Back in August I breakfasted at the Mason Jar in Eagan, Minnesota with Jesse, Bethany, and Nora. It was a weird experience as the Mason Jay has bizarre rules about coloring on their patio, but we made do.
Here are some pictures from the experience:
At the end of the day, I would eat there again. The food was pretty good. It was just the service that was a little suspect. Not bad, just suspect.
The next food adventure will involve the Tenderloin Trail 2.0.
Today is Bethany’s birthday, so happy birthday Bethany!
I hope your birthday has all the happiness you can handle!
After making a loop around the place I decided on a place called Hotsy Totsy*. A food truck, that in addition to having an amazing name serves a wide variety of loaded tots. They serve other stuff, but when going to a food truck called Hotsy Totsy, you get the tots and you like it!
And I did! In fact I more than liked the tots. I loved them. I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Tots. Kim got the Gyro Tots. Jesse didn’t get anything. Can’t take him anywhere.
Here are some pictures:
A picture of Elizabeth bailing that I didn’t realize I had taken.
How can so much goodness exist in such a little container?
I may have licked the paper. It is hard to say.
Kim couldn’t finish off her gyro tots, so she twisted my arm and I finished those off as well. I did love the Buffalo Chicken Tots, but I think I like the Gyro Tots even more. It’s a real Sophie’s Tots Choice.
After letting the tots settle we ambled down the street to get some ice cream being made by a John Deere, I don’t really know exactly what it is, thing. It doesn’t matter what it is. If it is John Deere, I’m onboard.
I stand by the old Ted Lasso quote:
Ice cream is the best. It’s kinda like seeing Billy Joel perform live. Never disappoints.
It wasn’t the best ice cream I’ve ever had, but it was still ice cream.
I’m not sure how much my tots cost because Kim bought them for my birthday. The ice cream was $5.00.
I can’t tell you much about Hotsy Totsy because their website isn’t the best, but it is definitely a food truck I would pursue if they were in my area!
The ice cream… there are better options around.
The next food adventure I’m going to share involves a bunch of Dutch nonsense. Delicious Dutch nonsense.
*Hotsy Totsy was heavily endorsed by Clevenger. This is historically a strike against it. I’ve never met anybody with such bad taste in food as Clevenger, but with Hotsy Totsy I think we may have turned a corner and found some common ground.
Today is Colleen’s birthday, so happy birthday Colleen!
I hope it is as magical as you want it to be!
On the health spectrum, this post is about a food item that couldn’t be more on the opposite end of the “healthy eating” spectrum than a tenderloin if it tried. Not that a tenderloin is the most unhealthy thing you can eat. That is probably cheesy fries. But it is no secret that any fried food is unhealthy. Delicious, but unhealthy.
Now a salad? They are usually pretty healthy. Unless you add unhealthy elements to it, like fried chicken. And then coat it with ranch or Caesar dressing. Or any salad dressing with the word “creamy” in it. However, I think we can all agree that ranch dressing does not belong on salad. It only belongs as a dipping sauce for things like onion rings and fried mushrooms and fried cheese and buffalo wings. Caesar salad doesn’t belong anywhere.
Ames recently had a new salad restaurant open. It is extremely unique. It is drive-thru only. Why? Because they grow all the greens inside the building.
This is what their website (https://www.claytonfarms.com/salads) says:
Welcome to Clayton Farms Salads, a drive-thru restaurant that is all about fresh, healthy, and smart eating. Our greens are grown onsite, ensuring that our salads and smoothies are the freshest in the world. Whether you’re on the go or simply looking for a quick and nutritious meal, we’ve got you covered with our delicious menu options. From bright and colorful salads, to refreshing and energizing smoothies, we’ve got everything you need, to fuel your day the healthiest way. So why wait? Swing through our drive-thru to taste the difference yourself, or to order delivery!
I think it is a brilliant idea! If you can keep up with demand. Despite that, I have a couple friends who loaded up their haterade with extra hate just to make sure they had enough hate for this restaurant. They are actively rooting against Clayton Farms Salads being successful. One has gone so far as to proclaim:
October of 2024, gentlemen. Mark me. “Salad Dreams” or whatever its called will have shuttered by then.
I have marked it on the calendar Jay.
