Category Archives: History

Art, Becca, History, Holidays, Monica, Photoshop, Sara, Work

2-10-08

January 6, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The following pictures were in the folder 2-10-08:

The tin was made by Sara. It was product from her Etsy store. You may have noticed some of her tins around my house as decorations.

The painted fish bowl was a Christmas present from Becca. It was one of my favorite Christmas Presents I’ve ever received. Her design was based off of my 4 FLOWERS image.

The tragic part of this story is that I used the bowl as my loose change jar. When it was full I took it to the bank and it got broke. I don’t know that I’ve ever fully recovered. Hopefully some day I will get a replacement for it. Perhaps it will come the same day I get my replacement for my Monica Henning painting that was also tragically destroyed in a freak dog toy accident.

The last image is something I won at a Christmas Work Party. I sold it to a co-worker for $20.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that I did put my car in the ditch on Wednesday. It was the first time in my life I’ve put my car in the ditch… well during winter. (I’m sure many of you remember the skunk family story that lead to my relenting and agreeing to get cell phones.)

I need to point out (because of people like Amber of Youth Group fame) that I was not taking pictures (like I was in 2 of the pictures above) while I was driving. It just happened. Not by best moment.

One of my best moments was being able to restore 3 old timey blogs by adding these old timey photos to the Photograpy 139 Gallery:

EVEN WHEN YOU WIN
PRETTIEST PRESENT
ANGRY BRAD’S DESIGNS

On next Saturday’s walk down memory lane, we will have another look at some Little White Lye Soap pictures.

Animals, History, Iowa State, Jesse, Music, Night, Road Trip, Russell, Travel

Refreshed from Time to Time with the Blood of Patriots and Tyrants

January 4, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Thought I would share a few cruddy cell phone pictures from my recent trip to Memphis with Russell and Jesse to watch Iowa State’s 21-20 beatdown of Memphis in the Liberty Bowl:

You know you’re in Memphis when you walk into a hotel lobby and there is a musician setting up shop.

Beale Street

Greetings from Memphis!

Beale Street

Supper!

Delicious Chicken and Waffles #wafflelife

I want this Sam Cooke table.

The King

The King’s Final Resting Place

In front of the gates at Graceland

First time in Mississippi.

Amazing Waffle House Experience. Waitress told us that she loved our “Northern Accents”. #wafflelife

We will be sending a very nice letter to Waffle House about this amazing waitress!

Back to Tennessee.

This many people gathered to watch ducks walk from an elevator to a fountain. To John Philip Sousa.

Some college football fanbases don’t have any problems filling a baseball stadium.

The Memphis Redbirds play in a beautiful stadium.

Post pep rally fireworks.

Selfie Time!

Cozy Corner is a big recommend. Their barbecue spaghetti, not so much.

Delicious, delicious ribs!

With the owner. Teenage Cyclone fan for the photobomb!

The National Civil Rights Museum located where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Watched the Iowa State basketball debacle here. These musicians were solid, but made the night slightly uncomfortable.

More Beale Street.

Apparently Iowa State fans like their Busch Light.

Even More Beale Street.

Admittedly, not my best work. #wafflelife

ISUCFVMB

Sea of Cardinal and Gold

Cyclones!!!

Dig those sweet chrome helmets!

This flyover by a FedEx 747 was both slow and scary.

Weirdest halftime show ever? The Isley Brothers and other stuff.

Victory Formation!

Sing the alma mater!

Victory Selfie!

Jumbotron? Try minitron.

I’ll be strolling into church some Sunday with this jacket.

21-20* Should’ve been 28-20, but refs aren’t perfect.

Leave these guys alone for a moment and they are staring at their phones.

There are plenty of real camera pictures that will be released eventually, but thought I’d get these out early. I didn’t take the real camera into the Liberty Bowl. A myriad of reasons, but in the end, you just need to know that it didn’t work out.

Memphis’ stadium is a little dumpy. It isn’t a complete dump, like where Kansas and Missouri play. But it isn’t nice like where Kansas State or Iowa or of course like Jack Trice.

I have to commend Russell. He survived almost 3 full days with me and Jesse. That isn’t an easy feat for most people. He is horrified that I photograph my food, but he is going to have to learn. That is how Bennetts roll. It is genetic. I swear it!

To surmise, it was a great trip that ended with a Cyclone victory! I’m already making plans for next year’s bowl game trip. Who wants in?

