Category Archives: Photoshop

In the Morrow

Found myself today
I took my cross up and walked away
With amazing grace and an open eye
Even though I’m born to lose my way
Tomorrow comes on a hurricane
And the weight of the world’s been on your mind

No-one sees it coming
And no-one walks when they should’ve been running
And nothing hurts like knowing you tried
And we could see how years could slip away
In the cold dark nights and the long hard days
And nothing aches quite like goodbye

In the morrow, I’ll be gone
I gave it everything I had for so long
Save your sorrow for your song
Don’t we always find a way to carry on?
-Brandi Carlile

Thursdays are for flowers. This collection of flower pictures is the first set of flower pictures I took in 2023. There is also a bonus self-portrait and a couple of picture of Naima thrown in.


In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

In the Morrow

Still so many flower images to share.

Viva Las Vegas: Day 1B

I might normally start today with a picture celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day. But I don’t really celebrate. I’ll be working for the man with my nose to the grindstone, swinging my computer mine pick away. If I’m lucky, I might be able to get a Reuben. The West Street Deli has the best Reuben. At least the best that I’ve had.

Anyways, happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all those the celebrate. May your beer be green and your shakes be Shamrock and may you not be stalked and murdered by a leprechaun. If I would have had time I could have done a LEPRECHAUN movie power rankings. I do own a boxed set, on physical media. Cause I’m old.

I did read that Catholics can ask for a special dispensation this year to allow them to eat meat on Saint Patrick’s Day.

From KCCI:

This week, Friday is also St. Patrick’s Day. For some, St. Patrick’s Day is commonly associated with corned beef and other Irish dishes. Therefore, several locations across the country, including the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota, are allowing parishioners to eat meat Friday.

St. Francis of Assisi in West Des Moines says there is no blanket guidance, but parishioners are encouraged to talk to clergy if they would like a dispensation. The priest is evaluating situations on a case-by-case basis.

St. Joseph on the east side of Des Moines says the same.

The Diocese of Des Moines is leaving it up to its local parishes to decide what is best.

“While there will be no general dispensation granted, people are free to approach their pastor or petition Bishop William Joensen for a particular dispensation.”

The Diocese of Sioux City, which covers parts of Central Iowa, says this Friday will be a “typical Friday in Lent.” The diocese says “the faithful are to abstain from eating meat per Bishop Walker Nickless.”

The Archdiocese of Dubuque says Catholics in their Archdiocese are “dispensed from the obligation to abstain from meat on that day.”

Sioux City don’t mess around. I assume the churches that are handling it on a case by case basis are doing the old dispensation for a cash contribution dance. Either way, I find this amusing and would like to sit in on one of these dispensation requests. While eating a Reuben of course.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate.

+++++++

Time to share the second collection of images from Day 1 of my trip to Las Vegas for the Computer Mine Convention. There isn’t much more to tell about this day that I didn’t already share last Friday. After walking around a bit, we went back to the hotel and I fell asleep by like 8:30. Which made be feel pretty cool.


Las Vegas, Nevada
Are these the names of bands or of mathlete teams?

Las Vegas, Nevada
I regret not going up in the High Roller, but those pods hold 40 people. That seems excessive.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada
I had no clue that you could go up inside the Eiffel Tower. Not doing this is maybe my biggest Vegas regret.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

This was the only day/night in Vegas where the weather was good. It was cold the rest of the trip. Well Saturday was almost warm and then it rained the entire day too, so that was fun.

Even though the weather was warm, it was still incredibly windy. When I looked to the sky, I thought it was foggy, but turned out the wind had whipped up quite a bit of sand. I found this out when I looked the wrong direction and got an eye full of sand. Fun.

According to my extremely inaccurate Fit app on my phone I took 11,634 steps and walked 5.35 miles on the day.

Still plenty more pictures to share from the Las Vegas work trip.

+++++++

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


WEEK 392 - PURPLE
PURPLE

PURPLE! What a great them for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a PURPLE image? Simply put, it is an image where the subject OR a major compositional element of the image is PURPLE. That is it! Couldn’t be simpler than falling off a log. Getting a bruise from falling of the log. Then taking a picture of that bruise.

This isn’t the first time that PURPLE has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Take a look at some past submissions to help inspire your creative juices:


WEEK 90 - PURPLE - ANGIE DEWAARD 2
Angie DeWaard – Week 90

WEEK 90 - PURPLE - CATHIE RALEY 1
Cathie Raley (Morton) – Week 90

WEEK 90 - PURPLE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett – Week 90

WEEK 369 - VIOLET - MARY GREEN
Mary Green – Week 369

WEEK 369 - VIOLET - TERESA KAHLER
Teresa Kahler – Week 369

Happy photo harvesting!

