Category Archives: Baby Got Rack

Andy, Angie, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Bill, Boone County Fair, Carla, Cathie, Contests, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Mary, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Sabas, Sara, Scottie D., Shannon, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 357 – WORK

July 18, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

WORK sure can be a lot of WORK. But how many people put in the WORK of getting a WORK photo? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, July 11, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

+ Suzie Brannen – 1 week
+ Sabas Hernandez – 1 week
+ Monica Jennings – 1 week
+ Brandon Kahler – 1 week
+ Mike Vest – 1 week
+ Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
+ Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 3 weeks
+ Mary Green – 3 weeks (2)
+ Angie DeWaard – 5 weeks
+ Dawn Krause – 8 weeks
+ Linda Bennett – 10 weeks
+ Kim Barker – 14 weeks
+ Joe Duff – 15 weeks (2)
+ Logan Kahler – 17 weeks (2)
+ Teresa Kahler – 25 weeks (2)
+ Tamara Peterson – 25 weeks
+ Carla Stensland – 25 weeks
+ Michelle Haupt – 26 weeks
+ Micky Augustin – 27 weeks
+ Andy Sharp – 28 weeks
+ Bill Wentworth – 29 weeks
+ Cathie Morton – 33 weeks
+ Elizabeth Nordeen – 34 weeks
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley – 36 weeks
+ Kio Dettman – 39 weeks (4)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Kim Barker – 15 weeks

Joe Duff – 16 weeks

Andy Sharp – 29 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen – 35 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen

Micky Augustin – 28 weeks

Angie DeWaard – 6 weeks

Bill Wentworth – 30 weeks

Cathie Morton – 34 weeks

Kio Dettman – 40 weeks

Kio Dettman

Christopher D. Bennett

Linda Bennett – 11 weeks

Linda Bennett

Mary Green – 4 weeks

Michelle Haupt – 27 weeks

Tamara Peterson – 26 weeks

Dawn Krause – 9 weeks

Suzie Brannen – 2 weeks

Teresa Kahler – 26 weeks

Teresa Kahler

Jesse Howard – 1 week

Monica Jennings – 2 weeks

Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 4 weeks

Willy McAlpine – 1 week

Logan Kahler – 18 weeks

Logan Kahler

Sara Lockner – 3 weeks

Sabas Hernandez – 2 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley – 37 weeks

Mike Vest – 2 weeks

Carla Stensland – 26 weeks

Carla Stensland

27 participants! That is a great week!

This week’s milestones were pretty major. Teresa and Tamara and Carla all reached reached the Half-Year Club! WooHoo!

But it wasn’t all good news. Brandon couldn’t build on his 1 week streak, but he claims he will cook up something good for this week.

Here are the current top streaks:

Here are the current streaks:

9. Teresa Kahler – 26 weeks
9. Tamara Peterson – 26 weeks
9. Carla Stensland – 26 weeks
8. Michelle Haupt – 27 weeks
7. Micky Augustin – 28 weeks
6. Andy Sharp – 29 weeks
5. Bill Wentworth – 30 weeks
4. Cathie Morton – 34 weeks
3. Elizabeth Nordeen – 35 weeks
2. Shannon Bardole-Foley – 37 weeks
1. Kio Dettman – 40 weeks

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:

WILD

WILD! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a WILD image? A WILD image is simply a picture of something that isn’t domesticated. Something that is out in nature. A WILDflower. A WILD animal. Such as (in this neck of the woods) a squirrel or a bunny or a bird or a deer or (if you are super lucky) a snake. Any trip into the WILDerness should provide you ample WILD photo opportunities. Lichens and fungus and just all sorts of things that exist, without the aid of man.

Remember, there is also more than one definition of the word WILD!

While thinking on possible subjects for your WILD picture, meditate on the following quote:

It had nothing to do with gear or footwear or the backpacking fads or philosophies of any particular era or even with getting from point A to point B.

It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles with no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.
-Cheryl Strayed

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of WILD in this place that is untamed next Monday.

Art, Automobiles, Baby Got Rack, Boone County Fair, Christianity, Nature, Road Trip

Osceola County Aux – Vol. 1

July 13, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I have big news! Big, big news! I would say news of a comeback, but don’t call it a comeback. I been here for years. Rockin’ my peers. Puttin’ suckers in fear. Makin’ the tears rain down like a monsoon. Listen to the bass go boom.

