Category Archives: Carla

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Art, Becky, Bill, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dad, Dawn, Elizabeth, Funk, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Layla, Linda, Macro, Micky, Mindi, Nathanial, Nature, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Slice of Life, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 403 – TEXTURE

June 5, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

NOTE: THERE ARE SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS WEEK’S THEME, SO MAKE SURE TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THEM. JUST DON’T SKIM BY THEM. NOT THAT ANYBODY DOES THAT. EVERYBODY HANGS ON MY EVERY WORD.

TEXTURE. It is something you really have to feel. But as a theme, did a bunch of people feel it? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, May 29, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Susanna Funk – 1 week (3)
2-Willy McAlpine – 1 week
3-Melissa Degeneffe – 2 weeks
4-Scott Degeneffe – 2 weeks (2)
5-Mary Green – 2 weeks (3)
6-Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
7-Tamara Peterson – 3 weeks (2)
8-Sabas Hernandez – 5 weeks
9-Mike Vest – 5 weeks
10-Alexis Baugher – 8 weeks (3)
11-Mindi Terrell – 15 weeks (3)
12-Monica Jennings – 20 weeks (2)
13-Brandon Kahler – 40 weeks
14-Linda Bennett – 44 weeks
15-Sarah Toot – 45 weeks (2)
16-Angie DeWaard – 49 weeks
17-Dawn Krause – 53 weeks (3)
18-Kim Barker – 59 weeks
19-Joe Duff – 60 weeks (2)
20-Logan Kahler – 62 weeks (2)
21-Teresa Kahler – 71 weeks (2)
22-Carla Stensland – 71 weeks
23-Micky Augustin – 73 weeks
24-Andy Sharp – 74 weeks (2)
25-Bill Wentworth – 75 weeks
26-Cathie Morton – 79 weeks
27-Elizabeth Nordeen – 80 weeks
28-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 82 weeks
29-Kio Dettman – 84 weeks (3)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 1 week

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 1 week

Nathanial Brown (Iowa)

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week

Layla Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week

Jesse Howard (Ames, Iowa) – 1 week

Jesse Howard (Boone, Iowa)

Becky Parmelee (Bella Vista, Arkansas) – 1 week

Susanna Funk (Oregon) – 2 weeks

Susanna Funk (Oregon)

Willy McAlpine (Boone, Iowa) – 2 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 3 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Iowa)

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 3 weeks

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Mike Vest (Madrid, Iowa) – 6 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa) – 9 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 16 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 41 weeks

Linda Bennett (Boone, Iowa) – 45 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 46 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa) – 50 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa)

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 54 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Kim Barker (Altoona, Iowa) – 60 weeks

Kim Barker (Altoona, Iowa)

Joe Duff (Texas) – 61 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 74 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 75 weeks

Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa)

Andy Sharp (Iowa)

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 76 weeks

Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 80 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 81 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 83 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 85 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Christopher D. Bennett (Boone, Iowa) – 507 weeks

Before I get into participation rates and all that jazz, I want to reveal something on I saw on Instagram from one of our regular participants yesterday. I came across one of Mindi’s posts and the caption was:

Weekly Photo Challenge has made me excited about photography again.

This is up there with one of my favorite things anybody has ever said about THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. It is up there with when Joe told me that THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE changed the way he sees the world.

To be excited about photography and change the way you see the world. These are two of the very unstated goals of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

Thanks Mindi! I’m very excited that you are a regular participant and I always look forward to seeing your submissions.
However, the answer is still “No” about starting a Facebook group. Maybe a THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE participants “party” could happen though. Probably not though.

31 participants! That is a GREAT week! That is 3 straight weeks with 30+ participants. WooHoo!

Thanks to Funk being a mountain climbing badass, Oregon was added to the map this week.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Arkansas
+ Iowa
+ Nebraska
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

27 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I took my picture about 24 steps from my front door, so I continue to not contribute to expanding the map.

There were no major milestones reached this week. But there are some people closing in on some in the coming weeks. Particularly exciting this week was the 1st submission of the year from Layla! WooHoo!

However, it wasn’t all good news. There was a bloodbath of streaks, including some major streaks biting the dust. Melissa and Mary’s 2 week streaks are no more. Sabas’ 5 week streak is also no more. Monica’s 20 streak is history. Devastating. Just devastating. But perhaps most heartbreaking is that Logan’s 62 week streak is over. The longest streak to ever come to an end.

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:

SLICE OF LIFE

SLICE OF LIFE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what exactly is a SLICE OF LIFE image? This is where I normally give you kind of a broad definition of the theme, but not this week. For those that don’t know SLICE OF LIFE is the name of the postcard company that my Dad started and ran out of the basement darkroom in our house.

Here is the Trade Name documentation he filed in March of 1984:

He passed away in December of the same year.

He specialized in black & white postcards of local interest. Here is this week’s assignment. It is to take a picture that you could see being used on a postcard. Now back in the day, they used to take pictures of all sorts of things and put them on postcards. So don’t think that there is nothing in your area that would make it on a postcard. It could be a building that is interesting looking or has a historical significance. It could simply be a pretty scene. Back when I was doing THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT, sometimes they took pictures of downtown intersections and put those on postcards.

While I will require your submission to be a postcard like image, meaning don’t try to “interpret” Slice of Life to mean something different, I will only strongly encourage you to submit the picture in black & white and also only slightly encourage you to throw some text on the image, if you have the editing skills or software.

There is one more thing. The is the one and only theme where if you write a SHORT description of your image (like you would see on the backside of a postcard) that I will include it along with your submission.

Here are some examples of my Dad’s postcards that will hopefully inspire you (excuse the low quality of the scans):

I don’t manipulate the order of themes for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I put the 52 themes in a random generate it and then I have it generate the theme the number of times as there are letters in the name of my favorite person at that moment*. EXCEPT for this theme. This theme I put this week specifically. This week is my Dad’s birthday. So it seemed apropos to put the theme that is an homage to him during this week.

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. There is a limit of 3 submissions per participant. To be considered the photographer, you have to be the one that takes the picture. Don’t be stealing the work of other artists. You can submit pictures for other photographers that took pictures with your camera or phone, but give credit where credit is due.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of SLICE OF LIFE in this place that is a continuation in many ways next Monday.

Birthdays, Carla, Jorge, Micky, Road Trip, Still Life, Tenderloining, Teresa

I Scream: Monroe Field Work

June 4, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Today is Jorge’s birthday! So happy birthday Jorge!

I mean, anybody willing to pose for a picture like this deserves to have an amazing birthday!

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A few weeks back Carla, Teresa, and I drove to What Cheer, Iowa to hit up their flea market. The original plan was just to hit up the concession stand at the flea market, but by the time we made the rounds everybody seemed to feel that eating in a place with air conditioning was the actual better plan.

What Cheer isn’t flush with restaurants, so we drove to Oskaloosa and ate at Tasos’. I have eaten there before, so it doesn’t really qualify as a new food adventure. But I thought I would share a picture of the small pizza I got there and knocked down.

