11-23-08 & 11-25-08

The grand majority of the pictures from this blog are from the folder 11-23-08, but there is one picture from the folder 11-25-08.

The pictures in the folder 11-23-08 are from when Sara, Jay, and I went to see Willy and his friend Kristy run in the Turkey Trot at Living History Farms.

The Turkey Trot is a cross country race ran in November when conditions are often quite cold and muddy and snowy or rainy.

I don’t think Willy has ran this race since then, which kind of disappoints me.

An observant person might be able to pick out Annie Buchmiller in these pictures:


Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Turkey Trot - 2008

Cribbage

The cribbage board was made by my Dad. To this day, I still don’t actually know how to play cribbage, however, by posting this picture back in the day, I got one of my favorite comments on a blog post:

Well, that’s a pretty cool design, but REAL cribbage only goes to 121 points… your board there goes to 133. Not a standard cribbage board but lots of points for originality!

Cheers,
Joe – Cribbaholics Unanimous: http://www.cribblog.blogspot.com

Thanks Joe! from Cribbaholics. I hope you are doing well to this day.

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:

The Turkey Trot

The Real Real

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will be a bit complicated, but it will involve a fundraiser at the Roland American Legion, some United Way Stuff, and hats.

Requiem for Rodan139

You probably thought that with the weather warming up, you’d see more drone pictures courtesy of Rodan139. However, sadly. I have to report that Rodan139 met with a bit of a tragedy a couple weeks ago.

Inexplicably, Rodan139 just fell out of the sky from about 200 feet. It was quite badly damaged. I didn’t take pictures of it because it was just too sad.

It isn’t all bad news though. Rodan139 will be back to prowling the friendly skies in a couple of weeks. It is at the Drone Doctor right now. It should be repaired and back home in about 2 more weeks or so.

The best part, because Rodan139 is still under warranty, what would have been a several hundred dollar repair bill is going to cost nothing. I can’t speak highly enough of DJI at this point.

However, before Rodan139 had its crash, I did have another trip with it out to the Jay Carlson Wildlife Area to experiment a little bit with some of its panorama settings.

Here are some of the pictures from that day:


Drone Photography

Drone Photography

Drone Photography

Drone Photography

Drone Photography

Drone Photography

Drone Photography

Drone Photography

I want to enter an aerial photograph into the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon this year. When Rodan139 and I are reunited, we will have to get cracking. The entry deadline is less than 3 months away!

+++++++

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


WEEK 185 - WATER
WATER

A WATER photo is any photo that involves WATER. It is that simple.

Happy photo harvesting!

It Stands for the Sun

Yellow.

Yellow is the most recent filter from the super cheap filter set that I cracked out and tested. I still took mostly pictures of Naima, but I actually left my yard and went out to Dickcissel.

This, was perhaps, not the best plan. With all the space to roam, Naima is definitely harder to photograph at Dickcissel. Also, your shutter speeds often slow down when using filters, so a dog running all over the place isn’t the best subject. But I made do.

You might be wondering what a yellow filter does in black & white photography.

Here is an explanation from shuttermuse.com:

A Yellow filter absorbs all coloured light except yellow. It is the most-popular colored filter used with black and white film. Because a yellow filter absorbs blue, it provides significantly greater contrast between blue and yellow or white subjects. The classic example of the use of a yellow filter is when shooting black and white scenes which include portions of a cloud filled sky. Use of a yellow filter in this situation significantly darkens the blue portions of the sky, whilst allowing the clouds to remain bright and vibrant. This change in contrast gives the sky a vastly improved sense of depth and drama.

Here are some pictures from the yellow filter photo shoot:


Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

Naima decided she needed to dig a giant hole while we were out there. Here are a couple pictures in color to help you appreciate the mess she made:


Yellow Filter Test

Yellow Filter Test

The next filter I will test will be the green filter.

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 122

I have been absolutely horrible about working on THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT lately. This will be the first post I’ve had since December 28, when I posted pictures of Andy’s progeny competing in the ages old activity of wraslin’.

I need to put my nose to the grindstone and stop getting stuck in cases of intellectual paralysis. I got to stop overthinking each theme and perhaps more importantly getting overly married to 1 or 2 concepts per theme. I absolutely intend to take at least one of these pictures every week.

By my calculations I have 31 pages left to complete. My goal is to have this finished by the 4th of July.

