Category Archives: Portrait

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Photoshop, Railroad, Teresa, Youth Group

Who’s a Big Boy? – Chapter 1

December 18, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Before we get into the meat of this post, I’d like to remind you that tonight at the Boone First United Methodist Church from 5:15-6:30 we are having a soup supper that is a fundraiser for our 2020 Mission Trip to Indianapolis:

Hope to see many of you there tonight! You can even stay for the Christmas Concert that follows!

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Back in early August, the world’s largest steam engine (or something like that) the Big Boy toured through Boone. It was on its way from Des Moines to Omaha. I took part of the day off and followed it from roughly Cambridge to Carroll. Here is a collection of some of the pictures:

Teresa joined me after the Big Boy stopped in Boone for the rest of the trip.

I took a gamble with where I set up for when it crossed the high bridge and I lost big. Very big. But I’ll get into those details in Chapter 2.

Andy, Angie, Becky, Candid Portrait, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Nature, Running, Tamara, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 222 – SPORTS/GAMES

December 16, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Another healthy week of submissions. The 12th week in a row of double digit submissions!

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

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Micky Augustin

Andy Sharp

Michelle Haupt

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Becky Parmelee

Angie DeWaard

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:

LANDSCAPE

LANDSCAPE! What a great theme! But what is a LANDSCAPE photo? Here is a good definition I took from the Wiki:

Landscape photography shows spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes.

You could also do a cityscape or a waterscape. Remember LANDSCAPE has more than one meaning.

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 landscaped Monday!

Animals, Art, Black & White, Brandon, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Night, Railroad, Sara

2009-07-24 & 2009-07-27

December 14, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I decided to throw two folders into today’s walk down memory lane because one folder really only had two pictures of Brandon in it.

The other folder had a ton of pictures from a trip to Ledges and a trip to Des Moines with Sara. There has been a lot of pictures of Sara in these recent trips down memory lane. I think I’ve seen Sara exactly one time in 2019. I think I saw her twice in 2018. If things break just right, I might see her again in 2020.

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:

Future Road Trip Master

Lousy with People

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Jay and more sparklers.

Anders, Animals, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Derrick, Football, Iowa State, Jay, Jesse, Logan, Naima, Night, Politics, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Willy, Youth Group

Selfie Project – November

December 10, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Now that the 2018 backlog is mercifully behind us, it seems like a good time to check back in with THE SELFIE PROJECT. The 2019 version of THE SELFIE PROJECT has almost ran its course. I won’t repeat it in 2020, but maybe I’ll bring it back in 2021. We’ll see.

Here are my favorite images from November:

November 1

November 2

November 3

November 4

November 7

November 9

November 11

November 12

November 13

November 14

November 15

November 16

November 17

November 20

November 21

November 23

November 24

November 25

November 26

November 27

November 28

November 29

I think November was one of my best months. At least for interesting pictures.

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

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.

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Drone, Scottie D., WPC - Reminder

But the Law Never Will

December 6, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Here it is! The last batch of pictures of Melissa and Scottie D.’s children from the 2018 backlog! I think there are only 2 folders left in the 2018 backlog, but it might be less. I might just do a special Sunday “An Artist’s Notebook” entry just to be done with the 2018 backlog so I can begin in earnest hacking away at 2019.

Here is the final collection of Austin and Porter pictures:

A few of these pictures Scottie D. had made into canvas prints and he gave them to Melissa for Christmas. A truly wonderful husband!

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This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is HIGH PERSPECTIVE.

HIGH PERSPECTIVE

A HIGH PERSPECTIVE picture is a picture where your perspective comes from higher than your subject. It can be as simple as looking down on your subject OR you could just get up into a building or tree or whatever and get a perspective that is higher than ground level.

Happy photo harvesting!

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Photoshop, Scottie D.

Someday the Mountain Might Get ‘Em

December 5, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the third of four collections of pictures of Scottie D’s progeny frolicking around the skate park in McHose Park.

I don’t like to brag on Boone, but McHose Park is still the best city park I’ve ever seen. Sorry Central Park.

One more collection of Austin and Porter left in the hopper.

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Scottie D.

Flattenin’ the Hills

December 4, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is another collection of images from the photo shoot with Austin and Porter from the 2018 backlog:

Still plenty more pictures of Porter and Austin in the chute!

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Scottie D.

Straightenin’ the Curves

December 3, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Of all the folders left in the 2018 backlog, the biggest one by far is the photos from a photo shoot with Scottie D.’s two progeny, Austin and Porter. We went out to the McHose Park skate park and took a bunch of candid portaits.

Here is a collection of photos:

Still plenty more pictures of Austin & Porter in the chute.

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 - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 220 – COLORFUL

December 2, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

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

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

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 high Monday!

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