Category Archives: Black & White

Animals, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Kio, Naima, Photoshop, WPC - Reminder

The Driving Force

March 15, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I feel it has been too long since I have had a post devoted to Naima. This is an error that I will correct today.

These pictures come from an October trip to Dickcissel Park.

Naima does enjoy getting in the water at Dickcissel, but she will only go as deep as her paws touch the ground.

Enjoy these pictures of Naima:

I’ll try not to go so long without a day of Naima pictures in the future!

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Just a reminder that the theme for this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is FORMAL PORTRAIT:

FORMAL PORTRAIT

A FORMAL PORTRAIT doesn’t have to be in a studio with a bunch of fancy lights. For our purposes, a FORMAL PORTRAIT is a portrait of somebody when they know they you are taking their picture and they are posing for the picture.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Jaxon, Jodie Cue, Music, Still Life

Boone FUMC Church Directory: Chapter 5

March 14, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I think this is the final collection of pictures I took for the Boone First United Methodist Church Directory.

I think these pictures were taken on Graduation Sunday. However, that isn’t the reason for the red balloons. I just can’t remember the reason for the red balloons. Might have been the church’s birthday. That seems vaguely familiar.

I know at least a couple of these ended up in the Directory:

This process gave me some ideas for the next Directory. I might have to take a more active role in crafting it.

Black & White, Equipment, Flowers, Macro, Self-Portrait

Blue Steel Redux

March 13, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Cleaning up some of the May 2018 backlog brings us to even more “reimaginings” of classic Photography 139 image “Blue Steel”.

These pictures were taken when I was playing with extension tubes. Extension tubes are fun for the whole family. The family that loves super macro photography. And what family doesn’t? No family that is worth know, that is who!

Have a quick peek:

I’m thinking of adding a Blue Steel Redux picture to The Canvas Project, but I already have the original “Blue Steel” hanging up in my hallway. That might just be too much Blue Steel for one house.

Who am I kidding? You can never have enough Blue Steel.

Black & White, History, Iowa State, Ruins, Video

Throwback Boom!

March 7, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

As I have been trying to reorganize some old pictures, I do want to share another collection of images that pre-date the Photography 139 website.

These are pictures from before and after the Knapp and Storm dormitories were imploded in 2005.

Here are some pictures:

Here is a low quality video of the buildings coming down:

I don’t know that there are any other pre-Photography 139 photo collections, but you never know.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Brandon, Candid Portrait, Holidays, Johnathan, Logan, Naima, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Youth Group

I Know What I Did Last Mother’s Day…

March 5, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Reminder that tomorrow night the Boone First United Methodist Church Youth Group will be holding a fundraiser for their mission trip to Rapid City, South Dakota in June:

Cost is a free will donation. Come eat some delicious spaghetti. Throw a few ducats into the till. Heck, even stick around and enjoy a wonderful worship service. Support a good cause and borderline great kids!

Hope to see many of you there!
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While I work on the 2018 backlog, the most recent folder I cleared out was from pictures I took on Mother’s Day.

They range from pictures of my nephews grilling to pictures of me working on a self-portrait project (that heavily involves updating classic Photography 139 image “Blue Steel”) and pictures of Naima.

Enjoy:

The original “Blue Steel” was considered too sexy to hang on the wall of Salon 908. I’m not going to bother trying to get Blue Steel Redux on any public walls. However, one of them could be part of the Canvas Wall Project.

Animals, Black & White, Naima, Nature

The “Great Blizzard” of 2019

February 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Here in the greater metropolitan area of Boone, Iowa we got somewhat of a blizzard starting last Saturday night and going into Sunday. While in Boone we didn’t get a ton of snow, we did get a ton of wind.

On Saturday afternoon I went to watch the Iowa State women’s basketball team play the #1 Baylor Bears with my Mom. While the Cyclones gave it a valiant effort, they fell short. There is a reason why Baylor is the #1 team in the country… that reason is size. You can’t coach size and it is really hard to defend. But Iowa State gave it a great try and heading into their Tuesday evening game with the Texas Longhorns, they are currently tied for 2nd… with Texas. If they win that game, they have a really good shot to finish 2nd in the Big 12 by their lonesome. They will have only 1 game remaining. A home tilt with the lowly Kansas Jayhawks.

