Camping, Candid Portrait, Derrick, Flowers, Jay, Jen, Nature, Night, Road Trip, Sara, Shannon

Backbone Road Trip

January 11, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Rather than naming the folders that include images from the Backbone State Park Road Trip I took with Jay, Derrick, Jen, Sara, and Shannon, I’m just going to call this post Backbone Road Trip.

Here are a look at a few of my favorite images from the road trip:

It truly was a great trip and one of my favorite road trips of all time. We did have to pack up and leave Backbone State Park really early on Sunday morning to beat a storm, but it was still a weekend filled with treasured memories.

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

Spine

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve potatoes, probably a whole bunch more, but definitely potatoes.

Birthdays, Candid Portrait, Flowers, Lowell, Macro, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

Will You Pardon Me?

January 10, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I spent a few moments taking pictures of flowers one day back in May. Here are some of my favorites:

The tulips belong to my Mom. The rest belong to me.

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One thing I wanted to bring back this year was happy birthdays. Today is Lowell’s birthday, so happy birthday Lowell!

I hope it is a good one!

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

FOOD

A FOOD photo is any photo that centers around FOOD. A picture of FOOD. Preparation of FOOD. People eating FOOD. You get the idea!

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Equipment, Flowers, Logan, Naima

Logan’s Toy

January 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Back in August, Logan purchased a new mirrorless Sony camera. I took it for a brief run through my backyard for fun.

I’ve been on the struggle bus lately because it is about time that I purchase a new camera but I can’t decide if I should stay in the world of the DSLR or join the mirrorless revolution. The issue being that Sony really only makes one DSLR that is better than my current DSLR.

Mirrorless is undeniably the future, but to make the move, I would have to commit to an entirely different lens lineup and I kind of like my current lenses. Not to mention I shudder to think what it would cost to replace them with comparable lenses.

I haven’t made my mind up and an upcoming auto bill means that I probably won’t pull the trigger any time soon, but we’ll see what happens. I could probably spend that money in better ways, but we both know that isn’t really what I do.

Here are some pictures I made playing with Logan’s mirrorless camera:

I guess there is no rush to make a choice. The 77ii is still going strong, even though I thought I had killed it twice this year under some rainy circumstances.

The number one thing other photographers don’t respect about me (to my face) is my lack of care for my equipment. But you know what? I’m going to get the shot I want!

Art, Basketball, Candid Portrait, Dae Hee, Event, Flowers, Road Trip

Part Ballroom, Part Baller

January 8, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Last April I went up to Minneapolis to checkout all the hoopla that surrounds the Final Four. Dae Hee and I went downtown and checked everything out. I snapped a few pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

It appears to be a down season for the Cyclones this year. I can only imagine what this team would look like if THT would’ve come back instead of going to the NBA. That being said, there is still time for the current team to get it figured out, starting tonight against Kansas. Go Cyclones!

Black & White, Photoshop, Railroad

Who’s a Big Boy – Chapter 2

January 7, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The last time I discussed the day I spent following the Union Pacific Big Boy from Cambridge to Carroll, I noted that I rolled the dice and lost big time when the Big Boy crossed the High Bridge. I decided to setup shop on the north side of the bridge. There were several hundred people there to watch the Big Boy cross the bridge. Almost all of them set up on the south side.

I decided to setup on the north side because the bridge that the Big Boy was going to cross is the north bridge. The south bridge no longer has traffic go across it. By setting up on the north side, I would have an unobstructed view of the Big Boy.

However, minutes before the Big Boy crossed the bridge, a regular old freight train stopped on the bridge. As if to purposely make sure I couldn’t see the Big Boy. Oh well. There is never a shortage of train picture opportunities in Boone.

For the record, I do some day want to eat at Angry Beaver. 100% seems like my kind of place! Still at least 1 more collection of Big Boy photos on their way.

Andy, Dawn, Jen, Jesse, Linda, Micky, Monica, Nature, Shannon, Steph, Still Life, Tamara, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 225 – HDR

January 6, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I’m not surprised easily, but you guys surprised me this week. Enough of you dipped your toe into the HDR world to keep the streak of double digit submissions going and to hit 15 straight weeks!

