Time to reveal the April image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar.
APRIL – 2026
Technical Details
- CAMERA: Sony 7RMV
- LENS: Signa 105mm f/2.8
- APERTURE: f/2.8
- SHUTTER SPEED: 1/1000
- ISO: 100
- DATE TAKEN: April 19, 2025
The subject for the April image is a collection of tulips taken in the Pella town square. Every year I like to make a trip to Pella to photograph their wonderful selection of tulips about a two weeks before their annual Pella Festival. During the Tulip Festival there are just way too many people. WAY TOO MANY. But to be honest about 2 weeks before the Tulip Festival is also starting to become lousy with people. If I get there about 8 or so in the morning, I can have the tulips mostly to myself. Well maybe not to myself, but I’m not fighting every shot to get an angle where there aren’t lousy humans in the frame. But it doesn’t take too long before they start sprouting up all over the place. More troublesome than weeds. This is the third straight year that I’ve used a tulip for the April image. I should probably change that for 2027. But we will see. I love tulips so!
Tomorrow I will reveal the May image.
BLACK & WHITE! A great theme! But did enough people see the world in a monochrome way to make it popular theme? You will have to keep scrolling to find out!
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, December 29, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks:
*1-Mary Green – 1 week
2-Deanna McClain – 1 week
3-Jesse Howard – 3 weeks
4-Sara Lockner – 3 weeks
*5-Kio Dettman – 7 weeks
6-Becky Parmelee – 12 weeks
*7-Suzie Brannen – 16 weeks
8-Willy McAlpine – 18 weeks
9-Monica Jennings – 22 weeks
*10-Deb Powers – 70 weeks
11-Mike Vest – 84 weeks
*12-Lowell Davis – 104 weeks
13-Scott Degeneffe – 123 weeks
14-Sheri Fakhouri – 133 weeks
15-Logan Kahler – 134 weeks
16-Nathanial Brown – 135 weeks
17-Tamara Peterson – 146 weeks
*18-Mindi Terrell – 150 weeks
*19-Linda Bennett – 179 weeks
20-Sarah Toot – 180 weeks
*21-Angie DeWaard – 183 weeks
22-Dawn Krause – 186 weeks
23-Kim Barker – 194 weeks
*24-Joe Duff – 195 weeks
*25-Teresa Kahler – 206 weeks
26-Carla Stensland – 206 weeks
27-Micky Augustin – 208 weeks
28-Andy Sharp – 209 weeks
29-Bill Wentworth – 210 weeks
30-Cathie Morton – 213 weeks
31-Elizabeth Nordeen – 215 weeks
32-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 217 weeks
Here is the list of rules for Year 12 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:
1. The picture must 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 and take pictures challenge!
- There is a limit of 2 submissions per person per theme. If you send me more than 2, I will use the first 2 that you submit. If you submit 2 pictures, make sure they are of different subjects.
- Deadline to submit your submission is 11 AM Central Time the following Monday. But that is a deadline. Pictures can be submitted as soon as you take them.
- To be considered the photographer of an image, you have to be the one that clicks the shutter. If you hand your camera over to somebody else to take a picture of you, you are NOT the photographer of that image.
- No screen captures. This is a photography challenge. Not a “look at what I found on the internet” challenge.
- Please include the location of where the picture was taken with your submission.
There are still 2 ways to submit:
- Email your submission to bennett@photography139.com.
- Text your submission to my Google Pixel 8 Pro.
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks or the rules of the challenge or how to submit. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Lake View, Iowa) – 218 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 216 weeks
Cathie Morton (Camp Verde, Arizona) – 214 weeks
Cathie Morton (Glen Canyon Dam, Utah)
Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 211 weeks
Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa) – 210 weeks
Micky Augustin (West Des Moines, Iowa) – 209 weeks
Carla Stensland (Ogden, Iowa) – 207 weeks
Carla Stensland (Ames, Iowa)
Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 207 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Hilton Coliseum – Ames, Iowa)
Joe Duff (Houston, Texas) – 196 weeks
Kim Barker (Nevada, Iowa) – 195 weeks
Dawn Krause (Boone, Iowa) – 187 weeks
Angie DeWaard (Zumwalt Station – Ames, Iowa) – 184 weeks
Sarah Toot (Morgantown, West Virginia) – 181 weeks
Sarah Toot (Kentucky)
Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 180 weeks
Linda Bennett (Kansas)
Mindi Terrell (Urbandale, Iowa) – 151 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Urbandale, Iowa)
Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 147 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Seven Oaks – Boone County, Iowa) – 136 weeks
Logan Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 135 weeks
Logan Kahler (Boone, Iowa)
Sheri Fakhouri (Iowa) – 134 weeks
Scott Degeneffe (Boone County, Iowa) – 124 weeks
Scott Degeneffe (Boone County, Iowa)
Lowell Davis (Iowa) – 105 weeks
Mike Vest (Madrid, Iowa) – 85 weeks
Deb Powers (Osceola, Iowa) – 71 weeks
Deb Powers (Winterset, Iowa)
Monica Jennings (Boone, Iowa) – 23 weeks
Monica Jennings (Boone, Iowa)
Willy McAlpine (Boone, Iowa) – 19 weeks
Suzie Brannen (Perry, Iowa) – 17 weeks
Suzie Brannen (Perry, Iowa)
Becky Parmelee (Bella Vista, Arkansas) – 13 weeks
Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa) – 8 weeks
Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa)
Jesse Howard (Ames, Iowa) – 4 weeks
Deanna McClain (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Mary Green (Michigan) – 2 weeks
Mary Green (Michigan)
Alexis Stensland (Iowa) – 1 week
Alexis Stensland (Iowa)
Charlie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa) – 1 week
Sarah Karber (Minneapolis, Minnesota) – 1 week
Sabas Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) – 1 week
Christopher D. Bennett (Hilton Coliseum – Ames, Iowa)
Submissions from 36 participants this week. A popular week! A great way to finish Year 12!
