WPC – WEEK 245 – SELF-PORTRAIT

I need to start by wishing everybody a happy Memorial Day!


Happy Memorial Day - 2020

Today is a unique Memorial Day, as we honor both our military personnel that have died in military service and the over 100,000 Americans that have died during the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully, we will be in a better place in the world next year.

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Woooo! 34 straight weeks of double digit submissions. I got a lot of feedback from people saying that a SELF-PORTRAIT wasn’t easy for them like it is for me. They aren’t a combination of a young Brad Pitt and a middle-aged Robert Redford. While, I understand that my good looks can be intimidating, it is the fact that I am interesting looking that makes me so dang photogenic, not the fact that I’m so ruggedly handsome.

One person went so far as to send me the excuse that they can’t do a self-portrait, because they only do portraits with somebody holding their neck back. Ridiculous!

That being said, enough people showed the testicular fortitude to get on the other side of the camera for us to eek out double digits again!

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


WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - MONICA HENNING
Monica Henning

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - DAWN KRAUSE
Dawn Krause

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - JEN ENSLEY-GORSHE
Jen Ensley-Gorshe

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - MICKY AUGUSTIN
Micky Augustin

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - JEN ENSLEY-GORSHE
Jen Ensley-Gorshe

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - JESSE HOWARD
Jesse Howard

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - CATHIE RALEY
Cathie Raley

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - SHANNON BARDOLE-FOLEY
Shannon Bardole-Foley

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT - LOGAN KAHLER
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:


WEEK 246 - FRIENDS
FRIENDS

FRIENDS! What a great theme! I mean for most of you. Seeing how I have been scientifically documented to be the one True Lone Wolf, the man that is an island, this will be a difficult theme for me. I might have to play creepy photographer and find a couple of FRIENDS hanging out and clandestinely take their picture.

For the rest of you, this should be fairly simple. Grab a picture of a couple of your FRIENDS physically distancing, while remaining social.

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.

OR

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 friendly Monday!

2009-11-19 + 2009-11-21

There were only a couple of pictures in the folder 2009-11-19, so I decided to also post some pictures from the folder 2009-11-21.

The picture from the first album is of Becca and her beau at the time. There is one picture of a Window Project I made for Salon 908. I always meant to make a companion piece to go with it, but never did. amazingly, that window still hangs in Salon 908. I am amazed that is hasn’t fallen apart yet. I really didn’t know what I was doing when I made it.

The majority of the pictures in the second folder are from a photo shoot I did with Cousin Amy and her son Sam. That was fun photo shoot!


Salon 908 Window

Becca and Gelli

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009

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:

Wednesday Surprise
Window Project #2

Next Saturday’s trip down memory lane will involve Kansas City.

The Baugher Wedding – One

I don’t even know how many work days from home it is now. I think it is 40. Who knows any more. But I did discover a new positive this week.

That the new positive. I like being able to use my lunch hour to mow. I’m not a big fan of mowing. I actually enjoy yard work, but I don’t enjoy mowing. I feel like I lose a whole night when I have to mow. But mowing during my lunch hour feels like a good use of time.

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Alexis got married last December in a very exclusive affair. I think there was maybe 10 of us there. I got invited to take pictures. Here are some of those pictures:


Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

Alexis & Kupono Wedding

There is more to come from this wedding. I told you that there were a lot more Stenslands to come!

Pandemic Birthday

Let me start by saying thanks to everybody that wished me a happy birthday on Monday via text or phone call or Instagram messenger or card in the mail or via haircut or Teams. I’m sure some people even wished me a happy birthday on Facebook. I guess I’ll find out if I ever go on Facebook again.

Even thanks to the people who wished me Happy birthday on the wrong day.

It was a unique birthday. I know that numerous people have celebrated a pandemic birthday this year and many of you will celebrate one in the future. Mine wasn’t necessarily all that bad.

To start with, I took my birthday off. I know I couldn’t do all that much, but I just didn’t want to sit in my office all day. Staring at the walls. The same 4 walls.

I got lucky that on Sunday the new SSD arrived for my work from home computer. I was able to upgrade my work from home computer with the SSD, plus more RAM, and a better processor. I was able to get that work done on Sunday, so I didn’t even step foot in my office all day on Monday.

I slept all the way until 7:30. I got up and ate a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and watched THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA on Amazon Prime. It wasn’t exactly the movie that I was expecting. It had a weird ending.

Then I took Naima for a car ride. We stopped at the Jay Carlson Wildlife Area and the Harrier Marsh. She got a good run in at both locations.

Then I went home and had a quick lunch. I had decided to go for a short road trip. I knew I couldn’t travel very far, but I wouldn’t to do something I would enjoy. I decided to make a trip to Rolfe, Iowa to see the greatest piece of art ever constructed my the hands of man.

