Category Archives: State Fair

Animals, Art, Black & White, Flowers, Sara, State Fair

State Fair Koan

August 18, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I went to the State Fair with Sara on Sunday night with the mistaken belief that we would go see Vanilla Ice and Tone Loc in concert.

We were going to be ironic, not because we thought this would be good, but in the end, the joke was on us. The crowd was so large, that we instead just ate more delicious State Fair food and then ate some more delicious State Fair Food.

Some pictures:

Sara thought this lamb looked like Jupiter.

This ride almost killed me last year.

What is the State Fair Koan?

Look at the picture below:

Try to answer this impossible question:

What is prettier: Sara and I or our art?

Cousin Amy, Jay, Jesse, Mom, Sara, State Fair

The State Fair

August 26, 2009 Christopher D. Bennett

I spent most of my waking hours at the State Fair this weekend. I’ve posted some pictures of the experience in the Snapshots Gallery.

Follow the link to have a gander (although there literally are no ganders in the album):

Iowa State Fair

Admittedly, this album is heavy on pictures of flowers and butterflies.

Birthdays, Formal Portrait, Jay, Jesse, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, State Fair

Happy Birthday Jay!

July 8, 2009 Christopher D. Bennett

I think I’m going to create a hybrid of the 2 birthday salute styles that I have tried in the past.

Happy Birthday Mr. Janson!

Jay in Kalona

Jay Carving Pumpkins

Jay in Beautiful Downtown McCallsburg

Jay in Kelley

Jay-Working It in Ottumwa (Rob Gorshe Admires His Work)

Jay Boozing It Up in Mankato

Jay in the Stephens Parking Lot after Watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Jay at the Iowa State Fair

Jay in Clinton with a Couple Dudes He Knows

Jay and Some Dude in Colo

But I do have more pictures of Jay in the Snapshots Gallery. But you can also click on the link below to find about 20 more pictures of Jay.

Jay Christopher Janson

There is also a random picture of Bill in the mix as well.

Animals, Flowers, Macro, State Fair

State Fair Flowers

August 19, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

I love the gardens at the State Fair.

Pretty, but not quite as tasty as some shaved ice.

Animals, Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Jay, Jeff Daniel, Mom, State Fair, Street Photography, Teresa, Yin

State Fair Olla Podrida

August 18, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

A random selection of pictures from my trip to the State Fair with my Mom, Jay and Teresa.

Ran into Jeff and Yin on the shuttle to the Fair.

My new favorite hat.

My favorite State Fair Food. (I firmly believe that “food on a stick” is for tourists.)

Pioneer Hall

My favorite State Fair dessert.

You get to put on your own syrup! As much as you want!

Super Bull

2nd Largest Boar

Goat

Cow nose.

Mom in Family Center

Mom in the Family Center

This is a cake.

Also a cake.

Family Photo

Bridge

Elvis Impersonator

I didn’t take as many pictures as usual, but I did take more flower pictures than normal.

Art, Black & White, Derrick, Photoshop, Shannon, State Fair

The Other Art Festival

July 3, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Last year I went to the Des Moines Arts Festival downtown. I can’t say there was a single thing that impressed me. Only things that left an impression on me. The biggest impression that I left with was the thought, “Wow, no need to go to this thing again.”

What I didn’t know or didn’t realize was that at the same time that the Des Moines Arts Festival is going down, there is another affordable art festival going on at the State Fairgrounds. On Saturday I met Shannon down there to check it out.

I learned a few things. I learned that there was more and more interesting (and utilitarian) things at the State Fairgrounds. Shannon had told me that this festival was considerably more affordable.

It certainly was more affordable. Although neither of us bought anything (unless you count the pie pan that Shannon bought for a friend) there were many things I considered buying. I heavily considered buying a painting of a cow or a pig. I also considered buying a letter opener from Shannon’s legendary knife guy. I had heard her spin many a yarn about his knives for quite sometime now, so it was exciting to actually see him in person. He does make beautiful knives, but I couldn’t pull the trigger on the deal. I already have 3 letter openers at home that I don’t use.

