miracle open @ deer run...

another gorgeous day yesterday.
seems i'm saying that everyday!

this tournament never disappoints!
it's always fun and almost always
sold out. this year was no exception!



not quite as hot as last year (102)
(thank God!) but certainly not as
cold as the very first year that it
was held out at dahlgreen in chaska
5 falls ago. we thought it was
going to snow that year! man, that was
a cold one!



i think we could have had squirt guns
and water balloons at every hole!
not that the sangria at 17 (compliments
of the airport hilton in bloomington)



or the jello shots at 13 weren't enough!!
i think becky (mitch's mom) had like
15 total jello shots...ugh!!



here's becky having birthday cake on the 14th
green with mitch!
(yesterday would have been his 14th birthday.



here's becky proudly displaying
her score card.."i got a 12 on 13!"
(um, th at would be jello shots!)



or was it...13????



then steve and i got into the reddi~whip!!!



remember calm, cool and collected shawn anderson
from the hilton??? yea, here he is with
melissa (mitch's sister) after their stand off!



thanks steve...



i just got hired for a StarkeyLab function
on thursday so i need to go re~arrange my
schedule for that day.
this will be at the WFA Center and then
a cocktail hour(s) at their home immediately
following. thanks raphael! (we worked the gala
together~he's their main guy..pictured on left)


who knows what will become of this???????

miracle open 2007

today would have been mitch chepokas'
14th birthday (happy birthday mitch!).
so at today's (5th annual) "miracle open"~
held at deer run in victoria, mn on the 14th
hole, they are serving birthday cake!
i think i'll be there a lot today! :)

yesterday i had the privilege of meeting
and greeting about 150 kids with cancer
up at camp courage in annandale, minnsota.
i have never been to a camp like this
before. i watched these kids come walking
up to registration, running up, skipping up,
running AND screaming...so much energy!

below, from left to right...
karen (executive director),lexi (her assistan),
melissa (mitch's sister), steve (mitch's dad),
dr. joanna perkins (of children's),
becky (mitch's mom) and joanna's two boys.




one young man, age 15, was returning for
his 8th year at this camp. these camp
counselors have watched many of these kids
grow up with their diseases. pretty cool.

the campers quickly were assigned to a cabin,
picked out a bed and changed into swimsuits
for what looked like a registration day ritual~
a GIANT slip and slide was placed on a hill
and coated with soap~and man, what a perfect
welcome on a hot summer summer day!
now the kids were clean too!! :)

even lexi got into the fun!



as the registration desk waited for their
interpreter for 5 year old twin brothers
i shared my spanish with them as they spoke
poquito english...it's alway a great joy
for me to communicate in another language!

dr. joanna perkins was there and will be all
week with these kids. joanna brings along her
to sons and they bunk with kids their age.
pretty cool experience for young boys to
be surrounded with kids with cancer.
pretty life shaping i'd say.



here's a few of the nurses on hand for the week!
lots of meds to keep track of here!



here's the twin boys..aren't they adorable!?




side note...a lot of noise upstairs this
morning...why? apparently gary has decided
that today was the day we replace the window
over the sink! who knew!?
i don't know about you, but when i hear
the electric saw in the house...i get nervous!
so, here's to keeping the project under
a thousand bucks! am i right, ladies???

off to deer run for some fun.
this fund raiser is referred to as a
"mature event for immature adults!"
in the spirit of mitch there is a water
balloon launcher, super soakers and all
kinds of goofy side games...it's always
a blast!

bye.

meet spike & lauren...

well, as you can plainly see from the
slide show, we had some fun yesterday!
thank you spike and lauren for allowing
me the opportunity to run you a round
and photograph you both! spike you are
undoubtedly a professional~ you made my
job very easy and to lauren, thanks
for being my lovely assistant and jumping
in when i asked...even tho' you weren't
feeling prepared. you were a treat to
photograph as well!
(to view these images individually simply
click on the "view all images" tab.)


this morning i'm heading up to annandale
to camp courage to photograph the arrival
of all the cancer kids that are being
sponsored this coming week by the miracles
of mitch foundation. i'm going to wear my
crazy orange hat! this is going to be
a wild, fun afternoon!

tomorrow, i will head out early to
hazeltine national golf course in chaska
to photograph another northwestern event
(love to cover golf tournaments!) and then
i'll move on to deer run in victoria to
cover the golf fund raiser for the
miracles of mitch foundation...AND tomorrow
would have been mitch's 13th birthday.
i can't believe it's been 4 years since
mitchie died. so much good has been done
in that short amount of time...all
because of a "pinky swear" between mitch
and his dad, steve. to read more about the
foundation go to the link at the top of my blog.

gotta run...

bass challenge review...

