Category Archives: Animals

Animals, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Photo Journal, Photoshop, Shannon, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 115

July 27, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Here is your reminder that you should get up on your FEET and take your WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE PHOTO, the theme this week is FEET:

FEET!

A reminder that a FEET picture is any photo that involves FEET!

Happy photo harvesting!

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A few weeks back I got together with Shannon for supper. We dined at Downtown Deli and I regaled her with stories about the mission trip. After dinner, we went out and tried to tackle another page from THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. We started on one page, but in the end, we ended up on Page 115:

Page 115 – Combine two images to create something surreal.

Longtime fans of mine know that I’m about creating something surreal. This exercise was right up my alley!

We took a few other pictures and while only one can be adhered into the physical copy of THE PHOTO JOURNAL, I should share a few of the others that were under consideration:

Next time we check in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will check in with Page 96.

Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Boone County Fair, Candid Portrait, Contests, Derrick, Macro, Mom, Nature, Scottie D., Shorty, Travel

Boone County Fair 2018 Results

July 25, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

I was involved in 2 contests at the Boone County Fair this year. Now that the fair is in the past and I’ve had adequate time for reflection, I think it is a good time to share the results from the contests I entered.

First, the Open Class Photography Contest. You may recall that I had people vote to decide what pictures I entered. These are the five that were voted in and what they received:

Blue Ribbon

Purple Ribbon

Red Ribbon

Purple is the best. Red is the second worst, I guess. You can also get a white ribbon. I figured the reflection picture would resonate well with the Boone County Fair “judges”, because there is no obvious photographic technique. The subject is debatable. It doesn’t follow any rules for composition. To some degree, it is hard to tell what is in focus. It is a terrible photo contest photo. But it is a cool looking photo. You could print that up (perhaps on metal) and put that on your wall.

I reiterate, that I don’t enter photo contest to win ribbons. I just like to have pictures be seen. Whatever prize comes or doesn’t come, so be it.

I will run a similar program to pick out the pictures to be entered in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. It will be slightly different because people struggled to figure out how to use the website, so I will try to make it as not tech savvy as I can. None of these pictures, nor the pictures from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon will be eligible to be in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

That is my rule, not theirs. I never enter a photo in more than one photo contest. I will be bagging these photos up and be putting them in the Photo Contest trunk in the next couple of days. The trunk is running low on space, so I will be needing to upgrade or get another trunk in the near future.

Look for your chance to vote at the beginning of August.

The other contest I entered during the Boone County Fair was the Farm Bureau Cookoff. Technically Scottie D.’s name is the name on the entry, but this was a Baby Got Rack entry. Although, let us face it. Scott is the talent of Baby Got Rack.

There was a bit of confusion with the contest as the rules had changed quite a bit from previous years and also, were not well written. At our team meeting on the Thursday before the competition, there was much discussion about not even entering the contest.

According to the new rules, set up was at 1 PM and judging was at 4 PM. That is not enough time to smoke a piece of meat. It takes a minimum of 1 hour to get the fire going and the air circulation to where you want it. Then the quickest meat to smoke is pork loin. It needs to smoke for 2 hours. 1 hour 45 minutes at the least. Then it needs to rest for at least half an hour, otherwise all the juices will be lost when you cut into it.

There just isn’t time!

We thought about just showing up and winging it. We had once made a Chili Cheese Dog Pizza on a whim. It was delectable. It was delicious. We have never made it since.

On Friday, Scott talked to the people running the contest and they told him that we were allowed to show up and set up at 8 AM. That is enough time to do a rack of ribs right.

The other major change was the limitation of only being able to enter 2 categories.

At the Thursday meeting we must have went around in circles for hours about what 2 categories to enter. When the 1 PM rule disappeared, the answer became clear:

+Combination
+Pork

Here are a few pictures from Baby Got Rack’s day at the Boone County Fair:

Photo Cred: Dawn Krause

We took 1st Place in Combination.
We took 2nd Place in Pork.

That means that we will be going to the Iowa State Fair to compete on Tuesday, August 14th. If you are at the Fair that day, I would encourage you to come by and root us on. Judging will be at 10 AM.

After that, your next chance to try Baby Got Rack Barbecue will be at Pufferbilly Days. After that, you will have to wait until my birthday. Incidentally, the theme of my 2019 birthday party is going to be cargo shorts. It was going to be cargo shorts and jorts, but I have been told that jorts are considered stylish now. I don’t believe it, but I can’t take the risk!

Andy, Animals, Becky, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Macro, Michelle, Night, Photoshop, Tamara, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 149 – NIGHT

July 23, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I think NIGHT can be one of the tougher themes, but we still had plenty of submissions!

