Category Archives: Portrait

Art, Birthdays, Drone, History, Railroad, Ruins, Sara, Self-Portrait, Shawn Lockner, Town Sign Project, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

Maybe I’m a Man and Maybe I’m a Lonely Man

October 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

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:

Centerville, Iowa
Unincorporated

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:

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!

Alexis, Art, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Drone, Elainie, Elizabeth, Jason, Jesse, Johnathan, Kim, Kio, Logan, Mom, Politics, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, Vest

WPC – WEEK 264 – SIGNS

October 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

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

Christopher D. Bennett

Teresa Kahler

Cathie Raley

Kim Barker

Elizabeth Nordeen

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-PORTRAIT

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:

RWPE #8 – SELF-PORTRAIT

RWPE Y2 #52 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 25 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 68 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 144 & WEEK 145

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 179 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WPC – WEEK 245 – SELF-PORTRAIT

HOUSEKEEPINGA 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 selfish Monday!

Birthdays, Candid Portrait, Event, Formal Portrait, Jen, Music, Nader, Photoshop, Sara, Scottie D., Shawn Lockner

2010-04-11

October 3, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

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:

A Benefit

RWPE #14 – SYMMETRY AND PATTERNS

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Iowa State Football.

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Road Trip, Self-Portrait

Rodan139: Loess Hills

September 30, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

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.

Birthdays, Black & White, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Photoshop, Sara

2010-04-08

September 26, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

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.

Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 16

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:

Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 16

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a benefit I photographed.

Drone, Mom, Nature, Panorama, Railroad, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Teresa, Vacation

Rodan139: Mines of Spain

September 16, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 11 Comments

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.

Baseball/Softball, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Faust, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Macro, Still Life

2010-04-05

September 12, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder 2010-04-05 are from a combination of us introducing Jackson to the greatness of Homerun Derby and then the rest are pictures for a MACRO theme of the first year of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, then known as THE RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT.

WEEK 13 - MACRO - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

Makes me want to get a big red bat and knocks some balls around the yard again!

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:

Home Run Derby: The Next Generation

The Virtue of the Bored

RWPE #13 – Macro

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve the most beautiful campus in the entire world.

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Sara

2010-03-31

September 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures from the folder 2010-03-31 are from when I was officially given the title of Lone Wolf. Willy had been out there masquerading as a lone wolf for years. He had to have his wings clipped by Jay. Jay made me a mask that was presented to me and the title of Lone Wolf was officially bequeathed to me.

To celebrate a title that I have scientifically backed up over the years, I went out and had a photo session with the mask. Sara was the photographer.

Unfortunately, the mask did fall about a few years ago, but my claim to being the true Lone Wolf never has!

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:

The Story

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a transformer and a big red bat. Not together though.

Birthdays, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jill, Personal Photo Project, Shannon, Vest

2010-03-26 & 2010-03-27

August 29, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start the day by wishing Vest a happy birthday. Happy birthday Vest!

I hope your birthday was as amazing as you hoped it would be.

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Most of the pictures in the folders 2010-03-26 and 2010-03-27 are pictures of Jill and Shannon that I took for a couple of PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECTs.

WEEK 12 - SIGNS - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

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 NO. 14

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 15

RWPE #12 – SIGNS

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve the time I scientifically proved that I am the the true Lone Wolf!

Black & White, Commercial, Formal Portrait, Geri, House, Jay, Jesse, Road Trip, Shannon

2010-03-17, 2010-03-20, & 2010-03-25

August 22, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Covering 3 folders in this walk down to Memory Lane since a couple of them had barely any pictures in them. The pictures in the folders 2010-03-17, 2010-03-20, and 2010-03-25 involve mostly a series of publicity stills I took for an ACTORS production and a cruise around Boone County I took with Jay.

This collection of pictures really made me want to support local arts more. I don’t know that was ever supportive of the local arts in a way I should. I want to go see some community theater productions. I want to go see live local music. When this virus gets managed, I think this is one of my goals. One of the things I want to do. Support some local artists!

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:

RWPE #11 – Motion

A Clockwork Couch

ACTORS

Wild Goose Chase

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Shannon and Jill. But not together.