WOW!!!!
what a day we had yesterday!
northwestern health sciences university
really knows how to put on a fund~raising
event! way to go brady! nice job!

arrived at lord fletcher's at 9:30am.
(with my red, ranger boats hat on!)
wandered around and found brady who
introduced me to mark ziegler,
dr. mark is the president of nhsu, who
then said "hey, do you know who this is?
this is anthony bonsante."
and i said "the bullet?? from the
contender? i sat nearly ring~side at both
of your target center fights
last winter and watched you pound on
vanda AND i bought a "bullet" shirt
AND i photographed your kids at the
first fight!!...yes, i know tony!"
mark ziegler then asked if he could
take a picture of the two of us..sure!

he made me put up my dukes...sorry.





and then i had him talk to my sister!



i have GOT to get to excelsior right now
to photograph spike & lauren so
i'm going to save the rest for tomorrow...

have a fantabulous day (let's see if THAT
one makes it into the dictionary!! it should...
it really should..

bye

ranger's bass challenge...

getting ready to head out to lord
fletcher's on the lovely lake minnetonka.
i'll be covering the event today
for brady forseth of northwestern
health sciences university.
it is GORGEOUS out and the humidity
is leaving us today..good riddance!
PERFECT day for the event!!

it was so darn hot and humid yesterday
that gary went out to pick up some
wine and actually brought home a bottle
of santa margherita pinot grigio!
(and some scrummy chinese take~out!)
white wine and chinese is something
that we almost never do...THAT'S how
hot it was!!!

we minnesotan's are always talking about
the weather...why is that?

yesterday i got some requests to shoot
a few more bella weddings in september~
that's cool! more on those as they develope.

oh, later tonight we are getting together
with friends for a pheasant dinner.
gary and all his buddies that hunt pheasant
in the fall typically get together over the winter
and throw a big 'ol pheasant feed (wives too)
and somehow this year the time got away
from everyone and so we're doing it tonight!

megnan is loving her wedding photos.
i released her event to her yesterday and
i got a sweet note from her last night.

i also received a beautiful thank you in the
mail yesterday from the mother of the baby i
photographed for "now i lay me down to sleep"
back on the 10th. she included a check for $25
and i plan to donate it back to the organization
in her daughter's name.






people ask me all the time...
"how can you do that?" or
"i could never do that." and this
is what i tell them....

i can do all things through God,
who strengthens me.

God is great!

even hotter today!

hard to believe that we could get
warmer but "they" tell us that, in fact,
today will be the hottest day (even tho'
they originally said that yesterday
would indeed be the hottest day!).
oh well, hot is hot, right dean?

at 10 o'clock last night it was still
90 degrees out...yuck!
that's the trouble with this state~
when it gets really hot out, it never
cools down. storms expected later today.
even gary said that today would be
a "9-hole day" (men's league day).
'sposed to cool down a bit friday.
i just hope that it's decent for the
bass challenge!

uploaded megnan and randy's images to
pictage last night. i'll go through them
today and sort them into categories
and then release them to the "clays"
later on today. i know that they are
anxious to see them all.

gary just got invited to play down at
northfield's golf club this saturday
with some old buddies of his. he hasn't
seen them in awhile.
i said..."go for it, i've got a shoot
that morning!" lauren & spike are excited
to get together that morning for their
session on the town.

my camera is sitting on top of my bag.
it's been there all week. i'm sad about
that. someday soon i will have someone
sitting at the computer editing and posting
FOR me so that i can just shoot!
that is going on my goal list for next
year! goals are good!

july has alreadt been so crazy and it's
going out with a bang this weekend for me.
now, i don't want to wish the summer away
but i am looking forward to august!
i'll be shooting with ryan johnson
of the chicago area for a bella pictures
wedding. i love to head out with other
photographers and work side by side.

more senior portraits in august and i
adore photographing young adults.
i love how progressive these shoots
have become over the years.
it's no longer glasses on/glasses off.







cool down tonight and into tomorrow~
well, less humidity anyway.

until then.

more heat on tap...

remember the white stuff???





today will be one of the hottest
days we've had in a very long time.
the "humiture", or "heat index" as
most of us call it, will reach
well over 100 today in much of minnesota.
another good day for a pool of a pond!

