Category Archives: Animals

Alexis, Animals, Black & White, Brandon, Candid Portrait, Carla, Holidays, Jason, Logan, Mom, Photoshop, Russ, Teresa

Vacation Day 9B – Mother’s Day Early

May 18, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I broke Day 9 into two post because of the large amount of pictures, if you recall. You are about to see the rest of those pictures.

After all the flowers were planted, we all went our separate ways to wash up. Then the family reunited at the Stensland home to celebrate Mother’s Day a week early since Teresa was going to be in the Bluegrass State for Mother’s Day.

Here are some pictures of the celebration:

I know… I overuse this technique…

At this point, Alexis wanted to take some pictures, so I let her take some pictures.

Then Alexis gave me the camera back to take a few pictures of her hamsters.

The celebration concluded a pretty special week. I think I might be ready for vacation again though.

Animals, Black & White, Blogging, FNSC, Jen, Jill, Macro, Movies, Nature, Road Trip, Vacation, Willy, Work

Vacation Day 7 – Couch Time

May 11, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

When I originally was planning my vacation I had set aside this day to make a road trip. I didn’t know where I wanted to go for sure, but I knew that a trip to Wilton and their old timey ice cream parlor was definitely on the list.

I had spent some time with a fellow computer miner and member of the Broken Furnace Support Group Micky in discussing places near Wilton. I had given some thought to visiting a mint shop in Deep River. A really big frying pan in Brandon. I was also thinking about visiting Muscatine to see the Button Factory Museum and the Button Factory Restaurant that was highly endorsed by Micky.

However, after spending an extra day in Minnesota and driving close to 800 miles in those 3 days, plus spending only about 30 minutes of waking time at home on Thursday I decided to just become reacquainted with my buddy the Clockwork Couch.

I vowed not to leave my house until Friday Night Supper Club.

For the most part, I made good on my vow. I sat on my couch and caught up An Artist’s Notebook. I sent Jen a text message wishing her a “Happy Ultrasound Day”. I texted Jill some frog pictures from a Personal Photo Project that will get published in about 3 weeks.

But mostly I tried to reduce myself to a vegetative state while watching movies. It must have worked, because the only movie I can remember watching for sure is Unforgiven. I realize now that I should have made it a western day. Backing it up with The Ox-Bow Incident, Once Upon a Time in the West and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

However, I was only able to sit and do nothing for so long. So I contacted Mercury AKA The Salmon AKA The Dance Machine AKA The Ex-Lone Wolf AKA Willy to see if I could photograph him running.

A deal was brokered and I followed him around McHose Park (in a car) while he ran. I will publish those pictures in 5 weeks, but I will publish some of the other pictures I got while hanging around the best city park in the state.

You should be warned that one of these pictures is brutally frank in its portrayal of the biological function of sex. I suppose that it could be described as pornographic.

Ye be warned!

After our trip to McHose I went home and cleaned up for FNSC. While I was getting ready I got a text from Jen.

“Happy ultra sound day! Everything looks perfect! Don’t know if it is a boy or a girl… It’ll be a surprise.”

That was awesome news!

With news like that it was time to go and cap off a pretty lazy day with a great FNSC.

Animals, Black & White, Carla, Dawn, Jay, Jen, Julie, Macro, Night, Railroad, Shannon, Still Life, Vest, Weddings, WPC - Submissions

RWPE #18 – Wild

May 10, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Here are the submissions for last week’s theme – WILD:

IMAGE LOST
Dawn Krause A

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Dawn Krause B

Michael Vest of Waxen Media

Christopher D. Bennett

IMAGE LOST
Carla Stensland

IMAGE LOST
Julie Johnson of The Joy is in the Journey

There were a couple of late submissions for FEET. They can be seen on the FEET post:

FEET

The Random Theme Generator has been generating and this morning it spit out the following theme:

LEADING LINES

The best definition of LEADING LINES is a photo with very strong lines in the composition that lead the viewers eyes through the photograph. A simple example would be almost any picture of railroad tracks or of a highway. A viewer will naturally follow lines through a photography, so it is a powerful compositional tool to put your subject at the end of lines.

Below are a couple of examples of LEADING LINES:

2009 - Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominee

Remember, the lines don’t have to be straight. An “S” Curve in an image is a very powerful compositional tool. Of course, as always, no reason to be too literal with the theme.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Flowers, Iowa State, Macro, Nader, Nature, Shannon, Vacation, Willy

Vacation Day 6 – Campus

May 8, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I don’t recall if I woke up in my own bed or on my own couch on Thursday morning, but I definitely slept good and solid after getting home close to midnight the previous night. I think that I was able to fall asleep rather quickly after the 3.5 hour Funyun and Grape Faygo fueled drive.