They started with 4 salads and recently added a 5th salad:
+ Garden Salad
+ Caesar Salad
+ Crunch Asian Salad
+ Southwest Salad
+ Mediterranean Salad
To cut to the chase, it is the best salad(s) I’ve ever had in my life. The freshness of the greens is incredible and it makes a huge difference in the taste. I put the experience like this… it must be what it would be like to not be from Iowa, visit Iowa and then stop at a Peaches and Cream corn stand. Pick up some corn and go home and cook it. For them, it would be like eating corn for the first time in their life.
I’m not trying too hard to rely on Plato’s ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE for this example.
So let me put it another way. It is like the difference between cooking with produce you purchased at a big chain grocery store vs with ingredients you bought at a farmer’s market. If you know anybody that works in a grocery store warehouse, ask them about the room they use to ripen bananas. It will blow your mind.
Or one last example…
It was like the first time I got a watermelon in Muscatine County in the height of watermelon season.
That is what my first salad at Clayton Farms Salads was like. It was like I had never had a salad before. (By looking at me, it is possible you think that I’ve never had a salad in my life, but I love vegetables. I also love a good order of cheesy fries too.)
Here are some pictures of my Clayton Farms Salads experiences:
“Our greens are BETTER” is an understatement.
This guy is a member.
Southwest Salad
All the salads come with Salad Girl Dressing which is an organic line of dressings.
Even their forks are compostable.
Caesar Salad
Garden Salad
Farmer’s Punch – also delicious.
Crunchy Asian Salad
Mediterranean Salad
I’d rank the salads like this:
1. Garden Salad – romaine, sunflower microgreens, red onions, green onions, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, pistachios. and lemony herb dressing.
2. Crunch Asian Salad – romaine, pea microgreens, purple cabbage, edanmae, carrots, green onions, red bell peppers, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, crunchy chow mein noodles, toasted sesame ginger vinaigrette.
3. Mediterranean Salad – butterhead/arugula, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, garbanzo beans, red bell peppers, red onions, sliced almonds, lemony herb dressing.
4. Caesar Salad – romaine, broccoli microgreens, cucumber, parmesan cheese, croutons, lemony Caesar dressing.
5. Southwest Salad – butterhead, radish microgreens, orange & yellow bell pepper, black beans, red onion, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, butternut squash, avocado, pepitas, cilantro, chili limon dressing.
I’m not going to lie, when you add protein to the salad, it isn’t cheap. Each salad runs almost or over $15 after you add chicken. A dollar more if you add steak. At this point, I consider a meal that is under $15 as affordable. If I get a meal for less than $10, I alert the media.
The ultimate verdict is, would I pursue this meal? Yes I would. In fact, since I’m currently working in Ames 5 days a week, I pretty much eat here once a week.
You can find Clayton Farms Salads here:
2435 Grand Avenue
Ames, Iowa
They are open Monday through Saturday from 10 AM to 8 PM.
The next food adventure will be a road trip double dip.
I need to start today by wishing Nora a happy birthday, so happy birthday Nora!
I hope your birthday is filled with lots of candy and cake and ice cream! If not, I will buy you so much ice cream next time I see you.
Time to start sharing the real camera pictures from my work trip to Las Vegas. I took the backup camera to Vegas just cause I’m always leery of traveling on planes with the 1st string camera. Even though the bag never leaves my side. It is probably a mental block that I will never get over. We’ll see what happens next time I walk on a plane. In April.
I took enough pictures on Day 1 in Vegas to split them into to two posts. This is post 1.
Vegas Day 1 started in Boone. I got up and headed for the Des Moines International Airport a little after 9 AM for my 12:15 flight. I’m one of those people that gets to the airport early. Probably cause I don’t fly that much and probably because I get paid to be there early, sorta. That is how I interpret the travel rules.
I knew there was bad weather west of us and the potential that one of our flights could get cancelled. The good news is that they didn’t. The bad news is that a little after getting to the airport, I got the notification that the flight from Des Moines to Denver had been delayed. Which worked in my favor because the Des Moines International Airport is currently under construction right. They have taken away a bunch of the parking in the parking ramp to make room for employees to park. This meant I had to drive by the parking ramp and the Blue Lot and the Green Lot and the Red Lot and the Yellow Lot and the Indigo Lot and the Cyan Lot and the Polka Dot Lot and ended up all the way in the Gray Lot. A lot so far away from the airport terminal I think it might be in Norwalk. Possibly Cumming.
