It is once again time for a Formal Portrait Sunday. This time we are checking back in with Jayton’s Summer Senior Picture Photo Shoot. After this, there will be only one collection of Jayton photos left to share. I know you will miss him as much as me.
Next Formal Portrait Sunday will concentrate on the Baugher 2022 Family Photo Shoot.
This is the second and final collection of auxiliary images I took while harvesting the town signs of Dickinson and Emmet County. A few are taken in Humboldt County and the final picture is taken in Greene County. Some of the trips to harvest town signs are very long and sometimes I don’t eat or barely eat on these trips. While I was harvesting town signs out west and northwest, I would consistently hit up the A&W drive-thru in Jefferson. So delicious! I would gladly trade Boone’s Evil Clown Empire Outpost AND the Burger King that is allegedly opening back up in a couple months for an A&W. No regrets. The last picture is from that Jefferson A&W drive-thru. Miss you! I will come see you again soon.
Here is the final collection of images from Dickinson and Emmet County:
I can only imagine putting 32 quarters in the slot to get my 1000 gallons of water.
Estherville
Little known fact – Meteors aim for Iowa.
Actual chunk of the meteorite.
Wallingford – He-s looking to see where the rest of his hat went.
Gruver
Armstrong
Bradgate
Mmmmmm… Fried Cheese Curds (Not available at B-Bop’s, for the record)
The next time we hit the open road to view some of the auxiliary images I took while harvesting town signs for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Mitchell and Floyd County.
Last Saturday was the first Iowa State football game of the season. Signifying the beginning of fall and the end of summer. Iowa State bested their FCS opponent 42-10. But I didn’t actually take any pictures of the game. I’m a littlestitious when it comes to taking a camera into the game, so this year I don’t know that I will at all. Perhaps for the Oklahoma game since, they will never sully the confines of Jack Trice Stadium again.
Instead, this year, I’m going to try to take more pre-game pictures. Our parking spot moved again this year. We are now in lot D-1. Last year we were in G-7. That lot is now the RV lot and it is completely unique. No other college football stadium has a lot like it in the entire country. It is setup like campsites with electricity ran to each spot. I don’t have an RV, but you combine that with the fact that the RV lot has easy access to the new pedestrian bridge. Makes me wish I had an RV. Other than, I have no place to park it, they get horrible gas mileage, and I don’t want to drive one. But other than that, sign me up for the RV lifestyle!
The plus about the new parking situation is that we are close to most of the pre-game festivities. The Spirit Walk and The Steps Concert. I didn’t get to either one to get a prime spot to take pictures, but I still took quite a few.
Here are some of my favorites from the day:
Too look at the rest of the pictures from the day, click on the link below:
I hope to get there a little earlier for the Ohio game in a couple weeks, but my arrival time is somewhat at the mercy of Derrick’s work schedule. So we’ll see how that goes.
Go State!
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is GREEN:
GREEN! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a GREEN image? Are you seriously asking that question? It is an image of something that is GREEN or GREEN plays a major part of the composition. That is it.
Of course, there is more than one definition of the word GREEN.
Happy photo harvesting!
Thursdays are for flowers and this collection is a collection of gazania (African daisies) from the flower pots of my yard. I might have gone overboard photographing them this year because I didn’t have any in 2021. Just kidding! There is no going overboard in the world of flowertography!
I’m sure I have more flower pictures to share in the future. If not, I’ll go take some more.
Another month done in the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. Think there is some good work in there this week. Having so much going on in August certainly helped. We’ll see how September goes.
Here are the August images:
August 2 – I LOVE THIS COLOUR
August 3 – I WALKED HERE…
August 4 – I LIKE TO…
August 5 – I LIKE THIS TIME OF DAY…
August 6 – I LOVE…
August 7 – I MADE THIS…
August 8 – I WORK HERE…
August 9 – I HELD THIS…
August 10 – I WROTE THIS…
August 11 – I SAW…
August 12 – I LIKE TO DRINK…
August 13 – I STOOD HERE…
August 14 – I DO THIS ON SUNDAYS…
August 15 – I ONCE…
August 16 – I NEVER…
August 17 – I WENT TO…
August 18 – I READ THIS…
August 19 – I DID THIS GOOD THING…
August 20 – I LOVE THIS VIEW…
August 21 – I DON’T LIKE TO…
August 22 – ON MONDAYS I…
August 23 – I SAT HERE…
August 24 – I LIKE TO EAT…
August 25 – I HAVE TO…
August 26 – I WORE THIS…
August 27 – ON WEEKENDS I…
August 28 – I WATCHED THIS…
August 29 – I CAN…
August 30 – I CAN’T…
August 31 – I BELIEVE…
Remember you can follow these as they drop on the daily on my dedicated FatMumSlim Instagram account @FMSBENNETT.
