Category Archives: Music

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Viva Las Vegas: Day 3A

March 31, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Tonight, at approximately 8:30 Central, the Iowa women’s basketball team will play South Carolina in the Final Four for the chance to play Sunday night for the National Championship. I honestly don’t expect Iowa to win. South Carolina is an 11.5 point favorite. They are the defending National Champion. They have won 42 straight games. They have the defending National Player of the Year and the presumptive 1st pick in the WNBA draft in Aliyah Boston. Plus Brea Beal is expected to be a Top 10 pick. Plus Zia Cooke is expected to get drafted. Plus Latecia Amihere is supposed to get drafted. Plus Vicatria Saxtan will probably get drafted. Plus LeLe Grissett has a shot to get drafted.

I will just add that the Iowa women’s basketball team have been getting a ton of national media attention and are setting ratings records. Their Elite Eight game last Sunday had higher television ratings than every NBA game on ESPN this year. South Carolina does not like that. Their coach doesn’t like it. Their players don’t like it.

This isn’t to say that I don’t think Iowa has a chance. They definitely have a puncher’s chance. It isn’t exactly David against Goliath because Caitlin Clark isn’t a David and either is Monika Czinano. But the odds are against them. However, if they do win, they will do something that no team from the state of Iowa has done since 1956.

In 1956, the Iowa men’s basketball team played in the National Championship Game. They lost to San Francisco 81-73. That San Francisco Dons team finished the season 29-0 and finished the year with a 55 game win streak. That team was lead by Bill Russell and K.C. Jones.

The Iowa men also played in the 1955 Final Four, losing to La Salle 76-73 and the 1980 Final Four losing to Louisville 80-72. Although it is widely believe that if Ronnie Lester didn’t get hurt in that game, Iowa would have went on to win the National Championship that year.

Drake has played in one Final Four in 1969. Falling to UCLA 85-82. Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) played on that UCLA team. UCLA would go on to blow out Purdue 92-72. Drake would blow out North Carolina in the 3rd Place Game 104-84. It was the closest a Lew Alcindor UCLA team ever came to losing in the NCAA Tournament.

The Iowa State Men’s team has played in one Final Four in 1944. Losing to eventual champion Utah 40-31. Wat Misaka played on that Utah team. He was of Japanese descent and he would go on to be the first non-white player in the NBA. That Utah team also played in the NIT and lost in the quarterfinals to Kentucky. Utah was only invited to the NCAA Tournament because they needed a replacement for Arkansas. Arkansas had to withdraw because a car accident injured two of their starters and killed a third person that was in the car.

The Iowa women’s basketball tournament has made one previous Final Four, in 1993. They lost to Ohio State 73-72 in overtime. Ohio State would lose in the Championship Game to Texas Tech 84-82.

Both Iowa State and Drake’s women’s basketball teams have never made the Final Four. Both have made it as far as the Elite Eight.

The Northern Iowa women have never won an NCAA Tournament game and their men have made it as far as the Sweet Sixteen.

Win or lose tonight, the Iowa women have already made some history. If you want some gambling advice, I would take the 11.5 points.

If you are a fan of basketball at all, I’d encourage you to watch. It is on ESPN and should be entertaining at the least.

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While I’m spitting out this cold knowledge about basketball history, I might as well make good on my pledge to go over the history of girl’s basketball in Boone County and the Girl’s State Tournament.

Boone Toreadors

1958 (6 on 6)
+ Twin Rivers 56 Boone 44
West Central, Maynard won the Championship.

1989 (6 on 6)
+ Boone 59 Saint Ansgar 58
+ Atlantic 78 Boone 63
Ankeny won the Championship.

2017 (4A)
+ Marion 46 Boone 38
North Scott won the Championship.

2018 (4A)
+ Center Point-Urbana 69 Boone 47
Marion won the Championship.

Madrid Tigers

1921 (6 on 6)
+ Madrid 13 Hiteman 7
+ Madrid 18 Mount Ayr 4
+ Madrid 9 Laurens 6
+ Ottumwa 16 Madrid 6
Audubon won the Championship.

Ogden Bulldogs

1972 (6 on 6)
+ Lu Verne 70 Ogden 51
Roland-Story won the Championship.

Grand Bobcats

1960 (6 on 6)
+ Corwith-Wesley 69 Grand 55
Gladbrook won the Championship.