I took a 15 minute shuttle ride to the airport. It took me a minute but I finally located the Southwest check-in counter in the room with all the weird car rental places and checked my luggage. Two things here. First, I wasn’t crazy about flying Southwest. I haven’t flown Southwest since the last time I went to Vegas, which was almost 20 years ago. I haven’t heard good things about Southwest. They say the people on there are animals. But not in the millions of good ways that animals (in this scenario humans are not animals) are easily superior to humans. But in the bad ways where humans compare other humans to animals to make them seem lesser than. Second, I did buy new luggage for this trip. I don’t travel much in the manner that requires luggage, but the two trips I took in 2022 showed me that the luggage I have been using isn’t practical. Merely sentimental. I bought the new luggage off of Amazon because I had a Amazon gift from my computer mine anniversary. I can say, that while the walls of the luggage seem a little thin, so far I am digging the new luggage. I bought red luggage so they would be easy to spot in the baggage claim line and because they were $30 cheaper than more mundane colors. I don’t know why.
After getting through the security line without incident, I found my gate, grabbed a seat and discovered I was the first person there from the Computer Mine. I wasn’t there long before I got another notification that the flight had been delayed again. Now it was going to be over an hour late taking off. I took solace in the fact I had been reassured by the Southwest ticket lady that there were over 30 people transferring from our flight to the connecting flight in Denver to Las Vegas and there was no way that they would leave that many people behind.
While I was comforted by that information, one of the things that concerned me is that Southwest has no assigned seats. You have an assigned position to get into the plane and then once in there, it is every person for themself. I was worried that I would get there late for the connecting flight and lose any chance at getting a good seat. I’d end up in a middle seat. Nobody wants that. Not me. Not the person in the window seat. Not the person in the aisle seat. However, they hadn’t started boarding when we got to the connecting flight and I was able to grab a sweet spot in the emergency exit row!
If you don’t know, that means extra legroom! It is like 1st Class for those of us in steerage! Bingpot!
The flight into Vegas was a little rough because it was so windy. I didn’t get a snack or beverage service. That is how I determine if a flight was rough. By the time we got to the hotel, I was famished. The only sustenance I had knocked down was a bag of snack mix and 6 ounces of 7-Up on the flight from Des Moines to Denver.
We took a shuttle form the airport to Planet Hollywood, our home away from home for the next 5 days. Here is my review of Planet Hollywood:
It is kinda dirty. It is a little rundown. The big selling point is that it has what I would call a glorified mall. There is virtually no Hollywood artifacts or paraphernalia there. But for what we were there for, it worked great. The conference facilities and staff were great! And it is near places that are cool like the Bellagio, Paris, Caesar’s Palace, and The Flamingo.
After getting to my room, which had a breathtaking view of a parking garage, and organizing some stuff and claiming the bed nearest the breathtaking view (my roomie Tony didn’t come in until the next day so I got choice of beds) I connected with Lowell and we went to supper.
We walked down to Caesar’s Palace to look for a buffet, but we actually ended up in the Caesar’s Palace food court where we ate at Bobby’s Burgers. A restaurant that is connected to Bobby Flay. Who is some kind of chef of note, but he isn’t a raging douchebag like Gordon Ramsay, so you might not have heard of him. I’ve only heard of him because Faust used to be big into him back in the day.
I ordered a Bacon Crunchburger (Bacon, American Cheese, Potato Chips, Bobby’s Sauce – yeah not crazy about that name either), French Fries, and a Soft Drink. The price tag came to a little over $30.
THIRTY BUCKS!
I consider the Computer Mine to be generous with their per diems. I know it is set by the government, but I usually come back with a little extra coin jingling and jangling around in my pockets. This is mostly cause I don’t drink alcohol. In fact I was actually mostly off pop before this trip, but I fell of that wagon pretty dang hard in Vegas. I don’t think it is inaccurate to say I went on a regular Pepsi Cola Bender. We are almost 2 weeks out and I’m still weening myself back off the hard stuff.
The per diem I got for this trip was $288. The fact that I had just spent $30 for a food court burger caused me to take a step back. I expected this to be one of the cheapest meals I shoved in my face on this trip to Sin City. I wasn’t sure $288 was going to make it.
Dang!
After Day 1, I had an estimated $258 remaining in the per diem fund.
Maybe eating is overrated…
After the meal we walked around something I would describe as an open air mall that was between The Linq and The Flamingo. This is where I took the majority of the pictures I took on Day 1.
