Category Archives: Boone County Fair

Baby Got Rack, Boone County Fair, Contests, Jesse, Jodie Cue, Logan, Michelle, Monica, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Steph, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Page 16

July 19, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

REMINDER that starting tomorrow, my 5 entries for the Boone County Fair should be on display. They usually put them out about noon. They will be displayed in the Community Building.

Thanks to:

Logan Kahler
Jesse Howard
Michelle Haupt
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Monica Henning

For selecting the 5 entries.

Special thanks to Stephanie Kim who volunteered to pick a photo, but I think took it too seriously and ran out of time.

Plus thanks to Jodie Cue who volunteered to be an alternate.

Soon I’ll begin the process of selecting photos for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Keep your eyes peeled to this website for details!

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Last Friday I took off work early to go down to Van Meter to the military cemetery to join the Howards for Larry Howard’s graveside service. It isn’t the type of event where I take a camera or ever think about taking pictures. I’m not altogether comfortable taking pictures at a funeral, but this is, strangely, the second time that I’ve done such a thing.

However, after I arrived I was asked to take some pictures, so I did. I don’t know that I’ll share those, but we’ll see. After the service was over I wandered around the cemetery looking around. It was there that I stumbled across the perfect subject for Page 16 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.

Page 16 – Photograph the last thing that made you laugh.

With Page 16 put to rest, here are the following pages that I still need to photograph:

Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason by Jason Evans. – This is profoundly stupid page, but I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and do it at some point.
PAGE 27- Create drama around the edge of your frame.
Page 28 – Recreate a famous photograph without looking it up.
PAGE 31 – Tell a joke with two pictures.
Page 64 – Head out with a fellow photographer and play a game of photography dare.
PAGE 66-67 – Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).
Page 73 – Turn form into rhythm.
PAGE 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compse your shot using touch rather than vision.
Page 106-107 – Email one of your pictures to your photography hero and ask them what they hate about it.
PAGE 116 – Shoot an advert where the image says it all without need for any additional copy.
Page 117 – Freeze the frame exactly 57 minutes and 32 seconds in to your favourite film. Take a picture inspired by what you see.
PAGE 121 – Show us that photography is a form of magic.
Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.

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The Boone County Fair is going down right now, which means tomorrow is the annual barbecue/grill-out competition. Baby Got Rack will once again be there competing!

BABY GOT RACK!

If you are around the fair, go ahead and stop by and say hello. It is going to be a brutally hot one so you might want to check to see if we are still conscious.

We are taking a completely different set of recipes than we normally do, so we’ll see how it turns out. Baby Got Rack is nothing, but risk takers!

Hopefully it pays off and we qualify for the Iowa State Fair, but if it doesn’t, we will have no regrets!

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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ANGER.

An ANGER photo is any photo of somebody thit is ANGERy or something that makes you ANGERy.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Art, Boone County Fair, Candid Portrait, Contests, Formal Portrait, Jaxon, Mission Trip, Vacation, Youth Group

Rapid City Mission Trip – Day 4

July 7, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

We are approaching the Boone County Fair, which means that I need to select pictures for the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. I am picking those pictures in the same way that I did last year. I’m letting other people pick them for me.

The first five people that text me that they are interested in picking one of my entries will get to pick my five entries for the Boone County Fair. Once you have been selected as a selector, I will send you instructions on how to make your selection.

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For some reason, on Thursday of the mission trip they let everybody sleep in an extra hour. This is something that has never happened on any of our other mission trips. To be honest, I wasn’t that big of a fan of it.

There are parts of being on a mission trip that are like FIGHT CLUB.

JACK (V.O.)
A guy came to fight club (mission trip) for the
first time, his ass was a wad of
cookie dough. After a few weeks (days), he
was carved out of wood.

By Thursday you don’t even miss sleep. By Thursday you don’t miss hot water in the showers. Thursday was the worst day to sleep in. If you could move the schedule on any day on any direction, I would move it an hour earlier on Friday. Wake up at 6:30, nah, 5:30.

