RouseGallery...The Blog

Labor Day Weekend Post: Welcome to the Lakes!

Welcome to the lakes in Minnesota...where one enjoys long dreamy days of nothingness and tranquility! The forested shoreline also features the lake homes of my extended lake families for whom I have been shooting for the past five years...in addition to enjoying periodic forays to the lake estates for some get-away time. It was here several weeks ago that I created the amazing photos of Hadley which appeared on a recent blog post.

This is a time to enjoy the quiet of the lakeshore in Autumn's prelude. At the family estates, we have the whole northern end of the lake to ourselves, so the privacy and natural setting is amazing. Room to breathe! Thot you'd enjoy coming here with me!

R

P.S. The view from the porch of the lake home owned by Hadley's family:

More Taylormania

You know, I tried spell check on my post here and Word Perfect is telling me: there is no such thing as "Taylormania". Hhmph!! Obviously, spell check hasn't seen the blog lately! In fact, I think Taylor has the record for blog posts so far this year! I think we'll have to offer a prize for that or something...

My prize is being rewarded with amazing photos like these from my work with Taylor:

R

Welcome to TaylorMania!!

This is Taylor's fifth blog post this year!

And I believe we are showing no signs of slowing down in our shooting schedule...so, I'm sure there'll be more to come...especially this fall. That's just fine with me. It's always a pleasure working with Taylor and spending time with her family.

Here's a glimpse at our latest expedition into the countryside. Tomorrow, more Taylormania!

R

Breanna....Queen of her Kingdom!

Hey...how cool to have captured Breanna at home in her native element, as queen of her kingdom: an assortment of slides and swings and monkey bars, as far as the eye can see!

Definitely garnered my cardio workout for the night by racing after Breanna as she trapsed from one swingset to another. But, what better way to document the carefree innocence and wonder of her days. This is one reason I sooo like this job.

So, we present to you Breanna in all her splendor and rambunctiousness(there's a word that will put spell-checker to work). Children's portfolios don't come any finer.

R

 

Carson on Center Stage

Enter Carson...star of our show!

After only an hour at the playground, I learned that, not only is this little guy eminently photogenic, he is virtually indestructible! I mean, to survive two separate tumbles from the playground equipment as well as the rough and tumble antics of one older, as in two-year-old, sister...you definitely need to have nine lives, at least!

So, without a single scratch to show for it, our star model parades his magic here for everybody to enjoy. Take a look.

R

 

Logan's Run

Hey...anybody remember the seventies movie, "Logan's Run"??  Well, this was truly little Logan's run...as in, he ran full steam through the fields and I, with camera in hand, did my darnedest to keep up with him!!!

And, with always wanting to keep my eyes on him in the quest for that perfect expression, I had to walk and run BACKWARDS into and out of the fields! Subsequently, I should thank Logan for, as his Mom commented, giving me, like, killer quads!

What an amazing little guy. He renewed my appreciation for the simple and enduring joys in life: stopping to smell the flowers, running carefree through the fields of summer and courting the innocence and laughter that should never be relegated solely to the realm of childhood.

I think you'll gain the same appreciation for those pure and vital sensibilities by enjoying these images.

R

 

Charlie Edition Two

No wonder we have such amazing images to be proud of from this session. All Charlie had to do was be in front of the camera and the magic was there: photogenic, expressive and rock-solid consistency. Plus, we just wandered a stretch of several blocks, indoors and out, stopping whenever inspiration struck to work with these killer backgrounds and settings. The late evening light lent us one opportunity after another for sculpting the look of the images with the interplay of the light and shadow. And, to top it all off, we had a first rate photographic assisting crew, comprised of Charlie's Mom and our newest helper, Alaina, who is entering the seventh grade this fall and as far as I'm concerned, could teach most adults a thing or two about assisting!

Bottom line: we were definitely in the zone on this session. Primo conditions for the creation of great art. Gotta love it.

R

Getting Artsy with Charlie

Hey...with a talented fellow artiste like Charlie in front of the lens...I wanted to make sure we hooked him up with some seriously unique and innovative images. Pulled a lot of rabbits out of the hat on this one. But the best reward was: capturing the real Charlie in these photographs. And we did it all in barely two hours, almost a new record.

I could say much...but it's better to let these dynamic images speak for themselves:

R

P.S. More tomorrow!

 

Country Cruising with Sara Part II

Sara was so consistent on her session, it made my job easy. And we were both rewarded with some magic in exchange for our labors, as you can see in these images.

In other words, while the other photographers were propped up in bed watching Hannah Montana and munching on pop tarts, THIS is what we were creating:

R

 

Country Cruising with Sara Part I

August. Prime time for senior pics. Sweet sunsets, mellow weather. Enter Sara, our focus for the day...and our reason for packing up the Explorer and doing the total, no-holding back tour of the countryside.

We did it all, baby. Climbed over old caterpillar bulldozers, made our way through abandoned farmyards, found some fine-looking steam radiators in the house with the old ballroom upstairs...and ended the day with epic, kick-butt shots in the wild terrain and the water at sunset. Couldn't ask for better scenarios...or a better model to work with.

Had a grand time working with Sara's Mom again, an experienced photographic assistant since our time on the session for Sara's older sister Alyssa a couple years ago! So now, we're gonna hook you up with a sampling of how our day went. Fasten your seat belts is all I can tell you...

R