What I’m trying to say is for the first time since 2019, Baby Got Rack is dusting off their fedoras. Putting on their Hawaiian shirts and competing in the rough world of competitive barbecue! How do you like me now!

We will competing at the Boone County Fair this Saturday! So you should probably figure out a way to get there. And try some award winning barbecue, cause I can’t promise it won’t be another 3 years before Baby Got Rack is in full effect again.

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A few months back I went up to Osceola County to harvest their town signs. It was a trip that ended with me calling it a day prematurely because I ran into some sever weather. I originally intended to also harvest the town signs of Lyon County, but weather.

Here is the first collection of auxiliary images from the trip. Many of these taken in Clay County.

Greenville

Royal

Everly

May City

Harris

Ocheyedan Mound

One thing I’ve discovered one these trips is that if you want to leave a legacy behind after you die, create bizarre art in a small town.

Ocheyedan Mound was long thought to be the highest point in Iowa, but then Hawkeye Point was discovered a few miles away. That being said, Ocheyedan Mound is more impressive looking. But Hawkeye Point is more touristy.

There are still several images left to share from this trip.

9 Emotions Project, Alexis, Andy, Baby Got Rack, Bethany, Bill, Black & White, Blogging, Boone County Fair, Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Dory, Elainie, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Jesse, Johnathan, Jorge, Kalista, Kelly, Mission Trip, Naima, Railroad, Road Trip, Saydie, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, State Fair, Taylan, Willy, Youth Group

An Artist’s Notebook Post #3751

May 19, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

We have hit another milestone in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”. Post #3751. I would normally make these statistical look back at the past type posts on even numbers, but I felt you guys were probably chomping at the bit to see the entries for RULE OF THIRDS.

This blog/online journal burst onto the world on August 9, 2006. Nearly 14 years later, it is somehow still around. That is success of some kind. At least it is perseverance.

As you know, I like meaningless statistics. That is what these posts are usually about. That and to take stock as to how I’m doing with my original mission to:

#1. Write in it.
#2. To be truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings.
#3. Produce something that makes me worthy of having a pretentious sounding journal title like: “An Artist’s Notebook”.

I’m going to say that I continue to manage all 3. You probably wouldn’t know if I was being honest with you on my thoughts and feelings anyways. You’ll just have to take my work for it.

The last time we looked at these stats in Post #3500 on October 4, 2019 these were the 10 most popular categories on “An Artist’s Notebook”:

10. Photography – 311 Posts
9. Teresa – 312 Posts
8. Carla – 314 Posts
7. Shannon -351 Posts
6. Black & White – 390 Posts
5. Weekly Photo Challenge – 394 Posts
4. Jesse – 404 Posts
3. Animals – 477 Posts
2. Portrait – 516 Posts
1. Flowers – 537 Posts

Here are the current “standings”:

#10 Miller Triplet 1st Birthday Party – 13751 Views

#9 Family Happenings – 14222 Views

#8 Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2019 – 15711 Views

#7Naima– 16108 Views

#6 Taylan Howard -2020– 21320 Views

#5 Autumn Sharp – 2020– 21852 Views

#4 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 6– 29218 Views

#3 Selfie Project – 2019 – 40726 Views

#2 9 Emotions Project – 43867 Views

#1 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 7 – 48433 Views

These are the 10 Most Popular Images (by Views):

10. 973 Views

9. 1056 Views

8. 1063 Views

7.1082 Views

6. 1116 Views

5. 1141 Views

4. 1635 Views

3. 1261 Views

1283 Views

1. 2283 Views

I’m surprised that THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT is still so popular, since I haven’t touched it in over a year. But I do hope to get back to it. In fact, I have purchased a few things to make it possible to get back to THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT while safely physically distancing. So if you are interesting in being a victim… err… a subject. You know where to find me.

Animals, Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Drone, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Nature, Nora, Photo Journal, Pufferbilly Days, Saydie, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, State Fair, Taylan

The 2019 Howards – Subset Dos

April 30, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

One of the products of all this home times is that I have started up on THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT again. What started as the accent wall in my living room and then turned into the Friend Wall and then became the 9 Emotions Project wall, was turned into the Canvas Wall about 2 years ago. The ultimate goal is to cover at least 95% of the wall with canvas photos.

