As I continue to try and catchup with my 2018 backlog, this collection is of pictures of flowers I took at the Iowa State Fair in 2018.
At is long established that one of my favorite parts of the Iowa State Fair is the Discovery Garden. That is where most of these pictures were taken.
I have another collection of Iowa State Fair flower pictures on the way!
You can still technically vote in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Poll right now, but it will shut down at some point today. So if you haven’t voted yet, then you need to get on it.
By the time this post publishes, Baby Got Rack will have been judged and should be finding out where we placed in this year’s State Fair Barbecue Contest sponsored by some insurance company that I can never remember because it isn’t my insurance company. I insure with American Family Insurance. I don’t necessarily endorse them because I’ve literally never had an interaction with them. I pay them. They take my money. I’ve never made a claim. Car or house. It is a good relationship. So far.
Unlike Bank of the West. It is a matter of time before I dump that awful bank. I just haven’t figured out where to go. I prefer to bank in Boone and I’ve been considering credit unions lately, but there isn’t a credit union in Boone. So I just sit and stew about Bank of the West and their terrible customer service. This is why I should have never went to direct deposit for day job’s paycheck. Even though I’m sure they would have just forced me to do it at some point by now. I wonder if they would direct deposit my paycheck in a rusty coffee can buried in my backyard. Don’t laugh. That rusty coffee can gives me the same customer service as Bank of the West. Probably more.
Any way, go vote in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest poll if you haven’t. I’m not providing you a link. You should have figured it out by now.
Here are some pictures of animals from last year’s Iowa State Fair:
There are about 3 collections of Iowa State Fair pictures left to share. By my calculations at least.
There are just a couple of day s left to vote in my polls that will determine what pictures I enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.
If voting in 6 polls at once in too much for you, you can vote in one of the Hidden Treasures of Bone County polls below:
If you are ready to vote in all the polls, you can do that by clicking on the link below:
Thanks for voting!
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As I try to clear out my 2018 Iowa State Fair backlog before the end of the 2019 Iowa State Fair concludes, here is a collection of animal pictures from the petting zoo and the baby animals exhibits!
Still at least a couple posts worth of State Fair pictures in the hopper.
There are now 5 days left to vote for what pictures I will enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.
If it is too much for you to take on all 6 polls at once, you can vote in the Photojournalism poll below. At this point, there is a clear cut Photojournalism front-runner.
If you want to vote in all 6 polls, click on the link below:
Thanks for your assistance!
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Since today is the opening day of the Iowa State Fair, you should remember that I do have one picture on display at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. You should go check it out!
I also figured that today would be a good day to publish pictures from last year’s trip to the Iowa State Fair with Jesse and Nader. This is collection is from the DNR Building. The DNR Building is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite building to visit at the Iowa State Fair.
Plenty more from last year’s Iowa State Fair in the backlog!
Now that the Boone County Fair is winding down and my collection of Boone County Fair Photography Contest entries are bagged up and safely stowed in one of the now TWO trunks that archive my past photo contest entries, I can release the results to the general public that didn’t make it to the Boone County Fair this year. A fair that I can safely say if Family-Friendly Fun & Entertainment, Right here in Central Iowa! I would dare say that this year’s fair was “Picture Perfect”.
Here are my submissions, along with who selected them for entry and the result:
Blue Ribbon – Michelle Haupt
Red Ribbon – Monica Henning
Blue Ribbon – Jesse Howard
Purple Ribbon – Shannon Bardole-Foley
A reminder that I do have one picture that will be displayed at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. I don’t know what it is, but I will find out at the Photographer Reception here in a couple weeks. I’ll release that photo at the conclusion of the Iowa State Fair on August 18.
There is still good seats available to join me at the Iowa State Fair on August 18. But they are filling up fast!
As for the last photo contest I enter this year, the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. I will again be selecting my entries by poll. I will be putting that poll together in the next couple of weeks. So stay tuned to this station. Information will be forthcoming!
A week ago I went to my mailbox and found the results sheet from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon sitting in my mailbox waiting for me.
The Iowa State Fair Photography Salon is one of the most prestigious and hardest photo contests in the state. I usually count myself lucky if I get one picture accepted. There have been plenty of years where I have been shutout. It is always with low expectations when I grab the yellow card out of my mailbox and take a look at it:
It would appear that I got one picture accepted and that picture got an award. That is nice. If you pushed me on it, I would probably rather get multiple pictures in rather than an award, however an award comes with a cash prize, so that is nice.
I don’t know what picture got accepted, but I guess this gives you a reason to go to the Iowa State Fair. I will find out when I go to the Photographer’s Reception in early August.