Caroline

Today I reveal the March image for the 2023 Photography Calendar.


2023 Calendar - March
March

I took this picture of this American Gothic barn near Mount Vernon, Iowa on a TOWN SIGN PROJECT road trip with Michelle on November 14, 2021.

Here is a picture of us standing in front of it:


Day 318 - November 14, 2021

Here are some fun facts about the picture:

CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M2
LENS: Sigma 28-75 F/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 53 mm
FIELD OF VIEW: 37.5 degrees
APERTURE: f/4.5
SHUTTER: 1/200
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +.3

I also Photoshopped a powerline out of the image… cause I hate powerlines.

+++++++

Hello I’m looking for a friend I lost some time ago
Your mother says she wants her girl back home
Sometimes you think you’ve found yourself you really only lost yourself
Or maybe you’re afraid to be alone
-Brandi Carlile

Thursday is for flowers! Today I’m sharing the final collection of flowertography pictures I took on August 14, 2022.


Through Dirt - 2022

Hush - 2022

Digging for God - 2022

Digging for God - 2022

Caroline

Caroline

Radiation of Happiness - 2022

Radiation of Happiness - 2022

Radiation of Happiness - 2022

So Does Hope - 2022

So Does Hope - 2022

So Does Hope - 2022

So Does Hope - 2022

So Does Hope - 2022

So Does Hope - 2022

Last Penny - 2022

Last Penny - 2022

Last Penny - 2022

Last Penny - 2022

Caroline

Caroline

Caroline

Caroline

Nora was infatuated with moonflowers, which shows she has great taste!

More flower pictures next Thursday!

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

Today I’m going to share a collection of images that I took for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme BLACK & WHITE, but they didn’t make the cut. As you know, BLACK & WHITE is my first love in photography and therefore will always be a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. And with that statement, now you know 1 of the 52 themes for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. The other 51 will remain a mystery for the time being.

In this collection are pictures of Logan that are similar to the image I ultimately chose as my interpretation of the theme. There are also pictures of Naima sitting on our couch and pictures taken in McHose Park. These pictures were taken back in January as BLACK & WHITE was the first theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. There were 29 other submissions for it.

Here are the rejected:


I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

You might look at the last picture of Logan and be thinking, “Hey, wait a second! That picture isn’t black and white! What is with these shenanigans!”

That picture was originally taken in black and white and then I colorized it with a neural filter in Photoshop. Someday I might cover the neural filters in Photoshop. I’d like to get back to some of the “how-to” posts again in the future. Hopefully I’ll get back to that, someday. But even a fool will tell you…

The swirl effect in the last two pictures of Logan are 100% in-camera effect though. No how to post on that coming though.

Appanoose County Aux – Vol. 3

This is the third and final collection of auxiliary images I took while harvesting the town signs of Appanoose County.

Here is the final collection:


Appanoose County - Centerville
Centerville

Appanoose County - Centerville

Appanoose County - Centerville

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel
Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Little Flock Chapel

Appanoose County - Mystic
Mystic

Appanoose County - Mystic

Appanoose County - Mystic

Appanoose County - Mystic

Appanoose County - Rathbun
Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun
Lake Rathbun – Some of these future edits are kinda sarcastic edits. Photoshop editing jokes, everybody gets those, right?

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Appanoose County - Lake Rathbun

Polk County - Jester Park
Jester Park – Polk County

The next time I share the auxiliary images from a THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT harvesting road trip, we will visit Keokuk County. Which mean, I probably should start thinking about sharing the Renaissance Fair pictures I took on that day. Wow. That was over 5 months ago!

Memory Lane Denouement

Today is a monumental day. It is the last of our Saturday walks down memory lane. With this last collection of images, I was able to fix all the blogs that had missing pictures due to my constant changing of image gallery hosts. The last entry to be fixed was in August of 2011. Unfortunately many entries weren’t able to be fixed completely because I have lost images over the decade and half this website has been in existence. Most of those were pictures that were “archives” images that were scans of old pictures from the film days. The other major missing hole will be pictures from the first two years of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, originally known as THE RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT. It is sad that this collection will never be “complete” again, but we are never actually fully complete, are we? However, when it comes to the RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT, there is probably less than 50 images missing. So that isn’t terrible. After all, it isn’t like anybody goes back and looks at my journal entries from 11 years ago.

