Category Archives: Geri

Hello 2023.

It is the first day of 2023. I’m not really a “resolutions” person. Pastor Adam was on vacation today so we had a substitute seromizer in church this morning. He gave an impassioned, longwinded sermon on resolve. It took more than a bit of my resolve to stay awake during the longest sermon these ears have heard in quite sometime.

But if I were to take the words on resolve to heart, I would say that I’m not without goals. Last year my main goal was to complete THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. I did that.

My main goal in 2023 is to complete Phase 2 of THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT and put the book together. I should be freeing up sometime to work on that buy dropping a couple of photo projects that I did in 2022.

My second goal in 2023 is to begin work and complete my new photo project. Details are still foggy, but it is to create Boone postcard. Not a bunch of Boone postcards. Not even to print up a bunch of one Boone postcard. But to make one big image of one Boone postcard. While the end goal is one image, it will involve taking at least several hundred (probably thousand) images. It will make more sense when I get going on it.

My third goal in 2023 is to keep the positive momentum that was achieved in 2022 in participation rates for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I’m not likely to go out and beat the drums looking for participants, but doesn’t mean you guys can’t. Right?

My fourth goal in 2023 is to consider and maybe take action on visiting and photographing every State Park in Iowa.
That seems more straight forward than it actually is because in addition to State Parks there are State Forests and State Preserves and State Recreation Areas. Boone County contains 3 Minor State Forests alone! We will see where this one goes, but we all know I could use the exercise.

I don’t have any goals related to the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. That type of stuff is a considerable amount of luck. So best not to have goals that are out of one’s hands. Maybe my goal should just be to give my best effort.

Hopefully 2023 is a good year for all of us!

+++++++

Time to share the December images for the FatMumSlim Photo A Day Challenge. This is also the final collection of images as I will be dropping this pursuit in 2023. It doesn’t take a lot of time, but it still eats up a fair amount of time. Hopefully time freed up that I can use to pursue some of those 2023 goals.

Here are the December images:


December 1
December 1 – I Love This!

December 2
December 2 – I Bought This!

December 3
December 3 – Starts with T

December 4
December 4 – I Held This

December 5
December 5 – Something Red

December 6
December 6 – Peace

December 7
December 7 – Tree

December 8
December 8 – Looking Up

December 9
December 9 – Small

December 10
December 10 – Out + About

December 11
December 11 – Free Choice

December 12
December 12 – Lights

December 13
December 13 – Something Green

December 14
December 14 – Decoration

December 15
December 15 – A Star

December 16
December 16 – Candy Cane

December 17
December 17 – A Hat

December 18
December 18 – I Made This!

December 19
December 19 – Joy Is…

December 20
December 20 – Begins with S

December 21
December 21 – On the Floor

December 22
December 22 – A Gift

December 23
December 23 – A Tradition

December 24
December 24 – Someone I Love

December 25
December 25 – My Day

December 26
December 26 – This is Delish

December 27
December 27 – Colourful

December 28
December 28 – A Book

December 29
December 29 – Us

December 30
December 30 – How I Relax

December 31
December 31 – Best Part of 2022

Top 9
Top 9 Most Popular Images

I did enjoy this project and I’m not walking away from it because I didn’t enjoy it. I “met” numerous other people in this community that I will continue to follow, like @bea.photoaday, @sara.fms.photoaday, @outnbout, @gerkgirl, @pink_koffie, and @lostfate13.

But there were other things I didn’t like. Most people used the challenge to curate images, rather than take new images every day. The person that ran the challenge is Australian. That meant that a lot of the prompts were seasonal for Australia, meaning they weren’t seasonal for Iowa. Prompts repeated an awful lot. Not that they wouldn’t after 365 days, but I felt like they repeated more than necessary.

These minor complaints aside, I would consider doing it again in a future year. Just not this year. I’m sure many of you have minor complaints about how I run THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE as well.

01JANUARY2011

At the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 I seem to have lost a ton of pictures. I’m grouping all the pictures that are in the folder 01JANUARY2011 together for this post:


WEEK 1 - REFLECTIONS - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

WEEK 2 - LONG EXPOSURE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

Nuclear Library Redux

Nuclear Library Redux

Nuclear Library Redux

The Story

The Story

The Story

The Story

The Story

The Story

The Story

The Story

The Story

The Story

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:

RWPE Y2 #1: REFLECTIONS

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #53

RWPE #52 – EYE

RWPE Y2 #2: LONG EXPOSURE

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #49

I’m not sure what next week’s walk down memory lane will cover. My files from 2011 are a complete mess. Just a complete mess.

