Category Archives: Lensbaby

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Flowers, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Lensbaby, Linda, Logan, Macro, Micky, Monica, Nathanial, Road Trip, Sabas, Sara, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 398 – ROAD TRIP

May 1, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

ROAD TRIP! What a great theme and an even better way to spend a day or two. Nothing calls to me like the open road.
But did it call to many other people? Or did people stay firmly entrenched on their couches? You will have to keep scrolling to find out!

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, April 24, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Heather Courtney – 1 week
2-Scott Degeneffe – 3 weeks
3-Jesse Howard – 3 weeks
4-Alexis Baugher – 3 weeks
5-Mindi Terrell – 9 weeks (3)
6-Suzie Brannen – 14 weeks
7-Monica Jennings – 14 weeks
8-Tamara Peterson – 25 weeks (2)
9-Brandon Kahler – 35 weeks
10-Linda Bennett – 39 weeks (2)
11-Sarah Toot – 40 weeks (2)
12-Angie DeWaard – 44 weeks
13-Dawn Krause – 48 weeks
14-Kim Barker – 53 weeks (2)
15-Joe Duff – 55 weeks (2)
16-Logan Kahler – 56 weeks (2)
17-Teresa Kahler – 66 weeks (2)
18-Carla Stensland – 66 weeks
19-Micky Augustin – 67 weeks
20-Andy Sharp – 69 weeks
21-Bill Wentworth – 70 weeks
22-Cathie Morton – 74 weeks
23-Elizabeth Nordeen – 75 weeks
24-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 76 weeks (2)
25-Kio Dettman – 79 weeks (2)

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:

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 1 week

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week

Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 1 week

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 1 week

Willy McAlpine (Iowa) – 1 week

Mike Parmelee (Arkansas) – 1 week

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 1 week

Alexis Baugher (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Scott Degeneffe (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Iowa)

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 10 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 15 weeks

Monica Jennings (Iowa)

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 26 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 36 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 40 weeks

Linda Bennett (Kansas)

Sarah Toot (New Jersey) – 41 weeks

Sarah Toot (New Jersey)

Angie DeWaard (Mexico) – 45 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Mexico)

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 49 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 54 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 56 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 57 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 67 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 67 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Carla Stensland

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 68 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 71 weeks

Cathie Morton (Illinois) – 75 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 76 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa)

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 77 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 80 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Christopher D. Bennett (Iowa) – 502 weeks

31 participants! That is a great week! I believe it ties the high for this calendar year. Strange that more people love the open road than love their friends, but maybe it isn’t so strange.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Arkansas
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Mexico
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

24 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Thanks to Angie’s vacation, Mexico has been added to the list of international places!

I took my picture 87 miles from my front door. So Angie isn’t the only world traveler.

The big accomplishments this week… Mindi joined the Double Digits Club! WooHoo! Tamara joined the Half Year Club! WooHoo! Mike Parmelee had his first submission of the year! WooHoo! I finally got Alexis’ last name right! WooHoo !

But it wasn’t all unicorns and double rainbows. Heather wasn’t able to build her submission from last week into a streak. And most tragically, Suzie’s 14 week streak is a goner. ROAD TRIPs are her Waterloo.

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:

SCHOOL

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

Let me tell you about IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY!

Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1858 as Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, and it became the first land-grant institution in the United States in 1862, thanks to the Morrill Act.

Today, ISU is a comprehensive university with more than 35,000 students and offers over 100 undergraduate majors, 112 master’s degree programs, and 83 doctoral degree programs. The university is organized into eight colleges: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Business, Design, Engineering, Human Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and Graduate.

ISU is known for its strong programs in agriculture, engineering, and science, and it has a reputation for being one of the top public universities in the United States. The university is home to several research centers and institutes, including the Bioeconomy Institute, the Ames Laboratory, and the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC).

The university’s mascot is Cy the Cardinal, and the school colors are cardinal and gold. The Cyclones, ISU’s athletic teams, compete in the Big 12 Conference and they completely dominated the Cy-Hawk Series with Iowa Hawkeyes this year.

Overall, Iowa State University is a well-respected and prestigious institution of higher education, offering a wide range of programs and opportunities for students to excel both academically and professionally.

Wait. Wait. Sorry. I’ve just been told that there are more SCHOOL(s) in the world than just Iowa State. I’m not entirely sure why. But I guess you can take a picture of some other stupid school nobody cares about.

SCHOOL! So what in the Terrence Allen is a SCHOOL picture? Simply put it is any image that involves SCHOOL. From a building to a playground to schoolbooks (before they all get banned) to report cards to teachers to really anything related to a SCHOOL. There are all types of different SCHOOL(s). Pre, secondary, high, middle, junior, dance, Sunday, vocational, technical, and even sometimes I take people to SCHOOL on the basketball court. It does NOT have to be Iowa State, but I mean, why would you take a picture of some lesser school? But you do you bro.

While considering how you are going to incorporate Iowa State into your SCHOOL picture, mediate on the following quote and I have no doubt you will come up with a great picture:

Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.
– Malala Yousafzai

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

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. There is a limit of 3 submissions per participant. To be considered the photographer, you have to be the one that takes the picture. Don’t be stealing the work of other artists. You can submit pictures for other photographers that took pictures with your camera or phone, but give credit where credit is due.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

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 SCHOOL in this place that I like to think has a bit of educational value next Monday.

Art, Black & White, Calendar, Christianity, Drone, Flowers, Jesse, Lensbaby, Macro, Nature, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins, Still Life, Travel, Willy, WPC - Reminder

Tried So Hard to Be Everything that You Liked

January 6, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Today seems like a good day to share the rest of the pictures that I considered for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar, but did not use.

Just because I rejected these images this year, doesn’t mean that one of them couldn’t show up in a future calendar.

+++++++

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is TRAINS, PLANES, & AUTOMOBILES:

WEEK 382 - TRAINS, PLANES, & AUTOMOBILES

PLANES, TRAINS, & AUTOMOBILES

But what is a TRAINS, PLANES, AND AUTOBOMILES picture? Simply put it is a picture that involves a TRAIN or a PLANE or an AUTOMOBILE. All 3 don’t have to be in the picture. One will suffice. The picture can also be of anything that is tangential to TRAINS, PLANES, AND AUTOMBILES. Roads, bridges, train tracks, terminals, stations, are all fair game.

I made this a theme this year because it will be one of the categories in this years Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. If you submit a photo for this theme, you have a picture you can enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

Happy photo harvesting!

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Lensbaby, Logan, Naima, Nature, Photoshop, WPC - Alternate

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

November 23, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Today I’m going to share a collection of images that I took for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme BLACK & WHITE, but they didn’t make the cut. As you know, BLACK & WHITE is my first love in photography and therefore will always be a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. And with that statement, now you know 1 of the 52 themes for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. The other 51 will remain a mystery for the time being.

In this collection are pictures of Logan that are similar to the image I ultimately chose as my interpretation of the theme. There are also pictures of Naima sitting on our couch and pictures taken in McHose Park. These pictures were taken back in January as BLACK & WHITE was the first theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. There were 29 other submissions for it.

Here are the rejected:

You might look at the last picture of Logan and be thinking, “Hey, wait a second! That picture isn’t black and white! What is with these shenanigans!”

That picture was originally taken in black and white and then I colorized it with a neural filter in Photoshop. Someday I might cover the neural filters in Photoshop. I’d like to get back to some of the “how-to” posts again in the future. Hopefully I’ll get back to that, someday. But even a fool will tell you…

The swirl effect in the last two pictures of Logan are 100% in-camera effect though. No how to post on that coming though.

Amanda, Brandon, Christianity, Dahlia, Greyson, Holidays, Lensbaby, Logan, Russ, Still Life, Teresa

On Balance – 2021

October 30, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

I’m kicking the decision about Formal Portrait Sunday down the road another week. This collection is the last of the pictures I took in 2021 to share.

A couple are from Halloween night. I don’t get many trick-or-treaters I know these days. So there are only two pictures of people I know from last year.

The rest are from Christmas. Many of them are taking with a Lensbaby, which was my Christmas present to myself last year. Another one will probably be my Christmas present to myself again this year.

Flowers, Lensbaby, Macro

Still Laughing – 2022 – Collection 3

June 2, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is the third and final collection of tulip images from Pella I took back at the beginning of May.

A garden I would like to visit in the future is the Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden, but it is only open to the public from 12-2 on Fridays. Seems like a good excuse to leave work early on a Friday.

Andy, Angie, Becky, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Flowers, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Lensbaby, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Pastor Sarah, Sara, Shannon, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 346 – #INSTAGOOD

May 2, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

#INSTAGOOD proved to be a pretty popular theme. Which is good, because there literally isn’t an easier theme on the Year 9 Calendar.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, April 25, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks:

+ Angie DeWaard – 1 week
+ Jesse Howard – 1 week
+ Evie Gorshe – 2 weeks
+ Kim Barker – 3 weeks
+ Sara Lockner – 3 weeks
+ Becky Parmelee – 3 weeks
+ Joe Duff – 4 weeks
+ Dawn Krause – 4 weeks
+ Linda Bennett – 5 weeks
+ Suzie Brannen – 5 weeks
+ Monica Henning – 6 weeks
+ Logan Kahler – 6 weeks
+ Teresa Kahler – 14 weeks
+ Tamara Peterson – 14 weeks
+ Carla Stensland – 14 weeks
+ Michelle Haupt – 15 weeks
+ Micky Augustin – 16 weeks
+ Andy Sharp – 17 weeks
+ Bill Wentworth – 18 weeks
+ Cathie Raley – 22 weeks
+ Elizabeth Nordeen – 23 weeks
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley – 25 weeks
+ Kio Dettman – 28 weeks

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:

WEEK 347 - #INSTAGOOD - JEN ENSLEY-GORSHE

Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 1 week

Sarah Karber – 1 week

Angie DeWaard – 2 weeks

Jesse Howard – 2 weeks

Evie Gorshe – 3 weeks

Kim Barker – 4 weeks

Sara Lockner – 4 weeks

Becky Parmelee – 4 weeks

Joe Duff – 5 weeks

Dawn Krause – 5 weeks

Suzie Brannen – 6 weeks

Monica Henning – 7 weeks

Logan Kahler – 7 weeks

Teresa Kahler – 15 weeks

Tamara Peterson – 15 weeks

Carla Stensland – 15 weeks

Michelle Haupt – 16 weeks

Micky Augustin – 17 weeks

Andy Sharp – 18 weeks

Bill Wentworth – 19 weeks

Cathie Raley – 23 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen – 24 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley – 26 weeks

Kio Dettman – 29 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett – 448 weeks

25 submissions from 25 participants! That is a great week. I do believe that the 25 participants is a new record.

Only 1 streak was snapped. Linda’s streak of 5 did not make it to 6.

Shannon extended her streak to 26! That is six straight months of submissions! WooHoo!

Here is the current list of top streaks!

1. Kio – 29 weeks
2. Shannon – 26 weeks
3. Elizabeth – 24 weeks
4. Cathie – 23 weeks
5. Bill – 19 weeks
6. Andy Sharp – 18 weeks
7. Micky Augustin – 17 weeks
8. Michelle Haupt – 16 weeks
9. Teresa Kahler – 15 weeks
9. Tamara Peterson – 15 weeks
9. Carla Stensland – 15 weeks

SQUARE

SQUARE! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a SQUARE image? A SQUARE image is any image where one of the major elements of your composition is a SQUARE. Remember, all SQUAREs are rectangles, but not all rectangles are SQUAREs. If you look around, you will see that there is are SQUAREs all over the place. Once you see them, you won’t be able to stop seeing them. The next step is to photograph one. I wouldn’t even hate on you if you took a picture of your dog and used a 1:1 aspect ratio.

