ModestGeniusXL

Happy (Belated) Mother's Day!

I originally posted this on The Book which means some of you may have missed out on it.  I just realized today that I hadn't shared anything out here for that auspicious occasion.  That wasn't very nice of me.  And now that I'm finally caught up on editing all my shoots from a few weeks ago, I have a little bit more spare time to get caught up here as well.

So far in 2013, I have had a chance to work with some fantastic mothers.  In all different types of families too.  There were the standard nuclear ones (which oddly enough seems to be a rarity these days), the single mother, the mother and grandmother, the mother with multiple children, the stepmother..you name it.  And every single one of them was a pleasure to work with.  What's even better is every single one of them enjoyed the photos I did for them.  Even more so when they saw that they were a part of this collage.

That took care of all the mothers that were clients, but I did something even more special for my Mom.  Something that I knew she wouldn't be expecting.  I thought about sending nice little card to her.  That just seemed a little plain though.  Then when I got one of those spam emails, I had an even better idea.  I would send her flowers.  That was something that I knew Mom wouldn't be expecting from me.  I can't remember the last time I got Mom flowers.  I want to say it was when I was 9 or so and I brought her some dandelions from the front yard.  Yeah...I know...lame.

They offered the option to have them delivered on Saturday or Sunday.  I'm not sure how Sunday was even going to work.  None of the delivery services run on Sundays.  Were they going to make a special exception because of the day?  I thought that may have been a mistake so I chose Saturday instead.  I would rather it get there early then risk the chance of getting there late.

I just wish I could have been there when those flowers showed up.  The look on Mom's face would have been priceless.   Especially after reading the card that came with it.  And if you know anything about me then you know that card was epic.  Getting that text from Mom thanking her for her flowers made my day.  I could sense the smile through the phone.  And anything that I can do to make Mom smile is the least I can do for the greatest Mom ever.

 

New Year's More Or Less

Forget New Year's resolutions. Those are so passé.  What we need to do instead is just keep it real.  Let's face it..with every new year there are some things that need to be changed.  Not necessarily resolutions, just getting things right while fixing some wrongs.  That's how I came up with this list.  Those things that we need to see less and more of in 2013.  And when I will tell you know that in 99% of the cases where "less" is mentioned, I actually mean "no more".

 

Less restroom photo shoots

More XL-Images scheduled photo shoots

Less Rihanna and Chris Brown sightings

More Jason Sudeikis movies

Less ANY Real Housewives show

More "Catfish:  The TV Show"

Less POTUS bashing

More accountability

Less violent deaths in Des Moines

More Kansas City Chiefs victories

Less dubstep

More Dr. Dre produced music

Less personal business being aired on The Book

More R&B groups

Less alcohol drinking

More water drinking

Less family bickering

More family reunions

Less lists

More action

Happy Father's Day!

What?  I'm a little late?  Well actually by posting this today it coincides with my personal belief about this AND Mother's Day.  They shouldn't just be one day a year.  One day to show your folks that you appreciate them?  Nope.  It should be anytime all the time.  So with that being the case, today was just as good a day as any.  That and the fact that I just got caught up on editing so I'm just now getting around to posting about it.

Remember when I posted that other pic not too long ago about some of the fathers I've had in shoots over the past several months?  Well the reason I did it before Father's Day is I was saving that day for this photo.  No, I didn't take all the pictures, but it's family-oriented.  I've been blessed to come from a family full with a plethora of great fathers.  This is just a tiny sampling.  Yet another reason I love my family so much.

Just as I suspected, the original post I did with the pic of the fathers caused a mild controversy on The Book.  There were some folks that felt the need to chime in with the usual negative "too bad there's so many deadbeats out there instead" comments.  Totally disregarding what I clearly stated was the intent of the photo.  It would be so easy to focus on the negative.  Why take the easy route though?  It's more important to perpetuate the good. 

Anyway, I'm not wasting my time giving shine to the deadbeats OR the folks that want to continue to whine about them.  I don't have to because I was fortunate enough to have the Greatest Dad in the World.  One who has been with me since day one.  The perfect role model.  Someone said there are no such things as superheroes in real life yet he is one.  A little bit of overkill?  Maybe if you're a hater.

I was going to give Dad a call for Father's Day as usual and was just waiting until a decent time when I thought he would be up.  Even though I was up at 5am.  Don't ask why.  I have no clue myself.  So as I'm sitting there editing pictures, I get a text from him beating me to the punch.  At least I knew he was awake so my call was much earlier than anticipated.  It was a great way to start the day though.