This is the House Special. It has pepperoni, sausage, beef, Canadian bacon, green pepper, onion, and mushroom. The small pizza ran me $16.00. A medium is $17.50 and a large is $19.00. It was delicious and I definitely recommend Tasos’ if you are ever in Oskaloosa or the Oskaloosa area. They have much more than just pizza.

But the real point of this post is Jersey Freeze in Monroe. Full disclosure: I have been to Jersey Freeze a few times. So this technically also isn’t a new food adventure. However, Micky claims that I have been doing Jersey Freeze wrong. He claims you have to order the the Van & BonBon Jersey Freezer.

Here is how I order my ice cream, and feel free to take notes:

1. If they have hard ice cream, hard ice cream in a waffle cone. If they don’t have hard ice cream, go to #2.
2. If the employees working the ice cream stand appear to be high-speed, order a malt. My go to is raspberry, but sometimes I’ll zag and go cherry or blueberry or peanut butter or banana or chocolate. If the employees don’t look super adept, go to #3.
3. IF the employees don’t look like masters of their craft, order a shake. The reason for this is that sometimes an unskilled ice cream employee can burn a malt. Too much malt powder is not a good thing. If they don’t have shakes for some reason, go to #4.
4. Order a Blizzard. But since Dairy Queen has the trademark on the term “Blizzard” on lock, order whatever this mom and pop ice cream palace calls theirs. In Iowa, Cyclones is a popular substitute name for obvious reasons. At Dairy Freeze, they call their “Blizzards” Jersey Freezers. I’m all over the map on these, but something that had peanut butter and chocolate is always good. Nay, always great! But if I’m feeling cheap, go to #5.
5. Soft-serve ice cream. However, under no circumstances do you order Flavor Burst ice cream. Flavor Burst is an abomination and should be stricken from the face of the earth.

But because Micky rarely (but sometimes) steers me wrong, I thought I would give this Van & Bonbon Jersey Freeze a shot. I have no clue what Van & Bonbon is. I grew up in a blue collar house where we didn’t have fufu flavors like Van & Bonbon.

Here are some pictures:

I got the medium which ran me $5.50 plus tax. I’m not sure what was in there really. There were little candies that I think were bonbons (blue collar background, I don’t know about these rich people candies) and a metric ton of fudge. It was good. I mean it is ice cream. It is like the quote from TED LASSO:

Ice cream is the best. It’s kinda like seeing Billy Joel perform live. Never disappoints.”

But with no apologies to Micky, I’m going to stick with my go to at Jersey Freeze. A raspberry malt. He can have the fufu flavors.

Jersey Freeze has a cool history. This is from their website (jerseyfreezemonroe.com):

In 1992, brothers Brad and Lynn Donahue were sitting around one day, hungry for some ice cream. That’s when the idea struck them….Monroe needed an ice cream store. So in May of 1992 Jersey Freeze opened in a custom built building next to Monroe Foods in downtown Monroe. The new store had one ice cream machine and one cash register.

Where did JERSEY FREEZE come from? To answer that question, we need to look to some 1950 history. A couple by the name of Ethyl and Everett Tyrrell operated the original Jersey Freeze in a small (12 X 12) building that sat on the NE corner of the square in Monroe.

In the early 1970’s the Tyrrell Jersey Freeze fell victim to “progress” when Highway 14 was widened to 4 lanes and took out JF.

Rumor has it that Everett raised Jersey cows and that’s how the name JERSEY FREEZE originated. Since the Donahue ice cream store was within a few feet of the original JF site, the name was a natural.

Brad and Lynn contacted Mrs. Roy (Mary) Tyrrell Cupples in Nebraska and asked for her permission to use the Jersey Freeze name. She thought that was a great idea. The name is now owned by and registered to Donahue Bros. Inc.

By 2000, Jersey Freeze had outgrown their building. Since Highway 163 was being re-routed south of Monroe, a location near the 163 and Highway 14 intersection seemed like the place to be. In July 2000 Jersey Freeze No. 2 opened for business in a new building on the corner of Highway 14 and County Line Road.

In 2005 the original downtown location was closed. Donahue Bros still owns the building and it is occupied by ALL ABOUT PIES.

By 2014 Jersey Freeze had outgrown the second building and in the fall of 2014, construction began on the newest Jersey Freeze building located just across the highway from store #2, between Casey’s and Subway. On April 17, 2015 Jersey Freeze opened in their new building.

Popular features of the new store include the drive up window, a larger parking lot, a larger canopy seating area, and new menu items which include the pie Jersey Freezer made with pie from ALL ABOUT PIES, seven flavors of THELMA’S Ice Cream Sandwiches, and Smoothies.

Employees enjoy the spacious work area and more serving windows.

Lynn Donahue is the owner of Jersey Freeze. Kelsey LaZella and Lainy Wilson assist him in managing the store.

I’m definitely going to be looking into this whole pie situation very soon!

Jersey Freeze can be found here:

Highway 14 South
Monroe, Iowa

My food adventure rating system is:
+ Would I pursue it.
+ Would I eat there again.
+ Would I only eat there again if it was for somebody’s birthday and this is where they want to eat.
+ Would I skip a friend’s birthday if they chose to celebrate it there.
+ Would I hope it burns down.

Jersey Freeze is definitely a place I would pursue.

Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve a food truck and sending a message to all the fishies at Ada Haydn.

Angie, Art, Baseball/Softball, Black & White, Carla, Flat Earth Joe, Kim, Lowell, Naima, Pastor Sarah, Photoshop, Sarah Toot, Street Photography, Travel, Work

The Windy City: Day 2A

June 2, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Day 2 in Chicago was the first day where I actually had to work. Kim was setting up things at the convention center in the morning and let us know when to head over to do our thing. Tony, Lowell, and I got breakfast at the hotel and then walked around the neighborhood a little bit. We scouted out the location of Garrett’s Popcorn and then looked for a mailbox that was closer than the one I had found the night before.

I wish more things in Iowa were covered with stickers.

There was supposed to be a mailbox in this building but it was closed.

I’ll do my best sidewalk sticker.

Here’s the best part. In the convention center there was a mailbox. Problem solved.

The Computer Mine Booth. Kim got a guy fired for smoking a joint while putting our booth together. Narc.

And that made us popular with the rest of the union guys.

Computer Mine Booth, reverse angle.

Hooking the HDMI cables up to these monitors and then getting these monitors mounted, what dreams are made of… I meant nightmares.

Tony’s thinking pose.

Home the next several days.

The reception desk.

The closet. Where union guys go to change pants and miners go to hide from customers.

The snack selection. Tony, Lowell, and I crushed those Slim Jims. Not sure anybody else got any.

Hello Kim!

Only slightly smelled like pot.

After we were done, we headed outside to catch an Uber.

It took us about 15 minutes to get to the convention center on the shuttle in the morning.

It took over 30 minutes to get back to the hotel.

Which sucked because we were going to a Cubs game that night and we were in a time crunch.

Our Uber ride back to the hotel.

The ride from the hotel to Wrigley Field was about 45 minutes. We got there 30 minutes after the game was supposed to start.

Which ended up being okay, because the game started an hour late.

Still plenty more pictures from Day 2 to share. Most of them from Wrigley Field.

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

TEXTURE

TEXTURE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE! Also, this theme was suggested by Sarah Toot.

