Category Archives: Naima

Naima + Snow

Happy day to celebrate America’s addiction to soul-crushing consumerism! I will barely be leaving my house other than to ring the bell for the Salvation Army (4-5 at Hy-Vee if you are interested in dropping in and saying hi), do a little photography, and go watch Ashley Joens and the gang crush some hapless fools. So go punch another person in the face to save 5% on 2015’s television model for me.

Hitting up the 2018 backlog with a collection of Naima pictures. These pictures of Naima frolicking in the snow, which she is know to do. Big fan of snow, that dog. Extreme cold, not so much. Snow, definitely.


Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

Naima + Snow

I believe this only leaves 4 folders left in the 2018 back log. We should be finished up my the middle of December, at the latest!

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


WEEK 220- COLORFUL
COLORFUL

A COLORFUL photo is a photo of any object that is filled with color.

Happy photo harvesting!

Gratitudo

Happy Thanksgiving! Every year on Thanksgiving I like to think about my many, many blessings. I know, real original. You should feel free to try it sometime. But make sure you let everybody know that I invented gratitude.


I am thankful for my family, no matter how family is defined:

April 9, 2019

May 18, 2019

May 25, 2019

August 24, 2019

September 19, 2019

October 26, 2019

January 26, 2019

February 25, 2019

June 29, 2019

July 6, 2019

August 4, 2019

April 6, 2019

May 12, 2019

I am thankful for my friends:

January 16, 2019

March 12, 2019

PHOTO JOURNAL - PAGE 121 ALTERNATE

Photo Journal - Page 56 Reject

March 21, 2019

May 6, 2019

May 17, 2019

June 1, 2019

June 6, 2019

August 25, 2019

July 12, 2019

August 10, 2019

August 13, 2019

August 18, 2019

September 7, 2019

September 20, 2019

September 21, 2019

October 5, 2019

October 21, 2019

April 27, 2017

Selfie Project - January 21

March 3, 2019

I am blessed with an amazing church family:

April 7, 2019

Selfie Project - January 27

April 17, 2019

May 1, 2019

June 15, 2019

June 23, 2019

June 24, 2019

June 25, 2019

June 27, 2019

July 13, 2019

September 25, 2019

October 27, 2019

June 28, 2017

I am blessed with a decent job and work friends that I don’t mind seeing more than 40 hours a week:

January 12, 2019

August 30, 2019

May 2, 2017

Selfie Project - March 27

Iowa State vs. Northern Iowa

I’m blessed to share my house with Naima:

January 10, 2019

October 6, 2019

July 9, 2019

Naima

This is only a small sampling of my blessings, but I feel to go on much longer would sound like boasting. Thank all of you for choosing to be part of my life!

What Feels Right

Some pictures from the old 2018 backlog again. These are the last pictures from the month of November to be published. Still some pictures from September and possibly pictures from October left to go. Then a handful of days in December to look at.

These pictures are, yet again, pictures from a trip to Dickcissel with Naima. Have a gander:


What Feels Right

What Feels Right

What Feels Right

What Feels Right

What Feels Right

What Feels Right

What Feels Right

What Feels Right

Hawk

I can see the light at the end of the backlog tunnel! Please don’t be a train.

Dogface

Here is another post from the 2018 backlog. These are mostly pictures of Naima. I think they might have been alternates for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme the week they were taken. I’m not entirely sure and I’m not up to that level of soul searching and research.


Dogface

Dogface

Dogface

Dogface

Dogface

Dogface

Dogface

Mitten Knitters

Thanksgiving 2018

Thanksgiving 2018

Ledges

There is still more in the 2018 backlog, but it is getting smaller every day. Well maybe not every day.

Bigger than Peanut Butter

Hitting up the 2018 backlog again. Which is closing in on being finished!

These pictures are once again from Naima’s favorite hangout, Dickcissel Park.

I have had a few people ask me where Dickcissel Park is because while it is near some very busy roads, it is seemingly a forgotten treasure of Boone County. I am leery of disclosing its location because I don’t want thousands of people to start hanging out there. More times than not, Naima and I are alone out there.

There are a few times where we run into the odd fisherman. Maybe three times we’ve ran into other dogs. But usually it is just us, the ducks, the fish, sometimes deer, an occasional pheasant, plenty of rabbits, and not nearly enough snakes.

If you want to hang out at Dickcissel, it isn’t a park so much as a wildlife management area, it is located on the northwest corner of the junction of US Highway 30 and State Highway 17.

