Category Archives: Portrait

Andree, Baier, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Photo Journal, Russell

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 56

September 21, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A few weeks back I got together with my bros from the West Ames Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. It might have been the first time we have been together all year.

We ate at the worst restaurant in Ames and went to the worst movie in theaters at that time, but I let all that slide as long as they agreed to pose for Page 56 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. Which they did!

Page 56 – Use framing to create a photograph within a photograph.

While only one picture can be physically adhered into the physical THE PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take a couple others.

I didn’t really give them any direction, other than to look through the window. I even let them choose where they sat on the firetruck. I wanted the picture to be about who they are and the decisions they made. Then you can figure out where they chose to sit, hold the window, and look says about each of them as a person.

Next time we check-in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we might look at Pages 78-79 or maybe Pages 48-49.

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If you have been paying attention to the news lately, you certainly heard about the senseless murder of Celia Barquin Aroamena. She was a former Iowa State golfer that was finishing up her Engineering degree. She was the European Amateur Champion. She was 2018 Big 12 Champion. She competed at the U.S. Open. On Saturday she was supposed to be honored as the Iowa State 2018 Female Athlete of the Year at the Iowa State football game. All reports are that as great of an athlete as she was, she was just as great of a person.

Monday morning, while she was practicing her craft, a man came out of the woods that line the golf course and murdered her. No real reason for it. He had been fantasizing about murdering a woman and so he did.

If you think about it for a million years, you couldn’t make sense of it.

On Tuesday, Iowa State Athletic Director sent out the following letter:

Sept. 18, 2018

Dear Cyclone fans,

It is with a very heavy heart that I share thoughts on the tragic passing of our former women’s golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena. Celia, who was the Big 12 Champion last year, was scheduled to be honored at this week’s home football game as our Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Celia, who is from Spain, was a fifth-year senior planning to graduate this spring with a degree in civil engineering.

Although the details of her passing are still being investigated, it is believed she was the victim of a senseless act of random violence committed by a total stranger, in broad daylight, while playing golf at the Coldwater Golf Course. This situation clearly cuts at the very core of our community, our institution and especially our athletics program.

I wish there were words or actions that would make this all better. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case. Losing one of our student-athletes is like losing a child. We are all devastated and heart-broken.

We also know that we must carry on in the same spirit that Celia lived her life. She was a passionate, caring and vibrant young lady who was so proud to be a Cyclone. She attended all the sporting events of her fellow student-athletes and was so excited to be selected as our 2018 Female Athlete of the Year. In fact, when she was told she was going to be honored on the field at this Saturday’s football game, she broke down and cried.

The purpose of this letter is to share with you we plan to move forward with honoring Celia on Saturday at the home football game. We will honor her with a video tribute and a moment of silence, prior to the marching band playing the national anthem. The tribute will take place at approximately 10:50 a.m. We strongly encourage all Cyclone fans to be in their seats by 10:45 a.m. to pay tribute and show her grieving teammates, coaches and friends, what it feels like to be fully embraced by Cyclone Nation.

I look forward to seeing you in the stadium Saturday morning.

Go Cyclones!

Jamie Pollard
Director of Athletics

Also on Tuesday, Celia’s teammates requested that fans wear yellow to the game. It was Celia’s favorite color. So if you are going to the game on Saturday, please be there on time for the moment of silence and wear yellow to honor Celia.

The football team will be wearing her initials on their helmet. Akron will also do that.

On a personal note, the man that murdered Celia was homeless. He lived in the woods behind where I work:

There are usually several people living back there. I’ve walked those woods several times and never feared for my safety, but I know a co-worker that wears a gun when he walks back there.

When I think about the whole situation, the one thought that keeps crossing my mind is, “We can do better. We can do better. We can do better…”

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A reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is BOREDOM!

BOREDOM!

A BOREDOM photo is a photo of somebody that is experiencing BOREDOM or an activity you do to fight BOREDOM.

Happy photo harvesting!

Candid Portrait, Jesse, Nature, Photoshop, Road Trip, Sarah Toot

The Great Eclipse Failure of ’17 – Tres

September 19, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of eclipse photos from my trip to Missouri to watch the eclipse with Jesse, Sarah, Tim, Mike, and Adam.

That is the end of the eclipse pictures until the next eclipse. About time to start making plans for it now!

Animals, Black & White, Jay, Macro, Nora, Photo Journal, Ruins, Self-Portrait, WPC - Submissions

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 55

September 14, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back Jay sent me an enigmatic message about archaeological photography. After drilling down, I figure out he was talking about taking pictures of a recently abandoned apartment in his building. An apartment that the former occupants left in less than stellar conditions.

One Sunday after a post church meal with the family I grabbed a camera and went over to Jay’s apartment building for a tour of Apartment 4. After a quick look around, I knew that somewhere in this mess was a perfect subject for Page 55 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 55 – ‘I am at war with the obvious.’ William Eggleston. Join Eggleston’s war.

Here is the idea for this page in THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT from the tips in the back.

Sunsets, pretty flowers, and beaches. These are ‘obvious’ subjects offering a conventional idea of beauty. Instead, hunt down more unusual, surprising subjects-the sort that only come alive when they are photographed.

Only one picture can physically be adhered into the physical manifestation of THE PHOTO JOURNAL, however I did take several other pictures in Apartment 4. Here are the pictures that I like, but won’t be place in THE PHOTO JOURNAL.

Next time we check in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will probably check in with Page 40 or Page 47 or Page 111.

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Here is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is PERSPECTIVE.

A PERSPECTIVE photo is any photo that involves a different perspective from the way you normally see the world. Above where you normally see the world. Below where you normally see the world. Another example of perspective is making something small look big by putting it in the foreground and something large in the background. This is called forced perspective.

PERSPECTIVE!

Happy photo harvesting!

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Jesse, Nature, Road Trip, Sarah Toot

The Great Eclipse Failure of ’17 – Dos

September 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Here are more pictures from our mostly failed trip to Saint Joseph, Missouri to see the Solar Eclipse back in 2017.

These pictures aren’t exactly in chronological order because I used 2 camera on this day and I didn’t have the foresight to synchronize their clocks.

There is one more set of solar eclipse photos in the hopper.

Andy, Animals, Candid Portrait, Cathie, Kim, Micky, Nora, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 156 – HOBBIES

September 10, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This ends year 3 of the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE reboot. It still seems popular enough to head onto year 4. I’ve decided not divulge the 52 themes for year 4. You’ll just have to react as the come your way.

There was a good amount of submissions for HOBBIES, but you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about submission rates. You came to see the submissions:

Andy Sharp

Tamara Peterson

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

Micky Augustin

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:

PERSPECTIVE!

PERSPECTIVE! What a great theme! But what is a PERSPECTIVE photograph. A PERSPECTIVE photo is an photo take that isn’t at the normal straight on view of a human. Humans certainly have varying heights, but the idea is either to get a low PERSPECTIVE by getting down lower than your normal perspective. Or getting up higher for a HIGH perspective than you would normally view. Or to look at your subject from a different PERSPECTIVE than normal. Another type of PERSPECTIVE photo is a fixed PERSPECTIVE photo. You take an object that is small and put it close to the camera and a large object in the background and make them appear to be the same size. A common example of this picture is when you see people touch tall building in the pictures.

As always, I look forwarding 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 in perspective Monday.

Animals, Black & White, Contests, Event, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Macro, Nature, Photoshop, Pufferbilly Days, Railroad, Ruins, Scottie D., Travel

Them Degeneffe Boys – Volume 2

September 9, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

As Pufferbilly Days wound to a close, I would like to share the photos that were selected by popular vote and how they did in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest:

No Love.

3rd Place – Hidden Treasures of Boone County.

1st Place – Photojournalism.

1st Place – Photoshop.

As far as I know, there wasn’t anybody else in the contest that I know. Once again, they didn’t put any names on any of the photos. In years past they had at least put a sheet of paper at the bottom of the display with a list of who finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. It is what it is.

I started entering the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest again 2 years ago because I was worried that the amount of entries had gotten really small. the last couple of years the numbers had ballooned. This year, the amount of entries atrophied again.

Hopefully it bounces back again next year.

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We are so close to the end of the 2016 backlog that you can probably feel it. After this post, there is only one photo shoot left to publish.

But before we get to that, we need to finish up with the pictures of Austin and Porter at a McHose Park playground.

Next Sunday, when hit the 2016 backlog, we look at a commercial photo shoot I did for a Minnesota leather company.

Art, Bethany, Dae Hee, Nora, Portrait, Street Photography, Travel

Franconia: Part III

September 4, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Today I bring you the final collection of images from my trip to the Franconia Sculpture Garden with Bethany, Dae Hee, and Nora.

Don’t be sad. I’m sure I will return there again in the future. I’ve even been in contact with Bethany about it already.

I also think that I will plan on visiting the Minnesota State Fair next year as well.

Here is the balance of the Franconia images:

I didn’t get many pictures of the sculptures at the end of our tour because I planned poorly and ran out of battery power. My bad for underestimating the sheer awesomeness of Franconia!

Andy, Candid Portrait, Carla, Dae Hee, Iowa State, Kim, Night, Photoshop, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 155 – CANDID PORTRAIT

September 3, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Participation for CANDID PORTRAIT took the usual holiday drop off, but there were still a few people loyal enough to the cause that made it worth the effort.

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

Carla Stensland

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Andy Sharp

Not a bad week of submissions, considering the holiday!

HOBBIES (SUGGESTED BY DAE HEE YOON)

HOBBIES! What a great theme! But what is a HOBBIES photo?

A HOBBIES photo is any photo that involves somebody engaging in their HOBBIES. The results of their HOBBIES. Or tools used in their HOBBIES. There are all sorts of HOBBIES! From collecting things to making things to doing things. HOBBIES are things you do because it is a passion (the thing you are willing to suffer for) and not because somebody is paying you to do it. For examples one of my many HOBBIES is berating the open-faced sandwich. They know why.

This is the final theme for this set of 52 themes. Next Monday I will reveal the first theme is the next set of 52. I was going to reveal what all 52 themes are so you could day dream about them while you are at your occupations, but instead I’ll just let them come out as they come out. So you can think about them feverishly at your occupations.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations.

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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 hobbied Monday.

Derrick, Football, Iowa State, Self-Portrait

The Game that Never Happened

September 2, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Saturday was the beginning of one of my favorite times of year: college football season! In particular, Iowa State football season!

Iowa State was slated to play the Jackrabbits from South Dakota State (a school with a certain amount of campanile envy) at 7 PM in Jack Trice Stadium. There was a little bit of rain as the game started, but nothing to be worried about.

Iowa State kicked off to South Dakota State. South Dakota got one 1st Down and then the Cyclone defense tightened and forced a punt.

Iowa State got the ball and their first 2 plays lost 2 yards. On 3rd and 12, Kyle Kempt found Hakeem Butler across the middle for a big gain. A couple plays later, Deshaunte Jones grabbed a Kempt pass, slipped and almost fell down*. Regained his balance. Made a couple Jackrabbits look foolish. Scampered down the sideline, with a burst of speed, and then nonchalantly walked into the end zone 55 yards later for a 7 point Cyclone lead.

Then lightning struck within 8 miles of The Jack and the game went into a weather delay. It never came out of the weather delay. The game ended up being cancelled.

I did take quite a few pictures of warm ups, since it was a night game, I knew that the lighting would prevent decent pictures much past the 1st quarter. Here are some of those pictures:

Touchdown pass!

Hopefully Iowa State is able to schedule another game to replace the one that got cancelled. I’m guessing that is a long shot however.

I guess the team with have to rally and get ready this week for Iowa. I have faith in them!

*CORRECTION: From my vantage point, I thought that he had slipped and almost fell down, but after having seen the play on the tele, it is clear, that he actually just made a sweet move and made a Jackrabbit wish he hadn’t got off the bus.

Formal Portrait, Scottie D.

Them Degeneffe Boys – Volume 1

September 2, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A tradition unlike any other is going to McHose Park with Scottie D. and his progeny for a photo shoot. They mostly play on the equipment and I take a bunch of candid photos. This photos then get turned into a Christmas present for Melissa.

Here is a collection from the 2016 photo shoot that I’m finally getting around to sharing.