This year Logan and Amanda hosted the Bennett Family Thanksgiving. I took a few pictures, but not many, but I thought I would share a few of them.
I once again hope all of you had a good to great Thanksgiving!
Family Thanksgiving – 2023
Category Archives: Russ
WPC – WEEK 413 – NEGATIVE
WARNING! NEXT MONDAY I WILL BE ON THE ROAD, SO NEXT WEEK’S POST WILL PUBLISH LATE AND THERE MIGHT NOT BE ANY REMINDERS. PLAN ACCORDINGLY!
I need to start this post by wishing Russ a happy birthday. Happy birthday Russ!
I hope you have lots of visitors today!
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I did have a late submission for SELF-PORTRAIT that I do need to share. A couple actually:
Susanna Funk (Vallunareju Norte – Peru)
Susanna Funk (Vallunareju Norte – Peru)
You might be asking yourself why Funk gets special privileges and can blow past the deadline and nobody else can? Because she is climbing a mountain in Peru! If you go climb a mountain in Peru, I will also let you miss the deadline. Maybe.
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NEGATIVE! An abstract and maybe demanding theme. But were there many people that could find some NEGATIVE in their life to make NEGATIVE into a positive theme? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, August 7, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
1-Mary Green – 1 week
2-Sara Lockner – 1 week (3)
3-Becky Parmelee – 3 weeks
4-Willy McAlpine – 4 weeks
5-Mike Vest – 5 weeks
6-Suzie Brannen – 6 weeks
7-Sabas Hernandez – 6 weeks
8-Sheri Fakhouri – 8 weeks
9-Monica Jennings – 9 weeks
10-Logan Kahler – 9 weeks
11-Nathanial Brown – 10 weeks
12-Jesse Howard – 10 weeks (2)
13-Tamara Peterson – 13 weeks
14-Alexis Stensland – 18 weeks
15-Mindi Terrell – 25 weeks (3)
16-Brandon Kahler – 49 weeks
17-Linda Bennett – 54 weeks
18-Sarah Toot – 55 weeks (3)
19-Angie DeWaard – 59 weeks
20-Dawn Krause – 63 weeks (2)
21-Kim Barker – 69 weeks
22-Joe Duff – 70 weeks
23-Teresa Kahler – 81 weeks (3)
24-Carla Stensland – 81 weeks
25-Micky Augustin – 83 weeks
26-Andy Sharp – 84 weeks
27-Bill Wentworth – 85 weeks
28-Cathie Morton – 89 weeks
29-Elizabeth Nordeen – 90 weeks
30-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 92 weeks
31-Kio Dettman – 94 weeks
* Susanna Funk – 1 week
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:
Micky Augustin (Hickory Grove Park – Story County, Iowa) – 84 weeks
Shannon Bardole-Foley (High Trestle Trail – Boone County, Iowa) – 93 weeks
Kim Barker (Nevada, Iowa) – 70 weeks
Linda Bennett (Ann Arbor, Michigan) – 55 weeks
Linda Bennett (Kansas)
Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 7 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Iowa State Fair – Des Moines, Iowa) – 11 weeks
Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 95 weeks
Kio Dettman (Iowa)
Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 60 weeks
Joe Duff (Dallas, Texas) – 71 weeks
Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa) – 9 weeks
Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa)
Mary Green (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Mary Green (Iowa)
Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 11 weeks
Monica Jennings (Des Moines, Iowa) – 10 weeks
Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 50 weeks
Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 10 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 82 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Iowa)
Teresa Kahler (Iowa)
Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 64 weeks
Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 90 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 91 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa)
Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 14 weeks
Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 85 weeks
Alexis Stensland (Ames, Iowa) – 19 weeks
Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 82 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 26 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Iowa)
Mindi Terrell (Iowa)
Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 56 weeks
Mike Vest (Iowa) – 6 weeks
Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 86 weeks
Christopher D. Bennett (Orpheum Theater – Minneapolis, Minnesota)
29 participants! Subtracting last week’s 33 participants, creates a negative 4. But 29 is still pretty good considering it is somewhat of an abstract theme.
