Category Archives: Drone

Rodan139: Peas Creek

November 24, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

A few weeks back I went out to Ledges late in a Sunday evening and flew Rodan139 around and where Peas Creek empties into the Des Moines River.

Here are a few pictures:

On Sunday nights I send out a “Cool” Drone Video of the Week to a couple of friends that have requested it. It has been a blessing because it provides me with motivation to get out there with the drone on several weekends where I would’ve left Rodan139 in the hangar. This set of pictures is a set of pictures that exists for that reason.

Christianity, Drone, Panorama

Rodan139: Mackey United Methodist Church

November 18, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I took Rodan139 on a flight around the Mackey United Methodist Church. The church recent closed its doors after 134 years. It will still be used for weddings, funerals and other gatherings.

Here is a few bits about the closing of the church from a recent “Boone News Republican” article:

Mackey United Methodist Church of rural Boone closed its doors at a ceremony ending its 134 years in formal ministry. Members, family and friends, numbering about 60, gathered outside the church on Sunday, Oct. 4 to remember, to pray, and to turn the page on a new chapter of serving the farming community of Mackey nestled in the corn and bean fields of northeast Boone County.

Keith Carlson, a lay leader of the church and a long time member, acknowledged, “Because of our aging congregation, we knew that the doors would be closing soon, and then along came the coronavirus that made it clear the time had come.”

But this little building is not finished yet. Jaime Beyer and Laura Loots, trustees for the Harrison Township, announced the establishment of a newly formed charity with the mission to ensure the continuation of the building for community weddings, funerals and other gatherings that would honor the history of this church. And just recently a generous family contributed $20,000 of support.

Here are some pictures I took on the flight:

Rodan139: Mackey United Methodist Church

There are a handful of countries churches in Boone County. This is the second one I took Rodan139 to photograph. I hope to hit up all of them at some point. Some point…

Drone, Jen, Panorama

Rodan139: Harvest Time

November 10, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

A couple weeks back Jen invited me to come out and do some drone photography on the last day of harvest on the Ensley farm. It was a very windy and blustery day, but I still managed to get the image I ultimately wanted and several others to boot.

Next year I want to get out there more than once and longer. Might be a calendar image in this collection. Maybe. We’ll have to see.

Drone, Photoshop

Sky Replacement

November 3, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Remember to go out and vote today. If voting wasn’t important, Republicans wouldn’t be trying so hard to take voting away from so many people.

Photoshop has recently released a few new set of tools that are somewhat controversial in photography circles. They are controversial because many photographers don’t like the fact that they can completely manipulate an image so that is no longer real. While I agree with that in some context, it is my belief that (like Picasso said) it is the job of the photographer is to create a lie that makes people see the truth.

Now, I would never use this tool often, it is fun to play with. My picture from ANIMAL a week ago used this controversial tool. Here is a look at it at work:

The original image.

This image of one of Boone’s water towers was taken one Sunday morning. That is the original sky as the picture was taken.

Now have a look at the many preset skies you can swap out:

That set was the “Blue Sky” preset skies. This is the “Spectacular” preset skies:

Then the final set of preset sky images is “Sunset”:

Sky Replacement also allows you to important your own sky picture. So I did that:

Then I wondered what it would look like with a black and white sky:

Then finally I thought, what if we did use a sky picture in Sky Replacement:

There is another AI tool that is designed to be used with portraits what is even more controversial, but we will get into that at a later date.

Animals, Drone, History, Nature, Panorama, WPC - Reminder

Rodan139: Kate Shelley’s Bridge Remains

October 30, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A couple weeks ago I followed the trail from the Kate Shelley Railroad Museum to the remains of the bridge that she crossed to save all those lives all those years ago.

If you don’t know the story of Kate Shelley, it goes something like this from the Wikipedia page:

On the afternoon of July 6, 1881, heavy thunderstorms caused a flash flood of Honey Creek, washing out timbers that supported the railroad trestle. A pusher locomotive sent from Moingona to check track conditions crossed the Des Moines River bridge, but plunged into Honey Creek when the bridge fell away at about 11pm, with a crew of four — Edgar Wood, A. P. Olmstead, Adam Agar, and Patrick Donahue.

