Category Archives: Jesse

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Saydie, Taylan

The 2019 Howards – Subset Cinco

May 20, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to check in with the Howard Family Photo Shoot of 2019 once again. We’re almost to the end of the photo shoot, but not quite. There will be one more, slightly smaller collection to come.

This collection is very heavy with Jesse. He appears in every single image, which is what the masses have been clamoring for all along.

There is one more collection of Howard pictures still to be curated and then at that point, we will take a big step towards being done with the 2019 backlog. It won’t be done, but man will it be close. Like the end will be in sight!

9 Emotions Project, Alexis, Andy, Baby Got Rack, Bethany, Bill, Black & White, Blogging, Boone County Fair, Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Dory, Elainie, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Jesse, Johnathan, Jorge, Kalista, Kelly, Mission Trip, Naima, Railroad, Road Trip, Saydie, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, State Fair, Taylan, Willy, Youth Group

An Artist’s Notebook Post #3751

May 19, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

We have hit another milestone in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”. Post #3751. I would normally make these statistical look back at the past type posts on even numbers, but I felt you guys were probably chomping at the bit to see the entries for RULE OF THIRDS.

This blog/online journal burst onto the world on August 9, 2006. Nearly 14 years later, it is somehow still around. That is success of some kind. At least it is perseverance.

As you know, I like meaningless statistics. That is what these posts are usually about. That and to take stock as to how I’m doing with my original mission to:

#1. Write in it.
#2. To be truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings.
#3. Produce something that makes me worthy of having a pretentious sounding journal title like: “An Artist’s Notebook”.

I’m going to say that I continue to manage all 3. You probably wouldn’t know if I was being honest with you on my thoughts and feelings anyways. You’ll just have to take my work for it.

The last time we looked at these stats in Post #3500 on October 4, 2019 these were the 10 most popular categories on “An Artist’s Notebook”:

10. Photography – 311 Posts
9. Teresa – 312 Posts
8. Carla – 314 Posts
7. Shannon -351 Posts
6. Black & White – 390 Posts
5. Weekly Photo Challenge – 394 Posts
4. Jesse – 404 Posts
3. Animals – 477 Posts
2. Portrait – 516 Posts
1. Flowers – 537 Posts

Here are the current “standings”:

#10 Miller Triplet 1st Birthday Party – 13751 Views

#9 Family Happenings – 14222 Views

#8 Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2019 – 15711 Views

#7Naima– 16108 Views

#6 Taylan Howard -2020– 21320 Views

#5 Autumn Sharp – 2020– 21852 Views

#4 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 6– 29218 Views

#3 Selfie Project – 2019 – 40726 Views

#2 9 Emotions Project – 43867 Views

#1 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 7 – 48433 Views

These are the 10 Most Popular Images (by Views):

10. 973 Views

9. 1056 Views

8. 1063 Views

7.1082 Views

6. 1116 Views

5. 1141 Views

4. 1635 Views

3. 1261 Views

1283 Views

1. 2283 Views

I’m surprised that THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT is still so popular, since I haven’t touched it in over a year. But I do hope to get back to it. In fact, I have purchased a few things to make it possible to get back to THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT while safely physically distancing. So if you are interesting in being a victim… err… a subject. You know where to find me.

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Saydie, Still Life, Taylan, WPC - Reminder

The 2019 Howards – Subset Cuatro

May 15, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Time for yet another collection of images from the 2019 Howard Family Photo Shoot. With this collection I am now over half-done curating the photos from this collection. The final collection will actually be a small one. Very small depending on what I do with the port-a-potty pictures that Jesse made us take.

Still more Howards to come!

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is RULE OF THIRDS:

RULE OF THIRDS

Think of RULE OF THIRDS like this:

The image is broken into 9 equal boxes. Place the subject of your image on one of the corners of the center box. NOT inside the middle box.

The subject could also go along one of the the 4 lines that go through the inside of the image. BUT not in the center of any of the middle boxes.

The reveal picture should be very helpful.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Andy, Birthdays, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Carla, Elainie, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Johnathan, Kalista, Kanoa, Kelly, Kupono, Sabas, Saydie, Taylan

Elainie Homecoming Ch. 2

May 6, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start this post by announcing that the Sharp family is making laundry detergent like crazy and donating it to area food banks like IMPACT and the Toreador Pantry.

However, they need more laundry detergent jugs, so they have set up a garbage can at the end of their driveway where people can donate jugs for them to fill. No jug is too small or too big.

You can find the donation dropoff spot at the end of their driveway.

The live at 1005 South Division Street in Boone. Basically keep going south on Division Street until you can’t go any farther. There will be some photos of their work shared at a later point.

Thanks to anybody that donates!

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Happy birthday to Kelly! She doesn’t subscribe to this blog, so she will never see this, but happy birthday anyways:

I hope it is a great birthday!

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Time for another collection of Stensland pictures I took when Elainie came home last fall:

A reminder that I love the candid pictures that I take between the posed pictures so much more than I do the posed pictures. But that is maybe just me.

So much more coming from Elainie’s homecoming.

