Category Archives: Iowa State

Candid Portrait, Equipment, Football, Iowa State, Music, Russ, Self-Portrait, WPC - Reminder

Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2005

February 15, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I still need to circle back to the Alamo Bowl Trip, but thought I would share more from my project of re-organizing some photos that pre-date the Photography 139 website.

I’m actually going through a big photography re-organization in general. One of the photographers I follow on Instagram recently shared a post about their photography closet and a light went on in my head.

My house has an excess amount of closet for just one person. My bedroom has 2 closets. The office has 2 closets. The guest bedroom has 1 big(ish) closet. My bedroom closets are obviously used for clothes and some miscellaneous stuff. The guest bedroom closet house like 3 shirts that randomly ended up in there, board games, and a bunch of photographs and negatives. One office closet houses retired electronics. Electronics I should just throw away, but just haven’t. If any of you want a VCR and old DVD player, a receiver, or an old CRT television let me know and you can have it. The other office closet is mostly random stuff.

My photography stuff is strung all over the house. I have a big metal cabinet with sliding glass doors in my bedroom that is meant to house all my photography stuff, but that has never really worked. Then I decided to dedicate an old dining room table that is in my living room to store stuff. That definitely hasn’t worked. I’ve decided to steal the photography closet idea from that Instagram photographer.

I’ve decided to make one of the closets in the office the photography equipment closet. The other closet in the office the photograph closet. The guest bedroom closet will become the retired electronics closet, unless I finally am able to get all of that stuff out of my house. Especially before I retire any more electronics. For example, in 2020 I may upgrade the projector in the Union Street Theater to 4K. This will mean that I will also need to upgrade the receiver in the basement and then add a 4K player to the Union Street Theater. Of course, that will mean more retired electronics.

But that is 2020, I need to conquer my 2019 goals first.

Some of this physical reorganization has lead to digital reorganization. Which has lead to this post. Here are some pictures from the Iowa State Cyclones 2005 football season:

These pictures were taken with my very first digital camera. A Minolta Dimage Z2. It was at a point where I wanted to dabble in digital photography but was still really loyal to film.

The Dimage Z2 was a point & shoot digital camera, but a bit on the higher end of the spectrum. I was so broke back then, I couldn’t have imagined buying an actual DSLR.

There are a couple hundred more pictures from that season that you can peruse by clicking on the link below:

Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2005

Hopefully next Friday I will return to the Alamo Bowl Road Trip.

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

SELF-PORTRAIT

A SELF-PORTRAIT is a picture that somebody makes of themselves. Pretty simple and straight forward.

Happy photo harvesting!

Candid Portrait, Football, Iowa State, Jesse, Tim

10-19-08

February 9, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The pictures in the folder 10-19-08 are from the Iowa State-Nebraska football game in 2008.

One of the head coaches in the game would go on to win a national championship. The other coach… looks like he got exiled to someplace called Youngstown, Ohio.

Looking through these pictures, it does remind that when conference realignment hit the Big 12 and we lost Nebraska to the Big Ten, they are an opponent that I really miss playing. At least in football. No interest in playing them in basketball. It isn’t just because Nebraska slit their own throat by joining the Big Ten by severing recruiting ties with the state of Texas and now are amongst the worst teams in college football and would make an easy yearly W for Matt Campbell and the boys. I legitimately missing playing them and as much as it pains me to say it, I actually miss their fans coming to Jack Trice every other year. Their is nothing sweeter than rubbing a sweet victory in the face of a pompous Nebraska fan. Not even beating Iowa is that sweet and we all know how obnoxious a faction of that fanbase.

I also miss playing Missouri. Particularly in basketball. Their fans don’t travel like Nebraska fans and they aren’t that obnoxious, but it was a regional school with which Iowa State had a decent rivalry. I really enjoyed the 2 year basketball series Iowa State just had with Missouri. Even though both games ended up being blowouts.

Colorado was a traditional Iowa State opponent. They were the last school to join the Big 8 in 1947. Oklahoma State technically was the school to make it the Big 8 after they rejoined the conference in 1958, but let’s not pick nits here.

The point is, I also miss playing Colorado, but not anywhere near as much as I miss playing Nebraska and Missouri.

The other traitors to leave the conference was Texas A&M. I don’t miss playing them at all. Texas A&M is more like a cult than a school. While it is well-documented that I am fascinated by cults, I don’t want them coming into holy ground like Jack Trice Stadium or into the cathedral that i Hilton Coliseum. Ever. Good riddance to the Aggies.

I do like the Big 12’s current lineup of 10 teams. While the name is stupid when there are 10 schools, the Big 12 can’t become the Big 10 because there already is a Big 10, that has 13 schools. 14 if you count Rutgers. Which I do. Because I am a very charitable person.

I think the Big 12 is the only conference that gets it right. I know the other conferences added schools that don’t really belong because they were chasing television markets for television markets. It was a short-sighted pursuit because Americans are cord cutting like crazy. When all the major conference television contracts are up in 5 years, the way that people consume television will be entirely different. The majority of people won’t be watching content on traditional television channels. They will be consuming through streaming services. ESPN, Fox, and CBS won’t be willing to pay the outrageous fees for broadcast rights that they did 4 years ago. They won’t have the subscriber base that they did back then. Instead, services like Twitter, Hulu, and Amazon Prime and services that probably don’t even exist yet will be entering the fray for broadcast rights. They won’t care about size of television markets. They will be interested in content. It will be at this time that the Big Ten will really regret adding a Rutgers and a Maryland.

2 years ago when the Big 12 looked into adding 2 more schools was a glimpse at the future. The television networks actually paid the Big 12 more money to NOT expand.

This doesn’t mean that the Big 12 couldn’t implode in 5 years. It easily could, but I think it won’t. My best guess is that in 5 years the Big 12 expands and adds Arizona and Arizona State.

My second best theory is that conferences are broken up and the Power 5 schools and maybe a couple others are put into geographical districts. Kind of like high school football. At least in football.

But none of that isn’t why I think the Big 12 gets it right. I think they get it right because as a fan of a Big 12 school, I get to watch Iowa State play every single other school in their conference in football. In basketball, Iowa State gets to play a home and road game against every other team in the conference. It is the only conference where the regular season title actually means something. I love that, but I mostly love getting to play everybody in the conference. Instead of, and for example, Iowa only plays Ohio State in football about once every 8 years. That isn’t an exaggeration. Look it up.

That being said, in my dream world, the current lineup of the Big 12 isn’t what I would go with. In my dream world, I would get rid of West Virginia because geographically they just don’t belong. I would be a little bit sad to see them go because I legitimately hate their basketball team and can’t stand their ex-football coach. Their are seeds of a rivalry there. However, they belong in an east coast conference. They belong in the ACC. They certainly belong in the Big Ten more than Rutgers. I’d give them an edge over Maryland as well.

I would also kick out Baylor. Their football programs rape culture is an absolute disgrace. Not only should they have been kicked out of the Big 12, their football program should have been closed down.

Then I would bring back Nebraska and Missouri. This would make a pretty sweet conference:

1. Iowa State
2 Nebraska
3. Missouri
4. Kansas State
5. Kansas
6. Oklahoma
7. Oklahoma State
8. Texas
9. Texas Tech
10. Texas Christian

It actually wouldn’t take too much pressing for me to want to kick out TCU and put Colorado back in. Nothing against TCU, but I don’t like competing against private colleges because they aren’t subject to the same open records policies that public universities are.

All the being said, here are some pictures from the Iowa State-Nebraska game:

I don’t know what the final score of this game was, but I’m sure it wasn’t pretty. The Gene Chizik era at Iowa State ended with 10 straight losses. Most of them were beatings.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entry to its original glory:

Nebraska Debacle

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve women fighting for the right to vote. No, really.

Candid Portrait, Faust, Football, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Jesse, Willy

Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2006

February 7, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

You might think this post really belongs on Saturday as it is a bit of a walk down memory lane, but these images were never really posted to “An Artist’s Notebook” until today.

I came across this collection of photos when I was looking for different photos as I’m trying to go back in time and get a better organizational system going for some of my first digital images.

Perhaps not terribly exciting, but I’m nothing if not boringly transparent.

Below are some of my favorite images I took of the Iowa State Cyclones football season during the 2006 season. Also known as Dan McCarney’s last season.

There are about 650 more images for you to peruse if you click on the link below:

Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2006

I still think it was a mistake to fire McCarney. He still is my favorite coach in Cyclone history, however, if Matt Campbell continues to stick around and gets us into a Big 12 Championship Game, Campbell will be my new main man!

Candid Portrait, Faust, Football, Iowa State, Music

10-04-08

January 26, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder called 10-04-08 are from the Iowa State-Kansas football game in 2008.

It is a little known fact to many (in the state of Kansas) that the University of Kansas even has a football team. They even had a brief amount of success when they were coached by terrible human being Mark Mangino.

He was eventually fired by Kansas and they have yet to have a winning record since then. They are currently on their 5th head coach since 2010.

Here are some pictures from the game:

By adding these photos to the Photography 139 Gallery I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” blogs to their original glory:

Stupid John Greenleaf Whittier

Quintus Horatius Flaccus

Work Half Done

Doesn’t Turn Soggy in Milk

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve a road trip to Kalona, among other things.

Andree, Art, Football, Iowa State, Jesse, Road Trip, Travel

Alamo Bowl Road Trip – Phonetos

January 3, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

Last week Jesse and I hopped in a rental car and headed to San Antonio to watch the Iowa State Cyclones play against the Washington State Cougars and the worst refereeing crew from the Big Ten in the Alamo Bowl.

