Category Archives: Art

Art, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Christianity, Night, Politics, WPC - Alternate

Matthew 25:35

November 20, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I need to start by announcing that my church is still having our free Thanksgiving Meal this year. This year it is a drive-thru meal. If that sounds like something that you could need or want, here is some information:

First United Methodist’s Annual

FREE THANKSGIVING MEAL

You are invited to a fee drive thru/carryout Thanksgiving meal at the Boone First United Methodist Church (703 Arden Street)! We will NOT be offering out usual dine in meal but are happy to send a home cooked meal with you! Meals will be available for pickup on Thursday, November 26 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Enter Arden Street from 8th Street heading north to south. Please call the church office with the number of meals that you plan to pick up.

To contact the church, call 515-432-4660 and leave a message or email bnfumc@mchsi.com.

Also because of coronavirus, there is a shortage of volunteers. If it is something you might be interested in helping with, I can get you into contact with a guy. You have to be signed up to work before the day, because they are limiting the amount of people inside the church to as few as possible. There is also need for help on the days before.

If interested, like I said, I know a guy.

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Thought today would be a good day to share the ART pictures I took for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, but didn’t share on Monday:

Why do I feel that the person that put this up, also snapped it to all their friends.

Most of these pictures were taken at the skate park at McHose Park.

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

NIGHT

A NIGHT picture doesn’t have to be outdoors. Any picture taken after the sun has gone down is a NIGHT picture.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Cathie, Elizabeth, Kim, Kio, Micky, Night, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 270 – ART

November 16, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Yes! Yes! 59 times yes! ART was the 59th straight theme to illicit double digit submissions!

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

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

Kim Barker

Elizabeth Nordeen

Micky Augustin

Kio Dettman

Shannon Bardole-Foley

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:

NIGHT

NIGHT! What a great theme! Should be an easy one too, now that NIGHT comes at like 4:30 these days. Now, you don’t have to get out and take a picture of the NIGHT sky. Any picture that is taken after the sun goes down works. That could be a picture of you sitting on the couch watching your weekly Alfred Hitchcock movie. Oh, that is just me? You get the idea. This picture could be taken just as easily indoors as it could be taken outdoors.

I have this one circled as being the one that could potentially the one that breaks the double digit streak. But it is pretty easy really. Don’t overthink it.

Here is a look back all the times in the past when NIGHT was a theme:

RWPE Y2 #30 – NIGHT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 1: NIGHT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 62 – NIGHT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 149 – NIGHT

WPC – WEEK 253 – NIGHT

I look forward to seeing your new 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 nocturnal Monday!

Alexis, Art, Birthdays, Jason, Johnathan, Kanoa, WPC - Reminder

Happy Birthday Kanoa!

November 13, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Back in August there was a small birthday party for Kanoa. I took a few pictures, but mostly just pictures of Kanoa eating his cake. Which he apparently enjoyed very much.

Here are some pictures:

I did get to see Kanoa again on Saturday, but that is a topic for the future.

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

ART

An ART image is any picture of a piece of ART or an ART supply or somebody making ART or a gas station attendant named ART.

Happy photo harvesting!

Aaron, Andy, Art, Black & White, Cathie, Kim, Kio, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Nature, Tamara, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 269 – TREE

November 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

First, I want to give thanks to Andy for giving suggestions for the next 52 weeks of themes. He was the only person to make a suggestion, but he made some good suggestions:

Music
Water
Wind(tough it would kill streak)
Hero
Sports
Hobby
Charity
Love
Funny
Celebrating
Teaching
Family
Sunrise
Sunset
Dream job
Landscaping
Rock
Red green(duct tape)

At least a few of these will definitely be included in the next set of 52 themes. Thanks Andy!

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We did it! Despite it getting dark at like 5 PM now and the chaos of the election last week, for the 58th week in a row, we had double digit submissions! Well done America!

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

Kio Dettman

Andy Sharp

Aaron Barnett

Tamara Peterson

Aaron Barnett

Christopher D. Bennett

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Cathie Raley

Micky Augustin

Mike Vest

ART

ART! What a great theme! But what is an ART picture? An ART picture is a picture of any piece of ART or supplies that are used in making ART or a picture of somebody creating ART. A truly confident person could argue that any picture they make is ART. It doesn’t have to be professional or great ART. It can be that thing your kid drew that you hung on the fridge.

Here is a look back at all the times in the past that ART has been a theme:

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 46 – ART

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 70 – ART

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 108 – ART

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 174 – ART

WPC – WEEK 239 – ART

I look forward to seeing your new interpretations!

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 artistic Monday!

Animals, Art, Basketball, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Faust, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Macro, Nader, Road Trip, Still Life

2010-04-29

October 24, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Whew! This is a big one. Just by adding these pictures to the SmugMug Gallery from the folder 2010-04-29, I was able to fix 5 “An Artist’s Notebook” posts. I believe I added pictures to 14 different photo albums.

The pictures in this folder are taken from over several days of vacation I took back in 2010. Some in Minnesota. Some at Iowa State. Lots of flowers. A few of people.

Here are a few of them:

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:

VACATION DAY 3 – GUINEA PIG DENIAL

VACATION DAY 4 – COTTON CANDY

VACATION DAY 5 – THE JUICY LUCY

VACATION DAY 6 – CAMPUS

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 21

In that collection of restored posts, is a very bad take on how well Fred Hoiberg would do at Iowa State.

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Willy.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Derrick, Flowers, Holidays, Night, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Still Life, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

Back in Black and White

October 23, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is another collection of alternates for last week’s BLACK AND WHITE theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Some were taken on my way back from Manhattan, Kansas. Some were taken around my house. Some were taken around my Mom’s house. Some were taken out by Don Williams.

