Category Archives: Music

Art, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Derrick, Evie, Jen, Layla, Macro, Music, WPC - Alternate

And I Wonder How the World Gon’ Take This; They Might Hate It, But You Don’t Know Anything About Me!

May 15, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The world wasn’t ready for these MUSIC photos on Monday. Not sure the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:

The majority of the pictures were taken at Rieman Music in Ames. If you have any music needs, this is definitely the place to shop. Many of the guitars pictured are Derrick’s creation. He is creating a Jennifer guitar, an Evalyn guitar, and a Layla guitar to the honor the women in his life.

The rest of the pictures were taken at Boone First United Methodist Church.

You’re welcome world.

Andy, Angie, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Kim, Michelle, Music, Pastor Sarah, Photoshop, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 139 – MUSIC

May 14, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

There was a healthy amount of MUSIC submissions for this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. That is, MUSIC to my eyes.

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

Brooke Milligan

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Angie DeWaard
This is the grave of John Keats at the Cimitero Acattolico (Protestant Cemetery) in Testaccio, Rome. Poetry is the music of the soul – and Keats was a master of it.

Andy Sharp

Linda Clark

Sarah Karber

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:

TOY

TOY! What a great theme! But what is a TOY photo? A TOY photo can be any picture that features a TOY. Of course, what a person considers a TOY can wildly vary. Another example of a TOY photo would be a picture taken with a TOY camera or possibly on the TOY setting on a camera.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. 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.

2. 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.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 WEBMASTER

2 out of the last 3 days and 3 times in the last 30, the publishing of the blog has caused the website to crash. I’m currently working on the matter. Hopefully this post didn’t crash the website. This will possibly lead to a new page being added to the website. We will see.

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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 toying Monday!

Alexis, Anders, Commercial, Derrick, History, Monica, Music, Shannon, Sports, Suzie

05-03-08

May 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The images in this blog are from the folder 05-03-08:

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following historical An Artist’s Notebook entry to its original glory:

CARDINAL GYMNASTICS ACADEMY

The pictures of Alexis doing gymnastics was at her gymnastics recital, which is a lot less painful to sit through than a dance recital. Every day of the week and three times on a Sunday.

I don’t believe that those Little White Lye Soap pictures were ever published, but of course, I could be wrong.

Remember you can buy Little White Lye Soap here:

Little White Lye Soap Store

Little White Lye Soap is the only current Christopher D. Bennett endorsed product of any kind on the market. However, I have always meant to formally endorse Franklin Broomworks brooms and this book:

I Cannot, Yet I Must: The True Story of the Best Bad Monster Movie of All Time: Robot Monster

Consider this an endorsement, but not a formal endorsement of both. When I get back to the formal endorsement game, I will formally endorse both.

Next time we take a walk down the lane of memories it will involve worms, flowers, painting, and old cohorts from my time with the Evil Clown Empire.

Art, Christianity, Music, Photoshop, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE REMINDER – MUSIC

May 11, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

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

MUSIC

A MUSIC photo is any photo that is related to MUSIC. From live MUSIC to recorded MUSIC to sheet MUSIC to toy MUSIC to MUSICal instruments. Anything that relates to the creation and/or playing of MUSIC. Good or bad MUSIC. Doesn’t matter.

Happy photo harvesting!

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This isn’t related to anything, but I wanted to put a quote here that I used as part of a Youth Group lesson on the Secular World vs. the Sacred World on Wednesday:

“One of the great hindrances to the development of biblically informed mainstream art has been the perception that Christians should make Christian Art. And that Christian Art is always explicitly religious. Understood this way, Christian Art is not distinguished by a regenerated outlook on the whole of life, but on a narrow focus on Bible stories, saints, martyrs, and individual’s relationship with God. Christian Art in this sense is either and aid to worship or a means to evangelism.”

It comes from a book called Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts. I haven’t read this book yet, but I’ll be getting to it soon enough.