Kate heard the crash, and knew that an eastbound express passenger train was due in Moingona about midnight, stopping shortly before heading east over the Des Moines River and then Honey Creek. She found two surviving crew members, Edgar Wood and Adam Agar, and shouted that she would get help, having to cross the Des Moines River bridge along the way. Although she started with a lantern, it went out, and she crawled the span on her hands and knees with only lightning for illumination. Once across, she had to cover about two miles on ground to the Moingona depot to sound the alarm. She then led a party back to rescue Edgar and Adam. Edgar, perched in a tree, grasped a rope thrown to him, and came ashore hand-over-hand. Adam couldn’t be reached until the floodwaters began to recede.[6] Pat Donahue’s body was eventually found in a cornfield a quarter mile downstream from the bridge, but A .P. Olmsted was never found. The passenger train was stopped at Scranton, with about 200 aboard.

Only the remains of the bridge are left as this set of railroad tracks was abandoned a long time ago. A lot of people think the bridge that she crossed is the Kate Shelley Memorial High Bridge, but that bridge was actually built decades later. The construction of that bridge ultimately doomed the railroad line that went through Moingona.

This map of the railroads from 1908 shows where these tracks went from leaving Boone to entering Ogden.

As near as I can tell, there is only one picture of the bridge that Kate Shelley did cross out there. It is very small:

From what I can tell, the bridge she crossed was replaced in 1894. If you go out to the remains now, there are a couple of the stone supports left, but the structures that held up the middle of the bridge had been replaced with concrete supports. Now I’m not an archaeologist, but I believe that the piles of stone that are found near the base of the concrete supports are what remains of the stone supports that they replaced. I also believe that the remains of the wood box that would’ve been built to hold the river back while they built the concrete support can also be found near the center concrete support.

All of that is 100% conjecture on my part, but I think it makes sense. You can only see these things when the river is crazy low. It was crazy low when I went out there a couple weeks ago.

If you want to get the remains of the bridge, you go to the Kate Shelley Railroad Museum and then walk the trail that goes along where the old railroad tracks were until you get to the Des Moines River. With apologies to Wikipedia, I’d guess it is closer to a mile rather than 2 miles. See map:

Any way, here are some pictures I took out there with Rodan139:

Rodan 139: Kate Shelley's Bridge Remains

I will be going out there again in the near future for part of THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT in the near future. Let me know if anybody is up for a short hike.

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

FRAMED

A FRAMED image is an image where the subject of your picture is framed by objects that create negative space around it.

Happy photo harvesting!

Black & White, Christianity, Drone, Panorama

Rodan139: Saint Paul Lutheran Church

October 18, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Boone County has a handful of country churches. But the one that is my far the most beautiful, photogenic, and set in the best location is Saint Paul Lutheran Church that is north and east of Boone. I plan on taking the drone to all of Boone County’s country churches, but I figured I’d start with one that definitely doesn’t have an ugly electric cable running across the front of the church.

I’m trying to take the drone out every weekend, weather permitting, but weather probably won’t be all that permitting much longer.

Birthdays, Black & White, Dae Hee, Drone, Naima, Nora, Self-Portrait, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

Tell of Who You Are

October 16, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I need to start today with wishing Dae Hee a happy birthday. Happy birthday Dae Hee!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be.

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Mike

The main collection of pictures from today are alternates for last week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme SELF-PORTRAIT. A few of those pictures were taken on the roof of my house. I climbed up there without anybody holding the ladder or spotting me.

I bring this up, because I acknowledge that is dangerous and foolish. I bring this up, because a guy I know recently fell off a roof and broke his back. He is now in need of help with the medical expenses that come with that kind of injury and our broken health care system. If you are interested in helping out with his medical expenses, you can make a donation to his GoFundMe page here:

We’ve Got Mike’s Back ( – He broke it!)

You may remember Mike as the lead singer and bass player for Derrick’s band. He’s a good guy with a long road to recovery in front of him.

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Here is a collection of SELF-PORTRAIT images that I took for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, but didn’t use on Monday. They are mostly cruddy cell phone pictures, but a few were taken with Rodan139.

The pictures taken down by the river are with the remains of the bridge that Kate Shelley crossed to save all those lives, all those years. If you don’t know the story of Kate Shelley, don’t worry. You will at some point.

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This is your reminder that BLACK AND WHITE is the week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

BLACK AND WHITE

A BLACK AND WHITE image is a picture of any subject that is taken in BLACK AND WHITE, sometimes called monochrome.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Black & White, Cathie, Dawn, Derrick, Drone, History, Holidays, Jen, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Naima, Ruins, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 265 – SELF-PORTRAIT

October 12, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start by wishing everybody a happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I don’t have a picture to represent this holiday, but I do have a suggestion on a way to celebrate it.