There were submissions this week taken in the following places:
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas
Here is the current calendar year list for states:
+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Louisiana
+ Maryland
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ Montana
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ North Carolina
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Carolina
+ South Dakota
+ Tennessee
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming
33 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over 60% of the way there!
The Outside of the United States map is currently:
+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico (General)
+ Isla Mujeres, Mexico
+ Riviera Maya, Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Vallunareju Norte – Peru
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I took my picture 226 miles from my front door. But in a state that has already been marked. I continue to not contribute.
The big milestones this week were Monica and Logan reaching The Double Digit Streak Club. WooHoo! Mindi reached The Half Year Streak Club! WooHoo!
But it wasn’t all good news. Becky’s 3 week streak ended. Willy’s 4 week streak is gone. Sabas’ 6 week streak is no more.
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:
ART
ART! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what exactly is an ART photo? Simply put, it is a picture of an existing piece of ART. You could simply find a piece of ART and stand back and take a picture of it. But I would urge you to take an ARTistic look at a piece of an ART. Take a picture of it from a different angle. Take a picture of only part of the picture. Take a picture of it in its environment. Other possibilities are to take pictures of an ARTist making a piece of ART or tools made in the creation of ART. There are just so many possibilities.
While considering possible subject for your submission, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt your ART submission will be a new piece of ART all its own:
Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.
-Stella Adler
I look forward to seeing your interpretation!
RULES
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 NEGATIVE in this place that started with a pile of negatives next Monday.
The Next Second You Were Gone
Seems like a good time to clean up the July backlog. This collection of images was taken in July of last year, but never really found a spot in a previous “An Artist’s Notebook” entry. Some pictures are of a storm. Some are from the Boone County Fair. Some are of a baby bird, or an immature bird. Some are from Dahlia’s birthday party.
Always feels good to get a little bit of that backlog cleared out.
On Balance – 2021
I’m kicking the decision about Formal Portrait Sunday down the road another week. This collection is the last of the pictures I took in 2021 to share.
A couple are from Halloween night. I don’t get many trick-or-treaters I know these days. So there are only two pictures of people I know from last year.
The rest are from Christmas. Many of them are taking with a Lensbaby, which was my Christmas present to myself last year. Another one will probably be my Christmas present to myself again this year.
Selfie Project – July 2022
This is a reminder that tomorrow there is a dog and exotic animal pet show for Pufferbilly Days. A person could also enter a cat, but people don’t, cause… cat. I mean, it explains itself.
However, I give this reminder with the caveat that it is possible that the Dog and Exotic Animal Pet Show could possibly be cancelled due to heat.
Here is the information you need if you are interested:
If it goes down, I will be there to photograph it. If it doesn’t go down, I’ll probably be eating ice cream, in the air conditioning.
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It is time once again to check in with THE SELFIE PROJECT. One of the things I like about THE SELFIE PROJECT I get to take a quick look back at everything I did last month and be like, “that was last month? I thought that was forever ago!”
I think I had a pretty busy July, but you can be the judge of that.
Here are some of my favorite images:
July 1
July 2
July 3
July 5
July 6
July 7
July 8
July 9
July 10
July 12
July 13
July 14
July 15
July 16
July 17
July 18
July 19
July 20
July 21
July 23
July 27
July 28
July 29
July 30
July 31
Obviously there were lots of selfies that couldn’t make the cut for this month’s THE SELFIE PROJECT. Here are some of my favorite alternates:
My August calendar is pretty loaded up with Pufferbilly Days, the Iowa State Fair, and numerous TOWN SIGN PROJECT road trips all planned for the month. I’m even going to take some time off work. I’m not going anywhere. I’m just not going to work for a few days. I’m looking forward to it. I hope when we reconvene to look at my August pictures that there are some great new memories in there as well.
