Animals, Black & White, Equipment, Nature

The Happiest Color

March 19, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A few weeks back I showed the results of test photos taken with a red filter from a new extremely cheap set of filters that I recently picked up.

The most recent filter I’ve taken out and tested is the orange filter. Much like the red filter an orange filter is actually designed to be used with black and white photography.

What does an orange filter do. Here is a pretty good description from photographymad.com:

In portrait photography, an orange filter reduces the appearance of freckles and blemishes, giving the skin a healthy, smooth look.

When photographing buildings and cityscapes, they give bricks a pleasing tone, and increase contrast between different materials to add depth and texture to the image.

Similarly to red filters, they can be used to reduce the appearance of fog and haze, and to darken skies and emphasise clouds.

I spent a little time chasing Naima around the backyard and photographed a few other things for this test.

Here are the test images, fresh out of the camera. Not touched by Photoshop:

You can tell that there is some vignetting at the widest angles, but nothing that I can’t live with.

Not sure what filter I will test next, but I do know that there are only 40 filters left to test!

Angie, Black & White, Evie, Formal Portrait, Jodie Cue, Kim, Micky, Steph, Still Life, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 183 – FORMAL PORTRAIT

March 18, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I believe that the submissions for FORMAL PORTRAIT are amongst the most solid collection of submissions we’ve had in a long time for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

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

Kim Barker

Jodie Cue

Stephanie Kim

Christopher D. Bennett

Angie DeWaard

Micky Augustin

Tamara Peterson

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:

STILL LIFE

STILL LIFE! What a great theme! But what is a STILL LIFE image? Here is as good of a definition as I have ever Googled:

A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, etc.).

Seems pretty simple and straightforward. 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.

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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 still Monday.

Andree, Baier, Basketball, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Cathie, Dawn, Faust, Frank, Jesse, Laura, Linda, Lowell, Micky, Nader, Nate, Robert, Russell, Sara, Shannon, Tim, Willy

Roundball Oracles – Year 15

March 17, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

It is time once again for the greatest sporting event of year. It is that time known as March Madness. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Once again, I will be sponsoring a pool. There is not cost to enter the pool, except for pride.

The winner gets a trophy. The dead last place person gets a trophy known as The Sara.

By winning, you get your name etched on the list of immortals:

PAST ROUNDBALL ORACLE CHAMPIONS

Past Roundball Oracle Champions:

2018 – Paul Golden
2017 – Paul Golden
2016 – Michelle Haupt
2015 – Derek Dohrman
2014 – Brandon Kahler
2013 – William McAlpine
2012 – Lowell Davis
2011 – Carrie Baier
2010 – Mark Wolfram
2009 – Mark Wolfram
2008 – Mark Wolfram
2007 – Tim Peterson
2006 – William McAlpine
2005 – William McAlpine

Paul’s repeat championship definitely puts a target square on his back.

But I said that there are 2 trophies. The 2nd trophy, The Sara, goes to the adult that finishes dead last, while trying. A person can not tank on purpose and win The Sara. The reason The Sara winner has to be an adult is that I don’t want to mock children, to their face. Probably a better rule would be that to “win” The Sara, you have to be at least a teenager. I have no problem mocking teenagers to their face. I do it pretty much every Wednesday night at Youth Group.

Past “The Sara” Winners:

The Sara

2018 – Robert Henning
2017 – Shannon Bardole – now Bardole-Foley
2016 – Laura Priest – now Miller
2015 – Derrick Gorshe
2014 – Sara Lockner

The Sara doesn’t have the long storied history of the championship trophy, but it will get there. I have no doubts.