Here is the first collection:
There are few musicians I like lesson than Jimmy Buffett, but the man can market.
In-N-Out Burger was on Lowell and I’s list. It was the only thing that we crossed off our lists.
I wasn’t expecting there to be so many candy stores in Vegas.
Seeing the actual Vegas sign was on my list. This is the closest I came.
I do regret not going in here a little bit.
Not the Bellagio fountains.
This was so close to being my MUSIC photo for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
I have several more pictures to share from Day 1 that I’ll share at a future date. My best guess is March 17th, while I’m eating a Reuben from West Street Deli.
And nobody better give me any nonsense about letting the Reuben rest for a day and it somehow being better. Got it?
This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is SUNRISE, SUNSET:
What is a SUNRISE, SUNSET picture? It is a simply a picture of a SUNRISE or of a SUNSET. I’ve heard some grumbling this is a hard theme. The weather is bad. I go to bed at 6 shortly after eating my early bird special at the nursing home. I don’t like going outside. Whatever. Of course THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is hard sometimes. That is what makes it great. If it was easy everybody would do it.
“Maybe you will just have to get creative.” He muttered while sipping on a cocktail made out of tequila, orange juice and grenadine. Unmixed. In a tall glass. Served on the rocks. Sometimes garnished with a cherry and orange slice.
If getting a little lit doesn’t inspire you, maybe these example submission from when SUNRISE, SUNSET was a theme in days past will:
Kim Barker – Week 43
Stephanie Kim – Week 43
Michelle Haupt – Week 43
Christopher D. Bennett – Week 43
Happy photo harvesting!
A few months back I picked up some cakes and Jim and went to the Wolf Lodge near Kansas City for the birthday party of the triplets and Jonah. I didn’t get to spend much time there cause Jim is kind of like Cinderella. He expires after being away from home too long.
I also didn’t get many pictures because we drove 4 hours to catch the last 25 minutes of the party. The rest of the day was spent in the Wolf Lodge water park area and I didn’t take any pictures there.
Here are some of the pictures I took:
Despite its brevity, it was a good trip. I wish I had some pictures of the kids playing in the water park, but I didn’t get any. I wonder what will happen with the birthday parties this year?
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is BOOKS:
BOOKS! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a BOOKS image? Simply put, it is any image where the subject or a major compositional element is a BOOK or BOOKS.
Happy photo harvesting!
I need to start today off by wishing Jim a happy birthday!
Happy birthday Jim! I hope it is filled with all the joy that you desire!
It is the last Monday of the month, so it is a good time revisit the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE FAQ:
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!
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.
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 to 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.
It is time to break the SILENCE on whether or not SILENCE was a popular theme. For you to find out, you only have to keep scrolling.
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, January 23, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
1-Suzie Brannen – 1 week (2)
2-Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 1 week
3-Sabas Hernandez – 1 week
4-Jesse Howard – 1 week
5-Becky Parmelee – 1 week
6-Nathanial Brown – 2 weeks (3)
7-Mary Green – 2 weeks (2)
8-Monica Jennings – 2 weeks
9-Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
10-Mike Vest – 3 weeks
11-Tamara Peterson – 12 weeks
12-Brandon Kahler – 23 weeks
13-Linda Bennett – 26 weeks (2)
14-Sarah Toot – 27 weeks
15-Angie DeWaard – 31 weeks
16-Dawn Krause – 35 weeks (3)
17-Kim Barker – 41 weeks
18-Joe Duff – 42 weeks
19-Logan Kahler – 44 weeks (3)
20-Teresa Kahler – 53 weeks (3)
21-Carla Stensland – 53 weeks (2)
22-Micky Augustin – 55 weeks
23-Andy Sharp – 56 weeks
24-Bill Wentworth – 57 weeks
25-Cathie Morton – 61 weeks (2)
26-Elizabeth Nordeen – 62 weeks
27-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 64 weeks
28-Kio Dettman – 66 weeks
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) – 42 weeks
Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 32 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 54 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Iowa)
Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 56 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 63 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa)
Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 67 weeks
Kio Dettman (Iowa)
Kio Dettman (Iowa)
Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 27 weeks
Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 45 weeks
Logan Kahler (Iowa)
Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 28 weeks
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Georgia) – 65 weeks
Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 13 weeks
Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 58 weeks
Christopher D. Bennett
Cathie Morton (Florida) – 62 weeks
Cathie Morton (Florida)
Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 54 weeks
Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 36 weeks
Joe Duff (Texas) – 43 weeks
Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 24 weeks
Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Mike Vest (Iowa) – 4 weeks
Becky Parmelee (Arkansas) – 2 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 3 weeks
26 participants. Not a particularly popular theme. But not bad. SILENCE only silenced creative juices of a few people.
