Seems like a good time to clean up the July backlog. This collection of images was taken in July of last year, but never really found a spot in a previous “An Artist’s Notebook” entry. Some pictures are of a storm. Some are from the Boone County Fair. Some are of a baby bird, or an immature bird. Some are from Dahlia’s birthday party.
Always feels good to get a little bit of that backlog cleared out.
It is time once again for the greatest sporting event of year. It is that time known as March Madness. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Once again, I will be sponsoring a NCAA Tournament Pool. There is no cost to enter the pool, except for pride. And if pride is nothing to you, well done.
The winner gets a trophy. The dead last place person gets a trophy known as The Sara*. Nobody else gets a trophy. I’m not made of trophies people!
By winning, you get your name etched on the List of Immortals:
PAST ROUNDBALL ORACLE CHAMPIONS – LIST OF IMMORTALS
2022 – Ben Baier
2021 – Micky Augustin
2019 – Becky Parmelee
2018 – Paul Golden
2017 – Paul Golden
2016 – Michelle Haupt
2015 – Derek Dohrman
2014 – Brandon Kahler
2013 – William McAlpine
2012 – Lowell Davis
2011 – Carrie Baier
2010 – Mark Wolfram
2009 – Mark Wolfram
2008 – Mark Wolfram
2007 – Tim Peterson
2006 – William McAlpine
2005 – William McAlpine
But I said that there are 2 trophies. The 2nd trophy, The Sara, goes to the adult that finishes dead last, while trying. A person can not tank on purpose and win The Sara. The reason The Sara winner has to be an adult is that I don’t want to mock children, to their face. Does that mean I have no problem mocking children behind their back? Does it make me a bad person if I say yes? Probably a better rule would be that to “win” The Sara, you have to be at least a teenager. I have no problem mocking teenagers to their face. At least, back when there was a Youth Group.
Past “The Sara” Winners:
2022 – Joey Randazzo
2021 – Rachel Gildersleeve
2019 – Russell Kennerly
2018 – Robert Henning
2017 – Shannon Bardole
2016 – Laura Priest
2015 – Derrick Gorshe
2014 – Sara Lockner
The Sara doesn’t have the long storied history of the championship trophy, but it will get there. I have no doubts. This will be the 9th winner since its inception after all.
These were the final standings from last year:
ROUNDBALL ORACLES – YEAR 17
1. Ben Baier – 273 points
2. Sara Lockner – 271 points
3. Shawn Lockner – 242 points
4. Rachel Gildersleeve – 242 points
5. Linda Bennett – 232 points
6. Becky Parmelee – 231 points
7. Carla Stensland – 229 points
8. Angie DeWaard – 224 points
9. Christopher D. Bennett – 224 points
10. Tim Peterson – 223 points
11. Jason Baier – 217 points
12. Lowell Davis – 215 points
13. Derek Dohrman – 215 points
14. Carrie Baier – 214 points
15. Sarah Karber – 210 points
16. Michael Augustin – 209 points
17. Elizabeth Nordeen – 206 points
18. Jorge Rios – 203 points
19. Brandon Kahler – 203 points
20. Will Baier – 197 points
21. Jordan Toot – 197 points
22. Corey Faust – 197 points
23. Andree Jauhari – 192 points
24. Jesse Howard – 191 points
25. Dawn Krause – 182 points
26. Derrick Gorshe – 181 points
27. Michelle Haupt – 179 points
28. Jackson Faust – 176 points
29. Jason Stensland – 168 points
30. J.J. Baier – 164 points
31. Russell Kennerly – 161 points
32. Toby Sebring – 157 points
33. Robert Henning – 151 points
34. Jill Gorshe – 147 points
35. Joe Randazzo – 143 points
36. Olivia Baier – 141 points
If you are a basketball fan, or are just interested in having fun, click on the link below to join my pool:
The rules are as follows:
Round 1 = 1 point + seed
Round 2 = 2 points + seed
Round 3 = 4 points + seed
Round 4 = 8 points + seed
Round 5 = 16 points + seed
Rounds 6 = 32 points + seed
The Play-in Games (AKA the First Four) don’t matter. You can wait for those games to complete before filling out your bracket. The deadline to fill out your bracket, is tip-off of the first game on Thursday. Roughly 11 AM.