I met Shannon for lunch at Battle’s. She explained to me her current sources of stress. I explained to her the Christopher D. Bennett Apathy Method of Stress Management. Although she possesses the intellect to grasp the basic tenets of the system, I have my doubts that she will give up her stress to the brilliance of my system.

After Shannon returned to work I picked Nader up from the west Ames location of the Evil Clown Empire. Since VEISHEA we had discussed spending part of a day on the beautiful Iowa State campus taking pictures. I had one spot in mind in particular to complete a Personal Photo Project, but those pictures will have to wait until it is their turn to be revealed to the world.

However, here is quite a sizable collection of other pictures that I took on that day:

Nader by one of his favorite trees.

Nader next to his favorite picture.

After the time on the ISU campus we hit a movie and had dinner. It was a perfectly acceptable way to conclude the month of the Lone Wolf Off. I have yet to submit the panel to the 3 judges, but I have no doubt that I won this baby with ease! I think Willy has even conceded and fully endorsed the fact that he is The Salmon!

Animals, Mom, Night, Sara, Vacation

Vacation Day 1 – The Birds

April 28, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

“I have never known birds of different species to flock together. The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldn’t stand a chance! How could we possibly hope to fight them? ”
– The Birds

I spent a good portion of my first day of vacation working on a couple of different photo projects, but I also had time to head over to Teresa’s house to take pictures of the nest that a robin has built on the wreath on her front door.

Part of my day took me to Ledges where I startled a turkey vulture. I got this shot of it flying away.

I also photographed the two nests that are in my backyard and the nest that is on my neighbor’s house near my driveway.

Grackle Nest

Pigeon Nest

Robin Nest

Later in the day I went to Pella with my Mom. After a brief rainy stop in their town square to photograph their tulips we went to Des Moines for supper.

We ate at Smitty’s Tenderloin Shop. Their tenderloin was a little bit disappointing. It didn’t quite live up to the hype, but it was still pretty good.

When I get to Vacation Day 5, what I’m about to write will sound hypocritical, but hopefully your memory won’t last that long.

The people that were sitting in the booth next to ours were extremely snotty to the waittress. They also spent sometime mocking the fact that the restaurant was featured in Gourmet magazine.

They were the type of annoying customer that caused us to leave a larger than ordinary tip because I got the sense that the snotty people were going to stiff the waittress.

After supper we met up with Sara and hit up Snookie’s for the first time this year.

It was a pretty wonderful Day 1 of vacation.

Animals, Iowa State

Wilder

April 20, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

“The best thing about animals is that they don’t talk much.”
-Thornton Wilder

A couple weeks back we had a couple turkey hens hanging around the computer mine. It inspired me to go to Lake Laverne on one of my lunch breaks to take a few animal images. After all, it has been way too long since I visited the animal kingdom.

I’m definitely going to have to spend time at some parks on my vacation next week.

Animals, Black & White, Dawn, Derrick, Faust, Formal Portrait, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Jill, Movies, Music, Sara, Willy

The Story

April 1, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

“You see the smile that’s on my mouth
It’s hiding the words that don’t come out
And all of my friends who think that I’m blessed
They don’t know my head is a mess.

No, they don’t know who I really am
And they don’t know what I’ve been through
like you do.”

-Brandi Carlile (The Story)

Most people know that I am a loner. I keep to myself mostly. Most nights I can be found sitting home alone working on my studies or my projects or watching my shows.

A couple of years ago Jay decided to give one of his friends the nickname “Lone Wolf”. I was quite shocked when this nickname did not come my way. Instead it was given to the social butterfly and vice-mayor William McAlpine.

I knew this was a dreaded mistake. If there was a member of the animal kingdom that best described Willy’s social agenda it was clearly the salmon. Chinook, steelhead, pink or sockeye. I’m not sure which one, but he is definitely a salmon.

However, I made peace with the slight because I don’t have a particular affinity for nicknames.

Then it happened. Jay came to his senses and stripped Willy of the nickname that he did not deserve and placed it squarely on my shoulders. The true loner.

Jay made me a mask and we had a small ceremony where the title was rightfully transferred to me.

I AM LONE WOLF!