Here are the prompts for September:
September 1: Something I Saw
September 2: Plastic
September 3: Paper
September 4: Somewhere I Went
September 5: Hobby
September 6: Green + Blue
September 7: Before Bed
September 8: An Emotion
September 9: Opposites
September 10: I Can Hear…
September 11: Paint
September 12: Symmetry
September 13: Tasty
September 14: Odd One Out
September 15: A Food Shop
September 16: 12:34
September 17: Lucky
September 18: Car Park
September 19: What’s on TV
September 20: Texture
September 21: Nature
September 22: Tree Trunk
September 23: Crunchy
September 24: I Can Smell…
September 25: Laneway
September 26: The Moon
September 27: Open Door
September 28: My Culture
September 29: Not My Style
September 30: Sentimental
Should be a good month. I think there are some good prompts in there. The woman who runs this challenge is Australian. There must be some Australian things in here cause I have no clue what a “Car Park” or a “Laneway” is, but I’ll find out.
A few weeks back I cruised around Washington County harvesting their town signs. It was a great trip as Washington County has a couple of my favorite spots in Iowa to visit.
Here are some facts about Washington County:
+ Population is 22,491 making it the 27th most populous county in Iowa. Below Bremer and above Mahaska.
+ The largest town and county seat is Washington.
+ Formed in 1838 as Slaughter County. Later organized as Washington County when it was moved from the Wisconsin Territory to the Iowa Territory. Named after George Washington. A character from Hamilton. You know, the guy who said, “My name’s been through a lot, I can take it.” and “You have no control. Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.”
+ Home of the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.
+ Home of the Kalona Creamery and Golden Delight Bakery, two of my favorite places in Iowa and places where I have fond family memories.
+ Major highways are: US-218, IA-1, IA-22, IA-27, IA-78, and IA-92.
+ Adjacent counties are: Iowa, Johnson, Louisa, Henry, Jefferson, and Keokuk.
+ Currently at peak population.
Washington County has a beautiful courthouse that I could have done a better job of photographing:
The Washington County Freedom Rock is located in Brighton, Iowa.
With Washington County completed, here is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
87 counties completed. 87.9% of the Cyclone State conquered!
Here are the town signs of Washington County:
Kalona, Iowa
Welcome to KALONA
SINCE 1879
Population: 2,630 (+267)
Wellman, Iowa
WELCOME TO WELLMAN
Population: 1,524 (+116)
Riverside, Iowa
WELCOME TO RIVERSIDE
Where The Trek Begins
Population: 1,060 (+67)
Brighton, Iowa
Home of Lake Darling
Brighton
Population: 600 (-52)
Ainsworth, Iowa
City of Ainsworth
Population: 511 (-56)
Crawfordsville, Iowa
CRAWFORDSVILLE
BIRTHPLACE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
FEBRUARY 23RD, 1854
Population: 277 (+13)
West Chester, Iowa
Welcome to WEST CHESTER
Population: 144 (+2)
Coppock, Iowa – Also in Henry and Jefferson Counties
Population: 36 (-11)
Last place is kind of a no brainer. Even in a county filled with nondescript and boring signs, Coppock is dead last for only having the DOT sign. The weird thing about Coppock is there is actually a decent sized business in the Eagles Nest. You would think they would have a sign.
As for Crawfordsville being the Birthplace of the Republican Party. #1. The original founders of the Republican Party must be completely ashamed to see what their party has become. #2. The Republican Party doesn’t recognize Crawfordsville as the birthplace of the Republican Party. There are two towns that fight over this distinction. Jackson, Michigan and Ripon, Wisconsin. Neither one, you might notice, is Crawfordsville, Iowa.
So what gives?
The Republican Party used to claim that the first informal meeting took place in Ripon on March 20, 1854. Then the first formal meeting took place in Jackson on July 6, 1854. The first organizing convention took place in Pittsburgh on February 22, 1856. The the first nominating convention took place in Philadelphia opening on June 17, 1856.
The Republican Party doesn’t site either place as their birthplace.
So where does Crawfordsville, Iowa come into this mix?
In February 23, 1854 delegates met in the Seceder Church and House of All Nations and drew up resolutions which began the Republican Party. There are no written proof of the actual meeting and you never see Crawfordsville mentioned as a possible birthplace of the Republican Party. Maybe it is for the best.
But after all of that, you are probably wondering what is the best town sign in Washington County. I do like the Riverside sign. I also like the Ainsworth sign. But clearly, Best in Show goes to Kalona.