The normal walk time with Andy was 6 AM. It didn’t get moved to 7 AM just because wake up time was 8 AM. We were carved out of wood by now.

However, there was a change with the 6 AM walk. This time we were loading up into vans and heading to Dinosaur Park. Dinosaur Park is a sculpture garden built on top of a hill in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration. There are many socialists that produce brilliant and prophetic art, like George Orwell, but not going to lie, Dinosaur Park is does not have a masterwork in its collection. This is coming from a guy that is a big fan of dinosaur related art.

But this isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy every second of Dinosaur Park. In fact, I loved every second of Dinosaur Park.

After Dinosaur Park we went to a coffee ship called Alternative Fuel Coffee House. I got a smoothie so I could load up on the protein for the morning. Then we headed back to the church for breakfast.

Because of the weird late start to the day, we only had 5 hours at Black Hills Works. It was a day of mixed emotions. There is the sense of accomplishment as you finish off work week, but there is the sadness when you realize that you are probably never going to see any of the people you worked with all week. It has been only 4 days, but the bonds with some of the clients feel really deep.

I was going to miss Shad and Chuckie and John and Cammy and both Mikes and Daniel and Amy and Joe and the twins and Bronco. I was going to miss some of the staff that we connected with like Chris and Abby and Andy and Joey.

In fact, on Thursday I had a long conversation with Joey about beards and beard products. He insisted that I take some of his beard products home. He opened up his work locker and he had a ton of beard products there. I took home some beard butter, beard oil, and beard balm.

We were supposed to leave for our mountain stream shower, but we hung out there until almost 3:30 before heading out.

When we had our orientation on Monday the lady giving us our orientation told us flat out, “Some of the staff don’t like having kids here. They think they just get in the way.”

While that might be the case, I think we really only experienced that with one staff member. Possibly two. The staff really loved our kids and they even told us that we had the best kids that have ever volunteered there. Most kids show up and let the situation overwhelm them. They shutdown and don’t interact with the clients. Our kids interacted with everybody and engaged the clients without waiting for them to engage with them.

I know what you are thinking, you cynic. They tell that to every group. I might be inclined to agree with you only this is the 8th mission trip I’ve been on with the youth group from our church. It has happened every single time. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

For example, in Milwaukee my group was working at a nursing home. They sent us up to a room and wanted us to organize it and clear it out. 3 hours later we came down and asked what they wanted us to do next. Their jaw dropped open and they said, “That was supposed to take you all week.”

They later explained that the previous week that they had not one but two youth groups work on that room and they had barely made a dent. I assured them that those youth groups probably weren’t from Iowa. Built a little different here.

This was a different style of mission than we usually go on. This wasn’t painting or drywall or staining or cooking. This was just being in the moment with people that often get kicked to our society’s curb. I wasn’t sure if our group would excel in it like they did with manual labor.

I am pleased to report that they knocked it out of the park, yet again.

We rushed back to the church after the showers. Our cultural activity that night is the same for every YouthWorks group in the country. Thursday they hold a community cookout. Rapid City hosts the largest YouthWorks cookout west of the Mississippi. To be honest, this is part of the reason that I picked Rapid City. Last year our cookout in Vidor, Texas drew 2 people. One of them was an ice cream truck that I flagged down, just so we would have something to do.

A few adults grill burgers and dogs. The youth serve the food and interact with the community. The size of the cookout did not disappoint. I’m guessing we served over 300 people.

I met and talked with several people. One was a Navy veteran. I told him about how my niece’s fiance was about to be stationed and he cut me off and said, “It better not be to Iran by that mother(beep)(beep)(beep)(beep)piece of (beep)(beep)(beep) Trump.” Then he apologized and I assured him that if I were not a leader at a youth function, I could add several expletives to his description of the worthless draft dodging coward that is Cadet Bone Spurs.

I also had a long conversation with a guy that had just moved to Rapid City to take care of his mother who was recently diagnosed with cancer. I talked to another guy that was there with his children. He had recently got out of prison and was glad to be back with them.