this terminology is born when all
of the meteorologists get together
and invent cool words to distract us
from accurately forecasting the weather!

but no matter how you slice it today...
it's gonna be a hot one!

i'm trying desperately to apply some
cool new actions into my CS3
(david jay's "showit effects").
i'm struggling and i'm so anxious to use
them and share with you some before
and after shots but i'm still waiting to
hear back from some of the folks at
david jay's site..very cool actions!!

should i talk about lindsay lohan?
ummmmmm.....no. altho' the mug shot
was actually not bad! :)

huge hair day today. no, i don't mean
my clients are all from texas, just that
i'll be busy straight through with it.
i have vowed to just let my photos sit
for a day and give my computer a rest.
(and me)

so, what else???? i guess that's it for
today. i'll wrap up megnan and randy's
images tomorrow and then the weekend
hits and i'll be running on all cylinders!

2 words to leave you with today...
"heat exhaustion"!
as we say here in minnesota...
"it's not the heat, it's the stupidity!"

be smart today.

hazy, hot & humid...

the next few days are going to be nasty.
good thing i have a lot of work to take
care of inside!
wrapping up many projects in anticipation
of this weekend's wide array of location
shooting....this should be fun!

so how does everyone else feel about
drew carey hosting the price is right?
i think the show should have just gone
off the air with bob barker...my opinion.

oh, i forgot to mention that a terrific
client of mine's (lauren) boyfriend, "spike"
has agreed to have me photograph him.
he is already with an agency and does
quite a bit of modeling but when i asked
if i could get the two of them together
for a shoot, they said sure so this saturday,
in the middle of an already crazy weekend,
the three of us are going to head out
downtown minneapolis and goof off a little!
that'll be a gas! plus, lauren is darling!

say, remember the topiary guy that i told
you about from the starkey gala event???
his name is ricardo edelstein. i found
some images that i shot for he and his
wife, bobbie, of the topiaries he did for the
vip party at the austin's home in eden prairie.
these things were amazingly fabulous!







be sure to visit their hugo location,
web site and blog...they are listed under
the links at the top of this page.
tell him i sent you!

late entry from this past weekend...
the "boys of summer" birthday party~
here's ben & the family (he turned 15
on the 18th!)



and ben with his 3 uncles with
whom he shares a summer~month birthday.
(ben, mike, tim & scott)



stay hydrated, indoors and inspired!

ultimate bass challenge...

this friday, the 27th, i will be at
lord fletcher's on lake minnetonka awaiting
a shuttle to take me to the location of the
"ranger boats ultimate bass challenge".
go check out some of last year's photos!
(i wasn't there last year)

i'll be buzzing around in a ranger
bass boat photographing the event.
i'm so excited to have been selected
to cover this! a day out on one of
minnesota's premier lakes photographing
people that have taken the day off
to go fishing!! some serious, some
not so much! :) thanks brady forseth of
northwestern health sciences university.

this event's beneficiaries are the
starkey hearing foundation and the
miracles of mitch foundation. very cool!

then on sunday, i'll be heading up to
camp courage to cover the arrival
of all the cancer kids that will enjoy
a week of fun & games with other cancer kids
all sponsored by the miracles of mitch foundation
(about a 50K investment).

if that weren't enough...the MOMF
is having it's 5th annual golf fundraiser
on monday the 30th! i'll be there
as well! wow! from a triathlon to
fishing to camping to golfing...hmmm...
sucks to be me, right!? :P

okay, i MUST get back to megnan & randy's
wedding before the entire morning is gone!

it's gonna be a hot sticky one today.
gary's golfing in a benefit golf tourney today.
the cat's are great and their haircuts are
growing out...it's just too darn cute!
think i'll stay indoors today and get all
my stuff done! wow!

rejoice today!

megnan & randy's slide show....

i tried to post this several days ago
but it wouldn't go up...not sure why.

well, a big day yesterday!
got to lake nokomis around 10:30.
race participants beginning to check in,
final touches on the course being made.
sunny, not a cloud in the sky, about 70 and
a nice breeze. perfect!
checked in and started shooting...

some of our lovely volunteers!



becky (mitch's mom) and melissa
(mitch's sister)



mitch's grandparents (diane & ron stanchfield)



mascots from the twin cities marathon..
and chester cheeta and the bear? not sure
who he was...