There a few alternate town signs in Washington County:
Riverside – Alternate
Kalona – Alternate
Brighton – Alternate
Brighton – Alternate
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Adams County
Best in Show – Allamakee County
Best in Show – Appanoose County
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Benton County
Best in Show – Black Hawk County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Bremer County
Best in Show – Buchanan County
Best in Show – Buena Vista County
Best in Show – Butler County
Best in Show – Calhoun County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Cass County
Best in Show – Cedar County
Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County
Best in Show – Cherokee County
Best in Show – Chickasaw County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Clay County
Best in Show – Clinton County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Decatur County
Best in Show – Delaware County
Terril – Best in Show – Dickinson County
Best in Show – Dickinson County
Best in Show – Emmet County
Best in Show – Fayette County
Best in Show – Floyd County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Fremont County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Grundy County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hancock County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Sow – Harrison County
Best in Show – Howard County
Best in Show – Humboldt County
Best in Show – Ida County
Best in Show – Iowa County
Best in Show – Jackson County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Johnson County
Best in Show – Jones County
Best in Show – Keokuk County
Best in Show – Kossuth County
Best in Show – Linn County
Best in Show – Lucas County
Best in Show – Lyon County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Mahaska County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Mills County
Best in Show – Mitchell County
Best in Show – Monona County
Best in Show – Monroe County
Best in Show – Montgomery County
Best in Show – O’Brien County
Best in Show – Osceola County
Best in Show – Page County
Best in Show – Palo Alto County
Best in Show – Plymouth County
Best in Show – Pocahontas County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Pottawattamie County
Best in Show – Poweshiek County
Best in Show – Ringgold County
Best in Show – Sac County
Best in Show – Shelby County
Best in Show – Sioux County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Tama County
Best in Show – Taylor County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Warren County
Best in Show – Washington County
Best in Show – Wayne County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Winnebago County
Best in Show – Winneshiek County
Best in Show – Woodbury County
Best in Show – Worth County
Best in Show – Wright County
The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT we will visit Clayton County.
Happy Labor Day! A day to pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American works and the millionaires and billionaires that exploit them.
COLORFUL could prove to be a very popular theme. Despite it being a holiday today, I have a good feeling about the participation rates for COLORFUL. You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, August 29, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
+ Suzie Brannen – 1 week
+ Becky Parmelee – 1 week
+ Jesse Howard – 2 weeks
+ Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
+ Willy McAlpine – 2 weeks
+ Brandon Kahler – 3 weeks
+ Linda Bennett – 5 weeks (2)
+ Sarah Toot – 6 weeks (2)
+ Sabas Hernandez – 8 weeks
+ Monica Jennings – 8 weeks (3)
+ Mary Green – 10 weeks (3)
+ Angie DeWaard – 11 weeks (2)
+ Dawn Krause – 15 weeks
+ Kim Barker – 21 weeks
+ Joe Duff – 22 weeks
+ Logan Kahler – 24 weeks
+ Teresa Kahler – 32 weeks (3)
+ Tamara Peterson – 32 weeks
+ Carla Stensland – 32 weeks
+ Michelle Haupt – 33 weeks
+ Micky Augustin – 34 weeks
+ Andy Sharp – 35 weeks
+ Bill Wentworth – 36 weeks
+ Cathie Morton – 40 weeks
+ Elizabeth Nordeen – 41 weeks
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley – 43 weeks
+ Kio Dettman – 46 weeks (5)
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:
Evie Gorshe – 1 week
Sarah Karber – 1 week
Steve Martin – 1 week
Steve Martin
Suzie Brannen – 2 weeks
Jesse Howard – 3 weeks
Willy McAlpine – 3 weeks
Brandon Kahler – 4 weeks
Linda Bennett – 6 weeks
Linda Bennett
Linda Bennett
Sarah Toot – 7 weeks
Sarah Toot
Sabas Hernandez – 9 weeks
Monica Jennings – 9 weeks
Mary Green – 11 weeks
Angie DeWaard – 12 weeks
Angie DeWaard
Dawn Krause – 16 weeks
Dawn Krause
Kim Barker – 22 weeks
Kim Barker
Joe Duff – 23 weeks
Logan Kahler – 25 weeks
Logan Kahler
Teresa Kahler – 33 weeks
Tamara Peterson – 33 weeks
Carla Stensland – 33 weeks
Carla Stensland
Michelle Haupt 34 weeks
Micky Augustin – 35 weeks
Micky Augustin
Andy Sharp – 36 weeks
Andy Sharp
Bill Wentworth – 37 weeks
Bill Wentworth
Cathie Morton – 41 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen – 42 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen
Shannon Bardole-Foley – 44 weeks
Kio Dettman – 47 weeks
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Christopher D. Bennett – 468 weeks
30 participants this week! That is a great week! Hopefully we can start averaging 30 participants for a bit!
