Category Archives: WPC

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Saydie, Still Life, Taylan, WPC - Reminder

The 2019 Howards – Subset Cuatro

May 15, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Time for yet another collection of images from the 2019 Howard Family Photo Shoot. With this collection I am now over half-done curating the photos from this collection. The final collection will actually be a small one. Very small depending on what I do with the port-a-potty pictures that Jesse made us take.

Still more Howards to come!

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is RULE OF THIRDS:

RULE OF THIRDS

Think of RULE OF THIRDS like this:

The image is broken into 9 equal boxes. Place the subject of your image on one of the corners of the center box. NOT inside the middle box.

The subject could also go along one of the the 4 lines that go through the inside of the image. BUT not in the center of any of the middle boxes.

The reveal picture should be very helpful.

Happy photo harvesting!

9 Emotions Project, Aaron, Andy, Becky, Black & White, Carla, Cathie, Elainie, Elizabeth, Jodie Cue, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Naima, Shannon, Still Life, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 243 – EMOTIONS

May 11, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

32 straight weeks of double digit submissions! The fourth straight week that I didn’t send any reminder text messages this morning and still made double digit submissions, easy.

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

Jodie Cue

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Becky Parmelee

Aaron Barnett

Christopher D. Bennett

Monica Henning

Elizabeth Nordeen

Andy Sharp

Michelle Haupt

Carla Stensland

Elainie Stensland

Carla Stensland

Cathie Raley

Micky Augustin

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:

RULE OF THIRDS

RULE OF THIRDS! What a great theme! But what is a RULE OF THIRDS picture. First you need to understand the RULE OF THIRDS:

“The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.[2] Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject.”

Most cameras by default have a default grid of the RULE OF THIRDS on the viewfinder. So RULE OF THIRDS should be one of the easiest themes yet!

If you are still struggling with the concept, look at the theme reveal picture. The goal here is to get the subject out of the center of the frame.

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 off-center Monday!

Andy, Black & White, Flowers, Iowa State, Macro, Music, Nature, Work, WPC - Alternate

You Know, I Hurt Myself As Well

May 8, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

35 days working from home in the book. I did discover a new positive about working from home this week. I had to go into the physical computer mine twice this week because Apple products suck. They really do. I have nothing positive to say about them.

But that isn’t the positive. The positive I figured out two positives for working from home on my trip to the mine.

One, I can control the lights in my office. I usually just daylight that streams in from my south facing office windows is enough. But on cloudy days I will sometimes run a lamp. If I need more light for some reason I can turn on the overhead lamp.

The mine has the soul crushing fluorescent lighting that is always on. I miss many things about the mine, but the lighting isn’t one of them.

The other positive, my own toilet paper. Seems like a minor thing, but the toilet paper at the mine leaves a lot to be desired. A lot!

My home listening habits were the same. Life 107.1 from 7-9. Then The Master Playlist until 2 PM roughly. This week I made it all the way to track number 1456, “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt.

A decent pandemic song:

“You and me, we used to be together
Every day together, always
I really feel that I’m losin’ my best friend
I can’t believe this could be the end”

I did delete a couple songs from the Master Playlist for sound quality reasons:

#1337 – “You” by Candlebox
#1299 – “Slow Ride” by Foghat

Pretty sure I will finish off the Master Playlist next week. At that time, it will be time, to start adding to it. That should be fun!

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Here is a reminder that the Sharp family is collecting empty laundry detergent jugs to fill with homemade laundry detergent to donate to local pantries. They have setup a collection can at the end of their driveway for you to leave your empty jugs.

They live at the very end of Division Street. Keep going south on Division until you can’t go any farther. It is easy and contact free. I dropped off a couple of jugs last night:

If you can’t find it, drop your jugs off to me and I’ll get them there.

Here are a few pictures of their soap operation that Andy has sent me:

It is a great ministry and I hope some of you can help them out!

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Last Saturday I went over to Iowa State to walk the campus with Teresa. While I was there I took a few TREE pictures that didn’t quite make the cut for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE on Monday. Here are a few of them:

Iowa State University, still world’s reigning champ for most beautiful campus!

The cherry blossom pictures are from my backyard though.

Becca, Bethany, Billy, Candid Portrait, Dory, Event, Formal Portrait, J.T., Jonah, Laura, Nate, Nora, WPC - Reminder

Baby Triforce 1st Birthday Party – Gamma

May 8, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The third and final collection of pictures from the Miller Triplets birthday party. I know, I’m sad about it too. Who knows when I’ll be able to get adorable triplet pictures again. Hold on to these times my friends.

It could be a long time before I see any of these people again, so I guess Laura’s Snapchat stories and Becca and Bethany’s Instagram posts will have to be enough for now.

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

EMOTIONS

An EMOTIONS pictures is pretty simple. It is just a picture of somebody or something showing an EMOTION(S) or even a picture of something that stirs EMOTIONS in you would also work.

I get the notion that this might not be as popular of a theme. I’ve had zero submissions to this point. The last couple of weeks I have had a handful of submissions by now.

Get on it!

And.

Happy photo harvesting!

Aaron, Andy, Becky, Carla, Cathie, Elizabeth, Evie, Iowa State, Jen, Layla, Linda, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Nature, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 242 – TREE

May 4, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

31 straight weeks of double digit submissions!! The third straight week that I didn’t send any reminder text messages this morning and still made double digits like it ain’t no thing, but a chicken wing on a string.