But what in Wes Wallace is a TEXTURE image? Well, let’s start with the definition of TEXTURE: the structure, feel, and appearance of something (as a fabric) the smooth texture of silk. wood with a rough texture. In photography that means: the visual depiction of variations in the color, shape, and depth of an object’s surface. What you are trying to do here is to convey the feel of the surface of an object through photography.

This is not the first time that TEXTURE has been a theme. Here are some past submissions for TEXTURE that might get your creative juices going:

Angie DeWaard – Week 17

Carla Stensland – Week 227

Sarah Karber – Week 227

Tamara Peterson – Week 227

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 227

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Art, Bill, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Formal Portrait, History, Holidays, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Melissa, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Sara, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Tamara, Teresa, Vest, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 402 – PARK

May 29, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I should start this entry by hoping everybody had a good Memorial Day!

And You Left Me There Cryin' Wonderin' What I Did Wrong

I know, I shared that exact same picture on Saturday. But I like it and it seems to fit Memorial Day.

I’d like to take this little piece of this website to share the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCare:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

This poem inspired the wearing of poppies as a rememberance symbol for those who died in war.

From the History Channel website:

In the spring of 1915, bright red flowers began poking through the battle-ravaged land across northern France and Flanders (northern Belgium). Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, who served as a brigade surgeon for an Allied artillery unit, spotted a cluster of the poppies shortly after serving as a brigade surgeon during the bloody Second Battle of Ypres. The sight of the bright red flowers against the dreary backdrop of war inspired McCrae to pen the poem, “In Flanders Field,” in which he gives voice to the soldiers who had been killed in battle and lay buried beneath the poppy-covered grounds. Later that year, a Georgia teacher and volunteer war worker named Moina Michael read the poem in Ladies’ Home Journal and wrote her own poem, “We Shall Keep the Faith” to begin a campaign to make the poppy a symbol of tribute to all who died in war. The poppy remains a symbol of remembrance to this day.

Now you are wondering about Moina Michael’s poem. Here it is:

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
I hope you have learned a little something today.

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It is the last collection of submissions of the month, so it is a good time revisit the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE FAQ:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE

What skill level photographer can participate?

THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is open to photographers of all skill levels. From award winning photographers to professionals to the highly ranked amateurs to those that are just beginning to those who don’t even know how to focus a camera. All skill levels are encouraged and welcome. You can’t be too bad and you can’t be too good! Everyone has room to learn and be challenged!

Award winning photographers? Really?

Yes. I can think of at least 5 photographers that participate regularly that have won a photography award of some kind.

Is this a competition?
No.

Is there a limit to the number of submissions I can have each week?

Yes. That limit is 3. If you send me more than 3, I will post the first 3 that you send. I’m not trying to harsh your photography buzz, but any more than that starts to overwhelm the other submissions and it takes me about 5 minutes to take a picture from my inbox to code it on the website. So I have to manage my workload.

If you are going to submit more than one picture, I strongly urge you to choose completely different subjects for each submission. If you are submitting multiple pictures of the same subject, make sure that each picture is saying something unique.

If participation rates climb, that limit of 3 is subject to lower.

Can I send you several pictures and have you pick the best one?

No! No! NO! If those words come out of your mouth or your keyboard, I consider that to be a non-submission.

Do you ever question whether somebody’s submission fits the theme?

Meh. Only if I think somebody is clearly confusing this week’s theme with last week or next week’s theme. Otherwise, if the submission makes sense in your head, that is good enough for me. However, I would urge you to not try to fit your favorite subject into the theme. This isn’t a challenge to share a picture every week of your kid or your business or your pet. It is a challenge to take pictures of different things every week. Which isn’t to say subjects can’t be repeated, but you shouldn’t become reliant on the same ones.

Why can’t I submit after 11 AM on Mondays if the post doesn’t publish until 12:01 PM?

I go to lunch at 11 AM. I leave my office. I’m not near a computer. At 11 AM I hit “Schedule” and then I go throw food down my throat. 167 hours is more than enough time to send a submission. Okay, 166 hours and 59 minutes. You got me.

Are there resolution requirements for submissions?

I won’t turn down submissions that are too small. I will probably ask you for a picture of greater resolution if it is really small. The typical 4 x 6 image posted to my website has a resolution of 1280 pixels x 853 pixels. While a 400 x 300 image might look okay on your phone, it looks like trash on a computer monitor. I prefer images that are at least 1000 pixels at their largest point, but don’t ban smaller pictures at this point.

What format should my submission be?

.JPG but .PNG also works.

If I write a description of my image will you include that in your post?

No. Photography is art that should stand on its own. Only exception is the SLICE OF LIFE theme.

When will you start accepting suggestions for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes?

Suggestions are closed for next year’s list. It will be a minute before they open up for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

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PARK! A great place to spend some time. But did many people spend time in a PARK and get a picture for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, May 22, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Suzie Brannen – 1 week (3)
2-Melissa Degeneffe – 1 week (2)
3-Scott Degeneffe – 1 week
4-Mary Green – 1 week (3)
5-Stephanie Kim – 1 week
6-Sara Lockner – 1 week (2)
7-Becky Parmelee – 1 week
8-Nader Parsaei – 1 week
9-Nathanial Brown – 2 weeks (3)
10-Tamara Peterson – 2 weeks
11-Sabas Hernandez – 4 weeks
12-Mike Vest – 4 weeks
13-Alexis Baugher – 7 weeks (3)
14-Jesse Howard – 7 weeks (2)
15-Mindi Terrell – 14 weeks (3)
16-Monica Jennings – 19 weeks
17-Brandon Kahler – 39 weeks
18-Linda Bennett – 43 weeks
19-Sarah Toot – 44 weeks (3)
20-Angie DeWaard – 48 weeks
21-Dawn Krause – 52 weeks (3)
22-Kim Barker – 58 weeks
23-Joe Duff – 58 weeks (2)
24-Logan Kahler – 61 weeks
25-Teresa Kahler – 70 weeks (3)
26-Carla Stensland – 70 weeks
27-Micky Augustin – 72 weeks
28-Andy Sharp – 73 weeks
29-Bill Wentworth – 74 weeks
30-Cathie Morton – 78 weeks
31-Elizabeth Nordeen – 79 weeks (2)
32-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 81 weeks
33-Kio Dettman – 83 weeks (3)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Willy McAlpine (McHose Park – Boone, Iowa) – 1 week

Dawn Krause (Boone National Little League Park – Boone, Iowa) – 53 weeks

Dawn Krause (Boone National Little League Park – Boone, Iowa)

Dawn Krause (South Side Park – Slater, Iowa)

Angie DeWaard (Hunziker Park – Ames, Iowa) – 49 weeks

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 59 weeks

Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa) – 74 weeks

Andy Sharp (Jester Park – Polk City, Iowa)

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 62 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Mindi’s Animal Habitat – Iowa) – 15 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Terra Park – Johnston, Iowa)

Monica Jennings (Neil Smith Trail – Iowa) – 20 weeks

Monica Jennings (Iowa)

Micky Augustin (Ada Haydn Park – Ames, Iowa) – 73 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 80 weeks

