You know that BLACK AND WHITE is my favorite theme. You know darn well that I’m going to have lots of BLACK AND WHITE alternates. Lots and lots of alternates. Actually I think I have less alternates than I normally do for BLACK AND WHITE. That being said, I’m still going to break this down into multiple posts. Probably 2. Maybe 3. Definitely more than 1 though.
Plenty more, BLACK AND WHITE images still coming later this week.
Double nickels people! Sammy Haggar might not be able to drive 55, but we can do 55 straight weeks of double digits like it ain’t no thing.
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:
Monica Henning
Elizabeth Nordeen
Dawn Krause
Kio Dettman
Micky Augustin
Tamara Peterson
Angie DeWaard
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Angie DeWaard
Kio Dettman
Christopher D. Bennett
Cathie Raley
Kim Barker
Michelle Haupt
Teresa Kahler
Mike Vest
Kalista Howard
Jesse Howard
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:
ANIMAL! What a great theme! An ANIMAL photo is a simple enough concept. It is merely any picture of an ANIMAL (wild or domesticated) or an ANIMAL byproduct (meat, toy, tracks, food). Easy enough!
Here is a look back at all the times in the past that ANIMALS has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 26 – PET
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 77 – ANIMAL
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 153 – ANIMAL
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 164 – WILD ANIMAL
I look forward to seeing your new interpretations!
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.
OR
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 animalistic Monday!
I need to start today with wishing Dae Hee a happy birthday. Happy birthday Dae Hee!
I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be.
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The main collection of pictures from today are alternates for last week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme SELF-PORTRAIT. A few of those pictures were taken on the roof of my house. I climbed up there without anybody holding the ladder or spotting me.
I bring this up, because I acknowledge that is dangerous and foolish. I bring this up, because a guy I know recently fell off a roof and broke his back. He is now in need of help with the medical expenses that come with that kind of injury and our broken health care system. If you are interested in helping out with his medical expenses, you can make a donation to his GoFundMe page here:
You may remember Mike as the lead singer and bass player for Derrick’s band. He’s a good guy with a long road to recovery in front of him.
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Here is a collection of SELF-PORTRAIT images that I took for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, but didn’t use on Monday. They are mostly cruddy cell phone pictures, but a few were taken with Rodan139.
The pictures taken down by the river are with the remains of the bridge that Kate Shelley crossed to save all those lives, all those years. If you don’t know the story of Kate Shelley, don’t worry. You will at some point.
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This is your reminder that BLACK AND WHITE is the week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:
A BLACK AND WHITE image is a picture of any subject that is taken in BLACK AND WHITE, sometimes called monochrome.
Happy photo harvesting!
I need to start by wishing everybody a happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I don’t have a picture to represent this holiday, but I do have a suggestion on a way to celebrate it.
I suggest listening to THIS LAND podcast by Crooked Media. It is pretty incredible and infuriating and addictive. Click on the link below:
A synopsis of the podcast:
Patrick Murphy was convicted of murder by the state of Oklahoma in 2000. But defense attorneys soon discovered that his conviction may have been based on a lie. Hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Oklahoma journalist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this podcast will provide an in depth look at how a cut and dry murder case opened an investigation into half the land in Oklahoma and the treaty rights of five tribes. Follow along to find out what’s at stake, the Trump administration’s involvement, the larger right wing attack on tribal sovereignty and how one unique case resulted in the largest restoration of tribal land in US history.
If you find that interesting, and you should because it is fascinating, click on the link above!
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We did it! WooHoo! 54 straight weeks of double digit submissions!
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about the submission rates. You came to see the submissions:
Kim Barker
Dawn Krause
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Michelle Haupt
Tamara Peterson
Christopher D. Bennett
Andy Sharp
Micky Augustin
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Cathie Raley
Jen Ensley-Gorshe
Derrick Gorshe
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:
BLACK AND WHITE! What a great theme! In fact, I think you all know by now that is it my favorite theme! BLACK AND WHITE photography was my first love. Still my greatest love. What is a BLACK AND WHITE image? Literally any subject, as long as it is taken in BLACK AND WHITE.
BLACK AND WHITE has been a theme six times. It was not included in the first set of 52 themes. A terrible oversight and I blame Vest. Here is a look back at the six times BLACK AND WHITE was a theme:
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 14 – BLACK AND WHITE
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 74 – BLACK & WHITE
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 133 – BLACK & WHITE
I look forward to seeing your new interpretations!