We went back to Boone immediately following the game and dined at The Colorado Grill. By the time we left The Colorado Grill it was snowing heavily. I spent the rest of Saturday night at home watching college basketball and working on my current organizational products.

When I awoke to take on the world Sunday morning, church had been cancelled. While there wasn’t much new snow, the wind had drifted it across my driveway in at least 2 foot drifts.

There is a company that comes to plow out my driveway, so I hung in my house, made some Jack’s pizza, watched a ton of Netflix, and waited to be plowed out.

Since I was stuck at home, I did go out to the back yard to photograph some of the results of the snowstorm:

The plow guy didn’t show up until after 8 AM on Monday morning. I was 2 hours late for work. US30 was a sheet of ice. I’m really starting to miss warm weather. I’m the type of person that normally doesn’t care… but this winter has been a bit much.

Animals, Black & White, Equipment, Naima

That Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t There

February 27, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I decided recently to buy a set of neutral density filters. I considered spending a good chunk of coin on some really nice filters, but while I was poking around looking for a set to buy I came across a set of 40 filters for cheap.

Now I’m not a fool. I know the 40 set of filters isn’t super high quality. They aren’t even made out of glass. However, that doesn’t mean that can’t get the job done.

I haven’t cracked out the neutral density filters, but I did take the red filter for a little trip around the backyard with everybody’s favorite model Naima.

At first look, you might be confused as to why the pictures of Naima below are black and white. You need to understand that colored filters are usually used with black and white photography.

What does a red filter do:

Red filters are a favorite among landscape photographers and are often used to add drama. In nature photography, a red filter will increase the contrast between red flowers and green foliage. A red filter will deepen a blue sky and make white clouds pop out. It can also decrease the effects of haze and fog. In some cases, depending on its strength, a red filter could even turn the sky black.*

Normally I would encourage people to always shoot in color (when shooting digital) and shoot in RAW. You can change color pictures to black & white in post production, but you can’t add color (yes, but you know what I mean) to a black and white picture in post.

However, these pictures are taken in the high contrast monochrome setting on my camera. Therefore it was taken in .jpg.

If you are using color filters in black & white photography I would not urge you to shoot the pictures in color, since you are going for an in camera special effect right out of the shoot.

These pictures were not edited in any way. These are straight out of the camera:

39 more filters to test. Or so.

*From exposureguide.com

Black & White, Drone, Railroad, WPC - Alternate

Transportation – Alternate

February 26, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I took a few alternate TRANSPORTATION pictures for last week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

All of these were taken with the new drone. There will be a more comprehensive blog on the drone if it ever warms up and I get to actually make some videos and what-not.

I don’t know when that will be. Looking at the current 2 week forecast, there isn’t a single day with a temperature above freezing for a fortnight. A FORTNIGHT people!

I like winter as much as the next guy, but from the moment the drone showed up in my hands, I’ve been ready for spring. Spring, which is still about 3 weeks away. Although just because spring is here, doesn’t mean that we will finally get some warm weather.

My TRANSPORTATION alternates:

I might have to find a big indoors venue to do a little flying at this rate.

Black & White, Kim, Logan, Michelle, Self-Portrait, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 179 – SELF-PORTRAIT

February 18, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Another week with subpar participation despite being perhaps the easiest theme of this set of 52. Weather I’m sure contributed. This week central Iowa is supposed to get two more snowstorms, so we’ll see how many people struggle through the elements for this week’s theme.

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

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Logan Kahler

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:

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATION! What a great theme! But what is a TRANSPORTATION photo? A TRANSPORTATION photo is a photo that involves any aspect of TRANSPORTATION. A car, a train, an airplane, an airport, a bridge, a road, railroad tracks… the list goes on and on. It bottles the mind! Truly mind bottling!

As always, I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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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.

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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 transportive Monday.

Andy, Art, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Jaxon, Tamara, Youth Group

Boone FUMC Church Directory: Chapter 3

February 6, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Seems like another good time to release a collection of photos that I tooke for the Boone First United Methodist Church’s Church Directory.

In this collection are pictures I took of a particular stained glass window that the committee wanted, a communion set that the committee wanted, some Youth Group pictures the committee wanted and a choir picture the committee wanted.

You will see no pictures of Kio, which I believe is what the committee wanted. Too soon? Love you Kio!