While the game didn’t turn out the way that we had hoped, it was still an amazing trip full of precious moments. Even though, we willfully drove by the Precious Moments Museum and did not stop.

Here are some pictures from the trip I took with my trusty Pixel 2:

I will have more commentary on these photos in upcoming posts.

Andy, Football, Iowa State, Jesse, Michelle, Olympic Sports, Photo Journal, Work, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 13

December 28, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Before we dig into the meat of this blog, I should point out that I’m (hopefully) in San Antonio right now. Getting ready to root for the Cyclones against the Washington State Cougars in the Alamo Bowl.

You should definitely sit down and root the Cyclones to victory.

The game starts at 8 PM Central Standard Time. The channel is ESPN. Root hard, because better believe that I will be!

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Last Thursday night Andy texted me and invited me to come to an event I’ve never been to in my life. Something I’ve never really wanted to attend. However, it involved his progeny Kyle and Kyle is a good egg, so I figured, “Why not?”

It was also a good chance to put Page 13 into the completed column of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 13 – Take a picture that helps you come to terms with a personal hang-up.

How is a high school wrestling meet a personal hang-up? It isn’t really. It is more like Youth Sports is kind of a personal hang-up of mine. I helped coach Little League for 10 years and I saw very little good come from the experience.

I can say that wrestling also isn’t my thing. I don’t hold any ill-will towards the sport, but it just isn’t my thing.

I appreciate the discipline, hard work, and commitment it takes to be a wrestler, I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t take those same things and direct them towards something fun… like basketball. You know, the best sport.

But I have agreed to go to 1 Kyle wrestling meet every year for the next 3. 2 if he makes it to State.

While I can only physically adhere one picture in the physical THE PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take several more wrestling pictures.

Not sure what page we will cross off next time we check-in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. Perhaps that page will be crossed off in San Antonio!

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

FRIENDS!

A FRIENDS image is a picture of FRIENDS or anything that comes along with having FRIENDS.

Happy photo harvesting!

Basketball, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Photo Journal, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 88

December 21, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

My favorite church service of the year is undeniably the Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve.

The last 4 weeks at Youth Group we have been having our own Advent Candle series.

It culminated on Wednesday when we lit the Love Candle and then the Christ Candle and then had our own Candlelight Service.

It was the perfect time to take Page 88 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 88 – Take a picture inspired by your favorite poem

I took this picture in the worst way possible. I put the DSLR on a little tripod in the front of the room and controlled it with my smart phone, while running the ceremony. The results were less than spectacular, but they are what they are. I’ll set up for success next time.

Here are a few of the other photos:

The poem that is my inspiration for these photos is “Our Deepest Fear” by Marianne Williamson.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us;
It’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

I first came across the poem in the movie AKEELAH AND THE BEE. If you haven’t seen that movie, I highly recommend it!

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Here is your weekly reminder that the theme for this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is PHOTOJOURNALISM:

PHOTOJOURNALISM

A PHOTOJOURNALISM photo is any photo that can be used to tell the story. It doesn’t have to be the kind of story that the “New York Times” would report. A small company newsletter would still count as PHOTOJOURNALISM.

The editor of the “Boone News Republican” is a subscriber to this blog. You never know, you could catch his eye and you could be launched on a PHOTOJOURNALISM career.

Reminder that Monday is Christmas Eve. Plan your submitting accordingly.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Angie, Basketball, Iowa State, Steph, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 170 – SPORTS/GAMES

December 17, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The theme of SPORTS/GAMES got at least a few people going for this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

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

Christopher D. Bennett

Angie DeWaard

Tamara Peterson

Andy Sharp

Stephanie Kim

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:

PHOTOJOURNALISM

PHOTOJOURNALISM! What a great theme! But what is a PHOTOJOURNALISM photo? This might be a tough theme. It might be really easy. Obviously, not many people work for the Boone News Republican. However, anybody can take a PHOTOJOURNALISM picture. Basically this is a photo that records an event that is newsworthy. The bar for newsworthy can be extremely low. It doesn’t have to be something that the New York Times would cover. It can be an event that a small company newsletter or a blog might cover. Remember that social media is little more than micro blogging.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations.

Remember that next Monday is Christmas Eve. While that is holiday, Photography 139 doesn’t take any days off. So plan your submitting accordingly.

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. 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 newsy Monday.

Faust, Football, Iowa State, Jay, Night, Willy

09-07-08

December 15, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder named 09-07-08 are from the 2008 Iowa State-Kent State football game.

Iowa State won the game to go 2-0 on the season.

Here are some pictures from the folder:

Looking at some of these old pictures from 2008 makes me really miss when Willy and Jay would come over and tailgate. Makes me miss tailgating with Faust too.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” journal entries to their original glory: