Category Archives: Family

Fuzzy Cuteness

June 17, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

As I promised, after two days of having to look at disgusting Coca-Cola products, I would reward you with fuzzy cuteness. If I am nothing, I am a man of my word!

Fuzzy Cuteness

A week or so back, I was in the backyard with my legendary hunting pooch Naima. We were in the process of putting away a tarp that I was drying out. As I picked up the tarp, Naima started going crazy. After I moved the tarp I uncovered one of her favorite toys. I naturally assumed this is what she wanted so badly. I pointed it out to her, but she ignored it and she kept barking.

I turned around to see what she was all jacked up about. Turns out having fallen out of the tarp was this cute little baby possum.

After snapping a few photos, I placed the tarp over him and let him be. Despite the advice of legendary outdoorsman and animal lover Micky Augustin to just hit it with a shovel and throw it in the garbage.

When Naima woke me up at 5:30 in the morning the next day (as is our custom), I went outside and removed the tarp. Baby Possum was gone. Having moved on to spread his fuzzy cuteness to the rest of the world.

I hope our paths can cross again and and if they do I’m sure he will give me a knowing glance that says, “Hey pal. Thanks for not hitting me in the head with a shovel and throwing me in the garbage. That was doing a brother a solid.”

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: Sony SLT-A65V
ISO: 500
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE: 1/100
DATE: 06/09/2016 – 19:50
LATITUDE: 42.05525°
LONGITUDE: -93.87058°
PHOTO ASSISTANT: Naima
PHOTO EDITING SOUNDTRACK: “My Name Is” by Eminem

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 20

Even though I can’t find a good glass of it in Kansas or Minnesota or anywhere else I may travel outside of Iowa, what do I always drink with my breakfast?

ANSWER: CHOCOLATE MILK

BONUS

What decidedly Iowa food item do Scottie D. and I travel the backroads of the Cyclone State to eat, rate, and seek out the best of?

ANSWER: Tenderloin

Angie, Becky, Black & White, Carla, Flat Earth Joe, Jodie, Steph, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 39 – SKY/CLOUDS

June 13, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

This week’s theme seemed to really inspire lots of people. Including first time contributor and conspiracy theory enthusiast Joe Lynch. Who wanted it known that those aren’t clouds in his picture. They are chem trails. Dropped by “them” on the “masses” to dumb us down or make us easier to control or more violent or something. Wake up people!

Here are the submissions for SKY/CLOUDS:

Joe Lynch

Angie DeWaard

Christopher D. Bennett

Carla Stensland 1

Carla Stensland 2

Jodie Bennett 1

Jodie Bennett 2

Stephanie Kim 1

Stephanie Kim 2

Stephanie Kim 3

Stephanie Kim 4

Becky Perkovich 1

Becky Perkovich 2

Mike Vest

An impressive collection of submissions methinks.

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!

BLUE!

This should be easy enough. Almost everybody has access to something BLUE. Blue is even an emotion. My inbox should be just packed full of BLUE submissions.

If you normally don’t pay attention to HOUSEKEEPING, you might want to this week. Or you might be disappointed next week.

HOUSEKEEPING

MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. 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.
2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge. 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.

MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nothing new to report on this front. However, if you are reading these words and don’t have a Photography 139 email subscription. Let this guy know. I’ll get you hooked up!

MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SCHEDULING DIVISION

I will be in Milwaukee next Monday for my church’s Youth Group Mission Trip. The deadline for BLUE will not change. However, the submissions will not be published next Monday. More like Friday night or Saturday when I return. However, at 12:01 PM next Monday, the week’s theme will publish and you can begin working in earnest on it.

MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 FACE BOOK IS THE DEVIL DIVISION

Just a heads up that I probably won’t be publishing a link to this here post today. Any time there is a mass shooting I stay away from Facebook for a couple days. Considering the nature of this latest symptom of our country’s disease, I’m sure Facebook is even worse than normal with posts that are racist, homophobic, scapegoating the mental health system, and highly inaccurate with its interpretation of the Second Amendment. These types of incidents always just make me sad. I don’t need anger pile on top of it.

