Category Archives: Gretchen

Animals, Candid Portrait, Gretchen, Jay, Naima, Night, Photo Journal, Photoshop, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 118

August 31, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

It is your weekly reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is CANDID PORTRAIT.

A great theme! One of the best ever! But what is a CANDID PORTRAIT? A CANDID PORTRAIT is a portrait where the subject isn’t posed. They probably don’t even know that they are being photographed.

CANDID PORTRAIT

Happy photo harvesting!

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A few weeks back at FNSC Jay stopped by to enjoy the firetub. I found it a perfect time to knock out Page 118 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 118 – Sit opposite someone for two hours. Chat, have a cuppa, but only take pictures when you see something revealing.

Let’s face it. My friends aren’t the sit and “have a cuppa” type of people. But we do like fire. Almost to a fault. But we don’t want to talk about that.

Only one picture can be physically adhered into the physical THE PHOTO JOURNAL. However, I did take a couple more Page 118 photos I think are worth sharing:

I got at least 4 more pages for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT shot as well. Just got to get them to the editing hole!

Andy, Becky, Cathie, Evie, Football, Formal Portrait, Gretchen, Kim, Micky, Photoshop, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 154 – COMPETITION

August 27, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

COMPETITION wasn’t an extremely popular theme, even in this non-competitive WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions!

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Andy Sharp

Becky Parmelee

Micky Augustin

Cathie Raley

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:

CANDID PORTRAIT!

CANDID PORTRAIT! What a great theme! What does it mean? A candid portrait is one where the subject is unaware that a photo has been taken. The idea of a candid portrait is to capture people acting naturally. They should be unaware they are being photographed, as their behavior often changes once they become aware of the camera.

Remember! Next Monday is Labor Day. While the bank, your job, and the government might take that day off, Photography 139 does not! Plan on submitting your photo accordingly. No rest for the wicked! Money don’t grow on trees. I got bills to pay. I got mouths to feed. There ain’t nothing in this world for free. Oh no, I can’t slow down. I can’t hold back. Though you know, I wish I could. Oh no, there ain’t no rest for the wicked.

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 candid Monday.

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Gretchen, Sara, Shawn Lockner

The Juncks Vol. 2

August 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Time to hit up that 2016 backlog again.

Back in July of 2016 I went out to the Junck farm to do a family portrait shoot for the Juncks. It was so long ago that Maven wasn’t even in the picture yet. She’s definitely in the picture now though!

Here is the balance of the Junck photos:

For those of you that have missed Saydie Sundays are in luck. Saydie will return next Sunday!

Animals, Automobiles, Black & White, Christianity, Contests, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Gretchen, Railroad, Sara, Shawn Lockner

The Juncks – Vol. 1

August 5, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

REMINDER

It is once again time for me (and by me, I mean you guys) to pick out my photos to enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Once again, I am going to leave it up to a popular vote.

The Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest allows you to enter up to 6 photos.

There are 4 Categories:

1. Nature
2. Photojournalism
3. Photoshop Enhanced
4. Hidden Treasures of Boone County.

I have selected 60 images for you to consider. To simplify things, I have split the 60 photos into 6 sets of 10. If you wish to exercise your enfranchisement, clicking on the link below will take you to Poll #1. Vote for one of those pictures and then move onto the next poll, until you have voted in all six polls.

The winner of EACH poll will be entered into the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

Click on the link below to start voting:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominees

Voting will end at midnight, August 8.

As of this writing, if the polls closed, there would need to be a run-off election in the categories of Photoshop and Photojournalism.

The other 4 entries would be:

2018 Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominee

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Hitting that 2016 backlog again. Just a few more Sundays and I’ll have all of the 2016 backlog knocked out. Definitely before 2019!

Here we check in on a portrait session I did with the Juncks. You can tell that it is old because there is no Maven!

You think working with toddlers is hard work… try getting David Junck to look at the camera!!

There is one more collection of pictures from this photo shoot on the way. Don’t worry, there is plenty more of Gretchen being adorable coming your way!

Candid Portrait, Event, Evie, Gretchen, Layla, Maven, Photo Journal, Photoshop, Sara, Shawn Lockner, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 95

June 22, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

“Up next, we have a little dedication here. This journal entry is dedicated to all the player hating people that won’t let a little gangsta shine.”
-Uncle Chris

Niece Alert!

4 non-biological nieces in this post!

Page 95 for the PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT was one of the pages that I was most worried about being able to complete. It involves going to a party. When your the True Lone Wolf, you don’t get involved to many parties. The ones I do get invited to involved 1 to 3 year olds. At that point, I usually stop getting invited. Probably because I give books as gifts.

However, I was recently invited to Maven’s birthday party and I grabbed Sara’s camera, actually ripped it right out of her brother Steve’s hands and took a few pictures of some hardcore pinata action.

This is the picture that will be physically adhered into the Photo Journal:

Use flash to capture the energy of a party.

Here are a few others that I considered, but much like the Highlander, there can be only one!

I think I ultimately picked the picture of Layla because of Evie’s reaction behind her.

Thanks to Shawn for uploading these pictures to me. You are a scholar and tech savvy. Also, possibly a gentleman.

I need to get back to hitting THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT hard. I’ve only completed slightly over 30 of these pages. I already bought a similar book to do when I finish.

If you ever want to see the physical Photo Journal, it is housed at The Photography 139 Studio under lock and key. Guarded by a vicious guard dog. It can be seen by appointment only. So make an appointment.

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

FACELESS PORTRAIT

A FACELESS PORTRAIT is any portrait that doesn’t include the face. It could show any body part, just not the face. It doesn’t necessarily even have to include your subject. It could just include an environment that is uniquely the subjects.

