Category Archives: Jesse

Alexis, Alisa, Anders, Animals, Baier, Becca, Bethany, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Derrick, Elainie, Evie, Flat Earth Joe, Holidays, House, Iowa State, Jason, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Jorge, Logan, Mom, Movies, Nader, Naima, Nate, Pastor Sarah, Sara, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Shannon, Shorty, Tenderloining, Teresa, Tim, Willy, Youth Group

Won’t Take that Credit; I know Where We Get It; Them Blessings Be Comin’ from God Above

November 23, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Rather than my standard picture of an inflatable turkey, thought (with apologies to Lecrae, I’d give thanks for some of the many blessings in my life.

Count it up, count it up, count it up.
Line ’em up, line ’em up, line ’em up.

Blessed with a tremendous biological family. Blessed to share DNA and a life with these people.

Blessed to be a part of Olivia’s family. Blessed to learn a new definition of the word “family” from Shorty and Doris.

Blessed to be a part of an incredible church family. From Youth Group to Methodist Men to the people I see in the pews on Sundays.

Blessed to have a job and double blessed to have a great work family. 7 AM comes pretty early, but so many of the people I work with make the struggle worth the effort.

Blessed to share a life with this band of brothers. Not one of us has any fashion sense, but I’d still take a bullet for any of them.

Blessed to fit in with this band of sisters as well.

Blessed to be able to share my love of weird cinema with like minded individuals once a month.

Blessed to be a Cyclone and double blessed to have somebody to share so many trips to Jack Trice (a spiritual place for me) with.

Blessed to have a roof over my head that belongs to me. Blessed that I can extend that roof over friends and family when their life needs it. Blessed that when I say, “Want to help paint by house?” 20+ people show up.

Blessed that friends from past jobs are still important pillars of my current life.

Blessed that people that aren’t related to me consider me an uncle to them.

Blessed to have a car that I can drive out of town and not worry about the tire falling off.

Blessed to have so many people in my life that when I say, “I’m coming to your city”, they say, “You’re staying with us right?”

Blessed to have so many people in my life that fill gaps.

Blessed that even though I’m aged, I still healthy enough to still ball. Although pretty poorly these days.

Blessed that even though I’m aged, I still have people in my life that keep me young.

Blessed to have people in my life that want to change the world for the better, when I get cynical.

Blessed to have art in my life.

Blessed to have a beautiful beard. Even if the old guys at my church hate it.

Blessed to have people who will help with projects like this, no questions asked.

Blessed to share a life and a domicile with this crazy beast. Teaches me about selfless love every single day.

Blessed to have a chance to spread my blessings to others, sometimes, with some of my favorite people.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of my blessings. But I don’t want it to start to sound like I’m bragging.

Blogging, Christianity, History, Holidays, Jesse, Macro, Politics, Vest, Work

01-08-08

November 18, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

This huge collection of photos was found in the folder called 01-01-08:

I don’t know if it the holidays or recently seeing some old friends, or a recent death to a close relation of a very close friend or if it is just because it is that time of year, but this particular walk down memory lane made me particularly nostalgic.

Nostalgic for:

1. A time when I stayed up late enough to do night photography.
2. A time when some of the people on the chili scoring sheet still worked at the computer mine.
3. A time when the computer mine had the old set up and not the cube farm setup.
4. A time when Vest could grip a toy gun with 10 fingers. Too soon?
5. A time when Symposium was still a thing.
6. A time when my beanie collection was so wanting.
7. A time when I was stuck at work after dark on holidays. Which is crazy because I always hated that.
8. A time when we could actually turn the lights off at work.
9. A time when being a piece of human debris made you ineligible for political office, rather than eligible for a cabinet position.

But when I wasn’t feeling all melancholy, by adding this images to the Photography 139 SmugMug Gallery, I was able to restore the following old timey blog posts:

EDWARDS ON NEW YEAR’S DAY
JUST TELL ME
SYMPOSER
KENTUCKY FRIED METHODIST

Next Saturday’s stroll down memory lane will involve a broken mirror at the very least.

Candid Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Photo Journal, Saydie, Taylan

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 98

November 12, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

This picture for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT was taken a couple months back during the annual Howard Family Photo Shoot:

Photo Journal – Page 98 – Take a group portrait that captures the individuality of each subject.

Here are some other I took during the same session that I like, but won’t be physically adhered in the physical manifestation of A PHOTO JOURNAL:

I’m not sure what page we will hammer out next time we check-in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. Possibly pages 50-51.

