Category Archives: Holidays

Andy, Black & White, Cathie, Dawn, Derrick, Drone, History, Holidays, Jen, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Naima, Ruins, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 265 – SELF-PORTRAIT

October 12, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start by wishing everybody a happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I don’t have a picture to represent this holiday, but I do have a suggestion on a way to celebrate it.

I suggest listening to THIS LAND podcast by Crooked Media. It is pretty incredible and infuriating and addictive. Click on the link below:

This Land

A synopsis of the podcast:

Patrick Murphy was convicted of murder by the state of Oklahoma in 2000. But defense attorneys soon discovered that his conviction may have been based on a lie. Hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Oklahoma journalist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this podcast will provide an in depth look at how a cut and dry murder case opened an investigation into half the land in Oklahoma and the treaty rights of five tribes. Follow along to find out what’s at stake, the Trump administration’s involvement, the larger right wing attack on tribal sovereignty and how one unique case resulted in the largest restoration of tribal land in US history.

If you find that interesting, and you should because it is fascinating, click on the link above!

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We did it! WooHoo! 54 straight weeks of double digit submissions!

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

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Dawn Krause

Kio Dettman

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Andy Sharp

Micky Augustin

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Cathie Raley

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Derrick Gorshe

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:

BLACK AND WHITE

BLACK AND WHITE! What a great theme! In fact, I think you all know by now that is it my favorite theme! BLACK AND WHITE photography was my first love. Still my greatest love. What is a BLACK AND WHITE image? Literally any subject, as long as it is taken in BLACK AND WHITE.

BLACK AND WHITE has been a theme six times. It was not included in the first set of 52 themes. A terrible oversight and I blame Vest. Here is a look back at the six times BLACK AND WHITE was a theme:

RWPE Y2 #27 – BLACK & WHITE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 14 – BLACK AND WHITE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 74 – BLACK & WHITE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 133 – BLACK & WHITE

WPC – WEEK 202 – BLACK & WHITE

WPC – WEEK 251 – BLACK AND WHITE

I look forward to seeing your new interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION
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.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

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

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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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 monochrome Monday!

Flowers, Holidays, Macro, WPC - Reminder

9/11

September 11, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Today is the 19th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the plane that was ultimately taken down in Pennsylvania.

2,977 people died on that day. On the anniversary, I usually recount my experience on that day. I won’t do that today. I will merely point out that currently in this country we are losing the equivalent of 9/11 every third day. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have experienced the equivalent of over sixty 9/11s.

I wish it still felt like this though:

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Here are some flower pictures I took back in June:

The Dahlias came from a baby shower that was “held” for Logan and Amanda for the baby they were about to have that they named… Dahlia. I don’t have any baby Dahlia pictures to share at this time. I have got to see her once, but I didn’t take any pictures. So you’ll just have to wait for that.

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

MACRO

A MACRO is a close-up photo. That is all there is to it.

Happy photo harvesting!

Basketball, Black & White, Christianity, Formal Portrait, History, Holidays, Iowa State, Mom, Sara, Still Life

2010-01-19 & 2010-01-25

July 4, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Happy 4th of July everybody! This holiday celebratory picture is a bit different.

This historical marker commemorates the crew of a U.S. Army Air Force B-24 Bomber that were killed when their plane crashed in Boone County during a training flight during WWII.

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The pictures in the folders 2010-01-19 & 2010-01-25 are from a couple different PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT(s). One is of a Sara through the window in my entry way. The other is a picture of some family Bibles. There is also a picture from the 3rd ever WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. The theme was PEOPLE.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

RWPE #3 – PEOPLE
Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 5
Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 6

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Willy and some flowers.

Anders, Andy, Angie, Art, Bill, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Drone, Holidays, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Logan, Micky, Monica, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 245 – SELF-PORTRAIT

May 25, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

I need to start by wishing everybody a happy Memorial Day!

Today is a unique Memorial Day, as we honor both our military personnel that have died in military service and the over 100,000 Americans that have died during the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully, we will be in a better place in the world next year.

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Woooo! 34 straight weeks of double digit submissions. I got a lot of feedback from people saying that a SELF-PORTRAIT wasn’t easy for them like it is for me. They aren’t a combination of a young Brad Pitt and a middle-aged Robert Redford. While, I understand that my good looks can be intimidating, it is the fact that I am interesting looking that makes me so dang photogenic, not the fact that I’m so ruggedly handsome.