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.
OR
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 monochrome Monday!
I need to start today by wishing Shawn a happy birthday. Happy birthday Shawn!
I hope your birthday is as wonderful as you want it to be!
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I do love pictures of SIGNS. My sister-in-law Laura once told me that this makes me a hipster. She is wrong about that, but even if it did make me a hipster, I’d still love pictures of signs. Battered. Beat up. Barely hanging on. My kind of SIGNS. With that in mind, here are the alternate pictures for last week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme SIGNS:
I also took a couple pictures of unincorporated towns in Boone County:
Ridgeport, Iowa
Unincorporated
Here is an interesting fact about Ridgeport. It was originally called Mineral Ridge. It took that name from the ridge that the town sits on. It was giving that name because the surveyors that were exploring the area, their compass wasn’t working correctly. The figured that this was because the ridge was filled with minerals. Turns out that they just had a broken compass. At least this is what I read in the latest issue of “Trail Tales”.
I wish more of these unincorporated communities had signs like Centerville. I looked for one in Logansport and didn’t find one. Also looked for some kind of marker where Zenorsville was once located, but found nothing. However, of all the unincorporated communities in Boone County, the lack of any kind of marker for Jordan makes me the saddest. Not just because of my family connection (I also have a family connection to Centerville) to Jordan, but because of its historical significance because of the Jordan tornado. C’est la vie!
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This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is SELF-PORTRAIT:
A SELF-PORTRAIT is simply a picture where the photographer and the subject are the same person. Obviously, there are some creative ways to get around that, if you don’t like take pictures of yourself. Even if that doesn’t make sense to anybody else.
Happy photo harvesting!
Sorry that this is several minutes late today. I went to cast my ballot for the 2020 election during my lunch break from the mine:
A reminder that if you live in Iowa, early voting starts today! It might be easier and safer than voting on November 3. But you have to make the choice that is best for you.
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I need to start today by wishing Johnathan a happy birthday. Happy birthday Johnathan!
I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!
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WooHoo! 53 straight weeks of double digit submissions!! Once again, I didn’t even have to send out any reminder texts.
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates! You came to see the submissions!
Kio Dettman
Tamara Peterson
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Jesse Howard
Jesse Howard
Jesse Howard
Christopher D. Bennett
Teresa Kahler
Teresa Kahler
Teresa Kahler
Cathie Raley
Kim Barker
Elizabeth Nordeen
Carla Stensland
Carla Stensland
Carla Stensland
Mike Vest
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-PORTAIT! What a great theme! But what is a SELF-PORTRAIT? This is simply a portrait where the subject and the photographer are one and the same. If you don’t like taking your own picture, you can always take a picture of somebody else taking a SELF-PORTRAIT. That is a pro tip for ya!
Here is a look back at the previous 7 times SELF-PORTRAIT was a theme:
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 25 – SELF-PORTRAIT
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 68 – SELF-PORTRAIT
WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 144 & WEEK 145
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.
OR
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.
+++++++
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!
I need to start off this day by wishing Sara a happy birthday. Happy birthday Sara!
I hope your birthday was as amazing as you wanted it to be!
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It is also Scottie D.’s birthday! Happy birthday Scottie D.!
I hope your birthday was as amazing as you wanted it to be!
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The majority of the pictures in the folder 2010-04-11 are from a benefit event I photographed. I don’t even remember what it was a benefit for, but it was put on by a lady I used to work with. There were also pictures of Nader in there.
I don’t remember much of the night of the benefit, other than I left shortly after a bar fight that left the floor covered in the most blood I’ve ever seen from a fight. It was a lot of blood.
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:
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Iowa State Football.
One of my goals when I was on vacation was to hit 5 State Parks that I’ve never been to before. I made this goal, but not quite like I anticipated. The two parks I definitely wanted to hit were Mines of Spain and Preparation Canyon. The other 3 were to be somewhat negotiable. In the end, I hit 3 State Parks I’ve never been to and 2 State Forests I haven’t been to.
1. Mines of Spain
2. Walnut Woods
3. Preparation Canyon
4. Loess Hills State Forest
5. Pilot Mound State Forest
In retrospect, it is kind of shocking that I’ve never been to Pilot Mound State Forest, considering it is in Boone County, but it is also exciting to think that there are places in my own backyard that I still haven’t really explored.
