Category Archives: Macro

2010-06-29, 2010-06-30, & 2010-07-01

The folders 2010-06-29, 2010-06-30, & 2010-07-01 Center Street Bridge are fairly small, so I combined them all into one fair sized post. Most of them are pictures of flowers, but a few are pictures I took with Sara at or near the Center Street Bridge in Des Moines.


Never the Same River

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #23 - Alternate

Girl in the Blue Skirt - 2010


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:

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #34

THE INCIDENTAL GARDENER FILES

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve skydiving again. This time, maybe Shannon gets to jump out of a plane.

A Pandemic Menagerie

This is a clearinghouse post. Grouping together some small collections of photos that might not be large enough to stand on their own. Plus getting multiple folders “finished off” and filed away to their forever homes.

These pictures aren’t pandemic related, but they did occur in a pandemic. Like every picture I take these days. Some were taken at the Ames Farmers Market. Some in my yard. Some on the backroads of Boone County.


Eggcited
This sculpture is called Eggcited. Eggcited! Get it?

Eggcited
Despite the awful name, I love it so!

Bittersweet
From my yard.
Bittersweet

Bittersweet

Halloween 2021
My socially distanced trick-or-treat setup for Halloween.

Halloween 2021

Liberal Values

Nope!
One of the small joys of the pandemic was stopping to photograph this sign and meeting the woman who put it up. She went to school with my Dad and we got to talk about him for a bit.

Early Voting
Self-portrait after voting on the first day of early voting.

Early Voting

Early Voting

Shrooms
My mouth is watering…

Train Art
One of the reasons I like living in a town with a railroad (besides the obvious economic impact) is that it is…

Train Art
Like having a new art museum in town every single day. While Boone has an Art Commission (despite the fact that there are a ton of local artists)…

Train Art
there is a decided lack of public art in town. A mural of a train. A statue of Teddy Roosevelt. A local guy that paints his snow banks…

Train Art
That is really it. Although I will point out that Boone does a decent job with the performing arts. It just isn’t the same. So thank you Union Pacific!

Good to get all that cleaned out. We’re getting close to my having my backlog cleaned out. It will be interesting what this space will look like when that happens.

+++++++

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SYMMETRY & PATTERNS:


WEEK 284 - SYMMETRY & PATTERNS
SYMMERY & PATTERNS

I can’t help but think of Shannon when I think of the theme of SYMMETRY & PATTERNS. Back in the day, we would occasionally go to art shows and fairs together. It often ended up being a painful and frustrating experience because the art booths that she would like to stop and look at were the art that actually hurt my soul (at least a little bit) to look at. It was all symmetrical lines and shapes. I always thought, “if this is the kind of art she likes and she likes my photography, what does that say about my photography? Is it this awful and boring?”

On the other side of the coin, she also hated most of the art I liked. Considered it to be derivative of the illustrations one sees in children’s books. Whatever.

I’m not saying you should tap into your inner Shannon when making your SYMMETRY & PATTERNS picture, but it might not hurt. I’m not saying your picture should be boring and uninteresting. I borderline enjoy the theme reveal picture of the bathroom floor in front of my toilet*. I am saying that you should find a pattern and/or a subject that has symmetry. While this isn’t my favorite theme, I do look forward to seeing your interpretations. I bet Shannon will be counting down the days.

When thinking about creating your SYMMETRY & PATTERNS image, think on the following quote from noted Japanese author Junichiro Tanizaki:

Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.

Meditate on these words and you will no doubt, make a completely almost interesting SYMMETRY & PATTERNS image.

Happy photo harvesting!

2010-06-28

There is a very diverse collection of photos in the folder 2010-06-28. Most are from Shannon’s first attempt to skydive. That idea got shot down (not literally) because it was deemed to windy to do such a thing safely. There are also pictures of a reunion when Bill came to town to visit. Then of course, there are plenty of flower pictures in here. But, perhaps my favorite picture in the folder is picture of a couple barns lit by the light of a full moon. I’ve been saying this for a long time, but I need to get back to taking some full moon photographs. This is the reason why I put the dates of full moons and new moons on the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar.