Under special circumstances, I will allow you to turn in a paper bracket to me. So, don’t be afraid to ask.
Yes, your child can fill out a bracket. Your dog, no.
There were 36 competitors in 2022. A 9 person gain from 2019. Hopefully there is continued growth in participation this year, but I don’t know that I have 9 more friends than I did in 2021. It is possible I have gained even more friends since 2022. I might be a pretty great person.
*You have to be 14 years or older to win “The Sara”.
It is a Sunday, and it is a Formal Portrait Sunday. In fact, this is the last Formal Portrait Sunday for the foreseeable future. I’m sure I’ll take some more formal portraits at some point, but until then… I’m not sure what I will do with my Sundays. Maybe I’ll take them off. Or maybe it will just be fairly random. Who knows? It is a whole new world!
On this last Formal Portrait Sunday I am sharing a small collection of pictures from the photo shoot with Fran and Pepper:
I need to start off this post by wishing Jason Baier a happy birthday. Happy birthday Baier:
I hope your birthday has all the joy, happiness, and bears doing cocaine you could ever want!
I also need to wish Dawn a happy birthday. Happy birthday Dawn!
I just hope you enjoy your book!
Time once again to work on the backlog. The images I’m about to share were taken last May and they never really fit into any other “An Artist’s Notebook” entries. Some are self-portraits I took shortly before I shaved off my beard for the trip to Miami Beach. The rest are pictures of Jesse before or after having a water balloon exploded on his face.
I made up four water balloons. Jesse volunteered to be the subject. Anders and Jay watched. Willy, was also in the crowd and he was deemed to be the most athletic of the the three so he was selected to throw the water balloons at Jesse. He missed 3 times in a row. THREE TIMES IN A ROW!!!
So finally, down to the last water balloon, Willy just pressed a water balloon against Jesse’s face. While some of the pictures of Jesse anticipating the water balloon look like the before picture in one of those commercials for t-shirts that fit better, he is actually it is anticipation of a balloon collision.
It always feels good to get some of the backlog knocked out. You never know, some day there might night be a backlog. On to the June backlog!
A few months back I picked up some cakes and Jim and went to the Wolf Lodge near Kansas City for the birthday party of the triplets and Jonah. I didn’t get to spend much time there cause Jim is kind of like Cinderella. He expires after being away from home too long.
I also didn’t get many pictures because we drove 4 hours to catch the last 25 minutes of the party. The rest of the day was spent in the Wolf Lodge water park area and I didn’t take any pictures there.
Here are some of the pictures I took:
Despite its brevity, it was a good trip. I wish I had some pictures of the kids playing in the water park, but I didn’t get any. I wonder what will happen with the birthday parties this year?
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is BOOKS:
BOOKS! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a BOOKS image? Simply put, it is any image where the subject or a major compositional element is a BOOK or BOOKS.
Happy photo harvesting!
Back in June I cruised around both Clayton and Allamakee County harvesting their town signs with Teresa. It is truly the most beautiful part of Iowa and there isn’t a close second. But the Loess Hills are second.
All of these pictures were taken in Clayton County:
Volga
Elkader
St. Olaf
Monona
The St. Olaf Tavern finished in the Top 5 in last year’s Best Tenderloin Contest ran by the Iowa Pork Producers Associator.
There are plenty more pictures from this trip still to come.
Full intellectual honest, I hate flippie floppies and don’t own a pair. The worst “shoes” ever designed by, I don’t know, the devil! I could write for hours about how they are terrible. They are so terrible, I don’t even like to see other people wearing them.
However, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the second half of the photo collection of me on a boat. Everybody look at me, cause I’m on a boat!
If you’re on the shore, then you’re sure not me, oh!
The next time we visit a county to look at auxiliary images from THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Allamakee County.
Happy Friday the 13th to those who celebrate! I celebrate by going to Jimmy’s for their free sandwich Friday the 13th special. I’ll see you there.
This is a good time to share more pictures from my camping trip with Carla and Jason. I actually had to cut the camping trip shorter than I wanted because I had to drive from Spirit Lake to Johnston for a little kid’s birthday party. So I didn’t get to stay through until Sunday. Hopefully I get a chance to go camping with Carla and Jason again this year and won’t have to leave early.
