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JDP senior Owen

I’ve mentally nicknamed JDP senior Owen the cattle whisperer.  He has a way with these cows and heifers that is sweet to behold.  They adore him and gather around waiting for his instruction and care.  His heifer Wildfire won him Supreme heifer at the 4-H fair three years ago!  Owen started at 4-H when he was 8 years old showing pigs.  I still remember young Owen snuggled up to his pig who had just sold at fair.  He was saying goodbye in the way that would be sweetest to his pig, by giving him his ice cream cone!  Today Owen’s branched out to showing heifers, beef cows and lambs as well.

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I’ve known Owen since he was a little boy so it’s hard for me not to see the little guy with a big smile who raced around my back yard and on soccer fields with my boys.  Owen has always been a joy to do life with.  He’s got a big heart and a work ethic that matches it.  His respectful approach to life covers all of life, people, land, animals…he knows the value of whatever is set before him.

Owen’s most at home on the farm taking care of his animals at his friend and mentor Chet’s or fishing in the pond his dad built on their property. He’s most happy outdoors where he can hunt, fish, run with his hunting dogs, walking his pigs and caring for all the animals that he loves.  He just also happens to share many of these loves with his girlfriend Audrey who we’ll be creating for tomorrow.   (He may be making a guest appearance at her portrait time!;)

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Owen’s hands on approach to life will serve him well in his chosen career path as an engineer or environmental studies.  He’s in the Career Tech engineer training program currently and plans to attend college to study engineering or environmental studies.  He’s always been fascinated by how things work, which often meant taking things apart to satisfy that curiosity.  He’d build a Lego set and then tear it apart to rebuild it as fast as possible, timing himself.  When our children are young doing this with household items, I guess it’s best to chalk it up to an investment in their early career training.  The cost of a lamp is just a tiny drop in the bucket of the expenses that families will incur to send a child to college.

Owen holds a job at the McGrew farm (happens to be his girlfriend’s family farm) where he takes on a wide variety of tasks.  Putting his love of building into practice, he’s built chicken coops and pig pens.  He also helps to break cattle, wash them, get them acclimated to routines and prepped for sale.  He works with sale calves which are bred to sell.  He’s gone from early in the morning till late in the evening, splitting his time between his home responsibilities, his work responsibilities at McGrew’s farm and his pigs and cattle at Chet’s farm.

Somehow, between all this farm work, Owen has managed to commit to being an avid lacrosse player as well.  He’s currently in talks with several college coaches re playing there.  He loves this sport and has since he started in 4th grade.  The competition fires him up and the energy from wielding a stick in battle is invigorating to him.  Owen was called up to Varsity lax at the end of his freshman year of highschool.  His coaches love him for his fill in the gap versatility he brings to every team he’s on.  That combined with his no-nonsense work ethic and the fact that he’s a lefty, makes him an incredible asset to all the teams he’s on.

Owen lost his Pappy in 2012 and keeps his remembrance tribute on his lax helmet to honor his memory.

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Every JDP senior gets a first we’ve noticed…this portrait concept was a first and immediately made me think of the hit show Yellowstone!  I know I’m not the only one counting the days till the next season drops!

Owen’s seated on his family property here and the chair is draped in a flag that belonged to his grandparents.  It used to hang in their river home in Harper’s Ferry.  Owen’s grandmother gave the flag to him when his Pappy passed away.  Connecting the generations through cherished items is always incredible to lock down in portrait.

Owen’s in his family pond here.

Owen’s truck is a source of pride and fairly essential to all the farm work he does.  He scouted out the location he wanted to create his truck portraits in, which was in one of the meadows on his property.  Thankfully his dad didn’t run over the light stand we left on site!

Owen closed with capturing his love of lax in my pool with his mother dousing him with water.  Always an awesome end to an incredible JDP senior summer session!  I know his mom has been anticipating this day for many years and watching her watch her boy shine was priceless in and of itself.  Her momma heart is bracing itself for this senior year ahead as her boy spreads his wings to fly.

Owen, we are all cheering your awesome self on and can’t wait to see what your next chapter holds!  In the lines of a popular country song, you are ‘one of the good ones’!  Click here to contact us re your own custom portraits.

  1. […] senior Owen was featured on our blog over the summer so he was all prepared to be a part of helping make Audrey’s session magical […]

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