Category Archives: Sara

Jay Leno’s Jealousy

I was recently tapped to do a photo shoot of the Junck family and their newest old timey firetruck.

This photo of Gretchen is one of my favorites from the day:


I’ll probably share a few more from this photo shoot at some point.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 100
FOCAL LENGTH: 20mm
APERTURE: f/8
EXPOSURE: 1/125
DATE: 07/31/2016 – 12:18
LATITUDE: 42.02893°
LONGITUDE: -94.04409°
PHOTO ASSISTANT: SARA AND SHAWN
PHOTO EDITING SOUNDTRACK: The quiet murmur of world-class support.

ROUNDBALL ORACLES – YEAR 12

I recently presented The Trophy for winning the 12th year of the Roundball Oracles to this year’s champion… Michelle Haupt

It was an exciting NCAA Tournament and an equally exciting Roundball Oracles NCAA Tournament Pool. If North Carolina would’ve won the NCAA Championship Game, Sara Lockner would’ve come home with the trophy this year. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Congratulations Michelle! May your reign be short.


Roundball Oracles - Year 12 Champion - Michelle Haupt
Michelle Haupt – Newest Immortal (Pictured with Lily)
Past Roundball Oracles Champions (The List of Immortals)

2005 – William McAlpine
2006 – William McAlpine
2007 – Tim Peterson
2008 – Mark Wolfram
2009 – Mark Wolfram
2010 – Mark Wolfram
2011 – Carrie Baier
2012 – Lowell Davis
2013 – William McAlpine
2014 – Brandon Kahler
2015 – Derek Dohrman
2016 – Michelle Haupt

Here be the final standings.
1.  Michelle Haupt –  275
2.  Sean Clubine –  270
3.  sara lockner – 259
4. Yours Truly 255
5. Micky Augustin 245
6.  Angie DeWaard 241
7.  Jackson Faust 241
8.  Derek Dohrman 237
9.  Frank Meiners 233
10.  Toby Sebring 230
11,  Lowell Davis 230
12,  Mark Wolfram 228
13.  Jason Baier 227
14,  Corey Faust 221
15,  Paul Golden 220
16,  Wily McAlpine 218
17, Jordan Toot 217
18.  Jesse Howard 216
19.  Shannon Bardole 215
20.  Benjamin Baier 214
21.  Liz Nordeen 214
21. Jill Gorshe 214
23 . Jon DeWaard 207
24. JJ Baier 204
25.  Dawn Krause 203
26.  Nader Parsaei 202
27,  Brandon Kahler 201
28.  Carrie Baier 197
29.  Jorge Rios 197
30.  shawn lockner 194
31.  Jen Gorshe 193
32.  Derrick Gorshe 193
33.  Andree Jauhari 193
34.  tim peterson 192
35.  Bill Wentworth 183
36.  Olivia Baier 180
37.  Russ Kennerly 180
38.  Carla Stensland 175
39.  William Baier 170
40.  Rachel Johnson 167
41.  Robert Henning 162
42.  Joe Lynch 156
43.  Laura Priest 152

Laura (Miller) Priest won the 3rd Annual “The Sara” for last place adult that tried. Joining the trophy’s namesake Sara Lockner and Derrick Gorshe as past winners. I don’t have a picture of Laura with her new trophy yet, but I will as soon as I get “The Sara” in the mail, it arrives in Manhattan, and she sends me a picture with her new pride and joy.

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 46 – ART

A few of the regulars were missing this week, but there were still plenty of submissions for ART!

