Category Archives: Fisheye

Andy, Angie, Animals, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Contests, Dawn, Elizabeth, Fisheye, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Greyson, Joe, Kim, Kio, Logan, Macro, Mary, Michelle, Micky, Pastor Sarah, Pufferbilly Days, Sabas, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 358 – WILD

July 25, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A reminder that this Friday is the deadline for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Entries are to be submitted to the Chamber office by 5 PM.

I hope there are plenty of submissions this year! Or at the least, more than there were last year.

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Was WILD a WILDly popular theme? I guess you will have to scroll down to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, July 18, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

+ Jesse Howard – 1 week
+ Willy McAlpine – 1 week
+ Suzie Brannen – 2 weeks
+ Sabas Hernandez – 2 weeks
+ Monica Jennings – 2 weeks
+ Mike Vest – 2 weeks
+ Sara Lockner – 3 weeks
+ Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 4 weeks
+ Mary Green – 4 weeks
+ Angie DeWaard – 6 weeks
+ Dawn Krause – 9 weeks
+ Linda Bennett – 11 weeks
+ Kim Barker – 15 weeks
+ Joe Duff – 16 weeks
+ Logan Kahler – 18 weeks (2)
+ Teresa Kahler – 26 weeks (2)
+ Tamara Peterson – 26 weeks
+ Carla Stensland – 26 weeks (2)
+ Michelle Haupt – 27 weeks
+ Micky Augustin – 28 weeks
+ Andy Sharp – 29 weeks
+ Bill Wentworth – 30 weeks
+ Cathie Morton – 34 weeks
+ Elizabeth Nordeen – 35 weeks (2)
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley – 37 weeks
+ Kio Dettman – 40 weeks (3)

You might look at this list and be thinking, “Wait a second. Didn’t Carla’s streak get snapped last week?” You are experiencing the Mandela Effect.

What is the Mandela Effect?

The Mandela Effect refers to a situation in which a large mass of people believes that an event occurred when it did not.

Here is the most famous example:

The famous children’s book series the “Berenstain Bears” is not immune to the Mandela effect. Many people report remembering the name being the Berenstein Bears (spelled with an “e” instead of an “a”).

So that is what is going on here. Just the Mandel Effect.

You also might be coming down with a touch of gaslighting here too…

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:

Mary Green – 5 weeks

Mary Green

Michelle Haupt – 28 weeks

Sabas Hernandez – 3 weeks

Sarah Karber – 1 week

Sarah Toot – 1 week

Sarah Toot

Tamara Peterson – 27 weeks

Tamara Peterson

Angie DeWaard – 7 weeks

Bill Wentworth – 31 weeks

Kio Dettman – 41 weeks

Kio Dettman

Dawn Krause – 10 weeks

Sara Lockner – 4 weeks

Micky Augustin – 29 weeks

Micky Augustin

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Morton – 35 weeks

Teresa Kahler – 27 weeks

Teresa Kahler

Joe Duff – 17 weeks

Carla Stensland – 27 weeks

Willy McAlpine – 2 weeks

Brandon Kahler – 1 week

Shannon Bardole-Foley – 38 weeks

Logan Kahler – 19 weeks

Logan Kahler

Kim Barker – 16 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen – 36 weeks

Monica Jennings – 3 weeks

Monica Jennings

Suzie Brannen – 3 weeks

Andy Sharp – 30 weeks

26 participants! A great week!

Included in that list is the first time ever submissions from Sarah Toot. In fact, it was a big week for Sara(h)s! There were 3 Sara(h) participants. Smashing the previous record held by Michaels. Congratulations to Sara(h)s everywhere!

In another abnormality, it was the second straight week where there was a submission of a Pepsi product. Proving once again that Pepsi is better than Coke (although you shouldn’t drink either cause they are both poison, he said before taking a swig from his 20 oz bottle of Pepsi). The Cola Wars are over. All hail Pepsi!

A big milestone was reached by Dawn. Her streak reached 10 weeks. Another member of the double digit club!