Expect for me to bug you about potentially being in or assisting in one of these project very soon.

I have a couple other projects I want to get going and I don’t want to just quit on this one. My mama didn’t raise any quitters. If she did, it must be one of my sisters.

With that in mind, last Thursday night I went out and knocked out Page 122 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:


Photo Journal - Page 122
Page 122 – Take a picture by the light of the full moon.

Here are a couple alternates I took a long time and never liked enough to publish:


Page 122 - Reject

Page 122 - Reject

I kept holding out for taking picture of an abandoned car and another idea I never pulled the trigger on was an abandoned school on Highway 169 near Highway 141.

This week, I hope to pull the trigger on 1 of the following themes:

+Page 16 – Photograph the last thing that made you laugh.
+Page 36 – Use shutter speed to capture ANGER!
+Page 43 – Take a picture that only works in B+W.
+Page 82 – Show us the world is flat.
+Page 109 – Change a word to change its meaning.

But we’ll see how the cookie crumbles.

It is Beyond Dimensions

Time to reveal another filter test from the super cheap Neweer filter set I purchased on Amazon several weeks back.

This time the filter that is up is the blue filter.

Here is a description of what a blue filter does in black & white photography from photographymad.com:

Blue filters are rarely used for black and white photography. They darken most colours and reduce contrast across an image.

When used correctly, this reduced contrast can be useful for giving a shot a calm, soothing atmosphere. A blue filter also increases the appearance of haze and mist, making it handy for enhancing the mood of an early-morning scene.

Here are a ton more pictures of Naima taken with a blue filter:


Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Naima Blue Filter Test

Blue Filter Test

Blue Filter Test

Blue Filter Test

Blue Filter Test

Blue Filter Test

Blue Filter Test

i would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the lighting conditions were considerable harsher than when I did the red and orange filter tests.

The next filter to be texted will be the yellow filter.

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 184 – STILL LIFE

Spring has sprung! The new warmer weather has caused the creative juices to start salivating for all sorts of people. I’m saying it was a good week for participation.

In fact, Mike Vest came out of retirement this week. Those of you that are long in the tooth with this website may remember that Mike Vest was a founding member of the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. When it started, it was published on both this website and his website. In fact, it was originally his idea. He even wrote an app to spit out the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme. In fact, back then it was call the RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT.

That is a ton of back story just to say, it is good to have Vest back in the fold.

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


WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - JODIE CUE
Jodie Cue

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - JODIE CUE
Jodie Cue

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - MIKE VEST
Mike Vest

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson


Andy Sharp


Andy Sharp

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - JODIE CUE
Jodie Cue

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - JODIE CUE
Jodie Cue

WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

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 185 - WATER
WATER!

WATER! What a great theme! But what is a WATER photo? A WATER photo is any picture that involves WATER. From a lake to a pond to a river to a glass to a bottle.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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. 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 wet Monday.

11-15-08

The pictures from the folder 11-15-08 are from the final home game in Iowa State’s Gene Chizik era.

I can still remember the afternoon I head that Chizik was leaving for Auburn. I was driving around with Jason looking at potential houses when the rumors came across the radio.

We were looking at a house where the current occupant had smoked so much that you could smell it from the driveway. It was awful. As awful as these rumors. Rumors that I scoffed at and dismissed out of hand.

Auburn was not necessarily a national power, but they were certainly a national name. They had just fired a coach that consistently won 8 or 9 games a season. There was no way they were going to hire a coach who had gone 5-19 at Iowa State. A coach who had lost his last 10 games. Many of them weren’t even close.

38-10
35-7
59-17
52-20

But it still happened. Auburn hired Chizik. Iowa State was without a head coach. I was still without a house. It was a weird world.

Here are a few pictures from the Iowa State-Missouri game from 2008:


Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

Iowa State vs. Missouri - 2008

The tailgating pictures make me nostalgic. I do need to do more tailgating this season than I have the last few. I probably say that every year though.

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

It Ends

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane involves the Living History Farms Run and a very special cribbage board.

You Don’t Have Time to Scream!

One of the new traditions that Pastor Doug brought with him to Boone First United Methodist Church is Critter Sunday. Critter Sunday is a Sunday when you are encouraged to bring your pet to church. Then in between services, Pastor Doug blesses your pet.

There are many things that I will miss when Pastor Doug leaves for his big fatty promotion in June, but Critter Sunday will be one of the things I miss the most. Top 5. Top 10 at the worst.

