Category Archives: Michelle

Andree, Angie, Baier, Basketball, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Dawn, Derrick, Faust, Flat Earth Joe, Frank, History, Jen, Jesse, Jill, Jorge, Laura, Lowell, Mark, Michelle, Micky, Nader, Robert, Russell, Sara, Shannon, Shawn Lockner, Tim, Toby, Willy

ROUNDBALL ORACLES – YEAR 12

August 5, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

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.

Carla, Flat Earth Joe, Jodie, Kim, Michelle, Nature, Scottie D., Steph, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 43 – SUNRISE/SUNSET

July 11, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 22 Comments

Participation took a little bit of hit this week. I’m sure it probably had to do a bit with the fact that there are only 2 times a day somebody could take a picture for this theme. If they were taking the theme literally. Or maybe something else caused a dip. I don’t know. I can’t read minds. I can barely read social media posts. I’m only human.

However, the submissions we did get were solid. The submissions for SUNRISE/SUNSET:

Carla Stensland 1

Carla Stensland 2

Carla Stensland 3

Christopher D. Bennett

Kim Barker 1

Kim Barker 2

Stephanie Kim

Michelle Haupt

Joe Lynch

Jodie Bennett 1

Jodie Bennett 2

Jodie Bennett 3

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:

SMOKE!

Also, perhaps not the most easily accessible subject. However, if you have to, go hang out with a smoker. Some of them don’t even smell that bad. Like the ones that smoke ribs on their decks. Those smokers smell delicious. Yes, I’m saying that Scottie D. smells delicious. I’m comfortable with it. Are you?

Personally, I’m hoping to get caught up in the middle of a protest this weekend. #BLACKLIVESMATTER If that doesn’t work out, I’m looking forward to having an excuse to start a fire. It really is a win-win! Social justice or pyromania!

If you think this is a difficult theme… 2 things:

1. Next week’s theme will be almost painfully easy.
2. It is probably a good time to leave suggestions for next year’s themes in the comments section of this here blog. To date, the only suggestion is GLITTERY.

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.

MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nothing new to report. Nobody new has displayed their class, taste, and sophistication by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try to do better next week.

That’s all I got, 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 smoky Monday.

Animals, Cathie, Contests, Flat Earth Joe, Michelle, Micky, Olympic Sports, Work

The Colo Derby

June 14, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

A couple Saturdays back I traveled to America’s crossroads: Colo, Iowa to take place in a turtle race that I have dubbed The Colo Derby.

My noble steed Titian dominated the competition, but on that day, it would NOT only be the turtles that smelled fishy. If you get what I’m laying down. Nudge-nudge-wink-wink! I’m saying the officiating was terrible. Okay.

Here are a few photos of this most American of travesties.

Most people never get this close to greatness.

Victory. Titian is thy name!

A training lap.

I’m hoping we can make some wishes out of turtle-planes.

The combatants and their steeds. Cathie (left) was the “victor”.

The official results and some dimestore (albeit very accurate) analysis:

1. Cathie’s Turtle (won because some people don’t understand time.)
2. Titian (second place because of the base ugly human emotion called jealousy.)
3. Joe’s Turtle (third place because Joe was afraid to touch his turtle and his turtle didn’t respect him for this weakness.)
4. Michelle’s Turtle (last place because Michelle hates animals and the turtle could sense it and the turtle quit on her.)

After the race was run, I placed Titian back in the 5 gallon bucket from which he came. I am a man. He is a turtle, but I know we made a very special connection that day. Our paths will cross again. We will have our vengeance!

Flowers, Macro, Michelle, Micky, Nader

A Punchable Flower

June 2, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

Before I start rambling about this picture, I should point out that AM Outdoors expert and friend of this here blog Michael Augustin corrected my assertion that yesterday’s blog featured a ground squirrel. When in fact, it was a chipmunk. A pox upon me, my good fellows.

Today’s post features a flower that I’ve always loathed. The iris. Take a look, you’ll see what I mean.

Don’t you just want to punch that flower?

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
FOCAL LENGTH: 70mm
APERTURE: f/5.6
EXPOSURE: 1/125
DATE: 05/31/2016 – 17:03
LATITUDE: 42.02903°
LONGITUDE: -93.62927°
PHOTO ASSISTANT: Nader Parsaei

Friend of this here blog Michelle recently pointed out that the last 2 posts have not included an answer to the CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ. So today you get two answers.

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 8

One year for Christmas I received Nirvana’s NEVERMIND for Christmas from my Grandparents. Many of my aunts and uncles were offended by what they called the album cover’s “child pornography”. My Grandpa put the cassette in his stereo, put on his headphones and listened to SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT. Upon the conclusion of listening to this song he summed it up like this, “Well it ain’t…” Which of his favorite artists did he compare to Nirvana?

ANSWER: HANK meaning HANK WILLIAMS SR.

BONUS

In 1983 I began attending Iowa State football games with my Grandpa. Where did we park?

ANSWER: Highway 30

Alexis, Anders, Andree, Baier, Bethany, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Dae Hee, Dawn, Derrick, Evie, Geri, Gretchen, Jason, Jeff Daniel, Jeff Kewer, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Kelly, Kim, Layla, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Mom, Monica, Nader, Naima, Nora, Sara, Scottie D., Shannon, Shawn Lockner, Steph, Steve, Suzie, Teresa, Tim, Willy, Yin

The Birthday Party of Fate (Roundup)

May 15, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

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.