I also learned that Shannon is big into mixed media. I also learned that her hyper-organized mind is drawn to art that is very structured. I on the other hand do not like that much structure in my art. I also revealed a strong affection for paintings that could be found in children’s literature.

There are times that I consider trying to have a booth at an art festival. What I noticed from looking at the photographers that were set up was that they all seemed to have a specialty. There was the person that did flower pictures. There was the person that did Iowa landscapes. There were people that had pictures of specific foreign countries. There was a person thats specialty seemed to be splitting landscaped up into three separate pictures.

There was a person whose specialty was making photos look like paintings.

Something like that.

There was a person whose specialty was desaturating everything in a picture except one thing.

Something like that.

Another person made photomosaics.

Something like that (Hope you can recognize the original image.)

It is a big file! Over 26MB. The tiles are from pictures I took in June.

Fortunately nobody was there with what is well known to be my specialty.

So looks like I would not have any direct competition if I got a booth there next year.

I also snapped a couple of photos on my return journey to my car.

I will return to this festival in the future. Despite the lack of a single black and white photograph of a naked chick on a beach holding a sword and flowers.

Contests, Music, Nate, Sara, State Fair, Steph

The Past

August 21, 2007 Christopher D. Bennett

I can hear out of my right ear!!! That doesn’t seem like such a big accomplishment, but I have been stuffed up lately and my right ear has been pretty much useless as a result for the last few days. It finally seemed to unclog tonight. Hearing rules.

I’m posting a few pictures of my trip to the State Fair with Sara. There aren’t many pictures, so it didn’t seem like a gallery was necessary.

In the last couple of days I’ve participated in providing music for people going on long moving trips. Stephanie has moved to Pittsburgh to pursue her education. On Monday night she had a going away party where she had the most ingenious idea. Rather than people giving her going away presents, she requested that people make her a mix CD of some of their favorite music for her to listen to on her way to Pittsburgh. I think that this is a brilliant idea and think that there is a fair to excellent chance that I will steal it in the future.

I wish I could remember what I put on the CD I made for her, but my head seemed like it was on the verge of explosion. I can remember putting on a song by Buddy Guy, Melvin Taylor, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Jars of Clay, The Donnas, Harold Melvin, Sam Cooke The David Crowder Band, and Otis Redding. I think in retrospect I could have done a better job, but I think that I did a fair job considering my weakened condition.

In exchange, Stephanie gave everybody who gave her a CD a CD in exchange. This is another part of the idea I like. There is many a time when I’ve looked at somebody and thought, man this person could really use a listening to “Right Off” by Miles Davis off the album “Tribute to Jack Johnson”. However, I didn’t put that song on Stephanie’s CD. That song is 27 minutes long. It wouldn’t have left much room for the theme from the original “Planet of the Apes”. If you are wondering, I chose “Prince of Darkness” off of “Sorcerer” to represent Miles Davis.

Unfortunately I only was able to make the CD exchange because of my pulsing head. I bid Stephanie a fond adieu and headed home to nurse my pounding gulliver.

Nate is currently in the process of moving from Mendota Heights to Tuscon. He is doing a 3 month internship in Tuscon. Due to the length of the drive to Arizona, Nate purchased an iPod. He needed help getting songs on to the iPod. I told him to bring his computer over while he made a quick stop in Boone. I don’t want to go into to much detail about why we were doing this, but the short version of the story is that when I turned on his computer, sparks shot out the back of it and I got quite the electric shock. To add to the pain, my middle finger was bleeding when it was all said in done.

As enjoyable as the electric shock was, I was able to salvage his music by putting his hard drive into my computer. Nate got his iPod filled up with music and I only received a small injury.

Now that my head is beginning to clear, I can start putting some energy into the Pufferbilly Day Photo Contest. I might post the finalists on here before I enter them.