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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is PEOPLE:
PEOPLE
PEOPLE! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a PEOPLE picture? Well, it is simply a picture that has a PEOPLE or multiple PEOPLE in it. (Somewhere an English teacher is hanging their head so low right now.) I know. PEOPLE are vile and disgusting subjects. They are a failed species that are responsible for 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the evil on this planet. Completely susceptible to propaganda. Responsible for the complete and utter raping of our planet. Avarice. Greed. War. Genocide. Racism. Homophobia. Transphobia. Misogyny. All unique products of PEOPLE. What I’m trying to say is that in the coming war between monkeys and humans, I am hard core #TeamMonkey*. I’d like to say we’ve had a good run, but all the evidence is to the contrary.
I have to admit that after some of the events of the past week, I’m still 100% #TeamMonkey in the coming Human vs. Monkey War (where do you think Monkey Pox comes from), but I think slightly better of our doomed and failed species than I did on Monday.
While thinking on possible subjects for your PEOPLE picture think on the words of the Law Giver:
“Beware the beast man, for he is the devil’s pawn.”
“Alone among God’s primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. ”
“Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother’s land. ”
“Let him not breed in great numbers for he will make a desert of his home and yours. ”
“Shun him. ”
“Drive him back into his jungle lair. ”
“For he is the harbinger of death. “
Happy photo harvesting!
Journal Entry #4,250
Can you believe that this is the 4,250th post in this crazy little thing called “An Artist’s Notebook’. 4,250 posts! It has been 5,549 days since I took keyboard in hand on August 9, 2006 and typed these words:
So here is the first journal entry.
The name of that first journal entry was “First Journal Entry”. I really started out with a bang!
What was that first journal entry?
A set of goals:
+ To write in this journal. Mission accomplished.
+ To be truthful. I’m sure there are some that would disagree, but I’m calling that mission accomplished.
+ To record my achievements and failures in the world of art. Mission accomplished.
+ To produce something that makes me “worthy” of having a pretentious sounding journal title like: “An Artist’s Notebook. Jury might still be out on that one.
In that first entry I also wrote about attending the Photography Salon Reception with Sara. I go on to complain about the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest and tell a tale about how Jay convinced me to enter the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest that year.
That was it. A simple beginning for a simple man. 5,549 days ago.
When I hit these milestones, I like to check in on a few statistics, to see how things are trending. I like statistics cause they seem to bring order to chaos. It is like the saying goes: “There are three types of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.”
Here are some damn lying statistics.
I use “Categories” to help organize this blog. There are 194 of them and the 100 most used Categories can be found on the sidebar of every page on this website. The 100th most used Category is a 3 way tie amongst “Jaycees”, “Vacation”, and “DaeHee”. I’ve use those 3 Categories 65 times each. The 2 Categories that have the greatest shot at breaking into the Top 100 are “Kelly” at 61 current uses and “Town Sign Project” at 59 current uses.
These are the 10 Most Used Categories (Post 4000 Rank and entries):
10. Art – 408 (NR)
9. WPC – Submissions – 417 (8 – 381)
8. Mom – 422 (10 – 363)
7. Carla – 435 (7 – 391)
6. Portrait – 450 (5 -472)
5. Shannon – 458 (6 – 421)
4. Jesse – 529 (4 – 495)
3. Animals – 665 (3 – 620)
2. Flowers – 754 (2 – 693)
1. Black and White – 819 (1 – 698)
These are the 10 Most Used Not a Person Categories:
10. Photoshop – 368 (8 – 327)
9. Nature – 379 (6 – 349)
8. Macro – 390 (7 – 332)
7. Road Trip – 394 (9 – 326)
6. Art – 408 (10 – 314)
5. WPC – Submissions – 417 (5 – 381)
4. Portrait – 450 – (4 – 472)
3. Animals – 665 – (3 – 620_
2. Flowers – 754 – (2 – 693)
1. Black and White – 819 (1 – 698)
There are the 10 Most Used Person Categories (Post 4000 Rank and entries):
10. Vest – 274 (9 – 258)
9. Jen – 277 (10 – 254)
8. Willy – 278 (8 – 268)
7. Derrick – 311 (7 – 295)
6. Jay – 329 (6 – 320)
5. Teresa – 405 (4 – 364)
4. Mom – 422 (5 – 363)
3. Carla – 435 (3 – 391)
2. Shannon – 458 (2 – 421)
1. Jesse – 529 (1 – 495)
The Non Person Categories most likely to break into the Top Ten are “Naima” at 323, “Formal Portrait” at 320, and “Candid Portrait” at 303.