Here are some pictures:


Dickcissel

Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Just a little backlog left!

Choked

On Monday night, I choked when I had a chance to show a person that has a real good chance to be the next President of the United States a picture of Naima. We both have irresistible golden retrievers and we had a moment there. However, Naima is supposed to be my background of my phone, but when I opened up my phone, it was a different picture. They told me that they were going to tell Naima that she had been replaced as my wallpaper.

I had my moment and I choked. To make a small amount of amends for this tremendous failure, I’m dipping into the 2018 backlog to share some Naima pictures. A couple of these are my among my favorite Naima pictures to date.


Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

Naima

This collection concludes the August portion of the 2018 backlog!

WPC – WEEK 213 – LOW PERSPECTIVE

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day… To some who don’t know about this holiday, here is are 5 ways to celebrate: from bustle.com:

1. Participate in Cultural Appreciation – No, cultural appreciation is not the same thing as cultural appropriation. Cultural appreciation is all about respecting different cultures, understanding the role you play in oppressing or erasing said culture, and not trivializing sacred cultural traditions by simply adopting them.

2. Donate to Indigenous People’s Rights Organizations – Consider donating to the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition, a group made up of five nations (and supported by 30 Native American Tribes!) who are in a battle to preserve Bear Ears National Monument that has come under threat because of the Trump administration. Or, donate to Stand With Standing Rock, the group formed of Native activists, different tribes, and allies who halted the Dakota Access Pipeline — and are still fighting against it.

3. Attend vigils, rallies, or other events that Native activists organize – On Indigenous People’s Day, let’s celebrate Native culture, but let’s also recognize why the holiday is needed in the first place. Systemic racism has long erased the narratives of indigenous people from American history, and contributes to the large health and wellness disparities Native Americans face today, when compared to all other Americans. Native American women are especially marginalized, as they are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted than women of any other race. Additionally, so many Native American women end up missing or murdered that North Dakota senators are calling it an “epidemic.” If Native Activists organize vigils or rallies on Indigenous People’s Day, try to show up and acknowledge the harm the United States has inflicted on different nations.

4. Purchase art from Native Americans – Put your money where your mouth is, and support indigenous communities’ artwork and business. Being an ally means showing support through action — not just talking.

5. Don’t just celebrate Indigenous People’s Day; actively disavow Columbus Day – No one’s trying to “rewrite American history,” Brenda — Native Americans have been brutalized and subjected to genocide since the inception of America, and as the popular chant goes: your silence is violence. Sign petitions if your city has yet to recognize Indigenous People’s Day, and don’t be hesitant to have conversations with other white people about why it’s important to celebrate it over Columbus Day.

Why does Christopher Columbus not deserve a holiday? Here is some information from owlcation.com:

For the second voyage to Haiti the following year (1493), Ferdinand and Isabella gave him the resources needed to subdue the population. When he returned to Haiti, Columbus demanded food, gold, and cotton thread, and was increasingly met with resistance. This resistance gave him the opportunity he needed to declare war on the Arawaks. According to Bartolomé de Las Casas, who was there with the Spanish, Columbus chose “200 foot soldiers and 20 cavalry, with many crossbows and small cannon, lances, and swords, and a still more terrible weapon against the Indians, in addition to the horses: this was 20 hunting dogs, who were turned loose and immediately tore the Indians apart.”

The Spanish won the war, of course, for the Arawaks had only rudimentary weapons. As Columbus still could not find the gold he sought, and needed to bring something back to Spain, he rounded up 1,000 Arawaks to be used as slaves. Five hundred of these he brought back to Spain, and the remaining 500 he gave to the Spanish then “governing” the island.

Tribute System
Though now in control of the Arawak Indians and their island Haiti, Christopher Columbus still could not find the gold that he was sure was somewhere on the island.

The Arawaks, I’m sure, were not very willing to tell him where it was. Therefore, he set up a “tribute system” which worked thus:

Every three months, each Haitian over 14 years of age would be required to pay Columbus with either 25 pounds in cotton or a large “hawk’s bell” of gold dust (a lot of gold dust.)

Once the slaves paid this, they would receive a metal token. This token was worn around their necks as a signal that they were home-free for another 3 months (during which time they saved up for their next token, of course.)

Those who did not pay had their nose & both of their hands chopped off.

Genocide
Due to the tribute system, the Arawaks were forced to work in the mines instead of growing food in their fields, which led to generalized malnutrition. According to a letter written by Pedro de Cordoba to King Ferdinand, “As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indians choose and have chosen suicide. The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth…Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Others after delivery have killed their children with their own hands, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery.”

