Category Archives: Nature

Alexis, Birthdays, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Dad, Drone, Grandma, Jason, Johnathan, Kanoa, Logan, Mom, Nature, Panorama, Still Life, Teresa, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

Rodan139: Water Alternate

September 25, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I need to start today off by wishing my Mom a happy birthday. Without here, none of this would be possible. Not only would I never exist, she also bought me my first camera. A Minolta Maxxum 450si.

Happy birthday Mom!

It hope is as amazing a birthday as you want it to be!

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I went to Ledges on Sunday morning to take my WATER picture for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I took several pictures. Here are some of the others I took that weren’t ready for the world on Monday.

I hope to take Rodan139 out again this weekend. On Tuesday I came off a self-quarantine from a potential exposure from a previous Sunday. As it turns out, I wasn’t exposed, so good news for the friendly skies!

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This is your reminder that STILL LIFE is this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

A STILL LIFE image is a picture of an inanimate object. Usually posed.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Becky, Carla, Dad, Drone, Elizabeth, Kim, Kio, Micky, Nature, Still Life, Tamara, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 262 – WATER

September 21, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Can you believe it? 51 straight weeks of double digit submission! 1 week short of a full year of double digit submissions! WooHoo!

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

ELIZABETH NORDEEN

ANDY SHARP

CARLA STENSLAND

MICKY AUGUSTIN

TAMARA PETERSON

CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

BECKY PARMELEE

CARLA STENSLAND

KIO DETTMAN

KIM BARKER

CATHIE RALEY

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:

STILL LIFE

STILL LIFE! What a great theme! But what is a STILL LIFE photo? A STILL LIFE photo is any image of an inanimate object. Usually one that you have posed, but not necessarily. From this week, Elizabeth, Kio’s, and Kim’s photos are excellent examples of STILL LIFE.

Here is a look back at the 7 previous times STILL LIFE was a WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme:

RWPE #25 – STILL LIFE

RWPE Y2 #10 – STILL LIFE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 12 – STILL LIFE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 61 – STILL LIFE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 127 – STILL LIFE

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 184 – STILL LIFE

WPC – WEEK 214 – STILL LIFE

A look forward to 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 still Monday!

Drone, Mom, Nature, Panorama, Railroad, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Teresa, Vacation

Rodan139: Mines of Spain

September 16, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 11 Comments

I suppose I should report on how I did on my vacation goals from last week:

1. I want to visit 5 state parks I have never visited. Including Mines of Spain and Preparation Canyon.
I DIDN’T EXACTLY HIT 5 STATE PARKS. BUT I DID HIT 3 STATE PARKS AND 2 STATE FORESTS. SO I’M COUNTING THIS IS AS A WIN.

2. I want to add at least 20 new signs to THE TOWN SIGNS PROJECT. A project I’ve mostly ignored this year, despite the fact that this would have been a good year to work on it.
I BELIEVE I GOT 21 OR 22 NEW TOWN SIGNS. SO ANOTHER WIN.

3. I want to finally meet Jen and Derrick’s dog.
I NEVER EVEN CONTACTED THEM. MY FAULT, BUT I’M LEERY TO ENTER THE COVID DRENCHED TOWN THAT IS AMES. PLUS I’M PRETTY SURE THAT DERRICK’S PHONE DOESN’T WORK.

4. I want to finally tackle those POSTCARD PROJECT pictures that I have put off for like 3-4 years now.
I TACKLED ABOUT 5 OF THESE. SO WIN.

5. To play with a new lens I hope to purchase between now and then, but the verdict is still out on what new lens I’m going to purchase.
OH YEAH. DEFINITELY PLAYED WITH THAT LENS. PROBABLY A REPORT ON THAT LATER THIS WEEK.

6. Take some near full moon photography. The next full moon is September 2. Which is a Wednesday. But I figure there will still be plenty of moonlight left on September 4.
ANOTHER FAIL. IT WAS TOO CLOUDY ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY TO TACKLE THIS. AFTER THAT, THERE WASN’T ENOUGH MOON. NEXT FULL MOON IS OCTOBER 1. THAT IS A THURSDAY, WHICH ALL OF A SUDDEN IS SEEMING LIKE A REAL GOOD REASON TO HAVE A 3 DAY WEEKEND.

4 out of 6, I’ll consider that a success. There were a couple other failures out there, that weren’t stated goals. I wanted to go to Pike’s Peak State Park, but I cut my Monday road trip short because Naima hurt her leg the night before, so I felt it was best to get back early to check on her condition. She might have been milking it as she seemed fine by 8 PM Monday night. But probably not.

I also wanted to take Rodan139 out to the High Trestle Trail Bridge again, but it rained about every day of my vacation. So that didn’t happen. It’s all good though.

