Category Archives: Art

Animals, Art, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Christianity, Jesse, Nader, Road Trip, Street Photography, Town Sign Project

Birthday Road Trip Denouement

November 3, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Here is the final collection of images from the birthday road trip I took with Jesse and Nader. On the way back we stopped at The Grotto of the Redemption. Nader had never been to it before, which was no shocker. But this was also Jesse’s first trip there.

But before we made it to The Grotto of the Redemption, we stumbled across an unincorporated town with a town sign that had a town sign I hadn’t harvested:

Langdon, Iowa – Unincorporated
LANGDON
IOWA
EST. 1899 POP. 53

Maybe not a great town sign, but a solid town sign.

When we pulled up to The Grotto, I wasn’t sure if Nader was going to get out of the car. He was being a grumpypants and was pretty addicted to his phone. But he did finally get out of the car and then after he saw the Grotto he described it as the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life. It is definitely beautiful.

Here are the pictures:

I wonder where I will go for my birthday road trip in 2024?

Art, Christianity, History, Road Trip, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa

Davis County Aux. – Vol. 2

November 1, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

We begin this collection of auxiliary images I took on my trip to Davis County with Teresa to harvest the town signs of Davis County where the last collection left off. In the beautiful town square of Bloomfield. This collection will also include pictures from the Dutch Country General Store. Which if you are ever remotely in the area, I highly recommend visiting.

Bloomfield

There are still quite a few more pictures from this trip left to share.

Art, Bethany, Jesse, Nora, Road Trip, Still Life, Tenderloining

Breakfast Burrito Life: Eagan Field Work

October 29, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Back in August I breakfasted at the Mason Jar in Eagan, Minnesota with Jesse, Bethany, and Nora. It was a weird experience as the Mason Jay has bizarre rules about coloring on their patio, but we made do.

Here are some pictures from the experience:

At the end of the day, I would eat there again. The food was pretty good. It was just the service that was a little suspect. Not bad, just suspect.

The next food adventure will involve the Tenderloin Trail 2.0.

Art, History, Jesse, Nader, Road Trip, Ruins, Street Photography

Birthday Road Trip

October 27, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I’ve shared all the pictures I took on my Birthday Road Trip with Jesse and Nader from the Orange City Tulip Festival. This collection of images are from the beginning of the trip home. Including stops in Hospers and Emmetsburg among other places.

It was a really good trip and I have one more set of pictures from the trip left to share!

Art, Basketball, Christianity, Flowers, History, Road Trip, Ruins, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa

Davis County Aux. – Vol. 1

October 25, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Time to start sharing the final collection of auxiliary images from THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. The final county I harvested town signs from was Davis County. Teresa went on the final THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT road trip. There are only 4 incorporated towns in Davis County, so there were stops in other counties. Including the first stop in Pella for the Jaarsma Bakery:

Pella

Near Chillicothe

Ottumwa

Floris

Drakesville

Bloomfield

There are plenty more pictures left to share from this road trip. Including two sweet general stores!

Animals, Art, Billy, Birthdays, Black & White, Christianity, Dory, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, J.T., Logan, Nature, Railroad, Still Life, Street Photography, WPC - Alternate

150-600

October 21, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Today is the birthday of the Miller Triplets. So I must wish them happy birthday!

Happy birthday Doris, Jimmy, and Billy!

This picture was taken at their 1st birthday party in 2019 so that makes them… 5! They are 5 years old?!? How did this happen!

+++++++

Back in February I purchased a new lens. It was a Sigma 150-600mm DG DN OS Sports Lens. At one point, I was going to write a long post on it with a collection of the first images I took with it. But here it is. Halfway through October and the lens is old news now, so real need to go into too much details about the specifications of the lens. But I still want to share some of the first images I took with it. I went down to the Kate Shelley High Bridge and went to Lake LaVerne and took a few pictures of Logan.

Here are those pictures:

On the day I went to Lake LaVerne I also hit up the Ames Library. I took pictures there for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme BOOKS. I didn’t use any of those images. Here is a collection of those:

I do love that lens. It is kind of a limited purpose lens, but I should find more of those limited purpose opportunities.

Animals, Art, Flowers, Jesse, Music, Nader, Road Trip, Street Photography

Orange City Tulip Festival IV

October 20, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is the final collection of images of my trip to the Orange City Tulip Festival with Jesse and Nader for my birthday road trip.

We start this collection where the last collection left off. Jesse shopping in an Orange City market:

While this is the final collection of Orange City Tulip Festival images, it isn’t the end of the road trip images. More to come!

Animals, Art, Black & White, History, Road Trip, Street Photography

Scott County Aux. – Vol. 5

October 18, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This is the fifth and final collection of images I took on my trip to Scott County to harvest their town signs for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT.

But I want to start by discussing Georges Seurat. I’m not a huge fan of Georges Seurat, which isn’t to say that I don’t like him. But my favorite painter is Van Gogh and I’m not sure their styles could be any different. However, I still like Seurat and I think you should too.

Here is a little information on him from the Wiki:

Georges Pierre Seurat 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough surface.

Seurat’s artistic personality combined qualities that are usually thought of as opposed and incompatible: on the one hand, his extreme and delicate sensibility, on the other, a passion for logical abstraction and an almost mathematical precision of mind. His large-scale work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884–1886) altered the direction of modern art by initiating Neo-Impressionism, and is one of the icons of late 19th-century painting.

Why am I bringing him up and pointing out his contributions to the history of art?

Check out this final collection to find out:

Walcott

Iowa City

Newhall – I tried to buy some meat here, but I got kicked out because I’m not an elitist. Just a simple working class no-collar joe. It was really eye-opening for anybody that thinks I’m an elitist.

The statue version of Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” is one of the coolest things I didn’t know existed that I stumbled across on this journey to get to know Iowa better. It is one of the things I want to go back and photograph again. I just absolutely love it!

The next time we hit the dusty trail to finish up the auxiliary images from THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT we will visit Davis County.

Art, Drone, Football, Street Photography

Rodan139: Homecoming Art

October 17, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I got a chance to take Rodan139 out of the hangar recently to stretch its wings and check for a new firmware update that was rumored, but it was not there. I took it to Goeppinger Field to photograph some of the street art done by Boone High students for their Homecoming game a couple of weeks ago.

I did take Rodan139 out a couple of different times this weekend. So there are more pictures coming! One of those trips including a run-in with a pit bull, but that is a story for another day.

Art, Flowers, Jesse, Nader, Road Trip, Street Photography

Orange City Tulip Festival III

October 13, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

We begin the third collection of images from the Orange City Tulip Festival where the second collection left off. Jesse, Nader, and I were wandering around the food court area admiring a truck that sold Belgian waffles. But I didn’t have any cause I had just knocked down a fried almond patty and it was like I was living in a whole new world.

Seriously? Who is surrounding by so much amazing food and then eats at Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is so terrible we recently burned the Boone one down to the ground just to send a message to any other subpar pizza joint that is thinking of coming to Boone. Sleep with one eye open Pizza Ranch!

Only one more collection of images from the Orange City Tulip Festival left to share. But so many more pictures from this road trip left to share! We’re just starting to get warmed up!

+++++++

Subscribe For Latest Updates