Category Archives: Portrait

Candid Portrait, Christianity, Scottie D.

Austin & Porter 2020 A

February 28, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Today was the second Sunday of Lent. If you couldn’t make it to a worship service, I have your back.. Here is a devotional from Rev. Dr. Moody Colorado:

Living to benefit the Lord

Mark 8:34-38
By Rev. Dr. Moody Colorado, Northeast Region Superintendent

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we worship and thank you, and we rejoice for this day that you have made.
Jesus, Son of God, we claim you and proclaim you as our Savior and our Lord.
Spirit of God descend upon us and help us to love God with our hearts, our minds and our soul.
Amen.

What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

There was a young man in the 12th Century Italy, who was scared of losing his own soul because his father was rich, a textile businessman. This young man kept telling his friend, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul?” This young man took some of his father’s merchandise, sold them and tried to give the money to the priest to be given to the poor as needed. The father asked the church to discipline the young man. The young man appeared before the church authorities and his father. Instead of apologizing to his father, this young man removed all his clothes and gave them to his father. Totally naked he declared that from then on he will be a poor monk and the Heavenly Father shall be his provider. From his hometown’s porciuncula, or little church, he reached the world with his preaching and became to be known as St. Francis of Assisi. His disciples, the Franciscans, reached many nations around the world. Francis even preached to a Muslim leader in Egypt.

What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

I used to work as a manager of a Gold Mining Business in the Philippines. Working in the mountains is so complex which included dealing with illegal miners, rebels and the military operations. I knew I have seen hell when my wife and I almost died in one of the gun-battles. Our lives could have been wasted in search of gold. One director of the Mines Bureau told me, “There is no job worth dying for.”

I shared this with my father, Isaac Colorado. He himself gave up his military career for the sacrificial work of a pastor in the country. My father admired my professional job and he also said that the Mines Director may be correct, except for the evangelist’s job. He said that after dodging the bullets in the military service, God somehow showed him that there is a job really worth dying for—the salvation of the world. Its Jesus’ sacrificial job and we are invited to join this very humbling work. The apostle Paul expressed the concept for us, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)”

We are living in difficult times. Many lives are being lost. I pause and think and hope that it’s not too late to make use of our lives that benefits the Lord and our soul.

We need to care for ourselves and for each other. But let us not forget to keep the main thing as the main thing for the Church. Jesus the Christ is our Lord whose job was and is to save the whole world. I like the United Methodist Church because we can act locally and make an impact globally. Coming from the Philippines I see myself as an evidence that the global UMC system of American Methodist Mission works great. Let us not lose our great task of evangelizing the world. When we are able to save the soul of the world, we have practically saved our own.

Let us pray:
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord
And where there’s doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
In giving of ourselves that we receive.
And in dying that we are born to eternal life.
The love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Next Sunday I will share a devotional from Reverend Ron Carlson.

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A couple months back I got together with the Degeneffes for the annual photo shoot with Austin & Porter. Here are some of my favorites:

While I may have lost the Howard account in 2020, it was good to see that I still hold the Degeneffe account for now. There are plenty more of the Degeneffe boys to come!

Animals, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Ruins, Shannon

2010-07-01 & 2010-07-05

February 27, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

There weren’t many pictures in the folder 2010-07-05, so I decided to combine it with 2010-07-01 Skydive 2.

The pictures in the folder 2010-07-01 Skydive 2 are from when Shannon did get to go skydiving. The pictures from 2010-07-05 Market are from when I did a quick spin around Beaver, Iowa to look at the ruins of the once mighty city. Just kidding, Beaver was never mighty, but at least it was the embarrassment that it has become.

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:

WELCOME TO BEAVER, IOWA

RWPE #26 – MARKET

In the post about Beaver, Iowa, there is an interesting discussion in the comments section about which town is worse: Beaver or Dana.

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will definitely involve flowers.

Alexis, Anela, Christianity, Formal Portrait, Kanoa, Mom

Anela Chapter 1

February 21, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

It is the first Sunday of Lent. It is possible you couldn’t get to church today for a wide variety of reasons. To help you out I’m sharing a devotional by Reverend Melissa Drake.

“Knowing our Identity”
Mark 1: 9-13:
By: Rev. Melissa Drake, Southwest Region Superintendent

We are in the first week of Lent—and this Sunday begins our journey of the next 40 days, leading the church up to Easter. The Lenten season is designed to be a mirror for us: it’s a way for us to witness to Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, as he prepares to begin his ministry.

For Christians, Lent has historically been the yearly season for us to examine ourselves in that same mirror: to spend time in deep personal reflection and preparation as we get ready to commit ourselves to living into the way of Jesus: the way of his baptism, life, death and Resurrection.

