

But let’s get back to the subject of these inconsequential words, Kathryn!  This is not the first time that we have had the opportunity to work with this awesome lady (me thinks there was a wedding along the way), but this shoot was all about her.  And darned straight it should be too.  Because she brought out all of the photographic goodness there was to be had, and we were lucky enough to be there with some disposable cameras & stuff.

So, MuchLove to Kathryn for choosing us to be a small part of her senior year (I’d like to think the most important part, but I’m somewhat delusional), and to all our good peeps keeping the peace in Blogville – Enjoy!

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Once again my mind has gone back to a magical time when all we had to do was dig on things in order to get our satisfaction.  You could dig a pony and people knew what it was all about.  But I guess those days are over now.  Still, that won’t stop me from digging on things, and in this case I’m digging on the samplesnaps of the one & only Ian!

Now, I know there are probably a whole bunch of Ian’s out there, so when I say ‘one & only’ I might not be correct in that assumption, but he is the only one that I know, and the only one that has come in for some sweetlysweet senior pictosnaps during this year.  So I’m going to stick with it.  Back to the story, Ian strolled through the doors of the studio, and he brought the goods.  The A game.  Whatever you wan’t to call it, he brought it.

And the results, my friends?  Fantastic.  Need proof?  You’ll get to it just as soon as I give MuchLove to Ian for taking a little time out of his day and spending it with us, and tell all of you out there on this hot end of summer day to – Enjoy!

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Man, I gotta shut my mind down for the evening, but before I do there’s time to sneak in just one more superspectacular bloggerpost, and that honor goes right out to the one & only Samantha!  There was no contest to see who would take the honors of sneaking in just before I crawl back into my cave in order to avoid the sunlight, it’s just how things worked out.

You see, it’s all about the luck of the draw.  Take for example Samantha.  When she was born, she could have been one of those babies that is all kinds of weird.  An odd duck, if you will.  But you know what?  She’s not.  Nope.  She’s the furthest thing possible from it!  And it was all because of the luck of the draw, and genetics.  But we’ll save a DNA lesson for another day.

So, to wrap this whole thing up, what have we learned today?  First off – it’s all about luck.  And genetics.  Secondly – Samantha was absolutely wonderful to work with, and we couldn’t be any happier that she chose us to be a part of her fantastic senior year!  Let’s give a happy-time MuchLove to Samantha, and to all of you smiling, shiny people out there in land of blog just about ready to start your day – Enjoy!

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Again, I really don’t know what you should be looking out for.  It’s not as if Krissa is going to be barrelling down the street in a semi-truck that has no brakes and she’s headed toward the homecoming parade and just happens to be one of those trucks that hauls cars to dealerships sitting at an intersection and she’s going to hit that and then fly over the whole crowd that is gathered for the parade and land safely – but yet just missing an elderly woman that is crossing the street.  Because this is not CHiPs Patrol.

As cool as that would be, I’m telling you to watch out because the sheer goodness that is emanating from her pictures is something that you need to be prepared for.  Because she’s just that good.  And I’m not jive talking you on this one, I’m giving it to you straight up with no chaser.  So…just look out now.  Because you’re about to be hit over the head with some photographic goodness that is all because of how awesome this lady is!

But, I would be remiss if we didn’t take just a second to throw Krissa a heapin’ handful of MuchLove & ManyThanks for being so awesome, and to also thank our lovely readers of blog for being so awesome in your digital way too!  Oh, and remember to – Enjoy!

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I think the title says it all.  Actually, I don’t really even know what the term ‘holy smokes’ means.  Maybe back when smoking was the ‘in’ thing to do, you could take them to church and have them blessed.  Or perhaps you could pick up a pack in the church basement after the services is over.  Cookies/coffee/smokes.  Sounds crazy to me.  But that’s all in the past, and I’m all about living in the future, or the present.  Whatever.

What I’m here to tell you is at some point in the past, but most definitely not in the future, and it can’t be in the present because as I write this it is the middle of the night and now is no time to be taking senior pictures, we had the goodlygreat fortune of working with the one & only Mya!  Mya is a wonderful name.  One of my favorite.  And she’s also a wonderful person, as these pictosnaps will show.  Actually, photographs can’t really show you what kind of person the subject matter is, so you’re just going to have to trust me on this one.

Again, back to Mya.  She was wonderful!  And now, the end is near…wait, that’s a song…so now we need to take a moment and give a big ol’ o&j MuchLove to Mya for being so awesome, and all you friendly peeps out there this late night in Land of Blog need to – Enjoy!

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