Since I can’t pick up my pictures until the last day of the fair, it looks like I will be going to the fair on the last day again. If you would like to attend with me, let me know. I usually hit the fair about 11 AM on that day. Leave after 10 PM, so this isn’t a trip to be considered lightly. And if you are a woman, for God’s sake, wear sensible shoes!
Unfortunately, there is no badass band like Here Come the Mummies playing on the last day of the fair this year. However, Nelson will be taking the stage at 8 PM that night. Although I confess, I’ll probably try to make my way to the Bill Riley Stage at 8 PM to see Unspoken. They are a Christian rock band.
Looks like all the hands that were in the air to join me at the fair just went down when the bodies they were attached to read the words “Christian rock”. I’m telling you, Unspoken is a solid band and you would probably love the song “Who You Are” and more than enjoy the tune “Reason”. If you don’t like “Start A Fire”, I think you probably just have terrible taste in music.
Hit me up on the horn or the Snapchat or the Insta or the Tweets or the emails if you are interested.
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The other Sunday Brandon joined us for our post-church feeding. I have had my eye on Brandon for awhile now as the model for Page 36 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. I used this chance to get him to come over so we could get Page 36 knocked out.
I took several pictures for Page 36 (including one with a camera inside the aquarium), but only one can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL. Here are some of the other pictures I liked, but will only exist in the tunnels of cyberland:
The shutter speed on these pictures is 1/8000th of a second.
This is the list of pages I have left to capture for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:
PAGE 16 – Photograph the last thing that made you laugh.
Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason by Jason Evans.
PAGE 27- Create drama around the edge of your frame.
Page 28 – Recreate a famous photograph without looking it up.
PAGE 31 – Tell a joke with two pictures.
Page 64 – Head out with a fellow photographer and play a game of photography dare.
PAGE 66-67 – Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).
Page 73 – Turn form into rhythm.
PAGE 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compse your shot using touch rather than vision.
Page 106-107 – Email one of your pictures to your photography hero and ask them what they hate about it.
PAGE 116 – Shoot an advert where the image says it all without need for any additional copy.
Page 117 – Freeze the frame exactly 57 minutes and 32 seconds in to your favourite film. Take a picture inspired by what you see.
PAGE 121 – Show us that photography is a form of magic.
Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.
I might be looking for some volunteers to help finish this project off.
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Reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SIGNS:
A SIGNS picture is any picture that involves a SIGN(S).
Happy photo harvesting!
I’ve been ignoring the 2018 backlog quite a bit lately, so I thought I better get back at it.
This collection of images comes from the Discovery Garden at the Iowa State Fair. I visited the Iowa State Fair twice in 2018. The first time was to compete in the barbecue contest. It was this day where I took this collection of images after the contest had ended.
I actually probably have a tremendous lot of pictures from last year’s Iowa State Fair that I need to get to editing. I also need to figure out what pictures I’m going to enter in this year’s Iowa State Fair. A project I need to start on in the next few weeks.
Another Throwback Thursday. Throwing it back to pictures I took at the 2006 Iowa State Fair.
These picture never appeared in “An Artist’s Notebook”. I uploaded them now because I am going through some nearly pre-Photography 139 photos and trying to get a grasp of a semblance of an organizational system for them.
Looks like in 2006 I took 2 trips the Iowa State Fair. One involved Ernie and I assume Teresa. Also Monica, Robert, and Robert’s lady friend at the time. Then there must have been a second trip with Jay.
Here are a few photos from those days:
I don’t know that I have many of these extreme walks down memory lane left to publish, but perhaps a set of pictures from after the Towers were imploded might be on the docket. The ones in Ames. Not the ones in New York City.
Yes Virginia, there was a Photography 139 Calendar this year. However, I didn’t sell them this year. I just made a small run and gave them out to a very few small group of select people.
Here are the pictures from the 2019 Photography 139 Calendar:
The front cover is a picture of William McAlpine peering through the hole in a brick. It was taken in the backyard of the Photography 139 Studio. It was taken for the FRAMED theme of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
This photo was entered into the 2018 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. It was accepted for display.
Willy is the first person to appear in a Photography 139 Calendar since the 2012 Calendar featured a final rendition of THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT that included images of AmyJunck-Wallendal, William McAlpine, Derrick Gorshe, Shannon Bardole, Jesse Howard, Jennifer Gorshe, Sara Junck, Jill Gorshe, and Jay Janson.
This image was entered in the 2018 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. It was selected for display.
Unfortunately, the hibiscus did not survive the winter and did not return to the Photography 139 Flower Garden in 2018.