Last year, 35 combatants threw their hats into the ring. Here are the standings from last year:

2018 STANDINGS
RANK	TEAM NAME	SCORE	CORRECT	BEST SCORE	BEST CORRECT	CHAMPION
1	Paul Golden	248	40	248	40	Duke (175)
2	Dawn Krause	243	38	243	38	Villanova (132)
3	Christopher Bennett	243	37	243	37	Villanova (153)
4	tim peterson	232	41	232	41	Michigan St. (165)
5	Michelle Haupt	232	35	232	35	Villanova (182)
6	Nate Miller	230	37	230	37	Villanova (159)
7	Jordan Toot	224	33	224	33	Villanova (108)
8	Corey Faust	223	34	223	34	Villanova (153)
9	Angie DeWaard	221	34	221	34	Villanova (201)
10	Rachel Johnson	219	39	219	39	Kansas (178)
11	Lowell Davis	215	38	215	38	Virginia (152)
12	Benjamin Baier	213	33	213	33	Virginia (112)
13	Derek Dohrman	205	36	205	36	Virginia (155)
14	Cathie Raley	204	35	204	35	Virginia (138)
15	Bill Wentworth	200	34	200	34	N. Carolina (97)
16	Sean Gildersleeve	198	35	198	35	Michigan St. (145)
17	Linda Bennett	195	36	195	36	Kansas (145)
18	Jesse Howard	195	35	195	35	Duke (146)
19	Olivia Baier	188	33	188	33	Virginia (133)
20	Toby Sebring	185	32	185	32	Arizona (148)
21	Russell Kennerly	184	33	184	33	Virginia (161)
22	Jackson Faust	182	32	182	32	Auburn (124)
23	Sean Clubine	173	33	173	33	N. Carolina (151)
24	Jason Baier	173	30	173	30	Virginia (159)
25	Michael Augustin	167	31	167	31	Virginia (186)
26	Brandon Kahler	166	33	166	33	Kansas (133)
27	Nader Parsaei	166	33	166	33	St. Bona. (170)
28	Andree Jauhari	165	32	165	32	Virginia (145)
29	Elizabeth Nordeen	165	32	165	32	N. Carolina (173)
30	Carrie Baier	162	31	162	31	Gonzaga (144)
31	Laura Priest	158	32	158	32	Duke (125)
32	FHMeiners	156	31	156	31	Kansas (167)
33	Becky Perky	152	32	152	32	Kansas (168)
34	Will Baier	148	25	148	25	Marshall (113)
35	Robert Henning	141	28	141	28	Kansas (156)

The rules are as follows:

Round 1 = 1 point + seed

Round 2 = 2 points + seed

Round 3 = 4 points + seed

Round 4 = 8 points + seed

Round 5 = 16 points + seed

Rounds 6 = 32 points + seed

I can tell that you are already sold and just want to know how to get into this competition, so that you can battle it out and possibly get your name on “The List of Immortals”. It is easy enough, just click on the link below:

Roundball Oracles – Year 15

Good luck! I know you will fare well!

Art, Candid Portrait, Christianity, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Nature, Road Trip, Shannon

11-09-08 & 11-10-08

March 16, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The folders 11-09-08 and 11-10-08 contain a wide variety of pictures. They range from a trip to Ottumwa to trips of a book downsizing to pictures of Shannon after she had her hair cut for Locks of Love.

I had forgot that I poorly decided that the best place to takes pictures for her after picture was on an abandoned train bridge that goes over Squaw Creek. This unfortunately lead to a tragic incident where some of the hair was lost. It was a stupid idea and this tragedy might be why the bridge was ultimately torn down a few years later. Which is kind of sad, because I like things that have been abandoned.

Here are some pictures to look at:

The books photo is when I was preparing to buy a house and I decided to downsize my book collection. I should probably do that again.

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

The Future of Boone

The Shannon After

Lunchtography

Words, Words, Words

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Iowa State football.

Animals, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Kio, Naima, Photoshop, WPC - Reminder

The Driving Force

March 15, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I feel it has been too long since I have had a post devoted to Naima. This is an error that I will correct today.

These pictures come from an October trip to Dickcissel Park.

Naima does enjoy getting in the water at Dickcissel, but she will only go as deep as her paws touch the ground.

Enjoy these pictures of Naima:

I’ll try not to go so long without a day of Naima pictures in the future!

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Just a reminder that the theme for this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is FORMAL PORTRAIT:

FORMAL PORTRAIT

A FORMAL PORTRAIT doesn’t have to be in a studio with a bunch of fancy lights. For our purposes, a FORMAL PORTRAIT is a portrait of somebody when they know they you are taking their picture and they are posing for the picture.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Jaxon, Jodie Cue, Music, Still Life

Boone FUMC Church Directory: Chapter 5

March 14, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I think this is the final collection of pictures I took for the Boone First United Methodist Church Directory.

I think these pictures were taken on Graduation Sunday. However, that isn’t the reason for the red balloons. I just can’t remember the reason for the red balloons. Might have been the church’s birthday. That seems vaguely familiar.

I know at least a couple of these ended up in the Directory:

This process gave me some ideas for the next Directory. I might have to take a more active role in crafting it.

Black & White, Equipment, Flowers, Macro, Self-Portrait

Blue Steel Redux

March 13, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Cleaning up some of the May 2018 backlog brings us to even more “reimaginings” of classic Photography 139 image “Blue Steel”.

These pictures were taken when I was playing with extension tubes. Extension tubes are fun for the whole family. The family that loves super macro photography. And what family doesn’t? No family that is worth know, that is who!

Have a quick peek:

I’m thinking of adding a Blue Steel Redux picture to The Canvas Project, but I already have the original “Blue Steel” hanging up in my hallway. That might just be too much Blue Steel for one house.

Who am I kidding? You can never have enough Blue Steel.

Drone, Nature, Video

Almost Divine

March 12, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Last Thursday, the weather was actually warm enough that I was able to take the drone (from now on referred to as Rodan139) out to the Jay Carlson Wildlife Area for a few trips across the sky.

Here are a few photos from the friendly skies:

In the few weeks that I have shared with Rodan139 I have also taken some video that is worth sharing. Have alook at a few of those videos below:

My next investment needs to be video editing software. As soon as I get my hands on that, I’ll be able to make some more interesting videos. Stay tuned!

I hope to spend some quality time with Rodan139 this Thursday or this weekend. It should be warm enough. Just have to hope for low winds and no rain.

Andy, Formal Portrait, Kim, Kio, Michelle, Still Life, Tamara

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 182 – 8

March 11, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I didn’t send out any reminders this week for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Only the diehards participated in this week’s theme of 8.

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

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

FORMAL PORTRAIT

FORMAL PORTRAIT! What a great theme! But what is a FORMAL PORTRAIT. It isn’t a portrait where the subject is dressed formally. A FORMAL PORTRAIT is simply a portrait where the subject knows that they are being photographed and they are posing for the picture.

I look forward to seeing your 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.

+++++++

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 formal Monday.

Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Holidays, House, Jay, Jesse, Night, Olympic Sports, Scottie D., Shannon, Still Life, Willy

11-01-08

March 9, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

The images from the folder 11-1-08 are all over the place. They include pictures of Jesse and I exploring the disc golf course in McHose Park to pictures of Shannon before she made a donation to Locks of Love to pictures of my Hoosier before it got fixed up to pictures Halloween in 2008.

I’m not a frolfer, but I do think that McHose Park has a badass disc golf course. The first 9 holes are nothing special, but the back 9 is a man’s golf course. When I say man’s golf course, what I really mean is that it isn’t for the faint of heart. It is for people that aren’t afraid to get lost in the woods and never heard from again.

The Hoosier pictures were taken from before Shannon’s dad came to pick it up. It was in storage and he did a wonderful job making it presentable again and he did it in plenty of time before I found a house to call home. Which was quite the feat, even though I did take my own sweet time with my house hunt.

The pictures of Shannon before she cut off her hair were taken in Brookside Park. This was Shannon’s 3rd donation to Locks of Love. In that collection of pictures is one of my favorite pictures of Shannon and I believe it is safe to say that I have taken lots of pictures of Shannon.

Finally, the 2008 Halloween pictures includes a picture of Willy in what was definitely the best Halloween costume he has ever had.

Have a look:

The stick figure pumpkin is the best pumpkin I have ever carved. Jay hated it. I’m not bitter about that, otherwise I wouldn’t be bringing it up over 10 years later.

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:

McHose Park Mystery

All Hallow’s Eve

Before

Another Before

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve another trip to Ottumwa and what Shannon looked like after she cut off her 12 or so inches of hair.