The submissions for ART:


WEEK 46 - ART - BILL WENTWORTH
Bill Wentworth

WEEK 46 - ART - CARLA STENSLAND 1
Carla Stensland 1

WEEK 46 - ART - CARLA STENSLAND 2
Carla Stensland 2

WEEK 46 -ART - STEPHANIE KIM 1
Stephanie Kim 1

WEEK 46 - ART - STEPHANIE KIM 2
Stephanie Kim 2

WEEK 46 - ART - STEPHANIE KIM 3
Stephanie Kim 3

WEEK 46 - ART - SHANNON BARDOLE
Shannon Bardole

WEEK 46 - ART - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 46 - ART - SARA LOCKNER
Sara Lockner

WEEK 46 - ART - BECKY PERKOVICH
Becky Perkovich

WEEK 46 - ART - KIM BARKER 1
Kim Barker 1

WEEK 46 - ART - KIM BARKER 2
Kim Barker 2

WEEK 46 - ART - KIM BARKER 3
Kim Barker 3

Another solid week of submissions! I feel like this little project is starting to gain some steam. I know that there somebody out there that badly wanted this to return should start submitting soon, now that she is done with school. Hint-hint!

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:


WEEK 47 - ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE!

But what is this ARCHITECTURE you speak of? According to Wikipedia:

“Architecture” can mean:

+ A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures.[3]
+ The art and science of designing buildings and (some) nonbuilding structures.[3]
+ The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures.[3]
+ Knowledge of art, science, technology and humanity.[3]
+ The practice of the architect, where architecture means offering or rendering professional services in connection with the design and construction of buildings, or built environments.[4]
+ The design activity of the architect,[3] from the macro-level (urban design, landscape architecture) to the micro-level (construction details and furniture).

For our purposes, I’d say that you should go out and find a building, a staircase, a bridge, a road, or something that was built by humans (or ancient aliens) that is interesting. Or at least take an interesting photograph of such a structure. However. As always. Define the theme any way that you want.

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge. It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

This was a big week for the PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION. Thanks to Sara Lockner*, (PHOTOGRAPHY 139 STAR OF THE WEEK) not one, not two, but three people showed their class, taste, and sophistication by becoming Photography 139 email subscribers. So if you see Shawn walking the mean streets of Johnston or Steve and Jessica walking the mean streets of Burnsville, Minnesota feel free to give them a knowing glance and feel free to show them the super-secret Photography 139 handshake.

Because my day job lunch hour is growing short, I won’t going into much details about these great, grand, and wonderful people. It is enough to say that Shawn is married to Sara, so he is a winner at life. Steve is a Cyclone and I hope he joins us for a tailgate this Fall. Jessica is a leather artist of some note as well. Maybe she is a future submitter to the WEEKLY PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE!?!?

This means that I believe there are now 5 married couples that are Photography 139 email subscribers. This also makes 4 Photography 139 email subscribers in Burnsville, Minnesota and 3 Photography 139 email subscribers in Johnston, Iowa. For those of you checking your Photography 139 Heat Maps. Those towns are on fire!

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very architectural Monday.

*First trip to that taco bar is on me!

For Russell

I actually have been pretty lax about photographing flowers this year. That is partially because the 2017 Photography 139 Calendar will go in a new direction. Partially because I haven’t even planted flowers in my yard this year. Partially because my daffodils didn’t bloom this year. Partially because I missed my window of opportunity to go to Pella this year to photograph tulips. Regardless, my daisies were the first of my flowers to bloom this year.

So I dedicate the first flower picture of 2016 to Russell, because he hates my flower photography. He will be in mourning since flowers will start to become a bigger part of this here blog in the coming months. Probably. Sorry Russell, that is how the cookie crumbles.






PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 125
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm
APERTURE: f/20
EXPOSURE: 1/100
DATE: 05/22/2016 – 13:18
LATITUDE: 42.05511°
LONGITUDE: -93.87082°
PHOTO ASSISTANT: None

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ ANSWER SHEET

QUESTION 5

When Olivia and I got married, who were my 5 groomsmen?

ANSWER: Jesse Howard, Anders Runestad, Jay Janson, William McAlpine, and Eric Hiatt

BONUS

I’ve been a groomsman or bridesman 7 times. Name the 7 grooms/brides I’ve served:

ANSWER: Jesse Howard, Jay Janson, Anders Runestad, Scott Degeneffe, Derrick Gorshe, Sara Lockner, and Nate Miller

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 36 – LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS

It looks like LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS also wasn’t an extremely popular theme. Might have to put it on the chopping block if this little project continues into a second year. I guess we’ll see.