Rapid City has a large population of homeless. The majority of the homeless are Lakota. The demographics of the cookout backed that up.

One of the interesting things about the Lakota is they reveal their elders. So when an elderly person would show up, they would be allowed to go to the head of the line.

The cookout finished up about 8 PM. I actually had to pull some of our youth away from the community members that they were talking to. I regret having to do that, but we needed to get ready for our Thursday worship service.

Thursday night at YouthWorks is always a powerful night. It is the last night of the mission trip and the emotions of the experience start crashing down on you. The worship service ends with a foot washing service. Now I’m not going to go all Baptist on you, but the foot washing experience is definitely a powerful experience.

It is derived from this story in THE BIBLE:

John 13:1-17 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The Lord’s Supper
13 Now before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that His hour had come [and it was time] for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. Having [greatly] loved His own who were in the world, He loved them [and continuously loves them with His perfect love] to the end (eternally). 2 It was during supper, when the devil had already put [the thought of] betraying Jesus into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, 3 that Jesus, knowing that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was [now] returning to God, 4 got up from supper, took off His [outer] robe, and taking a [servant’s] towel, He tied it around His waist.

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
5 Then He poured water into the basin and began washing the disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which was tied around His waist. 6 When He came to Simon Peter, he said to Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied to him, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but you will [fully] understand it later.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me [we can have nothing to do with each other].” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, [in that case, wash] not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “Anyone who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, and is completely clean. And you [My disciples] are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who was going to betray Him; for that reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 So when He had washed their feet and put on His [outer] robe and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right in doing so, for that is who I am. 14 So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet as well. 15 For I gave you [this as] an example, so that you should do [in turn] as I did to you. 16 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed [happy and favored by God] if you put them into practice [and faithfully do them].

After the worship service we had our final church time. It was also an emotional experience as it was the last mission trip with Anna and Megan. Our two seniors. If you have daughters, these are the type of you women you want them to grow up to be.

I hope this is not their last mission trip with our church. I can’t even speak confidently on the future of the mission trip. We have a new Pastor and it is hard to tell what direction he will want any of this to go. Plus, Megan and Anna will be leaving for college and it is hard to tell what direction their lives will even pull them in.

I hope that one or both of them are leaders on this mission trip at some point in the future. Megan has already inquired about being a leader next year. I know there are some hoops that will have to be jumped through, but we will get there.

Autumn lead us in a couple of worship songs. After some stuff that I will keep to myself was shared, we ended in a group hug, as has become strangely traditional.

The next morning we packed up and heading back to Boone. Everybody strangely changed.

Here are some pictures:

The 5 posts on my mission trip are from my perspective of the Mission Trip. It was hardly comprehensive. For example, it didn’t include the story about the homeless people I prayed with on a Hardee’s picnic table. Or when Andy stole my phone… on accident?

There were 24 other souls on this mission trip and every single one of them experienced it in a completely different way than I did.

Animals, Black & White, Boone County Fair, Formal Portrait

The Chicken Man

June 20, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

While I was hitting that 2018 backlog I realized that I have made a dreadful mistake. Last year Scott Krause dominated the chicken world at the Boone County Fair. He asked me to take a picture of him and his Champion Chicken. I gladly did so and then went home and crashed. Then I forgot about it. I never got him any copies of the images. Sorry Scott. But good luck in college and becoming a music therapist. I have no doubt that it is a field you will excel in!

This concludes all my 2018 Boone County Fair pictures.