Bill, Derrick, Football, Iowa State, Jesse, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Youth Group

Selfie Project – October

November 2, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 7 Comments

You can tell the year is starting to wind down. I don’t feel I did the best work on THE SELFIE PROJECT in October. It admittedly wasn’t the busiest month of the year for me, but I still had plenty of things go down. I’ll have to try to do better in November. Finish off THE SELFIE PROJECT strong!!

October 1

October 3

October 4

October 6

October 7

October 8

October 10

October 13

October 14

October 16

October 18

October 19

October 22

October 24

October 25

October 28

October 30

October 31

I do at least have plans to travel farther than Ankeny in November. So that is something!

Remember, you can follow THE SELFIE PROJECT’S daily progress by following me on Instagram:

CHRISTOPHERDBENNETT

We will check in on this project again in a month!

Jesse, Photo Journal, Self-Portrait

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 58 Beta

October 19, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

On the last Saturday of my vacation I corralled Jesse and we went out to McHose Park and took the second picture for Page 58 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 58 Beta – Take a picture of yourself pretending to be yourself.

Here are a couple of others we took during the session that won’t be physically adhered into the physical PHOTO JOURNAL:

I have a few more pages for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT taken, so I’m not sure what page I will unveil next. Leaning towards Page 33 though.

Alexis, Animals, Baier, Derrick, FNSC, Football, Iowa State, Jay, Jesse, Jorge, Logan, Micky, Mom, Monica, Nader, Nature, Night, Photo Journal, Railroad, Road Trip, Russell, Scottie D., Shorty, Travel, Vacation, Weddings, Willy

Remembered with Nostalgia

October 8, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

Now that I’ve been back to reality for 7 days, probably a good time to go over my vacation.

FRIDAY

Left work at 4 PM or so. Vacation starts.
Had FNSC with Willy. Ate at Colorado Grill.
After Colorado Grill. Started watching a new show, NARCOS.

SATURDAY

Breakfast at Legal Limit with Mom.
Photography for Amber and Steve’s Wedding.

Not Steve pictured.

SUNDAY

Went to the Lutheran Church in Gilbert with Jesse and Nader to celebrate Nader’s 30th year in the United States.
Ate lunch at the church with some of the people that helped Nader when he got to the country.
Went to Gene’s farm to admire his car collection.

Sent this picture to Russell of Youth Nazis harassing this old woman.

Sent this picture to Logan because he sent me a picture trying to make me jealous of his lunch.

A Studebaker with an El Camino back.

Naima getting her pills.

Went to the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad and Shorty was there working it.

While this food stand looks awesome, the ice cream isn’t that great.

MONDAY

Loaded up Mom’s car and headed for Mount Rushmore.
Stopped in Sioux Falls for gas, human fuel, and Falls Park. It rained all the way to Sioux Falls.

Sent this picture to Jorge and Joe to remind them that I wasn’t at work.

Falls Park

Mom struggles with the selfie concept.

Confused by the bridge they built to seemingly just to wreck the view.

I wonder what this picture would look like with me in it.

Oh. Like that.

I give Falls Park the thumbs up. I’ll have to go back when I have more time at some point.

Stopped for gas again next to 1880 town.

Stopped at Wall Drug right before it closed.

Still don’t have the selfie thing down.

Free Water.

Pretty horrible restaurant across the street from Wall Drug.

I’d give Wall Drug the bird. Don’t waste your time. A bunch of touristy garbage with ridiculous hours.

Got to Rapid City and checked into a hotel with free WI-FI and continental breakfast.

TUESDAY

Got up in the morning and ate continental breakfast at the hotel. Had a lengthy conversation with two women from Arizona that came up there for the Buffalo Roundup.
Left for Mount Rushmore.

Posted on Instagram. #wafflelife

First view of Mount Rushmore

View from the parking lot.

One armed woman took this picture for us.

Getting better at the selfie game.

What Mount Rushmore was supposed to look like, but they had to stop because of WWII. Another thing we can blame on Hitler.

I give Mount Rushmore the thumbs up.

At the base of Mount Rushmore we ran into Brad Dighton. The cousin of a member of my church. He gave us several pro tips for the area. We weren’t able to get to all of them, but maybe next time.

One of his pro tips was take the Iron Mountain Road to Custer State Park.

All of these tunnels point back to Mount Rushmore. You can’t tell in the picture, but trust me.

I give the Iron Mountain Road the thumbs up.

Custer State Park is a great example of white privilege. I have no clue why a park is named after Custer. His 2 claims to fame are graduating last in his class at West Point and then getting his buttocks handed to him at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Custer Park (like the man) was more hype than pay off. We were told we would see hundreds of buffalo. We saw one. That being said, the feral donkeys and the prairie dogs made up for the lack of buffaloes.