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

So without further adieu, I present the NIGHT photos:

Andy Sharp

Becky Parmelee

Cathie Raley

Christopher D. Bennett

Carla Stensland

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Mike Vest

Tamara Peterson

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:

FEET!

FEET! What a great theme! But what is a FEET picture, you might ask? A FEET picture is any picture that involves FEET. Most people have FEET! And did you know that humans aren’t the only animals with FEET. Many other animals have FEET as well. Even tables have FEET.

As always, feel free to define FEET any way you see fit. I look forward to seeing all the 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 WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE THEME DIVISION

At this point, there is only a handful of week’s left in this 52 week run of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. If you wish to make suggestions for the next set of 52 themes, you should leave them n the Comments section of this here blog.

So far Andy has provided many solid suggestions:

Desert/dessert”the ice cream one”
Your vehicle
Family
Your pet(cats excluded)
Favorite color
Chris’s beard look alike
Pet peeves
Favorite wall of your house/inside or out
Pizza
Sporting event(ANF vs Actually Helping Farmers, for example)
Footwear
Halloween costume
Hat/headwear
Hair
Breakfast
Screenshot
License plate close or farthest away on flat earth
Favorite restaurant
Good deed
Water
Sunrise
Sunset
Samwich”southern pronounceiation”/sandwich
Music”the type baptists appose
Outhouse/old town sign

Now obviously, nobody could match my beard, so that one in an obvious non-starter, but I bet you’ll see a few of those make their way into the next set of 52.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 COMMENTS AVATAR DIVISION

Congratulations to Dawn for becoming the latest person to earn a Photography 139 Comments Avatar. Every time that Dawn comments on “An Artist’s Notebook”, she now has a customized avatar that will show up next to her commentary.

Would you like a spiffy Photography 139 comment avatar? All you have to do is leave some form of commentary in the Comments section of a blog entry and I will make you one. Guaranteed!

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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 footed Monday.

Andy, Animals, Photo Journal, Underwater, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 38

July 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This is your reminder that this week’s theme for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is NIGHT:

NIGHT!

A NIGHT photograph is literally any photo taken at NIGHT.

Happy photo harvesting!

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Back on Memorial Day I headed over to the Sharp residence to take a picture for Page 38 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 38 – Take a picture that only works in color.

Andy was a great assistant on this project. Not just because we used his dog and his pool. Although obviously his pool and his dog were very important to this project.

Only 1 picture can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL. However I took many more pictures during this session. Here are some of the others:

I do need to pick up the pace on THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT so I can move on to something else. Next time we visit THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will check-in with Page 115.

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!

Andy, Animals, Birthdays, Boone FUMC, Macro, Mom, Naima, Willy, Youth Group

Happy Birthday Naima!!

July 9, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Naima turned 7 today!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of her over the years:

I hope Naima had a happy birthday! We will do some of her favorite things any way. Sleeping. Going to the park. Eating.

Animals, Black & White, Mom, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

In 10 Minutes, I Still Couldn’t Explain What’s Inside my Brain, Don’t Mess with It!

July 6, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is HANDS.

HANDS!

A HANDS photo is any photo that involves HANDS. I would say that everybody has HANDS, but everybody doesn’t. However, I can bet that everybody knows somebody that has HANDS. This project is easy peasy.

Happy photo harvesting!

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

Not many, but I’m trying to step back from taking so many WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE photos.

It should be pointed out that there is about 2 months left is this 52 week run of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. As of right now, there seems to be enough enthusiasm and participation to continue for another 52 week run. If you have any suggestions for the next 52 themes, make them in the Comments section of this here blog.

You’re welcome world!

Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Contests, Flowers, Football, Holidays, Iowa State, Kio, Linda, Macro, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nature, Pastor Sarah, Photoshop, Shannon, Teresa, Travel, Vest

Freedom and Flowers

July 4, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?
-Oscar Wilde

Before we get into the meat of today’s blog, we need to start with…

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you had an continue to have an enjoyable 4th of July!

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Time to hit up the back log and publish more pictures from Donna Jones’s flower bed!

There are more of Donna Jones’ flowers in the hopper. For those of you that are fans of “flower porn” as Micky likes to call it.

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The votes have been tabulated and these are the photos that I will be entering in the Boone County Fair:

Technically there was a frog picture that got more votes than the picture of Shorty, but I’m not going a photo contest without entering a black & white image.

Thanks to the people that voted: Sarah Karber, Michelle, Micky, Vest, Mom, Teresa, Shannon, Kio, Aunt Linda, Jordan, Andy, and all of the fellow SmugMuggers that voted.

If you want to see the photos in the flesh (so to speak) they will be on display at the Community Building at the Boone County Fairgrounds. on July 21 and 22.

Baby Got Rack will also probably be competing on July 21. So mark your calendar!

We will do something similar when it comes to the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.