Category Archives: Andree

Andree, Art, Football, Iowa State, Jesse, Road Trip, Travel

Alamo Bowl Road Trip – Phonetos

January 3, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

Last week Jesse and I hopped in a rental car and headed to San Antonio to watch the Iowa State Cyclones play against the Washington State Cougars and the worst refereeing crew from the Big Ten in the Alamo Bowl.

While the game didn’t turn out the way that we had hoped, it was still an amazing trip full of precious moments. Even though, we willfully drove by the Precious Moments Museum and did not stop.

Here are some pictures from the trip I took with my trusty Pixel 2:

I will have more commentary on these photos in upcoming posts.

Andree, Baier, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Photo Journal, Russell

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 56

September 21, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A few weeks back I got together with my bros from the West Ames Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. It might have been the first time we have been together all year.

We ate at the worst restaurant in Ames and went to the worst movie in theaters at that time, but I let all that slide as long as they agreed to pose for Page 56 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. Which they did!

Page 56 – Use framing to create a photograph within a photograph.

While only one picture can be physically adhered into the physical THE PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take a couple others.

I didn’t really give them any direction, other than to look through the window. I even let them choose where they sat on the firetruck. I wanted the picture to be about who they are and the decisions they made. Then you can figure out where they chose to sit, hold the window, and look says about each of them as a person.

Next time we check-in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we might look at Pages 78-79 or maybe Pages 48-49.

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If you have been paying attention to the news lately, you certainly heard about the senseless murder of Celia Barquin Aroamena. She was a former Iowa State golfer that was finishing up her Engineering degree. She was the European Amateur Champion. She was 2018 Big 12 Champion. She competed at the U.S. Open. On Saturday she was supposed to be honored as the Iowa State 2018 Female Athlete of the Year at the Iowa State football game. All reports are that as great of an athlete as she was, she was just as great of a person.

Monday morning, while she was practicing her craft, a man came out of the woods that line the golf course and murdered her. No real reason for it. He had been fantasizing about murdering a woman and so he did.

If you think about it for a million years, you couldn’t make sense of it.

On Tuesday, Iowa State Athletic Director sent out the following letter:

Sept. 18, 2018

Dear Cyclone fans,

It is with a very heavy heart that I share thoughts on the tragic passing of our former women’s golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena. Celia, who was the Big 12 Champion last year, was scheduled to be honored at this week’s home football game as our Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Celia, who is from Spain, was a fifth-year senior planning to graduate this spring with a degree in civil engineering.

Although the details of her passing are still being investigated, it is believed she was the victim of a senseless act of random violence committed by a total stranger, in broad daylight, while playing golf at the Coldwater Golf Course. This situation clearly cuts at the very core of our community, our institution and especially our athletics program.

I wish there were words or actions that would make this all better. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case. Losing one of our student-athletes is like losing a child. We are all devastated and heart-broken.

We also know that we must carry on in the same spirit that Celia lived her life. She was a passionate, caring and vibrant young lady who was so proud to be a Cyclone. She attended all the sporting events of her fellow student-athletes and was so excited to be selected as our 2018 Female Athlete of the Year. In fact, when she was told she was going to be honored on the field at this Saturday’s football game, she broke down and cried.

The purpose of this letter is to share with you we plan to move forward with honoring Celia on Saturday at the home football game. We will honor her with a video tribute and a moment of silence, prior to the marching band playing the national anthem. The tribute will take place at approximately 10:50 a.m. We strongly encourage all Cyclone fans to be in their seats by 10:45 a.m. to pay tribute and show her grieving teammates, coaches and friends, what it feels like to be fully embraced by Cyclone Nation.

I look forward to seeing you in the stadium Saturday morning.

Go Cyclones!

Jamie Pollard
Director of Athletics

Also on Tuesday, Celia’s teammates requested that fans wear yellow to the game. It was Celia’s favorite color. So if you are going to the game on Saturday, please be there on time for the moment of silence and wear yellow to honor Celia.

The football team will be wearing her initials on their helmet. Akron will also do that.

