Category Archives: Portrait

Iowa State 27 Drake 24

December 6, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Iowa State’s 12th game was quite the doozie. The had to reschedule their South Dakota State game that go called due to lightning for December 1.

Originally Iowa State schedule perennial FCS doormat Incarnate Word for the game. But a funny thing happened to December 1. Incarnate Word got good and made the FCS Playoffs. Iowa State needed a new opponent and found Drake.

Drake. A FCS (nonscholarship) program.

Drake. A team that last played Iowa State in 1985. Beat Iowa State 20-17 in that game. Then promptly dropped football the next year.

The game should have been a complete mismatch. Iowa State should have been able to name their score. But a funny thing happened on the way to the blowout.

First, Drake played their asses off. Any analysis of the game that doesn’t start with the fact that Drake came to play is not an accurate analysis. Drake players played like their hair was on fire. Their coaches had a brilliant game plan. All credit must be given to Drake.
Second, the field was a disaster. It rained. When it wasn’t raining, it snowed. Then it rain again. The field was a muddy mess.
Third, the wind howled. When I opened my front door on Saturday morning, I thought a freight train was rolling by. The wind was that loud.

All in all, it was a miserable day for football. I can never remember taking less joy from an Iowa State victory. When the final tick of the clock ticked off, I breathed a sigh of relief. A win is a win. A bowl game was still in sight. I could begin the countdown to when Iowa State’s bowl destination would be released.

Here are some pictures from a miserable day (which is still a great day) in Jack Trice Stadium:

I ordered up my tickets to the Alamo Bowl yesterday. I need to do some research to figure out what the camera policy is in the next few weeks.

I’m pumped to see this team play one more time. Especially if they can get all the injured defensive players back: Datrone, Greg, Enyi, D’Andre, and Marcel. It would be nice if Peavy would be able to play that game at 100% as well.

Basketball, Iowa State, Johnathan, Kim, Mom, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 168 – COMMUNICATION

December 3, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Looks like another rough week for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Only a few people were able to communicate the theme COMMUNICATION. Might be time to look into retiring THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

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

Tamara Peterson

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Shannon Bardole-Foley

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:

FAMILY!

FAMILY! What a great theme! Unless your FAMILY sucks, then you have more problems that dealing with THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

So what is a FAMILY picture? A FAMILY picture is any picture that involves a FAMILY. Now some people have a really strict DNA based definition of a family because they weren’t hugged enough as a child. Don’t feel constrained by somebody else’s definition of a FAMILY.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. 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.

2. 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 familial Monday.

Black & White, Micky, Photo Journal, Self-Portrait, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 23

November 30, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Last night was the lighted parade in Boone. While I was walking around the mean streets of urban Boone, it dawned on me that it was a perfect opportunity to knock out Page 23 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 23 – Photograph a shadow

To make image more unique, I really leaned into the contrast and clarity of the image to make it somewhat film noir. I like to think THE OUTER LIMITS.

While I was up at the lighted parade I got a somewhat indecent proposal from Santa Claus, but I’ll share that at a later date.

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Reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is COMMUNICATION:

COMMUNICATION

A COMMUNICATION photo is any photo of creatures engaging in COMMUNICATION. A dog’s tail wagging. COMMUNICATION. Sign language. COMMUNICATION. Smoke signals. COMMUNICATION. Bumper stickers. COMMUNICATION. They are saying, I’m not worth getting to know.

Happy photo harvesting!

Candid Portrait, Derrick, Evie, Football, Jen, Layla

My Great Shame

November 29, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

A couple months back I stopped at Derrick and Jen’s house for reasons that currently escape me.

While I was there, Evie and Layla asked me if I wanted to watch their next soccer game. I said sure, thinking that they were in some kind of organized soccer league where I would stand on the sidelines and watch them run up and down a field for an hour.

I’m no fan of soccer, or as it is known around my parts, boringball, but I would be willing to endure watching a game of boringball if it involved Evie and Layla. My cutoff is dance recitals. I did more than my fair share of time in the dance recital circuit for my sisters. I can never go back!

However, it turned out that what they really wanted was for me to go outside and play a rousing match on the pitch that is their backyard. Despite it being against my very being, I went out there and kicked a ball around with them and Derrick.

Here are a few pictures:

When Evie and Layla saw that I had cracked out a camera, they insisted on posing for a couple pictures. While I’m not Mr-Posed-Photo, I do like these, since the subjects are adorable!

Brooke, Cathie, Elizabeth, Flat Earth Joe, Formal Portrait, Houlihan, Jesse, Jorge, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Photoshop, Vest, Work

You’re So Vain, You Probably Think this Post is About You

November 18, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This is the final post of the 2017 backlog.

I usually get tapped with taking the pictures for the day job’s holiday card.

My co-workers range from putting in a ton of effort in getting ready for their portrait to just showing up and saying “let’s get this done” to complaining incessantly about it.

I, for the most part, enjoy the exercise, even though these are little more than glorified mugshots that take up about 1 square centimeter on a card that I’m not certain many of our customers even look at.

I’m going to share the pictures of co-workers that are also subscribers to this here blog. Maybe a couple more that I just enjoy.

I don’t Photoshop these. I just turn them over to the powers that be. Okay, I might have Photoshopped Jorge’s picture a hair because I kept being told that his eyes are too small. Dude has small eyes. Why you pickin’ on him?

These aren’t the pictures used on the holiday card. They aren’t even the best pictures from their shoots. Tey are just pictures that I liked.

An Artist’s Notebook will probably take Sundays off for the time being. I think we all need the break.

Animals, Jesse, Michelle, Naima, Photo Journal, Politics, Self-Portrait, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 70-71

November 16, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

As the 2018 political season wound down, I found it to be a perfect time to tackle Page 70 and then subsequently Page 71 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 70 – Take a picture of something you hate.

There are few things in the world I hate more than the “stick-to” narrative. This belief that everybody has a right to express their political opinion, except for artists and athletes. Since I happen to be both (Monstars, represent!), it is something that hits home.

When a plumber or a line cook expresses a political opinion, nobody is out there saying, “Stick to plumbing” or “Stick to cooking”.

But whenever an athlete or an actor expresses a political opinion you hear a chorus of “Hey pal, stick to sports, just stick to sports.”

Which is weird because athletes like Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali (to name just a couple) have been instrumental in leading social change.

Even stranger still is the people who come down on artists. It is the job of the artist to say some thing. That is the point of art. It isn’t always political, but sometimes, that is going to be political. Banksy is probably the greatest political artist of our times. It would be tragic if he was silent.

By the way, thanks to Michelle for making my “Stick to Photography” sign!

Page 70 leads to Page 71 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 71 – Email me the picture and I’ll email you a picture of something I hate.

Page 71 asked you to send your hate picture to the author of A PHOTO JOURNAL, and then he would email you back a picture of something he hates. The author of A PHOTO JOURNAL is Henry Carroll. This is what he emailed me back.

Not sure what page we will check in with next time we check in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. It’ll be a surprise to all of us!

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A reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is PETS:

PETS

A PETS image is any photo of a PET(S) or anything related to a PET(S).

Happy photo harvesting!

Candid Portrait, Flat Earth Joe, Football, Iowa State, Jorge

Iowa State 40 Texas Tech 31

November 4, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Once again, as soon as I touched my camera, Iowa State had a punt blocked for a touchdown. So most of these pictures are from our annual Taco Tailgate.

Iowa State is 4-0* during Taco Tailgate.

It was a huge win for the Cyclones! If they win out, they have a real good chance to play in the Big 12 Championship Game!

But first things first! Need to beat Baylor at home next week. They have really improved since last year and are coming off a big win over Oklahoma State.

*We don’t talk about the Texas game and the 2 Texas fumbles that the refs gave back to Texas because… Texas.