Category Archives: Contests

Black & White, Boone FUMC, Contests, Drone, Holidays, Photoshop, Pufferbilly Days

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Merry Christmas everybody! Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus!

I believe that is important on this day to remember who Jesus was and who Jesus wasn’t as the Christian church wrestles for its soul. I recently saw a quote that breaks down who Jesus was and who Jesus wasn’t, very succinctly.

“Jesus WAS a radical nonviolent revolutionary who hung around with lepers, hookers, and crooks; WAS NOT American and never spoke English; was anti-wealth, anti-death penalty, anti-public prayer; BUT was never anti-gay, never mentioned abortion or birth control. Never called the poor lazy, never justified torture, never fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes. Never asked a leper for a co-pay.; and was a long-haired brown-skinned homeless community organizing anti-slut shaming middle eastern Jew.”
-John Fugelsang

Another John Fugelsang quote I love is this:

“I’ve come to view Jesus much the way I view Elvis. I love the guy but the fan clubs really freak me out.”

Some of them freak me out to man and I go to church at least twice a week.

On this, the day that we celebrate the arrival of the Messiah, let us remember who Jesus was and celebrate him.

Christ is Born!

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At this point, I’ve hopefully distributed almost all of my Photography 139 calendars. I feel it is probably safe to start revealing what pictures I choose to include during a frantic Black Friday design session.

This is the front cover:

Front Cover

The front cover image is a picture of water drops on a mirror. The image was converted to black and white and then processed in Photoshop through a technique I like to think that I invented, so I will make a name for it and call it Double Inverse Solarization. This picture was selected by popular vote to be entered in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the Photoshop category. It won that category.

More picture reveals in the following days!

Black & White, Contests, Drone, Flowers, Iowa State, Macro, Nature, Photoshop, Pufferbilly Days, Railroad

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Results

September 8, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Another Pufferbilly Days has drawn to a close. Seems like a fitting time to share the pictures that my loyal fans selected for me to enter into the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest and furthermore, if any of those pictures received any form of love.

Here are my entries:

Displayed – Hidden Treasures of Boone County

Displayed – Photojournalism

1st Place – Photoshop

1st Place – Nature

Displayed – Nature

In the last 2 years I’ve been blessed to get 1st Place in 3 of the 4 enigmatic Pufferbilly Days categories. However, Hidden Treasures of Boone County has still eluded me. I got a 3rd Place in that category last year. I might have to make that a focal point of some of my photography in the next few months. Unless I somehow get my wish and get some kind of administrative role with the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

I do have a small group of photographers that would probably help me start my own Photo Contest, I just don’t know in what context I could start a contest and have it work.

Thanks again to everybody who voted to help select my entries!

Baby Got Rack, Candid Portrait, Contests, Formal Portrait, Scottie D., State Fair

Baby Take State Fair

August 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

A couple Tuesdays back, Baby Got Rack took its award winning Meat Loaf Cupcakes to the Iowa State Fair to compete against the best the Cyclone State has to offer.

I believe there were 8 other combatants in the category of Combo/Specialty and 44 combatants altogether.

Here is a collection of photos from the day that started at 4:45 AM:

The unofficial roster for Baby Got Rack on this day was Scottie D., Hammer, Little Porter, and Humble Narrator. Of course Melissa contributed more than her fair share, but she doesn’t like to take any credit.

We once again won our category, but failed to win the Overall. I believe the beef winner won overall for the second year in a row. Tells me we might need to start hitting beef a little bit harder for next year.

Bethany, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Contests, Naima, Nora, Pufferbilly Days

Last Pufferbilly Days

August 22, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Hitting up the 2018 backlog, thought now would be a good time to share some miscellaneous pictures from the Sunday of the 2018 Pufferbilly Days. Trying to get these out there before this year’s Pufferbilly Days festivities kickoff in a couple of weeks.

Bethany brought Nora down for Pufferbilly Days. Most of these pictures are from when Nora and Bethany rode a ride in the Pufferbilly Days Carnival.

The last two pictures are the two pictures that won their category in last year’s Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

Animals, Contests, Drone, Nature, State Fair

Iowa State Fair Photography Salon Results

August 18, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The Iowa State Fair is almost over. While this publishes I should be at the Iowa State Fair having recently picked up the photos I entered in this year’s Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. They’ll be nice and packed up. Ready for the trip home. Ready to be placed in the Photo Contest Trunk. Although at this point, there are actually two Photo Contest Trunks.

Since you can no longer wander around the Photography Salon looking for my picture it is time to reveal the pictures I entered and which one got in…

Iowa State Fair Photography Salon Entry - 2019

Not accepted for display.