Drenched in Loneliness

Unaffiliated Triad

Unaffiliated Triad

Unaffiliated Triad

Sorrow and Gladness - 2010

Nature's Amen - 2010

Nature's Amen - 2010

Nature's Amen - 2010

Nature's Amen - 2010

Girl in the Blue Skirt - 2010

Shannon Skydive First Attempt

Shannon Skydive First Attempt

Shannon Skydive First Attempt

Shannon Skydive First Attempt

Shannon Skydive First Attempt

Shannon Skydive First Attempt

Shannon Skydive First Attempt

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:

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #33

Unaffiliated Triad

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will definitely involve flowers.

Lipton Cup of Zinnia

Thought it was beyond time I shared a collection of flower pictures I took back in early October. That is near the end of flower picture season or Flowertography Season as we call it around Photography 139 Worldwide Headquarters. Usually you can get a couple of flowers to make it until early November, depending on when the first hard frost comes, but by early October, most flowers have called it a year.

Here are some flower pictures:


A Garden of Love

Soul Expansion - 2020

Girl in the Blue Skirt - 2020

Girl in the Blue Skirt - 2020

Digging for God - 2020

Digging for God - 2020

Digging for God - 2020

Digging for God - 2020

Digging for God - 2020

Digging for God - 2020

The thermometer has barely seen the plus side of zero in a week. I bet even those of you that hate my flower pictures are missing Flowertography Season about now.

2010-06-25

Most of the pictures in the folder 2010-06-25 are of lilies. Lots of lilies. But also of a deer. Then one of a clothespin.


Unaffiliated Triad

Unaffiliated Triad

WEEK 25 - STILL LIFE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT


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:

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #31 ALPHA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #31 BETA

RWPE #25 – STILL LIFE

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane involves skydiving.

2010-06-20

There were mostly a lot of flower pictures in the folder 2010-06-20. A few lilies. A few coneflowers. A few other flowers. Plus, a few pictures of some members of my church picking cherries from my cherry trees.


Unaffiliated Triad

Unaffiliated Triad

Unaffiliated Triad

Happy Things - 2010

Happy Things - 2010

Happy Things - 2010

WEEK 24 - COLORFUL - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT


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

RWPE #24 – COLORFUL

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve lilies. Definitely lilies!

Post #4,000

August 9, 2006. That was the date where I first took keyboard in hand and began typing out the blog that I entitled “An Artist’s Notebook”. I entitled that first post “First Journal Entry”. The categories for that first post were “Blogging”, “Contests”, “Jay”, and “Sara”.

This is the first paragraph I posted:

So here is the first journal entry. I felt like having as pretentious sounding name as possible for my journal. I have a few goals about this journal. My main goal is just to actually write in it. My second goal is to be as truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings. I have another journal on another website, but it is really just a collection of sarcastic statements and cheap jabs at open faced sandwiches. This journal is meant to be about what my achievements and failures are in the world of art. What projects I am working on and what I have accomplished and what I have failed to accomplish. What I am photographing and what I am thinking about entering in photo contests. What I am thinking about. It might not always make sense. It might just be things I need to write down because they strike me as poignant or inspirational. This is in a small way an online “idea box”.

Then it goes on to talk about how I attended the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon Reception with Sara to see what two pictures had been accepted for display that year. Then I would go on to talk about how Jay had talked me into entering the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

The last line of the entry was simply:

I don’t want to mail it in.

While I was actually referencing the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, it is my hope that I also didn’t choose to “mail it in” as it pertains to “An Artist’s Notebook”.

It has been 5,276 days since that first post. 5,276 days to reach this day and the 4,000th post in this blog, or “online journal” like I sometimes call it when I don’t like calling it a blog. It is hard to believe I have made it this far, for this long.

It hasn’t been necessarily smooth sailing the whole time. My website has been through a couple different servers. I have been through a couple different hosts for the blog part of the website. I have been through 4 (I think) different image hosting options in those 5,275 days. That jumping around for image hosting solutions did cause the problem that images from my posts from the first few years of this website’s existence have had to be “restored” slowly over time. So far I have semi-successfully restored all the entries though June of 2010. Which means, I still have a full year’s worth of entries left to restore. Somewhere in 2011, was when I fully made the move to my current SmugMug image hosting solution. I have unfortunately lost a few images, probably forever, mostly old phone pictures, but those old posts are as complete as they will ever be.

When I hit these milestones, I like to publish a lot of fairly meaningless stats. This one will be no different. So, here are the “An Artist’s Notebook” categories that I have used the most often:

Top 10 An Artist’s Notebook Categories

#1. Black & White – 698 Entries

#2. Flowers – 693 Entries

#3. Animals – 620 Entries

#4. Jesse – 495 Entries

#5. Portrait – 472 Entries

#6. Shannon – 421 Entries

#7. Carla – 391 Entries

#8. WPC – Submissions – 381 Entries

#9. Teresa – 364 Entries

#10. Mom – 363 Entries

Top Ten An Artist’s Notebook People Categories

#1. Jesse – 495 Entries

#2. Shannon – 421 Entries

#3. Carla – 391 Entries

#4. Teresa – 364 Entries

#5. Mom – 363 Entries

#6. Jay – 320 Entries

#7. Derrick – 295 Entries

#8. Willy – 268 Entries

#9. Vest – 258 Entries

#10. Jen – 254 Entries

Top Ten Non-People An Artist’s Notebook Categories

#1. Black & White – 698 Entries

#2. Flowers – 693 Entries

#3. Animals – 620 Entries

#4. Portrait – 472 Entries

#5. WPC – Submissions – 381 Entries

#6. Nature – 349 Entries

#7. Macro – 332 Entries

#8. Photoshop – 327 Entries

#9. Road Trip – 326 Entries

#10. Art – 314 Entries

People often ask what is the best way to improve their Photography 139 Category Score. The easiest way is to submit pictures to THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. But posing for and assisting me with photo project or photo adventures is also a very good way.

What people have a shot at cracking the Top Ten by the time we hit Post #5,000? Kim, Sara, Logan, and Micky all have a shot. But 1,000 posts is a long ways away. So anybody has a shot!

But what are the Ten Most Popular Photo Galleries in Photography 139 history? Unfortunately, I can’t answer that question. I can only process stats up to 365 days ago. However, I can tell you the Ten Most Popular Photo Galleries of the last 365 Days are.

Click on the image to peruse that gallery.

Top Ten Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries (by view) of the Last 365 Days


WEEK 209 - ARCHITECTURE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
#1. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 7 – 57697 Views

Be True
#2. Christopher D. Bennett – 41080 Views

9 Emotions Project - Johnathan
#3. 9 Emotions Project – 36972 Views

Taylan Howard
#4. Taylan Howard – 2020 – 34075 Views

Girl in the Blue Skirt - 2016
#5. Daisies – 26800 Views

Morning in America
#6. Drone – 24659 Views

WEEK 274 - FACELESS PORTRAIT - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
#7. Weekly Photo Challenge – HOF – 24603 Views

Be Aggressive!
#8. Family Happenings – 18,231 Views

Alexis Pregnant with Anela
#9. Alexis Pregnancy Photo Shoot – 2020 – 17057 Views

Black Lives Matter - Boone
#10. Black Lives Matter – Boone – 2020 – 16160 Views

The Ten Most Popular Photography 139 Images of the Last 365 Days (by Views)


Alexis Pregnant with Anela
#1. 7254 Views

Taylan Howard
#2. 3153 Views

2020 Birthday Party Invites
#3. 2460 Views (Photo by Logan Kahler)

Cousin Amy and Sam - 2009
#4. 2228 Views

Garrett Larson
#5. 2127 Views

Baier Family Photo Shoot - 2009
#6. 2111 Views

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3
#7. 1971 Views

2019  Computer Mine Holiday Card
#8. 1916 Views

The Most Tolerable Third Party
#9. 1891 Views

The Hero of Africa
#10. 1830 Views

Now the secret to the popularity of some of these images is that they are cover photos for albums, but shhhh… don’t tell anybody!

Another category of meaningless statistics, I’d like to share is what have been the most popular posts since the inception of “An Artist’s Notebook”. Although it might not be the most accurate way to judge such things, the only statistic I can use to judge this is “Comments” left on each post. That doesn’t mean emails or text messages or comments I received in person. These are comments that were left in the Comments section of each post.

Most Popular An Artist’s Notebook Entries (by Comments)

#1. The People’s Choice Round Two – 24 Comments

#2. Weekly Photo Challenge – Week 9 – Food – 22 Comments

#2. Weekly Photo Challenge – Week 43 – Sunrise/Sunset – 22 Comments

#4. Town Sign Project: Hamilton County – 21 Comments

#4. Town Sign Project: Dallas County – 21 Comments

#6. Postcard Recreation Project: Some Churches – 20 Comments

#6. Rodan139: Swede Valley Lutheran Church – 20 Comments

#8. Will History Blame Me… – 19 Comments

#9. Yo, Ya Just Get in that, You Get in that Head Space, Ya Know – 15 Comments

#9. You Can Call it a Comeback – 15 Comments

#9. Wild Goose Chase – 15 Comments

#9. Sorry Not Sorry – 15 Comments

One thing to note is that each “An Artist’s Notebook” entry has its Comments section close 30 days after being posted. Some of those still have a chance to grow, but most have been locked into place forever.

The last statistic I want to share before closing out Post #4,000 is kind of a loyalty score. To even be considered for this list, you first have to have a Photography 139 Email Subscription. The following is a statistic based on “loyalty” for lack of a better term to that service.

Top Five Most Loyal Photography 139 Subscribers

1. Michelle Haupt – 99%
2. Joe Duff – 97%
3. Shannon Bardole-Foley – 94%
4. Sara Lockner – 90%
5. Corey Faust – 89%

Thanks to everybody that has supported this adventure for 14 years, 5 months, and now 10 days!

2010-06-13

There were a ton of pictures in the folder 2010-06-13. Some were from Johnathan’s Graduation Open House. Some were from Shannon’s Birthday Camping Trip. Others were of frogs. Even others were of insects. It is a truly great folder!


Shannon Birthday Camping - 2010

Shannon Birthday Camping - 2010

Shannon Birthday Camping - 2010

Shannon Birthday Camping - 2010

Use and Virtue

Frog with Tail

Personal Photo Project No. 28 Alternate

Personal Photo Project No. 28 Alternate

Personal Photo Project No. 28 Alternate

Personal Photo Project No. 28 Alternate

Personal Photo Project No. 28 Alternate

Personal Photo Project No. 28 Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #30 Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #30 Alternate

Personal Photo Project #30 Alternate

Personal Photo Project #30 Alternate

Personal Photo Project #30 Alternate

Personal Photo Project #30 Alternate

Personal Photo Project #30 Alternate

Personal Photo Project of the Week #30

Johnathan's Graduation Open House - 2010

Johnathan's Graduation Open House - 2010

Johnathan's Graduation Open House - 2010

Johnathan's Graduation Open House - 2010

Johnathan's Graduation Open House - 2010

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:

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 28

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #30

Cleanup

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will, at the very least, be STRONG.

2010-06-05 Part 2

There were a literal ton of images in the folder 2010-06-05. Nearly 700. So adding the pictures that belonged in the gallery to the gallery, was no small feat. Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to post all of those images. It would be well over 100.

That being said, a ton of pictures from State Center and an abandoned railroad bridge that used to be in the heart of downtown Ames are still coming your way. This one might get long. Buckle up Dorothy:


Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

WEEK 22 - PAINTING WITH LIGHT - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

Adumbrate

RWPE #22 - PAINTING WITH LIGHT ALTERNATE

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

The Best Place to Seek God

That old train bridge has since been torn down. I believe it was the railroad tracks that ran a commuter train “The Dinkey” between downtown Ames and the Iowa State Campus. I used to like to visit that bridge on my lunch breaks or sometimes after work. It is sad that is gone.

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 #22 – PAINTING WITH LIGHT

Flame On

Adumbrate

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 26 ALPHA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 26 BETA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 26 GAMMA

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a trip to Ledges.