But it wasn’t all good times with the choice of a new generation. 4 streaks were tragically snapped. Jesse couldn’t extend his streak to two weeks. Michael Vest couldn’t join Michael Augustin on the big board. His streak snapped at two. Jen’s streak withered on the vine at 4 weeks. And worst of all, Linda’s streak crumbled at 11 weeks. If there were family streak’s they would be at 12, but there are not family streaks.

I have no doubt all four will get back on the photography horse and have great things for us again in the future.

Here are the current top streaks:

9. Teresa Kahler – 27 weeks
9. Tamara Peterson – 27 weeks
9. Carla Stensland – 27 weeks
8. Michelle Haupt – 28 weeks
7. Micky Augustin – 29 weeks
6. Andy Sharp – 30 weeks
5. Bill Wentworth – 31 weeks
4. Cathie Morton – 35 weeks
3. Elizabeth Nordeen – 36 weeks
2. Shannon Bardole-Foley – 38 weeks
1. Kio Dettman – 41 weeks

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:

ODD CAMERA ANGLE

ODD CAMERA ANGLE! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

But what exactly is an ODD CAMERA ANGLE photo? It is pretty simple. 99.9% of the pictures in the world are taken from the eye level of the photographer. This theme asks you to move the camera. It can be from an extremely low camera angle. Or it can be from an extremely high camera angle. Move your body and your camera to a perspective of your subject that isn’t normally seen.

While considering possible subjects and angles for your submission, meditate on the following quote:

Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find the truth about who you are.
-Ann Lamott

I look forward to seeing the interpretations.

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 ODD CAMERA ANGLE in this place that is my crooked look at the world next Monday.

Animals, Fisheye, Naima, WPC - Alternate

Dog Day

March 10, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

It has been too long since I’ve had a Naima post. I think there was a period during early pandemic where I was taking way too many Naima pictures. I was becoming THAT person. But then again, you can never really take too many pictures of Naima.

Here is a collection of pictures that I took that were alternates for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme ANIMAL and other were alternates for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme FOOD:

This collection of Naima photos almost completes the non portrait images from 2020. I still have a couple of flower posts in the future. Plus, I’m still on the fence about sharing my Christmas Star pictures, but those will probably be share soon as well. Then it is all 202!.

Alexis, Black & White, Fisheye, Formal Portrait

Alexis Prego Uno

January 17, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A couple months back I met Alexis at McFarland Park to take some pictures of her shortly before she gave birth to Anela. While 2020 was a cesspool of terrible, I did add two great-nieces to my family. In Anela and Dahlia. Here is the first collection of Alexis pregnancy pictures:

As always, with my luck with portraits, the lighting was brutal, but yet I feel still like we did some good work. There is more of pregnant Alexis on the way. Kupono and Kanoa will even show up eventually.

Fisheye, Flowers, Mom, Nature, Road Trip, Teresa, Vacation, WPC - Reminder

Dubuque Monument

January 1, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

I’m not the type of person that makes New Year’s Resolutions. So I don’t have any for you. Originally I was going to include a bunch of year in review stuff here. However, we are closing in on Post #4000 pretty soon, so I don’t see a need to do that now and then do it again in a few more weeks. So I’ll just say, Happy New Years! If you are the sort that celebrated.

Back on Labor Day, I took a road trip to Mines of Spain with my Mom and Teresa. I’ve already published all the pictures from Horseshoe Bluff. Now I want to post the pictures from the Julien Dubuque Monument.

Mines of Spain is definitely one of the prettiest parks I’ve ever visited.

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

TRANSPORTATION

A TRANSPORTATION image is any picture where the subject is something that is used in transporting something or somebody somewhere.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Becky, Elizabeth, Fisheye, Joe, Kio, Micky, Night, Ruins, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 271 – NIGHT

November 23, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Over the weekend I finalized the list for the next 52 themes. I will release the new list sometime in early December with a small explanation of how I arrived at the new list. Thanks again to Andy for being the only person to suggest theme ideas. A few of them were incorporated into the new set of themes. Until that day, continue to enjoy the Hall of Fame Theme List.

This was a theme I was worried about breaking the double digit streak, but I had double digit submissions before I even woke up on Monday morning! 60 straight weeks!! WooHoo!

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

Andy Sharp

Elizabeth Nordeen

Micky Augustin

Kio Dettman

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Kio Dettman

Tamara Peterson

Joe Duff

Christopher D. Bennett

Becky Parmelee

Cathie Raley

RUINS

RUINS! What a great theme! But what is a RUINS picture? A RUINS picture is simply a picture of something that is falling apart. Something that has been abandoned. Something that has seen better days.

Here is a look back at all the times in the past RUINS has been a WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme:

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 30 – RUINS

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 103 – RUINS

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 121 – RUINS

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 177 – RUINS

WPC – WEEK 211 – RUINS

I look forward to seeing your new 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.

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 ruined Monday!

Carla, Cathie, Fisheye, Jesse, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Shannon, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 268 – FRAMED

November 2, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A reminder to start of this post. This is the last day to suggest a theme for the next 52 weeks of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. There is only one way to suggest a theme for the next 52 weeks in THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Don’t email me a suggestion. Don’t text me a suggestion. Don’t call me with a suggestion. Leave your suggestion(s) in the Comments section of this here journal entry.

All suggestions will be considered, but might not necessarily make the cut. For example, if you suggested CATS, that would be dismissed out of hand. Save your key strokes.

The last time we didn’t hit double digit submissions was September 23, 2019. The theme was STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. If I don’t get a couple of suggestions, I might just make every week STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. Not just out of spite, but also because I do legitimately love STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. Even though, a pandemic that is completely out of control in Iowa, is not a good time for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY.

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57 straight weeks of double digit submissions!! WooHoo! I was worried about FRAMED, but I didn’t even have to send any reminder messages to people.

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

Carla Stensland

Micky Augustin

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Kim Barker

Cathie Raley

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Mike Vest

TREE

TREE! What a great theme! But what is a TREE image? It is any image of a TREE or anything that deals with trees, like a leaf, or mulch, or a stump, or lumber or, you get the idea.

Here is a look back at all the times that TREE has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 27 – TREE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 84 – TREE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 151 – TREE

WPC – WEEK 196 – TREE

WPC – WEEK 242 – TREE

I look forward to seeing your new interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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 woody Monday!

Animals, Boone FUMC, Commercial, Equipment, Fisheye, Flowers, Mom, Night, Shannon, Still Life, Youth Group

A Little Here, A Little There

October 27, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

This post is mostly a catch-all of cleaning up some image collections taken back in August, that were either going to part of bigger journal entries that I have abandoned or just a few rando pictures taken here and there that I just want to clean up and get out of the way.

The first little collection is pictures taken from church when they presented scholarships to Autumn, Summer, and Jentry:

Church went back to the building in October. They opened all the windows in the sanctuary to increase air circulation. It gets pretty cold in there. Makes me miss warm weather all the more.

The second collection of pictures is of the creamed honey I purchased from Honey Hollow, AKA Shannon and her husband’s business. I got the straight honey, raspberry, and mango. I was going to do a little review and endorsement deal on them, and I still might some day. But I think it is sufficient to say, that it is honey. It is delicious. It doesn’t crystallize because it is creamed.

At one point I was going to do an entry on a remote control I bought for the A7 II. I think it is sufficient to say that I bought a remote control and I use it now and again. Usually with long exposures.

Speaking of photo equipment entries I planned and never made. I bought an infrared filter to play with. I have since misplaced this filter. It is one of 3 things in my house that I’m currently keeping an eye out for.

Test shot.

There there were some night sky photo I took when playing with a new fisheye lens.

I need to do some night photography again before it gets too cold.

Then finally, just a couple rando photos:

Feels good to get these pictures out there. Real good.

Aaron, Andy, Animals, Bill, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Fisheye, Jesse, Kim, Kio, Micky, Naima, Photoshop, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 267 – ANIMAL

October 26, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

56 weeks in a row people. We even had double digit submissions before Monday morning! Now this week’s theme is a little more challenging, I feel like we will once again, hit double digits. You can tell that the weather must be getting colder. While the theme is ANIMAL, every single picture taken was of a pet. Wel, one isn’t, but it is also taken inside. I wasn’t going to take a picture of Naima, but my original plan fell through. Or actually fell down. Well, wasn’t inflated anyways.

I’m not saying my submission this week is anything special, but it uses a new technique that is fairly controversial in photography circles. If you were in Iowa last week, you might have a good idea of how it is manipulated. Or you might not. There will be a post on this “new” thing in the future.

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

Tamara Peterson

Bill Wentworth

Aaron Barnett

Kio Dettman

Dawn Krause

Micky Augustin

Kim Barker

Kio Dettman

Christopher D. Bennett

Jesse Howard

Elizabeth Nordeen

Cathie Raley

Andy Sharp

Shanno Bardole-Foley

FRAMED

FRAMED! What a great theme! But what is a FRAMED image? A FRAMED image is easier to make than it might sound. All it is, is an image where your main subject is buffeted on a least one side by something that isn’t the main subject. So basically, a subject matter, with negative space on multiple sides of it. For the sake of this challenge we will consider negative space, either something that is nondescript, one color, or out of focus. Of course, there are other ways to define FRAMED. Something that is in a framed is FRAMED. However, the idea here is to create a framed for you subject with other things in the environment.

Here is a look back at the 5 times previously that FRAMED was a theme:

RWPE #5 – FRAMING

RWPE Y2 #29 – FRAMING

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 15 – FRAMED

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 112 – FRAMED

WPC – WEEK 212 – FRAMED

I look forward to seeing your new interpretations.

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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 framed Monday!

Fisheye, Flowers, Macro

Painted Without Instruction – 2020 – Beta

October 8, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Today I want to share the balance of the images from the sunflower field at Badger Creek Recreation Area near Van Meter.

I’ll definitely have to try to get back there next year. Could be an annual trip. Like my trips to State Center and Pella. At least they are supposed to be annual.

Animals, Equipment, Fisheye, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Logan, Naima, Nature, Night, Self-Portrait, Still Life

Red Fish, Blue Fish

August 16, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I meant to publish a post on this subject a week or so ago, but the derecho put those plans on hold. I’ve meant to be more proactive about writing about when I get new equipment, even equipment that is fairly small or seemingly inconsequential to most people. Hopefully this post starts just such a new era for “An Artist’s Notebook”.

The most recent thing I purchased was a fisheye lens for the mirrorless camera setup. Have a look:

Here are some specs for the lens:
FOCUS TYPE: Manual
CLOSEST FOCUSING DISTANCE: 7.9″
FOCAL LENGTH: 12mm
ANGLE OF VIEW: 180
MAXIMUM APERTURE: f/2.8
MINIMUM APERTURE: f/22

On a 35mm camera or a full frame sensor camera, a 50mm lens is the same as human sight. When you look through a viewfinder with a 50mm lens on the camera, what you see should be about the same as when you aren’t looking through the lens. Your angle of view won’t be the same, but objects should be about the same distance.

To illustrate how a fisheye lens, I took pictures of Jesse with a 50mm lens and with my new fisheye lens so you can see the difference between human sight and a fisheye lens.

50mm

Fisheye

50mm

Fisheye

50mm

Fisheye

50mm

Fisheye

I wanted to make this example to be more scientific, but I couldn’t find a football field in Boone with yardlines already painted that wasn’t being used. So these distances are mostly eyeballed, but they are pretty darn close.

Now that you know what it is and what it does, here are a few sample pictures I have taken:

The next piece of equipment I will talk about is a macro bellow I recently picked up. Then maybe a remote camera trigger. Then I need to purchase some stuff.

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RULES

HOUSEKEEPING

HOUSEKEEPING

HOUSEKEEPING

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