Sara Lockner (Johnston, Iowa) – 2 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Arnolds Park Green Space – Arnolds Park, Iowa) – 5 weeks

Melissa Degeneffe (Porter’s Badass Campsite – Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 2 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Porter’s Badass Campsite – Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 2 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Dickcissel Park – Boone, Iowa)

Teresa Kahler (Jester Park – Polk City, Iowa) – 71 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Jester Park – Polk City, Iowa)

Joe Duff (Donovan Park – Houston, Texas) – 59 weeks

Joe Duff (Donovan Park – Houston, Texas)

Carla Stensland (Arnolds Park – Arnolds Park, Iowa) – 71 weeks

Kio Dettman (Opal Dubois Anderson Park – Boone, Iowa) – 84 weeks

Kio Dettman (Opal Dubois Anderson Park – Boone, Iowa)

Kio Dettman (Memorial Park – Boone, Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 44 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa)

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 5 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Banner Lakes at Summerset State Park – Rural Warren County) – 82 weeks

Sarah Toot (Municipal Park – Pennsylvania) – 45 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania)

Tamara Peterson (Pattee Park – Perry, Iowa) – 3 weeks

Tamara Peterson (Pattee Park – Perry, Iowa)

Alexis Baugher (Inis Grove Park – Ames, Iowa) – 8 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Inis Grove Park – Ames, Iowa)

Brandon Kahler (Ada Haydn Park – Ames, Iowa) – 40 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Chalco Park – Omaha, Nebraska) – 75 weeks

Cathie Morton (Iowa) – 79 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Jester Park – Polk City, Iowa)

29 participants! That’s a pretty great week, considering the holiday weekend and all!

There were no new states added to the map this week and at this point, I’m betting new states added will be an increasingly rare thing. Time will tell.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

25 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I took my picture about 24 miles from my front door, so I continue to not contribute.

There were no major milestones this week. However, there was a blood bath of streaks being snapped. Suzie, Stephanie, Becky, and Nader couldn’t build on last week’s submission. That wasn’t totally unexpected for Stephanie and Nader. Nathanial’s 2 week streak no more. Most heartbreaking is that Jesse’s 7 week streak is just a memory now.

TEXTURE

TEXTURE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

While considering possible topics for your TEXTURE submissions, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt you will come up with an amazing image:

I search for realness, the real feeling of a subject, all the texture about it… I always want to see the third dimension of something.. I want to come alive with the object.
-Andrew Wyeth

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of TEXTURE in this place that is a little rough around the edges some next Monday.

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Contests, Dawn, Elizabeth, Flowers, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Mary, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Nader, Naima, Nathanial, Pufferbilly Days, Sabas, Sara, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Steph, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 401 – HAPPY

May 22, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I mailed out a postcard to the entrants of last years Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest last week. I hear they still haven’t arrived in people’s mailboxes. Thought I would share the postcard here, since many of you entered last year or have kids or grandkids that entered. Or hopefully many of you are thinking of entering this year for the first time. Monica designed the postcard. Have a look:

There are 6 Photo Classes this year:
+ Animals
+ Black & White
+ People
+ Places
+ Plants
+ Trains, Planes, & Automobiles

There are 3 Age Divisions:
+ Youth (7-12)
+ Teen (13-17)
+ Adult (18+)

Hopefully many of you enter again and many more of you are inspired to enter this year. Or inspired to have your kids or grandkids enter.

+++++++

REMINDER THAT NEXT MONDAY IS MEMORIAL DAY. WHILE YOUR BANK AND THE GOVERNMENT AND A BUNCH OF OTHER BUSINESSES TAKE THE DAY OFF, THERE IS NO REST FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 139. RISE AND GRIND EVERY SINGLE DAY. I DON’T KNOW WHAT MY PLANS ARE FOR MEMORIAL DAY (OTHER THAN MAYBE SLEEPING LATE AFTER WHAT I HOPE IS AN EPIC MOVIE NIGHT ON SUNDAY) BUT IT MIGHT INCLUDE A ROAD TRIP OR A BARBECUE OR A FEW OTHER OPTIONS THAT MIGHT KEEP ME BUSY. LIKEWISE YOU MIGHT BE ENGAGED IN A SIMILAR ACTIVITY ON MONDAY MORNING. YOU MIGHT NOT GET A REMINDER AND YOU MIGHT NOT BE IN A POSITION TO SUBMIT. PLAN ACCORDINGLY.

HAPPY! Many people claim to like to be HAPPY, but did many people actually get a picture of somebody that is HAPPY or of something that makes them HAPPY? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, May 15, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Nathanial Brown – 1 week
2-Tamara Peterson – 1 week
3-Sabas Hernandez – 3 weeks
4-Mike Vest – 3 weeks
5-Alexis Baugher – 6 weeks (3)
6-Jesse Howard – 6 weeks
7-Mindi Terrell – 13 weeks (2)
8-Monica Jennings – 18 weeks (2)
9-Brandon Kahler – 38 weeks (2)
10-Linda Bennett – 42 weeks
11-Sarah Toot – 43 weeks
12-Angie DeWaard – 47 weeks
13-Dawn Krause – 51 weeks (2)
14-Kim Barker – 57 weeks
15-Joe Duff – 58 weeks
16-Logan Kahler – 60 weeks
17-Teresa Kahler – 69 weeks (2)
18-Carla Stensland – 69 weeks (2)
19-Micky Augustin – 71 weeks
20-Andy Sharp – 72 weeks (3)
21-Bill Wentworth – 73 weeks
22-Cathie Morton – 77 weeks
23-Elizabeth Nordeen – 78 weeks
24-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 80 weeks
25-Kio Dettman – 82 weeks (2)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 58 weeks

Nader Parasei (Orange City, Iowa) – 1 week

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 79 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa)

Scott Degeneffe (Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 1 week

Melissa Degeneffe (Ankeny, Iowa) – 1 week

Melissa Degeneffe (Erb Pond – Boone County, Iowa)

Alexis Baugher (Iowa) – 7 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 74 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 83 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 43 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa) – 1 week

Mary Green (Iowa)

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 44 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania)

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Living History Farms – Urbandale, Iowa) – 48 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Orange City, Iowa)

Joe Duff (Texas) – 59 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas)

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 73 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 81 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa)

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 1 week

Sara Lockner (Iowa)

Suzie Brannen (Ottumwa, Iowa) – 1 week

Suzie Brannen (Ottumwa, Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 14 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 61 weeks

Jesse Howard (West Bend, Iowa) – 7 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa)

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 52 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 39 weeks

Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 78 weeks

Becky Parmelee (Arkansas) – 1 week

Monica Jennings (Roland, Iowa) – 19 weeks

Stephanie Kim (Brooklyn, New York) – 1 week

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 4 weeks

34 participants! That is an amazing week! I know for sure it is the high for this calendar year and it might be the highest of all-time. I’ll have to check my records and get back to you.

Particularly exciting was first ever submissions from Nader and Melissa. I don’t expect Nader to be a regular contributor, but you never know. But with Melissa, there is some hope!

Also, Stephanie had her first submission this year. I don’t know if this will lead to regular or even irregular submissions or not. We will just wait and see.

