Category Archives: Calendar

Art, Calendar, Flowers, History, Macro, Mom, Railroad, Road Trip

Fayette & Winneshiek County Aux – Vol. 3

December 28, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to reveal the September image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

September

The September image is a macro image of a gazania. This picture was taken in my yard. I put this picture in September because that is the birthday month of my Mom and she taught me the joy of growing flowers. She had some of the best flowerbeds and was constantly experimenting with new flowers.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M4
DATE: June 23 – 1:23 PM
LENS: Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro
FOCAL LENGTH: 105mm
APERTURE: f/11
EXPOSURE: 1/160
ISO: 800
EXPOSURE BIAS: +.3

Tomorrow I will reveal the October image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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Time for another collection of auxiliary images from my road trip to Fayette and Winneshiek Counties to harvest their town signs. Many of these pictures were taken at the Bily Clocks Museum in Spillville.

Here is some information on a pretty cool little piece of Iowa history and some amazing clocks:

The history of the Bily Brothers, Frank and Joseph, began on the farm where they were born and raised. Located between Ridgeway and Spillville, Iowa, the farm is where the two brothers started their carvings. These uniquely designed clocks have attracted people from all areas of the United States, Canada and from many foreign countries as well.

Beginning in 1913, the brothers employed the idle hours of long winter days and evenings with their skills of woodcarving. Being farmers and carpenters, they carved only as a hobby while still doing their regular chores and maintaining a well kept farm. In 1915 and 1916, they built the Apostle Clock from which the Twelve Apostles appear on the hour. During the period of 1923-1927, the Bily Brothers added their masterpiece to the collection, The American Pioneer History Clock. A memorial clock to Charles Lindbergh was carved in 1928 commemorating his historic flight. In these beautiful artistically carved clocks the brothers have used woods from a number of foreign countries as well as numerous pieces of walnut, butternut, maple and oaks from North America.

The Bily Brothers moved their collection to Spillville in 1946. They bequeathed the clocks to the town of Spillville with an agreement that they would never be sold or moved from their present location.The second floor of the building was the home of the famous Czech composer, Antonin Dvorak, and his family during the summer of 1893.

-From https://www.bilyclocks.org/the-bily-brothers

It is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

Here is the 3rd collection of auxiliary images from these counties:

Spillville

Ossian

Calmar

Postville

Postville is actually mostly in Allamakee County and partially in Clayton County.

One more collection of pictures from this road trip still to come.

Animals, Art, Automobiles, Black & White, Calendar, Christianity, Drone, Flowers, Macro, Nature, Ruins, Street Photography, Teresa

I Know that You Loved Before

December 27, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

It is time to reveal the August image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

August

This picture is of the only fire watch tower in the state of Iowa. It is located in the Yellow River State Forest in northeast Iowa. It is only accessible via forest road. So if you plan on going to see it, don’t take a sedan. That isn’t to say the road is really rough. It doesn’t require a 4×4, but you definitely want something with some ground clearance. It is also basically a one lane road, so if you meet somebody coming the other way, you do need to make some room.

You can not climb up the fire watch tower. There is a fence around it. If you stand near it and look straight up, there is no floor.

I took this picture with Rodan139. There is not necessarily a strong reason for it to be with August. Teresa was with me when I took the picture and she was born in August. However, she never got out of the vehicle. She might have thought what we were doing was illegal. Which it wasn’t. I will let you know if what we are doing is illegal or questionably legal.

TECHNICAL DETAILS:

CAMERA: Hasselblad L1D-20c
DATE: June 25, 2022 – f/2.8
LENS: 28mm f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 28mm
APERTURE: f/5.6
EXPOSURE: 1/400
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: -.7
ALTITUDE: 363m Above Sea Level

Tomorrow I will reveal the September image of the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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Time to share a second collection of the 90 images I rejected for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

I still have one more collection of rejected calendar images left to share.