However, something hasn’t sat right with me in the few weeks since I became Lone Wolf. I don’t doubt that I am the Lone Wolf. A quick perusal of my social calendar shows that I do little more than go to work and come home and sit on my couch, alone.

I don’t get many emails. I don’t write many emails. I don’t get many calls. I don’t make many calls. I don’t get many texts. I don’t send many texts.

I have 289 Facebook Friends. Not a single one of them can tell you my favorite color, my favorite movie, my favorite show or my favorite musician.

With apologies to Travis Bickle, “Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There’s no escape. I’m God’s lonely man…”

I’ve learned to embrace this loneliness. In fact, Jill introduced me to a movie called World’s Greatest Dad. The core message of the movie is summed up near the end with the following voice over:

“I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is ending up with people who make you feel all alone.”

That is my philosophy. Or I should say, that is the philosophy of The Lone Wolf.

But even though I know without the foggiest doubt that I am the true Lone Wolf, it didn’t feel right. Jay unilaterally stripping Willy of his moniker and giving it away. That is a lot of power for one man to possess.

Therefore I am giving Willy a chance to win back his nickname. I have challenged the vice-mayor, the social butterfly, the salmon to a Lone-Wolf-Off!

The month of April will be a Lone-Wolf-Off between the true Lone Wolf and the Salmon. Winner gets the name! (But I keep the sweet mask either way!)

What is a Lone-Wolf-Off? For the entire month of April we will be tracking our social engagements. At the end of the month, an impartial panel (consisting of Jesse, Dawn and Faust) will determine who is the true Lone Wolf.

Therefore, I should point out that for the next 30 days, don’t be distressed if you don’t see me, if I don’t return your emails, phone calls or texts. I’m in full Lone Wolf mode. I will most likely return your correspondence on May 1 when I am celebrating International Worker’s Day!

Although I should point out that at some point in April many of you will be getting an invitation to my birthday barbecue in the mail. It is a well known fact that lone wolves like meat cooked over a fire and the antiquated feeling of using the United State Postal Service.

Last night I went to see Chloe and have dinner with Sara. Since it was my last social engagement for the next 30 days, we took a few pictures to celebrate my Lone Wolfness.

The Lone Wolf is a savage beast.

Insane Enough

But the Lone Wolf also knows how to keep it laid back.

The Lone Wolf – confident, but not cocky.

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwl!!

On a sidenote, since this seems to be the year of nickname stripping, I also think that Willy is also in extreme danger of losing the nickname The Dance Machine.
Jen and Jill can assuredly attest to the following statement:
On Sunday, Derrick set my living room carpet on fire with the dance moves he busted off to the Norah Jones compact disc that was playing on my home stereo.

I would propose a Dance Machine Off between these two gents, but I think we all know that Willy doesn’t really dance. He just likes to pretend that he does.

Animals, Dawn, Macro, Shannon, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Writing

RWPE #12 – Signs

March 29, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

The submissions for last week were a little bit slim, but I think there are some good submissions in there:

IMAGE LOST
Dawn Krause

Michael Vest

Christopher D. Bennett

Dawn’s Poem

Signs

Follow the signs of your heart
They tell me that way’s better
Tissues falling to the floor
It seems the way that’s wetter

Follow the signs of your Lord
And forever walk in grace
I followed true and faithful
The devil stepped up his pace

Follow the signs of your soul
Peace in your days will follow
Wary the dangers lie below
Try not to think too shallow

Follow the signs of your pulse
Trust you won’t break asunder
Rainbows fade to pouring rain
Leading to days of thunder

Follow them all not on their own
To glorious days ahead
Trust the signs calling to you
Allow yourself to be led

Almost all of the RWPE themes can be done with an el cheapo camera or a camera phone. There is no reason why a person couldn’t think creatively and come up with a way to get around this week’s borderline techinical theme, but I should at least explain what this week’s theme means, technically.

This week’s theme is:

MACRO

What is macro photography?

To quote Wikipedia:

“The classical definition is that the image projected on the “film plane” is close to the same size as the subject. On 35 mm film, the lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area approaching the size of the film frame. Most 35mm format macro lenses achieve at least 1:2, that is to say, the image on the film is 1/2 the size of the object being photographed. Many 35mm macro lenses are 1:1, meaning the image of the film is the same size as the object being photographed.
In recent years, the term macro has been used in marketing material to mean being able to focus on a subject close enough so that when a regular 6×4 inch print is made, the image is life-size or larger. With 35mm film this requires a magnification rtion of approximately 1:4, which demands a lower lens quality than 1:1. With digital cameras the actual image size is rarely stated, so that the magnifcation ration is largely irrelevant; cameras instead advertise their closest focusting distance.”