Here is another quote from the book I cam across:

“A corollary of this has been that Christians have thought that they should only create art with a Pollyanna quality to it: paintings of birds and kittens, movies that extol family life and end happily, songs that are positive and uplifting – in short, works of art that show a world that is almost unfallen where no one experiences conflict and where sin is naughty rather than wicked.”

Remember that Photography 139 is a Christian “business”. It believes in creating works of art that glorify God. This stuff will get dropped on you from time to time.

Animals, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Music, Street Photography, WPC - Alternate

Something They Told Me That I Won’t Make It, I’m Not Famous, I’m Just Bennett

May 8, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The world wasn’t ready for these CITY pictures to be revealed on Monday. I’m not sure the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:

I had big plans of making it down to Des Moines this weekend, but Logan’s graduation ceremony last about 7 hours. 5 hours and 30 minutes of that were trying to get out of the parking lot. Sunday, I decided to mow and then went to a concert at Boone First United Methodist Church. It was a guitar/violin duo named Lyra. They were worth the effort.

All of my CITY pictures were taken in the seedy back alley pictures of Boone.

You’re welcome world!

Art, Christianity, Dad, History, Jesse, Mom, Music, Russell, Travel

Graceland

April 29, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Time to hit up the back log. These pictures are from Russell, Jesse, and I’s trip to Memphis to watch Iowa State stomp the Memphis Tigers in the Liberty Bowl.

I am a fan of Elvis. I get that from my Mom. From her I grew up listening to Elvis and Kenny Rogers. I love them both. I never quite inherited her love of The Beach Boys, but I do also enjoy them. From my Dad I got my love of old country. Johnny Paycheck and Tom T. Hall in particular. If you don’t love Tom T. Hall, you’re doing something wrong.

Before we left for Memphis I had done some research on places to visit. Graceland was number two on my list behind Beale Street. My research showed that an actual tour of Graceland can take over 3 hours. While I was willing to spend the small fortune it costs to tour Graceland, we just didn’t have that time.

However, I read that they open up the grounds of Graceland from 7:30 – 8:30 for people to pay their respects to Elvis’ grave, for free.

I convinced Jesse to wake up early and check this out with me. Russell wasn’t buying waking up early on his vacation. He stayed at his hotel.

Here are pictures from Graceland:

When I was trying to figure out where in the back log to hit up, I was considering the trip to Mount Rushmore, March for Our Lives, or the flowers of Donna Jones. However, recently HBO has been playing a 4 hour documentary on Elvis called ELVIS PRESLEY: THE SEARCHER. I knew it was time to reveal my photos from Graceland

If you are a fan of Elvis, music, or history and have access to HBO or HBO GO, I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve learned quite a bit about Elvis and his musical influence. I think it is unfortunate that because of the way he dressed, the antics, the way he died, and the horrible movies, I think sometimes it gets lost what an extremely talented musician he was. Also, what a completely unique voice he had as an artist. I don’t mean that in the way that his physical voice was unique. I mean the way he expressed himself as an artist.

Can you imagine an artist in modern times that would record entire gospel albums at the height of this popularity? Some Christian artists will crossover, but they certainly never come back. I don’t know of an artist in modern times that could weave so many musical influences in to their own unique sound.

Could you imagine going to a modern rock concert and then BOOM! here is one from the hymnals!

Elvis Presley is the only royalty that I will ever recognize!

Any other Elvis fans out there? Let me know what your favorite Elvis song is in the comments section of this here blog!

I’ve decided when I start working on the party soundtrack for my birthday party in 2019, there will be a full hour of Elvis music.