One person went so far as to send me the excuse that they can’t do a self-portrait, because they only do portraits with somebody holding their neck back. Ridiculous!

That being said, enough people showed the testicular fortitude to get on the other side of the camera for us to eek out double digits again!

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

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Dawn Krause

Andy Sharp

Angie DeWaard

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Micky Augustin

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Jesse Howard

Carla Stensland

Cathie Raley

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Christopher D. Bennett

Logan Kahler

FRIENDS

FRIENDS! What a great theme! I mean for most of you. Seeing how I have been scientifically documented to be the one True Lone Wolf, the man that is an island, this will be a difficult theme for me. I might have to play creepy photographer and find a couple of FRIENDS hanging out and clandestinely take their picture.

For the rest of you, this should be fairly simple. Grab a picture of a couple of your FRIENDS physically distancing, while remaining social.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

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

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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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 friendly Monday!

Becca, Bethany, Billy, Black & White, Cathie, Colleen, Dory, Flat Earth Joe, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Holidays, J.T., Jonah, Macro, Michelle, Micky, Nate, Nora, Taylan

Senior Sunday – Taylan – Volume 4

May 10, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start this post buy wishing all mothers out there a very happy Mother’s Day. Take this picture of a Mother’s Day Peony as my way of saying thanks for all that you mothers do!

My Mom’s Mother Day wasn’t typical. Teresa bought some Pizza Ranch chicken and we hung out and watched Netflix. She went out to Carla’s for a short grill-out in the evening. But I’m sure she still considered a successful Mother’s Day.

Hope all you mothers had a successful Mother’s Day too!

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Today is Becca’s birthday. Happy birthday Becca!

I hope it was a truly magical birthday!

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Also, happy birthday to Michelle!

I hope your birthday was as amazing as you wanted it to be!

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Finally, it is yet another Senior Sunday and it is once again Taylan’s turn in the rotation. Here are more pictures of Taylan:

Still a ton more Taylan photos still to come!

Animals, Holidays, Jay, Kalista, Saydie, Scottie D., Taylan, Tenderloining

2009-10-31

April 18, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

There is a diverse collection of images in the folder 2009-10-31. Some of the pictures are from when I went tenderloining with the Defeneffes to Goldie’s Ice Cream Shoppe in Prairie City. Some are from when I used to have people I actually know trick-or-treat at my house. The rest are from when I was dog sitting Sara’s pooch Jupiter.

Have a look:

Tenderloining at Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Samhain
Jupiter Chronicles
Tenderloining It! 2009

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

Black & White, Christianity, Formal Portrait, Holidays, Taylan, Youth Group

Senior Sunday – Taylan – Volume 2

April 12, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I should start with wishing everybody a Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

It is definitely one of the weirdest Easters that most of us have ever experienced. I didn’t go to church on Easter Sunday since I don’t know when. Instead, I drove around and took a few pictures of church signs while listening to KWBG.

From 8-9 they played the Palm Sunday worship service of the local Baptist service. The Pastor of that church now helps with our Youth Group and she truly has been a godsend.

From 9-10 they played our worship service. Which was a live Easter service. I just want to share a couple of my favorite signs I saw this morning:

I would like to share an Easter Devotional from the Bishop of the Iowa Conference of the Methodist Church:

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. Look, there was a great earthquake, for an angel from the Lord came down from heaven. Coming to the stone, he rolled it away and sat on it. Now his face was like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. The guards were so terrified of him that they shook with fear and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He isn’t here, because he’s been raised from the dead, just as he said. Come, see the place where they laid him. Now hurry, go and tell his disciples, ‘He’s been raised from the dead. He’s going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ I’ve given the message to you.”

With great fear and excitement, they hurried away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. But Jesus met them and greeted them. They came and grabbed his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers that I am going into Galilee. They will see me there.”

—Matthew 28:1-10 (CEB)

Billy Sunday was the first great traveling evangelist of the twentieth century. He traveled the country with his flamboyant revival showmanship, which attracted enormous crowds. A consummate showman, Sunday he would invite his listeners at the end of the sermon to come forward by walking down the sawdust trail of the temporary wooden structure to give their lives to Christ. “Hitting the sawdust trail” became a synonym for repentance and conversion.