This is just guess work, but I believe we got submissions from Pennsylvania, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and California this week. It is possible that people travelled away from their homes and I just don’t know it. My picture was taken about 15 miles from my front door.
Got the first every submission from Steve Martin! That is exciting! Plus Sarah Karber and Derrick and Evie both submitted for the first time in a bit!
It wasn’t all good news though. Becky couldn’t extend her streak to two weeks and Sara Lockner’s 2 week streak is history as well.
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:
GREEN! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a GREEN image? Are you seriously asking that question? It is an image of something that is GREEN or GREEN plays a major part of the composition. There are at least a few pictures here that would also have been great submissions for GREEN. Sarah Karber’s and Monica’s come to mind.
Of course there is more than one definition of the word GREEN. Just find a Dave Matthews fan. They will help you out. (For the record marijuana should be legalized and taxed. And so should churches. Be taxed that is.)
While considering possible subjects for your GREEN image, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt something great will come to you.
An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… the truly wise person is colorblind.
-Albert Schweitzer
I look forward to seeing your interpretation.
The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge.
You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.
That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of GREEN in this place that is many types of green to me, just not the environmentalist type of green next Monday.
It is time for another Formal Portrait Sunday. Checking in again with the Howard Family Photo Shoot from back in 2021 again. Getting actually kind of near the end of all the formal portraits I have taken. We might be switching Sundays to something else in the future. Or I might end up taking more formal portraits. I guess will find out what the future holds in the future.
There is one more collection of Howard pictures left to share.
Next Formal Portrait Sunday, we will check back in with Jayton’s Second Senior Picture Photo Shoot.
Another month down and another month of THE SELFIE PROEJCT in the books. I think I had a pretty active August. At least in spurts. With Pufferbilly Days and the State Fair and some much needed vacation all in August, I did some things man.
I don’t anticipate September being anywhere as busy, but hopefully I’ll do some cool stuff this month.
Here are some of my favorites from August for THE SELFIE PROJECT:
August 2
August 3
August 4
August 5
August 6
August 8
August 9
August 11
August 12
August 13
August 14
August 16
August 17
August 18
August 19
August 20
August 21
August 24
August 25
August 26
August 27
August 28
August 29
August 31
Of course there can only be one selfie that represents THE SELFIE PROJECT every day, but I did have a busy August, so here are the many alternates:
You might be thinking, “That is a lot of pictures with ice cream!” There is a reason for that. The reason isn’t because I love ice cream, but that is probably the base level reason. I’ll explain the real reason in a future post. Or I won’t. What is important for you to know is that your humble narrator is a champion. A ice cream champion. Also, Willy and Jesse owe me dinner.
You also might be thinking, “How many gray t-shirts do you own?” The answer is, plenty.
Finally you might be thinking, “You need to retire that green t-shirt.” Yeah, that is true enough.
Another Pufferbilly Days event that I photographed was the Pufferbilly Days Dog Show. Technically, it is a pet show, but the only pets that show up are dogs. I mean, it is pretty obvious why nobody enters a cat, but I would think that somebody would enter a guinea pig or a hamster or a rat or a snake or a bearded lizard or a tarantula or a tortoise or a turtle or a fish or something. Makes me want to go buy a tarantula just to enter it. But I can’t. I’m the events official photographer. It is the sacrifice that I make. Maybe next year somebody will enter a tarantula.
Here are some pictures from the Pufferbilly Days Dog Show:
I look forward to the 2023 Pufferbilly Days Pet Show. Hopefully there will be plenty of spiders and lizards!
There are still plenty more Pufferbilly Days event photos left to share.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is COLORFUL.
REMINDER IS LABOR DAY. WHILE SCHOOLS AND BANKS AND GOVERMENTS TAKE THE DAY OFF, THERE ARE NO DAYS OFF FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 139! I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING ON THAT DAY, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE I WON’T BE IN A POSITION TO REMIND ANYBODY ABOUT SUBMITTING. PLAN YOUR SUBMISSION ACCORDINGLY AND DON’T LET YOUR STREAK GET SNAPPED CAUSE YOU ARE A BANKER OR GOVERNMENT WORKER THAT GETS THE DAY OFF AND YOU GOT LOST IN WATCHING NETFLIX OR TAKING YOUR BOAT TO THE LAKE OR WHATEVER NORMAL PEOPLE DO ON LABOR DAY. MOSTLY MOURN THE END OF SUMMER I BELIEVE.
COLORFUL! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a COLORFUL image? If we break down the word COLORFUL it simply means something that is full of color. So any subject or scene where there is a lot of color is COLORFUL. Almost too easy! Many of the pictures taken for CIRCLE would also qualify for COLORFUL.
Of course, there is more than one definition of the term COLORFUL.
Happy photo harvesting!
