Category Archives: Life

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest – 2017

It is the time where I reveal what photos I entered into the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, but first the good news and the “bad” news.

The good news is that my sister Carla cleaned up at the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. She got 1st Place in Hidden Treasures of Boone County and Second Place for Photojournalism.

The “bad” news is that the 6 photos I entered got no love from the judge or judges. I really have no clue how they pick the awards. But I put “bad” in quotes because if I could choose to get no awards, that is exactly what I would choose. Plus, I’m super excited about Carla’s awards! Pretty sweet!

If I can get Carla to email me her submissions, I’ll post those at a later date. Like the day that she emails them to me.

Hopefully Teresa will enter some photos next year too!

Any way, you may recall that I had 6 people choose my 6 submission based on who left comments on an Instagram post. Here are those 6 submissions and the people that selected them:


Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest - 2017
Dawn Krause

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest - 2017
Laura Miller

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest - 2017
Amber Moore

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest - 2017
Michelle Haupt

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest - 2017
Micky Augustin

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest - 2017
Jim Robbins

If you would like to see the pool of photos that they had to choose from, click on the link below:

2017 Pufferbilly Days Submission Pool

If you are wondering what was selected to the submission pool here are the requirements:

1. Have never been entered into another photo contest (i.e. Iowa State Fair, Boone County Fair)
2. They had to fit into 1 of the 4 categories: Nature, Photojournalism, Photoshop, or Hidden Treasures of Boone County)
3. I had to like them, sorta.

I’ll add that this is the photo that wasn’t entered, but was chosen by Selector-Alternate Sara Lockner:


#40

I believe that is probably it for photo contests for 2017. As things now, I will probably remain unretired from Photo Contests in 2018. See you then.

The Town Sign Project Vol. 2

I haven’t made much progress on THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT lately. A disturbing amount of towns don’t have signs. That lack of town pride disappoints me. Gets me right in the feels. The negative feels. Here are 7 more town signs that I have reaped in recent weeks:


Bouton, Iowa
Bouton

Woodward, Iowa
Woodward

Leon, Iowa
Leon

Osceola, Iowa
Osceola

Kelly, Iowa
Kelley

Sheldahl, Iowa
Sheldahl

Slater, Iowa
Slater

Obviously Sheldahl has the best sign out of this collection.

Jesse assisted on a couple of these signs.

But That’s Kind of Hard When She’s Ready to Go

“This performance is dedicated to all the playa hating teachers that won’t let a little gangsta shine!”

I normally don’t get too into explaining any of my photography. The thing about art is that once the artist creates it and puts it out into the world, they are powerless to control how people interpret the piece.

However, I thought I would explain a little bit of what my original vision was for the HATE theme. So interpretations don’t got too far askew.

I intended to join in with an anti-social media movement championed by this website:

Pro Personal Communication

I printed off one of their props and even had Michelle cut them out for me (since I’m not that great with the scissors) and I was going to spend my weekend using the prop to be a hater and HATE on the phone zombie phenomenon.

However, I just could get my playa hating game going this week. I’m not sure what was wrong. I hope my invite to the Playa Haters’ Ball doesn’t get pulled. That weekend catching up with Silky Johnson and Mr. Roboto is one of my favorite weekends of the year.

Here are the HATE photos that didn’t make the cut for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:


Loser - Hate

Loser - Hate

Loser - Hate

Loser - Hate

The picture that is just of me, isn’t because I HATE myself. No need to send me link’s to Logic videos. I HATE getting ice cream in my beard.

Here is another thing for you to HATE.

Recently, Baby Got Rack had to pull out of the Pufferbilly Days Barbecue Contest. There will be no threepeat as the People’s Champ. Baby Got Rack had to pull out because Scottie D. has a myriad of catering gigs lined up. Including his brother’s wedding. I tried to get him to skip his brother’s wedding. It is a long standing policy of mine that only bad people get married during the fall on Saturdays and furthermore I don’t know why my weekend should be ruined because somebody else “fell in love”. But Scottie D. is a hopeless romantic and tells me I should stop hating.

Maybe I will keep my invite to the Playa Haters’ Ball after all!

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 41

When I went to the Iowa State Fair, I had a goal of knocking out 2 or 3 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT images. I managed 2. Here is Page 41:


Photo Journal - Page 41
Page 41 – Shoot one more image for Robert Frank’s “The Americans”.

I actually struggled picking which image to place in the physical copy of THE JOURNAL, but this photo of a mullet competition seems like it would fit into the original collection nicely. Here are the other ones I considered:


Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

Page 41 - Reject

The next time we revisit THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT we’ll look in on page 105.

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 7

On my recent trip to the Iowa State Fair with Nader, I was able to knock out a couple more photos for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. Here is Page 7:


Photo Journal - Page 7
Page 7 – Tell a joke with a single picture. (Photo Assistant: Nader Parsaei)

I get it. A bunch of cops hanging around guarding giant donuts. It isn’t that funny. Stop picking on cops for liking donuts. Everybody likes donuts. It isn’t original. I don’t need it in my act. You get it any way.

The next look into THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT will either be Page 65 or Page 105 or Page 41. Who knows? I certainly don’t.

Iowa State Fair Photography Salon – 2017

Now that the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon is officially over, I can reveal what picture was accepted for display and what 3 pictures were given the shaft.


Iowa State Fair - 2017
Displayed

In case you didn’t know, the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon is one of the hardest photo competitions in the world. They only accept about 20% of the photos entered. Now you know.

The following pictures did not fare so well. The judges looked them square in the eye and said, “Get out of here kid. You have no future!”


Iowa State Fair - 2017

Iowa State Fair - 2017

Iowa State Fair - 2017

The next photo contest on the docket is the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Those pictures have been selected by my hearty crew of volunteers and their order has been placed. You can check out those entries on the corner of 8th and Story in downtown Boone starting Thursday, September 7.

Here is a bonus picture:


Sara and Cousin Amy

Sara sent me a picture of she and Cousin Amy finding my picture at the Photography Salon!

Introducing… The Town Sign Project!

Because I don’t have enough photo projects going on I have recently decided to start a new photo project. It is a project that I have started in the past and then quit. n

Maybe I’m like Hollywood and I’m out of ideas, so I just reboot old ideas? Maybe I just never gave this idea its proper attention. Who knows? We’ll see if I make good on it.

This idea is mostly influenced by an old Welcome to Boone sign that I remember from youth. It had a man catching a fish on it. It could also be 100% a false memory. But my dream is to some day make a self-published coffee table book that nobody will buy. Dream big, I say.

Jay, Willy, and Joe were photo assistants at various parts of these photos. Well maybe not Jay. Pretty sure he was asleep in the bacxkseat.

Here are the first few signs I have photographed:


Pilot Mound, Iowa

Dayton, Iowa

Harcourt, Iowa

Boxholm, Iowa

Keystone, Iowa

Newhall, Iowa

Atkins, Iowa

Scotch Grove, Iowa

Stanhope, Iowa

As with many photo projects, it isn’t until I get back and start editing and curating images that I realize what style I think fits my vision for this project. Now that I’ve seen what I think works, I may have to go back and photograph some of these signs again.

I will also add that if you come across an interesting sign, text me a picture. I need my scouts everywhere.

What is interesting to me? I’m sure you’ve picked up on what I like by now. I like decrepit and falling apart. Or I like funny. Or I like original. Classy doesn’t really work for me. I’ve never been on too good of terms with classy.

For example, the nice stone signs on US30 as you enter Boone do nothing for me. The ugly sign on the corner of US30 and South Story Street is better. Although still pretty lame.

You have your assignment. Start lighting up my phone!