Angie, Animals, Carla, Dustin, Kim, Michelle, Naima, Pastor Sarah, Shannon, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 26 – PET

March 14, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Quick post today:

Lots of submissions for PET! Here they are:

CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

ANGIE DEWAARD

CARLA STENSLAND

DUSTIN JACKSON 1

DUSTIN JACKSON 2

DUSTIN JACKSON 3

KIM BARKER 1

KIM BARKER 2

SARAH KARBER

TERESA KAHLER

SHANNON BARDOLE

MICHELLE HAUPT

Great submissions! Keep the momentum rolling with this week’s theme:

TREE!

Should be an easy one! Everybody has access to a tree or even trees!

No HOUSEKEEPING this week.

Angie, Animals, Bill, Kim, Michelle, Naima, Self-Portrait, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 25 – SELF-PORTRAIT

March 7, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

I think there were a healthy amount of SELF-PORTRAIT submissions this week. I know that submitting a selfie isn’t for everybody, it takes a certain amount of courage or arrogance. Whatever. Not judging.

Here are this week’s submissions for SELF-PORTRAIT:

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Angie DeWaard

Christopher D. Bennett

Bill Wentworth

Some great submissions… obviously.

But why dwell on the past… Let’s look to the future or more specifically… let’s look to this week’s theme:

PET!

Almost everybody has a pet. Yes there are a few out there that don’t have pets. Living lives of quiet desperation. Usually in Ankeny. However, even these people have access to the pets of other people. So I’m expecting big numbers next week.

As always, I can’t wait to see the submissions.

Also, remember. Your submission has to be taken the week of the theme AND has to be emailed to me at bennett@photography139.com by noon on Monday.

HOUSEKEEPING

PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

I am pleased to announce that the latest person to show off their keen intellect and sophisticated taste by becoming an email subscriber to Photography 139 is noted Iowa State journalist Logan Kahler. What do you need to know about Logan? He is related to me… by blood… so you can imagine how badass he is. I expect that he will become a fairly regular contributor to the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE at some point in the near future. He is a student at Iowa State University. A university I believe is the highest ranked college in this country when graded on academics, aesthetics, athletics, and how much its president looks like a James Bond villain. Logan enjoys spicy food and has knocked the spicy wings challenge at B-Dubs, but as a poor college student, he was disappointed to find out that didn’t mean his meal was free. If you see Logan walking the mean streets of Ames, give him a knowing glance and feel free to show him the Photography 139 Super-Secret Handshake.

Want to become an email subscriber and join this elite group of highly intelligent people, but don’t know how. Email me for details.

Angie, Blogging, Kim, Michelle, Russell, Shawn Karber, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 17 – TEXTURE

January 11, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Considering that this week’s theme was the most accessible, I feel like the amount of submissions isn’t too shabby.

Let’s have a look at the submissions for TEXTURE:

Angie DeWaard 1

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Angie DeWaard 2

Christopher D. Bennett

But what is this week’s theme? Scroll down:

STORE!

There are multiple definitions of STORE. When this theme was written, Humble Narrator was thinking about a place you go and buy things, but you can define the word in any way that speaks to you.

Since we are several weeks in, we should have a rules refresher.

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.
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.

HOUSEKEEPING

PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

There is a new email subscriber to celebrate this week. Sarah Karber has shown her keen intellect and sophisticated tastes by becoming a Photography 139 email subscriber. Sarah once worked for the Smithsonian and she got her Divinity degree from Vanderbilt. In short, she is one of the most fascinating people I know. So if you see her out and about walking the mean streets of Boone, feel free to give her the knowing glance and show her the super-secret Photography 139 handshake.

PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SUPER-SECRET HANDSHAKE DIVISION

I haven’t heard any reports from this division for quite some time. I think they’ve given up.

BLOGGING NEWS

A reminder that while I’m not posting these in AN ARTIST’S NOTEBOOK AKA The Journal AKA this here blog, the 2016 SELF-PORTRAIT PROJECT (or as Russell calls it THE SELFIE PROJECT) is ongoing and you can check in on it over yonder:

2016 SELF-PORTRAIT PROJECT

On Saturdays, I’m going to start publishing lists. This won’t be shared on any social media. It will be kind of a perk for being an email subscriber. Well, maybe a perk. Maybe a torment. I don’t really have real strong plans for it, but I’m sure you’ll be able to look forward to my opinions on things I know about (the best tenderloin spots in Iowa) and things I don’t really know about (I’m not really sure what qualifies here) to things I don’t really care about, but other people do (ranking the best STAR WARS movie to the worst).

Well, stop reading this and get out and take a STORE picture!

Anders, Angie, Baier, Becky, Blogging, Calendar, Carla, Cousin Amy, Dae Hee, Dawn, Eric, Faust, Flat Earth Joe, Flowers, Funk, Geri, Holidays, Houlihan, Jay, Jesse, Jill, Jorge, Laura, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Nader, Russell, Sara, Scottie D., Shannon, Suzie, Teresa, Vest

2015

January 1, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

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.

Front Cover

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

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!

Angie, Michelle, Scottie D., Shannon, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 15 – FRAMED

December 28, 2015 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I expected Christmas to take a toll on this week’s submissions… and it did.

But 2 submissions isn’t too bad for a more difficult theme and it was Christmas!

This week’s submissions for FRAMED:

Michelle Haupt

Christopher D. Bennett

Angie DeWaard

Shannon Bardole

Time to look forward to this week’s theme…

RED!

That should be a simple enough theme. Especially as the holidays continue. Including one of the biggest holidays of the year. The beginning of the Big 12 Basketball Conference Schedule!