Category Archives: Naima

WPC – WEEK 199 – ROAD TRIP

We are approaching the Boone County Fair, which means that I need to select pictures for the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. I am picking those pictures in the same way that I did last year. I’m letting other people pick them for me.

The next FOUR people that text me that they are interested in picking one of my entries will get to pick my five entries for the Boone County Fair. Once you have been selected as a selector, I will send you instructions on how to make your selection.

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I don’t know if it was the holiday or if ROAD TRIP was just a particularly popular theme, but there were several submissions for the ROAD TRIP theme. The submissions were taken as far east as Chicago and as far north as near Canada.

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


WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - MICHELLE HAUPT
Michelle Haupt

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - SHANNON BARDOLE-FOLEY
Shannon Bardole-Foley

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - BECKY PARMELEE
Becky Parmelee

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 199 - ROAD TRIP - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. 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 200 -SIGNS
SIGNS!

SIGNS! What a great theme! But what is a SIGNS photo? A SIGNS photo is literally any picture of a SIGN(s). Remember, there is more than one definition of SIGNS.

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 signed Monday!

A Photo Journal – Page 37

Last Saturday in between seeing GODZILLA: KING OF MONSTERS and heading up to Kamrar, for a birthday dinner, I talked Nader into posing for Page 37 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.


Photo Journal - Page 37
Page 37 – Use aperture to capture melancholy.

I took a few other pictures of Nader before picking out my the picture that will be adhered into the physical THE PHOTO JOURNAL. Have a look:


Photo Journal - Page 37

Photo Journal - Page 37

Photo Journal - Page 37

Photo Journal - Page 37

Photo Journal - Page 37

Photo Journal - Page 37

Closing in on getting the project done. Okay. I still have a ton of pages to finish. But I’m working on it!

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


WEEK 195 - PARK
PARK

A PARK photo is a photo that takes place at a PARK. Of course, there is more than one definition for the word PARK.

Happy photo harvesting!

Selfie Project – May

Now seems like as good of a time as any to check back in with THE SELFIE PROJECT and see what “amazing” things I did in the month of May. Some of these things I had already forgot about!


May 1, 2019
May 1

May 4, 2019
May 4

May 5, 2019
May 5

May 6, 2019
May 6

May 7, 2019
May 7

May 8, 2019
May 8

May 9, 2019
May 9

May 11, 2019
May 11

May 12, 2019
May 12

May 15, 2019
May 15

May 17, 2019
May 17

May 18, 2019
May 18

May 19, 2019
May 19

May 21, 2019
May 21

May 23, 2019
May 23

May 25, 2019
May 25


May 26


May 27

May 29, 2019
May 29

May 31, 2019
May 31

I think June is off to a decent start. I haven’t done anything amazing, besides see GODZILLA KING OF MONSTERS. But at least I’m 99% sure I’ll be leaving the state to go on a mission trip. So that’ll be something.

WPC – WEEK 194 – GROUP PORTRAIT

GROUP PORTRAIT turned out to be surprisingly popular. When I woke from my slumbers this morning, about 15 minutes after arriving at the computer mine, I had only received 2 submissions. I thought there was no way we would get to double digits for submissions. But as the morning unfolded, a ton of submissions came flying my way. As it turns out, GROUP PORTRAIT is a very popular theme!

The Photography 139 Empire was all over the place this week. From the Dominican Republic to Grand Central Station to Canada to Colo to Kamrar!

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


WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - STEPHANIE KIM
Stephanie Kim

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - MICKY AUGUSTIN
Micky Augustin

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - MICHELLE HAUPT
Michelle Haupt

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - MICHELLE HAUPT
Michelle Haupt

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - MIKE VEST
Mike Vest

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 194 - GROUP PORTRAIT - JEN ENSLEY-GORSHE
Jen Ensley-Gorshe

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 195 - PARK
PARK

PARK! What a great theme! But what is a PARK image? Simply enough, it is any picture taken at a PARK. There are all sorts of PARK(s). There are nature preserve PARKS(s). There are playground PARK(s). There are amusement PARK(s). There are even PARK and rides. The word PARK also has more than one meaning. I look forward to your interpretations!

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. 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

Congratulations to Jennifer Schoff! She is the latest person to show taste, class, and sophistication by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ve actually known Jennifer’s kids longer than I’ve known her and she is the person that does most of the heavy lifting for me on the mission trip preparation work. If you see Jennifer out and about, give her a knowing glance and feel free to teach her the super, secret Photography 139 handshake.

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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 parked Monday.

The New New

I have recently had a battle in my head and in my wallet. I knew I wanted to purchase a new camera that was something like an action cam, only so much more. It has the qualities of say a GoPro, but the image quality is vastly superior. The amount of control you have with the camera is like night and day.

The camera I’m talking about is the Sony RX0. I had it in my sights for several months. Then Sony went and released the Sony RX0 II. This put in something of a quandary. Three months ago, there was nothing wrong with the Sony RX0, but now there was a Sony RX0 II that was superior.

I had to make a decision. By the old and save a few bucks or pull the trigger on the new and lighten the wallet a bit.

Lucky for me, while I was wrestling with the decision, a bit of an unforeseen windfall landed in my lap and I decided to pull the trigger on the Sony RX0 II.

I’ve only had it since Tuesday, but I already love the little guy:


Sony RX0 II

Happy birthday to me!