I suggest listening to THIS LAND podcast by Crooked Media. It is pretty incredible and infuriating and addictive. Click on the link below:

This Land

A synopsis of the podcast:

Patrick Murphy was convicted of murder by the state of Oklahoma in 2000. But defense attorneys soon discovered that his conviction may have been based on a lie. Hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Oklahoma journalist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this podcast will provide an in depth look at how a cut and dry murder case opened an investigation into half the land in Oklahoma and the treaty rights of five tribes. Follow along to find out what’s at stake, the Trump administration’s involvement, the larger right wing attack on tribal sovereignty and how one unique case resulted in the largest restoration of tribal land in US history.

If you find that interesting, and you should because it is fascinating, click on the link above!

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We did it! WooHoo! 54 straight weeks of double digit submissions!

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

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Dawn Krause

Kio Dettman

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Andy Sharp

Micky Augustin

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Cathie Raley

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Derrick Gorshe

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:

BLACK AND WHITE

BLACK AND WHITE! What a great theme! In fact, I think you all know by now that is it my favorite theme! BLACK AND WHITE photography was my first love. Still my greatest love. What is a BLACK AND WHITE image? Literally any subject, as long as it is taken in BLACK AND WHITE.

BLACK AND WHITE has been a theme six times. It was not included in the first set of 52 themes. A terrible oversight and I blame Vest. Here is a look back at the six times BLACK AND WHITE was a theme:

RWPE Y2 #27 – BLACK & WHITE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 14 – BLACK AND WHITE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 74 – BLACK & WHITE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 133 – BLACK & WHITE

WPC – WEEK 202 – BLACK & WHITE

WPC – WEEK 251 – BLACK AND WHITE

I look forward to seeing your new 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.

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

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 monochrome Monday!

Drone, Panorama, Railroad

Rodan139: Three Bridges

October 11, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

A couple Saturdays ago I had a couple of less successful drone flights with Rodan139 than I was hoping for. One was my messup with a battery charging situation that I mismanaged. The other one I cut short because of tourists. Ugh! Tourists!

Have a look at what I did get:

I’m trying to make a concerted effort to take the drone out once a week, before the weather makes it impossible to take it out. For example, this week was extremely windy, but I was able to take it on a brief flight on Saturday down by the Des Moines River. I have a couple targets I want to get before the weather gets nasty. But one is really hard to get to, but I have a plan. We’ll see how it works out.

Art, Birthdays, Drone, History, Railroad, Ruins, Sara, Self-Portrait, Shawn Lockner, Town Sign Project, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Submissions

Maybe I’m a Man and Maybe I’m a Lonely Man

October 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start today by wishing Shawn a happy birthday. Happy birthday Shawn!

I hope your birthday is as wonderful as you want it to be!

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I do love pictures of SIGNS. My sister-in-law Laura once told me that this makes me a hipster. She is wrong about that, but even if it did make me a hipster, I’d still love pictures of signs. Battered. Beat up. Barely hanging on. My kind of SIGNS. With that in mind, here are the alternate pictures for last week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme SIGNS:

I also took a couple pictures of unincorporated towns in Boone County:

Centerville, Iowa
Unincorporated

Ridgeport, Iowa
Unincorporated

Here is an interesting fact about Ridgeport. It was originally called Mineral Ridge. It took that name from the ridge that the town sits on. It was giving that name because the surveyors that were exploring the area, their compass wasn’t working correctly. The figured that this was because the ridge was filled with minerals. Turns out that they just had a broken compass. At least this is what I read in the latest issue of “Trail Tales”.

I wish more of these unincorporated communities had signs like Centerville. I looked for one in Logansport and didn’t find one. Also looked for some kind of marker where Zenorsville was once located, but found nothing. However, of all the unincorporated communities in Boone County, the lack of any kind of marker for Jordan makes me the saddest. Not just because of my family connection (I also have a family connection to Centerville) to Jordan, but because of its historical significance because of the Jordan tornado. C’est la vie!

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This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is SELF-PORTRAIT:

SELF-PORTRAIT

A SELF-PORTRAIT is simply a picture where the photographer and the subject are the same person. Obviously, there are some creative ways to get around that, if you don’t like take pictures of yourself. Even if that doesn’t make sense to anybody else.

Happy photo harvesting!

HOUSEKEEPING

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