There were no new states added to the map this week and at this point, I’m betting new states added will be an increasingly rare thing. Time will tell.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New York
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

25 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I took my picture about 175 miles from my front door, so I continue to not contribute.

There was one major milestone this week! Dawn joined the 52 Week Club! One straight year of weekly submissions. Congratulations Dawn!

There were no streaks snapped!

PARK

PARK! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the John Culbertson is a PARK image? Simply put, it is a picture taken in a PARK. And there are all sorts of PARKs. There are city, state, national, baseball, softball, playgrounds, nature preserves, urban, pocket, sculpture gardens, cultural… just to name a few. Of course, there is more than one definition of PARK.

While considering a possible subject for your PARK submission, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt you will come up with an inspiring image.

The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of the great human principle.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of PARK in this place that I believe brings a bit of respite for some next Monday.

Alexis, Anders, Andree, Angie, Art, Baier, Bill, Black & White, Carla, Elizabeth, Jason, Jay, Kelly, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Micky, Nader, Nathanial, Night, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Shawn Lockner, Steph, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa, Travel, WPC - Reminder

The Windy City: Day 1B

May 19, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I need to start out by thanking everyone that wished me a happy birthday. I believe this is a comprehensive list of everybody that wished me a happy birthday.

+ Kim and also thank you for buying me birthday Buffalo Chicken tots and the card.
+ Ron, Clevenger, Jordan, and Aaron. Although I may have bought those birthday wishes with donuts.
+ Elizabeth and also thanks for buying me candy bars I know you don’t like but the real thanks goes for looking for my favorite candy bars the Whatchamacallit and the Take 5! You are the real hero! Also, glad you are digging SHRINKING! Such a great show!
+ Steph. My birthday buddy, I hope FAST X was everything you wanted to be and I’m trying not to lose just a smidge of respect that you went to it.
+ Jesse – Sorry I was so aggressive in accusing you of eating all the mystery cheese.
+ Nader – Thanks for the frog statue!
+ Shannon- half credit for including a picture of a gross cat with your birthday wishes.
+ Michelle – good job taking a three day weekend to celebrate my birth.
+ Jay – doesn’t look like you got any rhubarb. It isn’t going to pick itself.
+ Kelly – thanks for the kind words. Not necessary, but thanks.
+ Angie – hope the postcard arrives soon.
+ Monica – thanks for sending me the picture of me in my Hulkster phase.
+ Suzie – thanks for knowing the proper animal to include in a happy birthday wish!
+ Jason – glad you are feeling better!
+ Bill – thanks for replying “no problem” when I said “thanks”. Don’t know why, but that amused me.
+ Sara Lockner – thanks for almost using enough exclamation marks in your birthday wishes!
+ Shawn – I’m sorry your wife used up all the world’s supply of punctuation in her birthday wishes and there wasn’t any punctuation left for yours.
+ Faust – thanks for pretending that banking sounds fun.
+ Teresa – thanks but I have my doubts you know who Dwight Schrute is.
+ Anders – I don’t know if it was a great one, but I’m sure May Movie Night will be.
+ Sarah Toot – Thanks for thinking I have the slightest clue what emoticons mean. Don’t feel pressure to do better next year.
+ Alexis – thanks for letting me think today was my day.
+ Baier and Dre – We didn’t have much interaction, but thanks for thinking of me.
+ Micky – thanks for multiple birthday wishes. It isn’t a contest, but if it was I think Elizabeth won. At least I think that is what she yelled at me as I walked out the door. But your message was the closest I came to having cake today. So that is something.
+ Lori – thanks, no need to apologize for transferring me my favorite kind of call, even if I really shouldn’t have been first in queue. Hope things went well today.
+ Mark – thanks. I suppose I should learn when your birthday is. Also stop using your desk for storage. Nah!
+ Lowell – thanks for the gift card. I like to think you would get me one even if the company didn’t require it.
+ Carla – thanks for getting your birthday wishes in right before the buzzer.
+ Nathanial – thanks for the final birthday wishes of my day.

I think that is the list. I think that is everybody that wished me a happy birthday! Thanks everyone!

If you are wondering what I did for my birthday, it was nothing super spectacular. It was mostly an average day.

I woke up about 5:54 AM. A little late for me. I was up late last night watching the NBA Playoffs. Then trying to watch the season finale of THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND. Dang it! This wasn’t the season they actually found treasure. And I was so sure! I also ate fried food the night before. I’m trying to eat healthier, so it is fairly rare I eat fried food these days, he said hoping that there were people that believed him. Point is I slept in. It was my birthday. Cut me some slack!

I’m not sure what I did when I first got out of bed. I think I moved to the couch and watched the news for a little bit. Then I went outside and watered the flowers. I also took apart the trunk in the Camry. I had a slight gas spill in the trunk the night before and it was creating a pretty strong smell in the rest of the car. Then I took a shower. Brushed my teeth. Got dressed. But on cologne option #2. Said goodbye to Naima. Got in the Camry. Headed out.

There is an old birthday tradition at the Computer Mine where on your birthday you bring in food for the other employees. On a good day, there are about 10 employees in the building. (On a great day there is less.) On this day, half those people were gone for various reasons. On my way to work I stopped at the Dutch Oven Bakery and picked up a dozen donuts for my co-workers.

This is a small detail of what transpired on my birthday, but perhaps one of my favorite things that happened.

I left the donuts in the breakroom and then sent an email out to the people I knew would be in the building. Here is the backstory.

About 2 weeks, Elizabeth brought in a dozen donuts from a bakery in Nevada. (For the record, and I might get rode out of Boone on a rail for saying this, these donuts buried the ones from Dutch Oven.) She cut all the donuts in half. Now I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain why, but I will. She cut them in half so that people could try multiple donuts and multiple people could try the same donut.

Back to my birthday. Based on my current work schedule, Ron gets to the building about 30 minutes before I do. Elizabeth gets to the office about 15-30 minutes after me. She is in Special Forces so she can come and go as she pleases. I guess that is really more backstory, for what I’m promising you isn’t much payoff.

So back to that email. I explained in the email that there were donuts in the breakroom for my birthday. I didn’t cut them in half (cause I’m lazy – I didn’t write that, but it was in the subtext) but maybe when Elizabeth got here she would cut the donuts in half. I added that this wasn’t sexist on my part, just she is very passionate about the donut cutting thing.

Here is the “payoff”. I’m telling you that the ink wasn’t dry on that email before Ron was standing next to my cubicle. He wished me a happy birthday and then said that he was going to go get a donut quick before Elizabeth got here and cut them in half.

I said it wasn’t much of a payoff, but I thought it was hilarious.

I think it was somewhere in here I went to take a Snap of the donuts to keep my Streaks going with Logan (501), Brandon (257), Nathanial (89), Fran (37), and Alexis (23).

Somewhere after this, Elizabeth did come in. She did not cut all the donuts in half, but she did cut the donuts she tried in half. Take that Ron! She also brought me candy! So the day was off to a great start.