The first people to ever hit the sawdust trail, however, were the women, weren’t they? Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb, where they encountered an angel sitting on a stone who said, “Don’t be afraid. Jesus has been raised from the dead. Now, hurry and go, tell his disciples.”

The phrase, “hitting the sawdust trail,” actually predates Billy Sunday, originating in the forests of Oregon, where lumber jacks would get lost deep in the woods. Needing find their way out, they would lay a trail of sawdust along the way so they could follow it out to a place where they could get their bearings.

Like the lumberjacks, we, too, are totally lost and have to rely on God’s grace to lead us to and then along the sawdust trail. We cannot control resurrection because resurrection is God’s work of grace. Do you, too, want to hit the sawdust trail? Then practice resurrection by welcoming and walking beside all kinds of people traveling the way of spiritual formation.

In his poem, Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, Wendell Berry captures the unpredictability of resurrection. He says, “So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it…. Practice resurrection.”

Prayer:

God of new birth, this is the day of resurrection, and we are ready to hit the sawdust trail, a trail that leads right back into everyday life where we commit ourselves to practice resurrection. With your grace leading the way, we will welcome all people to journey with us, so that one day the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Amen.

By: Bishop Laurie Haller, Resident Bishop, Iowa Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church

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Here is a second collection of pictures from Taylan’s Senior Picture Photo shoot:

More senior pictures next Sunday!

Andy, Cathie, Elizabeth, Flat Earth Joe, Formal Portrait, Holidays, Jorge, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Schmidt, Vest, Work, Youth Group

Mish Mash

April 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Happy Maundy Thursday! Traditionally I would have been a the Computer Mine for a full hour by the time this was publishing. However, my mind would be thinking about tonight’s worship service at the Boone First United Methodist Church.

Maundy Thursday is traditionally one of my favorite worship services of the year because you never know what you are going to see. This was going to be Pastor Dave’s first Maundy Thursday Service at our church and I really wonder he would have had in store for us.

But there won’t be a worship service at our church tonight. But I still think it would be apropos to include a picture of the Youth Group to start your morning.

After all, my co-worker that likes to call this my “Jesus blog” would be disappointed if there wasn’t a little bit of Jesus’ disciples included on Maundy Thursday.

This is a small entry with a small collection of pictures that stretched across 3 consecutive days back in October. The Youth Group pictures are from the annual Hayrack Ride. The other pictures are from the Computer Mine. One is a Computer Mine company photo. The other is from the Computer Mine Halloween festivities.

I swear I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel with this backlog. When it is done, I’m going to bore you with an extensive history of my cameras.

Birthdays, Holidays, Jay, Jonah, Laura, Nate, Nora, Still Life, Willy

The 4th

March 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start today’s post by wishing a big happy birthday to Laura! I’m sure today she will have her hands full trying to corral Baby Tri-Force and she will be loving every second of it!

Here are some Laura pictures:

I hope it is a great birthday!

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On the 4th of July I got together with Willy and Jay and grilled out and set off some smoke bombs and then photographed them going off. Here are some pictures.

The 4th of July is a Saturday this year. I love holidays that are also on weekends!

Candid Portrait, Football, Holidays, Iowa State, Self-Portrait, Work

2009-09-02 & 2009-09-04

February 22, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folders 2009-09-02 and 2009-09-04 are from two separate but nearly equally great events.

A couple of the pictures are from Alligator Shirt Day. A holiday that I invented back in 2009, but then forgot to honor on a yearly basis. You can bet dollars to donuts that on the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar, you will find Alligator Shirt Day in it. Just one of the changes you will see in the 2021 calendar as I will make it an even more personal project, since I don’t sell them any longer.

The other event is the Iowa State football game against North Dakota State. Back then, I didn’t realize that North Dakota State had one of the most annoying fanbases in the world. A pretty big accomplishment for a nothing university in a town that nobody would’ve heard of if the Cohen brothers didn’t name a movie after the town and then set the movie in Minnesota.

Here are some pictures:

Iowa State defeated the North Dakota State 34-17 on that evening.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Alligator Shirt Day

North Dakota State

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a couple of road trips I went on.