Andy, Angie, Becky, Bill, Black & White, Brandon, Calendar, Carla, Cathie, Elizabeth, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Naima, Nature, Sabas, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 380 – EXPLORE

December 26, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

It is time to reveal the July image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

July

This picture was taken just west of I-35 on Highway 3. I pulled over on my way home from a TOWN SIGN PROJECT harvesting trip to take tis picture. A sunset in a break in the clouds in the rainstorm. It was too beautiful to not to stop and enjoy it.

There is no particular reason this picture was set for July, other than it had to go somewhere. That was a great story.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

CAMERA: SONY ILCE-7M2
DATE: APRIL 23, 7:33 PM
LENS: TAMRON 28-75 f/2.8
FOCAL LENGHTH: 75mm
APERTURE: f/18
EXPOSURE: 1/80
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: -.7

Tomorrow I will reveal the August picture for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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It is the last Monday of the month, so it is a good time revisit the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE FAQ:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE

Is there a limit to the number of submissions I can have each week?

The short answer is, “no”. Some people think that there is a limit of one submission per person because I only present one submission a week, personally. I have the other 6 days to post my photography. So one is more than enough image from me.

However, the longer answer is, 3 would be a good guide to limit yourself to submit. Some people refer to this as The Kio Dettman Rule. Even though it isn’t a rule, but much over 3 begins to start to overwhelm the submissions of the others in the community. Also, if you are submitting multiple submissions, think about your submissions. Are they unique? Are they of wholly different subjects? Is each submission saying something unique? The goal is NOT to take as many picture for the theme as possible. The goal is to take the best picture for the theme you can, during the week.

The three photo suggestion would better be referred to as The Kio Dettman Suggestion or The Kio Dettman Best Practice.

The long answer is, there isn’t a limit, but 3 is a good rule of thumb. If I start to average about 30 participants a week, I will consider putting a limit of 1 per participant, to help manage my workload, but we are a long ways from averaging 30 participants a week. Although we did hit 30 participants last week, so maybe a hard limit of 1 per person is on the horizon.

Can I send you several pictures and have you pick the best one?

No! No! NO! If those words come out of your mouth or your keyboard, I consider that to be a non-submission.

Do you ever question whether somebody’s submission fits the theme?

Meh. Only if I think somebody is clearly confusing this week’s theme with last week or next week’s theme. Otherwise, if the submission makes sense in your head, that is good enough to me. However, I would urge you to not try to fit your favorite subject into the theme. This isn’t a challenge to share a picture every week of your kid or your business or your pet. It is a challenge to take pictures of different things every week. Which isn’t to say subjects can’t be repeated, but you shouldn’t become reliant on the same ones.

Why can’t I submit after 11 AM on Mondays if the post doesn’t publish until 12:01 PM?

I go to lunch at 11 AM. I leave my office. I’m not near a computer. At 11 AM I hit “Schedule” and then I go throw food down my throat. 167 hours is more than enough time to send a submission. Okay, 166 hours and 59 minutes. You got me.

Are there resolution requirements for submissions?

I won’t turn down submissions that are too small. I will probably ask you for a picture of greater resolution if it is really small. The typical 4 x 6 image posted to my website has a resolution of 1280 pixels x 853 pixels. While a 400 x 300 image might look okay on your phone, it looks like trash on a computer monitor. I prefer images that are at least 1000 pixels at their largest point, but don’t ban smaller pictures at this point.

What format should my submission be?

.JPG but .PNG also works.

If I write a description of my image will you include that in your post?

No. Photography is art that should stand on its own. Only exception is the SLICE OF LIFE theme.

When will you start accepting suggestions for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes?

