Category Archives: State Fair

Animals, Black & White, Contests, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Nature, Photoshop, Saydie, State Fair, Taylan, Underwater, Willy

The Howards: 2016 – Chapter 1

August 19, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

By the time this gets published, I’ll probably be making the trudge up Expo Hill towards the Cultural Building to pick up my photos from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon.

If you didn’t get a chance to duck into the Cultural Building to check out my photos, that is fine. That is dandy. Here are the 4 pictures I entered. 2 were accepted for display. 2 were not.

Not selected for display.

Selected for display.

2 pictures for display was a solid showing. You never know what the judges will like. I was surprised that Willy’s eye was selected for display. I thought of the 4, it had the worst chance to make it. I guess you never know.

A few statistics from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon:

1018 Photographers Entered
3201 Photographs Entered
Photographers from 20 other states entered
863 Adults Entered
466 of adults who entered have at least one photograph on display
27% of the photos entered were exhibited

I should start planning for next year, but that hasn’t really been my style, yet.

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Starting on the 3rd to last photo shoot from 2016 to have the 2016 backlog cleared up.

This collection is from the Howard Family Photo Shoot:

I told all the people that missed Saydie Sundays that she would be back. For at least one more week after this, even!

Baby Got Rack, Contests, Event, Macro, Melissa, Michelle, Scottie D., Shannon, State Fair

Baby Got Rack Takes the Iowa State Fair

August 19, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A reminder that today is the last day of the Iowa State Fair. If you are going, you should make your way to the Cultural Building to see the pictures that I had accepted for display. They will come down at approximately 8 PM. Also, I will be at the Iowa State Fair today, if you want to try to look me up.

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On Tuesday, Baby Got Rack went to the Iowa State Fair to compete in the Iowa State Fair Farm Bureau Cookoff.

Baby Got Rack earned their way there by winning the Combination category at the Boone County Fair. The Combination category is any dish that combines 2 or more meats. We won with Scottie D.’s famous Mediterranean Pizza and his Barbecue Pizza.

Baby Got Rack took a little bit of a different formation this year. House dropped out this year. A couple of other people auditioned for roles on the team, but only one person stepped up to join Baby Got Rack. That was Bryon Porter.

I will also add that Baby Got Rack’s guardian angel, Melissa also increased her role with the team this year. In year’s past she had stayed mostly in the background. Running the books and being in charge of procurement. This year she also was in charge of making the pizza crust.

I can’t lie. At the Iowa State Fair they both did more work than me, probably. It looks like once again there is no Pufferbilly Days Barbecue Contest. We had heard rumors that it was a done deal at the Boone County Fair. But those rumors ended up being lies. Dirty, dirty lies! At least as of this writing, there is no listing for a Barbecue Contest on the Pufferbilly Days website.

Sorry people that were planning on coming to visit us on the Sunday of Pufferbilly Days. Tuesday might have been your last chance to see Baby Got Rack in action until at least May. When Baby Got Rack will cater my birthday party. If I have it. Which currently, everything trends to that happening.

Since I knew this was probably the last time Baby Got Rack would gird its loins for the field of barbecue battle, I took as many pictures as possible. Here are some of my favorites:

Unloading.

Baby Got Rack’s Latest Superstar

Fire!

4 AM came early for this guy!

Injecting the Pork

When you’re this stylish, you take a selfie!

4 AM also came early for this guy!

Applying BGR’s Proprietary Rub

That is a good looking piece of meat!

Seasoning the chicken!

Melissa is also our Interior Decorator.

Lots of competitors!

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a team competition. Scottie D.’s name is the only one you’ll see in the record books.

Bryon rocking the swag!

Checking the meats! Arby’s got nothing on BGR, on so many levels.

Cutting up the pizza toppings.

Is that 2 types of bell peppers? I’ll never tell!

Melissa, making magic.

Magic!

Crust!

Time to let the meat rest!

Delicious!

Mmmmm… Pork!

I love our chicken. It still might be my favorite thing we make.

Seasoning Up!

Spreading the Sauce!

(Wipes drool off of keyboard.)

Cheese!

Sean! This guy is the chicken master, but he entered pork. He got 2nd place in Pork.

Starting to look like pizzas!

Barbecue Pizza

Mediterranean Pizza

They gave everybody that came a Participant Ribbon*. Some people put it up. We put it away. BGR doesn’t come to “participate”. BGR comes to dominate!

Pizza. Macro.

The crowd starts to swell around our booth.

Pizza on the grill.

Picking out pieces for the judges.

Next year, we will have our own hashtag!

Piece for the judges.

Category Judges.

Scottie D. working his magic.

Giving the judges a sample of the meats.

Everybody loves this pizza!

The Showmanship Judges.

Ed Wilson gave Scottie D. a fist bump.

Scottie D. was briefly on the news that night.

There was one pizza catastrophe, but people didn’t care, They wolfed it down!

People love free samples, but not everybody is what I would call appreciative.

Scottie D. being interviewed for the pseudo-radio broadcast.

More free samples!

The Grand Champion Judges.

This is our favorite judge.