While this macro photo might appear to be one image, it is actually the product of a technique called focus stacking. This image is actually 7 images with different focus ranges stacked one on top of the other.
This photo was nominated for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, but it lost the popular vote and was not entered.
This image was taken for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. The theme of the image was to go some place “touristy” and take a “non-touristy” picture.
The picture of Mary holding a crucified Jesus was selected for April to coincide with the celebration of Easter.
This image was entered in the Photoshop category of the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. It won 1st Place.
I took this photo on a trip there with Bethany, Dae Hee, and Nora.
The image is HDR toned and is used as the base image for a Small World image.
The image was originally taken in color and was transformed into black and white in post production.
This macro image was taken while experimenting with a new set of extension tubes.
This image was nominated for the flower category for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, but was not entered.
The image was taken when I was able to sneak away during a break in the action of Baby Got Rack’s competitive barbecue competition.
The image was HDR toned in post-production.
This image was voted to be entered in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the Nature Category.
It was nominated for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the Nature Category, but it was not entered.
The image was color processed through the Color Efex Pro 4 plugin during post production.
The image was nominated for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the Hidden Treasures of Boone County category, but was not entered.
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There are a few calendars to handout, but for the most part delivery has finished. Almost on time this year.
Happy New Year to people who celebrate such things.
I like to look at some meaningless statistics every 250 posts and I also look at fairly meaningless year end statistics.
Just so happens that I get to combine them today!!
Here is both a year in review and a celebration that I have made it to 3252 blog posts. I was on the Alamo Bowl Road Trip visiting submarines, cults, and reality television stars when post #3250 came around, so I hope you can excuse the tardiness.
The first thing I want to look at are the most popular CATEGORIES in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”.
Top 10 Journal Entry Categories
1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Jesse – 361
6. Photography – 355
7. Shannon – 320
8. Teresa – 296
9. Black & White – 291
10. Carla – 280
Top 10 People Categories
1. Jesse – 361
2. Shannon – 320
3. Teresa – 296
4. Carla – 280
5. Jay – 279
6. Mom – 277
7. Derrick – 256
8. Willy – 227
9. Vest – 221
10. Jen – 209
Top 10 Not-People Categories
1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Photography – 355
6. Black & White – 291
7. Road Trip – 262
8. Personal Photo Project – 261
9. Life – 234
10. Nature – 215
“Photography” and “Life” are general categories that I have been working on eliminating as I go back and restore historical “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory. Hopefully they will have both dropped off the Top 10 Lists by journal entry #3500.
If you are wondering how to become a Top 10 person on this list. The easiest way is to submit to the Weekly Photo Challenge. After that, the best way is to volunteer to model and photo assist for photography projects. Then after that, I would suggest going on road trips with me or attending Iowa State athletic events with me or going on road trips to Iowa State athletic events with me.
The people that are right outside of the Top 10 are:: Sara, Kim, Dawn, Becky, and Nader.
If you are looking for a goal for 2019, you could do worse than trying to crack the Photography 139 Top Ten People Category List. You obviously could do way, way, way, way, way, way, way better too.
Now we will turn out eye towards 2018.
Top 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries of 2018 by Views
1. 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT – 48,722
2. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – 37,614
3. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – ALTERNATES – 33,622
4. 2008 – JANUARY – JUNE – 26,032
5. SELFIE PROJECT – 2017 – 23,141
6. HOUSTON MISSION TRIP – 2018 – 22,046
7. SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP – 2017 – 21,868
8. BOONE COUNTY FAIR CONTEST NOMINEES – 2018 – 17,211
9. SAYDIE HOWARD – CLASS OF 2017 – 14,808
10. IOWA STATE CYCLONES FOOTBALL – 2018
The 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Images by Views
2. 2386
3. 2327
4. 1958
5. 1621
6. 1456
7. 1445
8. 1321
9. 1293
10. 1241
On the Instagram, these were my 9 Most Popular Photos based on Likes:
My theme for my 2018 Instagram posts was Black & White. My theme for 2019 will be HDR Toning. Also, I will be bringing back THE SELFIE PROJECT to Instagram in 2019.
You can follow me on Instagram here:
I entered 3 photo contests with the following results:
Purple Ribbon – Boone County Fair
Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair
Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair
Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair
Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair
Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair
Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair
Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair
1st Place Photoshop – Pufferbilly Days
1st Place Photojournalism – Pufferbilly Days
Pufferbilly Days
3rd Place Hidden Treasures of Boone County – Pufferbilly Days
Pufferbilly Days
Pufferbilly Days
Last note:
My goal for 2019 is the same as it was in 2018:
I’m gonna step my game up and get what is coming to me.
Good luck in 2019 everybody!
