Category Archives: Family

Animals, Bethany, Dae Hee, Nora, Olympic Sports, Pastor Sarah, Shawn Karber, Street Photography, Travel

Here’s Scotland. Here’s Ireland. There’s the Bloody Sea!

September 20, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back I spent the weekend up in Minnesota. I went with Bethany, Dae Hee, Nora, Sara Karber, and Shawn Karber to The Irish Fair. Here are a few pictures from the event:

You must be wondering, do you recommend The Irish Fair?

The answer is no. Just like everything else Irish, it just isn’t as good as Scottish. I found out that there is a Scottish Fair in the Twin Cities as well, but I had already missed at the time these pictures were taken. I will be going to the Scottish Fair next year! This… I… DO… SWEAR on the grave of Connor MacLeod!!!!

Animals, Flowers, Naima, Photo Journal

A PHOTO JOURNAL – HENRY CARROLL – PAGE 119

September 19, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

Page 119 in THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT probably isn’t one that would appeal to most people. Some people might even call it a hipster page.

Page 119 – Turn a DSLR into a Pinhole Camera

Some of you might be asking, “What is a pinhole camera?”

A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture, a pinhole – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side.

Turning a DSLR into a pinhole camera is done by drilling a small hole into a camera cover. The idea of a pinhole camera is that everything is supposed to be in focus sorta, but it is blurred often because of the long exposure settings.

I didn’t do the best job with making my pinhole camera. My first hole was too big, so I had to make it smaller with electrical tape. I probably should have just bought one.

Here are some of my other pinhole attempts:

I’m not sure what page is next up for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.

Angie, Candid Portrait, Cathie, Johnathan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 105 – FAMILY

September 18, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A pretty decent amount of submissions to ring in Year 3 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE (REDUX). Including a submission from first time submitter Katelyn Augustin. She also might be the youngest to ever submit as well.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came here to see the submissions. Here they are:

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Teresa Kahler 1

Teresa Kahler 2

Katelyn Augustin

Micky Augustin

Angie DeWaard

Cathie Raley 1

Craig Haupt

Cathie Raley 2

Michelle Haupt

Christopher D. Bennett

A solid week of submissions!

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:

NATURE!

NATURE! What a great theme!! I don’t think I need to define NATURE for you. It is basically the great outdoors. So get out there!

As always, I look forward to seeing all the interpretations!

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.

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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 natural Monday!

Alexis, Art, Blogging, History, Holidays, Kalista, Monica, Night, Saydie, Taylan, Work

10-31-2017

September 16, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

The pictures in the folder 10-31-07 display both a terrifying display of brute strength and a terrifying display of Halloween costumes.

By dusting off these pictures and adding them to the current Smugmug Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following blog posts:

COSTUMES

HP LASERJET 4100

I have now restored all of the October 2007 blog posts to close to their original glory. Now I can’t tell you why I’ve felt motivated to restore decade old blog posts, because I know that nobody is checking them out, but I can tell you that I’ve learned a lot about who I used to be. I used to be somebody that put up photos within minutes after taking them. The current me has photos that he took close to a year ago that he still needs to look at. I probably need to find some middle ground on that.

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve more Iowa State Football and some surprising tailgaters!

Animals, Bethany, Brandon, Dae Hee, Iowa State, Jesse, Linda, Naima, Night, Nora, Pastor Sarah, Sarah Toot, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Shawn Karber, State Fair, Tim

Selfie Project – August

September 15, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

One of the benefits of THE SELFIE PROJECT is that I can look back at a month and feel less worthless. Hey, I actually did go out and do stuff and see people in month X. I’m a winner!

Speaking of winners, these are the photos I consider winners from the month of August:

August 2, 2017

August 5, 2017

August 6, 2017

August 7, 2017

August 10, 2017

August 11, 2017

August 12, 2017

August 13, 2017

August 15, 2017

August 16, 2017

August 19, 2017

August 20, 2017

August 21, 2017

August 22, 2017

August 24, 2017

August 26, 2017

August 27, 2017

August 29, 2017

August 30, 2017

August 31, 2017

Remember that THE SELFIE PROJECT photos are posted on Instagram on the daily. If you don’t know, Instagram is that little sliver of social media that doesn’t suck… much. There are a few lazy slackjaws out there that post memes, but other than that, it is just pictures. Any way you can follow me at the account below:

@christopherdbennett

Now I need to make sure that my September is almost as great as my August!