On a personal note, the man that murdered Celia was homeless. He lived in the woods behind where I work:

There are usually several people living back there. I’ve walked those woods several times and never feared for my safety, but I know a co-worker that wears a gun when he walks back there.

When I think about the whole situation, the one thought that keeps crossing my mind is, “We can do better. We can do better. We can do better…”

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A reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is BOREDOM!

BOREDOM!

A BOREDOM photo is a photo of somebody that is experiencing BOREDOM or an activity you do to fight BOREDOM.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andree, Becca, Becky, Bethany, Black & White, Colleen, Dawn, Faust, Jay, Jesse, Laura, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Monica, Movies, Nate, Nature, Pastor Sarah, Road Trip, Sara, Shannon, Steph, Teresa, Travel

Badlands Vol. 5

May 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The final set of pictures from my brief sojourn through the Badlands with my Mom:

That is it. That is the last of the Badlands pictures. Still have plenty of pictures from my trip to South Dakota to publish though. I’ll get through them all, some day.

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Actually that isn’t it. I’d like to thank everybody that wished me a happy birthday on Friday.

I believe this to be the entire list:

-Mom
-Jesse
-Michelle
-Teresa
-Dawn
-Nate
-Bethany
-Logan
-Shannon
-Becca
-Sara Lockner
-Stephanie
-Sarah Karber
-Colleen
-Micky
-Laura
-Aunt Linda
-Jay
-Faust
-Monica
-Andree
-Becky

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. It was a perfectly adequate birthday. I didn’t go to work. I got to do some tenderloining. I took some pictures. I hung out with my favorite dog in the world and one of my other favorite dogs in the world. I also watched ROAD HOUSE.

The movie that perfected throat ripping and had so many great lines like:

You know, I heard you had balls big enough to come in a dump truck, but you don’t look like much to me.

You’re too stupid to have a good time.

Take the biggest guy in the world, shatter his knee and he’ll drop like a stone.

I got married to an ugly woman. Don’t ever do that. It just takes the energy right out of you. She left me, though. Found somebody even uglier than she was. That’s life. Who can explain it?

Calling me sir is like putting an elevator in an outhouse. It don’t belong.

That gal’s got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that.

This place has a sign hangin’ over the urinal that says, “Don’t eat the big white mint”.

And of course

Pain don’t hurt.

If you missed your chance to celebrate my birth, you have one more chance. Next Sunday night is the Union Street Theater’s monthly movie night. Here are the movies for the double feature:

I chose the movies this month (instead of the usual committee that picks the movies) since it is my birth month. If you are wondering why I picked KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, then do you really know me at all.

I picked REAR WINDOW because I love that movie, it is directed by Hitchcock, it is about a photographer, the photographer is dating Grace Kelly, and it is is the best movie ever made about a photographer.

A close second is BLOW-UP. Right Jay and Jesse?

Projector rolls at 6 PM. I’m not sure if there will be any special treats for that night. We’ll see.

Andree, Baier, Basketball, Commercial, Football, Iowa State, Jay, Jesse, Nader, Russell, Willy, Work

04-19-08

April 21, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The following images are from the folder 04-19-08:

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following classic An Artist’s Notebook entries to their original glory:

LITTLE WHITE LYE BONUS

SPRING GAME

If you want to check out more pictures from Iowa State’s 2008 Spring Game, click on the link below:

2008 IOWA STATE CYCLONES FOOTBALL PHOTO GALLERY

Some of these pictures were taken as part of an ad campaign for Shannon’s soap company Little White Lye Soap. The rest are taken from the 2008 Iowa State Spring Game, obviously.

BONUS MEMORY

Racist Starbucks (as opposed to good Starbucks in Nevada, Iowa) has jogged a memory of mine that I’ve been think about lately.

(If you don’t know about Racist Starbucks, a Starbucks recently called the police and had 2 black men arrested who were waiting for a friend to meet them. The fact that Starbucks is racist comes as no surprise to me. I’ve long hated this company. I’ve never once been inside a Starbucks. I’ve unfortunately been drug through a Starbucks drive-thru a few times in my life. Thanks Bethany. You too Kim.)

