Category Archives: Nature

Art, Candid Portrait, Christianity, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Nature, Road Trip, Shannon

11-09-08 & 11-10-08

March 16, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The folders 11-09-08 and 11-10-08 contain a wide variety of pictures. They range from a trip to Ottumwa to trips of a book downsizing to pictures of Shannon after she had her hair cut for Locks of Love.

I had forgot that I poorly decided that the best place to takes pictures for her after picture was on an abandoned train bridge that goes over Squaw Creek. This unfortunately lead to a tragic incident where some of the hair was lost. It was a stupid idea and this tragedy might be why the bridge was ultimately torn down a few years later. Which is kind of sad, because I like things that have been abandoned.

Here are some pictures to look at:

The books photo is when I was preparing to buy a house and I decided to downsize my book collection. I should probably do that again.

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

The Future of Boone

The Shannon After

Lunchtography

Words, Words, Words

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Iowa State football.

Drone, Nature, Video

Almost Divine

March 12, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Last Thursday, the weather was actually warm enough that I was able to take the drone (from now on referred to as Rodan139) out to the Jay Carlson Wildlife Area for a few trips across the sky.

Here are a few photos from the friendly skies:

In the few weeks that I have shared with Rodan139 I have also taken some video that is worth sharing. Have alook at a few of those videos below:

My next investment needs to be video editing software. As soon as I get my hands on that, I’ll be able to make some more interesting videos. Stay tuned!

I hope to spend some quality time with Rodan139 this Thursday or this weekend. It should be warm enough. Just have to hope for low winds and no rain.

Animals, Black & White, Naima, Nature

The “Great Blizzard” of 2019

February 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Here in the greater metropolitan area of Boone, Iowa we got somewhat of a blizzard starting last Saturday night and going into Sunday. While in Boone we didn’t get a ton of snow, we did get a ton of wind.

On Saturday afternoon I went to watch the Iowa State women’s basketball team play the #1 Baylor Bears with my Mom. While the Cyclones gave it a valiant effort, they fell short. There is a reason why Baylor is the #1 team in the country… that reason is size. You can’t coach size and it is really hard to defend. But Iowa State gave it a great try and heading into their Tuesday evening game with the Texas Longhorns, they are currently tied for 2nd… with Texas. If they win that game, they have a really good shot to finish 2nd in the Big 12 by their lonesome. They will have only 1 game remaining. A home tilt with the lowly Kansas Jayhawks.

We went back to Boone immediately following the game and dined at The Colorado Grill. By the time we left The Colorado Grill it was snowing heavily. I spent the rest of Saturday night at home watching college basketball and working on my current organizational products.

When I awoke to take on the world Sunday morning, church had been cancelled. While there wasn’t much new snow, the wind had drifted it across my driveway in at least 2 foot drifts.

There is a company that comes to plow out my driveway, so I hung in my house, made some Jack’s pizza, watched a ton of Netflix, and waited to be plowed out.

Since I was stuck at home, I did go out to the back yard to photograph some of the results of the snowstorm:

The plow guy didn’t show up until after 8 AM on Monday morning. I was 2 hours late for work. US30 was a sheet of ice. I’m really starting to miss warm weather. I’m the type of person that normally doesn’t care… but this winter has been a bit much.

Flowers, Macro, Nature

Macro for Days

February 20, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Back in July we had a brief bit of rain. The resulting wetness in my yard gave me a chance to take some macro raindrop images.

I enjoy them, hopefully you will too.

As we sit and shiver through the 45th snow “storm” of the year today, I hope these flowers warm some people up. It is only about 4 weeks from spring and with it flowers and green grass and cherries and rhubarb and raspberries and fire pit Friday Night Supper Clubs and maybe, I’ll actually get to take the drone out for a spin!

Nature, Night

Bloody Wolf Lunar Eclipse

January 24, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Last Sunday there was one of nature’s greatest shows. The lunar eclipse!

I decided to check it out and photograph it because there won’t be another total lunar eclipse visible in Iowa for several years.

Although I cut my photography session short because I was having severe tripod problems, I did get a few images. Put that on my list of things to purchase this year. A badass tripod!

Here are a few images:

I do have quite the list of photography related purchases I want to make. I more than torn on a few of them. Obviously the drone comes first. But what comes second is a bit of a mystery.

Maybe not a total mystery. I guess I have pre-ordered a photo toy that should arrive sometime in February. When it comes, you will definitely get some kind of review. You can bet your bottom dollar on that!

