Back in early December Carla, Teresa, and I went to Pella to experience their Krestmarkt. A Krestmarkt is a Dutch open air Christmas Market. It was pretty dang cold that day. If we would have went the day before the temperature was in the 50s. I think it was in the low 20s or teens when we were there. It was a pretty good time!
It was a great trip and I hope we make it back again next year. However, that wasn’t the end of the trip…
It is time for me to reveal the November image of the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:
The November image is a picture of the Tin Man sculpture in Stanley, Iowa. In retrospect, it does feel a little strange that I chose to process this image in black and white when the Tin Man is only in the color portion of THE WIZARD OF OZ. But I do love processing the decrepit in black & white because black & white photography shows off the textures so much better. I chose November for this image as November is when Olivia’s birthday is and THE WIZARD OF OZ was her favorite movie.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M2
DATE: May 28, 2022 – 11:03 AM
LENS: Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 75mm
APERTURE: f/9
EXPOSURE: 1/250
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +1.0
Tomorrow I will reveal the December image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.
Last week we had a mini office party for the few people that actually work in the physical computer mine. I was tasked (sorta) for taking some pictures of the even for the computer mine socials.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Michelle took the picture that I am in.
I hope next year we are able to bring back the chili cook-off. Even if it is just Me vs. Jesse vs. Micky.
Time to reveal the April image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:
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.
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!
Back in June I went to the Red Bull Soap Box Derby in Des Moines. Nathanial was competing and I wanted to check out his team, but truth is I probably would have went even if I didn’t know anybody that was competing. It was some kind of scene.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:
I don’t know when or if the Soap Box Derby will come back to Iowa, but I would definitely go again!
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is WATER:
WATER! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a WATER picture? Simply put, a WATER picture is a picture where one of the major compositional elements is WATER or related to WATER. For example, in the them reveal picture is a WATER tower. The picture doesn’t necessarily have to include straight WATER. But can be something that is WATER related. Or a picture of something that contains WATER.
Happy photo harvesting!
Pushing off the next Formal Portrait Sunday another week. Instead, I’m going to share some pictures from Kanoa’s birthday party from a few months back. We had ice cream and cake at Alexis’ and Kupono’s apartment and then went to the park to play.
Here are some of my favorite images:
Does this old man good to watch all the little ones get together and play. Might have been the only time it happened this year. I guess it happened again for a bit on Thanksgiving.
Thursday was Boone First United Methodist Church’s annual Community Thanksgiving meal. We provide a free meal to anybody in the community that wants one. This year we served over 580 meals. We did both drive-thru and a sit down meal for the first time ever. In the past, it has been one of the other.
Here is a collection of photos from the day:
It was great to see so many former youth group kids there. Both those that are now adults and those that would be in a youth group if it still existed.
It was also great to see so many people I haven’t seen in a long time. Some since last Thanksgiving. Some since even before that.
A post on 11/11 that published at 11:11 AM (Central Time)? What does it mean? Absolutely nothing. Numerology is as much nonsense astrology and almost as much nonsense as trickle down economics. But nothing is as much nonsense as trickle down economics.
But happy Veterans Day. I don’t have a power rankings to coincide with Veterans Day. Maybe next year. I might be more about celebrating holidays in 2023. We will have to see what is in the stars.
This is the final collection of images from the Renaissance Faire I attended with Jen, Evie, Layla, and the twins. These are pictures of the joust, which was definitely the highlight of the day. The joust was definitely heavily scripted. Maybe not the joust part, but everything that surrounded it.
It was very professional wrestling. There was a bad knight. He wore Iowa Hawkeye colors, duh! There was a good knight. He wore Iowa State colors. Obviously.
After the jousting was done, the bad guys attacked the good guys and a fight broke out. Eventually the good knight prevailed and cut the throat of the bad knight. Fake blood sprayed everywhere. It is my deep regret that this took me completely by surprise and I did not get a picture of it.
However, if Evie dances at the Renaissance Faire again in 2023, I will definitely be ready for this fake blood explosion and will get a picture of it!
Here are the pictures of the joust (not on ostriches surprisingly):
People watching at a Renaissance Faire. It is fantastic!
Now that I have been to one, I know where better to sit and I know to get to the joust ring, plenty early. The next festival type pictures I will share will come from my trips to the Iowa State Fair. Probably. Maybe the Boone County Fair, but I don’t think I took many pictures at the Boone County Fair. It is a mystery. Like numerology.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is STRONG:
STRONG! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a STRONG picture? It is simply a picture of something that is STRONG. This one might be a bit more of an abstract theme than many. But remember there are all types of strength. Something or somebody can be physically STRONG. Things can smell STRONG. Food can have a STRONG taste. Many people are STRONG in their faith. There are plenty of ways to be STRONG. And there are many STRONG things out there.
Happy photo harvesting!
Back in May I met up with Jen, Layla and the twins at the Renaissance Faire down in Des Moines to watch Evie do her Irish dance thing.
Here is a collection of pictures from just walking around the Faire:
There is one more collection of pictures from my day at the Renaissance Faire left to share.
DECORATION! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what exactly is a DECORATION photo? A DECORATION image is simply a picture of a DECORATION or a picture where a DECORATION plays a heavy element in the composition.
Happy photo harvesting!
Way back in May I met up with Jen, Layla, and the twins at the Renaissance Faire down in Des Moines to watch Evie dance. I’ve already shared the pictures of Evie dancing, but I took plenty more pictures on that day.
This collection is of the knight battle we watched. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting a sword duel that would put the sword fight between Inigo Montoya and the Dread Pirate Roberts to shame. This was mostly dudes in armor kind of grabbing each other and trying to throw the other to the ground.
While Inigo Montoya’s swordplay still stands as the greatest these eyes have ever seen, this battle was still fun to watch.
I’m not steeped in Renaissance Faire culture. I knew some people in college that were involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism, but I was too big of a jerk then to take anything they said seriously. Therefore, I didn’t learn much. But my understanding, is that one of the knights in the battle had to win so many fights to become fully knighted or something like that. I should have taken notes.
One thing I remember clearly is that it was incredibly hot that day, so wearing all that armor and fighting, must have been brutal. The guy trying to earn his title was wearing a helmet that didn’t have a way to access his face, so in between bouts they had to run a tube from a water bottle through the helmet to keep him hydrated.
I still have a couple more collections of pictures from the Renaissance Faire to share.
I wasn’t sure if I was a Renaissance Faire Person, but I had a great time. I hope Evie dances down there again next year and I get to go again.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ART:
ART! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is an ART image? It is simply a picture of something that is a piece of ART. I would urge you to not just take a standard straight on picture of a piece of ART. Try to see it from a different angle than it might be normally viewed. While your subject might be ART, your interpretation of your subject should be ARTistic. Now a truly arrogant photographer could just claim that every picture they take is ART.
Happy photo harvesting!
Another Pufferbilly Days event that I photographed was the Pufferbilly Days Dog Show. Technically, it is a pet show, but the only pets that show up are dogs. I mean, it is pretty obvious why nobody enters a cat, but I would think that somebody would enter a guinea pig or a hamster or a rat or a snake or a bearded lizard or a tarantula or a tortoise or a turtle or a fish or something. Makes me want to go buy a tarantula just to enter it. But I can’t. I’m the events official photographer. It is the sacrifice that I make. Maybe next year somebody will enter a tarantula.
Here are some pictures from the Pufferbilly Days Dog Show:
I look forward to the 2023 Pufferbilly Days Pet Show. Hopefully there will be plenty of spiders and lizards!
There are still plenty more Pufferbilly Days event photos left to share.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is COLORFUL.
REMINDER IS LABOR DAY. WHILE SCHOOLS AND BANKS AND GOVERMENTS TAKE THE DAY OFF, THERE ARE NO DAYS OFF FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 139! I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING ON THAT DAY, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE I WON’T BE IN A POSITION TO REMIND ANYBODY ABOUT SUBMITTING. PLAN YOUR SUBMISSION ACCORDINGLY AND DON’T LET YOUR STREAK GET SNAPPED CAUSE YOU ARE A BANKER OR GOVERNMENT WORKER THAT GETS THE DAY OFF AND YOU GOT LOST IN WATCHING NETFLIX OR TAKING YOUR BOAT TO THE LAKE OR WHATEVER NORMAL PEOPLE DO ON LABOR DAY. MOSTLY MOURN THE END OF SUMMER I BELIEVE.
COLORFUL! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a COLORFUL image? If we break down the word COLORFUL it simply means something that is full of color. So any subject or scene where there is a lot of color is COLORFUL. Almost too easy! Many of the pictures taken for CIRCLE would also qualify for COLORFUL.
Of course, there is more than one definition of the term COLORFUL.
Happy photo harvesting!