In another life, when I was running a “restaurant” for the Evil Clown Empire I only called the police to have somebody thrown out of the “restaurant” once. However, I wasn’t even the person that did it. I wasn’t there when they removed him. I think I was running to another store to get product. I only heard about it later.

I believe it was an Iowa State football Saturday, so the store was busier than normal. A drunk homeless person had taken up one of our booths and then passed out. He was there for a couple of hours before the police were called to remove him from the store.

The man was still passed out when the police arrived. The officer grabbed the guy from the back of the head and slammed his face into the table. This woke the guy up and then they escorted him out of the store.

I wonder about what would have happened if I would have been in the store. I know I wouldn’t have taken kindly to the police slamming his head against the table.

I wonder what would have happened if the technology of today existed then. I have no doubt somebody would have videoed the event and it would have ended up on The Facebook, assuming that The Facebook was still for college students and hadn’t been ruined by old people and wasn’t funneling your personal information to the Russians.

I’m sure the conversation with the Son-in-Law (the incompetent boob that was my boss) on the following Monday would have been a hoot.

Next time we take a stroll down memory lane we will probably take even more of a look at some Little White Lye Soap commercial photography.

Andree, Angie, Baier, Basketball, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Cathie, Dawn, Derrick, Faust, Frank, Jesse, Laura, Linda, Lowell, Mark, Michelle, Micky, Nate, Portrait, Robert, Russell, Sara, Shannon, Tim, Toby, Willy

Roundball Oracles – Year 14

April 3, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liars chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

It is done. College basketball is over for another season.

In 11 days Iowa State football will hold their Spring Game. After that, the only sports worth watching until college football kicks off in 5 months is the NBA Playoffs. I’m not sure what I’ll do with my spare time. Maybe I’ll clean my house. Now I’m really depressed.

Who isn’t depressed?

Paul Golden, that is who! For the second straight year, he is cutting down the nets for the Roundball Oracles. His name had been added to the List of Immortals:

The List of Immortals

2018 – Paul Golden
2017 – Paul Golden
2016 – Michelle Haupt
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

One more trophy and he will tie Willy and Mark for the most crowns ever!

I held onto Paul’s trophy from last year, when in became apparent he might win again, so I don’t have a picture of Paul with his trophy yet. But when I do, I’ll share it here.

I do however have a picture of last year’s The Sara winner:

Shannon with The Sara

However, Shannon did not have the guts to come back and defend her The Sara Title. Therefore, there is a new The Sara “Winner” this year.

“Congrats” to Robert Henning for being the last place adult, that tried to win. I have went over his bracket with a fine tooth comb and even though he picked Kansas to win it all, it would seem he was trying to win in good faith. He joins the List of Mortals:

The List of Mortals

2018 – Robert Henning
2017 – Shannon Bardole
2016 – Laura Priest
2015 – Derrick Gorshe
2015 – Sara Lockner

There were 35 entrants this year. A slight dip from past years, but that was to be expected with the lack of any local teams in the tournament. Most of us adopted Loyola as our team, since they were powered by former Cyclone Clayton Custer.

However, it was a clean, close competition. Michigan’s defeat of Loyola in the Final Four left it down to just Rachel and Paul battling it out for the trophy. Villanova’s complete shellacking of Kansas gave Paul the repeat.

But you didn’t come here to listen to any of that tommyrot. You want to see the final standings:

1 Paul Golden 248
2 Dawn Krause 243
3 Yours Truly 243
4 tim peterson 232
5 Michelle Haupt 232
6 Nate Miller 230
7 Jordan Toot 224
8 Corey Faust 223
9 Angie DeWaard 221
10 Rachel Johnson 219
11 Lowell Davis 215
12 Benjamin Baier 213
13 Derek Dohrman 205
14 Cathie Raley 204
15 Bill Wentworth 200
16 Sean G. 198
17 Linda Bennett 195
18 Jesse Howard 195
19 Olivia Baier 188
20 Toby Sebring 185
21 Russ Kennerly 184
22 Jackson Faust 182
23 Sean Clubine 173
24 Jason Baier 173
25 Micky Augustin 167
26 Brandon Kahler 166
27 Nader Parsaei 166
28 Andree Jauhari 165
29 Liz Nordeen 165
30 Carrie Baier 162
31 Laura Priest 158
32 FHMeiners 156
33 Becky Perky 152
34 Will Baier 148
35 Robert Henning 141