I like to think that humans are mostly decent people. Even if most of the evidence seems to suggest otherwise. Seems like the timing of the Mission Trip is perfect.

That’s all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune again next Monday.

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 17

How many biological siblings do I have? Be very specific.

ANSWER: 2.5

BOUNS

What are their names?

ANSWER: TERESA, CARLA, & JODIE

Animals, Art, Black & White, Flowers, Naima, Road Trip, WPC - Alternate

Don’t Believe Everything that You Breathe

June 9, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

Here lieth a few PERSPECTIVE attempts that weren’t quite up to snuff.

Such a sad and pathetic bunch.

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 14

This year I will be going on my 5th Mission Trip with my church’s Youth Group. Name the 4 places I have already gone: (Hint: 1 place twice)

ANSWER: KANSAS CITY, MINNEAPOLIS, KANSAS CITY, MARTIN (SOUTH DAKOTA)

BONUS

Where is the Mission Trip going this year?

ANSWER: MILWAUKEE

Automobiles, Black & White, Lowell, Nate, Road Trip, Ruins, Travel

Rust Bucket – Strong City Kansas

June 7, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

Another automobile I found fascinating in the car graveyard that is Strong City, Kansas.

I have maybe a couple more pictures left to share from beautiful (cough, cough) to me Strong City, Kansas.

Added a new category in PARTICULARS since I love minutia.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 100
FOCAL LENGTH: 18mm
APERTURE: f/6.3
EXPOSURE: 1/160
DATE: 04/03/2016 – 10:46
LATITUDE: 38.39543°
LONGITUDE: -96.53934°
PHOTO ASSISTANT: Nate Miller
PHOTO EDITING SOUNDTRACK: “Straight, No Chaser” – Thelonious Monk from the album STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 13

I was born with limited musical skills. What instrument did I play poorly in the Boone High School Band?

ANSWER: TROMBONE

BONUS

Who was my high school locker partner?

ANSWER: Lowell Davis

Angie, Animals, Becky, Jodie, Kim, Steph, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 38 – PERSPECTIVE

June 6, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This week ended up being something of a rebound week. All the negative emotions that people felt towards EMOTIONS was left behind and they expressed positive emotions towards PERSPECTIVE. Particularly exciting this week is we have a submission from first time contributor Stephanie Kim. Stephanie lives the farthest east and by far the largest city of any other contributors, so I’ll be excited to see her perspective on things in the future!

The submissions for PERSPECTIVE:

Stephanie Kim 1

Stephanie Kim 2

Becky Perkovich

Jodie Bennett

Christopher D. Bennett

Angie DeWaard

Kim Barker

SKY/CLOUDS

SKY/CLOUDS! But what does that mean? While your submission probably should include the sky and/or some clouds, don’t feel that the sky or cloud has to be the focus of your composition. That being said, if the sky or cloud isn’t the main feature of your composition, it should add to the emotional impact of your image.

All that noise being said, feel free to interpret the theme in any way that you see fit.

HOUSEKEEPING

MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE RULES DIVISION

Don’t blow by this because you know the rules. There is a slight rule change in there for going forward as my lunch hour at the day job has changed.

1. 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.
2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com> by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge. 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.

THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nothing new to report on this front. However, if you are reading these words and don’t have a Photography 139 email subscription. Let a guy know. I’ll get you hooked up!

That’s all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune again next Monday. Hopefully with lots of looks at our flat earth’s sky.

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 11

I was lucky to be accepted and graduate from the most beautiful and prestigious university in the land. What was my major?

ANSWER: Political Science

BONUS

What was my minor?

ANSWER: History

Alexis, Anders, Carla, Derrick, Elainie, Formal Portrait

Elainie, Josh, Lucy

June 3, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

Recently Elainie came home for Alexis’ graduation. She brought with her Josh and their pooch Lucy.

