Category Archives: Night

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Evie, Gretchen, Holidays, Layla, Nature, Night, Railroad, Still Life, Street Photography, WPC - Alternate

But Don’t Tell Me You’re Sorry, Boy

November 11, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Today is Veterans Day. A day that celebrates all those who served in the U.S. Military.

Happy Veterans Day to all the veterans I know! And to the ones I don’t know too.

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Time to hit up the backlog again. These pictures are from March and they just didn’t fit into any previous post. Some are sunset pictures. Some are from Gretchen’s birthday party. Some are pictures of gas stations.

Have a look:

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of Gretchen or Maven. I kinda suck.

There are still plenty more images in the March backlog to share.

Art, Derrick, Evie, Holidays, Iowa State, Jen, Layla, Lists, Night, Still Life

Happy Halloween – Late

November 7, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Because last week was so messed up, I didn’t get my planned Halloween post put together, so here it goes.

I hope everybody had a good Halloween. I had 51 trick-or-treaters, which was less than last year, but about average.

Now time for my annual Halloween Candy Bar Power Rankings

CANDY BAR POWER RANKINGS

10. PayDay
9. Snickers Almond
8. Skor
7. Pretzel M & M’s
6. Twix Caramel
5. Snickers
4. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
3. Peanut M & M’s
2. Take 5
1. Whatchamacallit

Please respect my decision. There will be no interviews at this time.

About a week or so before Halloween I made a trip to the Reiman Gardens annual Jack O’Lantern thing with the Gorshes.

Here are some pictures of my favorite pumpkins.

It was a great event! I definitely go back.

Carla, Night, Road Trip, Street Photography, Teresa

Oskaloosa Christmas Lighted Parade – II

August 11, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to share the rest of the images from when Carla, Teresa, and I went Oskaloosa to check out the largest and oldest Christmas Lighted Parade in Iowa. I’m afraid the pictures don’t really do it justice. If you ever have a chance to check it out, I would highly recommend it. Just dress warm!

Finding parking is particularly hard for this event as there isn’t a ton of parking in downtown Oskaloosa and the streets are packed for the parade. We got to the parade what I thought was plenty early, but still there was no parking to be found. Then as we were driving down a street that was a mere block away from the parade route, there was an elderly gentleman standing on our porch waving us to park in his driveway.

We parked in his driveway cause he couldn’t go to the parade but he wanted people to be able to park close to it and his driveway was open. It was very generous and we offered him money. But he wasn’t like the people that give up their yard for cars during the Iowa State Fair. He was just being generous. Teresa made him a card and mailed it to him.

The next trip I will cover is a trip I made to Clear Lake to see the Color the Sky Festival.

Carla, Nature, Night, Road Trip, Street Photography, Teresa

Oskaloosa Christmas Lighted Parade – I

August 4, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Last year before Christmas Teresa, Carla, and I went to Oskaloosa for their lighted Christmas Parade. It is the largest and oldest parade of its kind in Iowa. The show downtown Oskaloosa puts on with their lights does not disappoint.

I have one more collection of images from this parade.

Kim, Lowell, Night, Self-Portrait, Street Photography, Travel, Work

The Windy City: Day 6

July 28, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time for the final collection of pictures from my work trip to Chicago for the Computer Mine. Day 6 was the last day of The Big Convention. It is the slowest day and ends with everybody leaving except for me, Lowell, Kim, and Tony. We sit around for anywhere between an hour to 4 hours waiting for the crates for our equipment to be brought so we can pack up and hit the road. In Miami it was close to 4 hours. In Chicago it was about an hour.

Here is that collection:

What was left in the snack closet.

A Computer Mine competitor.

People in Chicago don’t even care about the White Sox.

Another Computer Mine competitor.

Next year the Big Convention is in New Orleans.

Best part of the Big Convention.

Being torn down.

Tony sent this picture to his mom. She didn’t enjoy it.