I give Custer Park a thumbs up, but it didn’t live up to the hype.

After we left Custer, we went to Needles Highway.

Still working on the selfie game.

We’re starting to get there.

Needles Highway is a road about the width of McHose Park road, but with a 400 foot drop to your death on one side. It is amazing!

I give Needles Highway a big thumbs up!

After that we went to Hill City to eat lunch/dinner at a place recommended to us by Brad Dighton. That place was closed, so instead we dined at the Hill City Cafe.

We bought fudge there.

Hill City Cafe wasn’t terrible, but it certainly was not great. Thumb sideways.

After that, we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Almost there!

We might’ve regressed on our selfie game.

I’d give Crazy Horse another big thumbs up! My only complaint is that all the information seems to be on the family carving the memorial and hardly anything on Crazy Horse himself. You know, the guy that ripped Custer’s buttocks off and handed them back to him. He took out Custer’s brothers while he was ate it. Crazy Horse was an OG.

Pro Tip: Pay for the $4 bus ride.

After leaving Crazy Horse, went back to Mount Rushmore for the lighting ceremony.

Sent this picture of Thomas Jefferson ice cream to Russell since Russell hate Thomas Jefferson for being a slave owner and a rapist. True, but he also made a mean ice cream.

Paid and extra dollar for the Thomas Jefferson ice cream.

The lighting ceremony kind of drags on for awhile, but the part where they bring veterans on stage and take the flag down is powerful. While waiting (forever) for them to light up the mountain we became single serving friends with Lance Young. A former Iowa State wide receiver that played in the Dan MacCarney era.

After the lighting we went back to Rapid City and crashed.

WEDNESDAY

Got up in the morning and hit the continental breakfast. Hard. Going home day. No time for single serving friends. Ate and hit the road.

Stopped at Badlands National Park.

This sign was all hype. No snake.

Still working on it.

I think we have it. At least we’re in striking distance.

Taken by a woman who was friendly, but strangely afraid of falling down the side to her death. She has no future as a Photography 139 Assistant!

“I’ll take one to the side and one of you in the middle.”

Not afraid of the edge. Pimp.

Badlands. 2 big thumbs up. They just need to work on their rattlesnake game.

Next stop on the way home was to see the Dignity Sculpture. It looks like the Big Jesus in Sioux City, only less creepy. I don’t have a picture with the cell phone, but when I unleash the camera pictures, there is one there.

The next stop was Mitchell. I was going to avoid the Corn Palace but it just lined up with when we needed gas and human fuel.

Go home corn. You’re drunk.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER in corn. Well, I can’t hate that.

Mic Drop! I think we finally nailed it!

Last time I went to the Corn Palace, I gave it the bird. I’m going to upgrade it to just a thumbs down. It is worth seeing, if you don’t waste time going inside.

We stopped at a place called The Hungry Dog for lunch.

The Hungry Dog was by far the best eating experience of the trip. 6 out of 5 Stars!!! It only seats about 5 people on the inside and after the only employee took our order, made our food, and delivered it; she locked the door and told us she’d be right back. She had to go pick up her kids from school.

I loved every second of my experience!

On the way out of town we saw this Albert the Bull wannabe. Jason Baier will get that joke.

The last stop of the evening was in Jefferson for gas and human fuel.

I wish so badly we had this sign when I worked for the evil clown empire. I can’t even count all the times some dirty white trash blew cigarette smoke in my face as soon as I opened the drive-thru window.

1424.3 miles in 3 days.

Then home for sleep.

THURSDAY

Did not much in the day. Hung up a bunch of pictures in my bedroom. Cleaned out the guest bedroom now that Alexis has moved out.
Picked Derrick up for the Iowa State game.

I don’t care what anybody says. I love the new Bugle Cyclone secondary logo.

Well almost everything about that game sucked, except the company.

FRIDAY

I can’t remember next to anything that happened on Friday.
I visited Scottie D. to get a yard sign. He is running for City Council for Ward 5.

Also had FNSC with Willy. Think it was at Jimmy’s Barbecue.

SATURDAY

Don’t remember much about Saturday either.

Went uptown during YesterBoone to complete another page of the Photo Journal Project.

Sent this to Micky and offered to buy it in case he got shutout on his hunting trip in Wyoming.

Went out to McHose Park and with Jesse’s assistance completed yet another page of the Photo Journal Project.