There were submissions this week taken in the following places:
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Texas
- Utah
- West Virginia
Thanks to Sarah Toot’s travels, we added West Virginia to the Year 12 THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE SUBMISSIONS MAP! Here is the Year 12 list of places where submissions have been taken:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Washington
- Washington D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Argentina
- Canada
- Chile
- Curacao
- Dominican Republic
- England
- Ireland
- Mexico
- Northern Ireland
- Spain
- Atlantic Ocean
That is 38 states, 1 district, and 10 foreign countries! And 1 body of water. That is the list with 1 week to go in Year 12.
The big milestone this week was Charlie’s 1st ever submission! Welcome aboard Charlie! But it wasn’t all fun and games. Sara’s 3 week streak is over. Just a distant memory. Like the rule of law.
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:
ENTERTAINMENT
ENTERTAINMENT! What a great theme for Year 13 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE! The first theme for a new year!
New Year. Time for a new set of rules. Although they aren’t all that different!
Here is the list of rules for Year 13 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:
1. The picture must 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 and take pictures challenge!
- There is a limit of 2 submissions per person per theme. If you send me more than 2, I will use the first 2 that you submit. If you submit 2 pictures, make sure they are of different subjects.
- Deadline to submit your submission is 11 AM Central Time the following Monday. But that is a deadline. Pictures can be submitted as soon as you take them. In fact, pictures being submitted by Sunday night are GREATLY APPRECIATED!
- To be considered the photographer of an image, you have to be the one that clicks the shutter. If you hand your camera over to somebody else to take a picture of you, you are NOT the photographer of that image.
- No screen captures. This is a photography challenge. Not a “look at what I found on the internet” challenge.
- Please include the location of where the picture was taken with your submission. PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME ASK YOU!
- Please submit images that are OVER 1000 pixels at their largest side. DON’T OVERCROP!
- ABSOLUTELY NO USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE!!
There are still 2 ways to submit:
- Email your submission to bennett@photography139.com.
- Text your submission to my Google Pixel 8 Pro.
This is the 5th time that ENTERTAINMENT has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
Here are a couple of my favorites from the Ghosts of ENTERTAINMENT Past for inspiration:
Shannon Bardole-Foley – Week 161
Andy Sharp – Week 236
Carla Stensland – Week 355
Jen Ensley-Gorshe – Week 459
To peruse all of the nearly 130 submissions in the ENTERTAINMENT archive, click on the link below:
I look forward to seeing your interpretation!
Until next Monday, may you run and not be weary. May your heart be filled with song. And may the love of God continue to give you hope and keep you strong.
Question… how do we determine what “body of water” is? I know as mentioned in this one photo as it was in the middle of an ocean. If it is taken in the middle of the body of water, as opposed to standing on the shoreline, whether it be an ocean, river, pond, lake, lagoon, creek/crick or even a puddle, does that make it a body of water photo?
To basically qualify for that, you have to be in international waters. In this instance this person was on a cruise ship, but not near any country, so I had to look up what body of water is whatever miles off of Jamaica maybe. Can’t remember any more. And it came back the Atlantic Ocean. Although, in retrospect, they probably weren’t in international waters. They were probably in the waters of Jamaica or whatever country it was. But I’ll never really know exactly where they were in the ocean. I probably will never do that again. Unless somebody is truly in the middle of the ocean. But it is about as accurate was when people send airplane photos and say, I think I was over Missouri. It is an inexact science. At best. But I had to put an end to people trying to claim they were in 2 states or more when they took a pictures. People get sadly competitive over things that aren’t a competition. Why, I stopped publicizing who posted from where on a year to date basis. At least until tomorrow.
So basically, where your feet are, is where you are.