Here are a few of the first pictures I’ve taken with the RX0 II:


First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

First Pictures

Here are some of the specifications of the camera:

Number of Pixels (Effective)Approx. 15.3 Megapixels
Lens Type ZEISS Tessar T Lens, 6 elements in 6 groups (6 aspheric elements)
F-Number (Maximum Aperture) F4.0
Focal Length 7.9mm
Focus Range (From the Front of the Lens)Approx. 0.66′ (20cm) to Infinity
Focus Area Wide (25 points [contrast-detection AF]), Center, Flexible Spot (S/M/L)Expanded Flexible Spot
ISO Sensitivity Auto (ISO125-12800, selectable with upper/lower limit)
125/160/200/250/320/400/500/640/800/1000/1250/1600/2000/2500/3200/4000/5000/6400/8000/10000/12800 (Extendable to ISO80/100)
White Balance Modes Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent
Fluor.: Warm White, Fluor.: Cool White, Fluor.: Day White, Fluor.: Daylight, Underwater Auto, C. Temp./Filter, Custom
Electronics Shutter 1/4″ – 1/32000
Continuous Shooting Speed Speed Priority Continuous Shooting: approx. 16fps, Continuous Shooting: approx. 3.5fps (Maximum) (With Max. Recording Pixels)
Waterproof Yes (IPX8 equivalent)
Dustproof Yes (IP6X equivalent)
Shockproo fYes (6.5′ (2.0m) (MIL-STD810G C1 Method516.7-Shock)
Crushproof Yes(200kgf/2000N/440lbf)

I made an unboxing video of it the RXO II for the YouTube Channel. It isn’t necessarily something I would recommend watching, unless you really like unboxing videos. It is in black & white, because I lazily didn’t check my camera settings before I started recording:



It isn’t the most watchable video in the world, but it allows me to practice my minimal video editing skills.

I’m going on a Birthday Road Trip on the morrow. I plan on using the RX0 II to do a vlog of the trip. I’m definitely not going to get in the habit of vlogging, but I wanted to test the RX0 II as a vlogging camera because some people say it is the greatest vlogging camera ever and some say it isn’t good for it at all.

One last thing, if you are a GAME OF THRONES fan, we will be watching the series finale at The Union Street Theater on Sunday night. You are invited! Jay might even be making cake. He also has a 20 year old surprise.

Naima Takes Dickcissel

Dipping into the backlog again. This post finishes off all of the backlog from May of 2018! WooHoo!

It once again draws on a consistent theme. Me taking pictures of Naima at Dickcissel Park.

You might be wondering why I took so many of these pictures last year. The reason is because I spent a considerable part of 2018 trying to get the perfect picture of Naima running at the camera. Ears in the air. Tongue sticking out of her mouth. Silly dog smile on her mug.

I also had an obsession with getting a picture of her in the water. From underwater. But that is a project that will continue into 2019, I do believe.

Here are some more Naima pictures:


Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Naima at Dickcissel

Gotta keep hammering away at that backlog!

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Also, since the purchase of the drone, I’ve decided to start actually adding some content to my YouTube channel. In the past, the YouTube channel has only really existed so I could like other YouTube videos. Over it’s 10+ year existence, I’ve only uploaded like 30 videos.

That will hopefully change in the coming months. ‘

I recently put up my first “test” video. It was mostly a test of if I could figure out how to do it. I’m not particularly good at video editing and it shows in this video. What also shows is how terrible I am at sound recording.

I hope my video editing skills improve. We’ll see about the sound recording skills. Actually I have no choice but to improve on sound recording. You’ll see when you watch the video.

So below, checkout this YouTube video I made on DJI Mavic 2 Pro Quickshots with Bethany as the guinea pig:



If you don’t subscribe to my YouTube channel, please do because when I hit 100 subscribers, I can customize my channel’s URL. In the future, there will be more drone videos and I have plans for more videos revolving around the birthday present I’m giving to myself.

Also, a big shoutout to Joe who is helping me with video editing. The video is edited with an open source video editing program called OpenShot.

Happy International Workers’ Day

Happy International Workers’ Day! Also, sometimes known as May Day and one of the few holidays I haven’t heard some humbug grouse about how it is a fabricated holiday forced upon us by the greeting card cartels.

On this International Workers’ Day, remember the old parable about how the world works:

A billionaire, a worker and an immigrant are sitting at a table with 1000 cookies. The billionaire takes 999 cookies and says to the worker, “watch out, that immigrant is going to take your cookie.”

On this day, I wish to share a few pictures from the 2018 backlog that I took when I was experimenting with focus stacking. Here are a few leftover images that weren’t involved in focus stacking:


Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks

Lily

Spoiled Naima
Look at that face!

Don’t think I don’t know that Naima is spoiled. But the record will show that I am by far, not the only person to spoil her.

I also realize that Naima poses better for pictures with other people that she does with me. I might start an Instagram account for Naima where she is getting pictures taken with people other than me.

An idea that was recently born when she posed perfectly for a selfie with Brandon’s lady friend KJ. Something she will next to never do with me.

Selfie Project – March

It has been awhile since we checked in with THE SELFIE PROJECT. I figured today was as good of a day as any to check out March before April is over.

I’m not sure I did more interesting things in March than I did in February or January where it felt like I never left the house. I think I’ve continued that in April. I actually even left the state in April!

Here are my favorites from March:


March 1, 2019
March 1

March 2, 2019
March 2

March 3, 2019
March 3

March 4, 2019
March 4

March 6, 2019
March 6

March 7, 2019
March 7

March 8, 2019
March 8

March 9, 2019
March 9

March 10, 2019
March 10

March 12, 2019
March 12

March 14, 2019
March 14

March 16, 2019
March 16

March 17, 2019
March 17

March 19, 2019
March 19

March 21, 2019
March 21

March 22, 2019
March 22

March 23, 2019
March 23

March 24, 2019
March 24

March 26, 2019
March 26

March 28, 2019
March 28

March 29, 2019
March 29

March 31, 2019
March 31

No doubt you already excited to see my April “adventures”.