Here we are, another Senior Sunday. Only a couple of them left and then you will be able to have your Sabbath back. Down to 6 blog posts a week. Seems like just a couple of weeks ago we were at 11 blog posts a week.
Here is the 7th collection of Taylan pictures:
Only 2 weeks left of Senior Sundays!!
Most of the pictures in the folder 2010-01-02 are of a Personal Photo Project I worked on where I put a microphone next to a fish bowl and took a picture of it. This (like almost all of my photo projects) ended up being more difficult than I anticipated. Mostly because the fish didn’t cooperate. It had little to no interest in facing the microphone.
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:
Next Saturdays walk down memory lane will, at the very least, involve Christmas cards.
Another week of working from home almost in the books. I don’t even know how long it has been now. I don’t that much has changed. I still listen to 96.1 in the morning. In the afternoons, there isn’t really anything designated any more. I’ve been listening to podcasts I suppose. But not exclusively.
One positive or one thing I’ll miss when I get called back to working in the office is this: I’ll missing sitting under my cherry trees with Naima and eating my lunch. Listening to the birds. Feeling a warm breeze. It is very peaceful, but also makes it hard to go back to work when my lunch is over.
I have been working on the basement, but the project has become more ambitious than expected. There will be pictures when it is done, but it is several weeks out, at least. I’d guess I’m about 35-40% done.
Logan helped me big time last Saturday with the interior of the project. The Citywide Cleanup was also a big help. Lots of stuff hit the curb and are now on the ash heap of history. Although I’m still finding plenty of stuff that needs to hit the dusty trail. Andy helped me get rid of some of that too.
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I took several YELLOW pictures for this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I’d like to share the one’s that didn’t make the cut for Monday’s reveal at this point:
I always have fun playing with the “creative” settings on my camera.
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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ROAD TRIP:
A ROAD TRIP is any photo that involves a ROAD TRIP. Doesn’t have to be a large ROAD TRIP. The reveal photo was taken when I went on a ROAD TRIP to get gas. A ROAD TRIP photo doesn’t even have to be taken on a ROAD TRIP. It can be taken showing planning for a ROAD TRIP or preparing for a ROAD TRIP.
Happy photo harvesting!
No problems reaching double digits for 37 straight weeks! I didn’t even have to send out an reminder text messages this morning!
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:
Carla Stensland
Tamara Peterson
Michelle Haupt
Bill Wentworth
Carla Stensland
Elizabeth Nordeen
Elizabeth Nordeen
Kim Barker
Kim Barker
Christopher D. Bennett
Cathie Raley
Micky Augustin
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Monica Henning
Jesse Howard
Jodie Cue
Jodie Cue
Jodie Cue
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:
ROAD TRIP! What a great theme! It might be one of the harder themes consider the current public health environment, but just getting in your car and getting groceries or gas is a ROAD TRIP these days. Even showing the planning on a ROAD TRIP that you will be able to take some day is a good ROAD TRIP image.
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.
OR
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 trippy Monday!
Hey, I screwed up the schedule of posts and 2 posts accidentally posted at the same time yesterday. This one, that I took back down and re-posted and another one with daffodils. It is possible that you didn’t get the post about the daffodils yesterday. If that is the case, click on the link below:
My soul and pocketbook are glad to announce that I have finished THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT. 5 new canvases arrived on Monday and I was able to get them up that night. Here are the 5 final canvases:
There is also an update on Naima and birthday wishes for Jorge in there.
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My soul and pocketbook are glad to announce that I have finished THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT. 5 new canvases arrived on Monday and I was able to get them up that night. Here are the 5 final canvases:
This is what the wall looks like:
Now, I realize that when there is furniture in place, not every picture is visible. That isn’t the important part. The important part is that they are there at all.
On to the next decorating project. Whatever that may be!
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I don’t consider pictures that were taken in the same calendar year in which we currently exist to be a backlog. However, if I did, this collection of images would be somewhat of a backlog. This clears out all images from January and February that had yet to be edited or curated.
Pictures from a trip to Dickcissel with Naima, some Lensbaby tests, and a picture of the Root Beer Symposium we had during movie night back in January.
We haven’t had Movie Night at The Union Street theater since February, so we haven’t been able to crown a root beer champion, but those pictures might give you the slightest indication of how messy my basement is right now. Although I would estimate that the big parts of the basement cleanup are about 30% done.
