Category Archives: Drone

Drone, History, Road Trip, WPC - Reminder

Rodan139: Great Pyramids of Iowa

December 10, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back on a Town Sign Harvest road trip with Teresa, I took Rodan139 out for a flight and photographed the Great Pyramids of Iowa. They are located in a cemetery near the unincorporated town of Avery, Iowa.

They were built in 1939 by an Egyptian pyramid fan, but he ended up not being buried in them. More details when I publish the ground images.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ODD CAMERA ANGLE:

ODD CAMERA ANGLE

ODD CAMERA ANGLE! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what exactly an ODD CAMERA ANGLE image? Well it couldn’t be simpler. You see, most people when they take a picture stand and bring the camera up to their face and take the picture straight on from their height. An ODD CAMERA ANGLE image is just a picture where you change your body from its normal position or the angle of the camera. Take a picture of something looking straight down at it. Or straight up. Get on the ground. Or climb up to the top of something. Or rather than having the camera stay level, move it like 45 degrees. You subject can be anything, but try looking at your subject from a different vantage point than you normally see it.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Bill, Carla, Drone, Elizabeth, Jesse, Kim, Kio, Panorama, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 312 – ‘SCAPE

September 6, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Despite it being Labor Day, there was still a decent, but not overwhelming number of submissions for ‘SCAPE.

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

Andy Sharp

Teresa Kahler

Kim Barker

Elizabeth Nordeen

Jesse Howard

Carla Stensland

Jesse Howard

Bill Wentworth

Kio Dettman

Christopher D. Bennett

Kio Dettman

Lori Backous

Tamara Peterson

Lori Backous

Micky Augustin

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:

JUNK

JUNK! What a great theme for Week 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what exactly is a JUNK photo. JUNK isn’t necessarily garbage, but it could be. JUNK is defined as things that are useless or of little value. But that doesn’t mean JUNK has no value. Just like the theme reveal image, I bet everybody reading these words has a JUNK drawer. Off the top of my head, I have at least 9 of them and several JUNK bins. So go out and find something that has been set aside because it has little value and give it some value by turning it into art.

And don’t forget that some food is considered JUNK as well. And of course, there are other definitions for the word JUNK. Some more safe for work than others.

When you thinking about creating your JUNK image, think about this quote:

Buy, buy says the sign in the show window;
Why why, says the junk in the yard.
– Paul McCartney

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 our idea of JUNK in this place that is little more than the place I leave much of my psychological junk next Monday.

Black & White, Contests, Drone, Formal Portrait, Mom, State Fair

2021 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon Personal Results

August 22, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

By the time this publishes, my entries in this year’s Iowa State Fair Photography Salon should be safely in my possession. It seems like a good time to share what pictures I entered and how they fared.

2021 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon -

Class 45: Planes, Trains & Automobiles – Honorable Mention

Class 22: Black & White People – Selected for Display

Class 17: Plants, Flowers & Trees – Honorable Mention

Class 13: USA Places & Landscapes – Not Selected for Display

I’m not going into the picture of my Mom that I entered, but probably will in a later post. I don’t think she would have liked to have a picture of her entered, but I also know she would have gotten over it pretty quickly.

I’ll just concentrate on the picture that didn’t get in. It was the one that I was most confident would get accepted for display, which meant it was doomed from the beginning. I entered it based mostly on the fact that it was the most commented on picture from the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar. I will never know why it wasn’t accepted for display, but I have a feeling it it because the highlights are overblown. Oh well, I guess it is time to start thinking on the 2022 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon.

Drone, Night, Pufferbilly Days, Still Life, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

If You Look to the Sky and Pray

August 6, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start this post by encouraging you (if you have a pet) to enter the Pufferbilly Days Pet Show. It is this Sunday at 11 AM. Registration begins at 10:45. It is located at Veterans Park (9th and Story). Awards are given to the dog that is the Best Beggar, does the Best Trick, and had the Best Tail Wag. For Misc. pets, prizes are given to the Most Unique, the Most Colorful, and the pet with the Most Appropriate Name. There is a prize given for Most Look-Alike and Best in Show. Also some awards for cats, I assume.

