Monthly Archives: November 2016

Animals, Calendar

2017 Photography 139 Calendar Cover

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I spent the last few days designing the 2017 Photography 139 Calendar.

The design of this calendar is different than the last several years in a few different ways.

1. This isn’t a flower photography only calendar. There are flower pictures, but they are the minority.
2. Gone is all the old ways I lined pictures up with certain months in the past.
3. Each picture is lined up with a month that the picture was taken in. For example, the January 2017 image was taken in January of 2016. December’s picture was taken in December of 2015.
4. The number format is the same as 2016, but I’ve added back some of the “holidays” from calendars past.
5. A price for this year’s calendar has yet to be determined. I haven’t quite figured out how much it cost me to make, but it will probably be in that $10 range again this year.
6. I didn’t include a “title” or location of the pictures, despite people requesting that. I didn’t find away to do it that I liked. Maybe in 2018.

So without further adieu, I present the cover of the 2017 Photography 139 Calendar:


2017 Calendar - Cover
Cover

This picture came from a THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE reject for the theme MACRO. I chose this picture because I decided not to include any portraits or animals on the inside of the calendar, I wanted the cover to include a self-portrait. This is my favorite self-portrait from 2016.

I will have ordering information in a future post. I’m sure.

Art, Baier, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Jeff Daniel, Nader, Street Photography, Yin

Nader Day

A few weeks back I took Nader down to Des Moines for his birthday. We bummed around the downtown area and then met Jeff, Yin, and a couple of Baiers for lunch at Mad Meatball. Here are a few pictures from the bumming around phase of the day:


Nader Day

Nader Day

Nader Day

Nader Day

Nader Day

Nader Day

Nader Day

Nader Day

Shadi

Nader Day

Nader Day

We also randomly ran into Shadi in the East Village. It was a good day. Nader messed around and got a triple-double.

Angie, Becky, Candid Portrait, Cathie, Dae Hee, Dawn, Kim, Nora, Shannon, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 63 – LOVE

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There wasn’t as much LOVE in the world this week as one would have hoped. I’ll just hope that when we get to HATE, it isn’t a more popular option. But it is the world that we live in.

But you don’t want to listen to me talk all tommyrot about LOVE and HATE. You want to see the LOVE submissions:


WEEK 63 - LOVE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 63 - LOVE - SHANNON BARDOLE
Shannon Bardole

WEEK 63 - LOVE - BECKY PERKOVICH
Becky Perkovich

WEEK 63 - LOVE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 63 - LOVE - CATHIE RALEY 1
Cathie Raley 1

WEEK 63 - LOVE - CATHIE RALEY 2
Cathie Raley 2

WEEK 63 - LOVE - CATHIE RALEY 3
Cathie Raley 3

WEEK 63 - LOVE - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard

WEEK 63 - LOVE - DAWN KRAUSE
Dawn Krause

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:


WEEK 64 - TOWN
TOWN!

But what is a TOWN? Here is one definition:

an urban area that has a name, defined boundaries, and local government, and that is generally larger than a village and smaller than a city.

But for our purposes here, a village or a city work perfectly fine. This theme is a slight derivation of last year’s theme of HOMETOWN. This theme is a little more expansive because it doesn’t suggest a picture of a HOMETOWN, but of any town. What is it about that town or city or village that is unique to that town. A picture of any old downtown would do. A cityscape would work. A Christmas parade would work. A town sign would work. Let your imagination go wild! Define the theme any way you see fit.

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. 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.

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

Nothing new to report. I’ll try to do better next week.

Want your own Photography 139 email subscription? Call, email, or text me and I’ll get you the hook up.

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 townie Monday.

Animals

Howard the Spider

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(Editor’s note: Pretend like I published it on the day I intended.)

It is Black Friday. My least favorite day of the year. The day where my faith in humanity has to be reset as mass-consumerism runs amok. People fight each other. Sometimes kill one another, so they can save 50 cents on socks or get Best Buy deals that will come around again in 2 weeks.

Or as one of my spirit animals* Tyler Durden would say:

Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy sh*t we don’t need.

My Black Friday traditions.