On the positive though, it was extremely popular with first time submitter Sara Lockner. Hopefully this won’t be the last time a theme rings the creative bell for Sara.

This week’s submissions:


WEEK 36 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - KIM BARKER 1
Kim Barker 1

WEEK 35 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - KIM BARKER 2
Kim Barker 2

WEEK 36 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - SARA LOCKNER 1
Sara Lockner 1

WEEK 36 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - SARA LOCKNER 2
Sara Lockner 2

WEEK 36 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - SARA LOCKNER 3
Sara Lockner 3

WEEK 36 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - SARA LOCKNER 4
Sara Lockner 4

WEEK 36 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard

WEEK 36 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 36 - LETTERS AND/OR NUMBERS - BECKY PERKOVICH
Becky Perkovich

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future.

This week’s theme is…


WEEK 37 - EMOTIONS
EMOTIONS!

But what are EMOTIONS! Google defines EMOTION as a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationship with others. So capture somebody displaying an emotion. Even a second hand emotion like love. Or capture a scene that is the result of a emotion. Capture an image that is supposed to incite an emotion. (Although, quite frankly I hope that is what you’re trying to do with every image.) Or as always, define the theme any way that you want.

HOUSEKEEPING

RULES

1. The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.
2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by noon on the Monday of the challenge. It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 REMINDER DIVISION

A reminder that you can check out all the submission thus far by visiting the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE TAKE 3 Gallery on this here website. Click the below:

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE TAKE 3 GALLERY

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

I’m pleased to announce that the Persons are the latest people to show their taste, class, and sophistication by grabbing a Photography 139 email subscription. The short scoop on them is that they are the most talented photographers I know and have been family friends for as long as I have memories. If you see them out and about walking the mean streets of Boone, give them a knowing glance and show them the Super Secret Photography 139 handshake.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creeks don’t rise, we will commune again next Monday. Hopefully with a plethora of EMOTIONS pictures!

The Birthday Party of Fate (Roundup)

I’ve thanked all these people in person, but I’d like to publicly thank everybody that helped out in some either small or big way with my birthday party on Saturday.

Big shout out to Scott for making tons of delicious mouth watering chicken and jalapeno cream corn. I only wish I would have had time to help do more than just brine the chicken. If I am so inclined to do this again next year and you are so inclined to help with the food next year, I will have to schedule this so I can be more hands on with the process. I may have been The Master, but Scott was undeniably the Smoker Master. I just can’t overstate how amazing the chicken was people.

Much love to Scott’s (better-other-less high maintenance) half for making the Pick and Pluck. If I would’ve thought of it, I would’ve bought several gallons of ice cold chocolate milk to knock down while setting up shop on that thing.

Thanks to Logan and Corinna for holding down the grill and making an assortment of hot dogs and sausages to compliment the mouth watering chicken. I don’t really have any photos of the event, perhaps next year I can talk him/them into doing some candid photography for the party.

I’m always able to count on Dae Hee when I need some assistance. He came over and helped put up the canopies for the outdoor dining area, the tent for an additional child area, moved all the chairs from the basement to the outdoors, and watched 2 hours of GAME OF THRONES. A pretty solid effort!

Thanks to Jason for loaning me his Cornhole set.

Thanks to Shannon for loaning me her canopies, although I’m still unclear where one gets tailgating tents that don’t have Iowa State colors. Or why a person would even want such a thing.

Thanks to Jesse for laminating the beverage identification signs.

Thanks to Teresa for helping out in various tasks before the party started.

Thanks to my Mom for making a copious amount of side dishes and desserts. Nobody went home hungry. That is for sure.