After that I put in a good solid 8 hours for The Man. I was a problem solving machine. Well to be honest, in the morning I mostly did a lot of rando stuff. I think the highlight of my morning (besides the other stuff I’ve highlighted) was being on hold with a customer for about 30 minutes as they repeatedly rebooted their computer before announcing, I’ll have to call you back.

Then came my lunchbreak. I did point out that I am trying to eat healthier. That means (amongst other things) that I only drink pop once a week. I’m pretty much completely off fast food. I rarely eat fried foods. This means that one of my favorite haunts, B-Bop’s has been off the table. But I figured it was my birthday, I could treat myself to B-Bop’s.

I drove halfway across Ames and got the #2 with Cheese with a Large Pepsi.

Sidebar: A great birthday present would have been the B-Bops across the street from the Computer Mine opening back up so I don’t have to drive completely across tarnation to get B-Bops goodness. They have been remodeling for months now! How long does it take to remodel a restaurant that doesn’t have a dining room?!?!?

It was just as good as I remembered. Although, I could feel the salad place next door judging me a little bit. But I literally ate there the day before. Asian Crunch Salad, no protein. So I think we’re square. Stop looking at me lettuce!

After I got back to the work I was a machine. Updating Server Managers. Modifying hosts files. Attaching SQL databases. All a beauty of motion, while sitting in a desk chair staring at 3 monitors. Barely taking a break to try to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing (I failed).

I called it a day, leaving many a satisfied customer in my wake. (Which means next time I work I won’t be able to solve anybody’s problems.) I drove home. I like to take a route home (sometimes called Old 30) where I drive by a bunch of railroad cars just parked along the highway to see if there is any interesting graffiti to photograph. There wasn’t anything transcendent like a painting of a dog or a clown or characters from The Simpsons, but there was one I found photo worthy. I pulled over and snapped a photo. I’m collecting these images and when I hit about 20 or so I will share them. This is what passes for an art scene in Boone.

Got home. Said hello to Naima. Then mowed my back yard. Which needed to be done before it became a 3 man job… again. I was supposed to have a meeting with my friend Kelli. She is opening a wine bar and wants to use my photography on her walls. I was supposed to look at the space and kind of figure out what we wanted to put there, but that meeting got postponed cause, from what I’m gathering, one of her kids did something dumb. Like go to Grand Junction.

The cancellation opened up a hole in my schedule and I was able to take Naima to Dickcissel for a walk and some wading for her. It was also a good time for me to take the theme reveal image for next week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme.

There was a decent rain coming down on us when we completed the loop. Which meant Naima was soaked all over. I consider this to be a positive though, because the smell of wet dog masked the smell of gas. Not much of a trade up, but small victories.

I decided to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream on our way home since I’m eating healthier. Unfortunately, the line in the DQ drive-thru was crazy long, so instead I drove across town to Big Kahuna’s. This is a considerable upgrade in the quality of the ice cream for me, but it meant Naima didn’t get a pup cup. Sorry, Naima. Don’t feel too bad for her. She did get a full pork chop for supper. Me? I had a cherry amaretto ice cream waffle cone for supper. The supper of champions!

I came home and started watching the Lakers-Nuggets game to finish off my night. While sitting there I got a snap from Nathanial asking for my opinion on his options for the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. He is the second person to ask for my opinion. Meanwhile, humble narrator, hasn’t even given any consideration to what he will enter. Usually at this point I at least know at least 2 of the pictures I will enter. This year I have absolutely no clue. I mean that could be a weekend project, but I don’t know I’ll have much time this weekend either. I guess we’ll see what happens.

After the Nuggets won, I watched a little bit of “90s Nation” on MTV Classic and called it a night. Nodding off into a golden slumber listening to the “Morbid” podcast on H.H. Holmes. Part 4. All in all, a pretty good birthday.

+++++++

We begin where we left off last Friday. Lowell, Tony, and I were walking around Chicago waiting for Kim to get done getting good union employees fired for smoking a joint while putting up our booth. Kim has no chill. We were going to checkout a place called Zombie Taco as a potential place for supper. Kim had told us that we were to pick the place for supper. Tacos are always a good choice. That is free advice that I’m giving you, that I wish I had listened to on Day 3 of this trip. Unfortunately when we found Zombie Taco it seemed to be only a walk-up window and on top of that, it seemed to be closed.

But back to the walkabout.

A play on “This American Life”. My favorite radio show. But I’m not sure what it means.

I think this place was abandoned.

Never let anybody tell you, wearing Skechers is not cool. I wear them. Snoop wears them. Tony wears them. Elizabeth’s Grandma used to wear them.

My greatest regret from the trip to Chicago is not taking a river cruise.

I wonder if this was the boat that the Dave Matthews Band dumped their poop on. As awful as that must have been, still better than listening to their music.

Chicago has a fair collection of interesting bridges.

More street art.

Down to the River Walk.

Another interesting bridge.

It was around here I met a lady that was walking a golden retriever. Such a good dog. Also, more street art.

I’m guessing this is to protect you from Dave Matthews dumping his poop on your head. Now if they could devise a way to protect you from his awful music.

I assume Dave Matthews put that there.

I’d tell you what I think of Salesforce, but enough work talk.

There is also a Dick’s Last Resort on the San Antonio River Walk. This parking garage is an excellent example of why I would never want to live in a city.

But it is pretty to look at.

My #1 goal of the Chicago Trip was to see The Bean. Crossed it off the list Day 1.

After telling us to pick the restaurant, Kim picked the restaurant. Which fortunately, was 1 block from The Bean.

The WPC theme this week was FRIENDS. Nathanial told me I could take a picture of my reflection and I could be my own FRIEND(S). I have FRIENDS Nathanial. Still a cool shot.

The sculptor (Anish Kapoor) of The Bean at first hated that people called it that. It’s official name is Cloud Gate.

It is made out of 168 stainless steel plates welded together.

It’s highly polished exterior has no visible seams.

It measures 33 x 66 x 42 feet.

The design was inspired by liquid mercury.

I still have one more collection of images to share from Day 1 of the trip to Chicago.

+++++++

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is HAPPY!

HAPPY

HAPPY! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the Dave Rauker is a HAPPY photo? Simply put, it is a picture of somebody that is HAPPY or a picture of something that makes you HAPPY. HAPPY is, well it is a feeling of pleasure or contentment. In case you aren’t sure you know what it means to be HAPPY.

