Category Archives: Birthdays

Amanda, Angie, Birthdays, Brandon, Dahlia, Greyson, Holidays, Jonah Kahler, K.J., Still Life, Teresa

Christmas 2022

January 24, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Need to start today off by wishing Angie a happy birthday:

I don’t know I’ve seen Angie in person in years, so that is a picture of her pitching Little White Lye Soap.

I hope your birthday has all the mirth that you desire!

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I had a good Christmas. I got up and went to church, cause it was on a Sunday. Then I went over to Teresa’s house for homemade pizza. We probably made too many pizzas, but since some were experimental, that was okay. Then I went out to Carla and Jason’s for a bit to watch ALIEN. Or at least the beginning of ALIEN.

Here are some pictures from Teresa’s:

Some of these pictures were taken by Logan.

I hope your Christmas is one you still remember fondly.

Art, Automobiles, Birthdays, Christianity, Dad, Nature, Railroad, Road Trip, Sheri, Slice of Life, Teresa

Allamakee County Aux – Vol. 4

January 22, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start today by wishing my sister Teresa’s best friend and also a good friend of all of our family, Sheri a happy birthday! Happy birthday Sheri!

That is a picture of Sheri graduating high school taken by my Dad.

I hope your birthday is/was as awesome as you wanted it to be!

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Time to share the last collection of images I took while on a road trip with Teresa to harvest the town signs of Allamakee County.

Lansing

Harper’s Ferry

Yellow River State Forest

Waterville

The iconic Lansing Mississippi River Bridge can be seen in the movie THE STRAIGHT STORY. It is the bridge Alvin Straight crosses to get to Wisconsin to visit his brother.

The next county of auxiliary images we will visit is Washington County.

Birthdays, Black & White, Camping, Carla, Jason, Kim, Lowell, Nature, Night, Town Sign Project

Marble Beach

January 10, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Today is Lowell’s birthday… so… happy birthday Lowell!

Ironic that this picture was taken on my birthday? Either way, I hope your birthday has adequate amounts of happiness!

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I count this trip a bit as auxiliary images for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. In fact I went camping with Carla and Jason at the Marble Beach State Recreation Area. While I was there I harvested one town sign. It was a town sign that I had harvested before, but I wanted to get a picture of it at night. So I revisited the town sign of Terril, Iowa.

Terril, Iowa – The only town sign in Iowa that is neon.

The swinging bridge is located in Estherville. Made a special trip just to walk across it. It is hard to put into words how incredibly dark it was on that bridge on that night. The pictures make it look much brighter than it actually was. In fact, crossing a swinging bridge, suspended over a swift Des Moines River, in pitch black conditions was a bit of a rush.

I still have more pictures from this camping trip to share.

Art, Birthdays, Naima, Nature, Railroad, Still Life

Just for You to Say You’re Not the Compliment Type

January 8, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

One of my unwritten (spoiler: they are all unwritten) goals for 2023 it to bring back the wishing of happy birthdays to the important people in my life.

So happy birthday Tim!

If I don’t wish you a birthday of happiness on this website, it is because I forgot, or don’t know when your birthday is, or don’t love you. You will have to figure out which one it is.

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One of these days, I’m going to get back to Formal Portrait Sunday. I swear it. But, this isn’t this Sunday. This Sunday I’m going to clean out all the pictures from February of last year that just didn’t have a spot in other posts for various reasons.

Just for You to Say You're Not the Compliment Type

Another month cleaned up. Feels pretty good!

Birthdays, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Gretchen, Jen, Maven, Naima

The Juncks 2021 – Volume 4

July 10, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start this post by wishing Naima a happy birthday. I know most of you are thinking, a day late and a dollar short Bennett, but the reason I didn’t wish Naima happy birthday is because we celebrated it today.

Here are some pictures of the 11 year old over the years:

Thanks to everybody that wished Naima a happy birthday. Jen and Alexander. She appreciated it and then probably went back to sleep.

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Time once again for a Formal Portrait Sunday. This week’s features Gretchen and Maven. I’m not sure when, but at some point, Gretchen turned into a complete ham, and I’m here for it.

There is still one more collection of pictures to come from the 2021 Junck Family Photo Shoot. Next Formal Portrait Sunday, we will check back in with the Howard Family Photo Shoot.