The Secretary of Agriculture.

We won our Category.

Baby Got Rack Team Picture. Melissa refused to be in it for some reason.

There are plenty more pictures from the day’s event. If you want to peruse them, you should click on the link below:

BABY GOT RACK – 2018

That is probably all she wrote for this year’s Competitive Barbecue Season. I’m sure Baby Got Rack will be back in 2019, unless Scottie D. decides to open up a restaurant instead of all this small fish stuff. Many people wanted to know where our restaurant is and we had to break their heart.

Special thanks to everybody that came down to see us and support us:

Shannon
Barb Shedd
Michelle’s Parents

BGR out! Mic drop.

*I’m not one of those people that freaks out about giving out “participant” ribbons. I don’t suffer from the disease of toxic masculinity. If you want to give kids participant ribbons, it isn’t making them soft. It isn’t making them less competitive. It might even people helping their self-esteem. Which is fine by me.

Becky, Derrick, Event, Jaycees, Music, Shannon, State Fair, Steph, Still Life

06-28-08

August 18, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

There is quite the eclectic collection of pictures in the folder 06-28-08.

There are pictures from Ames on the Half Shell. The Box Brothers are the band.

There are pictures of the WHO Tractor Ride.

There are pictures of the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

And finally, there is a picture of the most accurate nickname I was ever given.

The Intimidator mailing label was on a gift subscription to American Photo magazine from Steph. I had that nickname because 98% of the people that I have managed in my life have been terrified of me. The other 2%? Fools.

Of course, there are more Box Brothers images than I care to share here. If you want to see more, you can click on the link below:

Ames on the Half Shell – 2008

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

Work Half Done

Burden

Box Brothers

The Right Color Tractor

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve a wedding where I was a 2nd shooter. I don’t know or even remember the name of the people that got married. However, if the other weddings I’ve done photography on is any indication, they are probably divorced now. That might have taken a dark turn, but #facts.

Animals, Black & White, Nader, State Fair, Still Life, Street Photography

Iowa State Fair 2017 – Set 2

August 14, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

By the time this entry publishes, Baby Got Rack will already have competed in the State Fair Cookoff. Pictures from that will be coming in the future.

I will remind you that I have two pictures on display at the Photography Salon in the Cultural Building. I’ll reveal what pictures I entered and what pictures got displayed this coming Sunday.

But for now, here are the balance of pictures from my trip to the Iowa State Fair in 2017.

I do love me some Iowa State Fair!

Animals, Black & White, Nader, State Fair, Street Photography

Iowa State Fair 2017 – Set 1

August 7, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

REMINDER

NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T VOTED YET, VOTE!!! 4 CATEGORIES ARE SEPARATED BY 1 VOTE. 1 IS SEPARATED BY 2 VOTES. THE LAST CATEGORY IS SEPARATED BY 3 VOTES.

It is once again time for me (and by me, I mean you guys) to pick out my photos to enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Once again, I am going to leave it up to a popular vote.

The Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest allows you to enter up to 6 photos.

There are 4 Categories:

1. Nature
2. Photojournalism
3. Photoshop Enhanced
4. Hidden Treasures of Boone County.

I have selected 60 images for you to consider. To simplify things, I have split the 60 photos into 6 sets of 10. If you wish to exercise your enfranchisement, clicking on the link below will take you to Poll #1. Vote for one of those pictures and then move onto the next poll, until you have voted in all six polls.

The winner of EACH poll will be entered into the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

Click on the link below to start voting:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominees

Voting will end at midnight, August 8.

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REMINDER!!

1 week today Baby Got Rack will competing at the Iowa State Fair. We will be registered and set up by 8 AM. Probably well before that. We judging is at 10 AM. Awards will be announced at 12 PM. We will be making Baby Got Rack’s award winning pizza.

If you are going to the Iowa State Fair early next Tuesday, stop by and say hi to me and Scottie D.! There will probably be a couple more there as well.

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Hitting that back log. Here are some pictures from my trip to the Iowa State Fair last year!

i got a few more pictures from last year’s trip to the State Fair still to come!

Animals, Christianity, Contests, Event, Flowers, Macro, Nature, Photoshop, Politics, Railroad, State Fair, WPC - Reminder

Flowers, Always and Always

August 3, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

REMINDER

It is once again time for me (and by me, I mean you guys) to pick out my photos to enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Once again, I am going to leave it up to a popular vote.

The Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest allows you to enter up to 6 photos.

There are 4 Categories:

1. Nature
2. Photojournalism
3. Photoshop Enhanced
4. Hidden Treasures of Boone County.

The winner of EACH poll will be entered into the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

Click on the link below to start voting:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominees

Voting will end at midnight, August 8.

As of this writing, if there are no votes between now and the end of the voting, these will be the Entries:

2018 Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominee

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A friendly reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is TREE:

TREE

A TREE picture is any picture that involves a TREE or a TREE byproduct.

Happy photo harvesting!

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I must have flowers, always and always.
-Claude Monet

Monet is one of my favorite painters and his work is definitely an influence on my photography. There was a point that I could argue that my most popular photo was named after Monet’s personal garden. I called the photo “My Giverny”.

