Art, Christianity, Formal Portrait, History, Jesse, Road Trip, Youth Group

Birthday Road Trip – Misc.

February 19, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Hey! Guess what? One week from today is Ash Wednesday! Do you know what that means? It means that it is another chance to come support the Youth Group’s Mission Trip to Indianapolis!

We will be holding a Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser from 6-7 PM at the Boone First United Methodist Church. You can come down there and slop down some delicious spaghetti for whatever price you deem acceptable. Just throw some of your spare scratch in the donation basket and knock down as much spaghetti as your heart can take. Some garlic bread too!

All the information you need is right there. Hope to see many of you there!

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This is the second to last collection of images from my Birthday Road Trip. This is a collection of some random stops and places that just didn’t quite have enough pictures to warrant their own post. Places like Fort Atkinson and The Small Church near Festina.

The last collection of images from my Birthday Road Trip are the cruddy cell phone pictures I took that day.

Animals, Candid Portrait, Dad, Equipment, Jason, Logan, Macro, Mom, Naima, Nature, Still Life

I Just Smile, Once in a While

February 18, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks ago I decided to buy a new camera. This isn’t the post about the new camera, because that one is going to get pretty deep into the weed, but this is a post that is happening because of that decision.

The short version is that because of the new camera purchase I started to look around at adapters. Something that happened while I was looking at adapters I came across some adapters that would hook my Dad’s Minolta manual focus lenses to my current camera and to my new camera. Those adapters arrived on Friday and I took dug out the lenses and took a few pictures:

In fact, my WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE submission from last week was a picture I took with my Dad’s lens of Logan taking a picture with one of my Dad’s lenses of my Mom:

WEEK 231 - FAMILY - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

I’ll go a little more in depth on each lens in the future, but right now I just want to celebrate the fact that I can use them!

Andy, Becky, Black & White, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Formal Portrait, Kim, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 231 – FAMILY

February 17, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

20 WEEKS IN A ROW! That is right, this is the 20th straight week with double digit submissions! Glad to see there are so many people out there that belong to a FAMILY and like them enough to take their picture!

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

Christopher D. Bennett

Logan Kahler

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Andy Sharp

Carla Stensland

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Micky Augustin

Dawn Krause

Elizabeth Nordeen

Becky Parmelee

Cathie Raley

Carla Stensland

Logan Kahler

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:

OLD

OLD! What a great theme! But what is an OLD photo? An OLD photo is a photo of anything that you consider to be OLD. People can be OLD. Animals can be OLD. Things can be OLD. Of course OLD is a relative term. When I was a kid, I thought something that was 20 years old was an antique! But now I think something that is 20 years old is just getting broke in!

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 aged Monday!

Black & White, Jesse, Nature, Road Trip

Birthday Road Trip – Dunnings Spring Waterfall

February 16, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I’m not 100% sure if the waterfall featured today is the Dunning’s Spring Waterfall or the Dunnings Spring Waterfall. I have seen it spelled both ways by multiple reputable organization. This is the type of thing that keeps me up at night.

The Dunnings Spring Waterfall in Decorah was the main goal of my birthday road trip. I had visited it once a few years back and I have always been completely unsatisfied with my pictures of it. It was a goal of mine to get back there and take at least one picture of it that I liked.

Here are my attempts:

Birthday Road Trip - Dunnings Spring Waterfall

Jesse fell down the side of the waterfall and cut himself. But he kept the camera equipment he was carrying protected, so good work on his part!

I have a couple more sets of pictures from the Birthday Road Trip still to share. Kind of a miscellaneous set of pictures and the some cruddy cell phone pictures.

Derrick, Flowers, FNSC, Jay, Music, Photoshop, Willy

2009-08-31

February 15, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder 2009-08-31 are from both the last day we spent in Ottumwa working on Jen’s Uncle’s house and from my backyard.

The collection of Derrick and his guitar are amongst my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken of Derrick:

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

Ottumwa

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve some computer mine pictures and maybe some Iowa State football pictures.