The drive to Preparation Canyon was very rainy, but not very long. I consider the three most beautiful parts of Iowa to be northeast Iowa, the Loess Hills and the Des Moines River Valley. The Loess Hills area did not disappoint, even if the part of Preparation Canyon I saw wasn’t overly impressive. However, I have no doubt that I’ll revisit this area again in the future and see Preparation Canyon from a different perspective.
However, the Loess Hills State Forest did not disappoint. In fact, it might have been even more beautiful than I expected. Here are some pictures from the area taken from Rodan139:
The last few images is of one of the infamous unmaintained roads of Monona County. I badly wanted to go on it, but it had been raining all day and that road was all mud. You couldn’t even walk on it. The other problem is that I drive a Camry. Not exactly built for what basically amounts to an off-road adventure.
This concludes the drone pictures from my vacation, but there are still plenty of vacation pictures to come.
The pictures in the folder 2010-04-08 are from a photo shoot for my 2010 Birthday Party invitation. The theme for the invitation was “Done Got Old”. The pictures were taken by Sara. The guitar in the pictures was donated by Derrick. The cane was from Sara’s personal collection of canes. And yes, the white shoes were intentional. I was asked this question frequently for some reason.
I hope to have a birthday party in 2021. Hopefully by the we will be through this completely mismanaged pandemic.
By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entry to their original glory:
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a benefit I photographed.
I suppose I should report on how I did on my vacation goals from last week:
1. I want to visit 5 state parks I have never visited. Including Mines of Spain and Preparation Canyon.
I DIDN’T EXACTLY HIT 5 STATE PARKS. BUT I DID HIT 3 STATE PARKS AND 2 STATE FORESTS. SO I’M COUNTING THIS IS AS A WIN.
2. I want to add at least 20 new signs to THE TOWN SIGNS PROJECT. A project I’ve mostly ignored this year, despite the fact that this would have been a good year to work on it.
I BELIEVE I GOT 21 OR 22 NEW TOWN SIGNS. SO ANOTHER WIN.
3. I want to finally meet Jen and Derrick’s dog.
I NEVER EVEN CONTACTED THEM. MY FAULT, BUT I’M LEERY TO ENTER THE COVID DRENCHED TOWN THAT IS AMES. PLUS I’M PRETTY SURE THAT DERRICK’S PHONE DOESN’T WORK.
4. I want to finally tackle those POSTCARD PROJECT pictures that I have put off for like 3-4 years now.
I TACKLED ABOUT 5 OF THESE. SO WIN.
5. To play with a new lens I hope to purchase between now and then, but the verdict is still out on what new lens I’m going to purchase.
OH YEAH. DEFINITELY PLAYED WITH THAT LENS. PROBABLY A REPORT ON THAT LATER THIS WEEK.
6. Take some near full moon photography. The next full moon is September 2. Which is a Wednesday. But I figure there will still be plenty of moonlight left on September 4.
ANOTHER FAIL. IT WAS TOO CLOUDY ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY TO TACKLE THIS. AFTER THAT, THERE WASN’T ENOUGH MOON. NEXT FULL MOON IS OCTOBER 1. THAT IS A THURSDAY, WHICH ALL OF A SUDDEN IS SEEMING LIKE A REAL GOOD REASON TO HAVE A 3 DAY WEEKEND.
4 out of 6, I’ll consider that a success. There were a couple other failures out there, that weren’t stated goals. I wanted to go to Pike’s Peak State Park, but I cut my Monday road trip short because Naima hurt her leg the night before, so I felt it was best to get back early to check on her condition. She might have been milking it as she seemed fine by 8 PM Monday night. But probably not.
I also wanted to take Rodan139 out to the High Trestle Trail Bridge again, but it rained about every day of my vacation. So that didn’t happen. It’s all good though.
I did make accomplish my number one goal from the week though. That was visiting Mines of Spain. I was originally going to do this on Tuesday, but I ended up going on Labor Day so that Teresa and my Mom could go. I didn’t want to get stuck in a State Park with a ton of people, plus I wanted to get there with some good soft morning light. This meant leaving at 5 AM. My sister and Mom didn’t seem to understand that I was serious about this, until I showed up at their door at 4:55 AM.
I’ll go into more details about that trip later, but here are some pictures from Mines of Spain taken by Rodan139. Mostly at Horse Shoe Bluff, but also around the Julien Dubuque Monument:
I will definitely need to visit this park again. I considered this a good scouting trip, but now I have more ideas of how to best drone photograph the park.
