Category Archives: Self-Portrait

WEEK 381 THEME REVEAL

December 26, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

NOTE: IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND DIDN’T GET YOUR EXPLORE IMAGE SUBMITTED, CONSIDER THIS AN EXTENSION OF AN INDETERMINATE LENGTH OF TIME.

If you are reading this, it is because I’m out delivering 2023 Photography 139 Calendars and am not near a computer right now. But just because I’m busy, doesn’t mean you cant get started on this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme:

BODY PART

BODY PART! What a great final theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a BODY PART image? Simply put, it is a picture where a major compositional element of the image is a BODY PART. Doesn’t have to be your BODY PART. Could be somebody else’s. It could belong to an animal. There are so many BODY PART(s) to choose from! Heads. Shoulders. Knees. Toes. Just to name a few.

While considering possible subjects for your BODY PART picture, meditate on the following quotes:

Even I don’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford.
-Cindy Crawford

People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.
-Salma Hayek

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

Art, Boone FUMC, Carla, Christianity, Dad, Fisheye, Self-Portrait, Teresa, WPC - Alternate

‘Cause I Thought You’d Like Me More

December 18, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I’m putting off Formal Portrait Sunday for at least another week. The people that were supposed to be featured today recently broke up, so I’m not sure if I should still post the pictures. I’ve decided just to think on it and we will see what happens next week. Or the week after that.

Instead, I’m going to publish a bunch of pictures from January I never published. Some are from an experiment with a fisheye lens. I’m still not particularly comfortable with my current fisheye lens. I need to really work with it more. Which means, for you, you might start seeing way more fisheye lens pictures. Get pumped.

The rest of the images are pictures that didn’t make the cut for various THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes. Like LOVE and TRIANGLE, for example.

I can’t believe that it is almost Christmas. I’ve done pretty much no decorating. Carla and I did the reading and lit the 4th Advent Candle in church today and it still doesn’t feel like Christmas to me. Maybe I’ll get there.

Art, Basketball, Boone FUMC, Carla, Derrick, Football, Iowa State, Jason, Jesse, Nader, Naima, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

Selfie Project – November 2022

December 3, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

I don’t know that November was a particularly active month for me. It is getting to the hardest part of the year to do this project. The sun isn’t up when I go to work. It is barely up when I get off work. That being said, I think I took a few decent picture in November for THE SELFIE PROJECT:

November 1

November 3

November 4

November 5

November 6

November 8

November 9

November 10

November 11

November 12

November 13

November 15

November 17

November 19

November 20

November 21

November 22

November 23

November 24

November 25

November 27

November 28

November 29

I don’t know that I’ll be that active in December either. But I’ll try.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ANIMAL:

ANIMAL

ANIMAL! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is an ANIMAL picture? Simply put it is a picture of an ANIMAL. It can be a wild ANIMAL or it can be a pet or it can be a stuffed ANIMAL or it can be a statue of an ANIMAL. It can be a dog or a bird or a squirrel or a fish or a lizard or a dog or a deer or a possum or a dog or a hamster or a rat or a dog or a bear or an alligator or a dog.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Art, Black & White, Christianity, Elizabeth, Flat Earth Joe, Flowers, Iowa State, Logan, Naima, Nature, Photo of the Day, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Still Life

Fat Mum Slim – October 2022

November 6, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

I’m kicking the decision on Formal Portrait Sunday down the road for at least one more week.

I wasn’t necessarily pleased with the overall body of work I put in during September for the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. I tried to make October a better month for the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. I believe at the aggregate level, I accomplished just that.

Here are the October images:

October 1 – White

October 2 – Black

October 3 – Green

October 4 – Red

October 5 – Orange

October 6 – Blue

October 7 – Yellow

October 8 – Purple

October 9 – Aqua

October 10 – Pink

October 11 – Grey

October 12 – Brown

October 13 – Pop of Colour

October 14 – Stripes

October 15 – Floral

October 16 – One Colour

October 17 – Two Colours

October 18 – Pattern

October 19 – Black and White

October 20 – Rainbow

October 21 – My Fave Colour

October 22 – Matching

October 23 – Natural

October 24 – Dark

October 25 – Light

October 26 – Pastel

October 27 – Bright

October 28 – Gold

October 29 – Fresh

October 30 – Mellow

October 31 – Dots

I should thank Elizabeth, Flat Earth Joe, Scottie D. and Logan for assists on at least one of these pictures for the month. My lack of doing much in October didn’t hurt this project. I will probably have a pretty lazy November as well, but I hope to do some good work this month as well.