Suggestions are closed for next year’s list. It will be a minute before they open up again for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

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Was EXPLORE a popular theme or did get shot down in flames by the Ghost of Christmas Present? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, December 19, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Suzie Brannen – 1 week
2-Sabas Hernandez – 1 week
3-Becky Parmelee – 1 week
4-Mike Vest – 1 week
5-Sarah Karber – 2 weeks
6-Jesse Howard – 5 weeks
7-Willy McAlpine – 5 weeks
8-Tamara Peterson – 7 weeks
9-Sara Lockner – 13 weeks
10-Brandon Kahler – 18 weeks
11-Linda Bennett – 21 weeks
12-Sarah Toot – 22 weeks
13-Monica Jennings – 23 weeks
14-Angie DeWaard – 26 weeks
15-Dawn Krause – 30 weeks (2)
16-Kim Barker – 36 weeks
17-Joe Duff – 37 weeks
18-Logan Kahler – 39 weeks (2)
19-Teresa Kahler – 48 weeks (2)
20-Carla Stensland – 48 weeks (2)
21-Michelle Haupt – 49 weeks
22-Micky Augustin – 50 weeks
23-Andy Sharp – 51 weeks
24-Bill Wentworth – 52 weeks
25-Cathie Morton – 56 weeks
26-Elizabeth Nordeen – 57 weeks
27-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 59 weeks
28-Kio Dettman – 61 weeks (3)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Andy Sharp – 52 weeks

Angie DeWaard – 27 weeks

Becky Parmelee – 2 weeks

Bill Wentworth – 53 weeks

Brandon Kahler – 19 weeks

Carla Stensland – 49 weeks

Cathie Morton – 57 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett

Dawn Krause – 31 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen – 58 weeks

Joe Duff – 38 weeks

Joe Duff

Kim Barker – 37 weeks

Kio Dettman – 62 weeks

Kio Dettman

Linda Bennett – 22 weeks

Logan Kahler – 40 weeks

Logan Kahler

Micky Augustin – 51 weeks

Michelle Haupt – 50 weeks

Sabas Hernandez – 2 weeks

Sarah Toot – 23 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley – 60 weeks

Tamara Peterson – 8 weeks

Teresa Kahler – 49 weeks

Willy McAlpine – 6 weeks

Willy McAlpine

23 participants. Not a great week, but it is to be expected, considering a somewhat abstract theme and the Christmas holiday.

I received submissions (assumptions on my part) from Pennsylvania, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas.

I took my picture about 5 miles from my front door.

As you can guess it was a streak bloodbath. Suzie and Vest couldn’t extend their streaks to 2. Sarah’s streak went kaput at 2 weeks. Jesse’s streak ended at 5. 13 wasn’t a lucky number for Sara. Worst of all, Monica’s 23 week streak is gone.

But it wasn’t all bad news. Andy joined the 1 Year Streak Club! WooHoo!

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:

BODY PART

BODY PART! What a great final theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a BODY PART image? Simply put, it is a picture where a major compositional element of the image is a BODY PART. Doesn’t have to be your BODY PART. Could be somebody else’s. It could belong to an animal. There are so many BODY PART(s) to choose from! Heads. Shoulders. Knees. Toes. Just to name a few.

While considering possible subjects for your BODY PART picture, meditate on the following quotes:

Even I don’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford.
-Cindy Crawford

People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.
-Salma Hayek

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of BODY PART in this place that consists of lots of my parts put to work next Monday.

Billy, Boone FUMC, Calendar, Dad, Holidays, J.T., Laura, Lists, Nate, Railroad, Shorty, Slice of Life, Still Life, Tim

Westhaven Christmas

December 25, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 7 Comments

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas. This little picture is my way of saying Merry Christmas to all of you:

Merry Christmas!

