Category Archives: Art

Town Sign Project: Adair County

May 19, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Adair County includes Orient, Iowa. The Orient town sign was one of the town signs I harvested on the last road trip I took with my Mom.

I had already taken pictures of most of the town signs in Adair County before going there recently to take pictures of the few that I had yet to harvest.

Here are some facts about Adair County:
+ The population of Adair County is 7,862.
+ Greenfield is both the county seat and largest town in Adair County.
+ Was formed in 1851 from sections of Pottawattamie County and was named after John Adair, a general in the War of 1812.
+ The site of the world’s first robbery of a moving train by Jesse James on July 21, 1873.
+ Major highways are: I-80, US-6, Iowa-25, Iowa-92, and Iowa-925.
+ Adjacent Counties are Guthrie, Madison, Union, Adams, and Cass.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 16,192 and has been below quintuple digits since the 1970 census.

I would describe the Adair County Courthouse as fair:

The Adair County Freedom Rock is located on a highway near Greenfield, but closer to Menlo. Their is a sign for it on Interstate 80. It is the original Freedom Rock and is repainted every year for Memorial Day.

I’m going to stop sharing the county photo maps. I’m not sure anybody finds much interest in them.

With Adair County conquered, here is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

19 counties completed. 19.2% of the Cyclone State conquered!

Here are the town signs of Adair County:

Greenfield, Iowa
Welcome to Greenfield
Population: 1,982

Adair, Iowa (Partially in Guthrie County)
Welcome to Adair – It’ll make you smile!
Population: 781

Stuart, Iowa (Partially in Guthrie County)
The City of Stuart Welcomes You
Population- 1,648

Fontanelle, Iowa
Fontanelle – A Place To Call Home
Population: 672

Orient, Iowa
Welcome to Orient
Population: 408

Bridgewater, Iowa
Brigdewater – Since 1885
Population: 182

Casey, Iowa (Mostly in Guthrie County)
Welcome to Casey Iowa – Since 1869
Population: 10 (426 total)

I’m going to not include Casey for the County Awards. It is mostly in Guthrie County. I would say that there is no doubt what town has the worst town sign in Adair County. That is Stuart. What makes it even worse is before they put up that giant tombstone monstrosity, rumor has it that they had a cool sign with a pithy slogan about “bad eggs”.

I also think that Best in Show for Adair County is pretty much a no brainer. It is Fontanelle.

Fontanelle – Best in Show – Adair County

A couple towns had alternate signs:

Adair Alternate Sign

Greenfield Alternate Sign

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Adair County

Best in Show – Audubon County

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Franklin County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Guthrie County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Hardin County

Best in Show – Jasper County

Best in Show – Madison County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Union County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Wright County

The next time we visit THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT it will involve Clarke County. A county with only 3 towns.

Alexis, Animals, Art, Black & White, Christianity, Derrick, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Jen, Macro, Nader, Photoshop, State Fair

2010-08-23

May 15, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

The folder 2010-08-23 is absolutely stuffed to the gills. There are so many images in there I almost considered breaking it up into a couple posts, but decided against it. There are pictures in there from a trip to the Iowa State Fair and pictures of Jen and Derrick when Jen was preggers with Evie. Alexis competed in a cheerleading/tumbling competition this year.

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 #32

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #43

STATE FAIR TRIP 2 – COLLECTION 1

STATE FAIR TRIP 2 – COLLECTION 2

RWPE #33 – SILENCE

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a full moon and possibly a baby shower.

Art, Equipment, Railroad, Ruins, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

Wide Angling

May 14, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is a collection of some more of the first pictures I took with the Tamron wide angle lens. some are at the courthouse. Some around the high bridges. Some around the Kate Shelley Museum:

I do love that wide angle zoom lens!

+++++++

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

LIGHT

A LIGHT image is pretty simple. It is merely a picture where LIGHT plays a major compositional element. A wise person might argue that any picture they take is a LIGHT picture because all photography really is, is the capturing of LIGHT. But warning, when you take a picture of LIGHT, don’t face your camera straight towards a bright LIGHT.. You will surely damage it. The camera. The LIGHT will be just fine.

Think about the following song lyric when you are contemplating your LIGHT image:

I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
-Hank Williams

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Politics, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins

Hardin County Auxiliary Images

May 12, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Back in February I cruised around Hardin County harvesting town sign photos. This was a solo trip. These are some of the non-town sign pictures I took on the trip.

New Providence – This round gym was recently featured in a movie.

Gifford

Union

Whitten

Eldora

Steamboat Rock

Ackley

I really liked Hardin County. There is more than one thing there I would like to go back and photograph again in the future.

Art, Equipment, Lensbaby

Even More of that Velvet 85

May 11, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the third and final batch of the first images I took with the Lensbaby Velvet 85. These (most of them) pictures were taken at the sculpture garden in downtown Des Moines.

I still might get into the technical details of the Lensbaby Velvet 85 some day, but today isn’t that day.

Art, Becky, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Micky, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 295 – FACE

May 10, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

There was a decent amount of submissions for FACE this week. Apparently lots of you know a FACE or two that you like.

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

Kim Barker

Kio Dettman

Linda Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Micky Augustin

Tamara Peterson

Becky Parmelee

Joe Duff

Christopher D. Bennett

Kio Dettman

Micky Augustin

Cathie Raley

Submitted by Andy Sharp by Caree Severson

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:

LIGHT

LIGHT! Another great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

Think about the following song lyric when you are contemplating your LIGHT image:

I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
-Hank Williams

RULES

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 our idea of LIGHT in this place that is a little bit more than scraps of LIGHT next Monday.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Photoshop, Sara, Saydie, State Fair

2010-08-13, 2010-08-14, & 2010-08-16

May 8, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

There aren’t many images in the folders 2010-08-13 and 2010-08-14 so I decided to combine them with the folder 2010-08-16 that contains many pictures from a trip I took to the Iowa State Fair.

There are also pictures of Jesse and two of his progeny and of a moonflower.

WEEK 32 - SILHOUETTE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

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:

RWPE #32 – SILHOUETTE

State Fair Koan

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #38

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve more Iowa State Fair.

Art, Jay, Lensbaby, Naima, Nature

More of that Velvet 85

May 7, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is another small collection of some of the first images I took with the Lensbaby Velvet 85 back in January:

I’m still going to go into some detail about what makes the Lensbaby Velvet 85 such a special unique lens at some point. Just not today.

+++++++

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

FACE

A FACE image is pretty simple. It is merely a picture where a FACE is a major compositional element. Everybody has access to a FACE. Almost everybody either has a FACE or knows somebody that has a FACE. But not just humans have a FACE. Animals have a FACE. Clocks have a FACE. Even cliffs have a FACE.

Think about the following quote when you are contemplating your FACE image:

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.
-Victor Hugo

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Carla, Elizabeth, Jodie Cue, Kim, Kio, Micky, Road Trip, Shannon, Still Life, Travel, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 294 – TRAVEL

May 3, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

There was a decent amount of submissions for TRAVEL. It looks like several people left their house this weekend and had TRAVEL adventures.

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

Micky Augustin

Elizabeth Nordeen

Jodie Cue

Christopher D. Bennett

Jodie Cue

Kim Barker

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Kio Dettman

Mike Vest

Carla Stensland

FACE

FACE! Another great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

Think about the following quote when you are contemplating your FACE image:

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.
-Victor Hugo

Meditate on this quote and I have no doubt your submission will be one that is ready to FACE the world.

RULES

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 our idea of FACE in this place that sometimes doesn’t know which way to FACE next Monday.