Here is the last collection of images:


Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

Twins vs. Padres - 2011

WEEK 24 - PEOPLE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

WEEK 25 - SOOTHING - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

WEEK 26 - LIGHT PLACEMENT - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

WEEK 27 - BLACK AND WHITE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

WEEK 28 - GAMES - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

WEEK 29 - FRAMING - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

WEEK 30 - NIGHT - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

WEEK 32 - NOISE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

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

Minnesota

RWPE Y2 #24 – PEOPLE

RWPE Y2 #25 – SOOTHING

RWPE Y2 #26 – LIGHT PLACEMENT

RWPE Y2 #27 – BLACK & WHITE

RWPE Y2 #28 – GAMES

RWPE Y2 #29 – FRAMING

RWPE Y2 #30 – NIGHT

RWPE Y2 #32 – NOISE

There is no walk down memory lane next Saturday. I’m not sure what next Saturday will even hold. I might start taking Saturdays off. I might start moving the formal portraits to Saturdays and start taking Sundays off. Or I might just start working on the backlog. It is a mystery that only time will solve.

2011-06-13, 2011-06-14, and 2011-06-17

The grand majority of the pictures in the folders 2011-06-13, 2011-06-14, and 2011-06-17 are from a trip to Kalona to eat an authentic Amish meal with Funk, Sara, and Cousin Amy. This was before Funk became a total badass and started spending her free time climbing mountains in Peru. There are also a couple pictures here from a camping trip to Ledges and a pictures I took and poorly photoshopped for the United Way of Story County.


Live United

Live United

WEEK 23 - DEPTH OF FIELD - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

Guys' Night

Guys' Night

Guys' Night

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

Kalona Trip - Amish Meal

I miss Kalona. I will need to go there at some point this year, and not just for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT.

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

RWPE Y2 #23 – DEPTH OF FIELD

GUYS’ NIGHT

LIVE UNITED

KALONA ROAD TRIP

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

2011-06-08

The pictures in the folder 2011-06-08 are from a time I went with my Mom over to my Grandma’s house to photograph some of her flowers. She always had beautiful flowers.


WEEK 22 - SHADOWS - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

Whispering Beauty - 2011

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

RWPE Y2 #22 – SHADOWS

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #76 ALPHA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #76 BETA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT #76 GAMMA

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT.

Kossuth and Winnebago County Auxiliary Images

Several months back I cruised around Kossuth and Winnebago County harvesting their town signs. Here is the first collection of auxiliary images I took on this trip. Most are from the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend. Many more are from near the Kossuth County Freedom Rock in Whittemore.


Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - West Bend

Kossuth County - Whittemore

Kossuth County - Whittemore

Kossuth County - Whittemore

Kossuth County - Whittemore

Kossuth County - Whittemore

Kossuth County - Whittemore

There is still plenty more images to share from this road trip.

Selfie Project – January 2022

I don’t usually run THE SELFIE PROJECT in back to back years, but since I took a break from it for a bit in 2021, I decided to make an exception and bring it back in 2022.

Before getting into my favorite images from January of 2022, I want to put a bow on 2021.

Here is a photomosaic made out of THE SELFIE PROJECT images of 2021.


2021 Selfie Project Mosaic

The base image was taken on January 1, 2022. All the images that make it up were taken in 2021. I don’t think I need to point out the symbolism of the image, but I will. The image was created because because the person standing there on January 1, 2022 was created by all the experiences (bad and terrible and godawful and a few that were good) that I went through in 2021. As with all mosaics, the further away you get, the easier it is to see the base image. You can also click on the image to see it larger.

Here are my favorite THE SELFIE PROJECT images from January 2022:


Day 1 - January 1, 2022
January 1

Day 2 - January 2, 2022
January 2

Day 4 - January 4, 2022
January 4

Day 5 - January 5, 2022
January 5

Day 6 - January 6, 2022
January 6

Day 9 - January 9, 2022
January 9

Day 10 - January 10, 2022
January 10

Day 12 - January 12, 2022
January 12

Day 14 - January 14, 2022
January 14

Day 15 - January 15, 2022
January 15

Day 16 - January 16, 2022
January 16

Day 17 - January 17, 2022
January 17

Day 18 - January 18, 2022
January 18

Day 20 - January 20, 2022
January 20

Day 22 - January 22, 2022
January 22

Day 23 - January 23, 2022
January 23

Day 24 - January 24, 2022
January 24

Day 25 - January 25, 2022
January 25

Day 26 - January 26, 2022
January 26

Day 28 - January 28, 2022
January 28

Day 29 - January 29, 2022
January 29

Day 30 - January 30, 2022
January 30

Another reason I decided to run it back again this year is because Sara gave me a kind of a “selfie kit” for Christmas. So I can’t let that go to waste!

Here are some SELFIE PROJECT bonus images:


SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE

It doesn’t appear I did a tremendous lot in January. Maybe I will do more in February.