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This is your reminder that SIGNS is this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme:
A SIGNS picture is just that, a picture of a SIGN or multiple SIGNS. Remember, there are more than one kind of SIGN(S).
Happy photo harvesting!
I only have one image to share today. It might not seem like much of an image at first glance. It is just a wet gazania. But this is a focus stacked image. It took 63 pictures just to combine all of them into this one image.
I repeat, it isn’t that I took 63 images and this is the one I like the best, I took 63 images and combined them into one image.
I’m sure I’ll be doing more focus stacking in the future. The photo rail makes it way easier to focus stack. In addition to making it way easier to do super macro.
Now I have yet to do a super-macro photo stacked image, but that is coming. Very soon.
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Thought I would reveal the latest collection of images that have been added to the CANVAS WALL PROJECT.
12X16
12X16
12X16
12X16
12X16
12X8
12X8
12X8
12X8
12X8
8X10
There is one more order of canvases that are their way to my front stoop. Once those are up, the CANVAS WALL PROJECT will be finished!
At that time, I’ll publish a picture of it.
I have been asked how I did my SELF-PORTRAIT for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Well, here is a quick run down.
For starters, I laid a green screen down on my driveway. Then I took Rodan139 357 meters above sea level and set the camera to take time lapse pictures every 10 seconds.
Then I tried a few poses:
But I ultimately decided on this pose:
Since I had Rodan139 out, I went ahead and took a couple pictures of the nearby water tower:
Then I took Rodan139 up to 397 meters above sea level and took a picture straight down:
Next I opened up both images in Photoshop. I cropped the picture of me, so it was only me and the green screen:
After cropping the images, I went to the select menu and chose “Color Range”. Then using the eyedropper tool, I held the SHIFT key while clicking and dragging around all the green area that I need ed to remove:
Then from the SELECT menu, I chose INVERSE.
Then, while holding the SHIFT key, I chose SELECT AND MASK.
From that menu I played with the SMOOTHNESS slider to make the edges of the selection smoother.
When I was satisfied, I selected OK.
Then from the SELECT menu, I chose INVERSE. Then I pushed BACKSPACE to remove the green screen:
Then I copied the selection over to the new background image.
Then finally, I blurred the new background slightly, to make the image look more realistic. This was the final result:
That is it, easy peasy!
I need to start by wishing everybody a happy Memorial Day!
Today is a unique Memorial Day, as we honor both our military personnel that have died in military service and the over 100,000 Americans that have died during the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully, we will be in a better place in the world next year.
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Woooo! 34 straight weeks of double digit submissions. I got a lot of feedback from people saying that a SELF-PORTRAIT wasn’t easy for them like it is for me. They aren’t a combination of a young Brad Pitt and a middle-aged Robert Redford. While, I understand that my good looks can be intimidating, it is the fact that I am interesting looking that makes me so dang photogenic, not the fact that I’m so ruggedly handsome.
One person went so far as to send me the excuse that they can’t do a self-portrait, because they only do portraits with somebody holding their neck back. Ridiculous!
That being said, enough people showed the testicular fortitude to get on the other side of the camera for us to eek out double digits again!
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions!
Kim Barker
Dawn Krause
Andy Sharp
Angie DeWaard
Jen Ensley-Gorshe
Micky Augustin
Jen Ensley-Gorshe
Jesse Howard
Carla Stensland
Cathie Raley
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Christopher D. Bennett
Logan Kahler
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:
FRIENDS! What a great theme! I mean for most of you. Seeing how I have been scientifically documented to be the one True Lone Wolf, the man that is an island, this will be a difficult theme for me. I might have to play creepy photographer and find a couple of FRIENDS hanging out and clandestinely take their picture.
For the rest of you, this should be fairly simple. Grab a picture of a couple of your FRIENDS physically distancing, while remaining social.
I look forward to seeing your interpretations!
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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.
OR
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 friendly Monday!
It is time for the 11th installment of pictures of when Fly Iowa was in Boone last August.
All these pictures are of the plane that was painted like Air Force One.
Only 100 Fly Iowa pictures left to reboot.
Time for the 10th installment of pictures of when Fly Iowa was in Boone back in August.
Featured in this collection of photos is a plane that was painted to look like Air Force One. This airplane was the end of the show. Thank goodness because it flew around to that awful Lee Greenwood song. But more on the pilot and their terrible taste in music in a later post, probably.
Only 200 Fly Iowa pictures left to curate.
