Category Archives: Family

Animals, Flowers, Macro, Mom, Naima, Photo Journal, Railroad, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 49

September 28, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back I was messing with some camera settings and decided it was a perfect time to crank out Page 49 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 49 – Take a photograph that shouts.

By a photograph that shouts, it is a picture that is bold in its colors, contrast, and sharpness. I jacked these settings up all the way on my camera and photographed some flowers in the Photography 139 flowerbeds and at my Mom’s house.

While only one picture can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take several others. Here are some of those I like, but won’t be in the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL:

Next time we check-in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will check out Page 48.

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This is your weekly reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ARCHITECTURE.

ARCHITECTURE

An ARCHITECTURE photo is any photo that has to do with a building or a man-made structure. Inside or out. Doesn’t matter.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Carla

High-fed; Long-lived; and Sociable and Free

September 27, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Recently Carla texted me to let me know that there was a collection of egrets hanging out in a field she passes on her way to work.

Shortly thereafter, I went out there looking for them. I really only got a couple decent egret pictures, but I did get a few decent pelican pictures that were hanging out nearby.

The pelicans were photographed at the Jay Carlson Wildlife Area. A place that I’ll definitely visit when I finally pull the trigger on the drone. However, that is months away.

Brandon, Football, Iowa State, K.J., Music, Street Photography

Iowa State 26 Akron 13

September 23, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Yesterday, Iowa State had an emotional football game.

Before the game, there was a moment of silence for Celia Barquin Arozamena. They placed her picture in the endzone where she would have stood to be honored as the Female Athlete of the Year. Both the Iowa State and Akron football teams wore CBA decals on their helmets. They played a video tribute to her on the video board. The team came out with a Spanish flag. At least 70% of the fans wore yellow/gold to honor her memory. The Iowa State University Cyclone Varsity Marching Band spelled out her initials on the field.

The game was almost an afterthought and it played kind of like one. Iowa Sate beat Akron 26-13 in a somewhat lackluster game.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Next Saturday Iowa State is on the road against TCU. Kickoff is at 6 PM. As always, you are welcome to come watch the game with me in the Union Street Theater.

Candid Portrait, Jesse, Nature, Photoshop, Road Trip, Sarah Toot

The Great Eclipse Failure of ’17 – Tres

September 19, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of eclipse photos from my trip to Missouri to watch the eclipse with Jesse, Sarah, Tim, Mike, and Adam.

That is the end of the eclipse pictures until the next eclipse. About time to start making plans for it now!

Carla, Cathie, Fisheye, Michelle, Micky, Nature, Tamara, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 157 – PERSPECTIVE

September 17, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Here we are. Starting a new 52 weeks of themes. I like to think back at all we’ve accomplished. Really puts things in PERSPECTIVE.

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

Carla Stensland

Tamara Peterson

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

Michelle Haupt

Micky Augustin

Mike Vest

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:

BOREDOM!

BOREDOM! What a great theme! But what is a BOREDOM photo? I snaked this theme from THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT. A BOREDOM photo is any photo of somebody that is in the throes of BOREDOM or any activity you do when you are fighting BOREDOM.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A 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 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 bored Monday.

Animals, Black & White, Jay, Macro, Nora, Photo Journal, Ruins, Self-Portrait, WPC - Submissions

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 55

September 14, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back Jay sent me an enigmatic message about archaeological photography. After drilling down, I figure out he was talking about taking pictures of a recently abandoned apartment in his building. An apartment that the former occupants left in less than stellar conditions.

One Sunday after a post church meal with the family I grabbed a camera and went over to Jay’s apartment building for a tour of Apartment 4. After a quick look around, I knew that somewhere in this mess was a perfect subject for Page 55 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 55 – ‘I am at war with the obvious.’ William Eggleston. Join Eggleston’s war.

Here is the idea for this page in THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT from the tips in the back.

Sunsets, pretty flowers, and beaches. These are ‘obvious’ subjects offering a conventional idea of beauty. Instead, hunt down more unusual, surprising subjects-the sort that only come alive when they are photographed.

Only one picture can physically be adhered into the physical manifestation of THE PHOTO JOURNAL, however I did take several other pictures in Apartment 4. Here are the pictures that I like, but won’t be place in THE PHOTO JOURNAL.

Next time we check in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will probably check in with Page 40 or Page 47 or Page 111.

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Here is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is PERSPECTIVE.

A PERSPECTIVE photo is any photo that involves a different perspective from the way you normally see the world. Above where you normally see the world. Below where you normally see the world. Another example of perspective is making something small look big by putting it in the foreground and something large in the background. This is called forced perspective.

PERSPECTIVE!

Happy photo harvesting!

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Jesse, Nature, Road Trip, Sarah Toot

The Great Eclipse Failure of ’17 – Dos

September 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Here are more pictures from our mostly failed trip to Saint Joseph, Missouri to see the Solar Eclipse back in 2017.

These pictures aren’t exactly in chronological order because I used 2 camera on this day and I didn’t have the foresight to synchronize their clocks.

There is one more set of solar eclipse photos in the hopper.

Andy, Animals, Candid Portrait, Cathie, Kim, Micky, Nora, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 156 – HOBBIES

September 10, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This ends year 3 of the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE reboot. It still seems popular enough to head onto year 4. I’ve decided not divulge the 52 themes for year 4. You’ll just have to react as the come your way.