Holidays, Jay, Jesse, Movies, Still Life, Willy, WPC - Reminder

Your Real World Away

February 14, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 7 Comments

Today is Valentine’s Day. I have been told that today is a holiday invented by the greeting card companies. I don’t know if that is the case, but I can’t think of the greeting card industry without thinking about one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies of the last 10 years. 11 years actually. The scene where Tom quits the greeting card company in 500 DAYS OF SUMMER:

(Sorry, some mild profanity)

(set at a meeting to discuss new greeting card ideas)

Tom: Yeah, uh, this is… And Rhoda, no disrespect, but um, this is total shit.

McKenzie: Tom!

Tom: “Go for it” “You can do it”? That’s not inspirational, that’s suicidal. If pickles goes for it right there, that’s a dead cat. These are lies. We’re liars. Think about it. Why do people buy these things? It’s not ’cause they wanna say how they feel. People buy cards ’cause they can’t say how they feel or they’re afraid too. We provide the service that lets them off the hook. You know what? I say to hell with it. Let’s level with America. At least let them speak for themselves! Right? I mean, look! What-What is this? What does it say? “Congratulations on your new baby.” Right? How ’bout, “Congratulations on your new baby. Guess that’s it for hanging out. Nice knowing you.”

Vance: Sit down, Hansen.

Tom: How bout this one, with all the pretty hearts on the front? I think I know where this ones going. Yep! “Happy Valentines Day, sweetheart. I love you.” That sweet? Ain’t love grand? This is exactly what I’m talking about. What does that even mean, “love”? Do you know? Do you? Anybody?

McKenzie: Tom…

Tom: If somebody gave me this card, Mr. Vance, I would eat it. It’s these cards, and the movies and the pop songs, they’re to blame for all the lies and the heartache, everything. We’re responsible. *I’m responsible.* I think we do a bad thing here. People should be able to say how they feel, how they really feel, not you know, some words that some stranger put in their mouths. Words like “love”… that don’t mean anything. Sorry, I’m sorry. I, uh… I quit. I’m… There’s enough bullshit in the world without my help.

Well anyways, I made you a picture for Valentine’s Day:

Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope yours is exactly how you want it to be!

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I’ve resolved to make public the dates and movies of Union Street Theater’s Monthly Movie Night, because (and get this) you are invited! February Movie Night will be very special, it is going to be a Leap Day Movie Night.

Date: Saturday, February 29, 2020
Time: 6 PM
Place: Union Street Theater
Address: 1416 Union Street, Boone, Iowa

The theme this month is romance. The B movie is TEETH.

TEETH

Here is a quick synopsis of the film:

Dawn (Jess Weixler) is an active member of her high-school chastity club but, when she meets Tobey (Hale Appleman), nature takes its course, and the pair answer the call. They suddenly learn she is a living example of the vagina dentata myth, when the encounter takes a grisly turn.

The feature will be RED ROCK WEST:

RED ROCK WEST

I get it. I know what you’re thinking. Nicolas Cage is the worst! And you are almost right. Kevin Costner is actually the worst and Nicolas Cage is the second worst. Remember that while Cage is awful, he did manage to make RAISING ARIZONA and ADAPTATION. 2 great movies! All Kevin Costner can say is that he was in THE UNTOUCHABLES where Sean Connery carried him.

Here is a quick synopsis of RED ROCK WEST:

When unemployed ex-marine Michael Williams (Nicolas Cage) stumbles into a bar in Red Rock, Wyo., the owner, Wayne (J.T. Walsh), mistakes him for a hired killer and offers him $10,000 to kill his wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). Michael plays along, taking half the money up front, then tells Suzanne what her husband is planning. She seduces Michael and proposes that he kill her husband instead. While he weighs his options, the real killer (Dennis Hopper) turns up looking for his money.

I believe that Jay will be holding his second Root Beer Symposium that night, so an added bonus will be blind taste testing a series of root beers.

I can’t guarantee your mental health if you attend Union Street Theater Movie Night. I still believe that Movie Night broke Willy.

March Movie Night will be a tribute to the great Kirk Douglas. Movies have yet to be determined at this time.