1. Sleeping in.
2. Watching FIGHT CLUB
3. Ring the bell for the Salvation Army, as I see it as the least consumerism thing I can do. It is my 1 man silent protest to the day of the year that brings out the worst in humanity.

When I get all black and dark about the state of humanity, I like to look at pictures of cute and cuddly creatures. I thought I would share one that makes me feel joy on this darkest of days.




You’re welcome America.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
LENS: 60mm
ISO: 500
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE: 1/160
DATE: 10/02/2016 – 14:50
NO GPS DATA RECORDED
PHOTO EDITING SOUNDTRACK: “Keep On Looking” by Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings

*The upcoming generation is really big into spirit animals.

Holidays

Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn’t get around to wishing people Happy Thanksgiving this year through my normal channels. So, if you are used to getting some kind of message from me on Thanksgiving, Easter, or Christmas (for example) but didn’t get anything from me this year… don’t lose heart. Nobody didn’t get nothin’ from me this year. (I think that is the proper number of negatives.) No real good excuse. I could say that I was busy, but everybody can say that. I mean except for the people that did wish me Happy Thanksgiving. I am in the debt of those people and I will swear to do better next holiday that matters.

So let me take this time to belatedly wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! In the laziest way possible.



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

The inflatable turkey (a multiple child acknowledged COOL decoration) came out of semi-retierement and graced the entrance of my church for our annual Free Community Dinner.

Boone FUMC, Holidays

Free Thanksgiving Dinner

Do you need a place to get a good Thanksgiving meal? I know a place. Check out the picture below:


You can come to my church between 11-1 and we’ll hook you up.

If you don’t know where we’re located, it is easy to find. The Boone First United Methodist Church is located at:

703 Arden Street
Boone, IA 50036

It is a big red brick church located directly east of the Ericson Public Library. On the corner of 7th and Arden. Arden is 1 block east of Greene Street.

We do serve people in shifts because we are expecting to break our record of over 400 people this year. So calling and making a reservation at 432-4660 is appreciated, but not necessary.

If you are wondering if I’ll be there, the answer is “Yes”. At least for part of the day. I’m going to be there to photograph part of the day because I was told all of our old photos include some of our church’s saints that have passed on. So I’ll be there to photograph it until at least the Iowa State basketball game starts… or longer if I can figure out how to watch the game there.

You should know, I’m pretty good about figuring out how to watch Iowa State sports wherever I’m at. I just need a really long ethernet cable.

I also think I’m going to bring my inflatable turkey to add to the merriment. That’s how I roll.

Hope to see some of you there!

Angie, Bill, Cathie, Dawn, Night, Shannon, Steph, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 62 – NIGHT

Participation rates may have dipped again slightly. The cool night air maybe zapping some motivation. Possibly. It even happened to me a bit this week. I was going to take my photo Saturday night and then fell asleep. Then I was going to do it Sunday night, fell asleep on my couch again. So I had to use a picture from Monday night.

I can sit here and talk all tommyrot about my own struggles, but you just want to see the submissions! Here they are:


WEEK 62 - NIGHT - DAWN KRAUSE 1
Dawn Krause 1

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - DAWN KRAUSE 2
Dawn Krause 2

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - BILL WENTWORTH
Bill Wentworth

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - MIKE VEST
Mike Vest

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - SHANNON BARDOLE
Shannon Bardole

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - STEPHANIE KIM
Stephanie Kim

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 62 - NIGHT - CATHIE RALEY
Cathie Raley

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:


WEEK 63 - LOVE
LOVE!

LOVE! That is an easy and painful enough concept! Everybody loves something. So there are a couple of ways at looking at this theme. You can get out there and photograph something you love. Or you could get out there and show somebody or something expressing love. Or you can get out there and photograph something that symbolizes love. I know we live in a hateful society in the middle of hateful world. But in this world full of hate, there is still love. So get out there and capture it.

After all, it is Thanksgiving this week. If you don’t see something or somebody you love or expressing love on that day… you’re doing life wrong. Better check the instruction manual again.

I’m looking at you people who have said they will participate some day, but haven’t.

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. 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.

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

Nothing new to report. I’ll try to do better next week.

Want your own Photography 139 email subscription? Call, email, or text me and I’ll get you the hook up.

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 lovable Monday.