Category Archives: Photoshop

Black & White, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Photoshop, Saydie

Congratulations Saydie – Delta

June 24, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Time again to check in with everybody’s favorite 2018 high school graduate, Saydie!

I came across this quote from Alice Walker for graduates:

Be compassionate to everyone. Don’t just search for whatever it is that annoys and frightens you, see beyond those things to the basic human being. Especially see the child in the man or woman. Even if they are destroying you, allow a moment to see how lost in their own delusion and suffering they are.
-Alice Walker

Alice Walker is famous for writing THE COLOR PURPLE. A line from that book is one of the mandates of this website:

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.

Here is another set of pictures from Saydie’s Senior Pictures photo shoot:

The tall drink of water posing with Saydie in half the pictures is Kyle. He currently attends UNI. Saydie will also be attending UNI, but I’m told, “not because Kyle goes there”.

We’re about to the halfway point on Saydie pictures now. About.

Candid Portrait, Event, Evie, Gretchen, Layla, Maven, Photo Journal, Photoshop, Sara, Shawn Lockner, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 95

June 22, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

“Up next, we have a little dedication here. This journal entry is dedicated to all the player hating people that won’t let a little gangsta shine.”
-Uncle Chris

Niece Alert!

4 non-biological nieces in this post!

Page 95 for the PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT was one of the pages that I was most worried about being able to complete. It involves going to a party. When your the True Lone Wolf, you don’t get involved to many parties. The ones I do get invited to involved 1 to 3 year olds. At that point, I usually stop getting invited. Probably because I give books as gifts.

However, I was recently invited to Maven’s birthday party and I grabbed Sara’s camera, actually ripped it right out of her brother Steve’s hands and took a few pictures of some hardcore pinata action.

This is the picture that will be physically adhered into the Photo Journal:

Use flash to capture the energy of a party.

Here are a few others that I considered, but much like the Highlander, there can be only one!

I think I ultimately picked the picture of Layla because of Evie’s reaction behind her.

Thanks to Shawn for uploading these pictures to me. You are a scholar and tech savvy. Also, possibly a gentleman.

I need to get back to hitting THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT hard. I’ve only completed slightly over 30 of these pages. I already bought a similar book to do when I finish.

If you ever want to see the physical Photo Journal, it is housed at The Photography 139 Studio under lock and key. Guarded by a vicious guard dog. It can be seen by appointment only. So make an appointment.

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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is FACELESS PORTRAIT:

FACELESS PORTRAIT

A FACELESS PORTRAIT is any portrait that doesn’t include the face. It could show any body part, just not the face. It doesn’t necessarily even have to include your subject. It could just include an environment that is uniquely the subjects.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Black & White, History, Mom, Photoshop, Travel, Vacation

The Mount Rushmore of Presidents Vol. 3

June 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of photos from my trip to Mount Rushmore with my Mom.

Here are a few final facts about Mount Rushmore from the Wikipedia:

The Sculptor’s Studio – a display of unique plaster models and tools related to the sculpting – was built in 1939 under the direction of Borglum. Borglum had planned to make a secret room behind the hairline of Abraham Lincoln which was supposed to be a doorway to a chamber originally intended to hold some of America’s most treasured documents but was left unfinished due to his death. Borglum died from an embolism in March 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued the project. Originally, it was planned that the figures would be carved from head to waist, but insufficient funding forced the carving to end. Borglum had also planned a massive panel in the shape of the Louisiana Purchase commemorating in eight-foot-tall gilded letters the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, and seven other territorial acquisitions from Alaska to Texas to the Panama Canal Zone. In total, the entire project cost US$989,992.32. Unusual for a project of such size, no workers died during the carving.

In a canyon behind the carved faces is a chamber, cut only 70 feet (21 m) into the rock, containing a vault with sixteen porcelain enamel panels. The panels include the text of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, biographies of the four presidents and Borglum, and the history of the U.S. The chamber was created as the entrance-way to a planned “Hall of Records”; the vault was installed in 1998.

Here are the balance of pictures:

Now that the South Dakota trip is all published, might be time to get into the Independence Bowl Road Trip or finish up with the Caves Road Trip.