We still had a pretty cool day with the time I was there. We visited the site of the Spirit Lake “Massacre” and then we tooled around I think 3 of the Great Lakes of Iowa. On a boat!
Still more pictures from this trip to share!
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is REFLECTION:
REFLECTION! What a great theme to kick of Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what in tarnation is a REFLECTION picture. It is simply enough a picture where a major compositional element of the picture is a REFLECTION. Mirrors obviously make great REFLECTIONs. But there are other things that REFLECT(ION) as well. For example water. I nicely waxed floor. Eyes. The list just goes on and on. Also, don’t forget that there is more than one definition of REFLECTION.
Happy photo harvesting!
Thursday was Boone First United Methodist Church’s annual Community Thanksgiving meal. We provide a free meal to anybody in the community that wants one. This year we served over 580 meals. We did both drive-thru and a sit down meal for the first time ever. In the past, it has been one of the other.
Here is a collection of photos from the day:
It was great to see so many former youth group kids there. Both those that are now adults and those that would be in a youth group if it still existed.
It was also great to see so many people I haven’t seen in a long time. Some since last Thanksgiving. Some since even before that.
It is time for another Formal Portrait Sunday. This is the last collection of formal portraits I took over a certain period of time. Therefore, this might be the last Formal Portrait Sunday OR in might be the last Formal Portrait Sunday to look like this OR it might just be another Formal Portrait Sunday in a line of Formal Portrait Sundays.
I don’t do a lot of Formal Portraits, cause that sort of thing ain’t my bag, baby. However, I am more than willing to do it for friends and family and people that pay me because I’m not opposed to money. I just don’t want to become so rich that I have an opinion on capital gains taxes. (Other than they should be taxed like all other forms of income.) Therefore, I don’t do a ton of formal portrait work. That being said, I do still have a couple formal portrait sessions in the can, that I haven’t shared. I just haven’t figured out how I’m going to share those yet. But it will probably be different than the way I have been sharing formal portraits recently. You will find out next Sunday… or you won’t. The world is a mystery.
So this collection of the Baughers… is the last from their photo shoot:
I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to what happens here next Sunday!
It looks like there might some more new participants in the pipeline, so probably a good time to review the FAQ:
Is there a limit to the number of submissions I can have each week?
The short answer is, “no”. Some people think that there is a limit of one submission per person because I only present one submission a week, personally. I have the other 6 days to post my photography. So one is more than enough image from me.
However, the longer answer is, 3 would be a good guide to limit yourself to submit. It isn’t a rule, but much over 3 begins to start to overwhelm the submissions of the others in the community. Also, if you are submitting multiple submissions, think about your submissions. Are they unique? Are they of wholly different subjects? Is each submission saying something unique?
The long answer is, there isn’t a limit, but 3 is a good rule of thumb. If I start to average about 30 participants a week, I will consider putting a limit of 1 per participant, to help manage my workload, but we are a long ways from averaging 30 participants a week.
Can I send you several pictures and have you pick the best one?
No! No! NO! If those words come out of your mouth or your keyboard, I consider that to be a non-submission.
Do you ever question whether somebody’s submission fits the theme?
Meh. Only if I think somebody is clearly confusing this week’s theme with last week or next week’s theme. Otherwise, if the submission makes sense in your head, that is good enough to me. However, I would urge you to not try to fit your favorite subject into the theme. This isn’t a challenge to share a picture every week of your kid or your business or your pet. It is a challenge to take pictures of different things every week. Which isn’t to say subjects can’t be repeated, but you shouldn’t become reliant on the same ones.
Why can’t I submit after 11 AM on Mondays if the post doesn’t publish until 12:01 PM?
I go to lunch at 11 AM. I leave my office. I’m not near a computer. At 11 AM I hit “Schedule” and then I go throw food down my throat. 167 hours is more than enough time to send a submission. Okay, 166 hours and 59 minutes. You got me.
Are there resolution requirements for submissions?
I won’t turn down submissions that are too small. I will probably ask you for a picture of greater resolution if it is really small. The typical 4 x 6 image posted to my website has a resolution of 1280 pixels x 853 pixels. While a 400 x 300 image might look okay on your phone, it looks like trash on a computer monitor. I prefer images that are at least 1000 pixels at their largest point, but don’t ban smaller pictures at this point.