This week we had submissions taken in:
+ Arkansas
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas
Georgia is a new addition to the map. Making this year’s list:
+ Arkansas
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ Nevada
+ Missouri
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas
That is 10 states. 20% of the map. And I haven’t even contributed to the growth of the map at all!
This week I took my pictures about 2 miles from my front door. But Shannon added Georgia to the map!
It wasn’t all good news though. 3 streaks bit the dust today. Jen couldn’t extender her streak to 2. Mary’s streak is no more at 2. As is Sara’s streak.
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:
BOOKS! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a BOOKS image? Simply put, it is any image where the subject or a major compositional element is a BOOK or BOOKS.
While thinking about possible subjects for your BOOKS image, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt you will come up with a great image:
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
-Jane Austen
I look forward to seeing your interpretation!
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 BOOKS in this place that likes to pretend to be book smart next Monday.
Happy New Year to those of you sheeple that follow the Gregorian Calendar. I for one, moved to Unix time years ago. So if I have a birthday party this year (Sara wants me to have one, but I doubt it happens) the invites will list the time of the event in Unix Time, like an adult. But I don’t want to tell you what calendar to use.
I think you should look at the options. By the Gregorian Calendar, when this post publishes, it is the year 2022. But there are other calendars.
Here is a list of other calendars and what year it is if you use those calendars:
Hebrew – 5783
Islamic – 1444
Chinese – 4659
Coptic – 1739
Japanese – Reiwa 4
British Regnal – 1 Cha. 3
Buddhist – 2566
Nanakshahi – 554
Hindu – 5123
Juche – 111
Byzantine – 7531
Roman – 2775
Holocene – 12022
Unix Time (like an adult): 1672531199 (roughly)
As you can tell, Unix Time is clearly superior.
Even though I don’t celebrate New Years, I do like to give holiday Power Rankings.
Here are my champagne power rankings:
CHAMPAGNE POWER RANKINGS
10. All champagne is trash.
9. All champagne is trash.
8. All champagne is trash.
7. All champagne is trash.
6. All champagne is trash.
5. All champagne is trash.
4. All champagne is trash.
3. All champagne is trash.
2. All champagne is trash.
1. Champere
So Happy New Years to those who celebrate it. I will have been asleep a couple hours when the bell tolls for 2022. I’m old, lame, and don’t get invited to adult parties.
Time to reveal the December image for the 2023 Photography 139 Gregorian Calendar:
The December image is a picture of the old mill in Independence, Iowa. I took it while harvesting the town signs of Buchanan County for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. In retrospect, it isn’t a great image for the brutal colds and snows of December. But it was the last selected image and December was the last month that didn’t have an image. These things tend to sort themselves out.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M4
DATE: May 28, 2022 – 9:41 AM
LENS: Tamron 17-28 f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 28mm
APERTURE: f/9
EXPOSURE: 1/320
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +.3
I have no calendar images to share tomorrow. Or again until December. If the Photography 139 Calendar exists again in 2024.
This year when I handed a calendar to somebody I asked them to pick a favorite image. Then I photographed them with their favorite image. I also asked people that I didn’t hand deliver a calendar to to pick a favorite image and then send me a picture of them with that image. Like 3 people did that. So good for them? Not that such treachery might factor in who gets a calendar next year…
I forgot to do this for the attendees of the Westhaven Christmas, so this won’t be held against them. Maybe Nate. I did ask him and he said “No problem” and then never sent me a picture.
Any way here is a collection of, but not comprehensive collection of pictures of people with their favorite pictures from the calendar:
Bethany and Nora
Colleen
Also Colleen
Also, also Colleen
Andy
Baier (Jason)
More Baiers (Olivia)
More Baiers (Ben)
More Baiers (Carrie and J.J.)