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

FAMILY

A FAMILY photo is any photo of a group of people that share a common relationship or common values or common purpose or even common DNA.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Amanda, Brandon, Carla, Event, Holidays, Johnathan, Kanoa, Kupono, Mom, Teresa

Walking the Floor Over You

February 13, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

It was a bittersweet Christmas for the Bennetts. As always, there was much joy when the family gets together, but while the 2019 Christmas will always be known as the first Christmas with Kanoa. It will also be the Christmas when Amanda and Logan announced that they are expecting a new bundle of joy in 2020. It will also be known as the Christmas where Grandma passed away.
The good outweighs the bad though.

Here are some pictures from the Bennett Christmas, some are cruddy cell phone pictures that I took while experimenting with a camera phone app:

I don’t usually dwell on the names of my blog posts. I either figure that people don’t care or that they google it and figure it out. Although Google won’t always unravel the riddle.

This riddle is a reference to Ernest Tubb, who was my Grandma’s favorite musician. I’d like to share the lyrics to one of my favorite Ernest Tubb songs to close this post out:

Yesterday’s tears are still fallin’ yesterday’s dreams are still broken
Yesterday’s love is still livin’ a love that will never be spoken
I’ve tried so hard to forget dear tried not too smart everything
You are the one who has given but all you’ve received dear is pain
My life has been such a sorrow my world has crumbled like clay
My heart has slowly been dying since you told me goodbye that day

Long weary years you have suffered to keep from hurting someone
If only I could repay you for all of the kind things you’ve done
You haven’t spared me my darling everything to you I owe
All I can say is I love so much more than anyone know
So yesterday’s tears are still fallin’ yesterday’s dreams are still broken
Yesterday’s love is still livin’ a love that will never be spoken

Black & White, Flowers, Macro

The Music’s for the Sad Men

February 12, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

This post is dedicated to all the player hating critics that won’t let a little gangsta shine.

You know who you are, you flowering hating gits!

In all seriousness, I do feel sad for the people who hate my flower photography. I think this is one of the best flower picture collections I’ve ever put together. There are probably multiple pictures in this collection that will show back up when it is time to pick my Boone County Fair and Pufferbilly Day Contest pictures.

Animals, Boone FUMC, Event, Flowers, Macro, Naima, Town Sign Project

Slapdash

February 11, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Today’s collection of images are cleaning up a couple of days worth of images from back in July that were taken, but weren’t the main theme of my photo aspirations for that day.

One of the pictures is from when my people took me to Kamrar for a birthday dinner. Some are from the cluster that was our church’s presentation of the scholarships to our 2019 high school graduates. However, that is a topic that I problem won’t discuss on these pages. It is sufficient to say a wrong was created and a wrong was righted. Some of us got to be filled with righteous indignation, which is a powerful drug. Then there are a couple pictures of my gazanias. Finally, some pictures of Naima in the Dickcissel pond.

Kamrar, Iowa

I now have 93 pictures in THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT album. I need to make one of those sign hunting trips again. Maybe next time Iowa State has a road night game, I could dedicate a Saturday to that.

9 Emotions Project, Andy, Becky, Bill, Birthdays, Black & White, Carla, Jay, Jesse, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Shannon, Still Life, Tamara, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 230 – REFLECTION

February 10, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today is a very big day in the history of my oldest friends. Not just because one of my old friends climbed a building and set his shirt on fire and got arrested yesterday. No, because today is Bill’s birthday!

Happy birthday Bill!

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Looks like the streak lives on for one more week. 19 weeks in total. REFLECTION struck a chord with the absolute bare minimum to extend the streak of double digit submissions!

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

Micky Augustin

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Carla Stensland

Andy Sharp

Becky Parmelee

Jesse Howard

FAMILY

FAMILY! What a great theme! But what is a FAMILY picture? A FAMILY picture is any picture that involves a FAMILY. And don’t let any Scrooge McDuck’s from Ankeny try to tell you that FAMILY can only be defined by DNA. Remember, a true family provides its members with emotional and spiritual kinship through:

+ Shared values, beliefs, and traditions
+ Common experiences and activities
+ Unconditional, non-judgmental support

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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 very familial Monday!