There was a good amount of submissions for HOBBIES, but you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about submission rates. You came to see the submissions:

Andy Sharp

Tamara Peterson

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

Micky Augustin

PERSPECTIVE!

PERSPECTIVE! What a great theme! But what is a PERSPECTIVE photograph. A PERSPECTIVE photo is an photo take that isn’t at the normal straight on view of a human. Humans certainly have varying heights, but the idea is either to get a low PERSPECTIVE by getting down lower than your normal perspective. Or getting up higher for a HIGH perspective than you would normally view. Or to look at your subject from a different PERSPECTIVE than normal. Another type of PERSPECTIVE photo is a fixed PERSPECTIVE photo. You take an object that is small and put it close to the camera and a large object in the background and make them appear to be the same size. A common example of this picture is when you see people touch tall building in the pictures.

As always, I look forwarding to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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 in perspective Monday.

Contests, Dad, History, Mom, Pufferbilly Days, Railroad, Ruins

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

September 6, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

As the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest polling was drawing closer, I felt that I should go out and take one more picture for the Hidden Boone County Treasures.

I knew I wanted to take a picture of the Mill Creek Stone Bridge. It is located near what was once The Kate Shelley Museum. I suppose that it probably still is The Kate Shelley Museum, but I can’t imagine a day in the future where it is open again.

The Boone Historical Society has become something of a town embarrassment I’m told. Which makes me sad because I grew up somewhat in its shadow. On one of the bookshelves (humble brag, I know how to read) in my bedroom I still have an extensive collection of Trail Tales from the 80s. A magazine put out by the Boone Historical Society. My Dad was a frequent contributor.

From what I know of the debacle, The Boone Historical Society recently decided to close down the Mamie Eisenhower Birthplace. The director had a whiz-bang plan of turning it into a bed & breakfast. Which if you’ve ever been inside the house, you would know is a pretty terrible idea.

This raised the dander of the former members of a separate historical society that used to run the Eisenhower Birthplace because they sold the house to the Boone Historical Society for a $1.

Apparently meetings got pretty heated. Enough so, and for no apparent reason, they started having armed guards at them. Whenever guns get involved, you know it has gotten stupid.

The city and the county started withholding their funding for the Historical Society.

The Historical Society then sent out some kind of pledge to its members asking them to pledge to “stop talk so much trash about us” in the social media world. I’m sure that worked really well for them. Because telling people to “stop talking about how bad we are at our jobs because it makes us look bad at our jobs” seems like a sound strategy. Seems like something Donnie Moscow would try to do. A pledge my Mom refused to sign.

It recently came to a head, where due to lack of funding, the Historical Society had to terminate its director, administrative assistant, and cleaning crew. They also announced that they will have to put the Eisenhower Birthplace on the market.

I don’t know what the future of the Boone County Historical Society holds, but I imagine a major re-direction is on the horizon. Hopefully maybe some day they will put some work into the Kate Shelley Museum.

So under that cloud, I sojourned out to Moingona to photograph one of the more interesting abandoned train bridges in Boone County. Here are some of those images:

Since we talkin’ trains. Reminder that Pufferbilly Days starts on the morrow. You can see the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the window of the KWBG building. 9th and Keeler.

Black & White, Flowers, Jesse, Nature, Road Trip, Sarah Toot, Street Photography, Travel

The Great Eclipse Failure of ’17! – Uno

September 5, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

You might recall that back in August of 2017 there was a solar eclipse in the United States for the first time in decades. Or at least a really long time.

It cut a swath through Iowa, but in Iowa you couldn’t see the totality. It was only something like 85%. And if you are satisfied with an 85% solar eclipse, you aren’t living life to its fullest. Let it sink in and do better.

The totality was cutting through parts of Kansas and Missouri. I have some kinfolk in the area where the totality was to happen. My big city cousin Sarah was even going to come home from New York with her beau Tim to see the totality.

We made a plan to get together and watch the eclipse together. She did some research and we determined a park on the Missouri River in Saint Joseph, Missouri would be the best place to watch it. The totality was at its longest there. Plus, Saint Joseph was considered one of the top ten places to watch the eclipse because of the length of the totality and the fact that it hardly ever rains in Saint Joseph in August. People do research on such things.

Jesse and I took a couple days off to come down to see the eclipse. Another one of my cousins, Jordan and his wife Erin graciously allowed us to stay in their tall basement for the night.

We left Boone at something like 4 in the morning because I didn’t want to miss the eclipse because we were stuck in eclipse traffic. I also didn’t want to fight other people for a spot to see the eclipse. We were going to have our spot carved out a good 4 hours before the eclipse started.

We were successful. We beat the traffic and we secured a spot of real estate next to the Mighty Mo. Then it started to rain. Then rain some more. We didn’t get to “see” the totality. It was covered by clouds, for the most part. However, we did get to experience it. The temperature does drop like 10 degree. Everywhere you look in all 360 degrees looks like a sunset.

I didn’t get the picture that I wanted, but I still got an amazing experience. With some amazing people. Including my Uncle Mike and cousin Adam and his daughter Florence.

Here are some pictures from the failure:

I’m already making plans for the eclipse in 2024. It cuts across Paducah, Kentucky. I have some kinfolk that live near there!