We got the pleasure of Elainie being home for a week, but Josh had to leave after a day for he was deployed to Gitmo. It will be a long 9 months for Elainie.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 400
FOCAL LENGTH: 22mm
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE: 1/60
DATE: 05/21/2016 – 22:32
NO GPS DATA RECORDED
PHOTO ASSISTANT: Carla Stensland

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 9

I was recently thanked in the foreword of Anders Runestad’s book (I CANNOT, YET I MUST) on the making of one of the worst movies ever made. What movie is the book about?

ANSWER: ROBOT MONSTER

BONUS

I’ve been in many clubs over the years from the Dawg Pound to Nature Squad to Hoodie Club. However, only one fake band. What was the name of the gastronomically monikered fake band name that featured me, Rick Poore, and Derrick Gorshe that fake rocked the Boone Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire in the mid 90s?

ANSWER: Bratwurst Explosion

Angie, Animals, Black & White, History, Movies, Naima, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 37 – EMOTIONS

May 30, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

EMOTIONS was a profoundly unpopular theme. I’m sure destined to hit the cutting room floor if this challenge extends into a second year. Maybe it was the holiday weekend. Maybe people were like feelings? Actually feeling something? No thanks! Back to my mass consumerism, thank you very much*. Either way, Angie was the only person that kept this theme from being a shutout and being the first strike against this challenge.

Here are the submissions for EMOTIONS:

Christopher D. Bennett

Angie DeWaard

Becky Perkovich

This week’s theme is…

PERSPECTIVE

Back when I was compiling the list of 52 themes, I thought about breaking PERSPECTIVE into LOW PERSPECTIVE and HIGH PERSPECTIVE, but I thought it would be interesting, given the choice where people would go. The level of a rat or the level of an eagle. Both animals forage through trash for food, but their perspective on the world is totally different.

However, being high or low isn’t the only definition of perspective. As always, feel free to define perspective any way that you want.

HOUSEKEEPING

RULES

1. 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.
2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by noon on the Monday of the challenge. 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.

That’s all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune again next Monday. Hopefully with a lot of new perspectives on the world.

*Just wanted to make sure everybody knows that I’m a minimalist and that I’m super excited about the new movie coming out about my people.

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 7

Quentin Tarantino famously was once quoted as saying: “When I’m getting serious about a girl I show her RIO BRAVO and she better (expletive deleted) like it.” What one of my 3 favorite movies do I use as a test of the quality of the people in my life? They better (expletive deleted) like it!

ANSWER: A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

BONUS

What are my other 2 favorite movies? To earn the point, you must include the year of release.

KING KONG (1933) & PSYCHO (1960)

Carla, History, Mom, Teresa

03-28-07

May 28, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

These archive images are from the folder 03-28-07.

It includes a couple pictures of Carla and Teresa putting in the tile in Mom’s back entry way.

Next Saturday’s folder will include one of my all-time favorite images.

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 6

I rose to a certain amount of prominence in the 5th Grade based on a series of creative writing stories that featured a rabbit with super powers that lived in Carrot Castle deep in the heart of Raspberry Forest. Name both the rabbit’s super hero name and alter ego:

ANSWER: Superfluff & Fluffy

BONUS

The character was based on a rabbit that was a present from my cousin Becky. When I attained ownership of the rabbit, what was its unfortunate name?

ANSWER: Hawkeye

Flowers, Macro, Mom

Hath a Charm for Pain and Woe

May 27, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

My Mom’s neighbor has a patch of poppies next to the electric pole in her yard. I took a few photos of them the other day. Here is one of them:

Poppies are another flower that comes and goes too soon.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 100
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm
APERTURE: f/4.5
EXPOSURE: 1/125
DATE: 05/22/2016 – 17:04
LATITUDE: 42.05607°
LONGITUDE: -93.87495°
PHOTO ASSISTANT: None

Alexis, History

Get In and Fight for Fame Boone Toreadors!

May 26, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I got to see good family friend Lisa Person at Alexis’ Graduation Party on Sunday. A couple days later she dropped off some old senior picture proofs at my Mom’s house. Thought I’d scan and share.

I know it is the trendy thing to look at your old high school pictures and be ashamed, but I gotta say. I’m awesome now. I was pretty awesome back then as well.