at this event, there was only about 150-200
kids (not certain where the "1500" number came
from yesterday..oh well...).
4 cancer kids raced too! one had just gotten
home from the hospital on friday. amazing strength
these kids have!!

this is brady's family. his 3 girls raced!



here's becky and steve chepokas (mitch's parents)
and karen fernow (the new executive director)



tony shiller was the man behind the triathlon.
he's traveled the world and participated in
many iron man competitions...a great organizer
and a terrific human being!



it was a fabulous day! many many giving
folks stepped up to volunteer at the nokomis
triathlon. next year it will triple in size!

relax today.
keep satan at bay!! :)

race day...

this morning i'm heading down to
lake nokomis in minneapolis to
shoot the "miraclekids triathlon".
it is the largest kids triathlon in the world!
this is year 4 for the event but the first
year that they have set up a 2nd location.
as i mentioned a day or so ago, the chanhassen
one is in august.

it's been rumored that over 1500
kids total (between the 2 event dates)
are racing. these kids just run,
swim and bike for the fun of it.
the slogan for the event is...
"kids racing for kids who can't".
this triathlon is one where the kids
that participate raise money for
the "miracles of mitch foundation".
it's a really wonderful organization.
here's a few shots from last year...







i'm anxious to get down there so
i'll keep this short.

later today i will join my entire
family over at anne & pete's for
"the boys of summer" party.
each summer we get together to
celebrate the men in the family that
have a birthday in jun & july.
this just means that we don't have
to get together every other weekend
for burgers and cake...we just do
it once! the weather is so perfect
today that anne has invited everyone
to come early and swim and party all day.
so i'll get into the action later.

happy birthday ben, mike, scott and tim!
see you soon.

friday???

so sorry,
i have not been able to sit at
my computer for a couple of days
for any length of time....

everything is good, everyone's fine,
just lots going on.

today i am working in the salon
for awhile. i needed to reschedule
everything from yesterday to today.
my sister gave us all a scare
yesterday. she was feeling lousy
and when she described what she was
feeling to her dr., they said
"head for the emergency room."
so i ran her out to waconia (amanda
and emily too) and waited out some
testing. after the CT scan we went
into her room to visit and emily
immediately grabbed some gloves and
sat on the little stool and rolled
over and said "i'll be examining you
today..." and that kind of broke the
mood...it was cute.
the CT scan showed nothing...nothing
abnormal so they said, take it easy,
stay home from the gym for a week or so,
and see your physician in a couple of days.
and that was it. so i guess medically
she's "A~okay"...that's great news.

last night of vacation bible school last
night...fun and exhausting!

miraclekids triathlon is tomorrow at
lake nakomis (the chanhassen one is
next month). this is the first year that
they are doing 2 locations...should be
a blast! i'll post some of those images
next week.

i'll be concentrating on megnan and randy's
wedding images this weekend and getting
them up on pictage for them to proof.

oh, nearly forgot....
i received my CDs with the images that i
shot at the starkey hearing foundation events.
here's a couple of my favorites!

steve chepokas and i...he was instrumental
in getting me this wonderful opportunity.



C.Everett Koop & i...



Jane Seymor and i at the Griffin Gallery
(with my new, signed, jane seymor handbag)



Leslie Nielson at the Austin home.
(this is what happens when you trust
someone else to take a nice photo!)




hey, i'd love to post more, but
have a ton of catching up to do so i'm
signing off for today.

glad you're okay anne! i love you.

happy birthday ben!!!!

okay, i'm never too swamped to throw
a little distraction my way.
i saw this on fox 9 this morning....
simpsonize me not quite as fun as
monkey mail but i like to try new things! :)

keep in mind that i am a serious
photographer with lots to do but
every now and again a little break
in the day is a good thing! :)

today is my nephew, ben's, birthday.
he turns 15. i saw him last night
when i stopped to see anne & pete's
new furniture and i totally forgot
to say anything to him!!
they are going to valley fair today
with a bunch of folks! it's going
to be a super hot one today with
tons of humidity. all the water ride
lines will be a mile long!

here's ben goofing off for me..



and here's ben with "g" on 7-7-7..



here's ben & me...



woops....that's not ben, that's my dive
master alberto....rrraarrr...

here's scuba~ben with me in mexico suiting
up to go diving...



stay inside today!
if you have to go out...remember....
DON'T TURN YOUR TIRES ON YOUR DRIVEWAY!!
(this message brought to you by gary austin
with minnesota roadways)