>I haven’t been to many weddings in the last couple of years. I went to one in June. I went to one on Saturday. I have 3 more to attend in the next month. I get the pleasure of doing the photography for two of those weddings.

>While I was under the weather, I was able to finish reading the last two Harry Potter books. I had stopped reading the Harry Potter books after the third book. I didn’t really like the third book and didn’t see a need to continue. The movies seemed to satisfy me, but after I saw the fifth movie, I was left with several questions and I decided it was time to finish reading the books. I am left with quite a few thoughts about how the 7th book ended, but I’ll save those for another time.

I would like to point out that the new Iowa State football helmet options are absolutely terrible. Absolutely terrible. I don’t think I could be more disappointed.

I’ll just finish off with those State Fair pictures.

Jay, State Fair

Iowa State Fair Daytrip

August 14, 2007 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I just put up some pictures from yesterday’s trip to the State Fair with Jay. If you are interested in perusing these pictures, you could click on the link below or browse to the Snapshots page:

State Fair

Comedy, Contests, Monica, State Fair, Teresa

Sister, The State Fair, and A Few Jokes

April 6, 2007 Christopher D. Bennett

For the last few years my sister Teresa has talk a lot of jibber jabber about entering the State Fair crocheting competition. In the same time frame, Monica has made a similar amount of dissonance about entering a painting into the State Fair.

Last year they were together in a contingency of people that made their way to the Fair with me. Once again they began opening their mouths and allowed words to escape about how “next year” they were going to enter their wares. Perhaps it was the heat. Perhaps it was hunger. Perhaps it was hearing the same inane prattle for years, but I believe that I snapped at them.

I can’t recall what I said, but I’m sure I pointed out that I was sick of hearing this same song and dance every year and yet every year the State Fair deadline came and went and all their talk had yet to spawn any action.

It has always been my philosophy to not pay too much attention to the words that people use. Everybody can talk a good game about what they are going to do or how good a person they are. One of the great truths I’ve learned in life is that “action defines character”. If you want to know the truth about a person, don’t listen to what they say. Watch what they do.

At that point they struck a deal. They both agreed to enter something next year. Well as I gaze admiringly at the Photography 139 Calendar on my wall I realize that next year is now this year. That immediately begs the question: “How are they doing?”

At a recent birthday dinner for Monica she revealed that she “still had plans” for the State Fair. So that is where Monica stands.

Teresa on the other hand has been quite diligent in her pursuit of the State Fair. She has been crocheting things left and right. The picture below are her latest creations. What makes these creations impressive is that these bears are a few inches tall.

I wanted to throw out a couple of jokes from the “Showbiz Show” that amused me:

A new video game allows you to form a “virtual band” online with other Xbox users. Those who’ve played it say it’s so realistic you almost feel like an actual failure.

Bono was granted an honorary knighthood, but he’s not entitled to be called “Sir” because he’s not a British citizen. “It’s cool, I wouldn’t want to be called anything that’s not my god-given name,” said Bono. “Yeah, that’d be totally pretentious,” said The Edge.

Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown has given birth to a baby girl, who she claims was fathered by Eddie Murphy. She’s basing this on the fact that the baby is capable of both being totally amazing and putting out crap.

Contests, Derrick, Ernie, Monica, Pufferbilly Days, Robert, State Fair, Teresa

State Fair and Ledges

August 19, 2006 Christopher D. Bennett

I have spent a few days planning for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. I need six images for the contest. My goal is to have 6 entirely new images. I believe I have 4 of the images ready. Which those with basic math skills can tell you leaves 2 images left to create. I know what the first image will be. That will be a fairly easy image to create. I’m a little undecided on the final image. Although I have a basic concept in my head.