Happy photo harvesting!

Automobiles, Event, Gretchen, Music, Nature, Sara

Happy Anniversary Juncks!

January 24, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

As you become aged, you get invited to less and less parties. I think I was invited to 3 toddler birthday parties and 1 anniversary party last year. I think that was it. My entire social calendar for 2017.

The anniversary party was for the parents of Sara and Steven Junck. I love visiting the Junck farm and snapped a couple of pictures while I was there:

I think I could spend days photographing the Junck farm and never get bored with it. But I only took a few pictures, cause I was partying it up! Actually I believe this was the day after I returned from the Mission Trip, so I was mostly ready to nap it up!

Boone FUMC, Flat Earth Joe, Gretchen, Micky, Mission Trip, Nader, Naima, Nature, Pastor Sarah, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Shawn Karber, Travel, Youth Group

Selfie Project – June

August 4, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

Here we are in August and I haven’t checked back into THE SELFIE PROJECT for the month of June. Here are some of favorites from June:

June 2

June 5

June 8

June 9

June 10

June 11

June 13

June 15

June 16

June 17

June 18

June 20

June 23

June 24

June 25

June 26

June 27

June 28

June 29

June 30

One side effect of THE SELFIE PROJECT I wasn’t expecting is that there are times when I think that might life is boring and I don’t do all that much. Then I look back at these pictures and I can see that I DO get out of the office or off the couch every now and again.

If you want to see all THE SELFIE PROJECT images, you can go here:

SELFIE PROJECT – 2017

And of course, you can stay current on THE SELFIE PROJECT by following me on the Instagram:

@christopherdbennett

I hope my July ended up being as good/great as my June!

Angie, Bill, Carla, Cathie, Flat Earth Joe, Flowers, Gretchen, Kim, Maven, Micky, Pastor Sarah, Photoshop, Sara, Shannon, Steph, Vest, Work, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 95 – FLOWER

July 10, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

There was a virtual outburst of participation this week! FLOWER was a very popular theme!

But you didn’t come here to talk all tommyrot about participation rates, you came to see the submissions. Here they be:

Bill Wentworth

Christopher D. Bennett

Angie DeWaard

Cathie Raley 1

Cathie Raley 2

Cathie Raley 3

Carla Stensland 1

Carla Stensland 2

Kim Barker 1

Kim Barker 2

Kim Barker 3

Sarah Karber

Shannon Bardole

Stephanie Kim 1

Stephanie Kim 2

Sara Lockner

Micky Augustin 1

Micky Augustin 2

Mike Vest

A solid week of submissions!

SAD!

SAD! What a great theme! I don’t think I need to define SAD. It is an emotional state that almost everybody knows. Especially with the current state of the world. But SAD isn’t only an emotion, it can also be a description of something. Person X’s taste in music is SAD. The fact that they keep making FAST & FURIOUS movies is SAD.

As always, feel free to define the theme as you see fit.

I’m already not SAD anticipating all the different interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge. 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

Nothing new to report. I’ll try to do better next week.

Want your own Photography 139 email subscription? Call, email, or text me and I’ll get you the hook up.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 GALLERY DIVISION

Sometimes people send me descriptions of their photos. I’ve never done anything with that information in the past. However, if you send me a description in the future, I will add it to your image in the Weekly Photo Challenge Gallery that houses all the submissions.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 MISSION DIVISION

For those of you that are observant of my schedule, I will be in Saint Paul on a mission trip next Monday. That doesn’t change the schedule of events. The deadline for inclusion of your submission will still be 11 AM on Monday. At 12:01, next week’s theme will be revealed. I won’t have much access to my email until I return to the Cyclone State on Friday, therefore I won’t reveal the submission until I return or until I feel that I have adequately recovered physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

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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 sad Monday!

Baby Got Rack, Baier, Bethany, Dae Hee, Dawn, Derrick, Evie, Formal Portrait, Gretchen, Jeff Daniel, Jen, Jesse, Jorge, Kim, Life, Michelle, Monica, Movies, Nader, Nora, Shannon, Steph, Suzie, Yin

Valley Lodge is Closed

April 18, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Since a few people have been asking, I am making a formal announcement.

THERE IS NO CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA AKA BENNETT-FEST THIS YEAR!

The reasons are multiple and complicated, but it is probably your fault. If you search your heart, you know it to be true.

So there will be NO:

– Baby Got Rack Award Winning Barbecue
– Hardcore Firetub Action
– Bubbles
– Sidewalk Chalk
– Golden Retriever
– Master’s Playlist
– Cornhole
– Tent
– Stimulating Conversation
– Catching up with old friends
– No photos like the ones below

Better luck in 2018. I have the idea for that year’s invite. I just need to find some volunteers and some costumes.

Evie, Gretchen, Jen, Layla, Politics, Shawn Lockner, Street Photography

A Basic Human Right

March 24, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

If we pretend that I posted this on the day that I’m pretended I posted this picture on, this sign from the Women’s March would be apropos.

There will probably be a big dump of the rest of these photos coming soon. In 2 weeks, I predict.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: Sony SLT-A65V
ISO: 100
FOCAL LENGTH: 70mm
APERTURE: f/6.3
EXPOSURE: 1/160
DATE: 01/21/2017 – 12:21
LATITUDE; 41.59059°
LONGITUDE: -93.60603°
PHOTO ASSISTANTS: Shawn, Jen, Sara, Evie, Layla, and Gretchen
PHOTO EDITING SOUNDTRACK: WELCOME TO AMERICA by LeCrae from “Anomaly”