Animals, Black & White, Commercial, Derrick, Eric, Flowers, History, Monica, Music, Nature, Russell, Suzie

04-10-08

April 7, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The following pictures were found in the folder 04-10-08:

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following blog entries to their original glory:

NEW TOY
T NIGHT
FOGGY

Sometimes when I come across old photos I think twice before posting them. So much time has passed this the events of this nights. Marriages have come and gone. Friendships have faded. Some friendships have ended. That can make looking at these old photos awkward to look at. But what really makes these photos awkward is there is photographic evidence of me playing a video game as an adult.

I admit, not much of an adult, but still too long in the tooth to claim adolescence. I believe this may have been the last time I played a video game. Might be the last time I ever play a video game. Time will be the final judge on that, as always.

The photos that you might consider “blurry” were taken with a Lens Baby. It is a push-pull-bend lens. Lots of fun, even though I freely confess, most people don’t appreciate the images they create.

Next Saturdays walk down memory lane will involve Good Friday and a tradition that I am happy that my church has retired.

Animals, Boone FUMC, Christianity, Mom, Music, Naima, WPC - Alternate

Father Forgive Me, For I Am A Sinner; But You Gave Me Photography As Medicine

March 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The world wasn’t ready for these JOY pictures on Monday. I’m not sure the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:

The pictures of Naima or not processed in Photoshop. That is an in-camera special effect. The dog I’m eating is a world famous Bob’s Dog.

You’re welcome world.

Alexis, Basketball, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Carla, Christianity, Elainie, Event, History, Holidays, Jason, Jaycees, Johnathan, Mom, Music, Shannon, Teresa

03-25-08

March 17, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

These are the pictures from the folder 03-25-08:

By restoring these photos to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following classic blog entries to their former glory:

MY HAPPY EASTER
THURSDAY NIGHT WITH KOUNTERTOP (PT.1)
A NEW GIG
RELAY FOR LIFE

The picture of me dunking is not a photo trick or a lowered hoop, I’m sure.

I’m not quite sure why I took the religious photos. But I like them.

The Easter photos are interesting because this year we won’t be celebrating Easter on Easter for the first time that I can ever remember. Mom is heading to Virginia with her favorite child that weekend. I might have my own private Air Fryer Easter that day.

The pictures of Shannon are from when she started at United Way. She needed a head shot for some kind of press release or newsletter or to hang in the company bathroom. I’m not really sure. However, I am 100% sure that Shannon will continue to work at The United Way for the foreseeable future. She will probably retire from there.

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve snow.

Black & White, Jay, Music, Nature, Road Trip, Willy

Stupid Fleet Foot

February 23, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Hitting up the backlog again. Here are a few more pictures from the Caves Road Trip. These are from Wapsipinicon State Park:

These aren’t the caves we headed out to see, but we still hit them hard. Nothing like Bonus Cave Action.

There is a legend about how the Wapsipinicon River got is name. It goes a little something like this (according to the Buchanan County Historical Society):

A beautiful Indian maiden named Wapsi who once lived in a village near present-day Quasqueton. In a neighboring village lived Pinicon, son of an Indian chief and the ardent lover of the gentle Wapsi. On the eve of their wedding day, the two lovers were canoeing near Wapsi’s village when the jealous Fleet Foot, a former suitor of the Indian girl, drove an arrow into Pinicon’s heart. As wapsi sprang to the aid of Pinicon the canoe overturned and the two lovers sank beneath the water of the swiftly flowing river. In commemoration of this tragic event the sorrowing Indians combined the names of the two lovers and called the stream Wapsipinicon.

While it is a great story and reminds one of the story of the Swinging Bridge in Columbus Junction. Unfortunately, it probably isn’t true. The Wapsipinicon is most likely named for the wild artichokes that grow on its banks.

While artichokes aren’t romantic, even though there is such a thing as artichoke hearts, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Brandi Carlile’s new album came out last Friday:

A love song was playing on the radio
It made me kind of sad because it made me think of you
And I wonder how you’re doing but I wish I didn’t care
Because I gave you all I had and got the worst of you

If you haven’t picked it up, you aren’t doing the way you listen to music right.