Category Archives: Photo of the Day

Hello 2023.

It is the first day of 2023. I’m not really a “resolutions” person. Pastor Adam was on vacation today so we had a substitute seromizer in church this morning. He gave an impassioned, longwinded sermon on resolve. It took more than a bit of my resolve to stay awake during the longest sermon these ears have heard in quite sometime.

But if I were to take the words on resolve to heart, I would say that I’m not without goals. Last year my main goal was to complete THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. I did that.

My main goal in 2023 is to complete Phase 2 of THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT and put the book together. I should be freeing up sometime to work on that buy dropping a couple of photo projects that I did in 2022.

My second goal in 2023 is to begin work and complete my new photo project. Details are still foggy, but it is to create Boone postcard. Not a bunch of Boone postcards. Not even to print up a bunch of one Boone postcard. But to make one big image of one Boone postcard. While the end goal is one image, it will involve taking at least several hundred (probably thousand) images. It will make more sense when I get going on it.

My third goal in 2023 is to keep the positive momentum that was achieved in 2022 in participation rates for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I’m not likely to go out and beat the drums looking for participants, but doesn’t mean you guys can’t. Right?

My fourth goal in 2023 is to consider and maybe take action on visiting and photographing every State Park in Iowa.
That seems more straight forward than it actually is because in addition to State Parks there are State Forests and State Preserves and State Recreation Areas. Boone County contains 3 Minor State Forests alone! We will see where this one goes, but we all know I could use the exercise.

I don’t have any goals related to the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. That type of stuff is a considerable amount of luck. So best not to have goals that are out of one’s hands. Maybe my goal should just be to give my best effort.

Hopefully 2023 is a good year for all of us!

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Time to share the December images for the FatMumSlim Photo A Day Challenge. This is also the final collection of images as I will be dropping this pursuit in 2023. It doesn’t take a lot of time, but it still eats up a fair amount of time. Hopefully time freed up that I can use to pursue some of those 2023 goals.

Here are the December images:


December 1
December 1 – I Love This!

December 2
December 2 – I Bought This!

December 3
December 3 – Starts with T

December 4
December 4 – I Held This

December 5
December 5 – Something Red

December 6
December 6 – Peace

December 7
December 7 – Tree

December 8
December 8 – Looking Up

December 9
December 9 – Small

December 10
December 10 – Out + About

December 11
December 11 – Free Choice

December 12
December 12 – Lights

December 13
December 13 – Something Green

December 14
December 14 – Decoration

December 15
December 15 – A Star

December 16
December 16 – Candy Cane

December 17
December 17 – A Hat

December 18
December 18 – I Made This!

December 19
December 19 – Joy Is…

December 20
December 20 – Begins with S

December 21
December 21 – On the Floor

December 22
December 22 – A Gift

December 23
December 23 – A Tradition

December 24
December 24 – Someone I Love

December 25
December 25 – My Day

December 26
December 26 – This is Delish

December 27
December 27 – Colourful

December 28
December 28 – A Book

December 29
December 29 – Us

December 30
December 30 – How I Relax

December 31
December 31 – Best Part of 2022

Top 9
Top 9 Most Popular Images

I did enjoy this project and I’m not walking away from it because I didn’t enjoy it. I “met” numerous other people in this community that I will continue to follow, like @bea.photoaday, @sara.fms.photoaday, @outnbout, @gerkgirl, @pink_koffie, and @lostfate13.

But there were other things I didn’t like. Most people used the challenge to curate images, rather than take new images every day. The person that ran the challenge is Australian. That meant that a lot of the prompts were seasonal for Australia, meaning they weren’t seasonal for Iowa. Prompts repeated an awful lot. Not that they wouldn’t after 365 days, but I felt like they repeated more than necessary.

These minor complaints aside, I would consider doing it again in a future year. Just not this year. I’m sure many of you have minor complaints about how I run THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE as well.

Fat Mum Slim – November 2022

Taking a Formal Portrait Sunday off to share November’s Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge images. Only one month left for this challenge as I’m not going to continue it into 2023. I think I’ve kind of run my course with it.

Here are the November images:


November 1
November 1 – A Collection

November 2
November 2 – A Book Cover

November 3
November 3 – A Shop Front

November 4
November 4 – A For Sale Sign

November 5
November 5 – A Bridge

November 6
November 6 – A Fence

November 7
November 7 – I Didn’t Make This

November 8
November 8

November 9
November 9 – An Unmade Bed

November 10
November 10 – Power Lines

November 11
November 11 – An Arrow

November 12
November 12 – In My Pocket

November 13
November 13 – A Closed Sign

November 14
November 14 – A Flock of Birds

November 15
November 15 – Hand Shadow

November 16
November 16 – Running Water

November 17
November 17 – Wrinkles

November 18
November 18 – An Empty Table

November 19
November 19 – Rocks

November 20
November 20 – Afternoon Light

November 21
November 21 – Half Full

November 22
November 22 – Graffiti

November 22
November 23 – An Ugly Food

November 24
November 24

November 25
November 25 – A Spiderweb

November 26
November 26 – A Funny Shape

November 27
November 27 – A Splash

November 28
November 28 – Something Hidden

November 29
November 29 – A List

November 30
November 30 – A Family Member

Here is the list of the December themes:

