This is final collection of Iowa State Fair pictures from 2018. Published just in time for the close of the 2019 Iowa State Fair.
I’ll be spending the day at the Iowa State Fair solo today as all 4 of the people that were going to go with me all gave me the shaft. C’est la vie!
These pictures are from the day I went to the last day of the Fair to pick up my pictures from the Photography Salon. Nader and Jesse went with me on that day.
I’m already looking forward to the 2020 Fair.
Last Saturday night Jay, Willy, Jesse, and I piled into the Sir Pixalot-mobile and headed down to Des Moines for a dinner that had absolutely nothing to do with Jay’s dinner. Anybody that says that the very delicious dinner we took down had anything to do with Jay’s birthday is a terrible liar.
Jay had selected (totally unrelated to his birthday) BAH Brazilian Steakhouse for the dinner. When we got there, there was a 45 minute wait. I took this as an opportunity to take Willy across the river and take the two pictures that I needed for Page 31 for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.
Tell a joke with two pictures.
This leaves only the following images left to capture before finally closing the book on THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:
Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason Evans. – This is a profoundly stupid page, but I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and do it at some point.
Page 28 – Recreate a famous photograph without looking it up.
Page 64 – Head out with a fellow photographer and play a game of photography dare.
PAGE 66-67 – Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).
PAGE 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compose your shot using touch rather than vision.
Page 106-107 – Email one of your pictures to your photography hero and ask them what they hate about it.
Page 117 – Freeze the frame exactly 57 minutes and 32 seconds in to your favorite film. Take a picture inspired by what you see.
PAGE 121 – Show us that photography is a form of magic.
Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.
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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is FLOWER:
A FLOWER picture is pretty self-evident. Happy photo harvesting!
There are now 5 days left to vote for what pictures I will enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.
If it is too much for you to take on all 6 polls at once, you can vote in the Photojournalism poll below. At this point, there is a clear cut Photojournalism front-runner.
If you want to vote in all 6 polls, click on the link below:
Thanks for your assistance!
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Since today is the opening day of the Iowa State Fair, you should remember that I do have one picture on display at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. You should go check it out!
I also figured that today would be a good day to publish pictures from last year’s trip to the Iowa State Fair with Jesse and Nader. This is collection is from the DNR Building. The DNR Building is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite building to visit at the Iowa State Fair.
Plenty more from last year’s Iowa State Fair in the backlog!
The pictures in the folder named 2009-04-24 are from when Jesse and I went to Tom Harkin’s office and met with a member of his staff to encourage him to support ending the civil war in Uganda.
We were very pleased with ourselves and decided to celebrate afterwards by meeting Sara at Snookie’s for celebratory ice cream. To this day, I celebrate all major accomplishments with ice cream. Also minor accomplishments. Also major failures. Basically, I’m eating ice cream while I’m typing this out.
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:
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve plants from my backyard.
Wow! I finished another blog! Time to go celebrate with some ice cream!
I made a recent stop at Boone’s local old timey ice cream shop for a malt and to pick up a couple glass bottles of Pepsi to pay off a 7 month (but who’s counting) debt. While I was there I spied a couple glass bottles of Bubble Up.
Bubble Up is a soda that reminds me of Jesse. When he was a child his family would travel from Boone to Clinton to visit relatives. On the way there they would stop at King Tower Cafe in Tama. One time Jesse and I and I think Eric made the trip to Clinton and we also stopped at King Tower Cafe. Now, this was over 20 years ago, but the one thing I distinctly remember about the experience is that they served Bubble Up. As a Fountain Drink.
When I spied the Bubble Up, I knew exactly what I needed to do. I needed to purchase it and then photograph Page 116 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:
I shot one other picture I liked, but not enough to physically adhere it into the physical copy of A PHOTO JOURNAL (there can be only one):
The leaves the following pages of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT left to photograph:
Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason by Jason Evans. – This is a profoundly stupid page, but I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and do it at some point.
PAGE 27- Create drama around the edge of your frame.
Page 28 – Recreate a famous photograph without looking it up.
PAGE 31 – Tell a joke with two pictures.
Page 64 – Head out with a fellow photographer and play a game of photography dare.
PAGE 66-67 – Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).
PAGE 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compose your shot using touch rather than vision.
Page 106-107 – Email one of your pictures to your photography hero and ask them what they hate about it.
Page 117 – Freeze the frame exactly 57 minutes and 32 seconds in to your favourite film. Take a picture inspired by what you see.
PAGE 121 – Show us that photography is a form of magic.
Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.
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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is LETTERS OR NUMBERS:
Happy photo harvesting!
Now that the Boone County Fair is winding down and my collection of Boone County Fair Photography Contest entries are bagged up and safely stowed in one of the now TWO trunks that archive my past photo contest entries, I can release the results to the general public that didn’t make it to the Boone County Fair this year. A fair that I can safely say if Family-Friendly Fun & Entertainment, Right here in Central Iowa! I would dare say that this year’s fair was “Picture Perfect”.
Here are my submissions, along with who selected them for entry and the result:
Blue Ribbon – Michelle Haupt
Red Ribbon – Monica Henning
Blue Ribbon – Jesse Howard
Purple Ribbon – Shannon Bardole-Foley
A reminder that I do have one picture that will be displayed at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. I don’t know what it is, but I will find out at the Photographer Reception here in a couple weeks. I’ll release that photo at the conclusion of the Iowa State Fair on August 18.
There is still good seats available to join me at the Iowa State Fair on August 18. But they are filling up fast!
As for the last photo contest I enter this year, the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. I will again be selecting my entries by poll. I will be putting that poll together in the next couple of weeks. So stay tuned to this station. Information will be forthcoming!
REMINDER that starting tomorrow, my 5 entries for the Boone County Fair should be on display. They usually put them out about noon. They will be displayed in the Community Building.
Thanks to:
Logan Kahler
Jesse Howard
Michelle Haupt
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Monica Henning
For selecting the 5 entries.
Special thanks to Stephanie Kim who volunteered to pick a photo, but I think took it too seriously and ran out of time.
Plus thanks to Jodie Cue who volunteered to be an alternate.
Soon I’ll begin the process of selecting photos for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Keep your eyes peeled to this website for details!
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Last Friday I took off work early to go down to Van Meter to the military cemetery to join the Howards for Larry Howard’s graveside service. It isn’t the type of event where I take a camera or ever think about taking pictures. I’m not altogether comfortable taking pictures at a funeral, but this is, strangely, the second time that I’ve done such a thing.
However, after I arrived I was asked to take some pictures, so I did. I don’t know that I’ll share those, but we’ll see. After the service was over I wandered around the cemetery looking around. It was there that I stumbled across the perfect subject for Page 16 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.
With Page 16 put to rest, here are the following pages that I still need to photograph:
Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason by Jason Evans. – This is profoundly stupid page, but I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and do it at some point.
PAGE 27- Create drama around the edge of your frame.
Page 28 – Recreate a famous photograph without looking it up.
PAGE 31 – Tell a joke with two pictures.
Page 64 – Head out with a fellow photographer and play a game of photography dare.
PAGE 66-67 – Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).
Page 73 – Turn form into rhythm.
PAGE 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compse your shot using touch rather than vision.
Page 106-107 – Email one of your pictures to your photography hero and ask them what they hate about it.
PAGE 116 – Shoot an advert where the image says it all without need for any additional copy.
Page 117 – Freeze the frame exactly 57 minutes and 32 seconds in to your favourite film. Take a picture inspired by what you see.
PAGE 121 – Show us that photography is a form of magic.
Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.
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The Boone County Fair is going down right now, which means tomorrow is the annual barbecue/grill-out competition. Baby Got Rack will once again be there competing!
If you are around the fair, go ahead and stop by and say hello. It is going to be a brutally hot one so you might want to check to see if we are still conscious.
We are taking a completely different set of recipes than we normally do, so we’ll see how it turns out. Baby Got Rack is nothing, but risk takers!
Hopefully it pays off and we qualify for the Iowa State Fair, but if it doesn’t, we will have no regrets!
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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ANGER.
An ANGER photo is any photo of somebody thit is ANGERy or something that makes you ANGERy.
Happy photo harvesting!
When I went on my birthday road trip with Jesse back in May, I used the trip to Decorah as a chance to do some sign hunting for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. This was the first time that I had hunted for signs this year. I thought I would have made more progress than that by now, but I have hunted in most of the areas immediately surrounding Boone, so now I have to expand my hunting grounds.
Here are the signs I harvested on that day:
Fort Atkinson, Iowa
Hampton, Iowa – The Heart of Franklin County
Ionia, Iowa – The Little Town with a “Big Welcome”
Rowan, Iowa
Latimer, Iowa – A Progressive Community
St. Lucas, Iowa
Allison, Iowa
Blairsburg, Iowa
Calmar, Iowa
Decorah, Iowa
Coulter, Iowa – A Nice Place to Call Home – Population 282
I have actually went sign hunting since then. I’ll publish that harvest soon.
On July 3 I went down to Water Works Park in Des Moines with Jesse and to meet Russell to see Kamala Harris speak. It was absolutely pouring down rain and Water Works is an outdoor venue.
The Kamala Harris campaign was nice enough to give us ponchos as we waiting in the downpour. After about 10 minutes they came down the line and announced that the event was moved to Confluence Brewing.
This sucked because I was excited to see Kamala Harris. She is the first candidate that I have see that has a legitimate shot of being the next President of the United States. You could make a case for Bernie, but considering his national profile, if he was going to win the nomination his poll numbers would be much better right now. Plus he seems to be fighting for the same voters as Elizabeth Warren and as she surges he becomes more of an afterthought.
I can say that Confluence Brewing is a better venue than the Livery Deli. The lighting isn’t great, but it is better than at the Livery Deli. One thing that is hard to get past is the odor. It is a brewery, so it smells somewhat like rotting hops. Even worse when the person standing next to you is drinking what has to be the world’s strongest smelling beer. Puke.
However, since it was pouring down rain, this was better than nothing.
If you don’t know who Kamala Harris is, here is a little bit about her from her Wiki:
Kamala Devi Harris (/ˈkɑːmələ/ KAH-mə-lə;[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the junior United States Senator from California since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 27th District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011, then as the 32nd Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017. On January 21, 2019, she officially announced her campaign to run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election.
Harris was born in Oakland, California, and is a graduate of Howard University and University of California, Hastings College of the Law. In the 1990s, she worked in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the City Attorney of San Francisco’s office. In 2004, she was elected District Attorney of San Francisco.
Harris won the election as California’s Attorney General in 2010 and was reelected in 2014 by a wide margin. On November 8, 2016, she defeated Loretta Sanchez in the 2016 Senate election to succeed outgoing Senator Barbara Boxer, becoming California’s third female U.S. Senator, and the first of Jamaican or Indian ancestry.[2] Since becoming a Senator, she has supported single-payer healthcare, federal descheduling of cannabis, municipal protection for undocumented immigrants, the DREAM Act, and lowering the tax burden for the working and middle classes while raising taxes on corporations and the wealthiest one percent of Americans.
Kamala recently surged in the polls after her performance in the first Democrat Debate. I didn’t get to watch either debate because they happened while I was on the mission trip, but that is the analysis that I digested afterwards.
Here is an example of one of her positions from her campaign website:
OUR AMERICA
QUALITY, AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL
Affordable health care should be a right, not a privilege. But today in America, the costs of health insurance, surprise bills, and prescription drugs are straining budgets and bankrupting families. Health care simply costs too much and it’s time to take on the powerful special interests that want to continue to put profit over people.When Kamala’s mother was diagnosed with cancer, it was one of the worst days of her life. But Kamala was so grateful that her mother had Medicare. She believes we must guarantee Medicare-for-All.
Medicare for All will eliminate premiums and out-of-pocket costs. It will guarantee comprehensive care including dental and vision, and ensure Americans are not denied services or doctor choice. It won’t leave anyone behind, including the 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions and 61 million Americans with disabilities. It will save money by taking profit out of America’s health care system and finally make affordable, universal coverage a reality.
Affordable health care also means lowering the cost of prescription drugs by taking on pharmaceutical manufacturers and private insurance companies. That’s what Kamala has done throughout her career. As Attorney General, she won a more than $320 million settlement from insurance companies that defrauded elderly Californians and people with disabilities. As president, Kamala will continue the fight. She’ll prosecute opioid makers profiting from the health crisis they’ve helped cause, allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper prescription prices, and shut the revolving door between pharmaceutical companies and our government.
Kamala also believes health care will never be a universal right unless we fight back against the constant attacks on women’s health care. That’s why, as Attorney General, Kamala led a coalition of 16 states to urge the Supreme Court to protect women’s access to contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act, and, as Senator, fought back against President Trump’s attempts to repeal the law. As president, Kamala will nominate judges who know Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, protect Planned Parenthood from Republican attempts to defund essential health services, and address racial disparities in maternal health care. Reproductive rights are protected by the Constitution and Kamala will keep fighting until those rights are protected and guaranteed in every state.
Here are some pictures from the event:
I didn’t get a selfie with Kamala. To do that, I would have had to shove several small children out of the way. I have a feeling this isn’t the last time I see Kamala speak though.
The pictures from the folder 2009-02-24/Arizona Day 6 are from the CMM Party. On Thursday night’s at the CMM there is a party.
I spent most of time at the party wandering around the desert looking for sunset pictures. That is the kind of party animal I am…
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will be the last of the Arizona pictures.