Photoshop, Self-Portrait, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE THEME REVEAL

June 18, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

I’m still down in Houston on a Mission Trip with the Boone First United Methodist Youth Group. Hopefully I’m currently on a lunch break. Knocking down a sandwich that I prepared this morning shortly after breakfast.

Due to my geographical location, I can’t publish all the great submissions for SELF-PORTRAIT.

I will do that upon my return from Houston on Saturday. Or Sunday, when my body, mind, spirit, and soul are ready to tackle the blogging world again.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t start working away on this week’s theme:

FACELESS PORTRAIT!

FACELESS PORTRAIT! What a great theme! But what does it mean? A FACELESS PORTRAIT is any portrait of somebody where you can’t see the face. It could show the back of their head, their hands, their torso, their tail, or their horns. These are just an example. It is even possible that the subject of your portrait might not be in the picture at all.

As always, I look forward to seeing your submissions when I return.

And, keep the youth group in your thoughts and prayers!

Andy, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Flat Earth Joe, Jesse, Jorge, Mission Trip, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Work, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

And What You Gon’ Be When You Grow up Chris? I Doubt They Will Get It!

June 15, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Those of you that know me well or are paying attention to this here blog know that tomorrow at 7 AM I hit the road for a Mission Trip to Houston. We will leave Saturday morning. Stay a night at a church near Fort Worth on Saturday night and then carry on to a town near Houston on Sunday.

We will work it to the bone for 4 days and then start the return trip home on Friday morning. We will spend Friday night in a Tulsa hotel and then be home at some point on Saturday.

Last Year’s Mission Trip Group

If you wish to follow along and see sporadic updates of our adventures in Houston, the best path is to follow us on Instagram:

@boonefumcyg

If you are too old for Instagram, then you will have to wait for my inevitable blogs.

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Here is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is SELF-PORTRAIT.

A SELF-PORTRAIT is a picture where the photographer is also the subject.

But don’t be afraid to be creative. Take a picture of yourself in a reflection that morphs your appearance. Take a picture of something that defines you. Take a picture of something that reflects your influence in the world.

Or take a picture of yourself in the gym mirror. It is all good.

SELF-PORTRAIT

Happy photo harvesting!

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The world wasn’t ready for these WORK pictures on Monday. The world might not be ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:

You’re welcome world!!

Art, Black & White, History, Mom, Nature, Photoshop, Travel, Vacation

The Mount Rushmore of Presidents Vol. 2

June 13, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Time to check in on more pictures from my trip to Mount Rushmore with my Mom.

One of the debate topics that occasionally rises is who is the next President to go on Mount Rushmore. Say that Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were the 4 greatest Presidents of the United States before construction was started on Mount Rushmore in 1927, won’t there some day be a President as great as them, that should also be placed alongside them.

To be honest, I don’t think that they will ever add another President to Mount Rushmore. Our country doesn’t spend money on projects like this any longer.

But say that they would, the choice for the 5th President according to the Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey is pretty obvious. Next to nobody else even got any votes:

1. Franklin Roosevelt – 108 votes
2. Barack Obama – 12 votes
3. Ronald Reagan – 8 votes
4. Dwight Eisenhower – 6 votes
4. James Madison – 6 votes

It would be hard to argue that FDR wouldn’t be the next President to go up. He steered the country through its greatest economic collapse and then most of the way through WWII.

Let us say that some day another face was added to Mount Rushmore, the truth is that it might not even be a President. In 1937, a bill was proposed to Congress to add Susan B. Anthony to the mountain. I’d imagine there would be a pretty strong movement to add Martin Luther King Jr. to the mountain today.

Although it would be hard to imagine putting a Civil Rights Leader on the mountain after the mountain was stolen from the Lakota in 1876 in violation of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

But I digress…

There are still more Mount Rushmore pictures coming!

Animals, Black & White, Flowers, Macro, Photoshop, Russell, Work

A Blossoming Soul

June 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.
-Gerard De Nerval

Last time we took a look at the flowerbeds of Donna Jones, I said that I felt that I had taken a step away from flower photography back in 2017. Russell, who hates flower pictures the way some people hate cats or reality television texted me to call poppycock on such a statement. He would go on to ask how many flower photos I took last year.

It is just a very rough estimated, but I bet it was only 2,000. Definitely no more than 2,000. Possibly as low as 1,500.