Remember you can follow along with this project on the daily by following my Fat Mum Slim Insta:

@fmsbennett

Here are the November themes:

1. A Collection
2. A Book Cover
3. A Shop Front
4. A For Sale Sign
5. A Bridge
6. A Fence
7. I Didn’t Make This
8. Throw It
9. An Unmade Bed
10. Power Lines
11. An Arrow
12. In My Pocket
13. A Closed Sign
14. A Flock of Birds
15. Hand Shadows
16. Running Water
17. Wrinkles
18. An Empty Table
19. Rocks
20. Afternoon Light
21. Half Full
22. Graffiti
23. An Ugly Food
24. A Tall Building
25. A Spider Web
26. A Funny Shape
27. A Splash
28. Something Hidden
29. A List
30. A Family Member

I think there are some interesting themes in there.

Carla, Dahlia, Derrick, Elainie, Iowa State, Johnathan, Nader, Naima, Sabas, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa

Selfie Project – October 2022

November 2, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Looking at my SELFIE PROJECT pictures from the month of October, I’m not sure I had a very active October. Seems like I barely left my house. I’ll try to be more active in November.

Here are some of my favorite selfies from THE SELFIE PROJECT in October:

October 1

October 2

October 4

October 5

October 6

October 7

October 8

October 10

October 11

October 12

October 14

October 15

October 16

October 17

October 19

October 20

October 21

October 22

October 23

October 25

October 27

October 29

October 30

I didn’t take any extra selfies this much. I might do better in November. There are no promises.

Art, Automobiles, Black & White, Brandon, Flowers, Football, Iowa State, Naima, Nature, Photo of the Day, Politics, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins, Self-Portrait, Still Life

Fat Mum Slim – September 2022

October 5, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Another month done in the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. I have to confess that I spent some time on the struggle bus this month. I don’t know if I lost some steam or if I just want feeling some of the themes. Being sick for a few days in September didn’t help either. With that being said, I think there is still some good work in there.

Here are the September images:

September 1 – Something I Saw

September 2 – Plastic

September 3 – Paper

September 4 – Somewhere I Went

September 5 – Hobby

September 6 – Green + Blue

September 7 – Before Bed

September 8 – An Emotion

September 9 – Opposites

September 10 – I Can Hear…

September 11 – Paint

September 12 – Symmetry

September 13 – Tasty

September 14 – Odd One Out

September 15 – A Food Shop

September 16 – 12:34

September 17 – Lucky

September 18 – Car Park

September 19 – What’s on TV

September 20 – Texture

September 21 – Nature

September 22 – Tree Trunk

September 23 – Crunchy

September 24 – I Can Smell…

September 25 – Laneway

September 26 – The Moon

September 27 – Open Door

September 28 – My Culture

September 29 – Not My Style

September 30 – Sentimental

As you can tell, the woman who runs this challenge is Australian and there were some terms in there I had to look up, cause I had no clue what a laneway is.

Remember, you can follow on for my daily posts on the dedicated Instagram Account.

@fmsbennett

These are the themes for October:

1. White
2. Black
3. Green
4. Red
5. Orange
6. Blue
7. Yellow
8. Purple
9. Aqua
10. Pink
11. Grey
12. Brown
13. Pop of Colour
14. Stripes
15. Floral
16. One Colour
17. Two Colours
18. Pattern
19. Black and White
20. Rainbow
21. My Fave Colour
22. Matching
23. Natural
24. Dark
25. Light
26. Pastel
27. Bright
28. Gold
29. Fresh
30. Mellow
31. Dots

Some good ones in there. Should be a good month!

Art, Bill, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Derrick, Evie, Flat Earth Joe, Football, Iowa State, Jay, Jesse, Jorge, K.J., Kio, Nader, Naima, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa

Selfie Project – September 2022

October 1, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

I knew September was not going to be as busy as August, but looking at these pictures it is hard not to wonder if I ever left my house. Being sick for about 4 or 5 days didn’t help, but really… I’ll try to do better in October.

Here are some of my favorite selfies from THE SELFIE PROJECT in October:

September 1

September 2

September 3

September 4

September 5

September 7

September 8

September 9

September 10

September 11

September 13

September 14

September 15

September 17

September 18

September 19

September 23

September 24

September 25

September 28

September 29

While there can only be one picture to represent every day, thought I would share some of my favorite alternates from September.

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE - SEPTEMBER 2022

I will try to be more active again in October, but I make no promises. Maybe the slacker lifestyle agrees with me?

Art, Black & White, Christianity, History, Nature, Road Trip, Ruins, Self-Portrait

Mitchell and Floyd Aux – Vol. 3

September 21, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Time for another collection of images from my road trip to Mitchell and Floyd County back in April. This is the final collection of images from this road trip. A few counties are covered in this collection. Mitchell. Floyd. Franklin. Hamilton. All covered. Well at least there are pictures from all of those counties in this collection.