Finally, thanks to everybody that took time out of their lives to come visit me:


Teresa
Brandon
Logan & Corinna
Aunt Linda
Kio
Steph, Katie, Jeff, & Yin
Carla, Jason, Alexis, and Johnathan
Mom
Scott, Melissa, Austin, and Porter
Steve
Dawn, Kevin, Scott, and Kayelee
Jen, Derrick, Evie, and Layla
Sara, Shawn, and Gretchen
Jesse, Kelly, Kalista, Saydie, and Taylan
Willy
Dan and Angie
Suzie
Monica and Jeff
Bethany, Dae Hee, and Nora
Jason, Will, Ben, and Nader
Andree
Anders & Nicholas
Shannon and Jason
Geri
Michelle, Craig, and Lily
Kim and Kevin

A special thanks to Dae Hee, Bethany, and Nora who came from Minnesota. Aunt Linda who came from Kansas. Stephanie who came all the way from Brooklyn. I guess I’m morally obligated to visit her in October now. Right?

Since I think that this party was a success on some level, I am tentatively planning on doing it again next year. Tentatively thinking about some time on Memorial Day Weekend next year. We’ll see how the cookie crumbles.

Now to the less than stellar news…

The Photo Booth was a success, but far from perfect. It turns out that the photo booth program I used has a painful little quirk. If the “Finish” button wasn’t pushed at the conclusion of the photo session, the program timed out and didn’t save the photo strip! The good news is that it did save the original images. The bad news is that there will be a night in my future where I’ll be piecing together photo strips from saved images. Yeah me!

For that reason, I did load up all the images into the party gallery. Not just the “finished” photo strips.

To see those images, click on the link below… (You can also download them by clicking on the down arrow icon.)

MANOS & PHOTOBOOTH IMAGES

However, thought I would share a few of them here as well:


But the good news is that I now have a thousand different ways to improve the photo booth for next year. Tentatively.

ROUNDBALL ORACLES – YEAR 12

Once again, the Madness is upon us. It is time to put your basketball knowledge to the test and try to take your place upon the list of immortals.

If you are interested in joining this year’s pool. Contact me via email at bennett@photography139.com.

Once again this year, there is no fee.

The champion will win The Roundball Oracles Trophy.

The last place adult (that gave full effort) will receive the Sara Lockner Good Effort Trophy.

League rules, how to get in, past champs below.

Rules

First Round: The weight for each correct pick is 1. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Second Round: The weight for each correct pick is 2. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Sweet 16: The weight for each correct pick is 4. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Elite : The weight for each correct pick is 8. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Final Four: The weight for each correct pick is 16. There is no bonus applied.
Championship: The weight for each correct pick is 32. There is no bonus applied.

Tiebreaker: The total score of the Championship game. Constitution:

Past Roundball Oracle Champions:

2015 – Derek Dohrman
2014 – Brandon Kahler
2013 – William McAlpine
2012 – Lowell Davis
2011 – Carrie Baier
2010 – Mark Wolfram
2009 – Mark Wolfram
2008 – Mark Wolfram
2007 – Tim Peterson
2006 – William McAlpine
2005 – William McAlpine

Past Sara Lockner Good Effort Recipients:

2015 – Derrick Gorshe
2014 – Sara Lockner

2015

So the walk down memory lane now concludes. With a look at the images that were in the calendar that early this morning will be taken down from kitchen walls (most common place I’ve seen the calendar hung up), office walls, cubicle walls, and placed gently in the trash with yesterday’s coffee grounds. 2015 Photography 139 Calendar I bid you a fond adieu.


2015 Calendar Cover
Front Cover

January - 2015 Calendar
January

February - 2015 Calendar
February

March - 2015 Calendar
March

April - 2015 Calendar
April

May - 2015 Calendar
May

June - 2015 Calendar
June

July - 2015 Calendar
July

August - Flower Calendar
August

September - 2015 Calendar
September

October - 2015 Calendar
October

November - 2015 Calendar
November

December - 2015 Calendar
December

If you ever get bored and want to take this walk down memory lane again, you can visit the Calendar and Postcards Gallery in the PHOTOGRAPHY 139 GALLERY. Link below:

CALENDAR & POSTCARD GALLERY

Since yesterday was the end of year and a holiday that many people celebrate (not me though, I don’t need the calendar gestapo telling me when to start a new year) I would like to take a quick moment to thank everybody that has continued to be an email subscriber to this here blog.