The good news is that next year is that the state of Iowa won’t be shutout of the NCAA Tournament. If nothing else, the first two “real” rounds will be held in Des Moines. Plus Iowa has a lot of young talent that will be back next year. Admittedly, they still have the same sub-par coach, but they should be good enough to go dancing for a short while.

Iowa State on the other hand will be one of the most interesting teams in the country. This year’s team was very young and was decimated by injuries. The only major loss from last year’s team is Donovan Jackson, which Kansas fans know, is a major loss. However, assuming Lindell Wigginton comes back (and almost everybody assumes he will), they return a future first round pick in Wigginton and fellow freshman stud Cam Lard. Plus you bring Babb and Solomon back from injuries. Bring back a big time contributor down the stretch in Zoran Talley. A much improved Terrence Lewis will fight for playing time with super impact transfer Marial Shayok and impact transfer Michael Jacobson. Then add stud freshman Talen Horton-Tucker to the mix. One guy you don’t want to sleep on is Zion Griffin. Plus they are adding Tyrese Halliburton and George Conditt. I don’t expect those 2 to contribute next year, but they will be huge in the coming years.

This will be the most talented roster since Iowa State had 5 NBA players on the roster a few years back. That team lost in the first round of the tourney. I expect much bigger things from the Cyclones next year. The future is bright in the Cyclone State!

Andree, Angie, Baier, Basketball, Bill, Brandon, Dae Hee, Dawn, Derrick, Faust, Frank, Jen, Jill, Jorge, Laura, Logan, Lowell, Michelle, Micky, Nader, Nate, Robert, Russell, Sara, Shannon, Tim, Toby, Willy

Roundball Oracles – Year 14

March 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

It is once again time for the Roundball Oracles NCAA Tournament Pool.

I want to start by saying that Paul and Shannon, your trophies for last years accomplishment and “accomplishment” are on order. They will be in your possession by the end of next week.

Here is the proof that I ordered the trophies:

The pool is your pretty standard pool. Pick the games. Pick the final score of the championship game. Win a trophy. This year, I’ll deliver on the trophy much earlier.

The pool doesn’t cost anything, but pride, but the winner gets a trophy and the last place adult (that tried) gets The Sara Trophy.

Here is a list of past champions.

The List of Immortals:

2017 – Paul Golden
2016 – Michelle Haupt
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

Last year 38 people took their shot at mortality. Paul Golden came home the winner. Shannon Bardole came home with The Sara.

Last Year’s Standings:

RANK TEAM NAME SCORE
1 Paul Golden 260
2 Frank Meiners 252
3 Angie DeWaard 247
4 Michelle Haupt 242
5 shawn lockner 238
6 Jen Ensley-Gorshe 231
7 Jorge Rios 231
8 Andree Jauhari 226
9 tim peterson 226
10 Jordan Toot 225
11 Carrie Baier 225
12 Toby Sebring 224
13 Lowell Davis 222
14 JJ Baier 221
15 Logan Kahler 220
16 Jason Baier 218
17 Dae Hee Yoon 213
18 Jackson Faust 211
19 Dawn Krause 209
20 Jon DeWaard 208
21 Nader Parsaei 204
22 Derek Dohrman 203
23 William Baier 202
24 Robert Henning 194
25 Christopher Bennett
26 Bill Wentworth 193
27 Rachel Johnson 192 36
28 Russell Kennerly 190
29 Nate Miller 189
30 Michael Augustin
31 Derrick Gorshe 181
32 Elizabeth Nordeen 164
33 Laura Priest 162
34 Corey Faust 160
35 Jill Gorshe 152
36 Shannon Bardole 149
37 Olivia Baier 143
38 Benjamin Baier 121

If you are interested in participating this year, drop me an email and I’ll get you hooked up.