Art, Automobiles, Black & White, Boone County Fair, Candid Portrait, Street Photography

Rajon Rando

June 19, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

WARNING: THERE ARE BOTH LEGITIMATELY DISTURBING IMAGES AND DEPICTIONS OF THE FEMALE BODY IN THE NUDE. IF THAT ISN’T YOUR CUP OF TEA, FEEL FREE TO SKIP STRAIGHT PAST TODAY’S BLOG

NO SERIOUSLY. NORMALLY WHEN I PUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS UP, THE DISTURBING IMAGE IS A PICTURE OF AN IOWA HAWKEYE FAN OR NEBRASKA BUGEATER FAN OR A KANSAS JAYHAWK FAN. THAT ISN’T THE CASE THIS TIME. USUALLY WHEN I WARN THAT THERE IS A DEPICTION OF NUDITY, IT A PICTURE OF A FLOWER CALL “THE NAKED LADY” OR A TASTEFUL DEPICTION OF THE FEMALE FORM IN ART. THIS ISN’T EITHER OF THOSE THINGS.

SO WHY AM I POSTED SUCH THINGS? WELL, I SAW THEM, SO I’M SHARING THE PAIN.

On Saturday I turned in my pictures for the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. Which means that the Boone County Fair is right around the corner. When I get back from the mission trip you can bet dollars to donuts that I will be putting out a poll where you guts get to select the pictures I enter into the Boone County Fair photography “contest”.

Since I got the Boone County Fair is on my mind, it is as good a time as any to publish some random Boone County Fair images from 2018. I think I took most of these pictures for different pages in THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT and then decided not to use them.

NOW IS YOUR TIME TO STOP IF DISTURBING IMAGES DISTURB YOU…

Although I don’t watch many any longer, many a high school night was spent with a bunch of friends in a now condemned house watching horror movies. To this day I can quote you chapter and verse from the books of Jason Voorhees to Michael Meyers. But I don’t think I would have ever desired a vehicle decorated in such a manner.

That being said, the artist is very skilled.

Boone County Fair, Candid Portrait, Street Photography

Like Fireworks, Only More Boring

May 9, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

For the first time, in something like 15-20 years I went to the Boone County Fair Parade. The original idea was that these pictures would be for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. They were going to be for the page that was something-like “Take a picture that is outside of your comfort zone.”

I decided, at the time, that while I find parades extremely boring, they aren’t exactly outside of my comfort zone. There are few things where enjoyment varies more from engaging and activity to watching an activity. Fireworks is one. Baseball is another example. But parades might be the most extreme example. Being in a parade is a blast. Watching a parade is aigo;nngb[uion jk kakb aejkn…

Sorry, even typing the words caused me to nod off and faceplant into my keyboard.

Here are some pictures from the parade:

The picture that ultimately was taken for that page was a picture at a wrestling tournament. While I might find parades boring, I’m completely out of my element at a wrestling meet. I’m still not sure what happened there.

Andy, Animals, Boone County Fair, Street Photography, Work

Our County Fair is an Average County Fair…

February 12, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

There is nothing particularly memorable about the Boone County Fair. It is just your typical rural county, county fair. But it is my rural county and my county fair, so I visit it a few times each year.

Once to participate in the barbecue competition with Baby Got Rack. Another time to see how my photos did in the photography “competition”. Another time to see how the youth I know did on their 4-H projects. Usually we have FNSC at the County Fair. On one of those trips I will take a look around the livestock barns.

Here are some pictures from one of my trips to the Boone County Fair last year:

I do love pigs and cows and goats, but I don’t think I would ever want to own one. Well, maybe a few goats.

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Here is my update on my goal to eat out for lunch at work only 20% of the time in 2019.

Currently I am 0/8 in the month of February. Combine that with my 1/22 in January, I have currently only eaten out for lunch 1 out of 30 possible work lunches. That is a success rate of 3.3%. Pretty much crushing my goal.

I don’t know if that says I’m amazing at crushing my goal or that I’m really unpopular at work and nobody ever asks me to go out for lunch. You can decide.

As far as the money saving aspect…

I have spent $35.13 ($10 of that is chia seeds) on groceries for take to work lunch. Some of that is actually groceries for home use, but not enough to make a big deal out of it.