Napier Comets

1947 (6 on 6)
+ Coon Rapids 41 Napier 26
Seymour won the Championship.

1955 (6 on 6)
+ Goldfield 63 Napier 51
Goldfield won the Championship.

It would seem that in the history of girls basketball in Boone County, the schools have combined to win 4 games. 3 of those were in 1921 by Madrid.

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Day 3 in Vegas was the first day of the actual CMC. It was a long work day. I got to the convention before 8 and worked continuously (with the exception of about a 45 minute break) until close to 10 that night.

Before I went to the convention I did take a little bit of a walk near Planet Hollywood and took a few pictures here and there. This collection of pictures are from that walk.

There is more to share from Day 3 of my work trip to Las Vegas to share, including my the Per Diem Update. Which I know you are the edge of your seat to hear about.

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

BLUE

BLUE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a BLUE image? It is simply an image where the subject or a major compositional element of the image is the color BLUE. That is it! Almost too simple!

But this isn’t the first time that BLUE has been a theme for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Here is a look at some submissions from the past to provide you a little bit of inspiration:

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 40

Stephanie Kim – Week 193

Angie DeWaard – Week 193

Logan Kahler – Week 325

Bill Wentworth – Week 325

Hopefully you find some inspiration in look back at the past!

Angie, Art, Cathie, Mary, Music, Night, Photoshop, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa, Travel, WPC - Reminder

Viva Las Vegas: Day 1B

March 17, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I might normally start today with a picture celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day. But I don’t really celebrate. I’ll be working for the man with my nose to the grindstone, swinging my computer mine pick away. If I’m lucky, I might be able to get a Reuben. The West Street Deli has the best Reuben. At least the best that I’ve had.

Anyways, happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all those the celebrate. May your beer be green and your shakes be Shamrock and may you not be stalked and murdered by a leprechaun. If I would have had time I could have done a LEPRECHAUN movie power rankings. I do own a boxed set, on physical media. Cause I’m old.

I did read that Catholics can ask for a special dispensation this year to allow them to eat meat on Saint Patrick’s Day.

From KCCI:

This week, Friday is also St. Patrick’s Day. For some, St. Patrick’s Day is commonly associated with corned beef and other Irish dishes. Therefore, several locations across the country, including the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota, are allowing parishioners to eat meat Friday.

St. Francis of Assisi in West Des Moines says there is no blanket guidance, but parishioners are encouraged to talk to clergy if they would like a dispensation. The priest is evaluating situations on a case-by-case basis.

St. Joseph on the east side of Des Moines says the same.

The Diocese of Des Moines is leaving it up to its local parishes to decide what is best.

“While there will be no general dispensation granted, people are free to approach their pastor or petition Bishop William Joensen for a particular dispensation.”

The Diocese of Sioux City, which covers parts of Central Iowa, says this Friday will be a “typical Friday in Lent.” The diocese says “the faithful are to abstain from eating meat per Bishop Walker Nickless.”

The Archdiocese of Dubuque says Catholics in their Archdiocese are “dispensed from the obligation to abstain from meat on that day.”

Sioux City don’t mess around. I assume the churches that are handling it on a case by case basis are doing the old dispensation for a cash contribution dance. Either way, I find this amusing and would like to sit in on one of these dispensation requests. While eating a Reuben of course.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate.

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Time to share the second collection of images from Day 1 of my trip to Las Vegas for the Computer Mine Convention. There isn’t much more to tell about this day that I didn’t already share last Friday. After walking around a bit, we went back to the hotel and I fell asleep by like 8:30. Which made be feel pretty cool.

Are these the names of bands or of mathlete teams?

I regret not going up in the High Roller, but those pods hold 40 people. That seems excessive.

I had no clue that you could go up inside the Eiffel Tower. Not doing this is maybe my biggest Vegas regret.

This was the only day/night in Vegas where the weather was good. It was cold the rest of the trip. Well Saturday was almost warm and then it rained the entire day too, so that was fun.

Even though the weather was warm, it was still incredibly windy. When I looked to the sky, I thought it was foggy, but turned out the wind had whipped up quite a bit of sand. I found this out when I looked the wrong direction and got an eye full of sand. Fun.

According to my extremely inaccurate Fit app on my phone I took 11,634 steps and walked 5.35 miles on the day.

Still plenty more pictures to share from the Las Vegas work trip.