December 1 – I Love This!
December 2 – I Bought This!
December 3 – Starts with T
December 4 – I Held This
December 5 – Something Red
December 6 – Peace
December 7 – tree
December 8 – Looking Up
December 9 – Small
December 10 – Out + About
December 11 – Free Choice
December 12 – Lights
December 13 – Something Green
December 14 – Decoration
December 15 – A Star
December 16 – Candy Cane
December 17 – A Hat
December 18 – I Made This!
December 19 – Joy Is…
December 20 – Begins with S
December 21 – On the Floor
December 22 – A Gift
December 23 – A Tradition
December 24 – Someone I Love
December 25 – My Day
December 26 – This is Delish!
December 27 – Colourful
December 28 – A Book
December 29 – Us
December 30 – How I Relax
December 31 – Best Part of 2022

Seems like a pretty good list. I think I’ve already done some good work this month!

Fat Mum Slim – October 2022

I’m kicking the decision on Formal Portrait Sunday down the road for at least one more week.

I wasn’t necessarily pleased with the overall body of work I put in during September for the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. I tried to make October a better month for the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. I believe at the aggregate level, I accomplished just that.

Here are the October images:


October 1
October 1 – White

October 2
October 2 – Black

October 3
October 3 – Green

October 4
October 4 – Red

October 5
October 5 – Orange

October 6
October 6 – Blue

October 7
October 7 – Yellow

October 8
October 8 – Purple

October 9
October 9 – Aqua

October 10
October 10 – Pink

October 11
October 11 – Grey

October 12
October 12 – Brown

October 13
October 13 – Pop of Colour

October 14
October 14 – Stripes

October 15
October 15 – Floral

October 16
October 16 – One Colour

October 17
October 17 – Two Colours

October 18
October 18 – Pattern

October 19
October 19 – Black and White

October 20
October 20 – Rainbow

October 21
October 21 – My Fave Colour

October 22
October 22 – Matching

October 23
October 23 – Natural

October 24
October 24 – Dark

October 25
October 25 – Light

October 26
October 26 – Pastel

October 27
October 27 – Bright

October 28
October 28 – Gold

October 29
October 29 – Fresh

October 30
October 30 – Mellow

October 31
October 31 – Dots

I should thank Elizabeth, Flat Earth Joe, Scottie D. and Logan for assists on at least one of these pictures for the month. My lack of doing much in October didn’t hurt this project. I will probably have a pretty lazy November as well, but I hope to do some good work this month as well.

Remember you can follow along with this project on the daily by following my Fat Mum Slim Insta:

@fmsbennett

Here are the November themes:

1. A Collection
2. A Book Cover
3. A Shop Front
4. A For Sale Sign
5. A Bridge
6. A Fence
7. I Didn’t Make This
8. Throw It
9. An Unmade Bed
10. Power Lines
11. An Arrow
12. In My Pocket
13. A Closed Sign
14. A Flock of Birds
15. Hand Shadows
16. Running Water
17. Wrinkles
18. An Empty Table
19. Rocks
20. Afternoon Light
21. Half Full
22. Graffiti
23. An Ugly Food
24. A Tall Building
25. A Spider Web
26. A Funny Shape
27. A Splash
28. Something Hidden
29. A List
30. A Family Member

I think there are some interesting themes in there.

Fat Mum Slim – September 2022

Another month done in the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. I have to confess that I spent some time on the struggle bus this month. I don’t know if I lost some steam or if I just want feeling some of the themes. Being sick for a few days in September didn’t help either. With that being said, I think there is still some good work in there.

Here are the September images:


September 1
September 1 – Something I Saw

September 2
September 2 – Plastic

September 3
September 3 – Paper

September 4
September 4 – Somewhere I Went

September 5
September 5 – Hobby

September 6
September 6 – Green + Blue

September 7
September 7 – Before Bed

September 8
September 8 – An Emotion

September 9
September 9 – Opposites

September 10
September 10 – I Can Hear…

September 11
September 11 – Paint

September 12
September 12 – Symmetry

September 13
September 13 – Tasty

September 14
September 14 – Odd One Out

September 15
September 15 – A Food Shop

September 16
September 16 – 12:34

September 17
September 17 – Lucky

September 18
September 18 – Car Park

September 19
September 19 – What’s on TV

September 20
September 20 – Texture

September 21
September 21 – Nature

September 22
September 22 – Tree Trunk

September 23
September 23 – Crunchy

September 24
September 24 – I Can Smell…

September 25
September 25 – Laneway

September 26
September 26 – The Moon

September 27
September 27 – Open Door

September 28
September 28 – My Culture

September 29
September 29 – Not My Style

September 30
September 30 – Sentimental

As you can tell, the woman who runs this challenge is Australian and there were some terms in there I had to look up, cause I had no clue what a laneway is.