I took several pictures, have a look:


Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Birthday Road Trip - 2020

Since I was on kind of a time crunch, I didn’t harvest many signs for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, but I did get three bagged:


Bradgate, iowa
Bradgate

Callender, Iowa
Callender

Gowrie, Iowa
Gowrie

When I got back home, I loaded Naima up in the car again and we went over to my Mom’s for my birthday dinner. We had homemade pizza made with the “family sauce recipe”. It doesn’t really belong to the family, but came from a family friend.

On the pizza was sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and sauerkraut. Delicious!

My Mom also made me a birthday cake. My favorite kind of cake, Mayonnaise Cake! Delicious!

After dinner, we watched the remake of OVERBOARD. I’m not really quite sure how that happened, but maybe I was feeling some 80s nostalgia. Actually, I know I’ve been feeling some 80s nostalgia lately. I recently watched the entire series TEEN WOLF. Entirely based on my fondness for the original TEEN WOLF and my fascination with the absurdity of TEEN WOLF TOO.

After the movie I went back home and finished my day off responding to some text messages before calling it a night.

Pandemic birthday could have been worse, and parts of it were pretty great!

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SELF-PORTRAIT:


WEEK 245 - SELF-PORTRAIT
SELF-PORTRAIT

A SELF-PORTRAIT image is simply a picture of yourself. Or a picture of somebody taking a picture of themselves.

Don’t forget that Monday is Memorial Day. While the banks take holidays, Photography 139 never takes a day off. The grind is real! Plan on getting your submissions in accordingly.

Happy photo harvesting!

The 2019 Howards – Subset Seis

This is it! The final collection of pictures from the 2010 Howard Family Photo Shoot! Included in this collection are some behind the scenes candid type photos, which you know are my favorite. Plus the infamous port-a-potty photos. I’ll include my theory on why Jesse wanted these pictures taken as well.


Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Okay. Up next are the infamous port-a-potty images. My theory on why Jesse makes Kyle and Jeremy pose for these images is because he is testing them. I think this is his way of saying, “How much do you love my daughter? Do you love her jam into a port-a-potty and have your picture taken with me much?”

If it is a test, they passed.

I’ll also add, this port-a-potty reeked. Absolutely reeked!


Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

While it should be noted that Jeremy is pretty much locked into the Howard family for life now, there is still time for Kyle to jump ship. But instead, he jumped into a smelly port-a-potty with 2 other dudes.

This brings us to a small collection of candids. My favorites. It is like the tagline from that old MTV show, “The Real World”.


Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

How about Taylan, getting through this photo shoot on crutches!

This last picture I will post with only the comment that Jeremy has already made his commitment.


Howards - 2019

I wonder what the pandemic will do to the 2020 Howard Family Photo Shoot. I do not know, but I do know that there will be a new Howard joining the family by then!

The 2019 Howards – Subset Cinco

Time to check in with the Howard Family Photo Shoot of 2019 once again. We’re almost to the end of the photo shoot, but not quite. There will be one more, slightly smaller collection to come.

This collection is very heavy with Jesse. He appears in every single image, which is what the masses have been clamoring for all along.


Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

There is one more collection of Howard pictures still to be curated and then at that point, we will take a big step towards being done with the 2019 backlog. It won’t be done, but man will it be close. Like the end will be in sight!

An Artist’s Notebook Post #3751

We have hit another milestone in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”. Post #3751. I would normally make these statistical look back at the past type posts on even numbers, but I felt you guys were probably chomping at the bit to see the entries for RULE OF THIRDS.

This blog/online journal burst onto the world on August 9, 2006. Nearly 14 years later, it is somehow still around. That is success of some kind. At least it is perseverance.

As you know, I like meaningless statistics. That is what these posts are usually about. That and to take stock as to how I’m doing with my original mission to:

#1. Write in it.
#2. To be truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings.
#3. Produce something that makes me worthy of having a pretentious sounding journal title like: “An Artist’s Notebook”.

I’m going to say that I continue to manage all 3. You probably wouldn’t know if I was being honest with you on my thoughts and feelings anyways. You’ll just have to take my work for it.