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

PURPLE

PURPLE! What a great them for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a PURPLE image? Simply put, it is an image where the subject OR a major compositional element of the image is PURPLE. That is it! Couldn’t be simpler than falling off a log. Getting a bruise from falling of the log. Then taking a picture of that bruise.

This isn’t the first time that PURPLE has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Take a look at some past submissions to help inspire your creative juices:

Angie DeWaard – Week 90

Cathie Raley (Morton) – Week 90

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 90

Mary Green – Week 369

Teresa Kahler – Week 369

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Art, Birthdays, Carla, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Music, Nature, Night, Nora, Railroad, Steph, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

Viva Las Vegas: Day 1A

March 10, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I need to start today by wishing Nora a happy birthday, so happy birthday Nora!

I hope your birthday is filled with lots of candy and cake and ice cream! If not, I will buy you so much ice cream next time I see you.

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Time to start sharing the real camera pictures from my work trip to Las Vegas. I took the backup camera to Vegas just cause I’m always leery of traveling on planes with the 1st string camera. Even though the bag never leaves my side. It is probably a mental block that I will never get over. We’ll see what happens next time I walk on a plane. In April.

I took enough pictures on Day 1 in Vegas to split them into to two posts. This is post 1.

Vegas Day 1 started in Boone. I got up and headed for the Des Moines International Airport a little after 9 AM for my 12:15 flight. I’m one of those people that gets to the airport early. Probably cause I don’t fly that much and probably because I get paid to be there early, sorta. That is how I interpret the travel rules.

I knew there was bad weather west of us and the potential that one of our flights could get cancelled. The good news is that they didn’t. The bad news is that a little after getting to the airport, I got the notification that the flight from Des Moines to Denver had been delayed. Which worked in my favor because the Des Moines International Airport is currently under construction right. They have taken away a bunch of the parking in the parking ramp to make room for employees to park. This meant I had to drive by the parking ramp and the Blue Lot and the Green Lot and the Red Lot and the Yellow Lot and the Indigo Lot and the Cyan Lot and the Polka Dot Lot and ended up all the way in the Gray Lot. A lot so far away from the airport terminal I think it might be in Norwalk. Possibly Cumming.

I took a 15 minute shuttle ride to the airport. It took me a minute but I finally located the Southwest check-in counter in the room with all the weird car rental places and checked my luggage. Two things here. First, I wasn’t crazy about flying Southwest. I haven’t flown Southwest since the last time I went to Vegas, which was almost 20 years ago. I haven’t heard good things about Southwest. They say the people on there are animals. But not in the millions of good ways that animals (in this scenario humans are not animals) are easily superior to humans. But in the bad ways where humans compare other humans to animals to make them seem lesser than. Second, I did buy new luggage for this trip. I don’t travel much in the manner that requires luggage, but the two trips I took in 2022 showed me that the luggage I have been using isn’t practical. Merely sentimental. I bought the new luggage off of Amazon because I had a Amazon gift from my computer mine anniversary. I can say, that while the walls of the luggage seem a little thin, so far I am digging the new luggage. I bought red luggage so they would be easy to spot in the baggage claim line and because they were $30 cheaper than more mundane colors. I don’t know why.

After getting through the security line without incident, I found my gate, grabbed a seat and discovered I was the first person there from the Computer Mine. I wasn’t there long before I got another notification that the flight had been delayed again. Now it was going to be over an hour late taking off. I took solace in the fact I had been reassured by the Southwest ticket lady that there were over 30 people transferring from our flight to the connecting flight in Denver to Las Vegas and there was no way that they would leave that many people behind.

While I was comforted by that information, one of the things that concerned me is that Southwest has no assigned seats. You have an assigned position to get into the plane and then once in there, it is every person for themself. I was worried that I would get there late for the connecting flight and lose any chance at getting a good seat. I’d end up in a middle seat. Nobody wants that. Not me. Not the person in the window seat. Not the person in the aisle seat. However, they hadn’t started boarding when we got to the connecting flight and I was able to grab a sweet spot in the emergency exit row!

If you don’t know, that means extra legroom! It is like 1st Class for those of us in steerage! Bingpot!

The flight into Vegas was a little rough because it was so windy. I didn’t get a snack or beverage service. That is how I determine if a flight was rough. By the time we got to the hotel, I was famished. The only sustenance I had knocked down was a bag of snack mix and 6 ounces of 7-Up on the flight from Des Moines to Denver.