Art, Jesse, Jorge, Road Trip, Self-Portrait

Camping World Bowl Road Trip Day 5 – Superman

May 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The last day of the Camping World Bowl Road Trip consisted of leaving our hotel in Kentucky and driving home. We only really made a couple stops. One stop was in Metropolis to visit Superman. The other stop was at the Hen House for lunch.

It concluded a great trip that covered many miles in very few days. 3 dudes and a pregnant lady carrying twins.

Yeah, I didn’t mention that Jorge’s woman Randi made the entire trip while pregnant. We left for Orlando the day after Christmas. They found out a day or two before Christmas.

They didn’t know it was twins, but the amount of time that I saw Randi throwing up in a Walmart bag on this trip might have been a good indicator that twins were on the way. But that just might be an urban legend.

Either way, I don’t know how she made the entire trip. What a trooper! Perhaps the real superhero on this trip. Sorry Superman.

Slurped down breakfast as fast as possible, to avoid listening to the banality of Fox & Friends.

Here are my official Superman Power Rankings:

1. Christopher Reeve

That is it. There is only one Superman. Nobody played Superman before and nobody has played him after. Christopher Reeve is Superman.

At this point, it is a fairly safe bet that there won’t be a bowl road trip this year. That is because Iowa State will be playing in a bowl game that is played in 2021!

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Jill, Johnathan, Macro

2009-11-04

May 2, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The images in the folder 2009-11-04 are a collection of pictures from a little bit all over the place. The majority of the pictures are from Johnathan’s senior pictures photo shoot. But there are also pictures in there from when I completed Window Project #1 and from when I was modeling a shirt I was given from when I was initiated into a group known as “The Girls”.

I’m not sure if “The Girls” is still a thing, but I still own the shirt. I’m sure it fits a little tight now. I don’t know if it will survive the great clothing purge that is coming, but I give it a fighting chance.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from folder 2009-11-04:

Johnathan invented the fake looking smile. It didn’t exist before him. I’m pretty sure the remnants of Window Project #1 are still in my basement. It fell apart. It might go in the burn pile. I have lots of stuff I’m going to burn when the burn ban gets lifted in Boone. Lots of stuff in that basement are itching for a burnin’.

I tried and failed to change the name of “The Girls” to “The Badass Action Sqaud”. That is perhaps why “The Girls” lasted staying power of a group with a great name. For example, “The Boone County Sea Dogs”.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Johnathan – Day 1 Part !
Johnathan – Day 1 Part B
Johnathan – Day 1 Part C
Johnathan – Day 1 Part D
Johnathan – Day 1 Part E
Window Project #1
Confabulation

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Iowa State football and a rabbit.

Andy, Black & White, Football, Jesse, Music, Still Life, Taylan, Work

ADM vs. Boone

May 1, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

30 days working from home in the book. Although for the first time, I had to go into the mine to do something that couldn’t be done from home. I can’t put into words how much I hate Apple products. The fire of a thousands suns. That is the heat of my hatred for Apple products.

There were only 5 people working in the physical mine when I went there. So I actually got to physically see Kim for the first time since March. I also got to physically see Vest because… let me reiterate how much I hate Apple products.

If you are running a business, buy an adult computer.

I’m not sure if I garnered any more positives from working from home this week. But good things did happen. Baier dropped off an order of 60 chicken wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. Took me some time to get through all of those, but I’m not even mad about it. Although it did set back the timeline for a project I’ve been working on, but that is okay. The fishies of the sea are thankful.

I still haven’t started on the basement. For those asking. Instead, I’ve done a bit of yardwork. Maybe I’ll start on the basement this weekend.

I’ve reached track # 1210 “Freak on a Leash” by Korn. Korn is a band I don’t listen to much any more. Not really at all. Was never a big Korn fan, but they were a part of my listening milieu at one point of my life.

“Freak on a Leash” probably isn’t the best song to ingest during physical distancing. Better than drinking bleach or injecting Lysol, but a sample of the lyrics:

“Sometimes I cannot take this place
Sometimes it’s my life I can’t taste
Sometimes I cannot feel my face
You’ll never see me fall from grace”

I did eliminate several songs from the Master Playlist this week though. All of them because the sound quality on them were really low:

#800 “Ironic” by James Corden and Alanis Morissette
#1052 “Tennessee” by Arrested Development
#1053 “Intergalactic” by Beastie Boys
#1054 “So What’Cha Want” by Beastie Boys
#1055 “Sabotage” by Beastie Boys
#1062 “Mama Said Knock You Out” by LL Cool J
#1101 “If I Were A Boy” by BC Jean

Hope to get to the end of the Master Playlist soon so I can start adding music to it.

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As I have been a cleaning fool, I’ve looked for more and more ways to get Naima’s fur under control. Not the fur on her body, but the fur she leaves everywhere. I have purchased 2 air purifiers. I’m thinking of breaking down and buying a full-sized vacuum cleaner. I haven’t yet, but one thing I did recently breakdown and purchase is the Furzapper.

Furzapper is a product that you throw in your washer and dryer and it zaps the fur on your clothing. It was relatively cheap, so I pulled the trigger and thought I would give it a try.