Alexis, Art, Basketball, Birthdays, Black & White, Carla, Christianity, Elainie, History, Johnathan, Linda, Logan, Road Trip, Sarah Toot, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

Jasper County Auxiliary Images

March 19, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

This is a reminder that at this point you have 1 hour to get your picks in for my NCAA Tournament Pool. Click on the link below to get started:

Roundball Oracles – Year 16

Good luck!

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I need to wish my Aunt Linda a happy birthday today. Happy birthday Aunt Linda!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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A couple months back I traveled the roads of Jasper County to harvest their town signs. Here is a collection of the non-town sign pictures I took on that trip:

Newton, Iowa

Kellogg, Iowa

Oakland Acres, Iowa – A town that shoves it in the face of towns that don’t “heart” their children.

Lynnville, Iowa

Sully, Iowa

Monroe, Iowa

I absolutely love this church motto.

I want to visit Jasper County again this year and go to their drive-in movie theater. One of only like 3 left in the state.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is STREET PHOTOGRAPHY:

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

It is here. Judgement Day. The last theme that didn’t get double digit submissions. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. 76 weeks ago. September 23, 2019.

There were only 7 submissions from 7 people:

+ Jen Ensley-Gorshe
+ Andy Sharp
+ Kim Barker
+ Humble Narrator
+ Stephanie Kim
+ Tamara Peterson
+ Jesse Howard

But what is STREET PHOTOGRAPHY? Why is it so scary and intimidating?

Sorry, Chris from 5 seconds ago. I reject your premise. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY isn’t scary or intimidating. It is awesome!

Some of the best and most famous photographers in history were STREET PHOTOGRAPHYers.

+ Dorothea Lange
+ Helen Levitt
+ Diane Arbus
+ Robert Frank
+ Fan Ho
+ Vivian Maier
+ Robert Doisneau
+ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Okay, great, you are thinking, but you still haven’t defined STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. Is it pictures of a street? No, but it is photography that often takes place on the streets.

Here is the best definition: “conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.”

The 2 most important things. RANDOM and PUBLIC. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY is often mistaken for CANDID PORTRAITS. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY has to be done in a public place. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a portrait. It can be a piece of art. It can be a building. It can be a sign. It doesn’t have to be on a street. It can be at a sporting event. It can be at an art festival. A farmer’s market. The most common place would be a business district. It only has to meet those 2 criteria: public and random.

What is public? I mean that is pretty obvious. It can’t be in your house or in your friend’s house. It has to be somewhere in the public. Where other people can be.

What is random? That simply means that you didn’t go to wherever you went with the intent of taking that picture. Something about the place you went to compelled you to take that picture. You may have went there to take a picture, but not a pre-planned picture.

Some people think of STREET PHOTOGRAPHY as candid portraits. It isn’t, but it certainly can be. However, the picture can be of street art like the example. Egene Atget, was the first STREET PHOTOGRAPHYer. He took pictures of buildings.

I’ll make one last comparison. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY is to photography what jazz is to music. It is all about improvisation. This is perhaps why I love it so much.

Okay, one last thing. Most of the great STREET PHOTOGRAPHYers worked in black & white. I’m not saying your submission should be in black & white, but it is something to think about.

Also, think about this quote before thinking about your STREET PHOTOGRAPHY creation:

“The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected you find in the street.”
-Robert Doisneau

Happy photo harvesting!

Aaron, Alexis, Anela, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Dawn, Derrick, Elainie, Elizabeth, Grandma, Jason, Jen, Joe Duff, Johnathan, Kanoa, Kim, Kio, Kupono, Logan, Michelle, Mom, Monica, Photoshop, Sabas, Sara, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa

WPC – WEEK 287 – PICTURE IN PICTURE

March 15, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start today by wishing my sister Carla a happy birthday. Happy birthday Carla!

I hope your birthday is as wonderful as you want it to be!

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I also need to wish Monica a happy birthday. Happy birthday Monica!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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We did it! 76 straight weeks of double digit submissions! I was worried about PICTURE IN PICTURE for a bit, but we came through!

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

Joe Duff

Tamara Peterson

Aaron Barnett

Christopher D. Bennett

Elizabeth Nordeen

Kim Barker

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Kio Dettman

Monica Henning

Dawn Krause

Michelle Haupt

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: