Category Archives: Railroad

Art, Flowers, History, Railroad, Road Trip, Still Life, Street Photography

Muscatine County Aux. – Vol. 1

April 12, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Back on July 30 I cruised around the towns of Muscatine County harvesting their town signs. Muscatine County was one of my favorite counties that I have visited. There are a few photogenic towns in Muscatine County and I purchased the most delicious watermelon I’ve ever eaten from a dragon in rural Muscatine County.

Here is the first collection of images from my road trip to Muscatine County:

West Liberty

I have questions.

Atalissa

I still have a ton more pictures from Muscatine County. So many more that I don’t even know how many more I have. We might find out together.

Art, History, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins

Wapello County Aux. – Vol. 3

April 5, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to share the final collection of pictures I took while harvesting the town signs of Wapello County. Almost all of these are in Eldon. Eldon is a town that is most famous for being the home of the home that makes the backdrop for the most famous American painting to ever be painted. American Gothic. I’ve seen this painting once, at the Des Moines Art Center. It is amazing how tiny it is. It is only 2’5″ x 2’1″. But its impact on American culture can not be measured.

Here are some pictures:

Eldon

The next time we hit the open road to look at auxiliary images from THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Muscatine County.

Art, History, Railroad, Road Trip, Street Photography

Wapello County Aux. – Vol. 2

March 29, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Seems like a good time to share a second collection of images I took while harvesting the town signs of Wapello County. A good chunk of these were taken in Ottumwa, but a good portion is also taken in Agency, the sport where Iowa was “born”.

Ottumwa

Agency

Eldon

Here is some information on Chief Wapello’s Memorial Park from the Wiki:

Chief Wapello’s Memorial Park, also known as Chief Wapello’s Gravesite and the Site of Sac and Fox Indian Agency, is a historic site located near Agency, Iowa, United States. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The park is on the site of the Indian Agency that became the home of the Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) tribes. They were relocated here by the United States government after the Black Hawk War of 1832. General Joseph M. Street was appointed the Indian Agent and settled with his family on the agency. He earned the respect of the Meskwaki chief Wapello. A stone marker marks the site of the Agency House. Another stone marker commemorates the 1842 negotiations for the tribes to hand over their Iowa lands to the United States government, and the first Christian services that were held in Iowa’s interior by the Reverend Thomas Kirkpatrick, a Methodist Circuit Rider, in 1838. The tribes were relocated from here to Kansas.

This land was the agency’s garden area. When Street died in 1840 he was buried at this location on the agency and the tribes gave the property that surrounds the grave to his wife so she and her family could make a living. Two years later Wapello was buried next to General Street. Other graves include those of Eliza Street and their children and Major John Beach who was the Street’s son-in-law and who replaced General Street as Indian Agent. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was granted an easement on the south side of the park by the Street family with the stipulation that they take care of it. This they have done and the stainless steel marker in the park was installed by the railroad.

Imagine having having to sign a treaty and being forced to leave Iowa for Kansas. That had to hurt.

Drone, Railroad

Rodan139: Beaver

March 28, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Both my free time and some decent weather actually aligned the other day and I managed to take Rodan139 out to stretch its wings (propellers). Unfortunately, it was a little bit impromptu, so the battery situation wasn’t great. I have 3 batteries for Rodan139, so I took it to 3 different places and flew it until the battery drained. The first place was Beaver, Iowa. I want to get some drone pictures of all the incorporated towns of Boone County. While I got a few of Beaver, I will go back and get some coverage from different angles.

Here are some low battery Beaver, Iowa images:

The second place I went to on this battery drain trip was the Pilot Mound State Forest, but those pictures are for another day.

Animals, Art, History, Macro, Railroad

Edward Grasshopper

March 25, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I named this post Edward Grasshopper because I love grasshoppers and I like and am somewhat influenced by the art of Edward Hopper. I admittedly don’t know much about Edward Hopper the person, so I did a little bit of research on him and the most interesting thing about him is that he was married to another artist, Josephine Nivison. She aided him in being a model and as a creative partner.