Wow! Looks great! But do they work? Boy do they!

I started with some gym pants that are by far in the worst shape.

I followed the directions:

In fact, I washed and dried the pants twice. Once alone, and this was the result:

Does that look worse? Cause it look worse to me. So I figured that maybe there were some missing instructions. So here is the complete list of “secret instruction” I discovered.

Step #1: Wash and dry alone.
Step #2: Wash and dry with other clothes.
Step #3: Drive real fast and hold them out the window.

Step #4: Pick off the really big pieces of fur.
Step #5: Run a lint roller over it for 15 minutes.
Step #6: Hang outside on a windy day.
Step #7: Run a lint roller over it again.
Step #8: Drive real fast and hold them out the car window.
Step #9: Wash and dry alone.

After those 9 easy steps, this is the result:

Not perfect, but I can wear them again. In fact, probably wearing them as you read these word!

So if anybody tells you that Furzapper is the worst 15 bucks they ever spent, just tell them about the secret directions that I have uncovered. That is all it takes to make Furzapper appear to work like a champ!

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Last fall Andy requested that I come to photograph Kyle playing in a Boone High football game. It was the first time I have attended a Boone High Football game since Brandon graduated.

Boone has a super young team and I don’t remember the score, but their opponent, ADM dominated the entire game. I think Boone was lucky to get off the field because I think something like 8 Boone players left the game with injuries. Including a kid that had to be taken off the field in an ambulance in the last minutes of the game.

Here are some picture from the night. Kyle is #30. You will also recognize some photos of Autumn and Taylan:

It was quite the experience, but a tough environment to photograph. At least from the stands. It was so packed in there, could barely move in any direction.

I’m sure, if there is high school football this year, I’ll be at a game again this year.

Animals, Art, Jesse, Jorge, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, WPC - Reminder

Camping World Bowl Road Trip Day 4

May 1, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Day 4 of the road trip was a grind. We left Orlando and drove for like 15 hours to get back to Kuttawa, Kentucky.

The only real stop we made was a fancypants gas station in Georgia that sold pecans. I kinda thought the pecans down there would be cheaper and maybe they are, but they were still crazy expensive. But I’m not a pecan expert.

#wafflelife

The hotel we stayed at had a sweet aquarium.

Attached to their phones. Worse than traveling with teenagers.

Crane in the hotel parking lot.

Bikers?

I got so many yard decorating ideas from this place!

Damn right we hit another Zaxby’s!

Good night from Kentucky.

This wasn’t my style of road trip. I like to be able to stop at random things and meander and photograph. I hope this year’s bowl trip is either closer (I already know it will be in a better city) or I’m able to space it out over a longer time frame. Otherwise, flying might be the way to go.

I would love to go back to Memphis, but there are a lot of people laying down some pretty high expectations for Iowa State this season. I think it will depend on how well the offensive line comes together though.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is TREE:

TREE

A TREE image is any image that involves a TREE or a TREE byproduct.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Drone, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Nature, Nora, Photo Journal, Pufferbilly Days, Saydie, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, State Fair, Taylan

The 2019 Howards – Subset Dos

April 30, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

One of the products of all this home times is that I have started up on THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT again. What started as the accent wall in my living room and then turned into the Friend Wall and then became the 9 Emotions Project wall, was turned into the Canvas Wall about 2 years ago. The ultimate goal is to cover at least 95% of the wall with canvas photos.

I recently added 7 more canvases to the wall. These are all smaller canvases that are meant to fill around the doorway that leads to my hallway.

Here are the 7 canvases that have recently been added:

The pictures that have been selected for THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT are meant to be a combination of every day life pictures and my more artistic pictures.

I’m getting pretty close to the bottom of the wall now. The next collection of pictured added to the wall are definitely obstructed, but that is okay. It matter less that they can be seen, and more that they are there.

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Time to reveal a second collection pictures from the 2019 Howard Family Photo Shoot:

Still plenty more Howards to go!

Animals, Art, Candid Portrait, Jesse, Jorge, Self-Portrait, Street Photography, Travel

Camping World Bowl Road Trip Day 3 – Alligators

April 30, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

After the game we went back to the hotel and took a nap. Well some of us took a nap. Some of us might have scrolled through Cyclone Twitter while everybody else napped.

Once the batteries were recharged, we went to a Brazilian Steakhouse that Jorge knew about. It was ridiculously cheap and made cheaper because Dre had found some coupons for it. It cost us like only $30 to eat there. Plus, I think it was the best Brazilian Steakhouse I’ve ever eaten at.

After the meal we parted ways with Andree and his brother and went out on my personal, very personal quest. We had been in Florida for about 24 hours and I still hadn’t seen an alligator.

There was a couple miniature golf courses that claimed to have alligators that we drove past on the way to supper. We drove back there, got some ice cream and checked them out.

The first miniature golf course alligators were kinda sad. They clearly weren’t well cared for and the water was filthy.

At the second miniature golf course we met Joshua and we got to hold an alligator. That place was awesome! It was clean and the gators were clearly loved. For a brief period of time I thought Orlando wasn’t so bad.

Just kidding! Orlando is the worst!