Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of the Twin Cities teamed up with Rock the Cause to put on an awesome 80′s concert and event to raise money for BBBS. Guests came decked out in their most fabulous 80′s garb. The event also helped to create awareness of the current need for more “big brothers” and “big sisters” in the area.
To find out more about this great organization, visit their website: http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.drLRK6PELoF/b.1637475/k.BEB8/Home.htm
“e.kate designs” is a jewelry and clothing line found on Etsy. She is an amazing designer and her work was a real pleasure to photograph. We’d highly recommend checking it out… and just in time for Valentine’s Day too! (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ekate).
I had the opportunity to photograph Sarah Prosen this week, who just won the silver medal in the double-mini trampoline at the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (the competition is essentially the Olympics for her sport). Sarah will be a junior at Hamline University and this shoot was for Hamline Magazine.
We met at Gleason’s Gymnastic School, which is her practice gym in Eagan, MN, and it was such fun photographing her at work. The way the double-mini trampoline works, is you get a running start (similar to the vault) and jump onto a trampoline that’s slanted upward where you do your first trick, then land on a flat trampoline where you bounce to a second trick and onto the landing mat. Challenging? Yea. It was amazing to photograph, and she wasn’t even doing her difficult jumps.
I recently photographed Ashley Tisdale (of High School Musical fame) performing at the Mall of America to promote her new album, Guilty Pleasure, and movie with Robert Hoffman, Aliens in the Attic. It was a lot of fun, and pretty entertaining… but I definitely need to remember to bring my earplugs next time I’m shooting up front.
Luke Stombaugh came home from Iraq after his second year-long deployment with the Army National Guard. His wife, Amanda, asked us to document the emotional event when Luke and others from the 34th Combat Aviation Brigade arrived home to St. Paul. It was a beautiful moment and I was glad to be part of it.
I got to spend a couple hours this week photographing some of the coolest people I’ve ever met for the Special Olympics. It was their 2009 Spring Games and I did pictures during the swimming competition. What amazing people, both the competitors and the volunteers. I love the wonderful emotion and dedication I saw that day. If anyone has an opportunity to go to one of their events, or volunteer/donate in some way, I’d highly recommend it.
You can see the full shoot and buy prints here: http://ctryanclients.com/cart/. 100% of the proceeds go the the Special Olympics Minnesota.
I was such a huge Chicago Bulls fan as a kid, and I remember being so excited watching them “three-peat” when they won the 1993 NBA Championship. Today I got to meet and shoot some portraits of their shooting guard, Trent Tucker for the NY Daily News. It was very cool to meet him, and the work he’s doing with the Trent Tucker Non-Profit Organization is fantastic. http://www.trenttucker.org
Trent was a standout player with the University of Minnesota from 1978 to 1982, leading them to a Big Ten Conference championship in his senior year, so these shots were taken at Williams Arena where he used to play.
We had the opportunity to photograph a bunch of brave people jumping into frigid waters for the Special Olympics South Metro Polar Plunge. It looked like they were having a lot of fun but I don’t think you’ll catch me doing it any time soon. 
Although, the hot tub at the end seemed pretty nice. This was a great way to be part of the action, without having to actually jump in!
I was recently able to photograph Kevin James at the Mall of America while he was promoting his new movie “Paul Blart, Mall Cop.” It was pretty entertaining. He rode a Segway down the red carpet with a bunch of “real” mall cops and the Timberwolves mascot Crunch, then was interviewed by Minnesota Timberwolves player Ryan Gomes. One thing that really caught my attention was not only were they promoting the movie, but he was able to meet and be photographed with a number of kids from the non-profit organization HopeKids. They’re a fantastic organization! Check them out: http://www.hopekids.org/.