We took a shuttle form the airport to Planet Hollywood, our home away from home for the next 5 days. Here is my review of Planet Hollywood:

It is kinda dirty. It is a little rundown. The big selling point is that it has what I would call a glorified mall. There is virtually no Hollywood artifacts or paraphernalia there. But for what we were there for, it worked great. The conference facilities and staff were great! And it is near places that are cool like the Bellagio, Paris, Caesar’s Palace, and The Flamingo.

After getting to my room, which had a breathtaking view of a parking garage, and organizing some stuff and claiming the bed nearest the breathtaking view (my roomie Tony didn’t come in until the next day so I got choice of beds) I connected with Lowell and we went to supper.

We walked down to Caesar’s Palace to look for a buffet, but we actually ended up in the Caesar’s Palace food court where we ate at Bobby’s Burgers. A restaurant that is connected to Bobby Flay. Who is some kind of chef of note, but he isn’t a raging douchebag like Gordon Ramsay, so you might not have heard of him. I’ve only heard of him because Faust used to be big into him back in the day.

I ordered a Bacon Crunchburger (Bacon, American Cheese, Potato Chips, Bobby’s Sauce – yeah not crazy about that name either), French Fries, and a Soft Drink. The price tag came to a little over $30.

THIRTY BUCKS!

I consider the Computer Mine to be generous with their per diems. I know it is set by the government, but I usually come back with a little extra coin jingling and jangling around in my pockets. This is mostly cause I don’t drink alcohol. In fact I was actually mostly off pop before this trip, but I fell of that wagon pretty dang hard in Vegas. I don’t think it is inaccurate to say I went on a regular Pepsi Cola Bender. We are almost 2 weeks out and I’m still weening myself back off the hard stuff.

The per diem I got for this trip was $288. The fact that I had just spent $30 for a food court burger caused me to take a step back. I expected this to be one of the cheapest meals I shoved in my face on this trip to Sin City. I wasn’t sure $288 was going to make it.

Dang!

After Day 1, I had an estimated $258 remaining in the per diem fund.

Maybe eating is overrated…

After the meal we walked around something I would describe as an open air mall that was between The Linq and The Flamingo. This is where I took the majority of the pictures I took on Day 1.

Here is the first collection:

Caesar’s Palace Sportsbook

There are few musicians I like lesson than Jimmy Buffett, but the man can market.

In-N-Out Burger was on Lowell and I’s list. It was the only thing that we crossed off our lists.

I wasn’t expecting there to be so many candy stores in Vegas.

Seeing the actual Vegas sign was on my list. This is the closest I came.

I do regret not going in here a little bit.

Not the Bellagio fountains.

This was so close to being my MUSIC photo for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

I have several more pictures to share from Day 1 that I’ll share at a future date. My best guess is March 17th, while I’m eating a Reuben from West Street Deli.

And nobody better give me any nonsense about letting the Reuben rest for a day and it somehow being better. Got it?

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This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is SUNRISE, SUNSET:

SUNRISE, SUNSET

What is a SUNRISE, SUNSET picture? It is a simply a picture of a SUNRISE or of a SUNSET. I’ve heard some grumbling this is a hard theme. The weather is bad. I go to bed at 6 shortly after eating my early bird special at the nursing home. I don’t like going outside. Whatever. Of course THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is hard sometimes. That is what makes it great. If it was easy everybody would do it.

“Maybe you will just have to get creative.” He muttered while sipping on a cocktail made out of tequila, orange juice and grenadine. Unmixed. In a tall glass. Served on the rocks. Sometimes garnished with a cherry and orange slice.

If getting a little lit doesn’t inspire you, maybe these example submission from when SUNRISE, SUNSET was a theme in days past will:

WEEK 43 - SUNRISE/SUNSET - CARLA STENSLAND 1

Carla Stensland – Week 43

Kim Barker – Week 43

Stephanie Kim – Week 43

Michelle Haupt – Week 43

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 43

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Angie, Bill, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Mary, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Music, Nathanial, Pastor Sarah, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Travel, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 389 – MUSIC

February 27, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

It is the last Monday of the month, so it is a good time revisit the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE FAQ:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE

What skill level photographer can participate?

THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is open to photographers of all skill levels. From award winning photographers to professionals to the highly ranked amateurs to those that are just beginning to those who don’t even know how to focus a camera. All skill levels are encouraged and welcome. You can’t be too bad and you can’t be too good! Everyone has room to learn and be challenged!

Award winning photographers? Really?

Yes. I can think of at least 5 photographers that participate regularly that have won a photography award of some kind.

Is this a competition?
No.

Is there a limit to the number of submissions I can have each week?

Yes. That limit is 3. If you send me more than 3, I will post the first 3 that you send. I’m not trying to harsh your photography buzz, but any more than that start to overwhelm the other submissions and it takes me about 5 minutes to take a picture from my inbox to code it on the website. So I have to manage my workload.

If participation rates climb, that limit of 3 is subject to lower.

Can I send you several pictures and have you pick the best one?

No! No! NO! If those words come out of your mouth or your keyboard, I consider that to be a non-submission.

Do you ever question whether somebody’s submission fits the theme?

Meh. Only if I think somebody is clearly confusing this week’s theme with last week or next week’s theme. Otherwise, if the submission makes sense in your head, that is good enough to me. However, I would urge you to not try to fit your favorite subject into the theme. This isn’t a challenge to share a picture every week of your kid or your business or your pet. It is a challenge to take pictures of different things every week. Which isn’t to say subjects can’t be repeated, but you shouldn’t become reliant on the same ones.

Why can’t I submit after 11 AM on Mondays if the post doesn’t publish until 12:01 PM?

I go to lunch at 11 AM. I leave my office. I’m not near a computer. At 11 AM I hit “Schedule” and then I go throw food down my throat. 167 hours is more than enough time to send a submission. Okay, 166 hours and 59 minutes. You got me.

Are there resolution requirements for submissions?

I won’t turn down submissions that are too small. I will probably ask you for a picture of greater resolution if it is really small. The typical 4 x 6 image posted to my website has a resolution of 1280 pixels x 853 pixels. While a 400 x 300 image might look okay on your phone, it looks like trash on a computer monitor. I prefer images that are at least 1000 pixels at their largest point, but don’t ban smaller pictures at this point.

What format should my submission be?

.JPG but .PNG also works.

If I write a description of my image will you include that in your post?

No. Photography is art that should stand on its own. Only exception is the SLICE OF LIFE theme.

When will you start accepting suggestions for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes?

Suggestions are closed for next year’s list. It will be a minute before they open up for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

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MUSIC! Did you know that there are people in the world that don’t like MUSIC? They are called bad people. But were there a lot of good people out there that submitted picture of MUSIC? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, February 20, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Scott Degeneffe – 1 week
2-Sarah Karber – 1 week
3-Mindi Terrell – 1 week (3)
4-Willy McAlpine – 2 weeks
5-Becky Parmelee – 4 weeks
6-Suzie Brannen – 5 weeks
7-Sabas Hernandez – 5 weeks
8-Jesse Howard – 5 weeks
9-Monica Jennings – 5 weeks
10-Nathanial Brown – 6 weeks (3)
11-Mike Vest – 6 weeks
12-Tamara Peterson – 16 weeks (2)
13-Brandon Kahler – 26 weeks
14-Linda Bennett – 30 weeks
15-Sarah Toot – 31 weeks
16-Angie DeWaard – 35 weeks
17-Dawn Krause – 39 weeks
18-Kim Barker – 44 weeks
19-Joe Duff – 46 weeks
20-Logan Kahler – 47 weeks (3)
21-Teresa Kahler – 57 weeks (2)
22-Carla Stensland – 57 weeks (3)
23-Micky Augustin – 59 weeks
24-Andy Sharp – 60 weeks
25-Bill Wentworth – 61 weeks
26-Cathie Morton – 64 weeks
27-Elizabeth Nordeen – 66 weeks
28-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 67 weeks
29-Kio Dettman – 69 weeks

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 36 weeks

Kim Barker (Nevada) – 45 weeks

Kim Barker (Nevada)

Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 6 weeks

Monica Jennings (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 60 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 61 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa)

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 1 week

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 58 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 40 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Willy McAlpine (Iowa) – 3 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 27 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 62 weeks

Cathie Morton (Nevada) – 65 weeks

Cathie Morton (Nevada)

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 58 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 47 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 31 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 48 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa) – 1 week

Sarah Karber (Minnesota) – 2 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 32 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania)

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 17 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Nevada) – 67 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Nevada)

Christopher D. Bennett (Nevada)

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 7 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa)

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 7 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 68 weeks

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa)

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 6 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 6 weeks

30 participants for the 2nd week in a row! I’m pretty excited about that!

I got an email after the books submission that (this is me paraphrasing) that said that they loved the BOOKS theme because after they saw that books that other people owned they felt an instant kinship with some other people. I thought something like that might happen again with MUSIC. I’m not sure it will, but maybe it will.

This week we had our first submission of the year from Mary Green. At least I think. I wouldn’t swear to it in a court of law.

This week we had submissions taken in the following states:

+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Minnesota
+ Nevada
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

It is weird that my picture and Cathie’s and Elizabeth’s and Kim’s pictures were all taken in Nevada. It is almost like we were all in Las Vegas together for some reason.

This is my first submission taken outside of Iowa this year. My picture was taken 1,441 miles from my front door. By car.

No new states added this week. Here is the current calendar year list:

+ Arkansas
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Minnesota
+ Nebraska
+ Nevada
+ Missouri
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas
+ Wisconsin

The Outside of the United State map stays at:

+ British Virgin Islands

But I think one of these maps might extend next week. A little birdie tells me somebody is going on a cruise at the end of this week.

There were no big milestones this week. Except all 3 Sara(h)s did contribute. Which I always like to see.

It wasn’t all sunshine and face melting guitar riffs this week. Three streaks did go poof! Scott’s streak ended before it even became a streak. Becky’s 4 week streak is gone. Sabas’ 5 week streak is also gone.

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:

STORE

STORE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE?

But what is a STORE image? It is simply an image of a STORE or taken inside of a STORE. There are all kinds of STORE(s) out there. From department to convenience to junk to antique to book to music to grocery to dollar to a little kids lemonade stand. Of course, there is more than one definition of the word STORE.

While considering possible subject for your STORE submission, meditate on the following quote and you will no doubt come up with a great idea:

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge. There is a limit of 3 submissions per participant. To be considered the photographer, you have to be the one that takes the picture. Don’t be stealing the work of other artists. You can submit pictures for other photographers that took pictures with your camera or phone, but give credit where credit is due.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of STORE in this place that is technically a commerce site next Monday.

Angie, Equipment, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Music, Naima, Nature, Pastor Sarah, Shannon, Still Life, Vest, WPC - Reminder

SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports

February 24, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I recently purchase a new lens. The SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS. It filled the most glaring gap in my Sony E Mount lens arsenal. I was badly missing a long telephoto lens. My longest lens before purchasing this was my Tamron 70-180.

Here are the specifications for the latest addition to the family:

LENS CONSTRUCTION: 25 elements in 15 groups
ANGLE OF VIEW: 16.4°-4.1°
NUMBER OF DIAPHRAGM BLADES: 9 (Rounded diaphragm)
MINIMUM APERTURE: F22-29
MINIMUM FOCUSING DISTANCE: 58-280cm / 22.8–110.2in.
MAXIMUM MAGNIFICATION RATIO: 1:2.9　(At a focusing distance of 180mm)
FILTER SIZE: φ95mm

Here are some pictures of the guy:

SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports

Here is a look at the focal length of the lens:

50mm – Equivalent of the human eye

150mm – Shortest focal length of the lens

600mm – Longest focal length of the lens

Here are the first images I took with the new lens:

I look forward to taking this lens out and getting some wildlife images and maybe some sports images at some point in the future!

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

MUSIC

MUSIC! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what exactly is a MUSIC photo? A MUSIC photo is simply a photo where a major compositional element involves MUSIC. It could be something that is used in the production of MUSIC. Like sheet MUSIC or a MUSICal instrument or a MUSICian or an 8 Track. Anything the aids in the producing of MUSIC is fair game. Might be a great weekend to make it to a concert.

This is not the first time the theme MUSIC has been used for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Here are a few past submissions to spark your creative ideas:

Mike Vest – Week 305

Shannon Bardole-Foley – Week 305

Angie DeWaard – Week 237

Monica Henning – Week 237

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 237

Sarah Karber – Week 20

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Automobiles, Baseball/Softball, Basketball, Becca, Black & White, Brandon, Calendar, Christianity, Dad, Flowers, Geri, Gretchen, Holidays, Iowa State, Linda, Logan, Maven, Michelle, Mom, Music, Naima, Night, Photo of the Day, Road Trip, Sara, Self-Portrait, Shawn Lockner, Shorty, Still Life, Teresa, Work

Hello 2023.