I always seem to get a bit emotional on Father's Day for some reason.  I'm sure the fact that Elijah and Mariah are so far away has a little to do with it, but it's more than that.  It's also that I often find myself comparing my life to Dad's accomplishments and feel like I've fallen short.  He has set the bar so high that I frequently feel I can't even see it.  All I can do is keep trying though.  If I even get close then I'd still be among greatness and I can live with that.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

So the plan was that I was going to surprise Mom with a visit this past weekend.  Just to be on the safe side I did alert Diah and Dad.  I had no idea that Diah would also tell her kids which would increase the probability that someone would spill the beans.  Surprisingly they didn't.  But my plan of surprise didn't work out quite the way I wanted.  I was supposed to walk in the house as Mom was on the couch so I could see the look on her face of  "Who is this walking up in my house??"

The problem was I underestimated how long it would take me to get from Ames to Bloomington.  GPS told me 5 hours 29 minutes.  It seemed accurate. Especially given the fact that there would have to be at least one stop in there for gas.  However, it didn't take into consideration that I tend to drive slightly over the speed limit from time to time.  Enough in this instance that even with stopping for gas AND a couple of restroom breaks it only took me 5 hours flat.  I pulled up as Mom and Dad were getting back from eating dinner.  Mom was still shocked, just not in the venue I was anticipating.  Whatever works though.

The last time I visited Bloomington was clear back in Thanksgiving of last year.  I quickly grew a greater appreciation for a four and a half day visit.  Maybe even took it for granted.  This time around I wasn't able to get in town until 9pm at night.  It made the next day and a half fly by too quickly.  The visit felt incredibly rushed.  I still made the most of it anyway as I kept in mind that once I move to Texas, these type of visits will be much more infrequent.

The biggest drawback of a short visit?  No time for some effective photos.  Y'all know how I like that.  I wanted to set up my mobile studio of XL-Images East and get even more updated great shots of Mom.  No time for that though.  Oh...and the small problem that the remote trigger on my lights has been acting a fool lately.  Yes, I know I need to invest in pocket wizards to solve that problem (my fellow photo nerds know what I'm talking about) but a brotha is a little strapped at the moment. 

Instead, I had to settle for this not to random shot you see here.  I intended for it to be just Mom.  But she insisted that Diah join her.  Then Jozalyn jumped in.  So it would have been a true Mother's Day photo were it not for my niece.  It's all good though because these are still three beautiful Fleming women which helped to make the photo turn out amazing.

Some of you may have not have been with this site since the beginning so you weren't privy to my theory on Mother's Day.  It's simple.  It's the same way I feel about Father's Day and even Valentine's Day.  You shouldn't need a special day to let your parent/significant other know they're special.  Although let's face it...some folks need that day to remind themselves of that.  Not me.  I'm proud every day that I have the greatest Mom in the world.

Black History Month 2012

Did you really think I was going to let this entire month go by without speaking on it?  Come on now...do you know whose blog you're reading??

Instead of going into a long dissertation about one or more subjects, I decided to do a Black History Month in pictures.  If you see me on The Book you were able to experience this on a daily basis.  I changed my profile pic once a day to coincide with my favorite person (or sometimes people) from Black History.  For the purposes of this blog, I've condensed that into a collage for all to enjoy.  Let's see how many of the 29 images you can identify...

Top Captures of 2011 : #14

Yes, I purposely positioned this photo so that it would appear in the countdown right on this special day.  It truly was no coincidence.  I originally was going to just let the photo ride by itself at this spot with no description to coincide with it.  Let the picture really speak for itself more or less.  But then something came to me that made me realize this would be the perfect opportunity to share with folks who may not be informed.

Everyone is quick to say "Merry Christmas" today and I will gladly pile on with mine.  However, you definitely won't see me incorrectly adding the "Happy Birthday Jesus" that some folks are also throwing in.  I can't remember how old I was when it first dawned on me that December 25th could not have been Jesus's birth day.  It was probably in some history class when they talked about calendars. They didn't  record months and days back then as we know it today so how do we know that He was born on 12/25/00?  Simple...we don't.  Long story short, any amateur historian knows that the date was chosen to coincide with the winter solstice.  I won't even go into the history of how it was adopted from the Romans to coincide with some of their customs.

I could go on and on about the all of the other fallacies that have cheapened Christmas like the mistletoe, wreaths, the trees and such but it would be pointless.  So maybe Jesus was actually born sometime in August or September (some even putting it at April).  He Himself didn't commemorate His own birthday and since we really don't know the actual date, why not have it be this time of year?  It gives you something to look forward to after a rough 359 days.  Besides, doing it in September would leave three lame duck months.  The bottom line is Jesus IS the reason for the season.