Estimating that is costs me $10 a meal to eat out for lunch, so far this month I have saved:

$44.87

Last week I brought overnight oats for lunch. Here is the recipe I used:

Easy, no-cook oatmeal with make-ahead convenience; packed with nutrition to get your day off to a healthy start. Make it in individual mason jars for a perfect serving size and an easy grab-and-go breakfast.

Ingredients
1/4 cup uncooked old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
1-1/2 teaspoons dried chia seeds
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon raspberry jam, preserves, or spread
1/4 to 1/3 cup raspberries (cut each berry in half), or enough to fill jar

Directions
In a half pint (1 cup) jar, add oats, milk, yogurt, chia seeds, vanilla, and raspberry jam. Put lid on jar and shake until well combined. Remove lid, add raspberries and stir until mixed throughout. Return lid to jar and refrigerate overnight or as long as 2-3 days. Eat chilled.

NOTE: I actually double that recipe for pint jars.

That recipe came from here:

Raspberry Vanilla Refrigerator Oatmeal

If you have any recipes you would like me to try, leave them in the COMMENTS section of this here blog. The recipe needs to be easy. I mean really easy. Plus, relatively healthy. I eat bad enough as it is on weekends.

But on the positive, I’ve only eaten fast food twice so far this year. Once at a McDonald’s in Manhattan, Kansas. Once at Freddy’s before an Iowa State Women’s basketball game.

Although last week I did find myself staring longingly at B-Bop’s from the kitchen window at the Computer Mine while I was cleaning up my jar from my overnight oats.

Alisa, Animals, Art, Baby Got Rack, Becky, Black & White, Blogging, Boone County Fair, Carla, Contests, Dae Hee, Dawn, Derrick, Flowers, Holidays, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Macro, Mom, Nader, Nature, Photoshop, Politics, Railroad, Road Trip, Sara, Scottie D., Self-Portrait Project, Shannon, State Fair, Teresa, Travel, Vest, Willy

Post #3252 – 2018 Year in Review

January 1, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Happy New Year to people who celebrate such things.

I like to look at some meaningless statistics every 250 posts and I also look at fairly meaningless year end statistics.

Just so happens that I get to combine them today!!

Here is both a year in review and a celebration that I have made it to 3252 blog posts. I was on the Alamo Bowl Road Trip visiting submarines, cults, and reality television stars when post #3250 came around, so I hope you can excuse the tardiness.

The first thing I want to look at are the most popular CATEGORIES in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”.

Top 10 Journal Entry Categories

1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Jesse – 361
6. Photography – 355
7. Shannon – 320
8. Teresa – 296
9. Black & White – 291
10. Carla – 280

Top 10 People Categories

1. Jesse – 361
2. Shannon – 320
3. Teresa – 296
4. Carla – 280
5. Jay – 279
6. Mom – 277
7. Derrick – 256
8. Willy – 227
9. Vest – 221
10. Jen – 209

Top 10 Not-People Categories

1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Photography – 355
6. Black & White – 291
7. Road Trip – 262
8. Personal Photo Project – 261
9. Life – 234
10. Nature – 215

“Photography” and “Life” are general categories that I have been working on eliminating as I go back and restore historical “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory. Hopefully they will have both dropped off the Top 10 Lists by journal entry #3500.

If you are wondering how to become a Top 10 person on this list. The easiest way is to submit to the Weekly Photo Challenge. After that, the best way is to volunteer to model and photo assist for photography projects. Then after that, I would suggest going on road trips with me or attending Iowa State athletic events with me or going on road trips to Iowa State athletic events with me.

The people that are right outside of the Top 10 are:: Sara, Kim, Dawn, Becky, and Nader.

If you are looking for a goal for 2019, you could do worse than trying to crack the Photography 139 Top Ten People Category List. You obviously could do way, way, way, way, way, way, way better too.

Now we will turn out eye towards 2018.