All in all it was a good trip. But it is time to start sharing pictures of different trips that I have taken. Still haven’t shared pictures from the Christmas Lighted Parade in Oskaloosa…

Art, Contests, Monica, Night, Pufferbilly Days, Street Photography, Travel, Work

The Windy City: Day 5

July 21, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

There is one week left to enter the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Monica created this sweet social media artwork to post:

Here is the link to the Entry Form:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Entry Form

Thanks again Monica! I hope at least a few of you decide to enter!

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Last week I shared the cell phone pictures I took on Day 5 of my work trip to Chicago for the Big Convention. Now I’m going to share pictures from the “real” camera:

Garrett’s to get popcorn.

Apparently it is where it is at in the popcorn world. I did get some Pecan Caramel Crisp and it was solid.

Yeah, I photographed this thing a lot.

The people that were going to this concert were definitely dressed to party!

Outside the Korean Barbecue.

That night I wandered around near the hotel to do a little street photography.

Co-sign.

I do regret not taking a river cruise.

Watch out for DMB’s Tour Bus!

Bubble People!

Just one more small collection of pictures from Chicago left to share. Then on to other adventures!

Art, Kim, Night, Street Photography, Travel, Work

The Windy City: Day 4 & 5 Phone Pictures

July 14, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I never actually cracked out the “real” camera on Day 4 of my work trip to Chicago. It was the first day of the Big Convention and it was a 13 hour work day. It was also by far the busiest day in the Computer Mine Booth, so I didn’t even take many cell phone pictures. The ones I did aren’t great, but I thought I would share them in case somebody was interested to know what the Big Convention looks like:

The Convention Floor.

More convention floor.

You get the idea.

The area at the top of the picture is the Exhibitor Lounge. It is wear you go to get a break and absolutely terrible iced tea.

This area is the International Lounge.

Privacy, but no roof.

These guys are super annoying. Super. Annoying.

Because there aren’t many, I’m also going to share the cell phone pictures from Day 5 and then combine all the “real” camera pictures from Day 5 and Day 6 and the cell phone pictures from Day 6 into one post. There aren’t many of them. There wasn’t much free time when the Big Convention starts.

Day 5 pictures:

Setting up the booth.

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Kim making friends.

Maybe “friends”.

I believe they are pen pals now.

After the Big Convention concluded for the day, Kim and I went back to Garrett’s so she could bring back popcorn for some people.

The lady working the popcorn stand told us that the popcorn wouldn’t be any good the next day, which made me panic a little bit. I had bought Elizabeth and Scottie D.’s popcorn 2 days before this and it would be 2 more days before I would be able to deliver it at a minimum. But frankly I think she was full of it. Elizabeth didn’t complain about her popcorn. Scottie D. didn’t complain about his.

After the Korean Barbecue place that Kim “loved”.

Kim was cold and had to wait inside.

After getting back dinner I took a short walk around the area to admire the street art.

One last post about my work trip to Chicago! Then we can move on to other trips I’ve been on lately!

Drone, Holidays, Night

Rodan139: Independence Day

July 11, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

On Independence Day I took Rodan139 up in my back yard and took a few pictures of the fireworks in my area. It is tricky taking a picture with something that is flying through the air at night but it was not a windy night, so it turned out alright.

Here are some pictures:

I’m out of drone photos now. Which means I need to take Rodan139 out for a spin sometime this week.

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Contests, Dawn, Derrick, Drone, Elizabeth, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Mary, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Nathanial, Night, Sabas, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Shannon, Sheri, State Fair, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 408 – TIME

July 10, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Feels like a good time to announce that I did get a picture in the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. I also got an Award of some kind:

I assume the Award isn’t as good as the award I got last year when I got 1st Place in the Iowa Places class. An award can range from an Honorable Mention to winning the whole darn shooting match.

I’ll be interested to see which picture got in. The only other person that has seen my entries said that 2 of them were so bad that not only should I be ashamed of entering them, I should be ashamed of even taking the pictures.

That might not be what they said, it is what I heard. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what matters?