I would like to share a Christmas Devotional with you:

Merry Christmas
By Rev. Ronald Carlson Jr.
Dean of the Cabinet and District Superintendent of Riverview Park District
“Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them.”
– Luke 2:18 (CEB)
In those days Caesar Augustus declared that everyone throughout the empire should be enrolled in the tax lists. 2 This first enrollment occurred when Quirinius governed Syria. 3 Everyone went to their own cities to be enrolled. 4 Since Joseph belonged to David’s house and family line, he went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s city, called Bethlehem, in Judea. 5 He went to be enrolled together with Mary, who was promised to him in marriage and who was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom. 8 Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. 9 The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. 11 Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. 12 This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, 14 “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.” 15 When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.” 16 They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they reported what they had been told about this child. 18 Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. 20 The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told. Luke 2:1-20 (CEB)
Luke says it all… perfectly.

Let us pray.

O almighty God, by the birth of your holy child Jesus, you gave us a great light to dawn on our darkness. Grant that in his light we may see light. Bestow on us that most excellent Christmas gift of love to all people, so that the likeness of your Son may be formed in us, and that we may have the ever brightening hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen (The Book of Worship 1965, ALT.)

On certain holidays, I like to share some power rankings. I’m not going to go in depth on this as I originally intended. When I made some plans for this, I didn’t realize a new season of JACK RYAN and EMILY IN PARIS were both being released this weekend!

But without further adieu, here is my Christmas Movie Power Rankings.

CHRISTMAS MOVIE POWER RANKINGS
10. Meet John Doe (1941)
9. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
8. Gremlins (1984)
7. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
6. Die Hard (1988)
5. Elf (2003)
4. A Christmas Story (1983)
3. Scrooged (1988)
2. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
1. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

Please respect my decision. There will be no interviews at this time. Maybe next Christmas I will go in depth on this list.

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Time to reveal the June image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

June

This image was my submission for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme SLICE OF LIFE. That theme is named in honor of my Dad’s postcard company. This image is my interpretation of his style of postcard designs. However, you can look at this and know it wasn’t that hard for me to put this together in Photoshop, but try to think of how hard a similar design would have been to make in a darkroom.

You might have noticed that usually the June image in the Photography 139 Calendar is Black & White. That is because I affiliate my Dad mostly with black & white photography because he had a black & white darkroom in our house at 415 Greene. The 38th anniversary of his death was on Friday. He was born in June and that is why this homage is the June picture for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

There are no technical details for this image since it is a composite image.

Tomorrow I will unveil the July image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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Once again I am going to skip Formal Portrait Sunday. Instead I’m going to share some pictures from when I got together with some of Olivia’s family for Christmas at Westhaven a couple weeks ago. Not everybody could make it because of illness, but sometimes in life you have to be happy for who is there and not be sad about who isn’t there.

Here are a few pictures from the celebration:

Triplets man… So much energy!

Art, Black & White, Calendar, Christianity, History, Holidays, Music, Road Trip, Still Life, Travel, WPC - Reminder

Fayette & Winneshiek County Aux – Vol. 2

December 24, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Today is Christmas Eve. This year I didn’t share any kind of Advent Candle Devotionals. I think it is just part of Christmas sneaking up on me this year. But I better share one. The one for lighting the Christ Candle tonight.

Advent hope moves us; Advent love leads us; Advent joy stirs us; Advent peace stills us, that we might affirm our King Jesus.

It is time we set flame to this Advent affirmation by lighting the Christ Candle.

We believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judea. He was the long-awaited Messiah whose coming was prophesied. The same Jesus lives today in our hearts. He deserves our highest loyalty and total commitment. In Jesus Christ, our hope is fulfilled; our love is consummated; our joy is complete; and our peace is sealed.

Rejoice, a Savior is born.

A savior is born, indeed. Joy to the world!

Merry Christmas Eve everybody!

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Time to reveal the May image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

May

This image is of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, Florida. It is also an image I knew that I was going to process in black and white. I was in Miami Beach for the computer mine and I happened across the memorial sorta by accident. I knew it existed because Tony had brought it up, but I didn’t actually intend to see it. I was walking around the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens that were unfortunately closed and I walked straight into one of the most unique and powerful pieces of art I have ever seen.