Edward died before Josephine. She passed away 10 months after him. She left their entire artistic estate to the Whitney Museum of American Art. This is what sucks. It was believed that the Whitney turned around and just threw away all of Josephine’s artwork. BUT, thankfully they didn’t, they just shoved a bunch of them in the basement. In 2000 about 200 of Joephine’s works were discovered. Which is sad because Edward was great to Josephine the artist.

From the wiki:

Beginning in the mid-1920s Jo became her husband’s only model. It was she who thought up the names for a number of her husband’s paintings, including one of his most famous oil paintings, Nighthawks. Despite their complicated relationship, she helped when her husband felt insecure about a painting in progress, as in, for example, the case of Five A.M. (1937). As late as 1936, Jo reported that her husband was highly competitive and that her starting a work would frequently inspire Edward to start his own. In The Lonely City Olivia Laing discusses Jo’s career and how it floundered because Edward was “profoundly opposed to its existence. Edward didn’t just fail to support Jo’s painting, but rather worked actively to discourage it, mocking and denigrating the few things she did manage to produce”.

One of the paintings that Hopper did when not being a jerk to his wife, Automat, is part of the Des Moines Art Center’s collection.

Which reminds me that it should be about time for my nearly annual trip to the Des Moines Art Center with Suzie.

Here are some pictures of grasshoppers that probably love and support their significant others in every way possible:

The last two pictures are from the Boone Art Center. Also known as the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

Basketball, Drone, Panorama, Railroad, WPC - Alternate

Rodan139: High Bridges

March 14, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

A reminder that you have until Thursday at 11 AM (Central) to get your picks in for Year 18 of the Roundball Oracles. Click on the link below to join:

Roundball Oracles – Year 18

It costs nothing to participate. First Place gets a trophy. Last Place Adult that give full effort also gets a trophy. Hope many of you participate!

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One of the last times Rodan139 took to the skies last year was near the Kate Shelley Memorial High Bridge. I flew around it to take pictures for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme STRONG. Here are the picture I took that day:

I think it would be pretty cool if some day they made it so people could walk across the abandoned bridge. I’m sure it will never happen cause of a myriad of security reasons, but it would still be pretty cool.

Animals, Art, Birthdays, Carla, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Music, Nature, Night, Nora, Railroad, Steph, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

Viva Las Vegas: Day 1A

March 10, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I need to start today by wishing Nora a happy birthday, so happy birthday Nora!

I hope your birthday is filled with lots of candy and cake and ice cream! If not, I will buy you so much ice cream next time I see you.

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Time to start sharing the real camera pictures from my work trip to Las Vegas. I took the backup camera to Vegas just cause I’m always leery of traveling on planes with the 1st string camera. Even though the bag never leaves my side. It is probably a mental block that I will never get over. We’ll see what happens next time I walk on a plane. In April.

I took enough pictures on Day 1 in Vegas to split them into to two posts. This is post 1.

Vegas Day 1 started in Boone. I got up and headed for the Des Moines International Airport a little after 9 AM for my 12:15 flight. I’m one of those people that gets to the airport early. Probably cause I don’t fly that much and probably because I get paid to be there early, sorta. That is how I interpret the travel rules.

I knew there was bad weather west of us and the potential that one of our flights could get cancelled. The good news is that they didn’t. The bad news is that a little after getting to the airport, I got the notification that the flight from Des Moines to Denver had been delayed. Which worked in my favor because the Des Moines International Airport is currently under construction right. They have taken away a bunch of the parking in the parking ramp to make room for employees to park. This meant I had to drive by the parking ramp and the Blue Lot and the Green Lot and the Red Lot and the Yellow Lot and the Indigo Lot and the Cyan Lot and the Polka Dot Lot and ended up all the way in the Gray Lot. A lot so far away from the airport terminal I think it might be in Norwalk. Possibly Cumming.

I took a 15 minute shuttle ride to the airport. It took me a minute but I finally located the Southwest check-in counter in the room with all the weird car rental places and checked my luggage. Two things here. First, I wasn’t crazy about flying Southwest. I haven’t flown Southwest since the last time I went to Vegas, which was almost 20 years ago. I haven’t heard good things about Southwest. They say the people on there are animals. But not in the millions of good ways that animals (in this scenario humans are not animals) are easily superior to humans. But in the bad ways where humans compare other humans to animals to make them seem lesser than. Second, I did buy new luggage for this trip. I don’t travel much in the manner that requires luggage, but the two trips I took in 2022 showed me that the luggage I have been using isn’t practical. Merely sentimental. I bought the new luggage off of Amazon because I had a Amazon gift from my computer mine anniversary. I can say, that while the walls of the luggage seem a little thin, so far I am digging the new luggage. I bought red luggage so they would be easy to spot in the baggage claim line and because they were $30 cheaper than more mundane colors. I don’t know why.

After getting through the security line without incident, I found my gate, grabbed a seat and discovered I was the first person there from the Computer Mine. I wasn’t there long before I got another notification that the flight had been delayed again. Now it was going to be over an hour late taking off. I took solace in the fact I had been reassured by the Southwest ticket lady that there were over 30 people transferring from our flight to the connecting flight in Denver to Las Vegas and there was no way that they would leave that many people behind.

While I was comforted by that information, one of the things that concerned me is that Southwest has no assigned seats. You have an assigned position to get into the plane and then once in there, it is every person for themself. I was worried that I would get there late for the connecting flight and lose any chance at getting a good seat. I’d end up in a middle seat. Nobody wants that. Not me. Not the person in the window seat. Not the person in the aisle seat. However, they hadn’t started boarding when we got to the connecting flight and I was able to grab a sweet spot in the emergency exit row!

If you don’t know, that means extra legroom! It is like 1st Class for those of us in steerage! Bingpot!

The flight into Vegas was a little rough because it was so windy. I didn’t get a snack or beverage service. That is how I determine if a flight was rough. By the time we got to the hotel, I was famished. The only sustenance I had knocked down was a bag of snack mix and 6 ounces of 7-Up on the flight from Des Moines to Denver.

We took a shuttle form the airport to Planet Hollywood, our home away from home for the next 5 days. Here is my review of Planet Hollywood:

It is kinda dirty. It is a little rundown. The big selling point is that it has what I would call a glorified mall. There is virtually no Hollywood artifacts or paraphernalia there. But for what we were there for, it worked great. The conference facilities and staff were great! And it is near places that are cool like the Bellagio, Paris, Caesar’s Palace, and The Flamingo.

After getting to my room, which had a breathtaking view of a parking garage, and organizing some stuff and claiming the bed nearest the breathtaking view (my roomie Tony didn’t come in until the next day so I got choice of beds) I connected with Lowell and we went to supper.

We walked down to Caesar’s Palace to look for a buffet, but we actually ended up in the Caesar’s Palace food court where we ate at Bobby’s Burgers. A restaurant that is connected to Bobby Flay. Who is some kind of chef of note, but he isn’t a raging douchebag like Gordon Ramsay, so you might not have heard of him. I’ve only heard of him because Faust used to be big into him back in the day.

I ordered a Bacon Crunchburger (Bacon, American Cheese, Potato Chips, Bobby’s Sauce – yeah not crazy about that name either), French Fries, and a Soft Drink. The price tag came to a little over $30.

THIRTY BUCKS!

I consider the Computer Mine to be generous with their per diems. I know it is set by the government, but I usually come back with a little extra coin jingling and jangling around in my pockets. This is mostly cause I don’t drink alcohol. In fact I was actually mostly off pop before this trip, but I fell of that wagon pretty dang hard in Vegas. I don’t think it is inaccurate to say I went on a regular Pepsi Cola Bender. We are almost 2 weeks out and I’m still weening myself back off the hard stuff.

The per diem I got for this trip was $288. The fact that I had just spent $30 for a food court burger caused me to take a step back. I expected this to be one of the cheapest meals I shoved in my face on this trip to Sin City. I wasn’t sure $288 was going to make it.

Dang!

After Day 1, I had an estimated $258 remaining in the per diem fund.

Maybe eating is overrated…

After the meal we walked around something I would describe as an open air mall that was between The Linq and The Flamingo. This is where I took the majority of the pictures I took on Day 1.