So to say that I’m hoping one of those two unloved pictures made it, just so I can say “Ha!” wouldn’t be accurate. Cause that wouldn’t sound like me.

But in the end, I don’t know what picture got accepted. But I’ll share that after the Iowa State Fair is over. As is my way. Or you can go to the Iowa State Fair and find out for yourself.

But I’m not the only regular contributor to THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE to get pictures accepted to the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. Angie, Logan, and Nathanial all also got pictures accepted. I believe all of them got multiple pictures accepted and I think there were multiple awards in their as well. So congratulations to them! WooHoo!

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TIME! A great theme. But did many people make TIME to take a TIME photo and submit it? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, July 3, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Suzie Brannen – 1 week (3)
2-Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 1 week
3-Sabas Hernandez – 1 week
4-Sheri Fakhouri – 3 weeks (3)
5-Becky Parmelee – 3 weeks
6-Monica Jennings – 4 weeks
7-Logan Kahler – 4 weeks
8-Nathanial Brown – 5 weeks (3)
9-Jesse Howard – 5 weeks (2)
10-Tamara Peterson – 8 weeks
11-Alexis Baugher – 13 weeks (3)
12-Mindi Terrell – 20 weeks (3)
13-Brandon Kahler – 45 weeks
14-Linda Bennett – 49 weeks (2)
15-Sarah Toot – 50 weeks (3)
16-Angie DeWaard – 54 weeks
17-Dawn Krause – 58 weeks (2)
18-Kim Barker – 64 weeks
19-Joe Duff – 65 weeks
20-Teresa Kahler – 76 weeks (2)
21-Carla Stensland – 76 weeks
22-Micky Augustin – 78 weeks
23-Andy Sharp – 79 weeks (2)
24-Bill Wentworth – 80 weeks
25-Cathie Morton – 84 weeks
26-Elizabeth Nordeen – 85 weeks (2)
27-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 87 weeks
28-Kio Dettman – 89 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:

Alexis Baugher (Iowa) – 14 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Bill Wentworth (St. Petersburg, Florida) – 81 weeks

Carla Stensland (Ogden, Iowa) – 77 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 50 weeks

Linda Bennett (Kansas)

Mary Green (Iowa) – 1 week

Mary Green (Iowa)

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 88 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 51 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania)

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 9 weeks

Micky Augustin (Wilton, Iowa) – 79 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Chicago, Illinois) – 1 week

Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 77 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa)

Dawn Krause (Boone, Iowa) – 59 weeks

Kim Barker (Nevada, Iowa) – 65 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 86 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Boone, Iowa)

Joe Duff (Texas) – 66 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas)

Angie DeWaard (Bridgewater, New Jersey) – 55 weeks

Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa) – 80 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 90 weeks

Logan Kahler (Council Bluffs, Iowa) – 6 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 46 weeks

Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 85 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Treasure Island – Florida) – 6 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 21 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Jesse Howard (Boone, Iowa) – 6 weeks

Jesse Howard (Boone, Iowa)

Mike Vest (Madrid, Iowa) – 1 week

Derrick Gorshe (North Carolina)

Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 5 weeks

Becky Parmelee (Bella Vista, Arkansas) – 4 weeks

Sheri Fakhouri (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Sheri Fakhouri (Iowa)

32 participants! A pretty great week! Back over 30 participants. Where we belong! And thanks to Derrick’s trip to North Carolina, there is another state added to the map! WooHoo!

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Arkansas
+ Florida
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ New Jersey
+ North Carolina
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

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

31 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over 60% of the way there!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico (General)
+ Isla Mujeres, Mexico
+ Riviera Maya, Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I took my picture standing in my backyard. I continue to not help expand the map.

The big milestone this week was that it was Derrick’s first submission this calendar year! Hopefully it will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Derrick and THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE! He joins Jen and Layla as the members of the Gorshe family to contribute this year.

But it wasn’t all fun, games, and Gorshes this week. Jen couldn’t build on last week and her “streak” ended.