Honorable Mention

Not selected for display.

So every year is different and you never really know what the judges will like from year to year (this year, they were really into clowns and setting steel wool on fire), which is why it makes it one of the most difficult and most prestigious contests in the country. People from all over the United States enter it. Which is rare. For example, the photo contest at the Minnesota State Fair doesn’t even allow people from outside of Minnesota to enter it.

It is an accomplishment to get one picture in.

3169 pictures were entered.
757 pictures were exhibited.
207 received ribbons.
1714 Adult color pictures were entered.
313 were exhibited.
476 Adult black and white pictures were entered.
154 were exhibited.

This is the first time in years where I didn’t enter a flower or black & white picture. I’ll need to correct that next year.

The hardest category to get a pictured exhibited was Color Plants, Flowers & Trees. Only 13% of entered pictures were exhibited.

Finally there were 15 photographers that entered from Boone County.

I suppose I should start making plans for next year’s contest. Getting caught up on the backlog would probably be a good start.

Art, Contests, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Nader, State Fair, Street Photography, Willy

Iowa State Fair 2018 – Misc.

August 18, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

This is final collection of Iowa State Fair pictures from 2018. Published just in time for the close of the 2019 Iowa State Fair.

I’ll be spending the day at the Iowa State Fair solo today as all 4 of the people that were going to go with me all gave me the shaft. C’est la vie!

These pictures are from the day I went to the last day of the Fair to pick up my pictures from the Photography Salon. Nader and Jesse went with me on that day.

I’m already looking forward to the 2020 Fair.

Andy, Candid Portrait, Carla, Cathie, Contests, Flowers, Kim, Micky, Monica, Music, Pufferbilly Days, Shannon, Steph, Tamara, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 204 – MUSIC

August 12, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

There is 1 day left to vote in the polls that will determine what pictures I enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

If voting in all 6 polls at once is too much for you, you can at least cast a ballot in the last poll. Hidden Treasures of Boone County.

Hidden Treasures of Boone County – Set 2

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If you are ready to vote in all 6 polls, click on the link below:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Poll

Thanks for voting!

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It looks like there are lots of people that have MUSIC in their lives as MUSIC was a theme that once again hit double digits in submissions. This is, I believe, the 6th week in a row where a theme reached double digits in submissions.

There are only 4 weeks left in this cycle of themes. If you have any ideas or suggestions for themes for the next 4 weeks, leave them in the Comments section of this here post.

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

Andy Sharp

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Stephanie Kim

Tamara Peterson

Cathie Raley

Christopher D. Bennett

Micky Augustin

Mike Vest

Carla Stensland

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:

FLOWER

FLOWER! What a great theme! As luck would have it, this time the FLOWER theme popped up during a time of year where almost all of us can just walk into our backyard and take a picture of a FLOWER. Or we can go to a park and take a picture of a FLOWER. This might be the best time of year for wildFLOWERs.

As always, I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

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

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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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 flowery Monday!

Animals, Black & White, Contests, Nader, Pufferbilly Days, State Fair

Iowa State Fair – 2018 – Animals

August 11, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

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:

Boone County Treasures – Set 1

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If you are ready to vote in all the polls, you can do that by clicking on the link below:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest

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.

Contests, Event, Music, Photo Journal, Pufferbilly Days, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Page 27

August 9, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

There are 4 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 for the poll for one of the Nature entries below.

At this point the hollyhock picture is in the lead, but not by much.

Nature Set 1

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If you are ready to vote in all 6 polls, click on the link below:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Poll

Thanks for voting!

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Last Saturday the annual Fly Iowa airshow came to Boone. It was the first time that it had been in Boone in 25 years. As I watched the airshow, it dawned on me that it was the perfect time to capture the image for Page 27 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.

Page 27 -Create drama around the edge of your frame.

Only one image can be physically adhered in the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL, however I did take a few other pictures for the page that I also like.

This leaves the following pages of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT left to photograph:

Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason by Jason Evans. – This is a profoundly stupid page, but I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and do it at some point.
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 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compose 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 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.

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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE theme is MUSIC:

MUSIC

A MUSIC photo is any photo that involves the production of or listening to MUSIC.

Happy photo harvesting!

Contests, Pufferbilly Days

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Voting

August 6, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

It is time once again for you to help select my entries to the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

Polls will close next Tuesday.

All you have to do is vote in each of the 6 polls below:

Photoshop

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Photojournalism

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Nature – Flower

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Nature – Misc.

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Hidden Treasures of Boone County – Group 1

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Hidden Treasures of Boone County – Group 2

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