Here is a flyer that has the ratio way off.

The Pet Show is open to all ages of humans and pets. As you can tell, this isn’t a super serious competition. So grab Fido and come on down for some fun with your four-legged (or two legs if it is a bird) friend! Also, no poultry.

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I haven’t taken Rodan139 out hardly at all this year. In fact, probably less than 5 times. I need to start stretching its wings more than I have. But here is a tiny collection of the last 2 extremely brief flights that it went on. One was just to look at all the fireworks going off around town. The others are alternates for my THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme of PATHS.

I’m laying down my pick and taking about a week long sabbatical from the Computer Mine starting next week, so hopefully I’ll get Rodan139 out of the hangar at least once in that time frame.

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

TOY

TOY! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a TOY image? Simply put, a TOY image is a picture of something that you use for recreation. It isn’t used for work. It is used for play. However, what one person might consider a TOY, another person might consider a TOOL. What is considered a TOY might be more personal than one thinks at first glance.

Happy photo harvesting!

Cathie, Drone, Elizabeth, Kio, Micky, Nature, Shannon, Still Life, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 307 – PATHS

August 2, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

At least a few people were able to figure out what PATHS they are walking for the theme of PATHS.

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

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Teresa Kahler

Micky Augustin

Elizabeth Nordeen

Kim Barker

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Kio Dettman

Cathie Raley

Mike Vest

A great week of submissions!

TOY

TOY! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

Think on these words when considering your subject for this week’s image:

As men get older, the goys get more expensive.
-Marvin Davis

Heed these words and there is no doubt you will create a most playful TOY images.

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 our idea of TOY in this place that is little more than my plaything next Monday.

Carla, Drone, Elizabeth, Kio, Micky, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 298 – UP IN THE AIR

May 31, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Despite the busy holiday weekend, a handful of stalwart photographers managed to submit an image for UP IN THE AIR.

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

Elizabeth Nordeen

Micky Augustin

Kio Dettman

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

WORDS

WORDS! Another great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a WORDS image? I know many of you didn’t come here fore reading! Top to bottom, left to right… a group of words together is called a sentence. Take Tylenol for any headaches… Midol for any cramps.

But one of the greatest comedies of all-time aside, WORDS are merely collections of letters. You can find WORDS all over the place. Books. Signs. Advertising. Newspapers. Magazines. All over the place. You are literally (used correctly) looking at WORDS right now!

You could think on these WORDS from HAMLET as you consider the composition of you image:

POLONIOUS: What do you read, my lord?
HAMLET: Words, words, words.
POLONIOUS: What is the matter, my lord?
HAMLET: Between who?
POLONIOUS: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.
HAMLET: Slanders, sir. For the satirical rogue says here that old men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams—all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward.
POLONIOUS: Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.

Meditate on these words and I have no doubt you will make a most powerful WORDS image.

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 our idea of WORDS in this place that consists mostly of WORDS next Monday.

Drone, Photoshop, Postcard

Postcard Recreation Project – Bird’s Eye View

January 27, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This round of old-timey postcard recreations for THE POST CARD RECREATION PROJECT don’t really have a history lesson to go with them. They are simply a “bird’s eye view” of downtown Boone.

Have a look:

Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Iowa – Original

Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Iowa – Redux

13599 – Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Ia – Original

13599 – Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Ia – Redux

Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Iowa – Modern Interpretation

The next time we visit THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT, it will involve more views of downtown Boone, but from a more grounded vantage point.

9 Emotions Project, Alexis, Animals, Art, Baier, Black & White, Blogging, Carla, Cousin Amy, Derrick, Drone, Elainie, Elizabeth, Faust, Flowers, Football, Formal Portrait, History, Iowa State, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Johnathan, Jorge, Logan, Macro, Michelle, Mom, Nature, Photoshop, Politics, Road Trip, Sara, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Taylan, Teresa, Vest, Willy

Post #4,000

January 19, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

August 9, 2006. That was the date where I first took keyboard in hand and began typing out the blog that I entitled “An Artist’s Notebook”. I entitled that first post “First Journal Entry”. The categories for that first post were “Blogging”, “Contests”, “Jay”, and “Sara”.

This is the first paragraph I posted:

So here is the first journal entry. I felt like having as pretentious sounding name as possible for my journal. I have a few goals about this journal. My main goal is just to actually write in it. My second goal is to be as truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings. I have another journal on another website, but it is really just a collection of sarcastic statements and cheap jabs at open faced sandwiches. This journal is meant to be about what my achievements and failures are in the world of art. What projects I am working on and what I have accomplished and what I have failed to accomplish. What I am photographing and what I am thinking about entering in photo contests. What I am thinking about. It might not always make sense. It might just be things I need to write down because they strike me as poignant or inspirational. This is in a small way an online “idea box”.

Then it goes on to talk about how I attended the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon Reception with Sara to see what two pictures had been accepted for display that year. Then I would go on to talk about how Jay had talked me into entering the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

The last line of the entry was simply:

I don’t want to mail it in.

While I was actually referencing the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, it is my hope that I also didn’t choose to “mail it in” as it pertains to “An Artist’s Notebook”.

It has been 5,276 days since that first post. 5,276 days to reach this day and the 4,000th post in this blog, or “online journal” like I sometimes call it when I don’t like calling it a blog. It is hard to believe I have made it this far, for this long.

It hasn’t been necessarily smooth sailing the whole time. My website has been through a couple different servers. I have been through a couple different hosts for the blog part of the website. I have been through 4 (I think) different image hosting options in those 5,275 days. That jumping around for image hosting solutions did cause the problem that images from my posts from the first few years of this website’s existence have had to be “restored” slowly over time. So far I have semi-successfully restored all the entries though June of 2010. Which means, I still have a full year’s worth of entries left to restore. Somewhere in 2011, was when I fully made the move to my current SmugMug image hosting solution. I have unfortunately lost a few images, probably forever, mostly old phone pictures, but those old posts are as complete as they will ever be.

When I hit these milestones, I like to publish a lot of fairly meaningless stats. This one will be no different. So, here are the “An Artist’s Notebook” categories that I have used the most often:

Top 10 An Artist’s Notebook Categories

#1. Black & White – 698 Entries

#2. Flowers – 693 Entries

#3. Animals – 620 Entries

#4. Jesse – 495 Entries

#5. Portrait – 472 Entries

#6. Shannon – 421 Entries

#7. Carla – 391 Entries

#8. WPC – Submissions – 381 Entries

#9. Teresa – 364 Entries

#10. Mom – 363 Entries

Top Ten An Artist’s Notebook People Categories

#1. Jesse – 495 Entries

#2. Shannon – 421 Entries

#3. Carla – 391 Entries

#4. Teresa – 364 Entries

#5. Mom – 363 Entries

#6. Jay – 320 Entries

#7. Derrick – 295 Entries

#8. Willy – 268 Entries

#9. Vest – 258 Entries

#10. Jen – 254 Entries

Top Ten Non-People An Artist’s Notebook Categories

#1. Black & White – 698 Entries

#2. Flowers – 693 Entries

#3. Animals – 620 Entries

#4. Portrait – 472 Entries

#5. WPC – Submissions – 381 Entries

#6. Nature – 349 Entries

#7. Macro – 332 Entries

#8. Photoshop – 327 Entries

#9. Road Trip – 326 Entries

#10. Art – 314 Entries

People often ask what is the best way to improve their Photography 139 Category Score. The easiest way is to submit pictures to THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. But posing for and assisting me with photo project or photo adventures is also a very good way.

What people have a shot at cracking the Top Ten by the time we hit Post #5,000? Kim, Sara, Logan, and Micky all have a shot. But 1,000 posts is a long ways away. So anybody has a shot!

But what are the Ten Most Popular Photo Galleries in Photography 139 history? Unfortunately, I can’t answer that question. I can only process stats up to 365 days ago. However, I can tell you the Ten Most Popular Photo Galleries of the last 365 Days are.

Click on the image to peruse that gallery.

Top Ten Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries (by view) of the Last 365 Days

WEEK 209 - ARCHITECTURE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

#1. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 7 – 57697 Views

#2. Christopher D. Bennett – 41080 Views

#3. 9 Emotions Project – 36972 Views

#4. Taylan Howard – 2020 – 34075 Views

#5. Daisies – 26800 Views

#6. Drone – 24659 Views

#7. Weekly Photo Challenge – HOF – 24603 Views

#8. Family Happenings – 18,231 Views

#9. Alexis Pregnancy Photo Shoot – 2020 – 17057 Views

#10. Black Lives Matter – Boone – 2020 – 16160 Views

The Ten Most Popular Photography 139 Images of the Last 365 Days (by Views)

#1. 7254 Views

#2. 3153 Views

#3. 2460 Views (Photo by Logan Kahler)

#4. 2228 Views

#5. 2127 Views

#6. 2111 Views

#7. 1971 Views

#8. 1916 Views

#9. 1891 Views

#10. 1830 Views

Now the secret to the popularity of some of these images is that they are cover photos for albums, but shhhh… don’t tell anybody!

Another category of meaningless statistics, I’d like to share is what have been the most popular posts since the inception of “An Artist’s Notebook”. Although it might not be the most accurate way to judge such things, the only statistic I can use to judge this is “Comments” left on each post. That doesn’t mean emails or text messages or comments I received in person. These are comments that were left in the Comments section of each post.

Most Popular An Artist’s Notebook Entries (by Comments)

#1. The People’s Choice Round Two – 24 Comments

#2. Weekly Photo Challenge – Week 9 – Food – 22 Comments

#2. Weekly Photo Challenge – Week 43 – Sunrise/Sunset – 22 Comments

#4. Town Sign Project: Hamilton County – 21 Comments

#4. Town Sign Project: Dallas County – 21 Comments

#6. Postcard Recreation Project: Some Churches – 20 Comments

#6. Rodan139: Swede Valley Lutheran Church – 20 Comments

#8. Will History Blame Me… – 19 Comments

#9. Yo, Ya Just Get in that, You Get in that Head Space, Ya Know – 15 Comments

#9. You Can Call it a Comeback – 15 Comments

#9. Wild Goose Chase – 15 Comments

#9. Sorry Not Sorry – 15 Comments

One thing to note is that each “An Artist’s Notebook” entry has its Comments section close 30 days after being posted. Some of those still have a chance to grow, but most have been locked into place forever.

The last statistic I want to share before closing out Post #4,000 is kind of a loyalty score. To even be considered for this list, you first have to have a Photography 139 Email Subscription. The following is a statistic based on “loyalty” for lack of a better term to that service.

Top Five Most Loyal Photography 139 Subscribers

1. Michelle Haupt – 99%
2. Joe Duff – 97%
3. Shannon Bardole-Foley – 94%
4. Sara Lockner – 90%
5. Corey Faust – 89%

Thanks to everybody that has supported this adventure for 14 years, 5 months, and now 10 days!

Drone, Nature, Panorama

Rodan139: Des Moines River Valley

January 12, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back, I took Rodan139 for a little flight around the Des Moines River Valley. Just off the boat ramp that is next to US30. It was a little late in the day, so it was a short flight before it got dark, but still got plenty of good pictures.

This might be it for drone pictures for a bit. I don’t have any more in the hopper. It kind of depends on the weather and lighting on whether or not Rodan139 will take to the skies again before spring. I am hopeful though!

Black & White, Drone, Railroad

Rodan139: Humpback Bridge

January 5, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A couple weeks back I took Rodan139 for a flight around the Humpback Bridge. It was probably too late in the evening so some of the images have too much noise for my liking, but that doesn’t mean that there still isn’t plenty there for the liking.

Here is some fun facts about the Humpback Bridge:

+Built in 1900
+Riveted double intersection Warren pony truss
+Length of largest span: 69.9 feet
+Total Length: 140.1 feet
+Deck Width: 18.4 feet
+Bridge is likely built using a former Chicago & North Western Railway span, which has been reconstructed for road use.

All of that is according to Bridgehunter.com.