Category Archives: Russ

Alexis, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Holidays, Jason, Logan, Mom, Photoshop, Russ, Teresa

2010-05-03

November 14, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

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.

Birthdays, Brandon, Logan, Macro, Russ, Still Life, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

Derecho Beta

August 14, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

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!

Alexis, Birthdays, Black & White, Brandon, Derrick, Elainie, Evie, History, Jen, Jill, Johnathan, Layla, Logan, Mom, Ruins, Russ, Teresa

Happy Birthday!

July 12, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Thought that this would be a good day to share the balance of pictures I took while I was tooling around Boone County looking for my BLACK AND WHITE and Happy Independence Day photos.

The sign says:

On July 31, 1943 a U.S. Army Air Force B-24 Bomber Ser. No 41-29052 carrying a crew of 5, crashed at this site during a server thunderstorm killing everyone on board.

This marker is placed in their memory.
Pilot 1st Lt. Melvin S. Meeker
Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. Samuel Levitt
Bombardier 2nd Lt. Matthew J. Radosevich
Engineer T/Sgt James M. Parker
Radio Man T/Sgt Thomas J. Leyshon

The crew was on a navigation training flight from Topeka ARM Air Force Base, Topeka, Kansas, to Duluth, Minnesota at the time of the crash.

Iowa Military Aviation Heritage Museum Ankeny, Iowa

I’ve corrected some of the unfortunate spelling errors on the sign.

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There are a ton of birthdays up in the Photography 139 Universe! Let me start with my nephew Logan. Happy birthday Logan!

I hope your birthday was as amazing as you wanted it to be! Get some rest. You’re going to need it!

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I also need to wish a happy birthday to Derrick. Happy birthday Derrick!

I hope your birthday was as incredible as you wanted it to be!

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If it is Derrick’s birthday, that also means that it is Jill’s birthday. I haven’t talked to Jill in years, but I still wish her a happy birthday!

I hope your birthday was as joyous as you hoped it would be.

Alexis, Brandon, Candid Portrait, Carla, Christianity, Elainie, Event, Formal Portrait, Holidays, Jason, Jesse, Logan, Mark, Mom, Monica, Nature, Night, Russ, Self-Portrait, Teresa

2009-07-23

December 7, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

There are a metric buttload of pictures in the folder 2009-07-23. Strangely, most of them were actually taken in December of 2008. I’m not entirely sure what was going on there. I can just state that my organizational system back then wasn’t rock solid like it is now. Mostly because I let a program do most of the organizational heavy lifting for me.

There are pictures from a foggy Friday Night Supper Club. Pictures from a Bennett Christmas. Pictures of my old buddy Missionary Mark. Pictures from a Roland VFW Fundraiser.

Many of these pictures have never been published before. Have a peek:

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the follow historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Foggy Night Supper Club

The Hero of Africa

Sedulous

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Brandon, Sara, and Ledges. But not all at the same time.

Alexis, Brandon, Candid Portrait, Carla, Elainie, Holidays, Jason, Logan, Mom, Olympic Sports, Russ, Teresa

2009-05-10

August 24, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder 2009-05-10 are from a Mother’s Day Celebration. I think it is the first family celebration I hosted at my current abode. Might have been one of the last.

I don’t know that I will ever host one again because my house is on the smaller side, but I do have a new grill and a “new” 60 year old dining room table that seats 8.

Here are some pictures:

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery I was able to restored the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” post to its original glory:

Mother’s Day

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a lift and some socks.

Brandon, Candid Portrait, Football, Formal Portrait, Night, Russ, Teresa

10-27-08

February 23, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

The pictures in the folder called 10-27-08 are from Brandon’s Senior Night playing football for dear old Boone High.

Attending that football match against the worst town in Iowa (Ballard)* was the first time I had attended a Boone High football game since I graduated from the jewel of Iowa’s High School education system many years before.

I have in recent years worked the concession stand at a few Boone High sporting events to help a brother (or sister) out, but I still think I have actually only witnessed Boone High athletes competing maybe 3 times since my own graduation.

Here are some pictures from that night:

It was such a big event that Sara even came to town. I have to imagine it might have been the last football game she has attended!

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entry to its original glory:

Last Home Game

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a trip to Ottumwa to work on a house.

*Ballard isn’t even a town and it still sucks!