HAPPY has been a theme one other time. Here are a few of the submissions from that time to provide you with some inspiration:

Suzie Brannen – Week 71

Kim Barker – Week 71

Stephanie Kim – Week 71

Angie DeWaard – Week 71

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 71

In fact, that was pretty much every submission I received for HAPPY. I bet there will be more submissions this time.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Bill, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Nathanial, Ruins, Sabas, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Still Life, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 400 – RUINS

May 15, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

RUINS! One of my favorite themes and one of my favorite things to photograph. But was it a popular theme or did it leave many streaks in RUINS? This is the 400th THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE post since rebooting THE RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT. (504th all-time) I hope it was popular. But you will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, May 8, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
1-Suzie Brannen – 1 week
2-Becky Parmelee – 1 week
3-Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 2 weeks
4-Sabas Hernandez – 2 weeks
5-Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
6-Mike Vest – 2 weeks
7-Alexis Baugher – 5 weeks (2)
8-Jesse Howard – 5 weeks
9-Mindi Terrell – 12 weeks (3)
10-Monica Jennings – 17 weeks
11-Brandon Kahler – 37 weeks
12-Linda Bennett – 41 weeks
13-Sarah Toot – 42 weeks
14-Angie DeWaard – 46 weeks
15-Dawn Krause – 50 weeks
16-Kim Barker – 56 weeks
17-Joe Duff – 57 weeks
18-Logan Kahler – 59 weeks (2)
19-Teresa Kahler – 68 weeks (2)
20-Carla Stensland – 68 weeks (2)
21-Micky Augustin – 70 weeks
22-Andy Sharp – 71 weeks
23-Bill Wentworth – 72 weeks
24-Cathie Morton – 76 weeks
25-Elizabeth Nordeen – 77 weeks (2)
26-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 79 weeks
27-Kio Dettman – 81 weeks (2)

Heading into today, this is what the Submission Map looks like:

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 69 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa)

Alexis Baugher (Nevada,Iowa) – 6 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Nevada, Iowa)

Alexis Baugher (Swaledale, Iowa)

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 73 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 47 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 69 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 1 week

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 78 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Ames, Iowa)

Nathanial Brown (Bagley, Iowa) – 1 week

Micky Augustin (Iowa_ – 71 weeks

Sarah Toot (Las Vegas, Nevada) – 43 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 82 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 42 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 52 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 57 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 60 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 80 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 58 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 13 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Sabas Hernandez (Cleveland, Ohio) – 3 weeks

Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 77 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 38 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa)

Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 18 weeks

Monica Jennings (Iowa)

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 3 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 6 weeks

26 participants. Not a very popular theme. But not bad either. Hopefully one of the upcoming things gets the creative juices flowing for more people.

There were no new states added this week, but if you noticed, if you let me know where your picture was taken I will add that to your submission. The town. I’ll add the town. Not, “my Aunt Hildea’s place”. But I will add the town of Aunt Hildeas’s place exists in. I think that makes it a little more interesting. Than 20 submissions from Iowa. I will NOT assume towns though, like I assume states. I mean I’m pretty sure I know where most of these pictures were taken, but I won’t assume Kio’s pictures were taken in Boone.

Also, if you aren’t in a town, a county would do. For example, I assume Shannon’s picture is taken in rural Warren County. But she also might argue it is taken in Summerset, Iowa. Though.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ Nevada
+ Ohio
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

25 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I took my picture about 15 miles from my front door, so I continue to not contribute.

There were no major milestones reached this week, but many streaks lie in ruins now. Suzie and Becky couldn’t build on their submissions last week. Jen and Sara’s streaks ended at 2.

HAPPY

HAPPY! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the Dave Rauker is a HAPPY photo? Simply put, it is a picture of somebody that is HAPPY or a picture of something that makes you HAPPY. HAPPY is, well it is a feeling for pleasure or contentment. In case you aren’t sure you know what it means to be HAPPY.

While considering possible subjects for your HAPPY image, mediated on the following quote and I have no doubt you will create a fascinating image:

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
-Oscar Wilde

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of HAPPY in this place that I hope spreads a bit of happiness in this world next Monday.

Art, Bill, Carla, Dawn, Jen, Kim, Lowell, Railroad, Ruins, Still Life, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

The Windy City: Day 1A

May 12, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I’m going to cover my recent work trip to Chicago in a different format than I covered my work trip to Las Vegas. I’m going to mix the camera images with the cell phone pictures. I’m also going to try to tell the story mostly through the pictures. Rather than telling the story and then sharing the pictures. I’m also not going to include the food pictures. I’m going to put all my Chicago food pictures together in one big Sunday food adventure entry.

Here are the first collection of images from my Day 1 of my work trip to Chicago:

I was dreading parking in the Gray Lot, but I got stuck there again. But now I’ve been there a couple of times I’m starting to dig it. Especially when I get paid by the hour.

Even though I parked approximately 15 miles from the terminal, I got to my gate in plenty of time.

I’m roughly 6 foot 4. Tony is pushing 6 foot 8. Putting us next to each other in one of the world’s smallest planes is the height of cruelty. The type of thing you would see in a museum dedicated to torture.

The hotel.

This time we didn’t have to wait 3 hours to get into our room. We dropped off our stuff and looked for food, but that meal will be covered later.

The hotel was straight across the street from the river and a half block from the Chicago Theater. A good location.

I never ate here, but reminded me that my favorite restaurant on my trip to NYC was Empanada Mamas.

A dispensary. I’m not into marijuana cause I have elements of a control freak, but seeing one reminded me how backwards thinking Iowa has become.

True words.

At Naima’s age, she might benefit, but she is such a dang picky eater, I’m not spending that much money for her not to eat it.

Wake and bake.

I do love the names of marijuana products.

Day 1 was the day before International Pot Smokers Holiday.

That is over 50% off!

Just looking up and trying not to run into somebody on the street. Full disclosure, I don’t care if run into somebody on the street.

I love street art so much!

Art in the hotel. The hotel was much nicer than the one we stayed at in Miami Beach, but less interesting. So a wash.

Taxi up close.

“Staytion”. Lame.

I don’t know if Kim hates me but I always get a “view” of a parking garage. Lowell’s view was so much better.

Wasn’t as loud as expected.

For people who don’t know how elevators work. Much better elevators than in Las Vegas though.

While waiting for Kim to get done, so we could go get supper, Lowell, Tony, and I went for a walkabout. That is a lot of commas, probably not used properly.

I miss this guy.

Two more collections of images from just Day 1 of this trip are in the hopper. I hope you like Chicago!

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

RUINS

RUINS! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the Ron Harris is a RUINS image? Simply put, it is a picture of something that is in the state of physical destruction or disintegration. Something that is in bad shape.

RUINS has been a theme a few times before. Take a look back at some previous submissions for inspiration:

Bill Wentworth – Week 30

Dawn Krause – Week 103

Carla Stensland – Week 121

Jen Ensley Gorshe – Week 211

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 362

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Iowa State, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Night, Ruins, Sabas, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Suzie, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 399 – SCHOOL

May 8, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

SCHOOL! It isn’t much fun, but it is the best shot at social mobility, so it has to exist. But did SCHOOL get people excited enough to take a picture and submit it? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, May 1, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Nathanial Brown – 1 week
2-Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 1 week
3-Sabas Hernandez – 1 week
4-Sara Lockner – 1 week
5-Willy McAlpine – 1 week
6-Mike Parmelee – 1 week
7-Mike Vest – 1 week
8-Alexis Baugher – 4 weeks (3)
9-Scott Degeneffe – 4 weeks (2)
10-Jesse Howard – 4 weeks (2)
11-Mindi Terrell – 10 weeks (3)
12-Monica Jennings – 16 weeks (2)
13-Tamara Peterson – 26 weeks
14-Brandon Kahler – 35 weeks (3)
15-Linda Bennett – 40 weeks (2)
16-Sarah Toot – 41 weeks (2)
17-Angie DeWaard – 44 weeks (2)
18-Dawn Krause – 49 weeks (2)
19-Kim Barker – 55 weeks
20-Joe Duff – 56 weeks
21-Logan Kahler – 58 weeks
22-Teresa Kahler – 67 weeks (2)
23-Carla Stensland – 67 weeks (3)
24-Micky Augustin – 69 weeks
25-Andy Sharp – 70 weeks
26-Bill Wentworth – 71 weeks
27-Cathie Morton – 75 weeks
28-Elizabeth Nordeen – 76 weeks
29-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 78 weeks
30-Kio Dettman – 80 weeks (2)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 45 weeks

