Three amigos

I'm on spring break visiting family and friends in the motherland, Texas. While Iowa is where I live, I can't help it, the Lone Star State will always be home. I'm actually wearing shorts today because it's blessedly warm and I don't care how much the natives wince at my fishbelly-white but still shapely legs.

On my first night, I was a special guest last night at a hastily-called meeting of a group I don't want to be in because they're perfect just as they are. It's like Woody Allen said, "I'd never join a club that would allow me as a member." And, judging by the exclusivity of this group, I'm not going to be invited and neither are you. 

Brian Harkin, Allison V. Smith and Brandon Thibodeaux are the wonderfully exclusive trio of visual kindreds who have dubbed themselves the Dalphos (shorthand for Dallas photographers, not Greek for anything). They commiserate regularly over beers at the Libertine to discuss, strategize and celebrate the photo life. (If you're lucky enough to get to the Libertine, I recommend the fantastic grilled cheese sandwich to soak up the beer).

Brandon regaled with his recent adventures from his Mexico trip. It seems the journey was ostensibly for photography but, thru the magic of a 1972 VW bus, turned into what should be the next Wes Anderson movie, "The Tequila Limited", perhaps. 

For tax purposes, we discussed the stock photo biz and the power of positive thinking. My longtime friend Allison and I gave a short history of our time working together at the little paper that couldn't, the Denton Record-Chronicle. In retrospect, the blissful analog innocence of our lives in Denton - shooting on bulk-loaded film, making prints - looks downright antique. Brian and Brandon, young bucks, listened respectfully.

Rock on, Dalphos.  

Amanda + Michael

These two endeared themselves to me right away. Amanda encouraged my ninja silliness from her 1st email. She also threw tradition to the wind and wore a green dress while simultaneously tossing caution into that same gust and went sans straps (Don't try that at home!). Michael, besides being funny and laid back, shares my follicular shortcomings, without being nearly as bitter about it as me.

Michael's father, Daniel, performed the ceremony. It's always touching to see a relative officiate a ceremony. Personally, if I had to do it, I'd be weeping like a baby. The Deacon held it together nicely while I only got a little misty.

The reception, atop the Holiday Inn downtown, featured a first. While it's not uncommon for a child or 2 or 3 to try to take part in the ceremonial 1st dance, it is unusual to see a father swoop in like a hawk and pluck the offending child off the floor (see below). Well played.

Lawyers in Love: The Wedding

I know that most of you along with Shakespeare have it in for the legal types. I, however, consider them bellwether clients. If I can have attorneys as clients and not get sued for malpractice (as of 3.4.2008), that has to be a good sign.
Besides, look at these two, in love and as handsome as the fall day they were married on.

A blue leather suit? I'm there.

During this interminable winter, it sometimes takes a little something extra to get me motivated enough to leave the relative comfort of my office. The best lure would be cold hard cash. However, in the case of the The New York Times, which, somewhere along the line, say 1970, decided that its dayrate was just dandy, has to rely on charm. This time, it was "well, there's this guy who has a blue leather suit." Good enough.
Dolph Pulliam is the voice of the Drake University men's basketball team who, out of nowhere, find themselves in the top 25 and bound for the NCAA tournament for the first time since Mr. Pulliam and the Bulldogs competed and actually went to the Final Four, barely losing to UCLA, in 1969.
As nice as he is tall, Mr. Pulliam did actually show up in his vaunted suit, which is seen as a good luck charm for the team. Now, do I wish it could have been bluer, perhaps even battery-powered? Just like my visions of spring, a boy has to dream.

Heather + Kurt: Viva Love!

It's fairly obvious from just this small collection of images that Heather spent most of her wedding day in happily aghast at her and Kurt's good fortune to be surrounded by friends and family. Little did they know that the icing on the wedding cake would be an appearance from someone that looked somewhat but almost totally unlike Elvis. There was a whole lot of smiling going on.

Missy + James

If you can't stand cute then you might want to avert your eyes. These two are just fine human specimens. The fact that they're equally as sweet just makes them that much more irresistible.
 

The wedding was in Dyersville, home to the site where Kevin Costner filmed his "Field of Dreams". James and his crew are baseball players and we made the short trek to the famous field. The reality of "wedding time" (clocks run so much faster during a wedding) caused me to scramble as the sun set just as we arrived and left me working in the literal dark. It also made for some adventurous batting practice.

Katie + Dominic

It's bigger. It's better. Well, ok, at least the photos are larger. Better? Who's to say? My clever and tenacious friend, Randy Kepple, never daunted by my total inability to solve a technical problem on my own, helped me find a way to post bigger images here. The workflow is a bit unwieldy so, like diets and exercise, we'll see if I keep it up.

Here are some tastes from Katie + Dominic's wedding. The ceremony was at St. Augustin's Church with the reception at the Hotel Fort Des Moines, both classic Des Moines wedding locations.