I recently added 7 more canvases to the wall. These are all smaller canvases that are meant to fill around the doorway that leads to my hallway.

Here are the 7 canvases that have recently been added:

The pictures that have been selected for THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT are meant to be a combination of every day life pictures and my more artistic pictures.

I’m getting pretty close to the bottom of the wall now. The next collection of pictured added to the wall are definitely obstructed, but that is okay. It matter less that they can be seen, and more that they are there.

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Time to reveal a second collection pictures from the 2019 Howard Family Photo Shoot:

Still plenty more Howards to go!

Alexis, Alisa, Anders, Andree, Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Baier, Becca, Becky, Bethany, Bill, Billy, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Carla, Dae Hee, Derrick, Dory, Elainie, Evie, Flat Earth Joe, Frank, Geri, Grandma, Iowa State, Jason, Jaxon, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Jonah, Jorge, Kanoa, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nader, Naima, Nora, Pastor Sarah, Russell, Sara, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Suzie, Teresa, Vest, Willy, Youth Group

Gratitudo

November 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Happy Thanksgiving! Every year on Thanksgiving I like to think about my many, many blessings. I know, real original. You should feel free to try it sometime. But make sure you let everybody know that I invented gratitude.

I am thankful for my family, no matter how family is defined:

I am thankful for my friends:

I am blessed with an amazing church family:

I am blessed with a decent job and work friends that I don’t mind seeing more than 40 hours a week:

I’m blessed to share my house with Naima:

This is only a small sampling of my blessings, but I feel to go on much longer would sound like boasting. Thank all of you for choosing to be part of my life!

9 Emotions Project, Anders, Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Blogging, Candid Portrait, Carla, Dad, Dawn, Derrick, Drone, Evie, Flowers, Football, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Jaxon, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Jorge, Kalista, Kelly, Kim, Logan, Michelle, Mission Trip, Mom, Music, Naima, Railroad, Sara, Saydie, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Shannon, Taylan, Teresa, Travel, Vest, Willy, Work, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

An Artist’s Notebook Post #3,500

October 4, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Welcome to the 3,500th entry in “An Artist’s Notebook”. The blog portion of my Photography 139 website. It has been along time since I first took keyboard hand sitting in the old Computer Mine setup or possibly in my Mom’s basement, because that is where my life was at that time.

In fact, the first time I posted anything on “An Artist’s Notebook” was August 9, 2006. The very first word I wrote, “So”. Maybe not the best word. Maybe not the most forceful word. It is a word that almost feels like an apology.

I clearly didn’t know where this was going to take me and I’m not sure I even know where I’m at now. So.

I would go on in the first post to state that I had a few goals for this blog.

#1. To write in it.

I think I can say safely that 3,499 posts later, I have written in it. I often wonder if I were to print out every page of “An Artist’s Notebook”, how many pages it would be. While I know that most of those pages would just be pictures at not necessarily words, I’m still pretty sure that the entire thing would run several thousands of pages. While the things I write and the nature of what I write and post has changed over time and I’m sure it will continue to change, I will say for now, I’m still on track for Goal #1.

#2. To be as truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings.

On this goal I’m going to give myself an incomplete. I feel that I am truthful to my loyal readers, but I don’t know that I necessarily share my feelings a lot. For example, I don’t know how many of you know how much I despise the open-faced sandwich. It is a pox upon mankind. Kind of like anti-vaxxers. When I think about it, I suppose I don’t hold back much. However, I’ll have to double down on my efforts to let you know about my true feelings. A 5,000 word piece on the worthlessness of the open-faced sandwich is coming your way on Sunday!

#3. Producing something that makes me worthy of having a pretentious sounding journal title like: “An Artist’s Notebook”.

The question here, is this: Is the blog any darn good? It would be arrogant of me to claim that it is. I have garnered a small amount of loyal subscribers. But I’m sure a better blog would garner more. My entries do occasionally gather comments. But I’m sure a better blog would gather more comments. I guess I’ll have to keep plugging away and let the sands of time figure out if this thing is any good.

On these mile marker posts, I like to look at what things and what people have most influenced this post.