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 56 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 77 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa)

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 68 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 81 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 41 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa) – 5 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Sarah Toot (Nevada) – 42 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 72 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 11 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 59 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa)

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) 68 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Becky Parmelee (Arkansas) – 1 week

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Ohio) – 2 weeks

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (New York) – 2 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 57 weeks

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 1 week

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 5 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 36 weeks

Cathie Morton (Iowa) – 76 weeks

Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 17 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 71 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 79 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 50 weeks

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 2 weeks

28 participants! That is a pretty good week! A slight dip from last week, but still definitely a good week!
There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Arkansas
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ Nevada
+ New York
+ Ohio
+ Texas

Thanks to Sabas’ work trip to Ohio, we were able to add a new state to the map! We actually now have more than half the states and districts. 26 out of 51! I have no belief that that I will get submissions from all 50 states, but I’m curious to see how close we get.

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

25 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I took my picture about 15 miles from my front door, so I continue to not contribute.

There were no major milestones this week, but there was a veritable bloodbath of streaks. Nathanial, Willy, and Mike couldn’t build on their contribution last week. Scott’s streak is over at 4. Most tragically, Tamara’s 26 week streak is over.

RUINS

RUINS! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the Ron Harris is a RUINS image? Simply put, it is a picture of something that is in the state of physical destruction or disintegration. Something that is in bad shape.

While considering possible subjects for your RUINS image, mediated on the following quote and I have no doubt you will create a fascinating image:

We moralize among ruins.
-Benjamin Disreali

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of RUINS in this place that will one day lay in digital destruction next Monday.

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Flowers, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Lensbaby, Linda, Logan, Macro, Micky, Monica, Nathanial, Road Trip, Sabas, Sara, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 398 – ROAD TRIP

May 1, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

ROAD TRIP! What a great theme and an even better way to spend a day or two. Nothing calls to me like the open road.
But did it call to many other people? Or did people stay firmly entrenched on their couches? You will have to keep scrolling to find out!

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, April 24, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Heather Courtney – 1 week
2-Scott Degeneffe – 3 weeks
3-Jesse Howard – 3 weeks
4-Alexis Baugher – 3 weeks
5-Mindi Terrell – 9 weeks (3)
6-Suzie Brannen – 14 weeks
7-Monica Jennings – 14 weeks
8-Tamara Peterson – 25 weeks (2)
9-Brandon Kahler – 35 weeks
10-Linda Bennett – 39 weeks (2)
11-Sarah Toot – 40 weeks (2)
12-Angie DeWaard – 44 weeks
13-Dawn Krause – 48 weeks
14-Kim Barker – 53 weeks (2)
15-Joe Duff – 55 weeks (2)
16-Logan Kahler – 56 weeks (2)
17-Teresa Kahler – 66 weeks (2)
18-Carla Stensland – 66 weeks
19-Micky Augustin – 67 weeks
20-Andy Sharp – 69 weeks
21-Bill Wentworth – 70 weeks
22-Cathie Morton – 74 weeks
23-Elizabeth Nordeen – 75 weeks
24-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 76 weeks (2)
25-Kio Dettman – 79 weeks (2)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 1 week

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week

Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 1 week

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 1 week

Willy McAlpine (Iowa) – 1 week

Mike Parmelee (Arkansas) – 1 week

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 1 week

Alexis Baugher (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Scott Degeneffe (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Iowa)

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 10 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 15 weeks

Monica Jennings (Iowa)

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 26 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 36 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 40 weeks

Linda Bennett (Kansas)

Sarah Toot (New Jersey) – 41 weeks

Sarah Toot (New Jersey)

Angie DeWaard (Mexico) – 45 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Mexico)

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 49 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 54 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 56 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 57 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 67 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 67 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Carla Stensland

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 68 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 71 weeks

Cathie Morton (Illinois) – 75 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 76 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa)

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 77 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 80 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Christopher D. Bennett (Iowa) – 502 weeks

31 participants! That is a great week! I believe it ties the high for this calendar year. Strange that more people love the open road than love their friends, but maybe it isn’t so strange.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Arkansas
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Mexico
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

24 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Thanks to Angie’s vacation, Mexico has been added to the list of international places!

I took my picture 87 miles from my front door. So Angie isn’t the only world traveler.

The big accomplishments this week… Mindi joined the Double Digits Club! WooHoo! Tamara joined the Half Year Club! WooHoo! Mike Parmelee had his first submission of the year! WooHoo! I finally got Alexis’ last name right! WooHoo !

But it wasn’t all unicorns and double rainbows. Heather wasn’t able to build her submission from last week into a streak. And most tragically, Suzie’s 14 week streak is a goner. ROAD TRIPs are her Waterloo.

SCHOOL

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

Let me tell you about IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY!

Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1858 as Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, and it became the first land-grant institution in the United States in 1862, thanks to the Morrill Act.

Today, ISU is a comprehensive university with more than 35,000 students and offers over 100 undergraduate majors, 112 master’s degree programs, and 83 doctoral degree programs. The university is organized into eight colleges: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Business, Design, Engineering, Human Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and Graduate.

ISU is known for its strong programs in agriculture, engineering, and science, and it has a reputation for being one of the top public universities in the United States. The university is home to several research centers and institutes, including the Bioeconomy Institute, the Ames Laboratory, and the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC).

The university’s mascot is Cy the Cardinal, and the school colors are cardinal and gold. The Cyclones, ISU’s athletic teams, compete in the Big 12 Conference and they completely dominated the Cy-Hawk Series with Iowa Hawkeyes this year.

Overall, Iowa State University is a well-respected and prestigious institution of higher education, offering a wide range of programs and opportunities for students to excel both academically and professionally.

Wait. Wait. Sorry. I’ve just been told that there are more SCHOOL(s) in the world than just Iowa State. I’m not entirely sure why. But I guess you can take a picture of some other stupid school nobody cares about.

SCHOOL! So what in the Terrence Allen is a SCHOOL picture? Simply put it is any image that involves SCHOOL. From a building to a playground to schoolbooks (before they all get banned) to report cards to teachers to really anything related to a SCHOOL. There are all types of different SCHOOL(s). Pre, secondary, high, middle, junior, dance, Sunday, vocational, technical, and even sometimes I take people to SCHOOL on the basketball court. It does NOT have to be Iowa State, but I mean, why would you take a picture of some lesser school? But you do you bro.

While considering how you are going to incorporate Iowa State into your SCHOOL picture, mediate on the following quote and I have no doubt you will come up with a great picture:

Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.
– Malala Yousafzai

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of SCHOOL in this place that I like to think has a bit of educational value next Monday.

RULES

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE

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