Animals, Black & White, Naima, Nature, Photoshop

Naima; Dickcissel Park

January 9, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Hitting up the 2018 backlog. Here is a collection of pictures I took on May 5 on a trip to Dickcissel Park with Naima:

There are plenty of other pictures of Naima in the 2018 backlog. Plenty more!

Animals, Art, Black & White, Calendar, Christianity, Flowers, Macro, Nature, Night, Photoshop, Road Trip, Ruins, State Fair, Willy

2019 Photography 139 Calendar

January 2, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Yes Virginia, there was a Photography 139 Calendar this year. However, I didn’t sell them this year. I just made a small run and gave them out to a very few small group of select people.

Here are the pictures from the 2019 Photography 139 Calendar:

The front cover is a picture of William McAlpine peering through the hole in a brick. It was taken in the backyard of the Photography 139 Studio. It was taken for the FRAMED theme of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

This photo was entered into the 2018 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. It was accepted for display.

Willy is the first person to appear in a Photography 139 Calendar since the 2012 Calendar featured a final rendition of THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT that included images of AmyJunck-Wallendal, William McAlpine, Derrick Gorshe, Shannon Bardole, Jesse Howard, Jennifer Gorshe, Sara Junck, Jill Gorshe, and Jay Janson.

The January image was taken on a very foggy Christmas Eve morning. It was taken facing northeast from the road in upper Ledges State Park.

This image was entered in the 2018 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. It was selected for display.

The February image of a red hibiscus was taken in the Photography 139 Flower Garden in 2017.

Unfortunately, the hibiscus did not survive the winter and did not return to the Photography 139 Flower Garden in 2018.

The March image is of a lily is located in the Photography 139 Flower Garden. It is located in a designated lily patch near the birdbath.

While this macro photo might appear to be one image, it is actually the product of a technique called focus stacking. This image is actually 7 images with different focus ranges stacked one on top of the other.

This photo was nominated for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, but it lost the popular vote and was not entered.

The April image was taken at The Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa. It was taken on a road trip with my Office Buddy Joe Lynch. It was taken with the in-camera black & white HDR setting.

This image was taken for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. The theme of the image was to go some place “touristy” and take a “non-touristy” picture.

The picture of Mary holding a crucified Jesus was selected for April to coincide with the celebration of Easter.

This image was entered in the Photoshop category of the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. It won 1st Place.

The May image is of the sculputre Skallagrim by Peter Lundberg. Skallagrim is located in the Franconia Sculpture Park near Shafer, Minnesota.

I took this photo on a trip there with Bethany, Dae Hee, and Nora.

The image is HDR toned and is used as the base image for a Small World image.

The June image was taken on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. It was taken on the Liberty Bowl Road Trip I took with Russell Kennerly and Jesse Howard to watch the Iowa State Cyclones defeat the Memphis Tigers.

The image was originally taken in color and was transformed into black and white in post production.

The July image is of a hollyhock from the Photography 139 Studio Flowerbed. This pink hollyhock grew in the dedicated hollyhock patch along the north fenceline.

This macro image was taken while experimenting with a new set of extension tubes.

This image was nominated for the flower category for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, but was not entered.

The August image was taken in the midway of the Iowa State Fair. It was taken for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. The theme of the picture was to take a picture of something that is “nondescript during the day.”

The image was taken when I was able to sneak away during a break in the action of Baby Got Rack’s competitive barbecue competition.

The image was HDR toned in post-production.

The September image was taken of a grasshopper at Big Creek State Park near Polk City, Iowa. The image was taken for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. The theme for this image was to create a playlist and listen to it while taking pictures. The playlist I selected was the BABY DRIVER SOUNDTRACK. I was listening to the song “Bongolia” by Incredible Bongo Band when I took this image.

The October image of a ram lounging was taken in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. The image I was taken on the way home on a road trip I took with my Mom to Mount Rushmore.

This image was voted to be entered in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the Nature Category.

The November image was taken at the Iowa State Fair in the Discovery Garden. It was originally taken in color and converted to black and white in post-production.

It was nominated for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the Nature Category, but it was not entered.

The December image of an abandoned dump truck was taken in Boone, Iowa near the south terminus of Division Street.

The image was color processed through the Color Efex Pro 4 plugin during post production.

The image was nominated for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the Hidden Treasures of Boone County category, but was not entered.

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There are a few calendars to handout, but for the most part delivery has finished. Almost on time this year.

