Category Archives: Black & White

Art, Black & White, Calendar, Christianity, Holidays, Mom, Nature, Road Trip, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

Merry Christmas – 2020

December 25, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start by wishing everybody a Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!

Many of us (me included) aren’t having our typical Christmas, or even the Christmas that they remotely wanted. Remember it is okay to feel a mixture of feelings today, because this isn’t the Christmas you wanted. Maybe it is the first Christmas without somebody. Maybe it is a Christmas you can’t spend with the people you want because of the pandemic. It is okay to feel whatever you feel. It is with those thoughts that I still say (and remember joy and happiness are not the same thing):

Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King!

And of course to remember who that baby in that manger grew up to be:

JESUS WAS
A Radical.
A Nonviolent Revolutionary.
He hung out with lepers, hookers, and crooks.
Was NOT American.
Did NOT speak English. (Spoke Aramaic, if you were wondering)
Was ANTI-wealth.
Was ANTI-death penalty.
Was ANT-public prayer.

NOT ANTI-gay.
NEVER mentioned abortion. (Yes, abortion pre-dates Jesus by at least 1600 years)
NEVER mentioned birth control. (Yes, birth control pre-dates Jesus by at least 1850 years)
NEVER called the poor lazy.
NEVER justified torture.
NEVER fought for tax cuts for the wealthy.
NEVER asked a leper for a co-pay.
NEVER slut-shamed. In fact Jesus was anti-slut shaming.

WAS long-haired.
WAS brown-skinned.
WAS homeless.
WAS a refugee.
WAS a community organizer.
WAS a middle easterner.
WAS a Jew.

TOLD us to love one another.
LOVED poor people.
HUMANIZED everybody, regardless of their background.
MET people where they are at.
WAS considered a troublemaker by the authorities.
WAS ultimately murdered by the police.

Let every heart prepare room!

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The June calendar image is taken from when Fly Iowa was in Boone back in 2019. Remember big events, when you could be around other people. Safely. Yeah. Good times. Good times. This picture was taken on August 3, 2019.

Here are some details of this photo:

PHOTO DETAILS

CAMERA: Sony ILCA-77M2
LENS: 120-400mm F/4.5-5.6
FOCAL LENGTH: 180mm (270mm 35mm equivalent)
APERTURE: f/5
EXPOSURE: 1/2000
ISO:250
FIELD OF VIEW: 7.6 degrees
LATITUDE: 42.05149
LONGITUDE: -93.84873

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Today I’d like to share some pictures I took back on another holiday… Labor Day. On Labor Day I loaded Mom and Teresa up into a car and drove to Mines of Spain because I wanted to see Horseshoe Bluff. I posted some drone pictures of this day in the past. Now I’m getting around to pictures that are more for you land lovers. Or is that spelled land lubbers! I’m not sure, it has been so long since I’ve had my sea legs. Or lake legs. Or river legs. Or small farm pond legs. But we don’t need to talk about the last time I was on a boat in a farm pond.

Mom and Teresa did not want to get up and leave as early as I did. They have both volunteered to be a part of a future town sign harvesting road trip. Hopefully, they remember how early these trips need to leave dock…

Here are some pictures from one of the most beautiful parks in Iowa.

I would love to go there again. It would probably make a beautiful winter subject as well. Plus, less lousy with people. People, the enemy of nature photography.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ROAD TRIP.

ROAD TRIP

A ROAD TRIP photo is any picture taken during a ROAD TRIP or making preparations for a ROAD TRIP or spoils that came from a ROAD TRIP. What constitutes a ROAD TRIP? I’m pretty lax, but I would say that as long as your car leaves the driveway, it is a ROAD TRIP.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Black & White, Calendar, Formal Portrait, Johnathan, Kanoa, Lensbaby, Nature, Photoshop

Kanoa at 1!

December 20, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The January image of the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar was taken in lower Ledges. It was taken on January 4, 2020. It was taken shortly after a recent snow fall. One sad part about the printed version of this picture in the calendar is that the picnic table gets cut off where the pages are bound.

Here are some of the details of the picture:

DETAILS

CAMERA: SONY ILCA-77M2
LENS: DT 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 SAM
FOCAL LENGTH: 20mm (30mm in 35mm)
APERTURE: f/6.3
EXPOSURE: 1/250
ISO: 100
LATITUDE: 41.99793
LONGITUDE: -93.88033

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Back in August at Kanoa’s Birthday Party he also “posed” for some more formal portraits. Here are some of my favorites:

You’d be surprised to know how much Photoshop was used on this picture to remove Johnathan.

If you want to peruse the rest of the Kanoa pictures, click on the link below:

Kanoa – 1 Year Old

Not getting to see Kanoa very much is just one of the many things that suck about this mismanaged pandemic. But hopefully I’ll get to see him more in 2021.

Black & White, Calendar, Candid Portrait, Derrick, Music, Naima, Night, Photoshop, Sara, Still Life

2010-05-30

December 19, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

As I’ve started to distribute the Photography 139 2021 Calendars, it is time to start revealing the pictures that made the cut:

Front Cover

The front cover image is an HDR image of Naima wading into the pond at Dickcissel Park while the sun goes down in the west. It was taken on November 2, 2018. It is the oldest picture in next year’s calendar.