More Baiers (Will)
Russell
Michelle
Elizabeth
Willy
Micky
Kio
Kim
Brandon
Teresa
Logan
Elainie
Sabas
Johnathan
Jason
Carla
Dawn
Lockners
Gorshes
Scott
Anders
Becky
Alexis
Jesse
Jay
Nader
It is possible more pictures might trickle in, if people I mailed calendars to haven’t received them yet. I think every picture got picked except for January. Poor January. Might try this again next year. We’ll see if the people like it.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is BODY PART:
IT IS POSSIBLE I MIGHT ROAD TRIP ON MONDAY. IF I DO, THERE WILL BE NO ADDITIONAL REMINDERS. YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!!!
BODY PART! What a great final theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a BODY PART image? Simply put, it is a picture where a major compositional element of the image is a BODY PART. Doesn’t have to be your BODY PART. Could be somebody else’s. It could belong to an animal. There are so many BODY PART(s) to choose from! Heads. Shoulders. Knees. Toes. Just to name a few.
Happy photo harvesting!
Today I reveal the March image for the 2023 Photography Calendar.
I took this picture of this American Gothic barn near Mount Vernon, Iowa on a TOWN SIGN PROJECT road trip with Michelle on November 14, 2021.
Here is a picture of us standing in front of it:
Here are some fun facts about the picture:
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M2
LENS: Sigma 28-75 F/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 53 mm
FIELD OF VIEW: 37.5 degrees
APERTURE: f/4.5
SHUTTER: 1/200
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +.3
I also Photoshopped a powerline out of the image… cause I hate powerlines.
Hello I’m looking for a friend I lost some time ago
Your mother says she wants her girl back home
Sometimes you think you’ve found yourself you really only lost yourself
Or maybe you’re afraid to be alone
-Brandi Carlile
Thursday is for flowers! Today I’m sharing the final collection of flowertography pictures I took on August 14, 2022.
Nora was infatuated with moonflowers, which shows she has great taste!
More flower pictures next Thursday!
Another month down and another month of THE SELFIE PROEJCT in the books. I think I had a pretty active August. At least in spurts. With Pufferbilly Days and the State Fair and some much needed vacation all in August, I did some things man.
I don’t anticipate September being anywhere as busy, but hopefully I’ll do some cool stuff this month.
Here are some of my favorites from August for THE SELFIE PROJECT:
August 2
August 3
August 4
August 5
August 6
August 8
August 9
August 11
August 12
August 13
August 14
August 16
August 17
August 18
August 19
August 20
August 21
August 24
August 25
August 26
August 27
August 28
August 29
August 31
Of course there can only be one selfie that represents THE SELFIE PROJECT every day, but I did have a busy August, so here are the many alternates:
You might be thinking, “That is a lot of pictures with ice cream!” There is a reason for that. The reason isn’t because I love ice cream, but that is probably the base level reason. I’ll explain the real reason in a future post. Or I won’t. What is important for you to know is that your humble narrator is a champion. A ice cream champion. Also, Willy and Jesse owe me dinner.
You also might be thinking, “How many gray t-shirts do you own?” The answer is, plenty.
Finally you might be thinking, “You need to retire that green t-shirt.” Yeah, that is true enough.
While I’m still not ready to reveal what picture got into the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon and what “award” it received, I am ready to share some pictures from Baby Got Rack’s day at the Iowa State Fair.
It was mostly great. We won 1st Place in our category (Combo/Specialty) and also won 1st Place in Showmanship. The only slight down is that we once again didn’t come home with the literal crown they give to Best of Show. That once again went to the guy that won Beef. Scott says that Beef doesn’t always win Best in Show. Scott is wrong about this, but we didn’t qualify for Beef so we couldn’t enter Beef. Anyways, this is one of the internal debates with the team. Like how some people on the team don’t realize that lemonade sucks. But what can you do?
Here are some pictures from the day:
It was a big day for Boone, which is low-key becoming the Barbecue Capital of the World. In addition to Scott’s TWO wins, Rashawn Parker of Boone captained Team Parker to 1st Place in Team. Sean Van Cannon of Boone also came home with 1st Place in Poultry. Just getting to the State Fair through the Boone County Fair is a gauntlet!
If you would like to peruse all the pictures from Baby Got Rack’s 2022 Season, click on the link below:
It was an up and down season that ended on a high. We will be ready to go in 2023.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is WEEKENDS:
WEEKENDS! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
But what is a WEEKENDS photo? It is simply a picture taken of something you do on WEEKENDS. Or it could simply be of something you do this coming WEEKEND(S). So taking your picture this WEEKEND(S) is probably your best bet.
Happy photo harvesting!