Candid Portrait, Equipment, Football, Iowa State, Music, Russ, Self-Portrait, WPC - Reminder

Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2005

February 15, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I still need to circle back to the Alamo Bowl Trip, but thought I would share more from my project of re-organizing some photos that pre-date the Photography 139 website.

I’m actually going through a big photography re-organization in general. One of the photographers I follow on Instagram recently shared a post about their photography closet and a light went on in my head.

My house has an excess amount of closet for just one person. My bedroom has 2 closets. The office has 2 closets. The guest bedroom has 1 big(ish) closet. My bedroom closets are obviously used for clothes and some miscellaneous stuff. The guest bedroom closet house like 3 shirts that randomly ended up in there, board games, and a bunch of photographs and negatives. One office closet houses retired electronics. Electronics I should just throw away, but just haven’t. If any of you want a VCR and old DVD player, a receiver, or an old CRT television let me know and you can have it. The other office closet is mostly random stuff.

My photography stuff is strung all over the house. I have a big metal cabinet with sliding glass doors in my bedroom that is meant to house all my photography stuff, but that has never really worked. Then I decided to dedicate an old dining room table that is in my living room to store stuff. That definitely hasn’t worked. I’ve decided to steal the photography closet idea from that Instagram photographer.

I’ve decided to make one of the closets in the office the photography equipment closet. The other closet in the office the photograph closet. The guest bedroom closet will become the retired electronics closet, unless I finally am able to get all of that stuff out of my house. Especially before I retire any more electronics. For example, in 2020 I may upgrade the projector in the Union Street Theater to 4K. This will mean that I will also need to upgrade the receiver in the basement and then add a 4K player to the Union Street Theater. Of course, that will mean more retired electronics.

But that is 2020, I need to conquer my 2019 goals first.

Some of this physical reorganization has lead to digital reorganization. Which has lead to this post. Here are some pictures from the Iowa State Cyclones 2005 football season:

These pictures were taken with my very first digital camera. A Minolta Dimage Z2. It was at a point where I wanted to dabble in digital photography but was still really loyal to film.

The Dimage Z2 was a point & shoot digital camera, but a bit on the higher end of the spectrum. I was so broke back then, I couldn’t have imagined buying an actual DSLR.

There are a couple hundred more pictures from that season that you can peruse by clicking on the link below:

Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2005

Hopefully next Friday I will return to the Alamo Bowl Road Trip.

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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SELF-PORTRAIT:

SELF-PORTRAIT

A SELF-PORTRAIT is a picture that somebody makes of themselves. Pretty simple and straight forward.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Animals, Becky, Blogging, Brandon, Carla, Commercial, Elainie, Flowers, Holidays, Jason, Johnathan, Logan, Mom, Russ, Shannon, Teresa

05-12-08

June 9, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

There are 3 sets of images to be found in the collection of pictures in the folder 05-12-08.

The first set are pictures from a Mother’s Day celebration at my Mom’s house.

The second set are a collection of pictures of flowers at my Mom’s house. A Mother’s Day Peony and a tulip.

The final set of pictures is from the first part of making a batch of Little White Lye Soap.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Photography Gallery I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

The Most Fun You Can Have with Caustics

Mother’s Day Barcecue

Mother’s Day

On our next walk down the lane of memories, we will look at the first Jaycees activity I participated in. All the signs were there, I wasn’t paying attention.

Black & White, Brandon, Formal Portrait, Logan, Mom, Photoshop, Russ, Teresa

Tomorrow Belongs to the People Who Prepare for it Today

May 6, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Every day is a good day to start a post with a quote from Malcolm X.

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.

I start with this quote because yesterday, Logan graduated from the finest university in all the lands. On flat earth and on globe earth. Iowa State University. To celebrate Logan I’m releasing some photos from a head shot photo session that has been in the back log for almost a year.

This is probably exhibit 45 as to why I’ll never get heavily into the portrait business. I like to take 5 times more pictures than necessary. Half of them strange. Then half of the other half I like to edit in what I’ll call a non-standard style.

Now that Logan has a degree from the finest university, he will be looking for a job in his field. He has also started his own photography business called Third Generation Thumbnail. He is currently specializing in real estate photography and videography. Although, we are shooting a wedding together at some point in the near future.

These photos were taken for his professional pursuits.

If you have any real estate photography needs, I can hook you and him up!

Here are a few cruddy cell phone pictures from the Graduation Ceremony: