Time to reveal the November image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar. NOVEMBER – 2026 The subject of the November image is a water lily I found at the Des Moines Botanical Garden. I am a proud member of the Iowa Arboretum and with that membership I can get in… Read More »WPC – WEEK 539 – ENTERTAINMENT
Time to reveal the September image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar. SEPTEMBER – 2026 The subject of the September image was Virgil the Owl. Virgil took up residence in a tree outside of Lagomarcino on the Iowa State campus this spring. So fortunately this owl was an easy owl… Read More »Des Moining II
It has recently been announced that Boone is going to gut their music and arts programs. I don’t know there is necessarily anything that can be done about it other than point out how tragic it is. I’m obviously not a parent of a middle schooler, but I came into… Read More »Would You Love a Creature
Time to reveal the April image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar. APRIL – 2026 Technical Details The subject for the April image is a collection of tulips taken in the Pella town square. Every year I like to make a trip to Pella to photograph their wonderful selection of… Read More »WPC – WEEK 538 – BLACK & WHITE
Time to reveal the February image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar. FEBRUARY – 2026 Technical Details The subject for the February image is a macro image of an ant on top of a peony in my backyard. I probably took hundreds of images of ants on my peonies before… Read More »A Long Goodbye
Time to reveal the January image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar. JANUARY – 2026 Technical Details The subject for the January image is the rotunda of the Iowa Capital. It is a part of a series of the Iowa Capital photos called “Where Basic Human Rights Go to Die”.… Read More »Philadelphia Day 2: I Didn’t Hear No Bell
Every last 2026 Photography 139 calendar has been distributed as of roughly 5:30 PM last night. So now is a good time to start sharing the images from this year’s calendar. We will start with the front cover. FRONT COVER – 2026 Technical Details The subject of the picture is… Read More »525,600 Minutes – 2025 Year in Review
Back in June I went down to Des Moines with Teresa. The ultimate goal was to hit the Greek Food Fair, but we also went to the Downtown Des Moines Famer’s Market and the Capital Pride Event. It was a pretty fantastic day. Here is the first collection of images… Read More »Des Moining I
Last Friday Lowell and I were wandering around Eastern State Penitentiary. This collection will conclude the pictures from there. It is a pretty cool place to visit if you are interested in history or just want to see how cruel man can be to fellow man once they have convicted… Read More »Philadelphia Day 2: Rest of Eastern State Penitentiary
Merry Christmas everyone!! I honestly don’t think a better sermon on the meaning of Christmas has ever been given than the one given by Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. So I’ll just share that again. I will assume everyone in the sound of these words has seen “A… Read More »Merry Christmas!!!! (2025)
Hey, can you get out of bed today?Do you need anything from me?I’m anywhere, anywhere I need to beEven I had the dream last nightWe were squatters in fight or flightBonfires and Christmas lightsI miss those nights too Don’t be a stranger nowYou never really know when the floor drops… Read More »No One Knows Us
I knew a wild woman, she threw a party on her graveShe went there tapping her cane and sipping champagneShe’s a wild womanAnd she makes me feel so tameI can take her in a foot race, but I can’t take her anywhereShe laughs at all the pop starsAnd she doesn’t… Read More »Joni
Back in May I went down to the Des Moines Airport to finalize approval for Global Entry for the trip to Ireland. Before and after my appointment I wandered around parts of Des Moines doing a little street photography. I took enough images for two collections. Here is the first… Read More »May Des Moines Street Photography I
One of the little used benefits at the Computer Mine is that everybody gets 8 hours of VTO every year to use. I’m pretty sure next to nobody uses it, which is a shame. An extra day off. To do something fun? Why wouldn’t you do that? I guess some… Read More »Boone FUMC 2025 Thanksgiving Prep
Day 2 in Philadelphia was supposed to be the first day of work. It wasn’t real clear in the early morning if we would work or when we would work. It was dependent on when the contractors got finished putting the Computer Mine Booth together. Fortunately for us, they didn’t… Read More »Philadelphia Day 2: City Hall
While the empire was failingI was so far from homeI heard a thousand sirens wailingSo I was never on my ownAnd when the blackness slowly partedI saw the ivory towersBefore the revolution startedBetween the madness of the hours And they don’t see what we seeWe believe, we believe That they’re… Read More »Church & State
I wish you all the hap, hap, happiest of Thanksgivings! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! But Thursdays are for flowers. And you might feel blessed that this collection of flowertography images aren’t of peonies. There are strawflowers and clematis in this collection. Let’s get at it: An observant flowertography fan might have noticed… Read More »Thanksgiving Blessings Upon You!
Give me space from the distance, a break in the silenceA face to the surface and open my eyesGive me words with a purpose that hurt us and burn usFor brittling, kindling, tumbleweed lies She pulled my eye and touched me twiceI froze when I felt the connecting of wiresSo… Read More »Anniversary
Can you believe that this is the 5,750th entry in the blog known as “An Artist’s Notebook”? Every 250 posts or so I like to take a moment to reflect on where this post has been and post a lot of meaningless stats. As always on these posts, I like… Read More »Post 5,750
I don’t remember the timelineJust December and the eastern skylineIt was just my time to goIt wasn’t even a cold nightDisappointed in the northern nightsI always thought there’d be snow 400 people on a broken wheelWhen the plane touched down in a concrete minefieldI guess we all made it out… Read More »A War with Time
One time I went overseasWith a woman I know too deepI live and breathe to hold her inI love to hear her speakWe went to people’s partiesAnd we haunted her old hometownWe rambled into restaurantsTracking her old friends down They all knew the magic numberThe weather, the kids, TVBut this… Read More »A Woman Oversees