On my 750th post, these were the Top 16 post categories and I’ll assume, the only categories I had for posts back then:

1. Photography – 295
2. Friends – 269
3. Life – 238
4. Family – 98
5. Religion – 63
6. ISU Football – 41
7. Jaycees – 40
8. Movies – 39
9. Blogging 33
10. Sports – 25
11. Work – 25
12. House – 24
13. Writing – 23
14. Comedy – 20
15. Politics – 17
16. History – 12

On post 1,000, these were the 10 people that I had tagged the most in posts:

1. Jay (144)
2. Jesse (143)
3. Shannon (140)
4. Derrick (117)
5. Jen (101)
6. Teresa (96)
7. Willy (93)
8. Sara (88)
9. Baier (65)
10. Dawn (64)

By post 1,447 these were the 10 most tagged people:

10. Dad – 117
9. Carla – 118
8. Sara – 122
7. Willy – 124
6. Jen – 143
5. Teresa – 144
4. Derrick – 157
3. Shannon – 160
2. Jay – 180
1. Jesse – 195

This picture of Evie was the most popular picture on my website:

By post 2500, these were the 5 most tagged people:

1. Jesse – 283 Posts
2. Teresa – 244 Posts
3. Shannon – 231 Posts
3. Jay – 231 Posts
5. Derrick – 220 Posts

By post 3,000 these were the most popular categories:

#10 – Jay – 262 Posts
#9 – Life – 274 Posts
#8 – Teresa – 282 Posts
#7 – Shannon – 289 Posts
#6 – Animals – 301 Posts
#5 – Portrait – 313 Posts
#4 – Jesse – 328 Posts
#3 – WPC (Formerly RWPE) – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – 432 Posts
#2 – Flowers – 436 Posts
#1 – Photography – 440 Posts

And these were the most tagged people:

#10 – Vest 204 Posts
#9 – Jen – 205 Posts
#8 – Willy – 209 Posts
#7 – Derrick – 241 Posts
#6 – Mom – 247 Posts
#5 – Carla – 261 Posts
#4 – Jay – 262 Posts
#3 – Teresa – 282 Posts
#2 – Shannon – 289 Posts
#1 – Jesse – 328 Posts

Here we are, post 3,5000. I should point out before I reveal the current most popular categories on “An Artist’s Notebook”, I should point out that while I’ve been going back and fixing old broken entries via our Saturday night trips down memory lane, I have also been re-categorizing and breaking some categories into multiple categories. That is why some categories have actually lost posts. Hopefully some of those generic categories like “Photography” and “Life” will be down to zero some day.

Here are the most popular categories:

10 Most Popular Not People Categories:

10 Most Tagged Humans

You may be wondering, what does it take to improve my Photography 139 Score? How do I get on the big board by the time Post 3750 comes around next August-ish?

1. Submit pictures for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
2. Assist or pose for photo projects.
3. Be related to me.

If you are wondering who is just outside of the top ten? The 3 people just outside of the Top Ten are Kim, Sara, and Logan.

Here are the current most popular pictures in the Photography 139 Gallery, by views in the last 365 days:

10. Iowa State Cyclones Football Varsity Marching Band – 514 Views

9. Howards 2017 – 571 Views

8. Michelle – Computer Mine Holiday Card – 2018 – 690 Views

7. Cy beating down Herky – 746 Views

6. Rapid City Mission Trip – 776 Views

5. Autumn Sharp – 935 Views

4. Selfie Project – January 1, 2019 – 1251 Views

3. Selfie Project – July 15, 2017 – 1511 Views

2. Metropolis, Illinois – 2724 Views

1. Selfie Project – January 14, 2019 – 3215 Views

And these are the Ten Most Popular Albums in the Photography 139 Gallery by views in the last 365 Days (You can go to the album by clicking on the picture):

10. Autumn Sharp – 2020 -11,036 Views

9. Misc. Portraits – 11,198 Views

8. 2018 Computer Mine Holiday Card Portrait – 11,409 Views

7. Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2008 – 12,024 Views

6. Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2018 – 12,715 Views

5. Naima – 14,770 Views

4. Photo Journal Rejects – 14,872 Views

3. Selfie Project – 2019 – 37,416 Views

2. Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 6 – 43,174 Views

1. 9 Emotions Project – 58,863 Views

Whew! Well, I’m spent. Thanks to everybody that subscribes to this here blog. You are a big part of whatever success that is does have!

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This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is FRAMED:

FRAMED!