The Person Categories that are most likely to break into the Top Ten are “Kim” at 263, “Logan” at 248, “Sara” and “Micky” both at 239.
After 750 posts, “Photography”, “Friends”, and “Life” were my three most used Categories. I’ve since tried to de-centralize those Categories and they have fallen. I’m trying to do the same with “Portrait”, so It should eventually fall out of the Top Ten as well.
After 1,000 posts, “Jay”, Jesse”, and “Shannon” were the most used Person Categories.
After 1,500 posts, “Jesse”, “Jay”, and “Shannon” were the most used Person Categories”.
After 2,500 posts, “Jesse, “Teresa”, and “Shannon” were the most used Person Categories. It was the same after 3000 posts.
After 4,000 posts, Top 3 had changed to “Jesse”, “Shannon”, and “Carla”. I’ll be curious to see where these number are in another 250 posts.
If you are wondering how to increase your Category usage, it is simple. Submit to THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Be a photo assistant. Show up in THE SELFIE PROJECT. Go on road trips with me. It doesn’t hurt to be related to me either.
But this is a photography online journal, so let’s look at what are the most popular images and galleries on my website?
Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries of the last 365 days:
#10 Weekly Photo Challenge – HOF – 25,192 Views
#8 Christopher D. Bennett 31,665 Views
#7 9 Emotions Project 49,215 Views
#4 Town Sign Project 72,850 Views
#3 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 8 82,681 Views
At post 4,000 The most popular album was “WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 7”. #2. Was “Christopher D. Bennett”. #3. was “9 Emotions Project”. I’m impressed with the sustained popularity of THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT. I haven’t taken a new picture for it in years. Although I do want to fire it up again.
Most Popular Photography 139 Images of the last 365 days:
#10. Maven’s Gift Table – 2,013 Views
#9. Moingona Town Sign – 2,029 Views
#8. Alexis Cheering at the 2010 Iowa State Fair – 2,177 Views
#7. Mom’s Retirement Party – 2,669 Views
#6. Mom and I at John Wayne Birthplace Museum – 3,716 Views
#5. Andrea, Josh, and Kids at Youth Group Fundraiser – 2010 – 4,221 Views
#4. Alexis Pregnant with Anela – 5,485 Views
#3. Selfie in Ackley – 6,369 Views
#2. Selfie in Front Yard – 6,587 Views
#1. Alexis Pregnant with Anela – 10.355 Views
That picture of Alexis was also #1 at the 4,000 Post Mark, but the other 9 Pictures are completely different. Last time #2 was a picture of Taylan and #3 was a picture of me and Scottie D. at the Pufferbilly Days Parade.
That leads us to my most popular individual posts.
Most Popular An Artist’s Notebook Entries (by Comments)
#10. TOWN SIGN PROJECT: HAMILTON COUNTY – 21 Comments
#10. POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT – MAMIE DOUD EISENHOWER BIRTHPLACE – 21 Comments
#10. TOWN SIGN PROJECT: DALLAS COUNTY – 21 Comments
#7. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 43 – SUNRISE/SUNSET 22 Comments
#7. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 9 – FOOD – 22 Comments
#7. POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT – SOME CHURCHES – 22 Comments
#3. THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE – ROUND TWO – 24 Comments
#3. TENDERLOIN APPRECIATION SOCIETY – WORKING AT HOME – 24 Comments
#3. CARROLL COUNTY AND CRAWFORD COUNTY AUXILIARY IMAGES – 24 Comments
#3.WPC – WEEK 283 – WIND – 24 Comments
#2. LIPTON CUP OF ZINNIA – 32 Comments
#1. TOWN SIGN PROJECT: JASPER COUNTY – 37 Comments
I have to confess that I haven’t been very good about responding to comments left on my blog lately. I swear that I will get better at this again.
The final statistic I want to share are who my most loyal email subscribers. Loyalty isn’t probably the most accurate term, but it is all I have.