Here is the first collection:

Caesar’s Palace Sportsbook

There are few musicians I like lesson than Jimmy Buffett, but the man can market.

In-N-Out Burger was on Lowell and I’s list. It was the only thing that we crossed off our lists.

I wasn’t expecting there to be so many candy stores in Vegas.

Seeing the actual Vegas sign was on my list. This is the closest I came.

I do regret not going in here a little bit.

Not the Bellagio fountains.

This was so close to being my MUSIC photo for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

I have several more pictures to share from Day 1 that I’ll share at a future date. My best guess is March 17th, while I’m eating a Reuben from West Street Deli.

And nobody better give me any nonsense about letting the Reuben rest for a day and it somehow being better. Got it?

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This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is SUNRISE, SUNSET:

SUNRISE, SUNSET

What is a SUNRISE, SUNSET picture? It is a simply a picture of a SUNRISE or of a SUNSET. I’ve heard some grumbling this is a hard theme. The weather is bad. I go to bed at 6 shortly after eating my early bird special at the nursing home. I don’t like going outside. Whatever. Of course THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is hard sometimes. That is what makes it great. If it was easy everybody would do it.

“Maybe you will just have to get creative.” He muttered while sipping on a cocktail made out of tequila, orange juice and grenadine. Unmixed. In a tall glass. Served on the rocks. Sometimes garnished with a cherry and orange slice.

If getting a little lit doesn’t inspire you, maybe these example submission from when SUNRISE, SUNSET was a theme in days past will:

WEEK 43 - SUNRISE/SUNSET - CARLA STENSLAND 1

Carla Stensland – Week 43

Kim Barker – Week 43

Stephanie Kim – Week 43

Michelle Haupt – Week 43

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 43

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Angie, Becky, Bill, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Nathanial, Nature, Railroad, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 390 – STORE

March 6, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

STORE! Everybody goes to them. Maybe not as much as they did before the pandemic, but you still have to go to them, unless you get everything delivered. Which I don’t think any of you do. I don’t have any friends that are that rich. Or do I?

But many people make it to a STORE to take a picture? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, February 27, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 1 week
2-Mary Green – 1 week
3-Sara Lockner – 1 week
4-Sarah Karber – 2 weeks
5-Mindi Terrell – 2 weeks (2)
6-Willy McAlpine – 3 weeks
7-Suzie Brannen – 6 weeks
8-Jesse Howard – 6 weeks
9-Monica Jennings – 6 weeks (2)
10-Nathanial Brown – 7 weeks (2)
11-Mike Vest – 7 weeks
12-Tamara Peterson – 17 weeks
13-Brandon Kahler – 27 weeks
14-Linda Bennett – 31 weeks
15-Sarah Toot – 32 weeks (3)
16-Angie DeWaard – 36 weeks
17-Dawn Krause – 40 weeks
18-Kim Barker – 45 weeks (2)
19-Joe Duff – 47 weeks
20-Logan Kahler – 4 8weeks
21-Teresa Kahler – 58 weeks
22-Carla Stensland – 58 weeks (3)
23-Micky Augustin – 60 weeks
24-Andy Sharp – 61 weeks
25-Bill Wentworth – 62 weeks
26-Cathie Morton – 66 weeks
27-Elizabeth Nordeen – 67 weeks (2)
28-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 69 weeks
29-Kio Dettman – 71 weeks (2)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Becky Parmelee (Arkansas) – 1 week

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 3 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 7 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 7 weeks

Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 7 weeks

Monica Jennings (Iowa)

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 8 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa)

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 8 weeks

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 18 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 28 weeks

Linda Bennett (Iowa) – 32 weeks

Sarah Toot (New York) – 33 weeks

Sarah Toot (New Jersey)

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania)

Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 37 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 41 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 46 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 48 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas)

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 49 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 59 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 59 weeks

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 61 weeks

Andy Sharp (Illinois) – 62 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 63 weeks

Cathie Morton (Nassau Bahamas) – 67 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 68 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa)

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Christopher D. Bennett (Iowa) – 494 weeks

27 participants this week. That is a great week. A slight dip from the last couple of weeks. Maybe there aren’t as many slaves to consumerism out there as I had thought. Which is a good thing… we’ll count it as a good thing.