Reminder that a FRAMED photo is a photo where your subjected is FRAMED by objects that aren’t the subject of the photo. Like a window. Or a door. Or literally anything that creates negative space.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Baby Got Rack, Becca, Bethany, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Flat Earth Joe, Flowers, Iowa State, Jay, Jesse, Jonah, Kanoa, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Naima, Nature, Politics, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, State Fair, Teresa, Willy

Selfie Project – August

September 10, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Now seems like a good time to check-in with my favorite pictures from my August SELFIE PROJECT pictures.

It would seem that I had a successful month of August. I met Vice-President Joe Biden. I competed in a barbecue contest at the Iowa State Fair. I also competed in a photography contest at the Iowa State Fair. I dine at a Brazilian Steakhouse totally not for Jay’s birthday. I went to an air show. I met my great nephew. I went to the Minnesota State Fair. I dined at Zeno’s. I went to an Iowa State football game.

Here are my favorites:

August 1

August 2

August 3

August 4

August 5

August 9

August 10

August 11

August 13

August 15

August 17

August 18

August 23

August 24

August 25

August 26

August 29

August 30

August 31

I’m not sure I’ve had as busy of a September, but I guess we’ll find out in October when I get a chance to look back at it.

Baby Got Rack, Candid Portrait, Contests, Formal Portrait, Scottie D., State Fair

Baby Take State Fair

August 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

A couple Tuesdays back, Baby Got Rack took its award winning Meat Loaf Cupcakes to the Iowa State Fair to compete against the best the Cyclone State has to offer.

I believe there were 8 other combatants in the category of Combo/Specialty and 44 combatants altogether.

Here is a collection of photos from the day that started at 4:45 AM:

The unofficial roster for Baby Got Rack on this day was Scottie D., Hammer, Little Porter, and Humble Narrator. Of course Melissa contributed more than her fair share, but she doesn’t like to take any credit.

We once again won our category, but failed to win the Overall. I believe the beef winner won overall for the second year in a row. Tells me we might need to start hitting beef a little bit harder for next year.

Animals, Baby Got Rack, Boone County Fair, Drone, Jaxon, Jesse, Naima, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa

Selfie Project – July

August 21, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Usually I don’t like to get this late into a month before I publish my favorite photos from the previous months SELFIE PROJECT, but I guess I’ve been busy and I’ve really been trying to be diligent with hitting up that 2018 backlog.

I don’t know that I did anything that was as interesting as what I did in June, but it wasn’t the worst month of the year for me.

Here are my favorites from July:

July 3

July 5

July 6

July 8

July 9

July 11

July 12

July 13

July 14

July 15

July 18

July 19

July 20

July 21

July 24

July 26

July 27

July 28

July 31

I’d like to think that I’ve done some borderline interesting stuff in August so far, with a couple things left to go. A trip to Zeno’s. A trip to the Minnesota State Fair. The first Iowa State football game are all left to go!

Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Boone County Fair, Candid Portrait, Jaxon, Melissa, Scottie D.

Baby Got Rack Takes the Boone County Fair

July 23, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Last Saturday was the annual Boone County Fair barbecue contest. Baby Got Rack decided to take a different tact this time. Rather than entering the pizza, we decided to enter something new. Meatloaf Cupcakes. This was a big risk just based on the fact that the pizza was a surefire winner.

However, Scottie D. had become bored with winning with the same item over and over and over and over again.

The other risk we decided was to enter pork ribs. Pork is easily the most popular category and hardest to win.

One last risk Baby Got Rack decided to take was to do little to no planning. Scottie D. thought that certain things would just take care of themselves. It turns out that Melissa does those things for Scottie D and she was in the horrible place known as Nebraska on Friday night. So things didn’t get taken care of.

Baby Got Rack stumbled out the starting blocks. We didn’t get our desired spot on the end. We didn’t have any of our stuff prepared. So Scottie D. dropped Hammer and I off at the fairgrounds to get everything setup and get the fire going. He went back home and worked on getting food prep done.

It all worked out because Baby Got Rack walked out of the Boone County Fair with 2 big victories. We won best Specialty AND more importantly Best Overall. Both for the Meatloaf Cupcakes.

This means that Baby Got Rack will be competing at the Iowa State Fair again. So if you go to the Fair on Tuesday, August 13 in the morning, look us up. We will be in the Grand Concourse.

Here are some pictures from what ended up being a humid, wet, and victorious day!

Last year we won the specialty category at the Iowa State Fair. Here is hoping for a repeat!