If this post seems kind of low energy, don’t worry, Iowa State and my passion for the tournament will be back again next year!

Andree, Baier, Black & White, History, Jay, Night

03-12-08

March 3, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The following images are from the folder titled 03-12-08:

By restoring this pictures to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following blog post to its original glory:

MMMM…. EEL!

These pictures were taken one night with Jay, Baier, and Dre.

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Shimmer and Destiny.

Andree, Art, Baier, Basketball, Derrick, Football, Iowa State, Jay, Jeff Kewer, Jesse, Nader, Night, Scottie D., Work

01-31-08

December 16, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The following images came from the folder 01-31-08:

The main takeaway from this collection of photos to me is that I hope I still have a full resolution photo of the Rambo Platoon somewhere. RAMBO is a horrible movie, but that was a great night!

The quarter picture was from the computer mine. The statue is Jack Trice, but of course, you already knew that. Those light up Iowa State athletes used to be in front of the Jacobson Building, but they took them down a few years back.

By adding these images to the Photography 139 SmugMug Gallery, I was able to restore the following past entries of THE ARTIST’S NOTEBOOK:

JACK TRICE WALLPAPER
THE LOST QUARTER
BHS ALUMNI
RAMBO PLATOON

I’m not exactly sure where next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will land. Might be some Little White Lye Soap. Might be some Angry Brad’s Designs.

Andree, Baier, History, Russell, Weddings

09-25-07 Wever Wedding

July 15, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

This entry isn’t a “fashion blog”, but a look back at the Wever wedding.

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will be a combination of a few folders. The next chronological folders have lots of pictures of doomed relationships that nobody wants to relive and we’ll take a look back at what was a much brighter day for America.

Andree, Angie, Candid Portrait, Faust, Jill, Kim, Laura, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Shannon, Steph, Suzie, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 81 – FACELESS PORTRAIT

April 3, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

FACELESS PORTRAIT is challenging, but still, a handful of hearty photographers gave it a whirl. But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about heart. You came to see the submissions:

Mike Vest

Suzanne Brannen

Michelle Haupt

Stephanie Kim

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Angie DeWaard

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:

ANGRY!

ANGRY seems like a pretty straight forward easy theme. It should be easy to find somebody you know that is ANGRY. Or something that makes you ANGRY.

Personally, I’m somebody that people rarely see ANGRY, but I’m told I have a “look” when I’m ANGRY. I assume that this look is what I captured in the reveal photo above.

So get out there and get in touch with your inner Hulk. Incredible, or otherwise.

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

Nothing new to report. I’ll try to do better next week.

Want your own Photography 139 email subscription? Call, email, or text me and I’ll get you the hook up.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 GALLERY DIVISION

Sometimes people send me descriptions of their photos. I’ve never done anything with that information in the past. However, if you send me a description in the future, I will add it to your image in the Weekly Photo Challenge Gallery that houses all the submissions.

MESSAGE FROM THE ROUNDBALL ORACLES DIVISION

Tonight is the national title game and there are two people still alive in the pursuit to have their name put on the List of Immortals, next to other basketball greats like Running Wolf and that missionary guy from Taiwan.

Here is what you need to know to base your rooting interests tonight:

IF North Carolina (a fine academic institution COUGH! COUGH!) wins, Paul Golden is this year’s Roundball Oracles Champ!
IF Gonzaga (a school that nearly closed in the 90s) wins, Andree Jauhari is this year’s Roundball Oracles Champ!

I know who I’m rooting to win. (Hint: It involves which one it will cost me the least amount of money to ship the trophy to…)

Good luck gentlemen!

On the other side of the coin. Congratulations (I think) go out to Shannon Bardole (for the moment) for winning this year’s The Sara! The trophy awarded to last place adult that tried really, really hard. She edged out Jill Gorshe, Corey Faust (all that hockey must be going to his brain), and Laura Miller. Laura was close to clinching a repeat. However, South Carolina’s Final Four run gave her just enough points to best Shannon, Jill, and Faust in the final standings. Well played Laura!

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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 angry Monday!