For the church it is our season together of reflecting and preparing for the ministries of sharing the Good News of the Resurrection with the world that so desperately needs to hear and see and touch and feel that they are beloved of God.
Lent, this season always known for its austerity—the season where the days are getting longer, but not necessarily getting better—always begins this same way: with Jesus’ baptism and then immediate temptation out in the wilderness. And this year we hear from Mark, chapter 1, verses 9-13:

About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”

At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.

Lent always begins this very same way, and I think sometimes, we, in the church get obsessed over the temptation and the wilderness part, and not so much over the baptism and the naming and claiming part.

And this year of all years, it is a year for us to remember the naming and claiming part: The way the clouds split open and the sun must have been dazzling; the way the wind must have blown, maybe in that wild spring way that makes us adventurous and crazy and ready to go out in the world again, or maybe it blew in that soft spring way that wraps us in the warmth of better days coming; and then the voice. That voice coming from the heavens that says, “You are mine. You are beloved. In your very being I find happiness.”

As Bishop Laurie shared in her devotion last week, Lent has historically been a season to give something up: and that can be such a powerful discipline. We need this time to examine ourselves, to pay attention to what we need to give up and let go so that we can follow Jesus more nearly and dearly. This is a season of giving things up and letting things go as we practice our faith; but it’s also a season of holding on as well. Throughout his time in the wilderness,
Jesus held on to the identity and relationship with God that was so clearly expressed at his baptism.

Friends, as we recommit ourselves to living in the way of Jesus, we need this time of holding on as well. A holding on to what cannot be changed, but what can so easily be forgotten or overshadowed or lost: that deep KNOWING of identity: that deep knowing of belovedness. That deep knowing of relationship, of who we are and who we belong to. And that deep knowing of being absolutely enough, at our very core, for God to delight in us without having to produce anything or accomplish anything.

What would happen to our church communities if we spent the next 40 days holding on to this identity, within our own spirts, during our own times of temptations that tell us that we aren’t enough. That other people have it more and better. That if only we worked a little harder, we’d be more worthy.

And I wonder, what would it be like in our church communities, if we could do this for each other, even in these longer days that don’t always seem to be getting better? If all of our words and all of our work in the next 40 days were about reminding each other, showing each other that we are beloved of God—to remind each other that there is nothing, neither height, nor depth, nor zoom church, nor sub zero temperatures, there is neither pandemic, nor politics, nor temptations or just plain old fatigue that can separate us from the love of our God. And our care for each other.
Friends, this is the promise we made to each other at our baptisms: this is our work of the church: to be connected together. To watch over one another in love. To remind each other of who and whose we are. So that, out of our union with Christ, in his baptism of death and resurrection, we can take this good news out into the world and say and show: World: you, too, are God’s beloved.

May you be blessed; may you hold on.

And may “The God of all grace, who has called us to eternal glory in Christ, establish you and strengthen you by the power of the Holy Spirit that you may live in grace and peace. Amen.”

Next Sunday I will share a devotional from Rev. Dr. Moody Colorado.

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Around Thanksgiving I went over to meet my new grand niece Anela and photograph her. As I’m sometimes asked to do. Here is the first collection of those images:

These are the first pictures of Anela that I’ve shared. Meaning there is now an Anela category on this website!

There are at least two more collections of Anela pictures to share in the hopper still!

Animals, Candid Portrait, Flowers, Macro, Nature, Night, Sara

2010-06-29, 2010-06-30, & 2010-07-01

February 20, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

The folders 2010-06-29, 2010-06-30, & 2010-07-01 Center Street Bridge are fairly small, so I combined them all into one fair sized post. Most of them are pictures of flowers, but a few are pictures I took with Sara at or near the Center Street Bridge in Des Moines.

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:

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #34

THE INCIDENTAL GARDENER FILES

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve skydiving again. This time, maybe Shannon gets to jump out of a plane.

Art, Flowers, Macro, Politics, Railroad, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

A Pandemic Menagerie

February 19, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is a clearinghouse post. Grouping together some small collections of photos that might not be large enough to stand on their own. Plus getting multiple folders “finished off” and filed away to their forever homes.

These pictures aren’t pandemic related, but they did occur in a pandemic. Like every picture I take these days. Some were taken at the Ames Farmers Market. Some in my yard. Some on the backroads of Boone County.

This sculpture is called Eggcited. Eggcited! Get it?

Despite the awful name, I love it so!

From my yard.

My socially distanced trick-or-treat setup for Halloween.

One of the small joys of the pandemic was stopping to photograph this sign and meeting the woman who put it up. She went to school with my Dad and we got to talk about him for a bit.

Self-portrait after voting on the first day of early voting.

My mouth is watering…

One of the reasons I like living in a town with a railroad (besides the obvious economic impact) is that it is…

Like having a new art museum in town every single day. While Boone has an Art Commission (despite the fact that there are a ton of local artists)…

there is a decided lack of public art in town. A mural of a train. A statue of Teddy Roosevelt. A local guy that paints his snow banks…

That is really it. Although I will point out that Boone does a decent job with the performing arts. It just isn’t the same. So thank you Union Pacific!

Good to get all that cleaned out. We’re getting close to my having my backlog cleaned out. It will be interesting what this space will look like when that happens.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SYMMETRY & PATTERNS:

SYMMERY & PATTERNS

I can’t help but think of Shannon when I think of the theme of SYMMETRY & PATTERNS. Back in the day, we would occasionally go to art shows and fairs together. It often ended up being a painful and frustrating experience because the art booths that she would like to stop and look at were the art that actually hurt my soul (at least a little bit) to look at. It was all symmetrical lines and shapes. I always thought, “if this is the kind of art she likes and she likes my photography, what does that say about my photography? Is it this awful and boring?”

On the other side of the coin, she also hated most of the art I liked. Considered it to be derivative of the illustrations one sees in children’s books. Whatever.

I’m not saying you should tap into your inner Shannon when making your SYMMETRY & PATTERNS picture, but it might not hurt. I’m not saying your picture should be boring and uninteresting. I borderline enjoy the theme reveal picture of the bathroom floor in front of my toilet*. I am saying that you should find a pattern and/or a subject that has symmetry. While this isn’t my favorite theme, I do look forward to seeing your interpretations. I bet Shannon will be counting down the days.

When thinking about creating your SYMMETRY & PATTERNS image, think on the following quote from noted Japanese author Junichiro Tanizaki:

Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.

Meditate on these words and you will no doubt, make a completely almost interesting SYMMETRY & PATTERNS image.

Happy photo harvesting!

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Photoshop, WPC - Alternate

The Underminer

February 18, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Today I’m going to share some pictures I took of Jesse in a culvert that goes under the Senholz Trail near Linwood Cemetery. These pictures were alternates for Week 268 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. The theme was FRAMED:

This originally was going to start out a burning steel wool picture, but Jesse broke the lighter, but in the end, I am very pleased with the images we made on the fly.

Alexis, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Holidays, Kanoa, Kupono, Still Life

Alexis Prego Dos

February 14, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I need to start out by wishing a Happy Valentine’s Day to everybody that celebrates today.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Now, I know that there are a ton of people out there that are violently opposed to Saint Valentine’s Day. They call it a holiday invented by candy companies and the florist industry designed to make a large portion of the population feel lonely. I mean a holiday celebrated by eating candy and having flowers to photograph? Sounds like an amazing holiday to me! But, Valentine didn’t get beat to death with clubs and then have his head cut off, just for candy. He did that for love!

And loneliness? Almost a year into a pandemic, loneliness sounds underrated.

Since Photography 139 is if nothing else, a romantic website, on this day that celebrates love, I thought I would share the text from one of the most famous love letters in history. A love letter that was written by Beethoven and discovered by one of Beethoven’s friends shortly after his death. It was hidden in a secret drawer in his wardrobe. There is still debate to this day, about who the letter was written to. While there are actually 3 unsent letters, I’m going to share just the last one:

Even in bed my ideas yearn towards you, my Immortal Beloved, here and there joyfully, then again sadly, awaiting from Fate, whether it will listen to us. I can only live, either altogether with you or not at all. Yes, I have determined to wander about for so long far away, until I can fly into your arms and call myself quite at home with you, can send my soul enveloped by yours into the realm of spirits — yes, I regret, it must be. You will get over it all the more as you know my faithfulness to you; never another one can own my heart, never — never! O God, why must one go away from what one loves so, and yet my life in W. as it is now is a miserable life. Your love made me the happiest and unhappiest at the same time. At my actual age I should need some continuity, sameness of life — can that exist under our circumstances? Angel, I just hear that the post goes out every day — and must close therefore, so that you get the L. at once. Be calm — love me — today — yesterday.

What longing in tears for you — You — my Life — my All — farewell. Oh, go on loving me — never doubt the faithfullest heart

Of your beloved

L

Ever thine.
Ever mine.
Ever ours

I hope that puts a little love in your heart, thinking about good old Ludwig Van! I know it does mine!

