Time to reveal the November image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar.
NOVEMBER – 2026
- TECHNICAL DETAILS
- CAMERA: SONY 7RM5
- LENS: Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM
- FOCAL LENGTH: 35mm
- APERTURE: f/7.1
- EXPOSURE: 1/40
- ISO: 250
- DATE TAKEN: November 15, 2025
The subject of the November image is a water lily I found at the Des Moines Botanical Garden. I am a proud member of the Iowa Arboretum and with that membership I can get in for free at several gardens in Iowa and all across the United States. This includes the Des Moines Botanical Garden. I think I can even take up to one guest with me to the Des Moines Botanical Garden for free. Which if I have one complaint about my membership at the Iowa Arboretum is that I can’t bring a guest for free there. Which is weird that I can take a guest for free to a garden where my membership doesn’t lie, but not to the garden where my membership belongs. If I were to use my membership to a different garden, this is the reason why I would do it. I don’t think that I have actually been inside the dome of the Des Moines Botanical Garden since I was a small child on an elementary school field trip and it seemed much smaller as an adult. However, despite it feeling smaller than I remember I struggled to find the area above the waterfall. But when I finally did, the pay off was this little pond with this beautiful purple water lily.
Tomorrow I will reveal the December image.
ENTERTAINMENT! A great theme! Were enough people entertained to make it popular theme? You will have to keep scrolling to find out!
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, January 5, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks:
1-Charlie DeWaard – 1 week
2-Sabas Hernandez – 1 week
3-Sarah Karber – 1 week
*4-Alexis Stensland – 1 week
*5-Mary Green – 2 weeks
6-Deanna Peters – 2 weeks
7-Jesse Howard – 4 weeks
*8-Kio Dettman – 8 weeks
9-Becky Parmelee – 13 weeks
*10-Suzie Brannen – 17 weeks
11-Willy McAlpine – 19 weeks
*12-Monica Jennings – 23 weeks
*13-Deb Powers – 71 weeks
14-Mike Vest – 85 weeks
15-Lowell Davis – 105 weeks
*16-Scott Degeneffe – 124 weeks
17-Sheri Fakhouri – 134 weeks
*18-Logan Kahler – 135 weeks
19-Nathanial Brown – 136 weeks
20-Tamara Peterson – 147 weeks
*21-Mindi Terrell – 151 weeks
*22-Linda Bennett – 180 weeks
*23-Sarah Toot – 181 weeks
24-Angie DeWaard – 184 weeks
25-Dawn Krause – 187 weeks
26-Kim Barker – 195 weeks
27-Joe Duff – 196 weeks
*28-Teresa Kahler – 207 weeks
*29-Carla Stensland – 207 weeks
30-Micky Augustin – 209 weeks
31-Andy Sharp – 210 weeks
32-Bill Wentworth – 211 weeks
*33-Cathie Morton – 214 weeks
34-Elizabeth Nordeen – 216 weeks
35-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 218 weeks
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:
Alexis Stensland (Madrid, Iowa) – 2 weeks
Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa) – 211 weeks
Angie DeWaard (Ankeny, Iowa) – 185 weeks
Becky Parmelee (Bella Vista, Arkansas) – 14 weeks
Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 212 weeks
Carla Stensland (Clear Lake, Iowa) – 208 weeks
Carla Stensland (Ogden, Iowa)
Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 215 weeks
Charlie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa) – 2 weeks
Christopher D. Bennett (Hopkins Gove Methodist Church – Iowa)
Dawn Krause (West Des Moines, Iowa) – 188 weeks
Dawn Krause (Boone, Iowa)
Deanna Peters (Boone County, Iowa) – 3 weeks
Deb Powers (Ankeny, Iowa) – 72 weeks
Deb Powers (Des Moines, Iowa)
Elizabeth Nordeen (Ames, Iowa) – 217 weeks
Jesse Howard (West Des Moines, Iowa) – 5 weeks
Joe Duff (League City, Texas) – 197 weeks
Kim Barker (Nevada, Iowa) – 196 weeks
Kio Dettman (Ames, Iowa) – 9 weeks
Kio Dettman (Ames, Iowa)
Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 181 weeks
Linda Bennett (Kansas)
Logan Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 136 weeks
Logan Kahler (Boone, Iowa)
Lowell Davis (Clive, Iowa) – 106 weeks
Mary Green (Kalamazoo, Michigan) – 3 weeks
Mary Green (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
Micky Augustin (Ames, Iowa) – 210 weeks
Mike Vest (Madrid, Iowa) – 86 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Urbandale, Iowa) – 152 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Urbandale, Iowa)
Monica Jennings (Boone, Iowa) – 24 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Boone, Iowa) -137 weeks
Sabas Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) -2 weeks
Sara Lockner (Johnston, Iowa) – 1 week
Sarah Karber (Bloomington, Minnesota) – 2 weeks
Sarah Toot (Nutcracker Rouge by Company XIV – Brooklyn, New York) – 182 weeks
Scott Degeneffe (Joplin, Missouri) – 125 weeks
Scott Degeneffe (Rogers, Arkansas)
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Des Moines, Iowa) – 219 weeks
Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa) – 135 weeks
Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa)
Suzie Brannen (Perry, Iowa) – 18 weeks
Suzie Brannen (Perry, Iowa)
Tamara Peterson (Boone, Iowa) – 148 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 208 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa)
Willy McAlpine (Ames, Iowa) – 20 weeks
Submissions from 37 participants this week. A popular week! A great way to start Year 13!
A huge thanks to everyone that included the location of their picture with their submission!
- Week 539 Submission Geography
- Arkansas
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New York
- Texas
- Year 13 Submission Geography (1st Submitter)
- Arkansas (Scott)
- Iowa (Tamara)
- Kansas (Linda)
- Michigan (Mary)
- Minnesota (Sarah K.)
- Missouri (Scott)
- Nebraska (Bill)
- New York (Sarah T.)
- Texas (Joe)
That is 9 states! That is a great start to Year 13!
I’m definitely not tracking this, but I believe we had submissions from the following unique counties in Iowa this week: Boone, Cerro Gordo, Dallas, Story, and Polk.
The big milestone this week was Sarah Toot joining the 3.5 Year Streak Club!!! WooHoo! WooHoo! WooHoo! Woo! Carla and Teresa both joined the 4 Year Streak Club!!! WooHoo! WooHoo! WooHoo! WooHoo! And maybe best of all Scarecrow, no streaks were snapped this week!!
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:
CONTRAST – SUGGESTED BY SCOTT DEGENEFFE
CONTRAST! What a great theme for Year 13 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE! A great suggestion by Scott Degeneffe! There are many definitions of the word CONTRAST, but in photography CONTRAST is the difference between the lightest and darkest areas. For a CONTRAST photo, there should be a large difference between the lightest and darkest areas.
It is a new year so the there is a new set of rules. Don’t just gloss by them!
- YEAR 13 – THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE RULES
- 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! Look at this page on a computer, if your images are considerably smaller than everyone else’s pictures, then you are sending too small of images!
- ABSOLUTELY NO USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE!!
- How to Submit
- Email your submission to bennett@photography139.com.
- Text your submission to my Google Pixel 8 Pro. I’m not putting my phone # here. If you know, you know.
This is the 2nd time that CONTRAST has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
Here are a couple of my favorites from the Ghosts of CONTRAST Past for inspiration:
Angie DeWaard – Week 492
Andy Sharp – Week 492
Carla Stensland – Week 492
To peruse all of the more than 40 submissions in the CONTRAST 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.