Remember, you can follow on for my daily posts on the dedicated Instagram Account.

@fmsbennett

These are the themes for October:

1. White
2. Black
3. Green
4. Red
5. Orange
6. Blue
7. Yellow
8. Purple
9. Aqua
10. Pink
11. Grey
12. Brown
13. Pop of Colour
14. Stripes
15. Floral
16. One Colour
17. Two Colours
18. Pattern
19. Black and White
20. Rainbow
21. My Fave Colour
22. Matching
23. Natural
24. Dark
25. Light
26. Pastel
27. Bright
28. Gold
29. Fresh
30. Mellow
31. Dots

Some good ones in there. Should be a good month!

FAT MUM SLIM – AUGUST 2022

Another month done in the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. Think there is some good work in there this week. Having so much going on in August certainly helped. We’ll see how September goes.

Here are the August images:


August 1
August 1 – I AM…

August 2
August 2 – I LOVE THIS COLOUR

August 3
August 3 – I WALKED HERE…

August 4
August 4 – I LIKE TO…

August 5
August 5 – I LIKE THIS TIME OF DAY…

August 6
August 6 – I LOVE…

August 7
August 7 – I MADE THIS…

August 8
August 8 – I WORK HERE…

August 9
August 9 – I HELD THIS…

August 10
August 10 – I WROTE THIS…

August 11
August 11 – I SAW…

August 12
August 12 – I LIKE TO DRINK…

August 13
August 13 – I STOOD HERE…

August 14
August 14 – I DO THIS ON SUNDAYS…

August 15
August 15 – I ONCE…

August 16
August 16 – I NEVER…

August 17
August 17 – I WENT TO…

August 18
August 18 – I READ THIS…

August 19
August 19 – I DID THIS GOOD THING…

August 20
August 20 – I LOVE THIS VIEW…

August 21
August 21 – I DON’T LIKE TO…

August 22
August 22 – ON MONDAYS I…

August 23
August 23 – I SAT HERE…

August 24
August 24 – I LIKE TO EAT…

August 25
August 25 – I HAVE TO…

August 26
August 26 – I WORE THIS…

August 27
August 27 – ON WEEKENDS I…

August 28
August 28 – I WATCHED THIS…

August 29
August 29 – I CAN…

August 30
August 30 – I CAN’T…

August 31
August 31 – I BELIEVE…

Remember you can follow these as they drop on the daily on my dedicated FatMumSlim Instagram account @FMSBENNETT.

Here are the prompts for September:

September 1: Something I Saw
September 2: Plastic
September 3: Paper
September 4: Somewhere I Went
September 5: Hobby
September 6: Green + Blue
September 7: Before Bed
September 8: An Emotion
September 9: Opposites
September 10: I Can Hear…
September 11: Paint
September 12: Symmetry
September 13: Tasty
September 14: Odd One Out
September 15: A Food Shop
September 16: 12:34
September 17: Lucky
September 18: Car Park
September 19: What’s on TV
September 20: Texture
September 21: Nature
September 22: Tree Trunk
September 23: Crunchy
September 24: I Can Smell…
September 25: Laneway
September 26: The Moon
September 27: Open Door
September 28: My Culture
September 29: Not My Style
September 30: Sentimental

Should be a good month. I think there are some good prompts in there. The woman who runs this challenge is Australian. There must be some Australian things in here cause I have no clue what a “Car Park” or a “Laneway” is, but I’ll find out.

Fat Mum Slim – July 2022

A quick heads up. If you were thinking of going to or entering an animal into the Pufferbilly Days Dog and Exotic Animal Show, because of the extreme heat of today it was postponed. It is now tomorrow at noon at the park on 9th and Story.

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I have another month done in the Fat Mum Slim Photo a Day Challenge. This month wasn’t as difficult as last month because they were just standard themes. I think the images I took are a fair record of my experiences in July.


July 1
July 1 – Reflection

July 2
July 2 – Letters

July 3
July 3 – Human

July 4
July 4 – I’m Working On This…

July 5
July 5 – Wall

July 6
July 6 – Bright Colours

July 7
July 7 – A Fave Place

July 8
July 8 – Out of Focus

July 9
July 9 – A Boomerang

July 10
July 10 – Behind Someone

July 11
July 11 – Interior

July 12
July 12 – Exterior

July 13
July 13 – Life

July 14
July 14 – Create A Postcard

July 15
July 15 – Where I Stood

July 16
July 16 – Pattern

July 17
July 17 – Water

July 18
July 18 – Street Photography

July 19
July 19 – A Cylinder

July 20
July 20 – Hug

July 21
July 21 – A Church

July 22
July 22 – Current Interest

July 23
July 23 – Still Life

July 24
July 24 – A Metaphor

July 25
July 25 – Beauty

July 26
July 26 – Beauty

July 27
July 27 – Countryside

July 28
July 28 – An Old Car

JULY 29
July 29 – Black and White

July 30
July 30 – Happy Days


July 31 – Sunday Morning

I think there was some pretty good work in July. Hopefully some good work to be done in August.

Here are the August prompts:

August 1 – I Am…
August 2 – I Love This Colour…
August 3 – I Walked Here…
August 4 – I Like To…
August 5 – I Love This Time of Day…
August 6 – I Love…
August 7 – I Made This…
August 8 – I Work Here…
August 9 – I Held This…
August 10 – I Wrote This…
August 11 – I Saw…
August 12 – I Like To Drink…
August 13 – I Stood Here…
August 14 – I Do This On Sundays…
August 15 – I Once…
August 16 – I Never…
August 17 – I Went To…
August 18 – I Read This…
August 19 – I Did This Good Thing…
August 20 – I Love This View…
August 21 – I Don’t Life To…
August 22 – On Mondays I…
August 23 – I Sat Here…
August 24 – I Like To Eat…
August 25 – I Have To…
August 26 – I Wore This…
August 27 – On Weekends I…
August 28 – I Watched This…
August 29 – I Can…
August 30 – I Can’t…
August 31 – I Believe…

I guess people will get to know me better this month… unless I can help it.

If you want to follow this project on the daily, they are posted on my Fat Mum Slim Instagram account.

@fmsbennett

Otherwise, we’ll check in on this next month.

Fat Mum Slim – June 2022

On Thursday I completed another month of the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. For June, there was only one prompt. Grateful. Everyday, post a picture of something that makes you grateful. What I decided to do was every day take a picture with somebody that I am grateful to have in my life. 30 days in June. 30 different people. Only one person a day. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it wasn’t necessarily difficult. Most days, I just let people come into my life. I never made a trip way out of my way to take a picture. I think the farthest I went out of my way was to Madrid for the last day. Most people agreed to come to me. The farthest away a picture was taken was in Lansing, Iowa. But I didn’t go to Lansing, Iowa to take the picture. I went to Lansing to take a picture of their town sign. The second farthest away a picture taken was Spirit Lake, Iowa. But I didn’t go to Spirit Lake to take the picture. I went to Spirit Lake to go camping. The funny thing about those subjects is they were my sisters, who both live pretty darn close to me. The farthest away anybody lives from me that was included was Easton, Kansas. But that person definitely didn’t drive to Boone to have their picture taken with me.

The breakdown of people that I got pictured, if I were to categorize these people by how I first met them, it would break down like this:

+ Friend from Work: 11 – 7 current and 4 from the past.
+ Blood Relative – 7 people.
+ Church Friend – 5 people.
+ School Friend – 4 people.
+ In-Law – 1 person.
+ Teresa’s Friend – 1 person.
+ Olivia’s Friend – 1 person.

Here are my gratitude pictues:


June 1
June 1 – Grateful – I’m grateful for my “Workspace Buddy” Joe. Not only because he is a great co-worker, but a great guy. He 100% believes the earth is flat, that there is no such thing as space, the moon landing was faked, and all celebrities are clones. While I don’t buy any of his views, I do have more respect for them than somebody that believes that supply side economics work. I’m grateful to know such an outside of the box thinker.

June 2
June 2 – Gratitude – This is Derrick. I’ve known him since we were slinging burgers together at the Evil Clown Empire back in college. I’m grateful to have him in my life, not just because we have season tickets together for Iowa State Cyclones football, but also because I wish I had 5% of his musical talent. He is a true guitar god in that he can both play a face melting solo and he can tell you everything about and repair any guitar. Just listening to him talk about guitars is a privilege.

June 3
June 3 – Gratitude – This is Willy. I’ve known him since I started getting invited to Saturday Morning Basketball in 9th Grade. Willy used to dominate the game before the “Big Dog” started to prowl the court. Willy is a world traveler as his Costa Rico hat and Portugal shirt attest and I do live vicariously through him. But the reason I’m most grateful to have him in my life is shortly after his teenage sister passed away suddenly, we started getting supper together on Friday nights. Other members of Friday Night Supper Club came and went, but Willy and I got supper together almost every Friday for a decade, right up until the pandemic. It was and maybe in the future, the perfect end to a work week.

June 4
June 4 – Gratitude – This is Brandon. I’m grateful for all my nieces and nephews, biological and otherwise. Brandon is my oldest nephew and grows the best beard of any of them. He also has great taste in pop culture as he shares my love for all things Godzilla.

June 5
June – Gratitude – I know there are well more than 30 people from my life that I am grateful for, but I also just don’t know if that I will see 30 different people on 30 different days. Especially when I mostly work from home. Some days I don’t really know that I will see anybody that I haven’t already photographed, but then something happens totally unexpected. My sister Teresa had tickets to see Hamilton with her best friend Sheri, but then she got sick and couldn’t go, so I ended up going to see Hamilton with Sheri. While I feel bad for Teresa, I am grateful to have Sheri in my life as she is one of those friends that is more like family to everybody in my family. And yes Hamilton was great! It is Hamilton.