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

Monica Henning

Teresa Kahler

Elizabeth Nordeen

Andy Sharp

Elizabeth Nordeen

Becky Parmelee

Aaron Barnett

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Aaron Barnett

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Layla Gorshe

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Evie Gorshe

Cathie Raley

Linda Bennett

Micky Augustin

EMOTIONS

EMOTIONS! What a great theme! But what is an EMOTIONS photo? An EMOTIONS photo is any photo that shows somebody or something expressing an EMOTION(S). Or it could even be anything that triggers an EMOTION(S) in you. I only know of 9 emotions, and they are as follows:

1. Joy
2. Sadness
3. Anger
4. Amusement
5. Fear
6. Jealousy
7. Surprise
8. Sympathy
9. Boredom

But, I’m sure you can make up some other imaginary EMOTIONS if you want.

As always, I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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

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 emotional Monday!

Animals, Art, Jesse, Jorge, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, WPC - Reminder

Camping World Bowl Road Trip Day 4

May 1, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Day 4 of the road trip was a grind. We left Orlando and drove for like 15 hours to get back to Kuttawa, Kentucky.

The only real stop we made was a fancypants gas station in Georgia that sold pecans. I kinda thought the pecans down there would be cheaper and maybe they are, but they were still crazy expensive. But I’m not a pecan expert.

#wafflelife

The hotel we stayed at had a sweet aquarium.

Attached to their phones. Worse than traveling with teenagers.

Crane in the hotel parking lot.

Bikers?

I got so many yard decorating ideas from this place!

Damn right we hit another Zaxby’s!

Good night from Kentucky.

This wasn’t my style of road trip. I like to be able to stop at random things and meander and photograph. I hope this year’s bowl trip is either closer (I already know it will be in a better city) or I’m able to space it out over a longer time frame. Otherwise, flying might be the way to go.

I would love to go back to Memphis, but there are a lot of people laying down some pretty high expectations for Iowa State this season. I think it will depend on how well the offensive line comes together though.

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

TREE

A TREE image is any image that involves a TREE or a TREE byproduct.

Happy photo harvesting!

Aaron, Andy, Cathie, Elizabeth, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nature, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 241 – NOSE

April 27, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

30 straight weeks with double digits!! The second straight week that I didn’t send any reminder text messages this morning and still made double digits easy. You dig?

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

Elizabeth Nordeen

Teresa Kahler

Andy Sharp

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Aaron Barnett

Kim Barker

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

Micky Augustin

TREE

TREE! What a great theme! But what is a TREE image? It is any image that involves a TREE or a TREE byproduct. You know. Like wood. Or paper.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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

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 woody Monday!

Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Saydie, Self-Portrait, Taylan, WPC - Reminder

The 2019 Howards – Subset Uno

April 24, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

We’ve reached a point in the backlog where most of what is left is portraits. Editing portraits is the hardest for me for a variety of reasons. At least group portraits. The solo portrait isn’t such a big deal. Couples is no big deal. But groups. Woof! There is a ton of group portrait curating in my future.

The first up is the first collection of pictures from the Howard Photo Shoot. As is tradition with the Howard Photo Shoot, the lighting was brutal.

Here is the first collection:

Little T was sans boyfriend for this year’s photo shoot. She has since caught the eye of a new beau. I hear that he is photo shoot worthy, but I guess we won’t find out until next fall.

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

NOSE

A NOSE photo is any picture that involves a NOSE.

Happy photo harvesting!

Naima, WPC - Alternate

A Spectacle Monopolized

April 22, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

Since Monday’s reveal of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE submissions I have been flooded (virtually) with questions about what Naima listens to when she has her headphones on.

To be honest, she doesn’t listen to music on headphones. She finds them to be incredibly uncomfortable, as the pictures below will surely indicate.

but when she does listen to music it is usually angry political driven music like Public Enemy or Rage Against the Machine or early N.W.A. or the Dead Kennedys. She thinks it is disgraceful that Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of Americans. She thinks it is horrible that the richest 5% of Americans own 67% of the wealth. That is is atrocious that the richest 1% own more than half of stock and less than 5% of debt.

If dogs ran things, this type of wealth inequality (which is completely unsustainable) would never happen.

She also enjoys Thelonious Monk, Led Zeppelin, and Lecrae.

But what was she listening to on the headphones. Her favorite podcast: “Pod Save America”.

As you can see, she is not a fan of headphones.

Andy, Angie, Becky, Cathie, Elizabeth, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Naima, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 240 – EARS

April 20, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Going to start today with a quote. Those of you who get it, will get it. Those of you that don’t, ask somebody:

“I think we should legalize marijuana in this country. Just so potheads have nothing to talk about ever again.”
-Daniel Tosh

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WooHoo!! 29 straight weeks of double digit submissions!! I didn’t even send out any text message reminders this morning. Maybe it is the better weather. Maybe it is the quarantine. Maybe it is the fact that almost everybody has access to ears. But I had received double digit submissions by 7 AM this morning.

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

Angie DeWaard

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Becky Parmelee

Christopher D. Bennett

Kim Barker

Micky Augustin

Elizabeth Nordeen

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Elizabeth Nordeen

Cathie Raley

Monica Henning

NOSE

NOSE! What a great theme! What is a NOSE picture? A picture of a NOSE. That is really it. Almost everybody has one and everybody has access to a NOSE.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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

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 nosy Monday!