The good news is that there were 3 new states added to the map this week! New York (Sarah Toot), New Jersey (Sarah Toot again), and Illinois (Andy). That means that all the states that surround Iowa have had a submission taken in them except for South Dakota. But I’m sure we’ll get there. I see you South Dakota.

Also, Cathie added our 2nd submission taken from outside the United States with Nassau Bahamas.

There were submission this week taken in the following locations:

+ Arkansas
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas
+ Nassau Bahamas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arkansas
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Minnesota
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Missouri
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas
+ Wisconsin

16 states! That is pretty impressive!

The Outside of the United States map is now:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Nassau Bahamas

I took my picture about 2.5 miles from my front door. I know. Big time traveler this guy!

I think this map might grow again next week. A little birdie tells me that a certain regular contributor is going to Arizona this week and maybe Mexico, if they have the guts.

There were no big time milestones this week. Unfortunately there was a bit of a blood bath on the streaks front though. Jen and Mary couldn’t extend their submission last week into a streak. Sarah Karber’s streak went down in flames after 2 weeks. Willy’s 3 week is now as existent as his desire to show up for work.

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:

SUNRISE, SUNSET

SUNRISE, SUNSET! What a great theme for year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

It has been a few years since I’ve used SUNRISE, SUNSET for a theme. I was told it wasn’t a fair theme because people with children could not do it. I don’t know I bought it, but I don’t know. Maybe it is true. Either way, I put the theme on the sidelines.

I brought it back this year because it is the Special Theme Class for the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. Rather than writing up my own description, I thought I should just lift it straight from the Iowa State Fair.

“The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.”
– Henry Ward Beecher

Next year’s theme is a bright one that our world literally revolves around. The Sun is something that we as photographers like to photograph quite often, because it offers a multitude of creativity. In fact, we call the sunset the golden hours because of opportunities it presents to capture the perfect photograph.

Your assignment, however, is to not just shoot the sun, but to shoot it in a way that we have never seen before. While the sun must be the main subject, it shouldn’t be the only subject of your photograph. Ask yourself, what is making the Sun so interesting in the moment? What can you do to photograph the Sun to tell a story of what is happening in that moment?

This assignment will also give you the opportunity to play with shadows and light and all the many colors that the sunrises or sunsets can provide. Look for the dramatic contrasts that can occur when the Sun is providing the light for your photographs.

I’ll just add a couple more things.

#1. Putting objects between you and the sunset can make or break a SUNRISE, SUNSET picture. Choose wisely.
#2. A SUNRISE, SUNSET picture doesn’t have to be of the sun. Maybe for the Iowa State Fair, but not for our purposes. You can also turn around take a picture that is lit by a SUNRISE or SUNSET. A reflection of a SUNRISE or SUNSET can make a fantastic picture.

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge. There is a limit of 3 submissions per participant. To be considered the photographer, you have to be the one that takes the picture. Don’t be stealing the work of other artists. You can submit pictures for other photographers that took pictures with your camera or phone, but give credit where credit is due.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of SUNRISE, SUNSET in this place that is still in its sunrise phase next Monday.

Black & White, Naima, Railroad

Stupid, Emotional, Obsessive Little Me

February 25, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

This is actually Post #4,750 in the history of my “An Artist’s Notebook” blog. Normally I would do a bunch of reflecting on the past and post some pretty meaningless statistics. However, I’ve been in Las Vegas all week and am still in Las Vegas, so I will table all of that reflection and those statistics for when I get back to the Cyclone State. Instead, I will just continue working on the backlog. This collection of images is from May. They are mostly the images I took to composite an image for my Slice of Life theme submission for last year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Then there is a bonus image of Naima.

Feels good to get more of that backlog cleaned out. I should be flying back from Las Vegas tomorrow bright and early. Hopefully I’ll be coming back with some good stories or at least some good photos. We will see.

Art, Christianity, Nature, Railroad, Road Trip

Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 3

February 22, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time for another collection of pictures from my road trip to harvest the town signs of Clayton County I took last July. Finally, in this collection, there are pictures from Clayton County. Although the first few are still in Dubuque County.