January 1, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

It is the first day of 2023. I’m not really a “resolutions” person. Pastor Adam was on vacation today so we had a substitute seromizer in church this morning. He gave an impassioned, longwinded sermon on resolve. It took more than a bit of my resolve to stay awake during the longest sermon these ears have heard in quite sometime.

But if I were to take the words on resolve to heart, I would say that I’m not without goals. Last year my main goal was to complete THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. I did that.

My main goal in 2023 is to complete Phase 2 of THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT and put the book together. I should be freeing up sometime to work on that buy dropping a couple of photo projects that I did in 2022.

My second goal in 2023 is to begin work and complete my new photo project. Details are still foggy, but it is to create Boone postcard. Not a bunch of Boone postcards. Not even to print up a bunch of one Boone postcard. But to make one big image of one Boone postcard. While the end goal is one image, it will involve taking at least several hundred (probably thousand) images. It will make more sense when I get going on it.

My third goal in 2023 is to keep the positive momentum that was achieved in 2022 in participation rates for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I’m not likely to go out and beat the drums looking for participants, but doesn’t mean you guys can’t. Right?

My fourth goal in 2023 is to consider and maybe take action on visiting and photographing every State Park in Iowa.
That seems more straight forward than it actually is because in addition to State Parks there are State Forests and State Preserves and State Recreation Areas. Boone County contains 3 Minor State Forests alone! We will see where this one goes, but we all know I could use the exercise.

I don’t have any goals related to the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. That type of stuff is a considerable amount of luck. So best not to have goals that are out of one’s hands. Maybe my goal should just be to give my best effort.

Hopefully 2023 is a good year for all of us!

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Time to share the December images for the FatMumSlim Photo A Day Challenge. This is also the final collection of images as I will be dropping this pursuit in 2023. It doesn’t take a lot of time, but it still eats up a fair amount of time. Hopefully time freed up that I can use to pursue some of those 2023 goals.

Here are the December images:

December 1 – I Love This!

December 2 – I Bought This!

December 3 – Starts with T

December 4 – I Held This

December 5 – Something Red

December 6 – Peace

December 7 – Tree

December 8 – Looking Up

December 9 – Small

December 10 – Out + About

December 11 – Free Choice

December 12 – Lights

December 13 – Something Green

December 14 – Decoration

December 15 – A Star

December 16 – Candy Cane

December 17 – A Hat

December 18 – I Made This!

December 19 – Joy Is…

December 20 – Begins with S

December 21 – On the Floor

December 22 – A Gift

December 23 – A Tradition

December 24 – Someone I Love

December 25 – My Day

December 26 – This is Delish

December 27 – Colourful

December 28 – A Book

December 29 – Us

December 30 – How I Relax

December 31 – Best Part of 2022

Top 9 Most Popular Images

I did enjoy this project and I’m not walking away from it because I didn’t enjoy it. I “met” numerous other people in this community that I will continue to follow, like @bea.photoaday, @sara.fms.photoaday, @outnbout, @gerkgirl, @pink_koffie, and @lostfate13.

But there were other things I didn’t like. Most people used the challenge to curate images, rather than take new images every day. The person that ran the challenge is Australian. That meant that a lot of the prompts were seasonal for Australia, meaning they weren’t seasonal for Iowa. Prompts repeated an awful lot. Not that they wouldn’t after 365 days, but I felt like they repeated more than necessary.

These minor complaints aside, I would consider doing it again in a future year. Just not this year. I’m sure many of you have minor complaints about how I run THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE as well.

Art, Black & White, Calendar, Christianity, History, Holidays, Music, Road Trip, Still Life, Travel, WPC - Reminder

Fayette & Winneshiek County Aux – Vol. 2

December 24, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Today is Christmas Eve. This year I didn’t share any kind of Advent Candle Devotionals. I think it is just part of Christmas sneaking up on me this year. But I better share one. The one for lighting the Christ Candle tonight.

Advent hope moves us; Advent love leads us; Advent joy stirs us; Advent peace stills us, that we might affirm our King Jesus.

It is time we set flame to this Advent affirmation by lighting the Christ Candle.

We believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judea. He was the long-awaited Messiah whose coming was prophesied. The same Jesus lives today in our hearts. He deserves our highest loyalty and total commitment. In Jesus Christ, our hope is fulfilled; our love is consummated; our joy is complete; and our peace is sealed.

Rejoice, a Savior is born.

A savior is born, indeed. Joy to the world!

Merry Christmas Eve everybody!

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Time to reveal the May image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

May

This image is of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, Florida. It is also an image I knew that I was going to process in black and white. I was in Miami Beach for the computer mine and I happened across the memorial sorta by accident. I knew it existed because Tony had brought it up, but I didn’t actually intend to see it. I was walking around the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens that were unfortunately closed and I walked straight into one of the most unique and powerful pieces of art I have ever seen.

May is my birthday month, so I frequently like to put a picture that I don’t think will have a lot of mass appeal, but that I personally love. It is sort of a gift to myself.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M2
DATE: May 22, 2022 – 6:30 PM
LENS: Tamron 17-28 f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 17mm
APERTURE: f/5
EXPSOURE: 1/80
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +1.0
FIELD OF VIEW: 93.3 degrees

Tomorrow I will reveal the June image of the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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Time to reveal the second collection of images I took while cruising around Fayette and Winneshiek Counties harvesting their town signs.

Waucoma

Fort Atkinson

Spillville

I’ll talk about the Bily Clock Museum in a future post. It a pretty cool museum with one of a kind clocks that only exist in that museum.

Still more to share from this road trip.

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

EXPLORE

REMINDER: Next Monday is the day after Christmas. It isn’t a holiday per se, but most people don’t work. I don’t work at my day job. I might just go on a road trip that day. What I am saying is plan to get your submission in cause you might not get any kind of reminder.
EXPLORE! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is an EXPLORE picture? Simply put it is a picture taken of somebody that is EXPLOR(E)ing or trying to at least. See Billy’s efforts in the theme reveal image. It can be of something you found when you were out on the EXPLORE. Or it could be a picture of things you use when you are out on the EXPLORE. There are so many possibilities!

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Black & White, Calendar, Event, Jay, Jesse, Music, Street Photography, Teresa

World Food Fair Festival

December 23, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to reveal the April image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

April

This image of a statue of Jesus crucified on the cross was taken in a cemetery near Stuble, Iowa. It was an image that when I took it that I knew was going to be processed into a black and white image. I placed in April because Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter are all in April. No deeper meaning than that.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M4
DATE: March 17, 2022 – 2:48 PM
LENS: Sigma 17-28mm f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 19mm
APERTURE: f/3.2
EXPOSURE: 1/800
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +.7
FIELD OF VIEW: 86.9 degrees

Tomorrow I will reveal the May image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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Back in September Teresa, Jesse, Jay and I went to the World Food Festival. It was a great opportunity for one of my favorite type of photography… street photography!

Here are some of my favorite images from the day:

I loved it! Will definitely try to go again next year!

Event, Evie, Jen, Layla, Music, WPC - Reminder

Renaissance Faire – Misc

November 4, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Back in May I met up with Jen, Layla and the twins at the Renaissance Faire down in Des Moines to watch Evie do her Irish dance thing.

Here is a collection of pictures from just walking around the Faire:

There is one more collection of pictures from my day at the Renaissance Faire left to share.

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

DECORATION

DECORATION! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what exactly is a DECORATION photo? A DECORATION image is simply a picture of a DECORATION or a picture where a DECORATION plays a heavy element in the composition.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Automobiles, Iowa State, Logan, Music, Politics, Pufferbilly Days, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

Pufferbilly Days Parade – 2022

October 7, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

This year was the first year I made it to the Pufferbilly Days Parade where I wasn’t in it, since I don’t know when. At least a decade. I decided I better photograph it.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the parade:

There is generally nothing I find more boring than a parade, except for maybe fireworks. But I got enough enjoyment from going. At least from seeing the people I knew that were in it.

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

VIOLET

VIOLET! What a great theme for year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what exactly is a VIOLET photo. It is simply any picture where the color VIOLET (or purple if you will) plays an important part of the composition. It can be a picture of something that is VIOLET. Or it can be surrounded by VIOLET. Heck, you can crack out a VIOLET filter and make everything VIOLET.

Happy photo harvesting!

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE

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RULES

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