I respect Monet’s love of flowers. I like to have a wide variety of flowers in my yard. Of course, I always have to visit the Discovery Garden at the Iowa State Fair.

These are the balance of pictures from my trip to the Discovery Garden at the Iowa State Fair last year:

I have more State Fair pictures to share at some point in the future. The near future.

Animals, Contests, Flowers, Macro, State Fair

In Joy or Sadness

August 1, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

REMINDER

It is once again time for me (and by me, I mean you guys) to pick out my photos to enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Once again, I am going to leave it up to a popular vote.

The Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest allows you to enter up to 6 photos.

There are 4 Categories:

1. Nature
2. Photojournalism
3. Photoshop Enhanced
4. Hidden Treasures of Boone County.

The winner of EACH poll will be entered into the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

Click on the link below to start voting:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominees

Voting will end at midnight, August 8.

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In joy or sadness flowers are our constant friends.
-Kakuzo Okakura

One of my favorite places at the Iowa State Fair is the Discovery Garden. Many people that have attended the fair with me know that at some point we will part company and I will spend close to an hour there. Sometimes people choose to just wait me out. It is a foolish idea, unless you are in need of rest and have some delicious fair food to put into your belly.

Here are some pictures from last year’s trip to the Iowa State Fair:

I have one more set of Iowa State Fair flower pictures in the hopper. Don’t worry, I’ll feed you baby birds!

Animals, Flowers, Macro, State Fair

After Women

July 17, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

After women, flowers are the mostly lovely thing God has given the world.
-Christian Dior

This collection of flower pictures comes from the Iowa State Fair in 2016.

There is good news about this collection.

#1. I am now almost finished editing the pictures from 2016 that need to be edited.
#2. I came to a conclusion while editing these photos that may take me in a different direction with an entirely different photo project.

Here are the rest of the 2016 Iowa State Flower Pictures:

Now maybe I can start editing pictures from my 2017 trip to the Iowa State Fair!

Animals, Baby Got Rack, Flowers, Macro, State Fair

Take the Time to Plant

July 11, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers, someone is taking the time to plant some.
― Herbert Rappaport

Digging deep into the backlog here. The following are pictures from an August 2016 trip to the Iowa State Fair. Yes, I have pictures from 2016 I still haven’t even edited.

As many of you know, I the Discovery Garden is my favorite place on the Iowa State Fair fairgrounds. Every trip to the State Fair I make a stop there. This is often when I tell the people that go with me, go do something else. I’ll meet up with you later.

This particular trip to the State Fair was when Baby Got Rack was competing in the Farm Bureau Barbecue Contest. While the meat was smoking, I snuck over and grabbed these photos.

Animals, Contests, Flowers, Macro, State Fair

Without Troubling a Star

July 10, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

All things by immortal power. Near of faR, to each other linked are, that thou canst not stir a flower without troubling a star.
-Francis Thompson

This post signifies the final batch of photos from Donna’s flower garden. However, before we get into that, I need to make an announcement.

Results for 2018 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon

I got two pictures into the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon this year!

A few things I want to clarify:

#1. The Iowa State Fair Photo Contest and the Boone County Fair Photo Contest are not connected. They are completely independent and couldn’t be more unrelated. The Iowa State Fair Photography Salon is one of the hardest photo contests in the country. People from all over enter it. They only display 20% of the pictures that are displayed. Full-time professional photographers often don’t get photos in. Past judges don’t get photos in. The judges change every year, so it is impossible to guess what the judges are looking for every year. I pick the photos I enter into that contest. It is the contest I take seriously, even though I know it can be very arbitrary.

#2. Therefore, the photos I entered were not the same photos that I had people voting on last week. Those photos are for the Boone County Fair. The Boone County Fair doesn’t start for another week. I will enter the photos that people voted on July 21.

#3. I have a rule that I don’t enter a picture in more than one photo contest. Therefore, none of the pictures I entered in the Iowa State Fair were in the list of 50 pictures that people could vote on for the Boone County Fair.

#4. I don’t know what pictures were selected. You are allowed to enter up to 4 pictures. I entered 4, but I Don’t know what 2 were accepted for display. 2 of the 4 entered I haven’t released yet for public consumption. No real reason for that, other than I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

#5. I’ll get to find out what two got accepted for display when I go to the Photographer Reception. I think that is the Sunday before the Iowa State Fair, but I haven’t really looked into that yet.

#6. Finally, if you go to the Iowa State Fair and want to see the pictures in person, the Photography Salon is on the top floor of the Cultural Building. You can ask the attendants where pictures by certain photographers are and they will show you, if you don’t want the challenge of trying to find them on your own.

#7. In about a month I’ll unveil the process of picking the photos for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. It will be similar-ish to the way we did the Boone County Fair Photo Contest, but with some slight tweaks.

I’m pretty stoked. Glad I came out of Photography Contest Retirement!

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Here are the rest of the flower pictures:

Don’t worry Russell, there is plenty more flower pictures in the backlog!