Alisa, Animals, Art, Baby Got Rack, Becky, Black & White, Blogging, Boone County Fair, Carla, Contests, Dae Hee, Dawn, Derrick, Flowers, Holidays, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Macro, Mom, Nader, Nature, Photoshop, Politics, Railroad, Road Trip, Sara, Scottie D., Self-Portrait Project, Shannon, State Fair, Teresa, Travel, Vest, Willy

Post #3252 – 2018 Year in Review

January 1, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Happy New Year to people who celebrate such things.

I like to look at some meaningless statistics every 250 posts and I also look at fairly meaningless year end statistics.

Just so happens that I get to combine them today!!

Here is both a year in review and a celebration that I have made it to 3252 blog posts. I was on the Alamo Bowl Road Trip visiting submarines, cults, and reality television stars when post #3250 came around, so I hope you can excuse the tardiness.

The first thing I want to look at are the most popular CATEGORIES in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”.

Top 10 Journal Entry Categories

1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Jesse – 361
6. Photography – 355
7. Shannon – 320
8. Teresa – 296
9. Black & White – 291
10. Carla – 280

Top 10 People Categories

1. Jesse – 361
2. Shannon – 320
3. Teresa – 296
4. Carla – 280
5. Jay – 279
6. Mom – 277
7. Derrick – 256
8. Willy – 227
9. Vest – 221
10. Jen – 209

Top 10 Not-People Categories

1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Photography – 355
6. Black & White – 291
7. Road Trip – 262
8. Personal Photo Project – 261
9. Life – 234
10. Nature – 215

“Photography” and “Life” are general categories that I have been working on eliminating as I go back and restore historical “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory. Hopefully they will have both dropped off the Top 10 Lists by journal entry #3500.

If you are wondering how to become a Top 10 person on this list. The easiest way is to submit to the Weekly Photo Challenge. After that, the best way is to volunteer to model and photo assist for photography projects. Then after that, I would suggest going on road trips with me or attending Iowa State athletic events with me or going on road trips to Iowa State athletic events with me.

The people that are right outside of the Top 10 are:: Sara, Kim, Dawn, Becky, and Nader.

If you are looking for a goal for 2019, you could do worse than trying to crack the Photography 139 Top Ten People Category List. You obviously could do way, way, way, way, way, way, way better too.

Now we will turn out eye towards 2018.

Top 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries of 2018 by Views

1. 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT – 48,722
2. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – 37,614
3. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – ALTERNATES – 33,622
4. 2008 – JANUARY – JUNE – 26,032
5. SELFIE PROJECT – 2017 – 23,141
6. HOUSTON MISSION TRIP – 2018 – 22,046
7. SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP – 2017 – 21,868
8. BOONE COUNTY FAIR CONTEST NOMINEES – 2018 – 17,211
9. SAYDIE HOWARD – CLASS OF 2017 – 14,808
10. IOWA STATE CYCLONES FOOTBALL – 2018

The 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Images by Views

1. 2524

2. 2386

3. 2327

4. 1958

5. 1621

6. 1456

7. 1445

8. 1321

9. 1293

10. 1241

On the Instagram, these were my 9 Most Popular Photos based on Likes:

My theme for my 2018 Instagram posts was Black & White. My theme for 2019 will be HDR Toning. Also, I will be bringing back THE SELFIE PROJECT to Instagram in 2019.

You can follow me on Instagram here:

@christopherdbennett

I entered 3 photo contests with the following results:

Red Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Purple Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

1st Place Photoshop – Pufferbilly Days

1st Place Photojournalism – Pufferbilly Days

Pufferbilly Days

3rd Place Hidden Treasures of Boone County – Pufferbilly Days

Pufferbilly Days

Last note:

My goal for 2019 is the same as it was in 2018:

I’m gonna step my game up and get what is coming to me.

Good luck in 2019 everybody!

Macro, Nature

Drops

December 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A few months back I went out into my backyard during a rainstorm and took a few photos of some raindrops.

Here are those photos:

You can’t beat fun in the rain!

Becky, Iowa State, Micky, Nature, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 167 – ? PLACE

November 26, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I don’t know if it was the holiday or just a really tough theme, but hardly anybody was inspired by last week’s theme, ? PLACE.

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

Becky Parmelee

Christopher D. Bennett

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:

COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION! What a great theme! But what is a COMMUNICATION photo? A COMMUNICATION photo is any photo that shows creatures in the act of COMMUNICATION or a photo of objects that are used for COMMUNICATION.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. 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.

2. 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 communicative Monday.