Animals, Art, History, Iowa State, Naima, Nature, Night, Politics, Road Trip, Travel, WPC - Alternate

That Last Album Was Heavy, That Last Album Was Gritty, How You Gon’ Match That?

January 2, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The world wasn’t ready for these LOW PERSPECTIVE pictures on Monday. I’m not sure the world is ready for them now. But I can’t hold them back any longer:

Most of these pictures were taken in Memphis. Others were taken in my backyard. One was taken in my kitchen.

You’re welcome world.

Black & White, History, Road Trip, Ruins, Travel

The Burned Bridge of Madison County

December 24, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Hitting the back log again. These are images I took the day after some young hooligans set fire to the Cedar Bridge near Winterset.

I’m not really sure what possessed people to burn down this bridge. While I do agree that the efforts of Robert James Waller are an affront to literature, I’m not tempted to set any of these bridges on fire.

If Nicholas Sparks had written about these bridges, that is another story!

Basketball, History, Night

01-09-08 & 01-15-08

November 25, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The following images came from the folders called 01-09-08 and 01-15-08:

I don’t really know a good way to describe most of these images, so I’ll just let it be.

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Smugmug Gallery, I was able to restore these old timey journal entries to their original glory:

NOTES FROM YESTERDAY
COMMUTER ART
BROKEN

The next walk down memory lane will involve one of the few times I’ve wasted memory card space on pictures of a cat.

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.

History, Night, Still Life, Work

12-07-07

October 28, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Most of the pictures in the folder called 12-07-07 were taken at Bandshell Park in Ames.

There is a Swift Stop gas station in the bottom 2 pictures. In another life when I ran the campus outpost of the Evil Clown Empire there was a guy that worked for me that was the most America hating American I ever met. When he wasn’t talking about his Dungeons & Dragons empire, he was talking about how he wanted to move to Australia because he hated this country so much.

He was scheduled to work the lunch shift on September 11, 2001. After the airplanes struck the towers he called in to see if we were closing for the day. The answer was “no”. We were staying open. I don’t know if it was the right decision to stay open, but I don’t have to grapple with that in my sleep. I didn’t make that decision.

Then he called back every hour hoping that the answer was something different. The answer was never anything different.

Finally at the appointed hour he waddled into the store and proceeded to fill the store with his pissing and moaning. He was the kind of guy that pissed and moaned all the time, but he was particularly on fire this morning.

It seemed to me that he felt that he was the only one experiencing the events of the day. He was the only one that wanted to be somewhere else.

Finally, after 30 minutes of his grousing, I got sick of him and snapped at him and sent him home.

I can’t remember if he quit or was fired from the Evil Clown Empire any longer. A few years later I heard that he had died. He was working at that Swift Stop gas station. He had a heart attack while he was working alone. There was nobody in the store. He died on the floor of that convenience store and laid there until the next customer came in and discovered him.

He never moved to Australia.

I think about him on 9/11. I think about him when I drive by that building. It isn’t a gas station any longer. I believe it is a restaurant now. I remember, if your dream is to move to Australia, do it. Sooner rather than later. Tomorrow you could end up dead on the floor of a convenience store.

And on that note, I was able to restore the following blog by uploading these pictures to the SmugMug Gallery:

Bandshell Park

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Nader.

History, Holidays, Iowa State, Night

11-29-07

October 21, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

Most of the images that are located in the folder 11-29-07 were all taken at Iowa State:

Man! I miss being able to turn out the lights at work! Those were the days!

By adding these pictures to the SmugMug Gallery I was able to restore the following gallery:

HOPE

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Bandshell Park in Ames.

Alexis, Calendar, Flowers, History

11-23-07

October 14, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder called 11-23-07 are experimental photography heavy.

This deleted scene from THE EXORCIST really hits you hard.

The experimental pictures are images projected onto objects and then photographed again. The ones that are like “hey buddy, you’ve had enough LSD for tonight are being projected into an agitated sink of water. If you look closely, you should be able to pick out where the water is coming from the tap on a couple of them. One is a dryer sheet. The obvious one is obvious.

By bringing these images into the SmugMug Gallery, I was able to restore the following blogs from November 2007:

CURIOUS
CLEARING MY HEAD

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve a walk around the most beautiful campus in the world!

Flowers, History, Politics

11-08-07

September 30, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Some experimental photos of flowers and a picture of guy that’s criminal incompetence endangered and probably cost the lives of at least 200 firefighters on 9/11 and then turned around and exploited their heroism to increase his national standing afterwards. Despite lying to them about the dangers of the air quality at the Ground Zero site. Then some experimental photography.