Union Grove State Park

July 31, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

On the same day that I drove to Decorah to check out their waterfall, I stopped at Union Grave State Park to see their waterfall.

I don’t actually think it counts as a waterfall though. It is a spillway, that some how consistently shows up on the list of Iowa waterfall. Actually if you look at most of the waterfalls on that list, many of them are spillways, which I don’t consider to be waterfalls. Although, I guess you could argue that water does indeed fall at these locations.

It is still pretty, from a distance.

Here are some pictures:

Still jonesin’ for an Iowa road trip. Need to get that on the calendar.

Andy, Art, Cathie, Iowa State, Kim, Photoshop, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 150 – FEET

July 30, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

FEET! Almost everybody has them! There was a decent amount of submissions for has to be one of the easier themes in this set of 52 themes.

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

So without further adieu, I present the FEET photos:

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Andy Sharp

Christopher D. Bennett

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:

TREE

TREE! What a great theme!

What is a TREE photo? A TREE photo is any photo that involves a TREE, part of a TREE, or byproducts of a TREE.

There is more than one definition of a TREE, therefore let your imagination be your guide and I look forward to your interpretations!

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 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.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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 treed Monday.

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Photoshop, Saydie

Congratulations Saydie – Iota

July 29, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Here it is. The final collection of photos from everybody’s favorite Boone High Graduate, Saydie Howard!

I’m not going to quote any canned advice. Saydie is a wise person. She will make good decisions and have a successful life. I have no doubt.

Here are the remaining Saydie pictures:

While this might be the end of Saydie’s Senior Pictures, don’t be disheartened. There very well may be more Saydie pictures in the coming Sundays. Saydie Sundays might not be over!

Alexis, Baseball/Softball, Black & White, Carla, Jesse, Lowell, Nature

06-11-08

July 28, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The folder named 06-11-08 contained a wide assortment of photos. Pictures of strange culinary delights from Kentucky, flood pictures, merry-go-rounds, and Little League.

I believe that at least 2 of the pictures of Alexis were entered into a photo contest here and there.

The culinary oddities were brought back from Kentucky with Teresa. I’m not sure why I was at the Little League Park. I guess I was feeling good about humanity and needed that to be squashed in the quickest way possible.

Here are the pictures from the folder 06-11-08:

There are actually quite a few more pictures from my trip to the Little League Park. If you are interested in perusing them, click on the link below:

Boone Little League

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

BNLL

3 THINGS

THE WAR OF HOT DOG AGGRESSION

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve Ames on the Half Shell.

Animals, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Photo Journal, Photoshop, Shannon, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 115

July 27, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Here is your reminder that you should get up on your FEET and take your WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE PHOTO, the theme this week is FEET:

FEET!

A reminder that a FEET picture is any photo that involves FEET!

Happy photo harvesting!

+++++++

A few weeks back I got together with Shannon for supper. We dined at Downtown Deli and I regaled her with stories about the mission trip. After dinner, we went out and tried to tackle another page from THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. We started on one page, but in the end, we ended up on Page 115:

Page 115 – Combine two images to create something surreal.

Longtime fans of mine know that I’m about creating something surreal. This exercise was right up my alley!

We took a few other pictures and while only one can be adhered into the physical copy of THE PHOTO JOURNAL, I should share a few of the others that were under consideration:

Next time we check in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will check in with Page 96.

Black & White, Flowers, Jay, Nature, Road Trip, Willy

Maquoketa Caves State Park: Chapter 2

July 26, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

More backlog today. So much backlog to get through.

More pictures from Jay, Willy, and I’s trip to THAT part of the state to visit the caves of Maquoketa Caves State Park.

Hot, humid, harsh lighting. Everything my summer Saturdays seem to be.

Don’t worry cave lovers, there are a few more cave images left in the hopper!

Event, Street Photography

FIRE! Vol. 2

July 25, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

In the nearly 2 years since the city burned down the empty, abandoned house on Mamie and Benton, it has become a grass lot. They also widened Benton street, but they did a weird thing with the turning lane where the right lane and the straight lane are the same lane, but you have to veer left to go straight. On at least 2 separate occasions I have been almost hit by some moron in the left turn lane that just decides to go straight. Lucky for me, I have dog like reflexes and the Camry handles like a dream. She only ever gets hit when unattended in a parking lot. By somebody that just takes off, rather than leaving a note. But I digress.

Here is the balance of the photos of the Boone Fire Department burning down an old house on the corner of Mamie and Benton.

And that concludes the look at Boone Fire Department burning down a house in Boone. I am one step closer to being done editing every picture from 2016. There are some very big steps left though.

Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Boone County Fair, Candid Portrait, Contests, Derrick, Macro, Mom, Nature, Scottie D., Shorty, Travel

Boone County Fair 2018 Results

July 25, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

I was involved in 2 contests at the Boone County Fair this year. Now that the fair is in the past and I’ve had adequate time for reflection, I think it is a good time to share the results from the contests I entered.

First, the Open Class Photography Contest. You may recall that I had people vote to decide what pictures I entered. These are the five that were voted in and what they received:

Blue Ribbon

Purple Ribbon

Red Ribbon

Purple is the best. Red is the second worst, I guess. You can also get a white ribbon. I figured the reflection picture would resonate well with the Boone County Fair “judges”, because there is no obvious photographic technique. The subject is debatable. It doesn’t follow any rules for composition. To some degree, it is hard to tell what is in focus. It is a terrible photo contest photo. But it is a cool looking photo. You could print that up (perhaps on metal) and put that on your wall.