May is my birthday month, so I frequently like to put a picture that I don’t think will have a lot of mass appeal, but that I personally love. It is sort of a gift to myself.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M2
DATE: May 22, 2022 – 6:30 PM
LENS: Tamron 17-28 f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 17mm
APERTURE: f/5
EXPSOURE: 1/80
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +1.0
FIELD OF VIEW: 93.3 degrees

Tomorrow I will reveal the June image of the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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Time to reveal the second collection of images I took while cruising around Fayette and Winneshiek Counties harvesting their town signs.

Waucoma

Fort Atkinson

Spillville

I’ll talk about the Bily Clock Museum in a future post. It a pretty cool museum with one of a kind clocks that only exist in that museum.

Still more to share from this road trip.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is EXPLORE:

EXPLORE

REMINDER: Next Monday is the day after Christmas. It isn’t a holiday per se, but most people don’t work. I don’t work at my day job. I might just go on a road trip that day. What I am saying is plan to get your submission in cause you might not get any kind of reminder.
EXPLORE! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is an EXPLORE picture? Simply put it is a picture taken of somebody that is EXPLOR(E)ing or trying to at least. See Billy’s efforts in the theme reveal image. It can be of something you found when you were out on the EXPLORE. Or it could be a picture of things you use when you are out on the EXPLORE. There are so many possibilities!

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Black & White, Calendar, Event, Jay, Jesse, Music, Street Photography, Teresa

World Food Fair Festival

December 23, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to reveal the April image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

April

This image of a statue of Jesus crucified on the cross was taken in a cemetery near Stuble, Iowa. It was an image that when I took it that I knew was going to be processed into a black and white image. I placed in April because Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter are all in April. No deeper meaning than that.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M4
DATE: March 17, 2022 – 2:48 PM
LENS: Sigma 17-28mm f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 19mm
APERTURE: f/3.2
EXPOSURE: 1/800
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +.7
FIELD OF VIEW: 86.9 degrees

Tomorrow I will reveal the May image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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Back in September Teresa, Jesse, Jay and I went to the World Food Festival. It was a great opportunity for one of my favorite type of photography… street photography!

Here are some of my favorite images from the day:

I loved it! Will definitely try to go again next year!

Art, Bethany, Calendar, Flowers, Macro, Michelle, Naima, Nora, Photoshop

Caroline

December 22, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today I reveal the March image for the 2023 Photography Calendar.

March

I took this picture of this American Gothic barn near Mount Vernon, Iowa on a TOWN SIGN PROJECT road trip with Michelle on November 14, 2021.

Here is a picture of us standing in front of it:

Here are some fun facts about the picture:

CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M2
LENS: Sigma 28-75 F/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 53 mm
FIELD OF VIEW: 37.5 degrees
APERTURE: f/4.5
SHUTTER: 1/200
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +.3

I also Photoshopped a powerline out of the image… cause I hate powerlines.

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Hello I’m looking for a friend I lost some time ago
Your mother says she wants her girl back home
Sometimes you think you’ve found yourself you really only lost yourself
Or maybe you’re afraid to be alone
-Brandi Carlile

Thursday is for flowers! Today I’m sharing the final collection of flowertography pictures I took on August 14, 2022.

Nora was infatuated with moonflowers, which shows she has great taste!

More flower pictures next Thursday!

Art, Calendar, Christianity, Flowers, History, Macro, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins

Fayette & Winneshiek County Aux – Vol. 1

December 21, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

Time to reveal the February image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

February

I took this macro image of a hollyhock in my yard. It is a little known fact that I am one of the premiere hollyhock farmers in all of Boone, Iowa. People comes from miles around to walk down my alley to see the numerous hollyhocks that line my back fence. While that isn’t true, it should be. Hollyhocks are a Top 5 flower in my flower gardens. Maybe even Top 3. You can make dolls out of them. I don’t know how to do that, but my Aunt Linda assures me it can be done.