Top Five Most Loyal Photography 139 Subscribers
5. Jeanette Duff – 96.4%
4. Angie DeWaard – 98.5%
2. Michelle Haupt – 99.7%
2. Joe Duff – 99.7%
1. Kio Dettman – 100%
Jeanette, Angie, and Kio are new to the Top 5. They replaced Corey, Sara, and Shannon.
Linda and Tamara are the two most likely to break into the Top 5 in the next 250 posts.
We’ll have to check in on these statistics again in another 250 posts!
2010-08-01
EDITOR’S NOTE: I WROTE THIS POST BEFORE MY MOM PASSED AWAY, BUT I DON’T HAVE THE HEART TO CHANGE THE TEXT.
The grand majority of pictures from the album are from my Mom’s Retirement Party. The other one if from Dickcissel.
I haven’t looked at the pictures from the Retirement Party in years and while it is sad that a few of the people in the pictures aren’t with us any longer, it still gives me a sense of joy to look through them again.
My Mom will turn 80 next year. I hope we are able to have as large of a party for her then as we did when she retired.
By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:
Retired
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve flowers.
On the Rocks
I need to start the day by wishing a couple people a happy birthday. I need to start with my nephew Brandon. Happy birthday Brandon!
I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!
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It is also Frank’s birthday. Frank was instrumental in getting this website up and going. Its first home was the webserver living in his basement. He helped get it set up originally and hosted it for free and helped with the domain registration. I don’t think I’ve seen Frank since the pandemic started, and that really sucks. Happy birthday Frank!
I hope your birthday was as amazing as you want it to be!
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I started my freezing flowers in blocks of ice with your standard daisy. But I thought I would try some flowers with more color. So next I tried Brown-eyed Susans and Zinnias.
I wasn’t done playing with this idea still. So there are more ice block flower pictures yet to be curated.
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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is FOOD:
FOOD
A FOOD photo is any image of FOOD or people eating FOOD or ingredients to make FOOD or people preparing FOOD or people cleaning up after eating FOOD.
Happy photo harvesting!
2010-05-03
The pictures from the folder 2010-05-03 are from a Mother’s Day celebration at Carla and Jason’s old house. We celebrated a week early because Teresa was going to Kentucky for Mother’s Day.
A few of the pictures in this collection were taken by Alexis:
By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entry to its original glory:
VACATION DAY 9B – MOTHER’S DAY EARLY
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a trip to Brookside Park among other things.
Derecho Beta
I need to start today by wishing a happy birthday to Russ! Happy birthday Russ!
I hope your birthday was as wonderful as you wanted it to be!
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The first day after the derecho, I woke up without power. I figured it wouldn’t take long to get power. While I am a dirt poor, blue collar working stiff, I do live in what is considered the “nice” side of town with a bunch of swells. I figured that while my economic status wouldn’t get me preferred service, I would be able to ride the coattails of the country club set.
I was wrong. While even people who live west of Division Street got power back, I spent my day going back and forth between the darkness of my working man’s humble abode and to my Mom’s to get a charge on various electronics. My Mom did get power back at about 10 AM. The electric company came and moved the downed power line that was laying across her backyard. This allowed us to clean up her backyard. Shortly after that crew left, another crew came and turned her power back on.
Since I live about 3 blocks from my Mom, I thought I would have power back within minutes. Or at least within hours. But that power never came. I thought that I might have to travel to Ames to work at the Computer Mine, but they also didn’t get power back until late Tuesday night.
With no power and no job to work at, I grilled myself a semi-frozen pizza for lunch and then drove out to the “Stop Eminent Domain Abuse” semi trailer that had reportedly flipped over. Then I went back to Luther to photograph the grain bins one more time with a different lens than I brought the first time.
Here are some pictures:
I went to bed without power and now the amount of generators in my neighborhood had tripled. I loved the dark, I just wish some quiet would have accompanied it!
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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is MACRO:
MACRO
A MACRO photo is a closeup photo. I was going to get into the technical definition, but nah, closeup photo is enough of a description.
Happy photo harvesting!