Top 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries of 2018 by Views

1. 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT – 48,722
2. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – 37,614
3. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – ALTERNATES – 33,622
4. 2008 – JANUARY – JUNE – 26,032
5. SELFIE PROJECT – 2017 – 23,141
6. HOUSTON MISSION TRIP – 2018 – 22,046
7. SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP – 2017 – 21,868
8. BOONE COUNTY FAIR CONTEST NOMINEES – 2018 – 17,211
9. SAYDIE HOWARD – CLASS OF 2017 – 14,808
10. IOWA STATE CYCLONES FOOTBALL – 2018

The 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Images by Views

1. 2524

2. 2386

3. 2327

4. 1958

5. 1621

6. 1456

7. 1445

8. 1321

9. 1293

10. 1241

On the Instagram, these were my 9 Most Popular Photos based on Likes:

My theme for my 2018 Instagram posts was Black & White. My theme for 2019 will be HDR Toning. Also, I will be bringing back THE SELFIE PROJECT to Instagram in 2019.

You can follow me on Instagram here:

@christopherdbennett

I entered 3 photo contests with the following results:

Red Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Purple Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

1st Place Photoshop – Pufferbilly Days

1st Place Photojournalism – Pufferbilly Days

Pufferbilly Days

3rd Place Hidden Treasures of Boone County – Pufferbilly Days

Pufferbilly Days

Last note:

My goal for 2019 is the same as it was in 2018:

I’m gonna step my game up and get what is coming to me.

Good luck in 2019 everybody!

Animals, Baseball/Softball, Becky, Boone County Fair, Contests, Geri, Jaycees, Jesse, Kalista, Music, Running, Schmidt, Shannon, Willy

07-20-08

September 22, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

There are so many images in the folder called 07-20-08 that I’m going to split the next 2 folders into 3 posts, most likely.

The images in this post are from Ames on the Half Shell with Kountertop, the Iowa Games, some softball, and the Boone County Fair.

Kountertop was one of my favorite bands that played Ames on the Half Shell. To be honest, Ames on the Half Shell was a collection of nondescript classic rock cover bands. 1 band was just about indistinguishable from the next. Which worked for the target audience of Ames on the Half Shell. They just want to get a good buzz and listen to music that doesn’t challenge them.

There were a few exceptions, but they were pretty rare.

Kountertop did fit into the mold of classic rock cover band, but they at least had some style. Plus, they were skilled musicians.

The softball pictures are from a game between Boone and Madrid. It was a battle of some Bennett family friends. The Howards from Boone and the Madduxes from Madrid.

The Boone County Fair pictures were taken with Becky and some of her family. You should be warned that there are some bunny pictures in there. If you don’t like bunny pictures, turn back now!

By adding these photos to THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 PHOTO GALLERY, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

FRIDAY WITH KOUNTERTOP

IMAGES FROM A SATURDAY

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve even more softball, pictures from my first mission trip, and possibly a trip to the Miller farm.

Animals, Boone County Fair, Contests, Event, Photoshop, Street Photography, WPC - Reminder

A PHOTO JOURNAL – HENRY CARROLL – PAGE 77

September 7, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

It is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is HOBBIES.

A HOBBIES photo is any photo of somebody engaging in HOBBIES. A photo of tools used in HOBBIES. The results of HOBBIES.

HOBBIES

Happy photo harvesting!

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Reminder that the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest is going on currently. You can see the displayed pictures in the window of the KWBG building. It is on the corner of 9th and Keeler.

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When I heard that their were going to be pig races at the Boone County Fair, I was instantly 78% more excited for the Boone County Fair. Some people were psyched for the alcohol. I was psyched for the pig races. It is the reason that I sometimes don’t fit in and do fit in with the fine people of Boone, Iowa.

I knew that pig races would be a perfect addition to THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. I just wasn’t sure which page. Then it dawned on me. Page 77.

Page 77 – Instill a powerful sense of narrative in your picture.

I did enjoy the pig races even more than I anticipated. I was sad that there were only 4 races with a swimming pig thrown in the middle. It did make me day dream about quitting the computer mine. Buying the finest stable of racing pigs this side of the Mississippi, and going out and entertaining the young and young at heart at fairs and small town festivals all over the continental United States and maybe parts of Canada.