The initial Arawak population was estimated at 8,000,000. By 1516 only around 12,000 were still alive. By 1542, less than 200 remained. By 1555, the Arawaks were all gone
Thus, the crime of genocide was perpetuated by Christopher Columbus; not exactly what I learned in public school. He completely exterminated an entire race of 8,000,000 people –and that’s only counting one of the cultures he decimated. “Haiti under the Spanish is one of the primary instances of genocide in all human history.” – Dr. James W. Loewen

Transatlantic Slave Trade
Columbus wasn’t just into subjugating and decimating; he was also interested in the sexual aspect of slavery. According to a letter written by Michele de Cuneo, before his first voyage had even reached Haiti in 1492, “Columbus was rewarding his lieutenants with native women to rape.” Columbus wrote in 1500: “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.”

Aside from sexual slavery, there existed, of course, the aspect of using slavery for profit. When there were no more Arawaks to mine his gold for him–for they no longer existed–Columbus systematically depleted the Bahamas of their peoples for this task. Tens of thousands of slaves from the Bahamas were transported to Haiti, leaving the islands behind deserted. Peter Martyr reported in 1516: “Packed in below deck, with hatchways closed to prevent their escape, so many slaves died on the trip that a ship without a compass, chart, or guide, but only following the trail of dead Indians who had been thrown from the ships could find its way from the Bahamas to Hispaniola.”

After the new batch of slaves died, Columbus depleted Puerto Rico, and then Cuba. When they had all succumbed, he turned his eyes to Africa, thus establishing the transatlantic slave trade and the concept of “race.” Through his exploits in Haiti, Columbus lead the way for other European nations to begin seeking wealth through domination, conquest, and slavery. In essence, Columbus changed the world, and we recognize this in one way or another by delineating history as being either pre- or post-Columbian.

Getting rid of Columbus Day isn’t about “erasing history”, it is about decided who and what should be exalted by our society.

In short, Christopher Columbus was responsible for the extincion of an entire tribe of people that once numbered over 8 million! Then turned around and invented transatlantic slave trade.

Christopher Columbus does not deserve to be exalted.

Or to put it another way:



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For the third week in a row we have hit double digit submissions! Woohoo! LOW PERSPECTIVE didn’t lead to low participation rates.

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


WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - STEPHANIE KIM
Stephanie Kim

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - MICHELLE HAUPT
Michelle Haupt

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - CATHIE RALEY
Cathie Raley

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - CATHIE RALEY
Cathie Raley

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - MONICA HENNING
Monica Henning

WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

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:


WEEK 214 - STILL LIFE
STILL LIFE

STILL LIFE! What a great theme! But what is a STILL LIFE photo? A STILL LIFE photo is a photo of an inanimate object. A picture of your kid, not STILL LIFE. A picture of a bowl of fruit. STILL LIFE. A picture of tools. STILL LIFE. A picture of your dog. Not STILL LIFE. If it isn’t alive and it is something you can arrange. That is a subject for STILL LIFE.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

OR

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very still Monday!

Flower of the Sun

Once again, hitting up the 2018 backlog. There aren’t many pictures in today’s collection just a sunflower picture and a few pictures taken out at good old Dickcissel!


Sunflower

Dickcissel Flowers

Dickcissel Flowers

Dickcissel Flowers

Naima at Dickcissel Park

Naima at Dickcissel Park

Probably keep hammering on this 2018 backlog again next week!

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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is LOW PERSPECTIVE:


WEEK 213 - LOW PERSPECTIVE
LOW PERSPECTIVE

A LOW PERSPECTIVE picture is a picture that looks up at its subject OR that is taken from a perspective that is below normal human eye level. I believe average human eye level is about 6 foot 3.

Happy photo harvesting!

Subtly Dissolves

Hitting up the 2018 backlog again. This is a collection of photos I took while I was playing with the panorama setting on the trusty old 77ii.

Most of them were taken out a Dickcissel Park. This was a trip with Naima that involved her running off some pheasants. I was proud of her, because I have a spot in my heart for almost all of God’s creatures. I don’t even kill stink bugs. But I do hate pheasants and have a reputation for not liking cats.


Panorama

Panorama

Panorama

Panorama

Panorama

Naima has been sad hat we haven’t made that many trips out to Dickcissel this year, but every time we go out there, she comes home with an ear affliction. But I better get out there a few times before the weather makes it impossible.