Hitting up the 2018 backlog. Here is a collection of pictures I took on May 5 on a trip to Dickcissel Park with Naima:
There are plenty of other pictures of Naima in the 2018 backlog. Plenty more!
There were a decent number of submissions for ABSTRACT this week. Several of them came with a question mark attached, “is this ABSTRACT?”
I always give the same response to such inquiries. It only matters if you think it is ABSTRACT.
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk tommyrot about how I’m not very helpful. You came to see the submissions:
ART! What a great theme! But what is an ART photo? An ART photo is any photo of a piece of ART or a being engaged in creating ART.
As always, I look forward to seeing your interpretations.
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.
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 arty Monday.
Happy New Year to people who celebrate such things.
I like to look at some meaningless statistics every 250 posts and I also look at fairly meaningless year end statistics.
Just so happens that I get to combine them today!!
Here is both a year in review and a celebration that I have made it to 3252 blog posts. I was on the Alamo Bowl Road Trip visiting submarines, cults, and reality television stars when post #3250 came around, so I hope you can excuse the tardiness.
The first thing I want to look at are the most popular CATEGORIES in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”.
Top 10 Journal Entry Categories
1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Jesse – 361
6. Photography – 355
7. Shannon – 320
8. Teresa – 296
9. Black & White – 291
10. Carla – 280
Top 10 People Categories
1. Jesse – 361
2. Shannon – 320
3. Teresa – 296
4. Carla – 280
5. Jay – 279
6. Mom – 277
7. Derrick – 256
8. Willy – 227
9. Vest – 221
10. Jen – 209
Top 10 Not-People Categories
1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Photography – 355
6. Black & White – 291
7. Road Trip – 262
8. Personal Photo Project – 261
9. Life – 234
10. Nature – 215
“Photography” and “Life” are general categories that I have been working on eliminating as I go back and restore historical “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory. Hopefully they will have both dropped off the Top 10 Lists by journal entry #3500.
If you are wondering how to become a Top 10 person on this list. The easiest way is to submit to the Weekly Photo Challenge. After that, the best way is to volunteer to model and photo assist for photography projects. Then after that, I would suggest going on road trips with me or attending Iowa State athletic events with me or going on road trips to Iowa State athletic events with me.
The people that are right outside of the Top 10 are:: Sara, Kim, Dawn, Becky, and Nader.
If you are looking for a goal for 2019, you could do worse than trying to crack the Photography 139 Top Ten People Category List. You obviously could do way, way, way, way, way, way, way better too.
Now we will turn out eye towards 2018.
Top 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries of 2018 by Views
1. 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT – 48,722
2. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – 37,614
3. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – ALTERNATES – 33,622
4. 2008 – JANUARY – JUNE – 26,032
5. SELFIE PROJECT – 2017 – 23,141
6. HOUSTON MISSION TRIP – 2018 – 22,046
7. SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP – 2017 – 21,868
8. BOONE COUNTY FAIR CONTEST NOMINEES – 2018 – 17,211
9. SAYDIE HOWARD – CLASS OF 2017 – 14,808
10. IOWA STATE CYCLONES FOOTBALL – 2018
The 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Images by Views
On the Instagram, these were my 9 Most Popular Photos based on Likes:
My theme for my 2018 Instagram posts was Black & White. My theme for 2019 will be HDR Toning. Also, I will be bringing back THE SELFIE PROJECT to Instagram in 2019.
You can follow me on Instagram here:
I entered 3 photo contests with the following results:
Purple Ribbon – Boone County Fair
Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair
Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair
Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair
Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair
Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair
Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair
Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair
1st Place Photoshop – Pufferbilly Days
1st Place Photojournalism – Pufferbilly Days
3rd Place Hidden Treasures of Boone County – Pufferbilly Days
Last note:
My goal for 2019 is the same as it was in 2018:
I’m gonna step my game up and get what is coming to me.
Good luck in 2019 everybody!
I have to confess that this is one of the saddest blog posts I’ve ever had the solemn duty to post. It seems that next to nobody out there has any FRIENDS. At least not any FRIENDS that they would be willing photography.
Or perhaps the fault lies in me and I have very few FRIENDS. I do have many failings. Sorry Clarence.
Due to the extreme simplicity of this theme, I refuse to accept the “holidays” as an excuse. Perhaps I should throw a birthday party (for myself) in 2019 just to establish that I do in fact have FRIENDS and to help out the many people out there that apparently don’t have any FRIENDS.
Despite the general lack of camaraderie that is out in the world today, “An Artist’s Notebook” will break new ground today. Today marks the first ever joint submission, at least that I can recall.
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk about the lack of participation rates. You came here to see the lack of submissions:
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:
ABSTRACT! What a great theme! This is one of the easiest things on the big board. Not as easy as FRIENDS, but pretty darn tooting easy! An ABSTRACT image is an image where there isn’t a clearly defined subject. Taking pictures of things like lights out of focus or that are moving are excellent ways to make an ABSTRACT image.
I look forward to seeing your interpretations!
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
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 abstract Monday.
The images in the folder 09-23-08 are a little bit all over the place. There are pictures from a Little White Lye Soap sales event. Pictures from Alexis reveling in athletic glory. Plus a sticker given to me by Janice. Finally a strange sculpture that I think is uniquely Midwestern.
Have a looksie:
All of Alexis’ medals came from a gymnastics meet. A sport she would have no doubt dominated, but fortunately she had the good sense to leave it behind in her youth.
I believe I placed that sticker on the side of my work computer. That was 3 work computers ago, so who knows where that sticker resides now.
By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:
Next weekend’s stroll down memory lane will involve the Des Moines Regatta.
The images in the folder 09-21-08 run the gamut.
There are pictures from Steve’s garden, pictures of my Aunt Linda, pictures of Brandon from his Senior Pictures Photo Shoot, and a picture of the table that became my kitchen table, eventually.
The group pictures are from a Majors Family Reunion. Those don’t happen any longer. Although I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed going to them, I can say that I am kind of sad that they are gone. I guess I am part of the problem.
By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to add the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:
Next weekends walk down memory lane will involve Little White Lye Soap and it will also involve Alexis.
A couple Sundays back the Boone First United Methodist Church had our annual Christmas Pageant.
Before the Christmas Pageant was a Soup Supper that was a fundraiser for the Youth Group’s Mission Trip to Rapid City next June.
Here are some pictures from the night:
Worried you didn’t get a chance to help support the Rapid City Mission Trip? Don’t worry. There are at least 2 more fundraisers for you to support.
Stay tuned for more information.
I took Naima to Dickcissel back in May. Nader joined us on that day.
Nader joined Willy as the only person to join Naima on our trips to Dickcissel Park. Most people are afraid of the snakes and the mud.
Most people are soft:
The last time I published pictures of Naima that I took while I was driving, I was told that I was brave. That is all the encouragement I need to keep doing it!
I’m sure you are wondering if I’m every going to publish pictures that aren’t of Naima again. Don’t worry, I’ll feed you baby birds.
For those that can’t get enough pictures of Naima. Don’t worry. I’ll feed you baby birds.
I still haven’t got back to THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, so instead of that, enjoy these pictures of Naima riding in a car.
Yes, I was driving while I took these pictures. I’m pretty sure that is safe.
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Here is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SPORTS/GAMES:
A SPORTS/GAMES photo is any photo that involves creatures involved in SPORTS/GAMES. Or a pictures of SPORTS/GAMES equipment.
Happy photo harvesting!