The last time we looked at these stats in Post #3500 on October 4, 2019 these were the 10 most popular categories on “An Artist’s Notebook”:

10. Photography – 311 Posts
9. Teresa – 312 Posts
8. Carla – 314 Posts
7. Shannon -351 Posts
6. Black & White – 390 Posts
5. Weekly Photo Challenge – 394 Posts
4. Jesse – 404 Posts
3. Animals – 477 Posts
2. Portrait – 516 Posts
1. Flowers – 537 Posts

Here are the current “standings”:

MOST POPULAR CATEGORIES

10. Mom – 332 Posts
9. Teresa – 338 Posts
8. WPC – Submissions – 342 Posts
7. Carla – 354 Posts
6. Shannon – 384 Posts
5. Jesse – 455 Posts
4. Portrait – 491 Posts
3. Animals – 554 Posts
2. Black & White – 568 Posts
1. Flowers – 594 Posts

Back in October, these were the 10 Most Popular Not People Categories:

10. Art – 243 Posts
9. Nature – 260 Posts
8. Personal Photo Project – 261 Posts
7. Road Trip – 288 Posts
6. Photography – 311 Posts
5. Black & White – 390 Posts
4. Weekly Photo Challenge – 390 Posts
3. Animals – 477 Posts
2. Portrait – 516 Posts
1. Flowers – 537 Posts

Here are the current “standings”:

MOST POPULAR NOT PEOPLE CATEGORIES

10. Naima – 263 Posts
9. Photoshop – 285 Posts
8. Art – 287 Posts
7. Nature – 303 Posts
6. Road Trip – 308 Posts
5. WPC – Submissions – 342 Posts
4. Portrait – 491 Posts
3. Animals – 559 Posts
2. Black & White – 568 Posts
1. Flowers – 594 Posts

I anticipate by the time we get to post 4,000 Black & White will surpass Flowers. Especially considering I’m giving some consideration into breaking Flowers down by flower type. All that would be one beast of a job.

Back in October, these were the 10 Most Tagged Humans:

10. Jen – 222 Posts
9. Vest – 234 Posts
8. Willy – 238 Posts
7. Derrick – 267 Posts
6. Jay – 294 Posts
5. Mom – 300 Posts
4. Teresa – 312 Posts
3. Carla – 314 Posts
2. Shannon – 351 Posts
1. Jesse – 403 Posts

These are the current standings:

10 MOST TAGGED HUMANS:

10. Jen – 243 Posts
9. Vest – 247 Posts
8. Willy – 258 Posts
7. Derrick – 284 Posts
6. Jay – 312 Posts
5. Mom – 332 Posts
4. Teresa – 338 Posts
3. Carla – 353 Posts
2. Shannon – 384 Posts
1. Jesse – 455 Posts

It is strange that the Top 10 Humans is almost identical. Except Carla has passed Teresa.

You may be wondering, what does it take to improve my Photography 139 Score? How do I get on the big board by the time Post 3750 comes around next August-ish?

1. Submit pictures for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
2. Assist or pose for photo projects.
3. Be related to me.

If you are wondering who is just outside of the top ten? The 3 people just outside of the Top Ten are Kim, Sara, and Logan.

But what are the most popular pictures and galleries of this website?

Currently, there 74,942 files in the Photography 139 Gallery. That takes up 450.88 GB of storage space on the SmugMug servers.

Over time, it is historically difficult to determine what is the most popular photos and galleries. I can only track statistics for the last 365 days. But for the last 365 days, these are the most popular albums:

TOP 10 PHOTOGRAPHY 139 ALBUMS (POPULARITY BY VIEWS)


Baby Tri-Force 1st Birthday Party

#10 Miller Triplet 1st Birthday Party – 13751 Views

Miller-Peterson Christmas - 2019

#9 Family Happenings – 14222 Views

Iowa State vs. Iowa

#8 Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2019 – 15711 Views

#7Naima– 16108 Views

Taylan Howard

#6 Taylan Howard -2020– 21320 Views

Autumn Sharp

#5 Autumn Sharp – 2020– 21852 Views

WEEK 158 - BOREDOM - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

#4 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 6– 29218 Views

July 14, 2019

#3 Selfie Project – 2019 – 40726 Views

9 Emotions - Bill

#2 9 Emotions Project – 43867 Views

WEEK 222 - SPORTS/GAMES - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

#1 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 7 – 48433 Views

These are the 10 Most Popular Images (by Views):

10. 973 Views

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

9. 1056 Views

Minnesota State Fair - 2019

8. 1063 Views

Rapid City Mission Trip - 2019

7.1082 Views

Thanksgiving - 2019

6. 1116 Views

Howards - 2019

5. 1141 Views

Autumn Sharp

4. 1635 Views

Garrett Larson

3. 1261 Views

Stenslands- 2019

1283 Views

July 15, 2017

1. 2283 Views

January 14, 2019

I’m surprised that THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT is still so popular, since I haven’t touched it in over a year. But I do hope to get back to it. In fact, I have purchased a few things to make it possible to get back to THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT while safely physically distancing. So if you are interesting in being a victim… err… a subject. You know where to find me.