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Back before Anela was born, I went to McFarland Park with Alexis, Kupono, and Kanoa to do some pregnancy pictures of Alexis. Here are some of my favorites from the second collection of the photo shoot:

There are still at least one more collection of photos from this photo shoot. Most likely two!

Bill, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Flowers, Jay, Jesse, Macro, Night, Willy

2010-06-28

February 13, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

There is a very diverse collection of photos in the folder 2010-06-28. Most are from Shannon’s first attempt to skydive. That idea got shot down (not literally) because it was deemed to windy to do such a thing safely. There are also pictures of a reunion when Bill came to town to visit. Then of course, there are plenty of flower pictures in here. But, perhaps my favorite picture in the folder is picture of a couple barns lit by the light of a full moon. I’ve been saying this for a long time, but I need to get back to taking some full moon photographs. This is the reason why I put the dates of full moons and new moons on the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar.

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:

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #33

Unaffiliated Triad

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will definitely involve flowers.

Art, Black & White, Christianity, Mom, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

Webster County Auxiliary Images

February 5, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today feels like a good day to share the images I took while I was prowling around Webster County harvesting their town signs with Mom and Teresa several weeks ago.

I truly love this sign so much!

I do love small town water towers.

Stumpy’s Finished Top 5 Tenderloins in the State of Iowa in 2016 – What, you don’t think I have that list memorized?

Business Opportunity!

Stop… You had me at Charlie Brown. You had me at Charlie Brown.

Badger, Iowa in case you were wondering.

Whenever I hear people say God Bless America, I think of Rob Bell’s “Rich”.

Also “Noon Specials”.

Insect sculptures? Yes please!

Don’t you even think of invading Clare, Iowa!

Best Wishes T & Morga!

Tell me there is a better mailbox in the world and I will call you a liar, straight to your face!

The church where T & Morga tied the knot appears to be out of business.

Now this is what I call outreach! Too bad coffee sucks!

Teresa’s co-worker Eduardo gave us a couple tip on places to see in Webster County. Apparently Vincent and Badger are his old stomping grounds. It was his tip to visit the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park near Badger that lead to the discovery of those sweet, sweet insect sculptures.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is USE OF SPACE:

USE OF SPACE

USE OF SPACE is an important theme historically for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. It was the very first theme ever for THE WEEKY PHOTO CHALLLENGE. All the way back when Vest and I invented THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE in the build area of the Computer Mine. Back then it was called THE RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT and the theme was determined each week by a program that Vest wrote. Back then we both received submissions and he also published submissions on his website.
Much has changed back then, and not just the name. While that little bit of history is fascinating, it doesn’t answer the question, what is a USE OF SPACE picture?

It is possibly a confusing theme on the surface, but couldn’t be simpler in reality. All you have to understand is that in an image, there are two types of “space”. Positive space and negative space.

Positive space is the area in the photo that attracts the viewer’s eye. It’s the main subject that commands attention in the composition.

Negative space is the space in the composition that is typically the background. It usually doesn’t attract very much attention. It is used to define or contour the positive space.

In the example, my hand is the positive space. The brick wall is the negative space. In a USE OF SPACE (or negative space) photo, the photographer uses the space that is usually not the primary focus and uses it to fill in most of the composition. The negative space commands more attention than the positive space and creates a unique perspective. It also adds definition and can create strong emotions.

The challenge of this week is to make an image that is mostly negative space.

It is a counterintuitive way to compose an image. The natural instinct is to fill most of the frame with positive space. But you can really ratchet up the emotional impact by putting more negative space in an image than you normally would.

Of course, there are other ways to define USE OF SPACE. You can meditate on this quote by Bob Dylan, while you think about how to compose your USE OF SPACE picture:

Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.

Meditate on these words while you thinking about how you are going to create your USE OF SPACE photo.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Billy, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Dory, Formal Portrait, J.T., Laura, Nate

Miller Time – 2020 – Vol. 4

January 31, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of pictures from when I went to Manhattan to take pictures of the triplets near their second birthday. Chaos! That is the only way to really describe what a photo session with 3 two year-olds with their own agenda. I should have brought a photo assistant, but that certainly isn’t the easiest thing to do in a pandemic. However, in the future, I am going to try to get Alexis to come with me for all family portrait shoots. She has a great eye for the part of portrait photography that I generally fail at. Posing people. I don’t know that she will want to go on 10 hour car rides, but I’ll figure out a way to make it worth her while.

Here are the remainder of the Miller pictures:

A picture that proves sometimes, there are no rules in photography.

Hopefully we have another great photo session when they get ready to turn 3!