Details
CAMERA: SONY ILCA-77M2
LENS: DT 18-135MM F3.4-5.6 SAM
FOCAL LENGTH: 18MM (27MM IN 35MM)
APERTURE: f/4.5
ISO: 100
FIELD OF VIEW: 67.4 degrees
LATITUDE: 42.03875
LONGITUDE: -93.81687

I will reveal one calendar image every day, for the rest of 2020.

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The pictures from the folder 2010-05-30 are from a series of pictures I took at both Rieman Music and on a bridge over 235 in Des Moines. Derrick was an assistant for the pictures at Rieman Music. Sara was an assistant for the pictures of 235.

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:

Euphony

RWPE #21 – HARMONY

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 25

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will probably involve flowers.

Black & White, History, Photoshop, Postcard

Postcard Recreation Project – Masonic Temple

December 18, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 13 Comments

Today’s THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT subject is the Champlin Memorial Masonic Temple. It now houses the Boone Historical Center.

I didn’t look to deep into the history of this building because I watch a lot of History Channel and I don’t want to get on the bad side of the Masons. I know that they are apparently responsible for the New World Order and covering up everything from the Kennedy assassination to flat earth. I don’t want to mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night because I said the wrong thing about them. So these facts should be sufficient:

The Champlin Memorial Masonic Temple was built in 1907.
It housed Mr. Olive Lodge No. 79 until 1990, when they moved to a new, more secretive building.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
It is haunted, obviously, cause who knows what kind of weird rituals this building has housed.

Click on the link below to read about the hauntedness of the building:

Iowa Paranormal group checks out Boone History Center

Here is a look at the pictures from THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT:

Original

Redux

Original

Redux

Original

Redux

Modern Interpretation

I have found that a key aspect of the “modern interpretation” is the avoidance of power lines, and stop lights, and other signs, as best as one can.

The next time we visit this project, it will be of one of the most beautiful churches in Boone.

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

COLORFUL

A COLORFUL image is an image of something that is filled with color.

Happy photo harvesting.

Amanda, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Logan

Amanda and Logan – Pre-Dahlia No. 1

December 13, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today I want to share a few photos I took of Amanda and Logan a couple weeks before Dahlia was born. These were taken out at Don Williams and They were definitely looking for some silhouette pictures. You’ll be able to tell that, I’m sure…

There is one more collection of images from this photo shoot still left to be curated.

Black & White, Flowers, Macro, Photoshop

2010-05-26

December 12, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

All the pictures in the folder 2010-05-26 are of daisies. I believe they are from a daisy patch in Cap Erbe Park. They were taken for Personal Photo Project #24 – “The Girl in the Blue Skirt”.

I’ve had mixed results growing these kind of daisies in my yard. Some years, there is a healthy amount of them. This year I had zero daisies. I will probably try again in 2021. I need to do something about the area behind my garage all the way back to the fence. A nice daisy patch could fit the bill. Or something else. I need to get some of the pre-work for that stuff done before the ground freezes though.

One of these pictures was displayed at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. I think it got Second Place in the Black & White Flower category. Which is, I believe, the best any of my pictures have ever done. That was definitely the year that I got all 4 pictures I submitted selected for display. Which is one of the hardest things to accomplish in the competitive photography field. The closest I’ve gotten since then is two pictures chosen for display. Maybe 2021 will be the year I excel at the Photography Salon again. I’m sure it will be a tough year as people will have 2 years worth of photos stored up to enter by then.

Here are the “The Girl in the Blue Skirt” images:

Originally there were more pictures to this series, but it appears that the ravages of time and the failings of my old organizational system have caused them to be lost forever. It is possible that they are still on a hard drive in an old desk drawer somewhere, but not likely. Thankfully, my use of multiple hard drives, robocopy scripts, and cloud backups, I won’t lose future images.

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

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 24 ALPHA

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve music and the night!

Animals, Art, Black & White, Flowers, Grandma, Iowa State, Logan, Macro, Mom, Railroad, Teresa

2010-05-24

December 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

There was a very large collection of images in the folder 2010-05-24. Most of them are flower pictures. Some taken from my yard. Others taken from Reiman Gardens. I’ll just get to it, because there is a ton of photos here:

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:

Reiman Gardens

RWPE #20 – PANNING CAMERA BLUR

The Yard

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 23 ALPHA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 23 BETA

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve daisies.

Black & White, Flowers, Macro, Naima

Girl Don’t Play the Fool Now

December 2, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today’s collection of pictures was taken in the middle of August. I was still playing around with photographing a flower frozen in a block of ice. I was still using a normal daisy. This is a concept that I will continue to play with in the future and this wasn’t the last time I played with this idea in 2020.

There are also other pictures from the day to boot.

One thing you shouldn’t do is leave a block of ice unattended in the backyard when Naima is around. She is probably going to take off with it. Then drop it. Then roll around on it. Then chew on it. Then not give it back. This is what she does.

Black & White, Drone, Nature, Panorama

Rodan139: Jay Carlson Wildlife Area

December 1, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back I took Rodan139 out to the Jay Carlson Wildlife Are for a quick flight around before the sun went down. It is a great place for flying the drone. I should really go out there more. At least before weather shuts drone season down for a few months:

I’m hope I still have a few flights left in the bird before 2020 is over. But it has been getting crazy windy lately. At least crazy windy on weekends. stupid short winter weekdays.

Animals, Black & White, Flowers, Nature, Night, Photoshop

2010-05-07

November 21, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder 2010-05-07 were all taken in Brookside Park. Some during the day. Some at night.

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:

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 22

Walk in Park

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve my Mom’s retirement.