2010-03-17, 2010-03-20, & 2010-03-25

Covering 3 folders in this walk down to Memory Lane since a couple of them had barely any pictures in them. The pictures in the folders 2010-03-17, 2010-03-20, and 2010-03-25 involve mostly a series of publicity stills I took for an ACTORS production and a cruise around Boone County I took with Jay.


A Clockwork Couch

WEEK 11 - MOTION - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

Geri Derner

Odie John Lofton

Cheryl Rogers

Melissa Krepfle

Amanda Green

Belinda Merritt

Josh Van Waes

Troy Rutter

Lanette Woodard

Jarius Davis

Toons Promo

Shannon Bardole

Christopher D. Bennett

Wild Goose Chase

Wild Goose Chase

Wild Goose Chase

Wild Goose Chase

Wild Goose Chase

Wild Goose Chase

This collection of pictures really made me want to support local arts more. I don’t know that was ever supportive of the local arts in a way I should. I want to go see some community theater productions. I want to go see live local music. When this virus gets managed, I think this is one of my goals. One of the things I want to do. Support some local artists!

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:

RWPE #11 – Motion

A Clockwork Couch

ACTORS

Wild Goose Chase

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Shannon and Jill. But not together.

2009-08-24

There are a ton of photos in the folder 2009-08-24. Most of them are from my trips to the Iowa State Fair in 2009. However, there is also a good chunk of them that are pictures of Teresa and Ernie.

This is already going to be a long post, so I don’t want to overwhelm you with a ton of words up front. I want to overwhelm you with pictures on the backside:


Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Iowa State Fair - 2009

Teresa and Ernie

Teresa and Ernie

Teresa and Ernie

Teresa and Ernie

Teresa and Ernie

Teresa and Ernie

Teresa and Ernie

Teresa and Ernie

Teresa and Ernie

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:

The State Fair

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve some Stephanie and some of my mad gardening skills.

2009-08-05

Today we reveal the images for May and June from the 2020 Photography 139 Calendar.

The May Image:


2020 Calendar - May
May

The May image is of the Dunning Spring waterfall in Decorah, Iowa. Jesse and I took a road trip to check them out and to photograph them as my birthday road trip. I entered this picture in the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon, but it was not selected for display. In fact, the picture that was selected for display is not in the 2020 calendar. It is the September image for the 2019 calendar. This picture was taken on May 17, 2019.


Details

Camera: Sony ILCA-77M2
Focal Length: 20mm
Aperture: f/18
Exposure: 1/2
ISO: 50

The June Image:


2020 Calendar - June
June

If you think it was weird that there was a picture from 2013 in the calendar, then this one will really mess with your head. This black and white image of a swan was taken at Lake Laverne on the beautiful campus of Iowa State University. I came across it when during our Saturday walks down memory lane as I restore old entries of “An Artist’s Notebook”. I liked it and I decided to throw it into the collection of nominees for the pictures I would enter in the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. I didn’t expect anybody to pick it, but Logan did. It won a Purple Ribbon. It was taken May 10, 2006.


Details

Camera: Konica Minolta Dynax 5D
Focal Lenght: 300mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure: 1/500
ISO: 200

Tomorrow we’ll reveal the images for July and August.

+++++++

The pictures in the folder 2009-08-05 are from the last Ames Jaycees event I ever attended. It was at that point just a formality. I had joined the Ames on the Half Shell Committee, therefore I was going to fulfill my duties. The moment that last not of the Ames on the Half Shell season faded from existence, I was Audi 5000.

Now that you have sat through several entries about my ill-fated time with the Ames Jaycees, I think you, loyal reader, deserve an explanation for why it came to an end.

I joined the Ames Jaycees for two reasons. First, a friend asked me to join. This person, we will refer to as “1”, was like 1000% into the Ames Jaycees. Her passion was somewhat contagious. I was also doing her a favor because recruiting a new member made her like a 33rd degree Mason. I don’t know, the inner workings and rankings of the organization were something I never cared about. Even when I was at my peak Jayceeness. Which I’m guessing was about January of 2009. my passion for the Jaycees was about a 5 on a scale of 1-10.