June 6
June 6 – Grateful – This is my Aunt Linda. She is practically the last one left from my Dad’s generation. I’m grateful to have her in my life as she is a connection to my Grandma and Grandpa Bennett that I never got to know, my Uncle David that I never got to know and my Dad who I lost when I was nine. I don’t see her much because she lives in Easton, Kansas but she was in town today to take care of her Boone house.

June 7
June 7 – Grateful – This is Nader. I met him when in another life, I transferred to the Campustown outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. I’m grateful to have Nader in my life because despite having spent 5 years in an Iranian prison without a trial for saying Allah wouldn’t want you to kill people, in front of the wrong people, he still managed to find happiness in Henry Fonda winning an Oscar for On Golden Pond. I share his love of movies, but not how infatuation with the Oscars.

June 8
June 8 – Gratitude – This is Kim. At work I’m somewhere between the low man on the totem pole to not being on the totem pole at all. However, a big wig like Kim takes care of the little people by scheduling Popcorn Day around my schedule!

June 9
June 9 – Gratitude – This is Ron. I’ve worked with him for over 16 years now. Ron has a Purple Heart because he was injured in the terrorist attack on Khobar Towers. However, the truth about his heart is that is gigantic in his love for dogs. He has several dogs and he and his late wife were very active with the animal rescue league in his hometown and he is active in trying to get puppies away from puppy mills, often going to Missouri in this pursuit. I’m grateful for Ron, not just because he is a fountain of knowledge but because he loves dogs even more than me!

June 10
June 10 – Gratitude – This is Carla. She is my elder sister. The middle child of 3. I could just say I’m grateful cause she is my sister, but I realize not everybody has a sister where they are also friends. I am fortunate to have that with both my sisters. If you doubt that, I’m writing this while smashed into the bottom bunk of her camper reminding myself, that I’m not claustrophobic. I’m not claustrophobic. I’m not claustrophobic.

June 11
June 11 – Grateful – This is Sara. Today was her daughter Maven’s birthday party. Before this picture we tried to remember when we first met. Sadly, we can’t figure it out, but it was definitely no later than 1997, but probably before that. Sara has a hard fast rule that when taking a picture of her there has to be at least 3 takes. She is one of the best educated people I know. She has a Bachelor’s from Iowa State. A nursing degree from Mercy, and a Nurse Practitioner degree from Iowa with an emphasis in mental health. While I respect all that learning, but really I’m grateful for her because she is just incredibly fun to be around.

June 12
June 12 – Grateful – This is Pastor Dave. Today was his last day at our church. He is moving on to become a chaplain. I know that Dave must be a devastatingly handsome man because when I’m in my short beard mode I often get mistaken for him. I wish he was sticking around but I’m grateful to him for the job he did taking over in our church shortly before the pandemic began. It could not have been easy!

June 13
June 13 – Grateful – This is Jay. I’ve known Jay since 7th Grade. He is one of the most talented and creative artists that I know. I’m grateful to have some of the art he has created, including this hand staff he made when like 5 years ago I decided I wanted to make MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE themed birthday party invitations.

June 14
June 14 – Grateful – This is my brother-in-law Jason. He’s married to my sister Carla. He’s a great guy and very selfless. But probably why I’m most grateful to have him in my life is because he is handy. I am decidedly not “handy” and anytime I need help with a home project or a car repair, he volunteers his time and expertise.

June 15
June 15 – Grateful – This is Scottie D. I’ve known him since we worked together at the Boone Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. We (with a few other rotating members) the competitive barbecue team Baby Got Rack. Not gonna lie, Scott is pretty much all the culinary talent and I mostly help pack and unpack and photodocument and follow orders. We’ve won more than a few competitions, but haven’t competed since before the pandemic. The hiatus might be coming to an end next month, but even if it doesn’t, I’m grateful to have Scott in my life because of all the delicious food he makes.

June 16
June 16 – Gratitude – This is my nephew Logan. Of all my nieces and nephews, he is the one that is continuing the family legacy of photography. He is even pursuing it professionally doing portrait and wedding photography. I’m grateful to have family that share my passion.

June 17
June 17 – Grateful – This is Kio. He is the person I know that is most dedicated to philanthropy and volunteering. But the reason I’m most grateful to have Kio in my life is that he was instrumental in hooking me up with running the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. A gig I coveted for years.

June  18
June 18 – Gratitude – This is my niece Alexis. It is rather embarrassing how long it has been since today that we’ve seen each other. She is the baby of the family. Well of her generation. She lived with me for a bit and that is the one and only time she heard me “swear”. It was apparently significant enough to her that she immediately took to social media to post about it.

June 19
June 19 – Grateful – This is Andrea. She was the Associate Pastor at my church about 10 years ago until she got moved to Fort Dodge to have her own church. Last year they moved her to West Des Moines. I went down to her worship service today and her sermon was so affirming and so everything I needed to hear. She is probably the Pastor that has had the most influence on my faith journey… in many ways… but including the simple act of asking me to help chaperone a Youth Group Mission Trip to Kansas City a long time ago.