The first image is from a recent trip I made to a wildflower area in Ledges State Park. I am fortunate to reside so near a park with as many photographic possibilities as Ledges. Anybody that has loitered around the galleries of this website knows that I spend a lot of time on the Lost Lake Trail taking pictures of frogs and dragonflies. I also spend a tremendous amount of time trying to get a halfway decent picture of a turtle. That venture continues to be a complete and utter failure. I just don’t have a long enough lens at this time to get a good turtle picture. Couple that fact with the well known cowardice of turtles, you can see the predicament I am in. I am considering buying a 500mm mirror lens for the upcoming Iowa State season and that may help me with my turtle problem. The mirror lens is attractive for budgetary reasons, but it has its limitations. It loses image quality in the corners of the images and it is manual focus. There are times that I am scared of how reliant I have become on autofocus, but then autofocus lenses were not built for manual focus and therefore their focusing rings are usually a bit loose. My future mirror lens should have a nice tight focusing ring and allow me to focus quickly and get some decent close up shots of the Cyclones this season. Of course all of that is off topic.

In upper Ledges there are many lovely patches of wildflowers. I have frequented one on a couple of days recently to get a picture of some flowers from underneath framed against a stark blue sky. My first trip actually ended in total failure. There are times when I get lazy and don’t really check the settings on my camera. There are times I just compose and fire away.

At I accidentally adjusted the ISO setting on my camera to 3200 without noticing. The result was disastrous. Most of the images were worthless. Thank you “digital noise”.

The second trip was much more successful, despite the presence of a bird that despised me as much as is avian possible. This bird stalked me and swooped at me. I ignored it to the best of my ability and got an amazing amount of shots of butterflies with which this patch is blessed. Plus, I got the flower picture that I wanted. However, the picture is not on the website yet.

The second image is a picture of Derrick walking down the alley behind Rieman’s Music with his guitar on his back. I have taken that picture and changed everything but his guitar to black and white. I have yet to create an acceptable title for this picture, but it is on the website under the temporary moniker: “Guitar Slinger”.

The third picture is a close-up picture of my goatee. It is a little bit difficult to take a picture of one’s own goatee. This would have been much easier to do with somebody else’s goatee, but sadly none of my friend’s have a goatee that is quite as impressive on so many levels. This picture is a riff on an earlier image I did when I was at work taking pictures of myself for a MySpace journal entry that never came to fruition. The original image was sepia toned. Which I do actually prefer, but there are only two categories in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest: “color” and “black and white”. I’m not sure where sepia toned fits.

I experimented with the new image. I took some pictures using the “Blue Steel” pose from “Zoolander”. I took a few pictures with my tongue sticking out. I took a few while eating a Star Bar. I look a few while leaking water out of my mouth, but I am currently leaning towards just a standard shot of pursed lips.

The experience has made me consider doing a series of these pictures trying to convey different emotions. I don’t know how that will work out, but if any thing comes of it, you’ll find out about it from this journal.

The current images aren’t currently on the website, but the original sepia toned image is on the website under the title: “Facial Hair Self-Portrait”.

The fourth picture in the hopper is a picture of an ostrich’s head. This picture was the best image from a wonderful day spent at the State Fair with Ernie, Monica, Tim, Robert, Liz, and Teresa.

I have a very large amount of objects I need to see at the State Fair. One of my favorites is a visit to the “Avenue of the Breeds”. While we were there I was able to get some wonderful pictures of an ostrich. I have to admit to not being completely satisfied with the ostrich picture because of some red in the background. As fate would have it, I am going down to the Fair tomorrow to retrieve my pictures from the Photography Salon. So there is a chance I can get another picture of the ostrich with a better background or perhaps a picture of the emus from the petting zoo. Although the ostrich had a wonderful dome, the emus has an amazingly creepy eye. Fortunately I still have a couple of days to decide which one is better.

The fifth image is simply going to be a picture of a cross in a hand. It will be a black and white image. It has yet to be taken.

The sixth image is still in the mulling over stage. Perhaps something will strike my fancy in the next couple of days. Perhaps nothing will and I’ll end up entering a retread from somewhere else.

One thing is for sure, the clock is ticking.