By March of 2009, I knew that that my time with the Jaycees was over, but I also knew, I would finish out the Ames on the Half Shell. I was a quitter, but I always finish out my commitments.

In January of 2009 I joined the Board as a Vice-President in some capacity. VP of Promotions or something like that. All it really meant was that I ran the website and had to go to an extra meeting a month. Which was okay, even though I am a person that to their very core, loathes meetings.

Which brings me to the other reason I joined the Jaycees. I needed an excuse to leave my house now and again. This provided that. I didn’t realize it would put so much undesired drama into my life.

The Board was split into basically two factions. There were 1’s friends, who were also all 1000% into the Jaycees. The other half of the boardroom was dominated by the President and his cronies. The President was apparently buggering one of the vice-presidents, which wasn’t cool because he was married, but not to the vice-president he was buggering. I can’t even recall how this even factored into the story, but it provided me with a chance to use the term buggering.

The President and the VP he was buggering didn’t like one of 1’s friends, we will call her 2. I think it was because 2 knew about the buggering, but I don’t know that to within a degree of certainy. What I do know is that what happened next is that the Buggered VP accused 2 of some creative accounting involving some kind of Halloween drinking outing that involved the Jaycees.

One reason why I was a 5 on the Jaycees at my peak Jayceeness was that they like to talk about drinking. I don’t mean they liked to drink. They liked talking about drinking. You know that thing that high school students and college students do when they drink, they can’t stop talking about it. “Look at me I’m drinking.” Yeah, nobody cares. Shut up and drink your Zima Chad.

This is all hypothetical at this point. I haven’t been around a high school student or college student that is drinking alcohol, since I left the service of the Evil Clown Empire, but I’m sure it hasn’t changed much. Other than, I assume that nobody drinks Zima now. White Claws?

But I digress…

The charges were at least 76% hokum that stemmed from some kind of personal grievance with 2. Plus, there might have been a bit of a power play in there. A chance to show dominance. A chance to show that the Buggered VP wasn’t the President, but she was still running this beach.

I think there was some kind of trial. Not really, it was really just one person’s word and then there was some kind of vote. 2 got sent to Jaycee prison. I think she wasn’t allowed to touch money for a year.

Almost as soon as the sentence was handed down, 1 and all of her friends resigned. Grabbed their Jaycee ball and went to Nevada and Des Moines. That left me alone. Like I said, I was a 5. In January. at this point, I was a 3. Even at a 3, I was willing to stick around and fight for the soul of the Ames Jaycees. When the people who were at a 1000% were like deuces and checked out, I was like make that 3 a -2.

The funny thing is that after everybody else left, 2 stuck around. I’m not sure if I respect that or not. Maybe I’ll have to talk to her about it someday.

I fulfilled my obligations and haven’t been to a Jaycee event since. I sometimes see them at the unofficial reunions and I chalk this up as a life lesson. I don’t leave my house now.

(This is how I remember everything going down, I’m sure some of my details aren’t 100% accurate, but if you are going to complain about that, you can bugger off.)


Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

Burnin' Sensations

If you want to look at the pictures from the 2009 Ames on the Half Shell season, you can click on the link below:

Ames on the Half Shell – 2009

Next Saturday’s walk down Memory Lane will involve things I grew in my backyard.

2009-07-17

The pictures in the folder 2009-07-17 are from the second to last Ames Jaycees event I ever attended. I can’t remember the timeline of everything that went down that caused me to up and quit the Jaycees, but I’m pretty sure that I had already resigned my Board Position several months before and at this point I was just short-timing it.

These pictures were at Ames on the Half Shell and the band was Kountertop. Kountertop fit into that category of generic classic rock cover band that is the bedrock that Ames on the Half Shell was built on, but their musicianship was of a higher quality than the most of the band that played there. They even played a few originals here and there.

They used to play live backup band for a Karaoke night down at People’s in Des Moines. I don’t know if they are still together or not, but my Google search only came up with a Facebook page that seems defunct.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:


Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

Kountertop at Ames on the Half Shell

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:

Kountertop

I’m not sure all that will be involved in next Saturday’s walk down memory lane, but it will involve Mark for sure.