This picture doesn’t have a strong connection to February. February is the month that houses the one true holiday that hasn’t been commercialized at all…. Valentine’s Day. So I like to put a “romantic” image here. Flowers are romantic, right?

TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M4
DATE: July 19,2022 – 8:21 PM
LENS: Tamron 105mm f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 105mm
APERTUFE: f/6.3
EXPOSURE: 1/13
ISO: 400
EXPOSURE BIAS: -.3
FIELD OF 19.5 degrees

Tomorrow I will reveal the March image.

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Several months back I tooled around Fayette and Winneshiek County harvesting their town signs. I would have spent more time in Winneshiek County, but I actually been to the stunning Decorah a few times, so I didn’t spend as much time there as I would like. I need to get back there and photograph it sometime soon though.

Here is the first collection of images. All from Fayette County:

Oelwein

Maynard

Randalia

Fayette

West Union

Saint Lucas

Waucoma

Still a ton more pictures to share from this road trip!

Art, Automobiles, Black & White, Calendar, Christianity, Flowers, Iowa State, Macro, Nature, Road Trip, Ruins

If I Looked Like the Other Prom Queens

December 20, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to reveal the January image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

January

I took this picture while harvesting the town signs of Appanoose County for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. It is the lighthouse at Lake Rathbun. I wish I could come up with a good reason why I picked this image for January. Some images needed to be slotted into months that I don’t have a connection with. I don’t have a real strong connection with January. The main reason this image ended up being in January is because with the clouds it looks cold. January is a cold month. At least in Iowa. This is a cold image. Sometimes in the cold (weather and life) you look for any port in the storm. A lighthouse is such a port.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M4
DATE: May 11, 2022 – 3:09 PM
LENS: Sigma 17-28mm f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 17mm
APERTURE: f/8
EXPOSURE: 1/500
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +.3
FIELD OF VIEW: 93.3 degrees
HYPERFOCAL DISTANCE: 1.20m

Tomorrow I will reveal the February image.

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While 13 images make the calendar, I always consider several other pictures. This year, I gave at least a cursory thought to 103 images. I have never shared the pictures that didn’t make the calendar, but I thought, why not?

Here is the first collection of images that were considered, but not included in the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

I can’t claim that because these images were rejected for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar, that it doesn’t mean one or two of them couldn’t show up in a 2024 Photography 139 Calendar. I still have two more collections of calendar rejects to share.

Andy, Angie, Art, Becky, Bill, Billy, Brandon, Calendar, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Pastor Sarah, Sabas, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 379 – WATER

December 19, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

It is that time of year. You know what time. The time where I start to reveal the images for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar! The following image is the picture that graces the cover:

Front Cover

I took the picture of this mural in a back alley in the downtown business district of Le Mars, Iowa. I like the cover image to have some kind of message to it. Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite writers and I definitely agree that “there is no beauty without some strangeness”.

Just look at my friends. All of them beautiful. All of them strange.

Here are some technical details:

CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M4
DATE: March 11, 2022 – 3:19 PM
LENS: Sigma 17-28mm f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 28mm
APERTURE: f/3.2
EXPOSURE: 1/200
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS:+.7
FIELD OF VIEW: 65.5 degrees
HYPERFOCAL DISTANCE: 8.15m

I think I put together a decent calendar this year and if you haven’t seen it yet, I can’t wait for you to see it!

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Seems like a good time to reveal the 52 themes for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

1. Trains, Planes, and Automobiles
2. Reflection
3. Red
4. Silence
5. Books
6. Play
7. Frame
8. Music
9. Store
10. Sunrise, Sunset
11. Purple
12. Competition
13. Blue
14. Humans
15. Odd Camera Angle
16. Scenes from your Couch
17. Friends
18. Road Trip
19. School
20. Ruins
21. Happy
22. Park
23. Texture
24. Slice of Life
25. Flower
26. ‘Scape
27. Wild Card
28. Time
29. A Shape
30. Guilty Pleasure
31. Liquid
32. Self-Portrait
33. Negative
34. Art
35. Shadow
36. Nature
37. Shoes
38. Sky
39. Black and White
40. Architecture
41. Religion
42. #instagood
43. Vintage
44. Favorite Sports Team
45. Signs
46. Food
47. Portrait
48. Animal
49. Hometown
50. Lines
51. Street Photography
52. Green

Looks like it ill be a good year!

