Category Archives: Formal Portrait

Alexis, Brandon, Candid Portrait, Carla, Christianity, Elainie, Event, Formal Portrait, Holidays, Jason, Jesse, Logan, Mark, Mom, Monica, Nature, Night, Russ, Self-Portrait, Teresa

2009-07-23

December 7, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

There are a metric buttload of pictures in the folder 2009-07-23. Strangely, most of them were actually taken in December of 2008. I’m not entirely sure what was going on there. I can just state that my organizational system back then wasn’t rock solid like it is now. Mostly because I let a program do most of the organizational heavy lifting for me.

There are pictures from a foggy Friday Night Supper Club. Pictures from a Bennett Christmas. Pictures of my old buddy Missionary Mark. Pictures from a Roland VFW Fundraiser.

Many of these pictures have never been published before. Have a peek:

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

Foggy Night Supper Club

The Hero of Africa

Sedulous

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Brandon, Sara, and Ledges. But not all at the same time.

Andy, Angie, Animals, Becky, Billy, Cathie, Christianity, Dawn, Dory, Elizabeth, Equipment, Formal Portrait, J.T., Jen, Jesse, Jim, Kim, Laura, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Naima, Nate, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Shannon

WPC – WEEK 220 – COLORFUL

December 2, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Before we get into the meat of today’s post, I just want to throw out a quick prayer request out there. On Friday when I was ringing the bell for the Salvation Army, a woman that I don’t know handed the money directly to me and asked me to pray for her. She has a job interview on Monday (today) and she really needs that job. It is possible at this hour that she has already had the interview and the decisions have already been made*, but if you are the praying type, throw up a quick prayer for this woman.

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COLORFUL really inspired a wide group of people in many different directions. We’ve reached a double digit streak for weeks with double digit submissions!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Monica Henning

Andy Sharp

Dawn Krause

Jesse Howard

Elizabeth Nordeen

Becky Parmelee

Cathie Raley

Micky Augustin

Christopher D. Bennett

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Monica Henning

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Angie Dewaard

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:

HIGH PERSPECTIVE

HIGH PERSPECTIVE! What a great theme! But what is a HIGH PERSPECTIVE image. Think of it like this 97% of the images taken in this world, in a study I just made up to back up my point, are taken from exactly the eye level of the person taking the picture. A HIGH PERSPECTIVE picture challenges you to do one of two things. Find a way to get higher up than normal ground level and take a picture. Climb a ladder. Go on a roof. Take your company helicopter for a spin. Or, you could simple look down and be higher than your subject.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

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.

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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 high Monday!

*This isn’t my understanding of the way prayer works, but using for illustrative purposes.

Becky, Candid Portrait, Event, Formal Portrait, Geri, Jaycees, Music, Shannon

2009-07-17

November 30, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

The pictures in the folder 2009-07-17 are from the second to last Ames Jaycees event I ever attended. I can’t remember the timeline of everything that went down that caused me to up and quit the Jaycees, but I’m pretty sure that I had already resigned my Board Position several months before and at this point I was just short-timing it.

These pictures were at Ames on the Half Shell and the band was Kountertop. Kountertop fit into that category of generic classic rock cover band that is the bedrock that Ames on the Half Shell was built on, but their musicianship was of a higher quality than the most of the band that played there. They even played a few originals here and there.

They used to play live backup band for a Karaoke night down at People’s in Des Moines. I don’t know if they are still together or not, but my Google search only came up with a Facebook page that seems defunct.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:

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

Kountertop

I’m not sure all that will be involved in next Saturday’s walk down memory lane, but it will involve Mark for sure.

Andree, Brandon, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Logan, Night, Running, Sara, Willy, Work

2009-07-15

November 23, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Sometimes these Saturday walks down memory lane that are part of a restoration project of old blog posts, takes a completely unexpected turn. The images in the folder 2009-07-15 contains a couple of those pictures.

In there are pictures of Sara and a sparkler. Then there are pictures of lilies. There is a picture of Andree in front of his house. Then there are pictures of Logan and Willy running in Midnight Madness.

But buried in those Midnight Madness photos are 2 pictures of people I haven’t thought about in years. One guy I liked and miss when I remember them and another person that was just the strangest briefest flash across the sky of my life. He was a person I had completely forgotten about.

The first picture is of a UPS guy named Blake that used to be the dedicated UPS guy at the Computer Mine my first 6 or 7 years I was swinging the pick. At a certain point Blake took a different route and I haven’t really seen him since then and it is too bad. I miss talking to that guy. He even once tried to pay me to pretend to be Santa for his kids. I declined the offer because, you know, kids smell, but in the history of people thinking I should portray Santa, Blake the UPS guy was the first. At least the first to offer me money.

The second is a more weird twisted, rocky memory lane. There is a picture of a guy named John in the collection. I can’t remember John’s last name at all, but at the very end of my tenure with the Evil Clown Empire I was stationed at the West Ames Outpost. John was my “boss”. He suffered from some mental illness, but I’m not entirely sure what flavor.

He spent an entire afternoon once counting paper clips and rubber bands in the lobby. Then he calculated which one was cheaper to bundle money with, paper clips or rubber bands. He spent hours on this project to try to save the store .0003 cents per bundle of bills.

I’m going to let you in on a secret. There are two ways to control your profit at a restaurant that matter. You control your labor costs. You control your food costs. Placing energy on anything is a complete waste of your resources. Control those 2 things and almost everything else will fall into place.

I only worked with John a few weeks. He was fired during the weeks I took off work after Olivia passed away. I can remember sitting in my Mom’s kitchen a couple days after Olivia’s funeral when John called me. He called to tell me that he had been fired. When I returned to work, they offered me John’s job. I told them where to stick their job in so many words. It was also when I put in my 1 month notice. In retrospect, I don’t know why I gave them a full one month notice, but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do.

As for John, it would be 3.5 years before I would see him again. He was running in Midnight Madness. He seemed to be doing well. I haven’t thought of him in years until I came across his picture in this collection.

I wonder what he is doing now, but I can’t even look him up. I don’t remember his last name.

Here are some pictures from that folder:

This is John

This is Blake

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:

DFDA54

New Digs

The Most Tolerable Third Party

Yet There is Method in It

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve another Ames on the Half Shell concert.

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Saydie, Still Life, Taylan, WPC - Reminder

Howards 2018 – Volume 3

November 22, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Here is the final collection of images from the 2018 Howards Photo Shoot that took place at some golf course that is like 3 blocks from my house.

Sorry David, your character from the Howard Family Sitcom got written off. You will not be appearing in the 2019 Howard Family Photo Shoot.

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

SHADOW

A SHADOW picture is a picture where a SHADOW is an important composition element of the picture.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Becky, Candid Portrait, Cousin Amy, Dawn, Event, Formal Portrait, Geri, Jay, Jaycees, Jen, Music, Sara, Shannon, Teresa, Willy

2009-07-10

November 16, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures from the folder 2009-07-10 are all from an Ames on the Half Shell concert that featured by far my favorite artist that we ever booked. Her name was Bonne Finken and she was one of maybe 3 artists that we booked during my entire run with the Jaycees that couldn’t be described as generic classic rock cover band.

Listen, that isn’t an insult. There is nothing wrong with a classic rock cover band. They are usually pretty enjoyable to listen to, but they certainly don’t challenge you as a music enthusiast.

I’m terrible at describing her sound, but it both pop and rock and it is undeniably powerful. Bonne is still producing music, but she has moved on from this local scene. She moved to Tennessee. She released her third album earlier this year. It was produced by a member of Slipknot.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Bonne Finken’s conert:

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

Bonne Finken

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve flowers and sparklers, but not necessarily together.

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Saydie, Still Life, Taylan, WPC - Reminder

Howards 2018 – Volume 2

November 15, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Another dip into the cool refreshing waters of the 2018 backlog. This time, a second collection of pictures from the 2018 Howard Family Shoot.

Here are a few more of my favorites:

There is one more batch of 2018 Howard pictures still in the hopper! Stay pumped!

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

PURPLE

Remember that a PURPLE image is any image that deals with the color PURPLE in its composition in a meaningful way.

Happy photo harvesting!

Becky, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Event, Formal Portrait, Geri, Jaycees, Logan, Music, Night, Shannon, Teresa

2009-07-06

November 9, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder 2009-07-06 are from my 2009 Independence Day. I spent the day immersed in Ames Jaycees projects.

The beginning of my day was spent helping with the special Independence Day Ames on the Half Shell with The Nadas. Then I finished the day helping out with the fireworks display.

Shannon’s cousin Matthew came down to help with Half Shell. Teresa helped as well. Logan and Willy were in attendance at the concert.

It was a very long day. Now I barely even leave my house on Independence Day. I should probably remedy that in 2020, but I’m guessing that won’t happen.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the album:

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

4th of July

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve my favorite artist to every play Ames on the Half Shell.

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Saydie, Taylan

Howards 2018 – Volume 1

November 6, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Last year I had the great pleasure of taking the Howard family portrait. This time, we took the photos at the Boone golf course. I’m sure it has a name, but it is lost on me. It is a couple blocks from my house, but while I am aged, I haven’t descended into a state of decay where golf is an activity that would appeal to me. At least not yet. Maybe in a couple more years.

Here are is a first look at some of my favorites from the first collection of images:

It has been over a year since we took those pictures. In the time that has passed, Taylan’s boyfriend has been dumped. Given his walking papers. Kicked to the curb. Dropped. Discarded. Thrown out. Chucked.

There are still plenty of Howard pictures in the hopper!

Andy, Becky, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Evie, Formal Portrait, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Youth Group

WPC – WEEK 216 – FORMAL PORTRAIT

November 4, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I was a little worried that our 5 week double digit submission streak wouldn’t his 6 weeks with FORMAL PORTRAIT. I hadn’t received some of the normal early submissions, and I translated that into a lack of enthusiasm for the theme. However, there was a deep late arriving enthusiasm. In fact, we almost hit 20 submissions. Which might be a record, but I don’t keep those kind of stats. Maybe when I get some free time, I can comb the archives and see what the record is for most submissions is for a week. If it isn’t 19, it can’t be much higher than that.

In fact, after I wrote this, I got a semi-late submission for 20 total submission!

Add to the excitement of the FORMAL PORTRAIT theme, we have a first ever submission from Evie Gorshe. I’m not sure if she is the youngest to ever submit, but she has to be pretty close. I know a couple of the Augustin girls have submitted before. I think Scott Krause submitted at a pretty young age as well. We’ll just say that Evie is a Top 5 youngest to ever submit!

Almost as exciting as Evie’s submission is Dawn’s return to the fold. Dawn has been wandering the wilderness for the last couple of years. But she has a different job now and says she is back in the game. It is good to have her home. Somebody bring me a fatted calf!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me make weak links to parables and talk tommyrot about participation rates, you came to see the submissions:

Micky Augustin

Evie Gorshe

Dawn Krause

Andy Sharp

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Micky Augustin

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Carla Stensland

Mike Vest

Becky Parmelee

Cathie Raley

Christopher D. Bennett

Elizabeth Nordeen

Jesse Howard

ORANGE

ORANGE! What a great theme! But what is an ORANGE photo? An ORANGE photo is any photo where the color ORANGE plays an important part in the image. Luckily, this time of year, there is a lot of ORANGE in nature.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

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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 orange Monday!