Now that I got all that off my chest, I might as well speak on the photo since I'm here.  I wanted to do some type of Christmas shoot that was a little bit out of the ordinary.  Sure, with all of the folks that I know that are more than willing to pose for pics I could have done something more traditional.  Maybe a family around a Christmas tree opening presents.  Or Santa with some "naughty" elves.  Everyone would have seen those coming though so I went this route instead.

The 'model' here is Cabo.  Her owner is a good friend of mine that graciously volunteered her services.  As you can see, Cabo herself may not have been fully on board with the same amount of gratitude.  However, she is really amazing with the plethora of tricks she can do.  Which is why she was the perfect model for a picture like this.  I don't many dogs that would sit still that long to tolerate a photo in Santa gear.  Bravo to Cabo for making this picture work.  Even if she really didn't want to...

Giving Thanks

Isn't funny how it seems like it took so long for Thanksgiving to get here then it just flies by like it only lasted a few minutes?  Or was it just me that felt that way?  I had been looking forward to the trip to Bloomington to see my family for the past month.  Then I get there and before you know it it was time to return home.  Glad I was able to get my fill while I was there.  Which is probably why it went by so quickly.

I wouldn't even know where to start with how great everything was so let me go with the most obvious:  the food.  Of course it was off tha chain.  I had to hold myself back from posting about it on Facebook.  Not because it was average, but because I was getting tired of seeing everyone else post about their own feasts.  I didn't want to contribute to the carnage.  But more than the dinner was also the great breakfasts.  I forgot how good Mom's breakfasts are.  And that was even without her epic sweet rice.  All of that capped off by some of her impeccable chocolate cake.  Which I had to share with everyone else.  One of these visits I'm going to get a cake that's all mine.

Mom wasn't alone with the bomb cooking though.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention the awesome cornbread that Teandra made from scratch (with the help of Jiffy).  Cornbread....ain't nothin' wrong with that!  She even contributed to with a breakfast of her own one of the days there.  She had my mouth all watering for the hashbrowns she was making until I saw the plethora of peppers and onion in them.  I just had to take everyone else's word that they were good.

I didn't realize it has been so long since I had been there until I saw how old Pepper (the dog) had gotten since my last visit.  That dog years aging is no joke.  It was sad to see him looking like he was on his last leg.  He's hard of hearing, can't hardly see and has arthritis so bad that it looks like it hurts for him to walk.  Despite all that, he still managed to have a pretty upbeat demeanor.  Just much more subdued and much more slower.  I couldn't help but wonder if he'll still be around by the next time I come to visit.

Don't think that I didn't hit Black Friday sales while I was there.  Okay...Black Friday sale in my case.  I wasn't trying to stand in line at 5pm to catch the midnight doorbuster sales.  Was it really worth all that to save an extra $20 - $30?  Sure, I missed out on getting G that 24" HDTV for $75 at Best Buy.  But I was able to get a 19" one just as good at WalMart for not much more.  I can't lie though...I really wished I would have gotten that Best Buy deal.  Although I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find one just as good online for a comparable price.  And it wouldn't require having to wait 6 hours in the cold.

Easily one of my favorite parts about the trip was all of the pictures I was able to take.  I set up an impromptu mobile studio in Mom and Dad's basement and had a field day.  I could have easily sat down there and shot all day long if all the fam were up for it.  Only Josh was extemely gung ho about it.  I had to almost pry him from in front of the camera.  I'm just happy that I was able to talk Mom and Dad into some couple photos.  They ended up giving me my favorite shots of the trip. 

The prime example of the days flying by was the fact that I didn't get done some of the things I wanted to do.  One of my frat brothers had recently moved to Bloomington (well...Normal which is pretty much the same thing) and I meant to hook up with him while I was there.  Didn't happen.  Was going to try to squeeze in some random shoots of folks that I know in the Bloomington area that I'm not related to.  Didn't happen. What DID happen was I was able to get tons of photos of the family.  Enough for two photo albums.  But you'll just have to settle for one now: Thanksgiving Shooting 2011.  Stay tuned because you'll see part two coming very soon!

Random (XL-Images) Pic of the Day...The Fourth of July Edition

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

To the best Mom in the world and my two favorite grandmothers!  Yes...I know they are my only grandmothers.  There's not a day that goes by that I am not grateful that I still have all three of them in my life...

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Y'all know I don't celebrate it so you better cherish this while you can.  I just had to share my favorite shot from my Valentine's Day shoot for those of you that don't have access to The Book...