Special thanks to Sarah Toot, Angie, and Andy for making suggestions for this set of themes. I used or modified and used several of their suggestions. After I trimmed the list to 52 themes, I ran it through the random generator 8 times to set the order.

Hoping Year 10 will be the best year yet!

+++++++

WATER? It is everywhere? But as a theme, is it wet behind the ears, or was it popular. You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, December 12, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Sarah Karber – 1 week
2-Jesse Howard – 4 weeks
3-Willy McAlpine – 4 weeks
4-Tamara Peterson – 6 weeks
5-Sara Lockner – 12 weeks
6-Brandon Kahler – 17 weeks
7-Linda Bennett – 20 weeks
8-Sarah Toot – 21 weeks
9-Monica Jennings – 21 weeks
10-Angie DeWaard – 25 weeks
11-Dawn Krause – 29 weeks
12-Kim Barker – 35 weeks (2)
13-Joe Duff – 36 weeks (2)
14-Logan Kahler – 38 weeks (3)
15-Teresa Kahler – 47 weeks (2)
16-Carla Stensland – 47 weeks
17-Michelle Haupt – 48 weeks
18-Micky Augustin – 49 weeks (2)
19-Andy Sharp – 50 weeks
20-Bill Wentworth – 51 weeks
21-Cathie Morton – 55 weeks
22-Elizabeth Nordeen – 56 weeks
23-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 58 weeks
24-Kio Dettman – 60 weeks (3)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Elizabeth Nordeen – 57 weeks

Willy McAlpine – 5 weeks

Angie DeWaard – 26 weeks

Andy Sharp – 51 weeks

Micky Augustin – 50 weeks

Teresa Kahler – 48 weeks

Teresa Kahler

Kio Dettman – 61 weeks

Kio Dettman

Joe Duff – 37 weeks

Carla Stensland – 47 weeks

Carla Stensland

Linda Bennett – 21 weeks

Linda Bennett

Logan Kahler – 39 weeks

Logan Kahler

Sarah Karber – 2 weeks

Tamara Peterson – 7 weeks

Bill Wentworth – 52 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett

Dawn Krause – 30 weeks

Dawn Krause

Kim Barker – 36 weeks

Monica Jennings – 22 weeks

Sabas Hernandez – 1 week

Michelle Haupt – 49 weeks

Cathie Morton – 56 weeks

Suzie Brannen – 1 week

Becky Parmelee – 1 week

Jesse Howard – 5 weeks

Sarah Toot – 22 weeks

Brandon Kahler – 18 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley – 59 weeks

Sara Lockner – 13 weeks

Mike Vest – 1 week

29 participants! That is a great week!

We had submissions (mostly assumptions on my part) from Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas this week.

I took my picture inside my house.

We had some pretty big milestones! Angie joined the Half Year Club as her streak reached 26 weeks.

Bill joined the 1 Year Club as his streak reached 52 weeks!

And there was no bad news! There wasn’t a single streak snapped this week! WooHoo!

EXPLORE

REMINDER: Next Monday is the day after Christmas. It isn’t a holiday per se, but most people don’t work. I don’t work at my day job. I might just go on a road trip that day. What I am saying is plan to get your submission in cause you might not get any kind of reminder.

EXPLORE! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

While considering possible places for you to EXPLORE, meditate on the following quote:

Not all those who wander are lost.
-J.R.R. Tolkien

I look forward to your interpretation.

RULES

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of EXPLORE in this place that I hope more than I just get lost in next Monday.