I can’t wait for BLACK AND WHITE to be a theme in the next set of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes!

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

ANIMAL

An ANIMAL picture is any picture of an ANIMAL or something related to an ANIMAL.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Birthdays, Drone, History, Railroad, Ruins, Sara, Self-Portrait, Shawn Lockner, Town Sign Project, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Submissions

Maybe I’m a Man and Maybe I’m a Lonely Man

October 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start today by wishing Shawn a happy birthday. Happy birthday Shawn!

I hope your birthday is as wonderful as you want it to be!

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I do love pictures of SIGNS. My sister-in-law Laura once told me that this makes me a hipster. She is wrong about that, but even if it did make me a hipster, I’d still love pictures of signs. Battered. Beat up. Barely hanging on. My kind of SIGNS. With that in mind, here are the alternate pictures for last week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme SIGNS:

I also took a couple pictures of unincorporated towns in Boone County:

Centerville, Iowa
Unincorporated

Ridgeport, Iowa
Unincorporated

Here is an interesting fact about Ridgeport. It was originally called Mineral Ridge. It took that name from the ridge that the town sits on. It was giving that name because the surveyors that were exploring the area, their compass wasn’t working correctly. The figured that this was because the ridge was filled with minerals. Turns out that they just had a broken compass. At least this is what I read in the latest issue of “Trail Tales”.

I wish more of these unincorporated communities had signs like Centerville. I looked for one in Logansport and didn’t find one. Also looked for some kind of marker where Zenorsville was once located, but found nothing. However, of all the unincorporated communities in Boone County, the lack of any kind of marker for Jordan makes me the saddest. Not just because of my family connection (I also have a family connection to Centerville) to Jordan, but because of its historical significance because of the Jordan tornado. C’est la vie!

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

SELF-PORTRAIT

A SELF-PORTRAIT is simply a picture where the photographer and the subject are the same person. Obviously, there are some creative ways to get around that, if you don’t like take pictures of yourself. Even if that doesn’t make sense to anybody else.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Art, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Drone, Elainie, Elizabeth, Jason, Jesse, Johnathan, Kim, Kio, Logan, Mom, Politics, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, Vest

WPC – WEEK 264 – SIGNS

October 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Sorry that this is several minutes late today. I went to cast my ballot for the 2020 election during my lunch break from the mine:

A reminder that if you live in Iowa, early voting starts today! It might be easier and safer than voting on November 3. But you have to make the choice that is best for you.

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I need to start today by wishing Johnathan a happy birthday. Happy birthday Johnathan!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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WooHoo! 53 straight weeks of double digit submissions!! Once again, I didn’t even have to send out any reminder texts.

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

Kio Dettman

Tamara Peterson

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Jesse Howard

Christopher D. Bennett

Teresa Kahler

Cathie Raley

Kim Barker

Elizabeth Nordeen

Carla Stensland

Mike Vest

SELF-PORTRAIT

SELF-PORTAIT! What a great theme! But what is a SELF-PORTRAIT? This is simply a portrait where the subject and the photographer are one and the same. If you don’t like taking your own picture, you can always take a picture of somebody else taking a SELF-PORTRAIT. That is a pro tip for ya!

Here is a look back at the previous 7 times SELF-PORTRAIT was a theme:

RWPE #8 – SELF-PORTRAIT

RWPE Y2 #52 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 25 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 68 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 144 & WEEK 145

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 179 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WPC – WEEK 245 – SELF-PORTRAIT

HOUSEKEEPINGA 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 selfish Monday!

Animals, Art, Flowers, House, Macro, Monica, State Fair

The Gladdest Thing Under the Sun

August 19, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Way back in May, Monica searched out my photo services. For probably about 20 years (no joke) to enter the Fine Arts Show at the Iowa State Fair. This year, the year the Fair got cancelled due to mismanaged pandemic, she finally entered. However, she needed an image to send to the fine people at the Fine Arts show. So she came over and I snapped some pictures for her. This painting is the one that ultimately made the show:

Yes, you heard that right. Made the Iowa State Fair Fine Arts Show. You see, despite there being no Iowa State Fair, the Fine Arts Show is still going on, via the interwebs. That means you should click on the link below:

Fine Arts Show

You should then find Monica’s painting and click on the “Vote” button below it and cast your ballot for Monica and the People’s Choice Award. I believe voting lasts until Sunday. You must have a Facebook account to vote, which sucks, because Facebook sucks. But you probably already have an account that Russia is mining for data right now. So you might as well use it to help out Monica. Who knows? Maybe she will get a big following in Omsk!

What are you still doing here? Go vote for Monica.

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Here is a collection of pictures I took around the Photography 139 Studio back near the end of June. Hollyhocks, daisies, lilies and a beetle that surpasses them all in beauty!

That bowl of raspberries was made into a delicious pie by my Mom. Raspberry pie was my Grandma’s favorite and my Mom always used to make her a pie out of my raspberries. It wasn’t a great year for raspberries because of the drought, but there was still plenty enough for a pie. It is good to be a self-sufficient. I had a bountiful harvest of rhubarb, raspberries, and cherries this year. Looks like there will be plenty of garlic and maybe a record amount of grapes!

Art, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Event, Sara

2010-03-15

August 15, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

There are two types of pictures in the folder 2010-03-15. One if from the 2010 Methodist Men State Convention that my church hosted. The other is from my trip to the Des Moines sculpture garden with Sara. One of the pictures from that sculpture garden trick still might be my favorite picture I have ever taken. That is hard to choose, but it is definitely up there. Maybe someday I will make a Top Ten list of my favorite images.

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:

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 13

Meth Men Saturday

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve ACTORS.

First United Methodist’s Annual

FREE THANKSGIVING MEAL

HOUSEKEEPING

HOUSEKEEPING

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