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:

A SHAPE*

A SHAPE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a A SHAPE picture? Simply put, it a picture where A SHAPE plays a heavy part of the composition. It doesn’t matter what SHAPE. Pick your favorite. A circle. A triangle. A square. A rectangle. A pentagon. A rhombus. A dodecahedron. Doesn’t matter. As long as it is A SHAPE.

While considering a possible subject for your A SHAPE picture, meditate on the following quote I have no doubt you will come up with a fascinating submission:

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.
-Georgia O’Keeffe

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 A SHAPE in this place that holds some kind of shape next Monday.

*This image is not to imply that I condone the playing of golf. This picture was taken at a miniature golf course. The only acceptable form of golf.

Andy, Art, Birthdays, Cathie, Kalista, Kim, Lowell, Micky, Naima, Night, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

The Windy City: Day 1C

May 26, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Today is Kalista’s birthday, so happy birthday Kalista!

Hope your day is as amazing as you want it to be!

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We begin where we left off last Friday. Kim, Lowell, Tony, and I were hanging out by The Bean after having supper at Giordano’s.

The Bean is one of the few touristy things I’ve seen in my life that didn’t disappoint. But something else on this trip did disappoint.

Underneath The Bean.

In Las Vegas I never found a mailbox. I marked this one so I could actually mail postcards from Chicago this time.

I loved this clock.

I think the Nederlander Theater was called The Orient Theater, before they realized that was racist.

Jagged Little Pill was playing, which Jesse wants to go see in Minneapolis.

Right next door to it is a Garrett’s popcorn, which I would go to twice on this trip.

The historic Chicago Theater.

I wanted to hit up the Torture Museum so bad, but I never made it. And that is what regrets are made of.

Reverse angle, Chicago Theater.

There was a wide variety of acts that played here while we were there.

Window shopping at the Torture Museum.

Across the street from the Chicago Theater was this alley with a bunch of sweet murals.

This mural may have given me nightmares.

After this we went back to our hotel rooms. I think Tony and I watched the Minnesota Timberwolves get crushed in their playoff game. I dozed off after a pretty good Day 1 in Chicago.

Next Friday we will start in on Day 2.

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REMINDER THAT NEXT MONDAY IS MEMORIAL DAY. WHILE YOUR BANK AND THE GOVERNMENT AND A BUNCH OF OTHER BUSINESSES TAKE THE DAY OFF, THERE IS NO REST FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 139. RISE AND GRIND EVERY SINGLE DAY. I DON’T KNOW WHAT MY PLANS ARE FOR MEMORIAL DAY (OTHER THAN MAYBE SLEEPING LATE AFTER WHAT I HOPE IS AN EPIC MOVIE NIGHT ON SUNDAY) BUT IT MIGHT INCLUDE A ROAD TRIP OR A BARBECUE OR A FEW OTHER OPTIONS THAT MIGHT KEEP ME BUSY. LIKEWISE YOU MIGHT BE ENGAGED IN A SIMILAR ACTIVITY ON MONDAY MORNING. YOU MIGHT NOT GET A REMINDER AND YOU MIGHT NOT BE IN A POSITION TO SUBMIT. PLAN ACCORDINGLY.

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

PARK

PARK! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the John Culbertson is a PARK image? Simply put, it is a picture taken in a PARK. And there are all sorts of PARKs. There are city, state, national, baseball, softball, playgrounds, nature preserves, urban, pocket, sculpture gardens, cultural… just to name a few. Of course, there is more than one definition of PARK.

Also, if you take a picture of a PARK, let me know the name of the park and I will include it in the entry on Monday. If you don’t, I might ask you.

PARK has only been a theme one other time in the 10 year history of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE/RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT. I was actually surprised, because I thought that it had never been a theme before. I guess this makes it the second time.

Here are some previous submissions that will hopefully inspire your submission this time:

Micky Augustin – Week 195

Cathie Raley – Week 195

Kim Barker – Week 195

Andy Sharp – Week 195

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 195

Happy photo harvesting!