Category Archives: Commercial

ACTORS

I did the publicity stills for the latest community theater production by ACTORS. This is what they look like:


Shannon Bardole
Shannon Bardole – Props

Troy Rutter
Troy Rutter – Director

Odie John Lofton
Odie John Lofton – Light Tech

Jane Johnson
Jane Johnson – “Dolly”

Jennifer Nieland
Jennifer Nieland – “Nedra”

Josh Van Waes
John VanWaes – “Steve”

Lanette Woodard
Janette Woodard – Costumes

Melissa Krepfle
Melissa Krepfle – “Heidi”

Cheryl Rogers
Cheryl Rogers – “Ethel”

Christopher D. Bennett
Christopher D. Bennett – Photographer (Photo by Shannon Bardole)

Dean Stevens
Dean Stevens – “William”

Geri Derner
Geri Derner – Co-Producer

Jarius Davis
Jairus Davis – “Bill”

Amanda Green
Amanda Green – “Kathy”

Barb Lofton
Barb Lofton – Stage Manager

Belinda Merritt
Belinda Merritt – Co-Producer

Ben Smith
Ben Smith – “Larry”

Brian Parrish
Brian Parrish – “Brad”

The play is called Game Show. It is playing Friday and Saturday nights, plus Sunday afternoons from April 9 through April 25. Tickets run you $15.00, cheap!

Also, I get 2 free tickets, so if you are interested, let me know.

Plus if you go on certain nights, you can meet people who were on actual game shows. Including a couple people that were on that Survivor show. Plus the woman that is married to that weather guy on channel 8.

Ames on the Half Shell

Last Friday was the first Ames on the Half Shell of the season. There was a pretty impressive turnout. I personally think that this can be connected to the incredible improvement in marketing between this year and last year.

For starters, there is a sweet new logo:

IMAGE LOST

There is also a sweet new look for the poster:

IMAGE LOST

Of course the website has been quite a bit revamped since last year, but I hate to toot my own horn on that one:

Ames on the Half Shell – Website has since been redesigned.

But about last Friday, I have posted some pictures in the Snapshots Gallery. Click on the picture or the link below to have a gander:

Ames on the Half Shell – Vivace

This Friday the Burnin’ Sensations take the stage and they are an incredibly fun band to watch play.

So come out this Friday and I will see you there!

Toys for Tots

I reported yesterday that I took pictures for the Toys for Tots press release for United Way of Story County. Here are a few of the pictures:


Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

This might have been the most fun I’ve ever had in a Wal-Mart.

Toys for Tots received thousands of dollars in donation on this day. I believe you can still donate, but I have no clue how. But if you are interested I could get you that information.

Roland, Iowa

Monica contacted me a month or so back about coming to Roland to take pictures of couples for the Roland American Legion Auxiliary during their annual Christmas Party.

Monica is the Co-President of the Roland American Legion Auxiliary with her Aunt.
The basic idea was to take pictures of couples and print the picture on site. Then place the picture inside a folder and sell the pictures for 5 bucks. All of that money would go to the Roland American Legion Auxiliary.

This was a job that was larger than one person. Lucky for my my Top Photo Assistant was available. Thanks to Shannon, the night went pretty smooth. She is slightly more organized than I am.



Test Shot of Shannon for Camera Settings


Co-Presidents

IMAGE LOST
You might be wondering why this guy has that look on his face. See picture below…

IMAGE LOST

It was a great night!

Functioning Feature

Now that my website is on a new server and my galleries exist again, I’m excited to announce that there is a new feature you can use in the galleries.

That new feature is eCards.

If you were to navigate yourself one of these two ways:

GALLERY DELETED

or

GALLERY DELETED

While you are looking through the pictures, you will see a little envelope. If you click on that envelope you can send an eCard out to any of your chums.

Let me provide you with some examples of why you would want to do such a thing.

Example 1:

Say that you have gotten into the doghouse with your lady friend. You don’t have time to call Barb Henning at Everlasting Flowers and Gifts. Navigate your way on over to the Flora Album. Pick out a flower picture and slap on some romantic poetry.

Before you know it, she will have completely forgotten that you said that she was turning into her mother.



Example 2:

Perhaps you have a friend that needs to take his personal hygiene up a notch, but you don’t want to say to his face, “Dude, you stink.” Just send him a reminder like this through the magic of cyberspace.


Little White Lye Soap

You could even recommend that he use a STRONG yet gentle soap like Little White Lye Soap, if you wanted to take it up a notch.

Example 3:

Perhaps Iowa State turned in an embarrassing performance against Nebraska again and you wanted to let your friend from Nebraska know that it didn’t change anything in your mind.


Iowa State vs. Nebraska

One of my favorite things Stephen Colbert ever said:

“The reason I love sports is because it is the only place left where blind regional hatred is still tolerated. Go team from where I’m from! Boo team that is from the place that is near where I’m from!”

I hope you enjoy this new feature and maybe you can look forward to getting an eCard in your mailbox from me in the near future.

Euphonious

Friday was an interesting day.

Of course there was the high of it being Free Gyro Day, but the rest of the work day went rather uneventful.

It was near 5:30, the time I was going to run out of hours and check out for the week, when my phone rang. This was a bit of a surprise and it caused my dart throw to completely miss the paper with the raccoon on it that has been put up as a makeshift dartboard in the hardware area.

I answered the phone and it was Shannon.

She asked if I was interested in taking a ride in the Ames Party Bus.

This was an interesting development because I had engaged in a few conversations with Becky earlier in the day about how she could put the rebuilt starter in the bus by herself. She had asked me what she should use as a jack to hold the starter in place while she tightened the bolts.

My answer had been simple: “Shannon.”

“Really.”

“She tells me how tough she is all the time.”

I don’t know if it was really my advice that she followed, but after Shannon got off work they managed to put the starter in and the bus started.

Below are some pictures of the adventure.


Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

After the cruise around town, I headed to a special FNSC. It was special because Jay had made caramel apples.


FNSC

It was also special because it was a perfect night for sitting around the fire bowl until 1:30 in the morning.


FNSC

Unfortunately that left me a bit tired for the trip to Kalona the next day.

Volt-face

Last Sunday I had some unexpected free time when I got fired from a friend’s photo project.

That is right I got:

  • A career change opportunity
  • Discharged
  • The Pink Slip
  • Dehired
  • Canned
  • Downsized
  • Let Go
  • Outsourced
  • Made Redundant
  • Skill-mix Adjustment
  • Released
  • Walking Papers
  • Shown the Door
  • The Ax
  • Terminated
  • Sacked

On the positive side, this freed up my Sunday afternoon.

I made the use of my time by taking some flower pictures.


Mums

Flower

Flower

Mums

Mums

Asters

Asters

Asters

Asters

Asters

Asters

Asters

Miums

Miums

Moonflower

I also was able to witness some Ames Party Bus painting. I have more pictures of this, but even posting the one picture that I’m posting is kind of violating an agreement I made.


Ames Party Bus

I made use of my unexpected freed up future.

New Sales Record

On Sunday I went down to Hy-Vee Hall to help man the Little White Lye Soap booth at The Women’s Life Expo.


Women's Life Expo>
The Women’s Life Expo

Women's Life Expo
Little White Lye Soap Booth

Before Sunday I had helped Shannon set her 1 day sales record at the Webster City Farmer’s Market.

After 1 day of the Expo, the record still stood.

Then came Sunday. We managed to shatter the record into a trillion pieces. Now I can’t take full credit for the record being shattered. I only talked to a handful of customer’s and none of them actually bought any soap, but I must be bringing something to the team. I have helped break the record twice. It must be something intangible. Something that you can’t quite place a finger on. Because of its ethereal nature, it can’t be replicated. I wish there was a word for it.

For reasons that are not clear to me, this new sales record is also shared with Becky. She wasn’t even in the building. Something to do with merchandising. That is okay, I guess, I can share the glory. As long as my name goes on the Sales Record Plaque first.

Don’t forget that if you are running low on Little White Lye Soap, you can pick some up at the Ames Downtown Farmer’s Market this Saturday. My understanding is that there will be a soapmaking demonstration going on. You’ll regret missing that.