June 20
June 20 – Grateful – This is Jesse. We’ve been best friends since meeting in Mrs. Ford’s 2nd Grade Class. Probably could write a ton on him, but enough to say he has been with me on most adventures and tragedies in my life since then. Which is a lot of years when you’re old and washed up like us.

June 21
June 21 – Grateful – This is Johnathan. He is the last of my biological nieces or nephews that will be featured this month. I have one more. My niece Elainie, but she is off in California currently with her Navy husband. So… Johnathan. He is the often quiet, keep to yourself nephew and I can relate to that. He is a phenomenal cook and is way better at cleaning than I am. He also lived with me briefly and his portion of the house was always in order. Like all my nieces and nephews, I need to effort to see him more, especially because his work schedule is so tough.

June 22
June 22 – Grateful – This is Micky. I’ve worked with him for over 16 years now. And while I’m grateful to him for all the help he gives me at work, I’m really grateful for our friendship outside of work. He is a great outdoorsman, but in ways that are opposite to how I enjoy it. Meaning, he likes to hunt and fish. Frankly, I do enjoy fishing a bit, I don’t think I could ever murderize other animals, I just don’t have it in me. Yet I have went turkey hunting with him. But my favorite part of our friendship is the great outdoorsman is terrified of snakes and I love sending him videos of snakes.

June 23
June 23 – Grateful – This is Michelle – I’ve worked with Michelle for a bit now. But like all my work friends it is our friendship outside of work that I’m truly grateful for.She is from Fort Dodge, so she does have the affliction of not knowing that Taco Tico is disgusting. But despite that she has went with me on more than one occasion to try a new tenderloin. She plays banker for the football betting pool I run and she currently has the 8th longest consecutive submission streak for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE I run. She is proof not all Walmart Hawkeyes are bad people (she went to Drake).

June 24
June 24 – Grateful – This is Jen. I’ve known Jen since we worked together at the Boone Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. Now she works for NASA. I don’t really care where my friends work, as long as they are happy, but I use it as an example of what a long, strange, often tragic and often joyful, trip we’ve been on. I’m wearing a banana hat because she hates bananas, but one thing we definitely agree on is that today was an incredibly sad day in this country’s history. But she will persist. I will be an ally.

June 25
June 25 – Grateful – This is my eldest sister Teresa. Like I mentioned with my other sister Carla, I am lucky to also be friends with my two siblings. She is super crafty and she’s probably made like half the shirts I wear, including the one in this picture with her Cricut. She also crochets and paints and many other things I’m probably forgetting.

June 26
June 26 – Grateful – This is Phil. He is another former Pastor from my church. He has also had a huge influence on my faith journey. He was a key part of my becoming way more active in my church and he did this by visiting my at a point in my life when I was deep in grief and not giving me any of the platitudes that you are given at that time. He was just present and it made such a huge difference. Over lunch he also shared a story when he knew I saw him as a person and not just a Pastor and I won’t share it, but I will remember it and it will help shape my interactions in the future.

June 27
June – 27 – Grateful – This is Anders. I’ve known him since meeting him in Jr. High band. He is a major driving force in the monthly movie night I host in my theater room. I’m grateful to have somebody in my life who has similarly eclectic taste in cinema as I do. In fact, the book I’m holding is a 700 page book he wrote on the making of our favorite bad movie, ROBOT MONSTER.

June  28
June 28 – This is Andy. I’d guess I’ve really known Andy about 10 years now. I don’t know he made a great first impression, but that is one of the cool parts of this friendship. We have chaperoned youth group mission trips to Martin, South Dakota, Saint Paul, Houston, Milwaukee, Rapid City, and I think Kansas City. Would be more, except for the pandemic. The shirt he is wearing is for a local charity he supports (there are too many to list) that gives support to families that have lost a baby. (Neonatal, perinatal, and infant loss) I’d explain why this is necessary, but it makes me sad. Andy’s big heart is why I’m grateful he is in my life.

June 29
June 29 – Grateful – This is Elizabeth. This might be a hard one to write because I was only partially convinced that she would agree to do this and I wasn’t expecting her to come to me this morning with her hair all straightened and say, “I don’t like having my picture taken, but I do like you. So let’s take this picture.” Which was an absolute highlight of my day. And she will read that and give me grief about it. Then she said, “You’ll probably write something snarky about how I don’t like having my picture taken”. Which I probably would have and pointed out about how as a photographer it really gnaws at you, the pictures you don’t get to take. I might have even written something about the misogynist in me vs. the feminist in me, but none of that will cover why she is important to me. So I will get to that. She is probably the person that most calls me on my BS, which somebody like me needs. She at least attempts to tell me when she thinks I’m wrong as she is the unnamed other opinion on my TOWN SIGN PROJECT posts on my regular Instagram account. While we have differing opinions on the important things (pizza and she doesn’t LOVE peanut butter and chocolate together, right?)… I’ve somehow come to value her opinion. That probably even surprises her.

June 30
June 30 – Grateful – This is Mike. Made it. 30 days. 30 different people. That is a lot of grateful and a lot of grateful still left on the table. But Mike… I’ve known him since I started working at the Computer Mine 16 plus years ago. He is the number one influence on my photography website being as advanced technologically as it is. And because we both have interests in photography (both interests inherited from fathers we both lost way too early) it was originally mostly his idea to create THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE on my website. A challenge that has very slowly grown from a couple people a week to consistently over 30 submissions a week. And his technological savvy is just a small part of why I conclude the grateful month with Mike.

I definitely didn’t write nearly enough about some people. Sometimes it was a time crunch. Sometimes, it just seemed obvious and obvious is sometimes hard to put into words.

Obviously there are more than 30 people in my life that I am grateful to have in my life. I won’t even give you examples of people that I am thankful for, because I’m sure I would leave people out. Then they would have been left out of the 30 days and then out of the list of but I’m also grateful for you list and then would be like a double slap. Just know that if you think I’m grateful to have you in my life, I probably am and you weren’t included in this set of 30 because you live too far away or I don’t see you on a regular basis. Or at least didn’t see you in June.

Here are the FatMumSlim Prompts for July:

July 1 – Reflections
July 2 – Letters
July 3 – Human
July 4 – I’m Working on This…
July 5 – Wall
July 6 – Bright Colours
July 7 – A Fave Place
July 8 – Out of Focus
July 9 – A Boomerang
July 10 – Behind Someone
July 11 – Interior
July 12 – Exterior
July 13 – Life
July 14 – Create A PostCard
July 15 – Where I Stood
July 16 – Pattern
July 17 – Water
July 18 – Street Photography
July 19 – A Cylinder
July 20 – Hug
July 21 – A Church
July 22 – Current Interest
July 23 – Still Life
July 24 – A Metaphor
July 25 – Beauty
July 26 – Portrait Mode
July 27 – Countryside
July 28 – An Old Car
July 29 – Black and White
July 30 – Happy Days
July 31 – Sunday Morning

Some good prompts in there. It will fill weird getting back to a different prompt everyday, but I’m sure I can handle it.

Fat Mum Slim – May 2022

On Tuesday I completed another month of the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. It was month of random prompts and I think for the most part, there is some good work mixed in with mediocre work. The kind of thing you get with a Photo A Day Challenge. This month I took pictures in 3 different states. Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota. I’m not sure how many different towns I took pictures in, but for sure it was Boone, Miami, Miami Beach, Des Moines, Ames, Nevada, Alta Vista, and Minneapolis. A few in rural areas as well.

Here are May’s pictures:


May 1
May 1 – This is Me

May 2
May 2 – Good Morning

May 3
May 3 – Free Choice

May 4
May 4 – Trees

May 5
May 5 – Mirrors

May 6
May 6 – Leaf

May 7
May 7 – View from Here

May 8
May 8 – Love

May 9
May 9 – A Seat

May 10
May 10 – Where I Stood

May 11
May 11 – Something Small

May 12
May 12 – In Nature – See the turtle?

May 13
May 13 – Green

May 14
May 14 – Sunshine

May 15
May 15 – Upside Down

May 16
May 16 – This Season

May 17
May 17 – A Shape

May 18
May 18 – A Door

May 19
May 19 – Creative

May 20
May 20 – I Read This…

May 21
May 21 – Waves

May 22
May 22 – Flying

May 23
May 23 – Stairs

May 24
May 24 – A Pair

May 25
May 25 – Something Warm

May 26
May 26 – Pink

May 27
May 27 – Lucky

May 28
May 28 – Horizon

May 29
May 29 – A Car

May 30
May 30 – Sky

May 31
May 31 – This is Also Me

The plant that is in the picture for May 6 is also the plant in the picture for May 17.

There is only one prompt for the month of June. That is Grateful. The instructions are simply take a photo each day of something you’re grateful for.

This could be a very difficult month or a very easy one. I have a ton of things in my life to be grateful for, so in theory it should be pretty easy. But on the other hand, it is actually coming in to contact with those things (or more directly people) to get the pictures that I want in my head. I’ll at least try to make it happen. Or maybe my Instagram feed will just be filled with 30 pictures of nonsense. It could break either way.

Remember, you can follow along with this project on the daily at the Instagram account I’ve created just for this project at @fmsbennett.

Here’s hoping June goes well and that you are grateful you get to see those pictures.

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


WEEK 351 - FLOWER
FLOWER

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

But what is a FLOWER picture? Simply put, a FLOWER picture is any picture where a FLOWER is a major compositional element of the picture. The FLOWER can be real. The FLOWER can be fake. The FLOWER can be a artistic rendering. There are so many options!

Happy photo harvesting!

Fat Mum Slim – April 2022

Last Saturday I completed another month of the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. It was a month entirely comprised of food prompts. Which seems perfect for me, as I do enjoy eating and I do enjoy trying new foods. However, I have to confess it didn’t ring my bell as much as I thought it would.