I did make accomplish my number one goal from the week though. That was visiting Mines of Spain. I was originally going to do this on Tuesday, but I ended up going on Labor Day so that Teresa and my Mom could go. I didn’t want to get stuck in a State Park with a ton of people, plus I wanted to get there with some good soft morning light. This meant leaving at 5 AM. My sister and Mom didn’t seem to understand that I was serious about this, until I showed up at their door at 4:55 AM.

I’ll go into more details about that trip later, but here are some pictures from Mines of Spain taken by Rodan139. Mostly at Horse Shoe Bluff, but also around the Julien Dubuque Monument:

I will definitely need to visit this park again. I considered this a good scouting trip, but now I have more ideas of how to best drone photograph the park.

Drone, Nature, Panorama

Pixel 3 Test Flight

September 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Last Monday, I took Rodan139 out for a quick flight in Ledges to test it with Teresa’s spare phone. I wanted to use her spare phone for a potential road trip I was planning for Labor Day. That way I could save the battery on my old timey Pixel 2 for other road trip fun times. Like the Snapchat or the Instagram or for GPS type stuff.

The spare phone did work masterfully. Here are some pictures from Rodan139’s test flight:

I don’t know if there is anything particularly special in this collection, but some of them are not without merit.

Andy, Becky, Black & White, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jesse, Jodie Cue, Kim, Logan, Micky, Nature, Shannon, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 260 – SKY

September 7, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

We did it! 49 straight weeks of double digit submissions! This week, I did have to pull over next to Ulysses S. Grant’s house and rattle a few cages, but we did make it to double digit submissions!

This is a wrap on the 7th year of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. There were 857 submissions for this set of 52 themes. If you want a walk down memory lane, click on the link below:

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 7

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

Elizabeth Nordeen

Logan Kahler

Andy Sharp

Micky Augustin

Dawn Krause

Kim Barker

Cathie Raley

Jodie Cue

Jesse Howard

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Becky Parmelee

Teresa Kahler

Christopher D. Bennett

Macro

MACRO! What a great theme! But what is a MACRO photo? It is basically a close-up photo of something.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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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 close Monday!

Black & White, Drone, Nature, Panorama

Morning in America

September 2, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Last Saturday morning I was able to take get up at the crack of dawn and drive down to the High Trestle Trail to take Rodan139 on a flight around the Des Moines River Valley. Well, we didn’t go much around the valley as a I was pretty cautious with flying it there, since it was our first flight in that area.

Here are some of the pictures from the flight:

If anything, I need to leave my house even earlier next time. Although as we quickly approach the fall, sunrise keeps getting later and later. Sunset keeps getting earlier and earlier.

I’m 95% sure one of these pictures will grace the pages of the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar.

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Ruins

Derecho Gamma

August 18, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

On Saturday morning before breakfast I took the drone out to take some pictures of the “Stop Eminent Domain Abuse” semi trailer and the Luther grain bins. It was very peaceful and quiet. I might have to make this a Saturday morning tradition. Gets me off the couch and more active on Saturday mornings. Plus early morning is a good time to take the drone out There aren’t many people. The lighting is usually okay and there isn’t usually much wind. I might have to go out to the High Trestle Trail Bridge this Saturday. Depending on how late of a Friday night I have.

Probably one more post with derecho damage in the future, but we will see. Some of this damage isn’t going away any time soon.

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.

Animals, Black & White, Drone, Nature, Panorama, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

So Many Stories of Where I’ve Been

August 7, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I took plenty of NATURE photos that just weren’t ready for the world on Monday. They needed a little bit more time in the oven. These pictures were taken at Summerset State Park, Harrier Marsh, Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, and Honey Hollow.

I haven’t even thought about this week’s theme yet…

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

TRANSPORTATION

A TRANSPORTATION photo is any photo that involves the TRANSPORTATION of people or goods. A car. A train. A boat. Your feet. A road. A bridge. You get the idea.

Happy photo harvesting!

Aaron, Angie, Animals, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Michelle, Micky, Nature, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 255 – NATURE

August 3, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

44 straight weeks of double digit submissions!! Absolutely incredible. Plus another week where I didn’t have to send out an reminder text messages. Nice!

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

Angie DeWaard

Cathie Raley

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Aaron Barnett

Angie DeWaard

Dawn Krause

Micky Augustin

Robyn Augustin

Micky Augustin

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATION! What a great theme! But what is a TRANSPORTATION photo? A TRANSPORTATION image is a picture of anything related to the TRANSPORTATION of anything. It could be a car. A truck. A train. An airplane. A bicycle. A wagon. It could be a picture of anything that is related to any of those things. A road. A trail. A sidewalk. Railroad tracks. A dock. You get the idea.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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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 trasported Monday!

HOUSEKEEPING

HOUSEKEEPING

HOUSEKEEPING

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