Here are more pictures from our mostly failed trip to Saint Joseph, Missouri to see the Solar Eclipse back in 2017.
These pictures aren’t exactly in chronological order because I used 2 camera on this day and I didn’t have the foresight to synchronize their clocks.
There is one more set of solar eclipse photos in the hopper.
You might recall that back in August of 2017 there was a solar eclipse in the United States for the first time in decades. Or at least a really long time.
It cut a swath through Iowa, but in Iowa you couldn’t see the totality. It was only something like 85%. And if you are satisfied with an 85% solar eclipse, you aren’t living life to its fullest. Let it sink in and do better.
The totality was cutting through parts of Kansas and Missouri. I have some kinfolk in the area where the totality was to happen. My big city cousin Sarah was even going to come home from New York with her beau Tim to see the totality.
We made a plan to get together and watch the eclipse together. She did some research and we determined a park on the Missouri River in Saint Joseph, Missouri would be the best place to watch it. The totality was at its longest there. Plus, Saint Joseph was considered one of the top ten places to watch the eclipse because of the length of the totality and the fact that it hardly ever rains in Saint Joseph in August. People do research on such things.
Jesse and I took a couple days off to come down to see the eclipse. Another one of my cousins, Jordan and his wife Erin graciously allowed us to stay in their tall basement for the night.
We left Boone at something like 4 in the morning because I didn’t want to miss the eclipse because we were stuck in eclipse traffic. I also didn’t want to fight other people for a spot to see the eclipse. We were going to have our spot carved out a good 4 hours before the eclipse started.
We were successful. We beat the traffic and we secured a spot of real estate next to the Mighty Mo. Then it started to rain. Then rain some more. We didn’t get to “see” the totality. It was covered by clouds, for the most part. However, we did get to experience it. The temperature does drop like 10 degree. Everywhere you look in all 360 degrees looks like a sunset.
I didn’t get the picture that I wanted, but I still got an amazing experience. With some amazing people. Including my Uncle Mike and cousin Adam and his daughter Florence.
Here are some pictures from the failure:
I’m already making plans for the eclipse in 2024. It cuts across Paducah, Kentucky. I have some kinfolk that live near there!
This post will wrap up the 3rd to last photo shoot from 2016 to have the 2016 backlog cleared up!
More from the 2016 Howard Family Photo Shoot:
Next Sunday when we tackle the 2016 backlog, we will visit with them Degeneffe boys!
ANIMAL seemed to really bring out the creative impulses of a lot of people. Plenty of ANIMAL submissions!
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates! You came to see the submissions!
Micky Augustin
Micky Augustin
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Tamara Peterson
Michelle Haupt
Andy Sharp
Kim Barker
Mike Vest
Cathie Raley
Jesse Howard
Jesse Howard
A solid week of submissions!
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:
COMPETITION! What a great theme! But what is a COMPETITION photo? A COMPETITION photo is any photo that deals with competing. It could be a race. A football game. A board game. It could be people preparing for competition, like practice or working out. People don’t just compete against other people. They compete against time. They compete against themselves. Humans aren’t the only beings to compete either.
I look forward to seeing your interpretations!
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 competitive Monday.
By the time this gets published, I’ll probably be making the trudge up Expo Hill towards the Cultural Building to pick up my photos from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon.
If you didn’t get a chance to duck into the Cultural Building to check out my photos, that is fine. That is dandy. Here are the 4 pictures I entered. 2 were accepted for display. 2 were not.
Not selected for display.
Selected for display.
Selected for display.
2 pictures for display was a solid showing. You never know what the judges will like. I was surprised that Willy’s eye was selected for display. I thought of the 4, it had the worst chance to make it. I guess you never know.
A few statistics from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon:
1018 Photographers Entered
3201 Photographs Entered
Photographers from 20 other states entered
863 Adults Entered
466 of adults who entered have at least one photograph on display
27% of the photos entered were exhibited
I should start planning for next year, but that hasn’t really been my style, yet.