Off the top of my head and I apologize if I miss anybody:

These people are all original subscribers or at least haven’t changed their email since August 22, 2011. Which is how far back the records from off the top of my head go.

Jay Janson
Jason Baier
Shannon Bardole
Scott Degeneffe
Corey Faust
Susanna Funk
Jill Gorshe
Jesse Howard
Sara Lockner
Teresa Kahler
Nader Parsaei
Becky Perkovich
Bernice Verhoorn
Janice Peterson

Suzie Brannen – Since June 22, 2012
Eric Hiatt – Since August 20, 2012
Kim Barker – Since September 18, 2012
Amy Junck-Wallendal – December 18, 2012
Russell Kennerly – Since May 13, 2013
Tim Tucker (Not the one most of you are thinking about) – Since June 27, 2013
Michelle Haupt – Since July 12, 2013
Tim Tucker’s Woman (Sorry, never caught her name) – Since August 22, 2013
Geri Derner – Since September 30, 2013
Micky Augustin – Since October 10, 2013
Angie DeWaard – Since August 24, 2015
Mike Vest – Since September 9, 2015
Melissa Degeneffe – Since September 14, 2015
DaeHee Yoon – Since September 29, 2015
Monica Kewer – Since October 2, 2015 (Current email)
Carla Stensland – Since October 5, 2015
Joe Lynch – Since October 9, 2015
Jorge Rios – Since October 9, 2015
Anders Runestad – Since October 11, 2015
Elizabeth Nordeen – Since November 2, 2015
Laura Miller – Since November 9, 2015
Michael Houlihan – Since November 16, 2015
Dawn Krause – Since December 21, 2015
Joe Duff – Since December 21, 2015

Thanks for all the support and for making 2015 a successful year, by some sense of the word. I hope our little family here continues to grow. I’ll try and do better in 2016!

2010

The 2010 calendar was the last calendar that included a human subject. As I open up the subject matter past flowers for the 2017 calendar, it is possible a human subject might find their way back into the calendar. Until then Jill and Sara are the last humans to grace the calendar’s pages.



January


February


March


April


May


June


July


August


September


October


November


December

This was also the last calendar to feature an image that was heavily Photoshopped.

Use Them. Enjoy Them. Dominate Them.

Over 4 years ago, I felt it was time to retire The Friend Wall and replace it with something else. After reading a book from THE DAILY SHOW I came upon the idea to have 9 people pose while conveying 9 different emotions.

Many times I’ve thought about bringing back THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT with more people. Not just 9 more people, but more people. I even had a false start with Dawn that resulted in a photo shoot where the images have since been lost.

However, I now have began the process of starting again. I’m not sure where this will lead. There isn’t a timeline or a plan. I don’t know if any of the original 9 will come back and recreate their original photo shoot. Anything is possible.

So meet Michelle, who has become the first person to pose for the next generation of THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT photos.


9 Emotions - Michelle Haupt
Michelle Haupt

Read the 9 emotions left to right. Top to bottom. Take Tylenol for any headaches. Midol for any cramps.

1. Joy
2. Sadness
3. Anger
4. Amusement
5. Fear
6. Jealousy
7. Surprise
8. Sympathy
9. Boredom

I have even created a Gallery that is dedicated to housing the images from THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT.

The original 9 were:

1. Cousin Amy
2. Sara
3. Derrick
4. Jen
5. Jesse
6. Jay
7. Shannon
8. Willy
9. Jlll

If you want to visit that gallery, click on the link below:

THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT

Inside that gallery, for the first time for public eyes, I have released my photo shoot for THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT.

A question you might ask is this:

Will this pathetic mining of the past lead to future past mines?

The answer is maybe. I have tentatively been thinking about bringing back THE LABELS PROJECT as well. However, I really need to meditate on that one. I’ll get back to you on that one.

Another question might be:

Will these new images go on the THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT WALL in my living room?

The answer is no. I have a plan for that wall, but it is extremely expensive. What is that plan? Donate to my Go Fund Me page and maybe I’ll tell you*.

*I don’t have a Go Fund Me page.