I reiterate, that I don’t enter photo contest to win ribbons. I just like to have pictures be seen. Whatever prize comes or doesn’t come, so be it.

I will run a similar program to pick out the pictures to be entered in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. It will be slightly different because people struggled to figure out how to use the website, so I will try to make it as not tech savvy as I can. None of these pictures, nor the pictures from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon will be eligible to be in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

That is my rule, not theirs. I never enter a photo in more than one photo contest. I will be bagging these photos up and be putting them in the Photo Contest trunk in the next couple of days. The trunk is running low on space, so I will be needing to upgrade or get another trunk in the near future.

Look for your chance to vote at the beginning of August.

The other contest I entered during the Boone County Fair was the Farm Bureau Cookoff. Technically Scottie D.’s name is the name on the entry, but this was a Baby Got Rack entry. Although, let us face it. Scott is the talent of Baby Got Rack.

There was a bit of confusion with the contest as the rules had changed quite a bit from previous years and also, were not well written. At our team meeting on the Thursday before the competition, there was much discussion about not even entering the contest.

According to the new rules, set up was at 1 PM and judging was at 4 PM. That is not enough time to smoke a piece of meat. It takes a minimum of 1 hour to get the fire going and the air circulation to where you want it. Then the quickest meat to smoke is pork loin. It needs to smoke for 2 hours. 1 hour 45 minutes at the least. Then it needs to rest for at least half an hour, otherwise all the juices will be lost when you cut into it.

There just isn’t time!

We thought about just showing up and winging it. We had once made a Chili Cheese Dog Pizza on a whim. It was delectable. It was delicious. We have never made it since.

On Friday, Scott talked to the people running the contest and they told him that we were allowed to show up and set up at 8 AM. That is enough time to do a rack of ribs right.

The other major change was the limitation of only being able to enter 2 categories.

At the Thursday meeting we must have went around in circles for hours about what 2 categories to enter. When the 1 PM rule disappeared, the answer became clear:

+Combination
+Pork

Here are a few pictures from Baby Got Rack’s day at the Boone County Fair:

Photo Cred: Dawn Krause

We took 1st Place in Combination.
We took 2nd Place in Pork.

That means that we will be going to the Iowa State Fair to compete on Tuesday, August 14th. If you are at the Fair that day, I would encourage you to come by and root us on. Judging will be at 10 AM.

After that, your next chance to try Baby Got Rack Barbecue will be at Pufferbilly Days. After that, you will have to wait until my birthday. Incidentally, the theme of my 2019 birthday party is going to be cargo shorts. It was going to be cargo shorts and jorts, but I have been told that jorts are considered stylish now. I don’t believe it, but I can’t take the risk!

Flowers, Macro

Mad with Joy

July 24, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
-Iris Murchoch

I am inclined to agree with Iris Murdoch, even though she is obviously prejudiced by the fact that she is named after the worst flower. Irises, the open-faced sandwich of the flower world. Yeah, I said it.

Fortunately for you, I don’t have any iris pictures in this collection. These flower pictures are from the 2016 backlog. It consists of pictures of gazania and hibiscus. Gazania are African daisies.

Here are some pictures:

These flowers were all in my personal flower garden.

With any luck, I will have cleared out the 2016 backlog by 2019.

Andy, Animals, Becky, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Macro, Michelle, Night, Photoshop, Tamara, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 149 – NIGHT

July 23, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I think NIGHT can be one of the tougher themes, but we still had plenty of submissions!

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

So without further adieu, I present the NIGHT photos:

Andy Sharp

Becky Parmelee

Cathie Raley

Christopher D. Bennett

Carla Stensland

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Mike Vest

Tamara Peterson

FEET!

FEET! What a great theme! But what is a FEET picture, you might ask? A FEET picture is any picture that involves FEET. Most people have FEET! And did you know that humans aren’t the only animals with FEET. Many other animals have FEET as well. Even tables have FEET.

As always, feel free to define FEET any way you see fit. I look forward to seeing all the interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE THEME DIVISION

At this point, there is only a handful of week’s left in this 52 week run of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. If you wish to make suggestions for the next set of 52 themes, you should leave them n the Comments section of this here blog.

So far Andy has provided many solid suggestions:

Desert/dessert”the ice cream one”
Your vehicle
Family
Your pet(cats excluded)
Favorite color
Chris’s beard look alike
Pet peeves
Favorite wall of your house/inside or out
Pizza
Sporting event(ANF vs Actually Helping Farmers, for example)
Footwear
Halloween costume
Hat/headwear
Hair
Breakfast
Screenshot
License plate close or farthest away on flat earth
Favorite restaurant
Good deed
Water
Sunrise
Sunset
Samwich”southern pronounceiation”/sandwich
Music”the type baptists appose
Outhouse/old town sign

Now obviously, nobody could match my beard, so that one in an obvious non-starter, but I bet you’ll see a few of those make their way into the next set of 52.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 COMMENTS AVATAR DIVISION

Congratulations to Dawn for becoming the latest person to earn a Photography 139 Comments Avatar. Every time that Dawn comments on “An Artist’s Notebook”, she now has a customized avatar that will show up next to her commentary.

Would you like a spiffy Photography 139 comment avatar? All you have to do is leave some form of commentary in the Comments section of a blog entry and I will make you one. Guaranteed!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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 footed Monday.