That being said, I feel there are a few winners in the month:


April 1
April 1 – ON MY PLATE

April 2
April 2 – A VEGETABLE

April 3
April 3 – A FRUIT

April 4
April 4 – BREAKFAST

April 5
April 5 – LUNCH

April 6
April 6 – SUPPER

April 7
April 7 – RAW

April 8
April 8 – COOKED

April 9
April 9 – IN MY PANTRY

April 10
April 10 – DESSERT

April 11
April 11 – A GREEN FOOD

April 12
April 12 – A SNACK

April 13
April 13 – A FAVE RECIPE

April 14
April 14 -INGREDIENT

April 15
APRIL 15 – KITCHEN

April 16
April 16 – 2 THINGS

April 17
April 17 – A DRINK

April 18
April 18 – A WHITE FOOD

April 19
April 19 – HEALTHY

April 20
April 20 – INDULGENT

April 21
April 21 – A RED FOOD

April 22
April 22 – SAVOURY

April 23
April 23 – SWEET

April 24
April 24 – IN MY CUP

April 25
April 25 – ON MY FORK

April 26
April 26 – YUK!

April 27
April 27 – I EAT HERE!

April 28
April 28 – DELICIOUS

April 29
April 29 – UTENSIL

April 30
April 30 – IN MY BOWL

The month of May has some good themes. Here are the May themes:

May 1 – This is Me
May 2 – Good Morning
May 3 – Free Choice
May 4 – Trees
May 5 – Mirrors
May 6 – Leaf
May 7 – View from Here
May 8 – Love
May 9 – A Seat
May 10 – Where I Stood
May 11 – Something Small
May 12 – In Nature
May 13 – Green
May 14 – Sunshine
May 15 – Upside Down
May 16 – This Season
May 17 – A Shape
May 18 – Door
May 19 – Creative
May 20 – I Read This…
May 21 – Waves
May 22 – Flying
May 23 – Stairs
May 24 – A Pair
May 25 – Something Warm
May 26 – Pink
May 27 – Lucky
May 28 – Horizon
May 29 – A Car
May 30 – Sky
May 31 – This is Also Me

A reminder that I post these pictures daily on my dedicated Fat Mum Slim account: @fmsbennett. Follow that account to follow along.

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


WEEK 347 - SQUARE
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:

It’s not too hard to figure out
You see it every day
And those that were the farthest out
Have gone the other way
You see them on the freeway
It don’t look like a lot of fun
But don’t you try to fight it
An idea whose time has come
Don’t tell me that I’m crazy
Don’t tell me I’m nowhere
Take it from me
It’s hip to be square

Happy photo harvesting!

Fat Mum Slim – March 2022

Last Thursday I completed another month of the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. I don’t know how many winners are this month, but I think there are at least a couple of them in there.

Here are the pictures from March:


March 1
March 1 – the weather

March 2
March 2 – something in my kitchen

March 3
March 3 – skyline

March 4
March 4 – makes you feel nostalgic

March 5
March 5 – books

March 6
March 6 – a corner

March 7
March 7 – a bus stop

March 8
March 8 – sunset

March 9
March 9 – from inside the car

March 10
March 10 – a meal you made

March 11
March 11 – somewhere with a good view

March 12
March 12 – an insect

March 13
March 13 – a close-up

March 14
March 14 – something you’ve never photographed

March 15
March 15 – a playground

March 16
March 16 – a local café

March 17
March 17 – something you think is boring

March 18
March 18 – flowers

March 19
March 19 – a grocery store

March 20
March 20 – something weird

March 21
March 21 – a colourful place

March 22
March 22 – a garden

March 23
March 23 – a leaf

March 24
March 24 – a sunbeam

March 25
March 25 – graffiti

March 26
March 26 – an empty road

March 27
March 27 – a tree

March 28
March 28 – a shop window

March 29
March 29 – an old building

March 30
March 30 – a stranger

March 31
March 31

I post these pictures daily on my Fat Mum Slim Instagram account. You can follow that here:

@fmsbennett

The April prompts are all food related:

April 1 – ON MY PLATE
April 2 – A VEGETABLE
April 3 – A FRUIT
April 4 – BREAKFAST
April 5 – LUNCH
April 6 – DINNER
April 7 – RAW
April 8 – COOKED
April 9 – IN MY PANTRY
April 10 – DESSERT
April 11 – A GREEN FOOD
April 12 – SNACK
April 13 – A FAVE RECIPE
April 14 – INGREDIENT
April 15 – KITCHEN
April 16 – 2 THINGS
April 17 – A DRINK
April 18 – A WHITE FOOD
April 19 – HEALTHY
April 20 – INDULGENT
April 21 – A RED FOOD
April 22 – SAVOURY
April 23 – SWEET
April 24 – IN MY CUP
April 25 – ON MY FORK
April 26 – YUK!
April 27 – I EAT HERE!
April 28 – THIS IS DELICIOUS
April 29 – UTENSIL
April 30 – IN MY BOWL

Hopefully there are some winners in this month too!

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


WEEK 343 - GRATITUDE
GRATITUDE

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

But what exactly is a GRATITUDE picture? It is simply a picture of something or somebody that you are thankful for. It could also be somebody showing thanks as well.

Happy photo harvesting!