Carla

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest – Carla Stensland

September 11, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

As promised, here are Carla’s entries in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest:

Carla Stensland - Pufferbilly Days Contest 2017

3rd Place – Photojournalism

1st Place – Hidden Treasures of Boone County

365 days (roughly) until the next Pufferbilly Days!

Angie, Carla, Cathie, Jesse, Micky, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 104 – LOW PERSPECTIVE

September 11, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE rebounded a little bit in participation rates this week as people did get down and got a LOW PERSPECTIVE.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came here to see the submissions. Here they are:

Carla Stensland

Jesse Howard

Micky Augustin

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson 1

Tamara Peterson 2

Angie DeWaard

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

A solid week of submissions!

FAMILY!

FAMILY! What a great theme! I don’t think I need to define FAMILY for you, even though I personally have had the term redefined for me over the years. Interpret the theme as you see fit and I can’t wait to see all the interpretations.

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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

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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 familial Monday!

Carla, Contests, Dawn, Laura, Michelle, Micky, Pufferbilly Days, Sara, Teresa

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest – 2017

September 10, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

It is the time where I reveal what photos I entered into the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, but first the good news and the “bad” news.

The good news is that my sister Carla cleaned up at the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. She got 1st Place in Hidden Treasures of Boone County and Second Place for Photojournalism.

The “bad” news is that the 6 photos I entered got no love from the judge or judges. I really have no clue how they pick the awards. But I put “bad” in quotes because if I could choose to get no awards, that is exactly what I would choose. Plus, I’m super excited about Carla’s awards! Pretty sweet!

If I can get Carla to email me her submissions, I’ll post those at a later date. Like the day that she emails them to me.

Hopefully Teresa will enter some photos next year too!

Any way, you may recall that I had 6 people choose my 6 submission based on who left comments on an Instagram post. Here are those 6 submissions and the people that selected them:

Dawn Krause

Laura Miller

Amber Moore

Michelle Haupt

Micky Augustin

Jim Robbins

If you would like to see the pool of photos that they had to choose from, click on the link below:

2017 Pufferbilly Days Submission Pool

If you are wondering what was selected to the submission pool here are the requirements:

1. Have never been entered into another photo contest (i.e. Iowa State Fair, Boone County Fair)
2. They had to fit into 1 of the 4 categories: Nature, Photojournalism, Photoshop, or Hidden Treasures of Boone County)
3. I had to like them, sorta.

I’ll add that this is the photo that wasn’t entered, but was chosen by Selector-Alternate Sara Lockner:

I believe that is probably it for photo contests for 2017. As things now, I will probably remain unretired from Photo Contests in 2018. See you then.

9 Emotions Project, Black & White, Brandon, Formal Portrait

9 Emotions Project – Brandon Kahler

September 6, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

Brandon was the latest to tap into his inner silent film star and pose for THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT. Here is his collection:

9 Emotions Project – Brandon Kahler

In case you forgot the emotions, here they are again:

Joy

Sadness

Anger

Amusement

Fear

Jealousy

Surprise

Sympathy

Boredom

So who will be the next to pose for THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT? I don’t know. But I have a few ideas.

Animals, Boone FUMC, Naima, Teresa, Youth Group

Critter Sunday – 2017

September 5, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

Once a year at my church we have Critter Sunday. On Critter Sunday people bring in their pets to get blessed. I took some photos and then after Naima got blessed Jaxon Schoff took over and finished up the event. Here are some photos from the event:

Special thanks to Summer for volunteering for Naima wrangling duties and to Jaxon for being the backup Naima wrangler and taking over the photos while Naima was being blessed and after.

You might have recognized MacKenzie from the church’s youth group with her dog in the collection. I’m sure you definitely noticed Teresa and her dog in the collection.

There are more pictures from Critter Sunday for you to peruse located at the link below:

CRITTER SUNDAY – 2017

If your church isn’t blessing pets, they aren’t doing it right!