What format should my submission be?
.JPG but .PNG also works.
If I write a description of my image will you include that in your post?
No. Photography is art that should stand on its own. Only exception is the SLICE OF LIFE theme.
When will you start accepting suggestions for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes?
I will accept those the last Monday of October and the first Monday of November. I only accept suggestions in the “Comments” section of the journal entries on those days. Don’t text me or email me them or call me or Snapchat me. Put them in the Comments section of the journal entries on those days. I have my reasons.
Was CIRCLE a popular shape or a popular theme. It has a lot of work to do to be as loved as WEEKENDS. Keep scrolling to find out.
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, August 22, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
+ Tim Cuculic – 1 week
+ Jen Ensley-Gorshe 1 week
+ Jesse Howard – 1 week
+ Sara Lockner – 1 week
+ Willy McAlpine – 1 week
+ Brandon Kahler – 2 weeks
+ Linda Bennett – 4 weeks (4)
+ Sarah Toot – 5 weeks
+ Sabas Hernandez – 7 weeks
+ Monica Jennings – 7 weeks
+ Mary Green – 9 weeks
+ Angie DeWaard – 10 weeks
+ Dawn Krause – 14 weeks
+ Kim Barker – 20 weeks
+ Joe Duff – 21 weeks
+ Logan Kahler – 23 weeks (2)
+ Teresa Kahler – 31 weeks (4)
+ Tamara Peterson – 31 weeks (2)
+ Carla Stensland – 31 weeks (3)
+ Michelle Haupt – 32 weeks
+ Micky Augustin – 33 weeks
+ Andy Sharp – 34 weeks
+ Bill Wentworth – 35 weeks
+ Cathie Morton – 39 weeks
+ Elizabeth Nordeen – 40 weeks (2)
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley – 42 weeks
+ Kio Dettman – 45 weeks (4)
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:
Andy Sharp – 35 weeks
Micky Augustin – 34 weeks
Kio Dettman – 46 weeks
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Linda Bennett – 5 weeks
Linda Bennett
Logan Kahler – 24 weeks
Mary Green – 10 weeks
Mary Green
Mary Green
Shannon Bardole-Foley – 43 weeks
Sarah Toot – 6 weeks
Sarah Toot
Tamara Peterson – 32 weeks
Bill Wentworth – 36 weeks
Angie DeWaard – 11 weeks
Angie DeWaard
Carla Stensland – 32 weeks
Carla Stensland
Christopher D. Bennett
Kim Barker – 21 weeks
Joe Duff – 22 weeks
Joe Duff
Michelle Haupt – 33 weeks
Monica Jennings – 8 weeks
Monica Jennings
Monica Jennings
Monica Jennings
Teresa Kahler – 32 weeks
Teresa Kahler
Teresa Kahler
Cathie Morton – 40 weeks
Dawn Krause – 15 weeks
Dawn Krause
Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
Willy McAlpine – 2 weeks
Sabas Hernandez – 8 weeks
Suzie Brannen – 1 week
Jesse Howard – 2 weeks
Becky Parmelee – 1 week
Brandon Kahler – 3 weeks
It was a great week for participation. 28 participants!
I’m not 100% sure where all the pictures came from, but I’ll guess Texas, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and Iowa. My picture was taken in Ames, Iowa.
Mary had the big accomplishment of the week. She joined the double digit club for streaks! WooHoo!
But it wasn’t all good news. Tim and Jen couldn’t extend last week’s participation to 2 weeks.
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:
COLORFUL! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a COLORFUL image? If we break down the word COLORFUL it simply means something that is full of color. So any subject or scene where there is a lot of color is COLORFUL. Almost too easy! Many of the pictures taken for CIRCLE would also qualify for COLORFUL.
Of course, there is more than one definition of the term COLORFUL.
While considering possible subjects for your COLORFUL image, meditate on the following quote:
If everyone would look for that uniqueness then we would have a very colorful world.
-Michael Schenker
I look forward to seeing your interpretation.
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.
You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.
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 COLORFUL in this place that is is my coat of many colors next Monday.