I just need an financial backer. About a million dollars would probably get us up and running*.

While only 1 picture can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take several pig pictures that are worthy of sharing. Have a look:

I’m not sure where we’ll land next time we check in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. Possibly Page 40. But it could be Page 55. Page 56 is also a real contender too!

*Pun, absolutely, undeniably, intended.

Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Boone County Fair, Candid Portrait, Contests, Derrick, Macro, Mom, Nature, Scottie D., Shorty, Travel

Boone County Fair 2018 Results

July 25, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

I was involved in 2 contests at the Boone County Fair this year. Now that the fair is in the past and I’ve had adequate time for reflection, I think it is a good time to share the results from the contests I entered.

First, the Open Class Photography Contest. You may recall that I had people vote to decide what pictures I entered. These are the five that were voted in and what they received:

Blue Ribbon

Purple Ribbon

Red Ribbon

Purple is the best. Red is the second worst, I guess. You can also get a white ribbon. I figured the reflection picture would resonate well with the Boone County Fair “judges”, because there is no obvious photographic technique. The subject is debatable. It doesn’t follow any rules for composition. To some degree, it is hard to tell what is in focus. It is a terrible photo contest photo. But it is a cool looking photo. You could print that up (perhaps on metal) and put that on your wall.

I reiterate, that I don’t enter photo contest to win ribbons. I just like to have pictures be seen. Whatever prize comes or doesn’t come, so be it.

I will run a similar program to pick out the pictures to be entered in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. It will be slightly different because people struggled to figure out how to use the website, so I will try to make it as not tech savvy as I can. None of these pictures, nor the pictures from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon will be eligible to be in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

That is my rule, not theirs. I never enter a photo in more than one photo contest. I will be bagging these photos up and be putting them in the Photo Contest trunk in the next couple of days. The trunk is running low on space, so I will be needing to upgrade or get another trunk in the near future.

Look for your chance to vote at the beginning of August.

The other contest I entered during the Boone County Fair was the Farm Bureau Cookoff. Technically Scottie D.’s name is the name on the entry, but this was a Baby Got Rack entry. Although, let us face it. Scott is the talent of Baby Got Rack.

There was a bit of confusion with the contest as the rules had changed quite a bit from previous years and also, were not well written. At our team meeting on the Thursday before the competition, there was much discussion about not even entering the contest.

According to the new rules, set up was at 1 PM and judging was at 4 PM. That is not enough time to smoke a piece of meat. It takes a minimum of 1 hour to get the fire going and the air circulation to where you want it. Then the quickest meat to smoke is pork loin. It needs to smoke for 2 hours. 1 hour 45 minutes at the least. Then it needs to rest for at least half an hour, otherwise all the juices will be lost when you cut into it.

There just isn’t time!

We thought about just showing up and winging it. We had once made a Chili Cheese Dog Pizza on a whim. It was delectable. It was delicious. We have never made it since.

On Friday, Scott talked to the people running the contest and they told him that we were allowed to show up and set up at 8 AM. That is enough time to do a rack of ribs right.

The other major change was the limitation of only being able to enter 2 categories.

At the Thursday meeting we must have went around in circles for hours about what 2 categories to enter. When the 1 PM rule disappeared, the answer became clear:

+Combination
+Pork

Here are a few pictures from Baby Got Rack’s day at the Boone County Fair:

Photo Cred: Dawn Krause

We took 1st Place in Combination.
We took 2nd Place in Pork.

That means that we will be going to the Iowa State Fair to compete on Tuesday, August 14th. If you are at the Fair that day, I would encourage you to come by and root us on. Judging will be at 10 AM.

After that, your next chance to try Baby Got Rack Barbecue will be at Pufferbilly Days. After that, you will have to wait until my birthday. Incidentally, the theme of my 2019 birthday party is going to be cargo shorts. It was going to be cargo shorts and jorts, but I have been told that jorts are considered stylish now. I don’t believe it, but I can’t take the risk!