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

Micky Augustin

Linda Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Monica Henning

Stephanie Kim

Andy Sharp

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Jen Ensley Gorshe

Dawn Krause

Mike Vest

Jesse Howard

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:

FOOD

FOOD! What a great theme! This is about as easy as a theme can get. Just take a picture of FOOD or somebody preparing FOOD or somebody eating FOOD or anything that is related to FOOD.

Don’t be surprised if your FOOD picture ends up looking disgusting. In some ways, this is THE GREASY STRANGLER of themes. Delicious food often looks disgusting when photographed. That is why in most food advertising, food is often fake. Also, why when local restaurants just do their food photography themselves, the food ends up looking disgusting on their menu. Looking at you Colorado Grill.

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 hungry Monday!

Animals, Equipment, Naima, Still Life

#totallyfiltered

January 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Going to go ahead and add a Sunday entry for a bit as I effort to get caught up with the 2019 backlog. I don’t think these Sunday entries should last too long as I don’t think I’m that far behind with Sunday photo editing, but truth is, that I am 100% in denial about that.

This collection of photos is mostly me just playing around with physical filters and in-camera filter effects with Naima as my unwilling model. Little known fact about Naima, she doesn’t really like getting her picture taken all that much. Which is weird, since she loves attention so much.

Probably a lot of “what the hades was that” thoughts when people viewed those images. That is okay. Not all of my photography is for everybody.

Animals, Black & White, Dawn, Flowers, House

2009-08-06

January 4, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures from the folder 2009-08-06 are taken in my backyard. They are mostly of the products of my garden. The first year I lived in my house, I actually planted a garden. I believe I had some mixed results, but I did manage to grow a few things here and there.

That year Dawn came over and picked the currants. She then took the currants and made me a cheesecake. I think this event closed the chapter in my life where beautiful women would come over and pick things from my garden and then feed me.

I never brought the garden back because, I didn’t really do anything with the stuff I grew. Then I got to the point where I like uninterrupted grass in my yard. I have often thought of doing hay bale gardens, but I have yet to find a good source of hay bales. By that I mean, the one person I asked doesn’t do square hay bales.

This is the first time these pictures have been published.

The next walk down memory lane will involve a road trip to eastern Iowa.

Alexis, Animals, Brandon, Carla, Derrick, Ernie, Evie, Flat Earth Joe, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Jim, Jorge, Kanoa, Layla, Logan, Mom, Naima, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa, Willy, WPC - Reminder

Selfie Project – December

January 3, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

December was a truly busy month. I actually left the state more than one. I visited places like Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.

I feel I ended this attempt at THE SELFIE PROJECT fairly strong. Here are some of my favorite pictures from December:

December 1

December 2

December 3

December 4

December 5

December 6

December 7

December 10

December 12

December 14

December 15

December 19

December 20

December 21

December 22

December 23

December 24

December 25

December 26

December 27

December 28

December 30

December 31

January 1

I might do a year-end look at THE SELFIE PROJECT, at some point, but if I don’t, you can peruse all THE SELFIE PROJECT pictures by clicking on the link below:

THE SELFIE PROJECT

I’m not duplicating this project in 2020. I might do a “selfie-type” project, but it will be completely different.

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

HDR

Remember an HDR image is a combination of several images to create on image with expanded dynamic range. Pretty much every camera will have an HDR setting that will do this for you automatically. If you can find me, I can show you the setting on your camera.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Event, Formal Portrait, Jaxon

Confirmation – 2019

January 2, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I guess now that we are in 2020, pictures from 2019 would be considered backlog. I won’t get into my goals for 2020 until I write my 2019 review post, but one of my goals is to get in the ball park of caught up with my backlogs. That way this post will feel more contemporary. I might have to go back to adding a Sunday post, but I guess we will see.

Today is a collection of pictures from my church’s Confirmation Services in 2019.