The best way to think of the technical way to look at this project is that macro photography is close up photography of something that is small.

Here is an example:

Of course as always, feel free to interpret macro any way that you want.

Animals, Derrick, Personal Photo Project, Photoshop

Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 3

February 5, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Before I delve into this week’s PPPW, I want to pass along some sad (not real sad) and fairly technical news.

The way I have always posted entries into this journal is through a blogging company known as Blogger. It is an awesome program and it allows me to write blogs on their website and publish them to my website via FTP.

Blogger is discontinuing their support for FTP publishing in about a month. That means that I am parting ways with Blogger at the end of February.

There are some positives to this change:

Now my Journal will have a consistent look and feel to it.
The blogging software I’m changing to (WordPress) is the same software I use to create, design and maintain my website. It does have a couple of features that Blogger does not.

There are some negatives to this change:

The URL of “An Artist’s Notebook” will change from: http://www.photography139.com/index_files/artistsnotebook.htm to http://www.photography139.com/notebook/. That means that those of you that have links or bookmarks to the blog will have to update them to the new URL. Also, if you follow this blog via RSS Feed, you will have to update your RSS feed. I’m currently double posting, so it won’t hurt to change those links and bookmarks before I stop posting via Blogger on March 1.
Some people follow me via Blogger Dashboard. Those people will stop getting updates on March 1. If this is troubling to you and you aren’t comfortable with RSS Feeds, you can email me at bennett@photography139.com and I will add you to the email subscription list.
There are only a few people that actually leave comments on my blog, but I do treasure those comments. (This is in addition to the people that email me directly, I treasure those emails as well.) Most of those people follow via Blogger Dashboard. It is my hope that they continue to leave comments on the blog in its newest incarnation, but know that this will take an extra step for them.
Because the email subscription list will be distributed in a new way, it is possible that there will be hiccups along the way. I am in the process of “beta testing” this knew system, but it is possible that something could slip by the testing process. If you suddenly stop getting emails from me on March 1, then something bad has happened. Let me know and I’ll look into the issue.
Perhaps the most annoying for my readers, I will be posting a reminder similar to this on the top of every journal entry I publish between now and March 1.

Enough housekeeping! Here is Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 3:

Open Mic Night

The sad part about this story is that this fish has already died. As Dennis so eloquently put it: “He lived on the stage. He died on the stage.”

I did not kill this fish. Nor did I kill the second unpictured fish that I got for free because the Wal-Mart lady fished out two fish on accident and was too lazy to return the other fish to the aquarium.

They both died of completely natural causes, I believe that natural cause of death to have been “fish bought from Wal-Mart”. Despite my best efforts to keep them alive, I fed them every now and again, they perished… from this Earth.

So let me share a couple of pictures from their brief existence.

I need to thank my favorite rock star, Derrick Gorshe for loaning me the mic and mic stand. I printed out a temporary copy of this picture that Derrick requested so he could hang it up at Rieman Music. If you don’t count Shannon’s apartment as the worldwide headquarters of Little White Lye Soap or Jesse’s office at work, this is only the 2nd business to proudly display a Photography 139 image on one of its walls.

The first business was Salon 908.

I do know that the Photography 139 Calendar has graced office walls and cubicles of businesses like The Salon at Younker’s, Loan Processing Services, Ortho Computer Systems and Principal Financial Group, but this is a little different.

I hope you enjoyed the comedic picture and the sad tale of how it ended.

Animals, Work

Throwing Apples

January 28, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

Sometimes when I’m driving to the Computer Mine in the morning I eat an apple for breakfast.

When I get out of my car I like to throw that apple into the woods before I descend into the Mine. I do this because I figure that the apple is better used by many of the woodland creatures that scurry around out there than it would be sitting and rotting in the garbage can next to my bench.

Today when I threw the apple I disturbed a crow. I love crows.

So I watched the crow fly up and out of the woods and into the Ames sky.

As I tracked his flight I noticed an abnormally large brown thing perched on a tree behind the mine. Then I noticed its white head.

I didn’t bring my camera to work today but I was able to borrow the camera of a fellow miner to snap off a few shots of the beast.

This is the first time that I have seen a bald eagle in Ames.