Category Archives: Black & White

Black & White, Boone FUMC, Formal Portrait, Movies, Nader, Night, Self-Portrait, Teresa

2009-01-05 & 2009-01-25

April 20, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

There aren’t many pictures in the folders 2009-01-05 and 2009-01-25 so I decided to combine them into one post.

The pictures are mostly from a trip around Boone during a snowstorm and Nader and I’s last trip to the Varsity Theater.

Many people may not remember the Varsity. It was on Lincoln Way across the street from Lake Laverne. It showed foreign, independent, and arthouse movies. It still hasn’t been properly replaced. Now Ames have two multiplexes that devote almost all their screens to whatever mindless Marvel or Star Wars movie is being released that week.

Then if you want to see something original or thought provoking you have to take a ride down to Des Moines. Even Des Moines recently lost one its independent cinemas. Also, call The Varsity.

Here are some pictures to look at:

The sweet Iowa State scarf was a Christmas present from Teresa. She also took the pictures of Nader and I.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Denouement

Snowy Pictures

Sweet Christmas Present

By restoring these journal entries, I was able to finish completely restoring all the journal entries from January 2009.

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a Boone fire.

Becky, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Carla, Derrick, Geri, House, Jay, Jen, Night, Self-Portrait

2009-01-02 & 2009-01-03

April 13, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

The pictures from the folders 2009-01-02 and 2009-01-03 involved a trip to ACTORS theater in Ames. Plus a trip to Ottumwa to work on the house that Jen inherited. Plus there are some pictures of when I had winnowed down what house I would purchase down to two similar ranch style houses.

The house that I would ultimately purchase was the lucky winner mainly because it had the better yard. It had the better yard times a million. The intention was always to get a golden retriever when I was back up on my own feet and living on my own again.

As I look at the pictures of the runner-up, I assure you Naima would not have been happy with that yard. I also wouldn’t have been happy with such a small yard too. I mean, if you’re going to care about my happiness.

Here are the pictures:

I do confess though, I could have has some pretty great parties with that carpeted bar.

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Blitz

Intermission

The Ballad of House Buying: Part 2: Initial Look

The Ballad of House Buying: Part 4 – A Closer Examination

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve saying goodbye to an old cinematic friend and a winter storm.

Animals, Black & White, Jay, Jesse, Naima, Self-Portrait

Shaving Says A Lot About A Man, Like, “I’m Not One”

April 11, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Immediately after the beautiful beard go its final photo shoot Jay and I trudged from the Photography 139 Basement Studio to the kitchen where the unpleasantness was set to be done. “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana playing through my head.

I still had time to back down. It was now spring and the weather was starting to heat up and I was well past time for a shearing, there was no reason to do it now. It could wait a few days. Maybe even a week. Maybe there was no reason to shave at all? Despite the naysayers, the beard had a near cult like following. There were beard fanatics out there and didn’t I have a certain obligation to them?

I shook all these thoughts out of my head as we reached the kitchen. I sat down in the chair. Jay got out his clippers. The following pictures document what transpired:

It was then that the battery on Jay’s clippers died. I spent the rest of the night with that cheeseball mustache. When I woke up in the morning I shaved down to full dirty naked face.

Thanks to Jesse for document the horror of it all.

Black & White, Jay, Photoshop, Self-Portrait

Moments Before

April 4, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

I never meant for this to go so far. At a certain point, it felt like things got out of control and I was powerless to do anything about it. What started as laziness had grown to a point where it had a life of its own. I was supposed to be in control, but now I was a passenger. Then on March 15, I grabbed the wheel back. I empowered myself. Took control of the situation.

It wasn’t easy to say goodbye to a close friend. We had become inseparable. It was a relationship that had started in June, possibly May of 2018. It is hard to pinpoint a date, but I know the whole affair started before leaving for the mission trip in Vidor, Texas.

There was no plan. Nothing was building towards anything. There were many times I felt like just cutting things off and walking away. There were times I looked in the mirror and told myself that I can’t do this any more. But I would cave and walk away.

Initially I was going to say goodbye on January 1. New year, new beginnings. Even though the stinging encounter with a parade Santa had left a wound that had just days before been ripped open by a little girl at the Chinese buffet, I wasn’t ready to pull the trigger. I needed some documentation. Proof of what I had become. I was going to take some pictures before finally walking out on this toxic relationship.

Then, the weather changed. A polar vortex ripped through the area. Some days the wind chill factor was below -40. Some days it was below -20 without the wind chill factor. The temperature stayed below freezing for six straight weeks.

Rather than committing to the change that needed to be made, I used the cold as an excuse. As a crutch. As a reason to hold on.

But the cold weather receded and my resolve strengthened. A new date for a new me arrived in March. The first day of spring. New life. New beginnings. Time to say goodbye. Place this friend aside and walk away.

I still needed the pictures. If I ever saw that old friend again I could remember the pictures and remind them, we were good together, but even the best things come to an end.

Moments before my beard got shaved off, I sat down for a photo shoot. Jay took the following pictures:

Moments later, I would look like a corporate sellout. My old friend wanted to punch me in the face, but there were quite a few moments between the glory of the beard and the shame of being a dirty nakedface.

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Event, Evie, Jen, Layla, Photoshop

Irish Dancing

April 3, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

March was a very Irish month for this man mostly descended from Scottish and Welsh ancestors and a splash of Cherokee. March Movie Night featured 2 of the most Irish movies around: LEPRECHAUN IN THE HOOD and MILLER’S CROSSING. In particular, LEPRECHAUN IN THE HOOD will definitely frame the way I look at the Irish for many, many days into the future.

