Category Archives: Self-Portrait

Black & White, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Jen, Jesse, Self-Portrait

2010-03-05 & 2010-03-07

August 8, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The pictures in the folders 2010-03-05 and 2010-03-07 are very distinct. There is a collection of images of dirty mustaches. Mustaches that Jesse and I sported as part of our team concept for a trivia night we attended. We were going to make the trivia night a tradition, but we never went back. I think they stopped holding the trivia night.

The other is a collection of pictures I took of Jen and Derrick when Jen was pregnant with Evie. That is the classier set of pictures.

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. 11

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 12

Punch Myself in the Face

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve the Methodist Men.

Alexis, Carla, Commercial, Jill, Johnathan, Self-Portrait, Teresa, Work

2010-03-01 & 2010-03-04

August 1, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folders 2010-03-01 and 2010-03-04 are mostly from some pictures I took for the Computer Mine newsletter and for Personal Photo Project #10.

That PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT was to take a picture of Jill’s foot and place it behind a window. Sadly, the resulting piece of work fell into disrepair. I threw it in the basement to store. During the recent basement workings I found it again. Not sure what to do with it. Probably time for the trash pile, but maybe great pieces of art should be burned like a flag. Or it will probably will just continue to take up space in my basement.

WEEK 8 - SELF-PORTRAIT - 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:

RWPE #8 – SELF-PORTRAIT

COMPUTERMINETOGRAPHY

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 10

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a dirty stache.

Flowers, Self-Portrait, Still Life

2010-02-15, 2010-02-17, & 2010-02-22

July 25, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

There aren’t many images in the folders 2010-02-15, 2010-02-17, and 2010-02-22 so I combined them all into one post. Most of the pictures are of flowers. But there is a WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE photo in there and a self-portrait.

WEEK 7 - OUT OF FOCUS - 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. 8

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 9

RWPE #7 – OUT OF FOCUS

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve self-portraits.

Basketball, Black & White, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Vest

2010-02-03, 2010-02-11, and 2010-02-13

July 18, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Today’s walk down will involve 3 folders, but hardly any pictures. The pictures in the folders 2010-02-03, 2010-02-11, and 2010-02-13 are some self-portraits and pictures for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, then known as THE RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT.

The picture of me with the basketball was taken to commemorate an extremely rare victory for the Computer Mine basketball team. We were a decent team the first few years, but we quickly descended to becoming the “girlfriend game”.

There is no Computer Mine team now and I doubt there is a rec league this year, but I don’t know if these old bones will continue to play any more any ways. Maybe I have one more year in me. I’m certainly rested right now.

WEEK 5 - FRAMING - 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:

RWPE #5 – FRAMING

A Phenomenal Week

RWPE #6 – ADVENTURE

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve hearts. At least I think it will involve hearts. It won’t involve hearts. It will involve flowers though.

Black & White, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, WPC - Alternate

2010-01-14 & 2010-01-17

June 27, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folders 2010-01-14 and 2010-01-17 include the first 2 pictures I took for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. When it first came into existence, it was known as the RANDOM PICTURE OF THE WEEK. It was a project that was started jointly by me and Vest. Dawn was the first person to participate. The first theme was USE OF SPACE. The second theme was SOOTHING. I don’t know that either theme has been used since.

Also included in one of these pictures is the 4th PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK. A picture I took with Derrick as a tribute to the movie (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. Still one of my favorite movies and a top ten comedy for me.

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. 4

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

RPOTW #2: SOOTHING

Soothing Photo Shoot

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Sara and a Bible, but not together.

Animals, Black & White, Naima, Nature, Night, Self-Portrait

Keep Me in the Moment

June 23, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Since they announced that the Boone County Fair was a go, I have been on the fence about entering photography contest. Fortunately, that decision has been made. The contest has been cancelled. So has the Open Horticulture contest and the Open Home Division. Don’t have to worry about that and since Elizabeth pre-volunteered to be one of the Boone County Fair entrant selectors, she will have that spot reserved for 2021. That spot is based on a ton of assumptions on the state of the world by then.

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Here is a collection of images from April that were mostly just test shots for testing new equipment. Some were testing taking pictures at night and couple others were playing with controlling a camera with a computer.

That poor guy working from home. He thought he would be going back to the office to work in just a couple more weeks. Middle of May. June by the latest.

Animals, FNSC, Jay, Jesse, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Willy

2010-01-02

June 20, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Most of the pictures in the folder 2010-01-02 are of a Personal Photo Project I worked on where I put a microphone next to a fish bowl and took a picture of it. This (like almost all of my photo projects) ended up being more difficult than I anticipated. Mostly because the fish didn’t cooperate. It had little to no interest in facing the microphone.

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. 3

Next Saturdays walk down memory lane will, at the very least, involve Christmas cards.

Birthdays, Candid Portrait, Flowers, Jesse, Jorge, Macro, Mom, Naima, Self-Portrait

Before the Swallow Dares – 2020

June 4, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today is Jorge’s birthday! Happy birthday Jorge!

I hope your birthday is as wonderful as you hoped it would be!

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Here is a quick update on Naima. Her surgery went well. The mass they removed from under her shoulder was even bigger than expected, but Dr. Stephanie said that everything went well. They don’t think it is cancerous, but they sent it away to get tested anyways.

She was very excited to leave the vet.

She was pretty sore.

Naima napped mostly when she got home. But then around 8 PM, the doorbell rang. My neighbor Stan had stopped by to check on Naima. Stan is the guy in the picture with Naima from my submission for FRIENDS for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. She ran (as much as she could) out the front door to greet him and readily chomped down the snacks he had brought for her.

Then Naima refused to back inside the house. She begged for a car ride. She stood by her car door (the back driver’s side door) and refused to budge. This is the only door she will get in. So I opened the door and I helped her into the car.

We made a quick trip down to my Mom’s house. She is used to going down there several times a week. She went in and saw my Mom, Teresa, and Mocha. She drank all of Mocha’s water. Stood around for a bit. Then she was ready to go.

Naima will only go out the front door at my Mom’s house. So we went out the front door. I helped her down the steps. On her way to the car she sniffed out a ground squirrel and chased it up a rain spout.

For a minute or so she danced around the rain spout. Forgetting that she was sore and drugged up. Finally I had to pull her away, otherwise she surely would have knocked the rain spout off the house.

I brought her back home and she followed me around the yard as I watered the flowers. Then she came in and begged to go on a walk. I had to break her heart on this one. Maybe Thursday night she will be ready for a short walk. Maybe Friday night. We’ll see.

After that, she laid down and took it easy the rest of the night.

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Back in April I took a few pictures of my Mom’s daffodils. My daffodils didn’t bloom this year, but that is okay. Daffodils are not my favorite, but they are okay.

A long time ago, I decided to name pictures of certain flowers all the same name. Daffodils were going to be “Before the Swallow Dares”. I think I’m going to get back to that.

Black & White, Contests, Naima, Self-Portrait, State Fair

Be True

June 3, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today, a little after 8 AM, I dropped Naima off at the vet for surgery. She has a fatty deposit growing under her right shoulder that is getting pretty gigantic. Hopefully by the time this publishes, she will be out of surgery and I’ll be getting the phone call that she is awake and doing well. But I’m sure that call won’t be coming until this afternoon.

She will have to be fairly inactive for a few days while she recovers, which isn’t something she does all that well.

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Back in January, when I didn’t know that a horribly mismanaged global pandemic would completely alter our lives, I took some self-portraits while my beard was at its most fierce. The idea was to take a picture to use for the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. As of now, the Iowa State Fair is still on, but I would be surprised if it goes off. Minnesota and Wisconsin have already cancelled their fairs.

Iowa is going to make an announcement on June 15 on what they are going to do. I imagine, that it will be to cancel it. However, I think there is a chance that they could still cancel the Fair and still have some of the competitions. I guess we’ll wait and see what is announced on June 15.

Until then, here are some self-portraits I took to potentially enter into the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon:

If you are interested, this is what the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon sent out on May 15:

To: Iowa State Fair Photography Entrants
From: Iowa State Fair Competitive Events Department
Re: Photography Entry Deadlines and Procedures

In light of the current and ongoing situation regarding the COVID-19 virus, adjustments are being made to this year’s Iowa State Fair
Photography entry process and dates.

• The preferred method of entry will be by mail.
Please do NOT mail before Monday, June 22. Entries by mail must be postmarked by midnight on Friday, July 3. To
enter by mail you must include your entry form, entry fee and photos in the same package. Make sure to wrap your
photos with plenty of packing materials to prevent them from being damaged during shipment. You can use either of
the two shipping addresses below.

Standard Mail: Iowa State Fair, Photography Salon, P.O. Box 57130, Des Moines, IA 50317.

UPS or FedEx: Iowa State Fair, Photography Salon, 3000 East Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50317

• The date for entering in person at the Iowa State Fair Cultural Center is moved back to July 11 & 12
Saturday, July 11 and Sunday, July 12 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the Cultural Center.

To help reduce lines and allow for social distancing the process of dropping of entries will be different. Drop off tables
will be located at the north and west Cultural Center entrances. Photos need to be packaged with your entry form and
entry fee all together in a sack, envelope, etc. Please make sure you have the entry form complete, labels completed
and attached to the upper left-hand corner of each photo, and exact change for payment before you arrive. There will
not be an area available to finish putting entries together.

• To eliminate the handling of cash, we will ONLY be accepting payment by check or credit card.

• Entries will be accepted at the alternative dates and locations. Please refer to the above information to have photos
ready for drop off.

o University Photo – 7128 University Avenue, Windsor Heights, IA 50324
Monday- Friday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Call 515-223-5462 to confirm hours before delivery
Photos must be delivered by July 3.

o Iowa State Fair Administration Building Entry Department – 3000 East Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA 50317
Monday, July 7 thru Friday July, 10; 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Entrance to the Entry Department is located on the east side of the Administration Building and down the
stairs. (Handicap access is available thru the Administration Building lobby)

• The Photography Salon book will not be available for pre-purchase. We are still determining if we will be able to
print the salon book this year due to the condensed entry calendar or what the alternatives may be.

• The Pre-Fair awards ceremony and reception will not be held. Award winners will be able to pick up their prizes
during a ceremony held during the Fair. If not present at the award ceremony prizes will be available during photo pick
up or mailed after the Fair if postage is provided.

• Updated Photography rules and entry forms can be found
here: https://www.iowastatefair.org/participate/competition/how-to-enter/#fine-art-photography

Please share these changes with anyone that may be interested. We appreciate your help in spreading the word.
It is our full intent and hope that the 2020 Iowa State Fair will occur. The environment and recommendations are constantly
changing and we understand additional changes may be necessary. We will continue to monitor and re-evaluate the situation
and make additional adjustments as needed, while continuing to do what is best for our exhibitors. We appreciate your
understanding during these unprecedented times and will do everything we can to make sure the show will go on.

A good weekend project, besides working on the basement, will be picking out some pictures to enter.

Anders, Andy, Angie, Art, Bill, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Drone, Holidays, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Logan, Micky, Monica, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 245 – SELF-PORTRAIT

May 25, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

I need to start by wishing everybody a happy Memorial Day!

Today is a unique Memorial Day, as we honor both our military personnel that have died in military service and the over 100,000 Americans that have died during the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully, we will be in a better place in the world next year.

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Woooo! 34 straight weeks of double digit submissions. I got a lot of feedback from people saying that a SELF-PORTRAIT wasn’t easy for them like it is for me. They aren’t a combination of a young Brad Pitt and a middle-aged Robert Redford. While, I understand that my good looks can be intimidating, it is the fact that I am interesting looking that makes me so dang photogenic, not the fact that I’m so ruggedly handsome.

One person went so far as to send me the excuse that they can’t do a self-portrait, because they only do portraits with somebody holding their neck back. Ridiculous!

That being said, enough people showed the testicular fortitude to get on the other side of the camera for us to eek out double digits again!

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

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Dawn Krause

Andy Sharp

Angie DeWaard

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Micky Augustin

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Jesse Howard

Carla Stensland

Cathie Raley

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Christopher D. Bennett

Logan Kahler

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:

FRIENDS

FRIENDS! What a great theme! I mean for most of you. Seeing how I have been scientifically documented to be the one True Lone Wolf, the man that is an island, this will be a difficult theme for me. I might have to play creepy photographer and find a couple of FRIENDS hanging out and clandestinely take their picture.

For the rest of you, this should be fairly simple. Grab a picture of a couple of your FRIENDS physically distancing, while remaining social.

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 friendly Monday!