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Starting on the 3rd to last photo shoot from 2016 to have the 2016 backlog cleared up.
This collection is from the Howard Family Photo Shoot:
I told all the people that missed Saydie Sundays that she would be back. For at least one more week after this, even!
This collection of Beale Street images is the last of my photos from my trip to Memphis with Jesse and Russell to watch Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl.
I didn’t have overwhelming expectations for Memphis, but it ended up being one of my favorite cities I have ever visited.
If I would have to rank my 3 favorite cities to visit it would be as follows:
1. New York City
2. Minneapolis
3. Memphis
Honorable Mentions to Nashville and San Antonio.
My least favorite cities to visit:
1. Omaha – dirty town with nothing in it, except an animal prison.
2. Las Vegas – White Trash Mecca.
3. Chicago – It isn’t that there isn’t anything in Chicago, it is that it is impossible to get anywhere in Chicago.
Understand, I haven’t been to a ton of cities in my lifetime. I’m not a city person. I’m not a patient enough person to live in a city. Plus, I need nature. I prefer cities that have great food, great music, and interesting history.
Here are a metric ton of Beale Street pictures. A street with great food. Great music. Interesting history.
In case I haven’t mentioned it lately. I’m really excited for Iowa State’s season to start. Also, I need to travel somewhere soon. I really haven’t went anywhere this summer besides the mission trip.
But where to go… Where to go…
More from the 2017 backlog. These pictures are from the Iowa State Liberty Bowl Pep Rally I attended with Russell and Jesse.
It was a great event, but since I was already filled with pep, I did a lap around the Memphis Redbirds stadium taking some photos.
It was a beautiful December in Memphis. I only wish that some of that warmth could have been saved for the next day.
John Walters started the pep rally by saying, “And they said a football team couldn’t fill a baseball stadium.” I’ll give you time, if you don’t get the joke.
I’m 99% sure that I’m going to make a road trip to watch Iowa State play Kansas in early November. If anybody is interested in joining me in a Cyclone takeover of Lawrence, let me know so we can start making plans.
Hopefully Iowa State lives up to expectations and there is another bowl game to attend this year. One in Phoenix would be nice!
If not, the Final Four is in Minneapolis this season and the Iowa State basketball team is loaded with talent!
The folder named 06-11-08 contained a wide assortment of photos. Pictures of strange culinary delights from Kentucky, flood pictures, merry-go-rounds, and Little League.
I believe that at least 2 of the pictures of Alexis were entered into a photo contest here and there.
The culinary oddities were brought back from Kentucky with Teresa. I’m not sure why I was at the Little League Park. I guess I was feeling good about humanity and needed that to be squashed in the quickest way possible.
Here are the pictures from the folder 06-11-08:
There are actually quite a few more pictures from my trip to the Little League Park. If you are interested in perusing them, click on the link below:
By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:
Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve Ames on the Half Shell.
Those of you that know me well or are paying attention to this here blog know that tomorrow at 7 AM I hit the road for a Mission Trip to Houston. We will leave Saturday morning. Stay a night at a church near Fort Worth on Saturday night and then carry on to a town near Houston on Sunday.
We will work it to the bone for 4 days and then start the return trip home on Friday morning. We will spend Friday night in a Tulsa hotel and then be home at some point on Saturday.
If you wish to follow along and see sporadic updates of our adventures in Houston, the best path is to follow us on Instagram:
If you are too old for Instagram, then you will have to wait for my inevitable blogs.
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Here is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is SELF-PORTRAIT.
A SELF-PORTRAIT is a picture where the photographer is also the subject.
But don’t be afraid to be creative. Take a picture of yourself in a reflection that morphs your appearance. Take a picture of something that defines you. Take a picture of something that reflects your influence in the world.
Or take a picture of yourself in the gym mirror. It is all good.