In addition to watching the adventures of Postmaster P and Stray Bullet, I also made my way to Dublin Bay to watch Evie in an Irish Dance Recital.

It has long been established that I suffer from PTSD from being forced to watching every single minute of every single dance recital and dress rehearsals my sisters were in. From beginning to end.

To this day, I fear dance recitals.

However, on Saint Patrick’s Day, I responded to Jen’s invitation to go watch Evie do some Irish Dancing. It was definitely the most unique dance recital I have ever experienced. It was in a tent, outside a bar/restaurant filled mostly with screaming drunk people. For most of the recital I stood on a pile of mud. Talking to Sean Clubine as he was there celebrating his wedding anniversary.

Was it worth it? Take a look at the pictures and you can decide:

April’s Movie Night’s date has yet to be determined, but the movies will be rabbit themed. I don’t think Evie has any rabbit themed dance recitals to attend though.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Equipment, Naima

The Future

April 2, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

The most recent filter I have tested from the super cheap filter kit was the green filter. The green filter is the last of what I would consider the standard black and white photography filters that I tested.

What does a green filter do? According to hoyafilterusa.com:

Less popular than the other colors but still very useful for specific types of photography. The Green filter is good for lightening the tone of green foliage which can give an other-worldly effect similar, but not has strong as infrared in some situations. Since it renders greens lighter it can be used in the scenic photography but because it also makes skies a lighter gray care should be taken to consider the scene and include as little sky as possible.

Here are a few examples taken in my backyard:

I’m not sure which filter I will test next, but I’m thinking it might be pink.

Animals, Black & White, Equipment, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Naima, Nature

It Stands for the Sun

March 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Yellow.

Yellow is the most recent filter from the super cheap filter set that I cracked out and tested. I still took mostly pictures of Naima, but I actually left my yard and went out to Dickcissel.

This, was perhaps, not the best plan. With all the space to roam, Naima is definitely harder to photograph at Dickcissel. Also, your shutter speeds often slow down when using filters, so a dog running all over the place isn’t the best subject. But I made do.

You might be wondering what a yellow filter does in black & white photography.

Here is an explanation from shuttermuse.com:

A Yellow filter absorbs all coloured light except yellow. It is the most-popular colored filter used with black and white film. Because a yellow filter absorbs blue, it provides significantly greater contrast between blue and yellow or white subjects. The classic example of the use of a yellow filter is when shooting black and white scenes which include portions of a cloud filled sky. Use of a yellow filter in this situation significantly darkens the blue portions of the sky, whilst allowing the clouds to remain bright and vibrant. This change in contrast gives the sky a vastly improved sense of depth and drama.

Here are some pictures from the yellow filter photo shoot:

Naima decided she needed to dig a giant hole while we were out there. Here are a couple pictures in color to help you appreciate the mess she made:

The next filter I will test will be the green filter.

Animals, Black & White, Equipment, Naima, Nature

It is Beyond Dimensions

March 26, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Time to reveal another filter test from the super cheap Neweer filter set I purchased on Amazon several weeks back.

This time the filter that is up is the blue filter.

Here is a description of what a blue filter does in black & white photography from photographymad.com:

Blue filters are rarely used for black and white photography. They darken most colours and reduce contrast across an image.

When used correctly, this reduced contrast can be useful for giving a shot a calm, soothing atmosphere. A blue filter also increases the appearance of haze and mist, making it handy for enhancing the mood of an early-morning scene.

Here are a ton more pictures of Naima taken with a blue filter:

i would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the lighting conditions were considerable harsher than when I did the red and orange filter tests.

The next filter to be texted will be the yellow filter.

Animals, Black & White, Equipment, Nature

The Happiest Color

March 19, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A few weeks back I showed the results of test photos taken with a red filter from a new extremely cheap set of filters that I recently picked up.

The most recent filter I’ve taken out and tested is the orange filter. Much like the red filter an orange filter is actually designed to be used with black and white photography.

What does an orange filter do. Here is a pretty good description from photographymad.com:

In portrait photography, an orange filter reduces the appearance of freckles and blemishes, giving the skin a healthy, smooth look.

When photographing buildings and cityscapes, they give bricks a pleasing tone, and increase contrast between different materials to add depth and texture to the image.

Similarly to red filters, they can be used to reduce the appearance of fog and haze, and to darken skies and emphasise clouds.

I spent a little time chasing Naima around the backyard and photographed a few other things for this test.

Here are the test images, fresh out of the camera. Not touched by Photoshop:

You can tell that there is some vignetting at the widest angles, but nothing that I can’t live with.

Not sure what filter I will test next, but I do know that there are only 40 filters left to test!

Angie, Black & White, Evie, Formal Portrait, Jodie Cue, Kim, Micky, Steph, Still Life, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 183 – FORMAL PORTRAIT

March 18, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I believe that the submissions for FORMAL PORTRAIT are amongst the most solid collection of submissions we’ve had in a long time for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

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

Kim Barker

Jodie Cue

Stephanie Kim

Christopher D. Bennett

Angie DeWaard

Micky Augustin

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:

STILL LIFE

STILL LIFE! What a great theme! But what is a STILL LIFE image? Here is as good of a definition as I have ever Googled:

A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, etc.).

Seems pretty simple and straightforward. I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

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.

+++++++

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 still Monday.