After that, we went to a Gender Reveal Party for one of the members of the Youth Group. It’s a Girl!!
Headed up to Jay’s for Chili Lab. Both Jay and Wily made great chilis and we enjoyed a viewing of KONG ISLAND.

SUNDAY

Got up and went to church at Boone First United Methodist Church.
Then lunch with the family.
Meeting for the Council to Elect Degeneffe.
Then I went to the Freedom Flight Send-off to see Jesse’s Dad.

Derrick’s dad made an impromptu speech praising military spouses.

Monica’s mom made a bouquet that they took with them to place on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Then I went home. Sat on my couch and soaked up the last few hours of vacation, before being back at the grind on Monday.

I’ve been back to work one week. Already fantasizing about the next time I dip my toes into the PTO pool.

Becca, Brandon, Dawn, Derrick, Jesse, Johnathan, Logan, Mom, Nader, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa, Youth Group

The Selfie Project – September

October 4, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is a look back at my favorite September photos from THE SELFIE PROJECT:

September 1

September 2

September 6

September 7

September 10

September 15

September 16

September 17

September 20

September 21

September 23

September 24

September 25

September 26

September 27

September 28

September 29

And if you can’t wait for these monthly updates, you can follow THE SELFIE PROJECT’S daily updates by following me on Instagram:

@christopherdbennett

I think I had a pretty decent September. Hopefully October treats me well.

Animals, Bethany, Brandon, Dae Hee, Iowa State, Jesse, Linda, Naima, Night, Nora, Pastor Sarah, Sarah Toot, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Shawn Karber, State Fair, Tim

Selfie Project – August

September 15, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

One of the benefits of THE SELFIE PROJECT is that I can look back at a month and feel less worthless. Hey, I actually did go out and do stuff and see people in month X. I’m a winner!

Speaking of winners, these are the photos I consider winners from the month of August:

August 2, 2017

August 5, 2017

August 6, 2017

August 7, 2017

August 10, 2017

August 11, 2017

August 12, 2017

August 13, 2017

August 15, 2017

August 16, 2017

August 19, 2017

August 20, 2017

August 21, 2017

August 22, 2017

August 24, 2017

August 26, 2017

August 27, 2017

August 29, 2017

August 30, 2017

August 31, 2017

Remember that THE SELFIE PROJECT photos are posted on Instagram on the daily. If you don’t know, Instagram is that little sliver of social media that doesn’t suck… much. There are a few lazy slackjaws out there that post memes, but other than that, it is just pictures. Any way you can follow me at the account below:

@christopherdbennett

Now I need to make sure that my September is almost as great as my August!

Jesse, Nature, Photo Journal, Travel

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 110

September 14, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

This was going to be one of the hardest entries in THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT for me to accomplish. Mostly because, it is a huge time commitment. Luckily, I recently did the thing that Page 100 asks you to do, sorta. Here is Page 110.

Page 110 – Sit in one spot for five hours. Only take pictures when the light is at its most beautiful.

This picture was taken on the banks of the Missouri River in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Jesse and I left Boone at 4:15 AM and drove down there to see the Total Solar Eclipse. We met my cousin Sarah and her husband Tim and my Uncle Mike and Cousin Adam and his kid Florence there and prepare for one of nature’s rarest and most awesome spectacles.

Unfortunately for us, it poured rain right up to the totality. It stopped raining, but there was still nearly 100% cloud cover during the totality. Despite not being able to physically see the sun pass behind the moon, I wouldn’t have changed anything from that day.

We still got to experience the darkness of the totality. We still got to experience the 10 degree temperature drop of the totality. We still got to experience the effect the totality had on the animals in the area. We got to experience the totality with some awesome people.

The picture that will be physically adhered into THE PHOTO JOURNAL was taken during the totality. Something that wasn’t ever mentioned in my solar eclipse research is the ring of light that goes around the horizon. That was perhaps my favorite part of the eclipse.

There will be more eclipse pictures at some point.

The next time we visit THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will probably hit up Page 119.

Angie, Carla, Cathie, Jesse, Micky, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 104 – LOW PERSPECTIVE

September 11, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE rebounded a little bit in participation rates this week as people did get down and got a LOW PERSPECTIVE.

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

Carla Stensland

Jesse Howard

Micky Augustin

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson 1

Tamara Peterson 2

Angie DeWaard

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

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:

FAMILY!

FAMILY! What a great theme! I don’t think I need to define FAMILY for you, even though I personally have had the term redefined for me over the years. Interpret the theme as you see fit and I can’t wait to see all the interpretations.

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. 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.

**************************************

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 familial Monday!