Happy photo harvesting!
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The world wasn’t ready for these WORK pictures on Monday. The world might not be ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:
You’re welcome world!!
Before I get into the participation and the tommyrot and the PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE quoting, I want to point out the historical significance of today. Today is the 2 year anniversary of The Great Turtle Race Robbery of 2016!
If you don’t know about The Great Turtle Race Robbery of 2016, let me give you the short, short, short version.
During the football season, me and few fellow computer miners engage in a spirited bit of gambling. The winner each week gets to claim a red solo cup filled with change. Well, maybe not exactly filled, but there is some change in it.
At the end of the season, the person with the most red cups is proclaimed The Witch and they get the travelling trophy. A Franklin Broomworks Children’s Broom.(Incidentally, I agree with Franklin Broomworks and their hardcore child labor policies.) In the event of a tie, the title of Witch gets conferred in a tie-breaking competition that is determined by the people that are not involved in the tie.
In 2016, the tie-breaker was a turtle race.
The 4 people tied for first place were Joe (AKA Flat Earth Joe), Michelle, Cathie, and Humble Narrator. Before our traditional year end banquet at Zeno’s in Marshalltown we congregated at the Colo Outpost of AMOutdoors. What happened next is something conspiracy theorists have been discussing for 2 years now.
But don’t take my word for it, roll this conspiracy’s Zapruder film.
NOTE: If you are an email subscriber to “An Artist’s Notebook and are in the Outlook list, you will have to go to the website to view this atrocity. If you are in the regular distribution list, you already had to come to the website, so this message isn’t for you:
As you can see, the Red Turtle (MY TURTLE), clearly wins this race! Yet inexplicably, the Orange loser turtle is somehow declared the winner. Rigged! I can only speculate at what level the Russians were involved.
That being said, if you are into hunting and fishing, you could do worse than checking out Micky’s hunting and fishing website by clicking on the link below:
Just don’t trust the guy to run a turtle race. He is as crooked as dog’s hind leg. Depending on the dog, crookeder.
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Participation rates!
Tommyrot!
Here are the submissions for RELIGION:
Kim Barker
Christopher D. Bennett
Shannon Bardole
Andy Sharp
Tamara Peterson
Andy Sharp
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:
WORK! What a great theme! But what is WORK photography? WORK photography would be a photo of somebody doing their job, at their job, the tools for their job. But WORK doesn’t just happen at a job. WORK can also be done for fun. Like gardening. Or landscaping. Or mowing. Wait, mowing isn’t fun, but it still counts as WORK. Along with doing dishes and dusting.
As always, I look forward to seeing your interpretations!
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.
A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 COMMENTARY DIVISION
In recent weeks, 3 people have earned their very own Photography 139 avatars by leaving comments on “An Artist’s Notebook” entries.
Welcome to the Photography 139 commentary world:
Joe Duff
Linda Bennett
Tamara Peterson
Do you want your very own Photography 139 like giants in the blog post commentary industry like:
Angie DeWaard
Andy Sharp
Jesse Howard
All you have to do is leave a comment on an “An Artist’s Notebook” entry and I will gladly create you your very own Photography 139 avatar!
A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 POST NOTIFICATION
I’m currently using a post notification plugin called MailPoet. I’m not 100% satisfied with it, but it will stay status quo until I get back from my mission trip to Houston at the end of June. At that time, I will (hopefully) have the free time to play with a couple of different plug-ins.
If you use Outlook to view the post notification emails, let me know and I’ll switch you over to the Outlook subscription group.
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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 labored Monday!
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Oh wait, that isn’t all I have for today. If you are out and about from 4-7 today, I will be hanging out with the Boone Area Humane Society taking pictures for their booth and mascot at Ericson Public Library’s Summer Reading Kickoff.
If you don’t want to come see me, come to see Hope:
Just to make it clear, I will not be in the dog costume. I am about a foot too tall for the costume.