Gratitudo

Happy Thanksgiving! Every year on Thanksgiving I like to think about my many, many blessings. I know, real original. You should feel free to try it sometime. But make sure you let everybody know that I invented gratitude.


I am thankful for my family, no matter how family is defined:

April 9, 2019

May 18, 2019

May 25, 2019

August 24, 2019

September 19, 2019

October 26, 2019

January 26, 2019

February 25, 2019

June 29, 2019

July 6, 2019

August 4, 2019

April 6, 2019

May 12, 2019

I am thankful for my friends:

January 16, 2019

March 12, 2019

PHOTO JOURNAL - PAGE 121 ALTERNATE

Photo Journal - Page 56 Reject

March 21, 2019

May 6, 2019

May 17, 2019

June 1, 2019

June 6, 2019

August 25, 2019

July 12, 2019

August 10, 2019

August 13, 2019

August 18, 2019

September 7, 2019

September 20, 2019

September 21, 2019

October 5, 2019

October 21, 2019

April 27, 2017

Selfie Project - January 21

March 3, 2019

I am blessed with an amazing church family:

April 7, 2019

Selfie Project - January 27

April 17, 2019

May 1, 2019

June 15, 2019

June 23, 2019

June 24, 2019

June 25, 2019

June 27, 2019

July 13, 2019

September 25, 2019

October 27, 2019

June 28, 2017

I am blessed with a decent job and work friends that I don’t mind seeing more than 40 hours a week:

January 12, 2019

August 30, 2019

May 2, 2017

Selfie Project - March 27

Iowa State vs. Northern Iowa

I’m blessed to share my house with Naima:

January 10, 2019

October 6, 2019

July 9, 2019

Naima

This is only a small sampling of my blessings, but I feel to go on much longer would sound like boasting. Thank all of you for choosing to be part of my life!

2009-07-10

The pictures from the folder 2009-07-10 are all from an Ames on the Half Shell concert that featured by far my favorite artist that we ever booked. Her name was Bonne Finken and she was one of maybe 3 artists that we booked during my entire run with the Jaycees that couldn’t be described as generic classic rock cover band.

Listen, that isn’t an insult. There is nothing wrong with a classic rock cover band. They are usually pretty enjoyable to listen to, but they certainly don’t challenge you as a music enthusiast.

I’m terrible at describing her sound, but it both pop and rock and it is undeniably powerful. Bonne is still producing music, but she has moved on from this local scene. She moved to Tennessee. She released her third album earlier this year. It was produced by a member of Slipknot.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Bonne Finken’s conert:


Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

Bonne Finken

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

Bonne Finken

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve flowers and sparklers, but not necessarily together.

2009-07-06

The pictures in the folder 2009-07-06 are from my 2009 Independence Day. I spent the day immersed in Ames Jaycees projects.

The beginning of my day was spent helping with the special Independence Day Ames on the Half Shell with The Nadas. Then I finished the day helping out with the fireworks display.

Shannon’s cousin Matthew came down to help with Half Shell. Teresa helped as well. Logan and Willy were in attendance at the concert.

It was a very long day. Now I barely even leave my house on Independence Day. I should probably remedy that in 2020, but I’m guessing that won’t happen.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the album:


Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Nadas - 4th of July

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

Independence Day - 2009

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

4th of July

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve my favorite artist to every play Ames on the Half Shell.

2009-06-06

The pictures from the folder 2009-06-06 are from the first Ames on the Half Shell concert of the 2009 season. The band that played was Vivace. I’m not sure if they are still around, but they were just a real solid classic rock cover band. Classic rock cover band pretty much describes the local music scene in central Iowa and pretty much describes almost every band to ever play Ames on the Half Shell.

Here are some pictures:


Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

Vivace

I drastically upgraded the Ames on the Half Shell website before this season. It looks like they still use the same platform that I built, but they have upgraded the look considerably. What is interesting is that they added a “History” page that lists every band that has played Ames on the Half Shell, except they don’t have anything listed for 2009.

That same year they Ames on the Half Shell logo was completely redesigned. It looks like the logo has been updated since then, but still plays on the same theme.

If you want to see more pictures from Vivace’s 2009 performance at Ames on the Half Shell, click on the picture below:


Vivace ></a><br />
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<p>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:<=

Ames on the Half Shell



Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve even more Ames on the Half Shell.