There are also other definitions of SQAURE you can ponder.

While thinking on your possible subjects for SQUARE, meditate on the following song lyric:

I used to be a renegade
I used to fool around
But I couldn’t take the punishment
And had to settle down
Now I’m playing it real straight
And yes, I cut my hair
You might think I’m crazy
But I don’t even care
Because I can tell what’s going on
It’s hip to be square

I look forward to seeing your interpretations.

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 your idea of SQUARE in this place that is nothing more than proof that I’m a square next Monday.

Animals, Black & White, Flowers, Lensbaby, Macro

2011-04-10, 2011-04-17, and 2011-04-23

January 22, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folders 2011-04-10, 2011-04-17, and 2011-04-23 are mostly of tulips from a trip I took to Pella back in 2011. But there are also a couple pictures there from Year 2 of the RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT.

I’m pretty sure that over 10 years later those same spices are on my stove.

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

RWPE Y2 #14 – DRY

RWPE Y2 #15 – FOOD

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #69 ALPHA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #69 BETA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #69 GAMMA

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve a Young Heroes event, at least I’m pretty sure it will.

Flowers, Lensbaby, Macro, State Fair, WPC - Reminder

Closer to You

January 21, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

It is -9 degrees as I sit down to write this entry. I don’t mind the cold too much, but it still makes me long for warm August days and the Iowa State Fair. Standing in the Discovery Garden, photographing flowers.

One of my organizational projects of 2021 is to get my flower galleries better organized and get the naming conventions nailed down better. For example, I name any hibiscus picture I take “Unceasing Effort” for the Alan Key quote, “Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower.”

It shouldn’t take anywhere near as long as fixing all my past broken blogs has taken and continues to take, but it is a larger project than I want it to be.

+++++++

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

TRIANGLE

TRIANGLE! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

But what is a TRIANGLE image? It is simply a picture where the subject includes or is a TRIANGLE. Isosceles, equilateral, scalene, obtuse, acute, or right. Doesn’t matter. When you start to look for them, you will realize that TRIANGLE(s) are every where. Commonly used in construction and logos, for example. Heck, sometimes even love has a TRIANGLE.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Flowers, History, Jesse, Lensbaby, Movies, Music, Road Trip

Cerro Gordo and Worth County Auxiliary Images Vol. 1

November 24, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back Jesse and I traveled up north to harvest the town signs of Cerro Gordo and Worth County. This trip included a stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City. Music Man Square is devoted to the history of famous composer. Wilson is most famous for writing the Iowa State pregame song “For I, For S”. Some people recognize the name because he wrote THE MUSIC MAN too. I think there is some little ditty you hear coming out of Iowa City now and again that he also wrote. A song that is based on another one of his hits, “It’s Begging to Look a Lot Like Christmas”. But he is definitely best known for “For I, For S”.

Here is the first collection of pictures from the road trip:

Rockwell

Mason City

The starts the T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!

If you think I was watching the inferior but still great Matthew Broderick version of THE MUSIC MAN that you can watch for free on YouTube while I was writing this post, well you would be right! One of the greatest musicals ever.

Animals, Flowers, Lensbaby, Macro, Mom, Teresa

Painted Without Instruction – 2021

September 7, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

This Saturday from 8-12 we are going to have the final sale at my Mom’s house. There is still lots of glassware and collectibles for sale. A few tools. Many decorations. Maybe some furniture. Some other stuff will be added this week as well I’m sure. The address is 111 South Benton Street. The sale is in the garage and in the garage only. The garage is on the alley. The alley is a dead end, so don’t come down the alley and try to park. I’ll let you know if any of the details change.

+++++++

On the Saturday of Pufferbilly Days, Teresa and I went out to Rinehart’s for breakfast. At that time their sunflower patch was in its final throes. We still drove out there and I took a few pictures of it. Here are some of those pictures:

I wish I would have cracked out Rodan139, but it being Pufferbilly Days, there were some time constraints. I did crack out the Lensbaby Velvet 85. Any time I get to crack that out in a flower patch is a great day.