He wanted to know how many I normally take. I can only estimate that number, but I bet it is closer to 5,000.

I think Russell appreciated the downturn, but I feel he still thinks that 1 flower picture is one too many.

Below, enjoy some of Russell’s pain:

At the Computer Mine we have a photo bar next to the kitchen. Once a year they changed out the photos to display the work of employees. I always submit one photo because I personally feel that the photo bar should represent as many employees as possible. I’m considering submitting one of the grasshopper photos for my submission.

If any of you out there are the anti-Russell, don’t worry. There are plenty more flower pictures just waiting to bloom. This year might be a flower photo boom. Well probably not a boom, but have I mentioned that my hollyhocks are back!!

I’m excited too!

Kim, Michelle, Photoshop, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 143 – WORK

June 11, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

WORK, just like in real life, was an extremely unpopular theme. Perhaps it is like Thomas Edison said:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

A quick reminder that next week I will be in Houston on a mission trip. That does not change the deadline. It just means that I won’t publish next week’s submissions until I return home.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about mission trips and participation rates. You came to see the handful (depending on your hand) of submissions for WORK:

Michelle Haupt

Mike Vest

Christopher D. Bennett

Kim Barker

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:

SELF-PORTRAIT

SELF-PORTRAIT! What a great theme!! Now admittedly, not everybody loves their job or has interesting photogenic things happen at their job. Many people also don’t love WORK. But everybody has a self and pretty much everybody has a camera on their cell phone, so this is about as easy as a theme can get!

I look forward to 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.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 POST NOTIFICATION DIVISION

I plan on working on a new solution after I return from the mission trip.

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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 selfish Monday, but more likely a Sunday!

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Photoshop, Saydie

Congratulations Saydie – Gamma

June 10, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to check back in with my favorite 2018 high school graduate Saydie.

Thought I would start with more of my favorite bits of wisdom given at commencement speech:

Success is like a mountain that keeps growing ahead of you as you hike it… Err in the direction of kindness.
-George Saunders

People should always err in the direction of kindness. Wish I saw more of that in my everyday life.

Saydie:

We’re at the point in the Saydie pictures that we are warmed up. Giving the umpire the signal that we are ready to play ball.

Andy, Art, Black & White, Blogging, Boone FUMC, Christianity, Photoshop, Still Life, Work, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

You Still Wonder Why I Existed, I Exist in a World That’s Real Different!

June 8, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I need to start this post with yet another apology. On Monday, when I posted the submissions for RELIGION and THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE I did not post a second picture submitted by Andy.

This was not an error of carelessness like in some past weeks. I legitimately didn’t know that it was a submission.

You see, he sent me a picture of Hawkeye propaganda. I didn’t realize that it was a submission for RELIGION. I thought he was committing a hate crime and I nearly called the police.

However, I remember that in some societies, being a Hawkeye fan is considered a mental illness. With the way this society stigmatizes mental illness, I thought I better just pretend like nothing happened. Back away from the propaganda and nobody gets hurt.

But the ordeal wasn’t over. You see before Andy sent me the picture of his boat, he implied that I might not publish his submission. I let him know that I will publish ANY submission that doesn’t get me in trouble with the law.

He then sent me a picture of his boat with the following explanation:

I feel closest to God in my boat on water at sunrise or sunset…

I can relate to this sentiment. I don’t fish (much), although I did catch a fish worthy of a Master Angler Big Fish award once, but didn’t turn it in due to my modesty. I also often feel closest to God when I am in nature.

I texted back:

I was worried it was going to be some Hawkeye garbage.

He then sent me the picture of Hawkeye propaganda with the commentary that they go together. I didn’t put together that the pictures went together. I thought that the propaganda was on the boat, because it is.

I have since rectified the situation. If you click on the link below, you can see Andy’s submitted Hawkeye propaganda:

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 142 – RELIGION

Now that bit of unpleasantness is behind us, I need to remind you that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is:

WORK!

A WORK picture is anything that involves WORK. A person WORKing. The tools somebody uses when they are WORKing. The results of WORKing. If you don’t know what WORK is, ask an immigrant. They get the job done. We all know that Peter Piper claimed he picked them, he just underpaid Pablo.

The world wasn’t ready for the following RELIGION pictures on Monday. Not sure the world is ready now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:

You’re welcome world!