While it is certainly possible that the new Pastor will carry on the tradition, I don’t expect. Pastor Doug has a special place in his heart for animals. It would be a bit much to expect the new Pastor to be the same.

Here are some pictures from Critter Sunday:


Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

I have to thank Summer for being Naima’s keeper while I was taking pictures of the other pets.

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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is STILL LIFE:


WEEK 184 - STILL LIFE
STILL LIFE

A STILL LIFE photo is a photo of an inanimate object.

Happy Photo Harvesting!

Summer Reading Kickoff

This is the last collection of photos that I believe I’ll ever publish that were taken for the Boone Area Humane Society.

Perhaps I shouldn’t say “ever”. But I’m guessing it will be for at the very least, for the foreseeable future.

These pictures were taken at the Ericson Public Library’s Summer Reading Kickoff.

The main things I remember about the day was the kid that was supposed to play Hope the BAHS Mascot was about an hour late. He went in and put the costume on. Then he walked around for maybe 10 minutes. Then he left.

In that 10 minutes, I was able to get a few pictures of Hope in action:


Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

Library Kickoff - 2018

I will say that the Summer Reading Kickoff is a pretty cool event. If you have a kid, I would highly recommend attending.

President Quest 2020 – Cory Booker

It has been awhile since I made some progress in my personal quest to meet, photograph, or at least see in person the politician that will take office as the next President of the United States in 2021.

Way back in January I saw New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at the Livery Deli. Since then I failed to see anybody else. This was partially a product of the weather. Partially the product of the college basketball season. Partially the product of politicians coming to Boone while I was at work. Partially because many of the big names were visiting other parts of the state.

However, I made it out last Sunday to the Prairie Moon Winery with Angie to see Cory Booker speak.

Here is a little information on Cory Booker from the super reliable Wikipedia:

Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician serving as the junior United States Senator from New Jersey since 2013 and a member of the Democratic Party. The first African-American U.S. Senator from New Jersey, he was previously the 36th Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. Before that, Booker served on the Municipal Council of Newark for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002. On February 1, 2019, he announced his campaign to run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election.

As senator, his voting record was measured as the third most liberal.[1] Considered a social liberal, Booker supports women’s rights, affirmative action, same-sex marriage and single-payer healthcare. During his five years in office, Booker co-sponsored and voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (2013), tougher sanctions against Iran, sponsored the Bipartisan Budget Act (2013), voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (2014), co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act (2014) and led the push to pass the First Step Act (2018). In 2017, he became the first sitting senator to testify against another when he testified against Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing. In April 2018, following the FBI raid on the offices of Michael Cohen–U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney–Booker together with Chris Coons, Lindsey Graham, and Thom Tillis, introduced the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act to limit the executive powers of Trump.

Cory Booker is easily the best orator that will run for President in 2020. His speeches eloquently intertwine quotes from The Bible and poets like Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou and historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr.

He often uses this line in his speeches:

The lines that divide us are nowhere near as strong as the ties that bind us. When we join together and work together — we will rise together.

At the event was also J.D. Scholten and the founder of Working Hero Action Joe Sanberg.

Here are some pictures from the day:


Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

Cory Booker

I badly underestimated how many people would be there to see Cory Booker because he isn’t doing all that well in the polls. However, there was a standing room only crowd there. Since I got there kind of late, I had to sit in the last row. I only got that seat because Angie got there before I did and saved me that seat. So I the pictures of Cory Booker are what they are.

He was able to intertwine “Still I Rise” into his speech:

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

He was also able to intertwine “There Is A Dream In The Land” into his speech:

There is a dream in the land
With its back against the wall
By muddled names and strange
Sometimes the dream is called.

There are those who claim
This dream for theirs alone–
A sin for which we know
They must atone.

Unless shared in common
Like sunlight and like air,
The dream will die for lack
Of substance anywhere.

The dream knows no frontier or tongue,
The dream, no class or race.
The dream cannot be kept secure
In any one locked place.

This dream today embattled,
With its back against the wall–
To save the dream for one
It must be saved for all.

When you hear Cory Booker speak, it will not surprise you to learn that he almost went to divinity school instead of law school.

Cory Booker stayed after his speech and took pictures with and recorded videos with everybody that wanted some of his time.

I’m not sure what presidential hopeful I will see next, but I have my ear to the ground.