Osage

Interstate Park

Mitchell

Osage

Colwell

Charles City

Floyd

Rockford

Fossil & Prairie Center

Marble Rock

Roseville

Franklin County

Ellsworth

I really love some of the auxiliary pictures from this collection. If my tentative plan to create a book from the auxiliary images comes to fruition (have to get the THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT book finished first) there is definitely some pictures from this trip that will make the book.

The next county we will visit for auxiliary images is Johnson County. It will be a smaller collection. This isn’t because Johnson County is full of Hawkeye fans. Truth is I love Iowa City and will one day make a trip to better photograph its campus town area. It is just because it was a weird, strange and abbreviated trip. I might explain later.

Alexis, Andy, Baseball/Softball, Bill, Boone FUMC, Dawn, Elizabeth, Evie, History, Kanoa, Kio, Linda, Nature, Photo of the Day, Politics, Pufferbilly Days, Sarah Toot, Self-Portrait, State Fair, Still Life, Street Photography, Tamara, Tim

FAT MUM SLIM – AUGUST 2022

September 7, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Another month done in the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. Think there is some good work in there this week. Having so much going on in August certainly helped. We’ll see how September goes.

Here are the August images:

August 1 – I AM…

August 2 – I LOVE THIS COLOUR

August 3 – I WALKED HERE…

August 4 – I LIKE TO…

August 5 – I LIKE THIS TIME OF DAY…

August 6 – I LOVE…

August 7 – I MADE THIS…

August 8 – I WORK HERE…

August 9 – I HELD THIS…

August 10 – I WROTE THIS…

August 11 – I SAW…

August 12 – I LIKE TO DRINK…

August 13 – I STOOD HERE…

August 14 – I DO THIS ON SUNDAYS…

August 15 – I ONCE…

August 16 – I NEVER…

August 17 – I WENT TO…

August 18 – I READ THIS…

August 19 – I DID THIS GOOD THING…

August 20 – I LOVE THIS VIEW…

August 21 – I DON’T LIKE TO…

August 22 – ON MONDAYS I…

August 23 – I SAT HERE…

August 24 – I LIKE TO EAT…

August 25 – I HAVE TO…

August 26 – I WORE THIS…

August 27 – ON WEEKENDS I…

August 28 – I WATCHED THIS…

August 29 – I CAN…

August 30 – I CAN’T…

August 31 – I BELIEVE…

Remember you can follow these as they drop on the daily on my dedicated FatMumSlim Instagram account @FMSBENNETT.

Here are the prompts for September:

September 1: Something I Saw
September 2: Plastic
September 3: Paper
September 4: Somewhere I Went
September 5: Hobby
September 6: Green + Blue
September 7: Before Bed
September 8: An Emotion
September 9: Opposites
September 10: I Can Hear…
September 11: Paint
September 12: Symmetry
September 13: Tasty
September 14: Odd One Out
September 15: A Food Shop
September 16: 12:34
September 17: Lucky
September 18: Car Park
September 19: What’s on TV
September 20: Texture
September 21: Nature
September 22: Tree Trunk
September 23: Crunchy
September 24: I Can Smell…
September 25: Laneway
September 26: The Moon
September 27: Open Door
September 28: My Culture
September 29: Not My Style
September 30: Sentimental

Should be a good month. I think there are some good prompts in there. The woman who runs this challenge is Australian. There must be some Australian things in here cause I have no clue what a “Car Park” or a “Laneway” is, but I’ll find out.

Baby Got Rack, Bethany, Carla, Contests, Evie, Greyson, Jen, Jesse, Jodie Cue, Kanoa, Kim, Layla, Logan, Michelle, Monica, Nader, Naima, Nora, Pufferbilly Days, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, State Fair, Teresa, Willy

Selfie Project – August 2022

September 3, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Another month down and another month of THE SELFIE PROEJCT in the books. I think I had a pretty active August. At least in spurts. With Pufferbilly Days and the State Fair and some much needed vacation all in August, I did some things man.

I don’t anticipate September being anywhere as busy, but hopefully I’ll do some cool stuff this month.

Here are some of my favorites from August for THE SELFIE PROJECT:

August 1

August 2

August 3

August 4

August 5

August 6

August 8

August 9

August 11

August 12

August 13

August 14

August 16

August 17

August 18

August 19

August 20

August 21

August 24

August 25

August 26

August 27

August 28

August 29

August 31

Of course there can only be one selfie that represents THE SELFIE PROJECT every day, but I did have a busy August, so here are the many alternates:

SELFIE PROJECT - ALTERNATE - AUGUST 2022

You might be thinking, “That is a lot of pictures with ice cream!” There is a reason for that. The reason isn’t because I love ice cream, but that is probably the base level reason. I’ll explain the real reason in a future post. Or I won’t. What is important for you to know is that your humble narrator is a champion. A ice cream champion. Also, Willy and Jesse owe me dinner.

You also might be thinking, “How many gray t-shirts do you own?” The answer is, plenty.

Finally you might be thinking, “You need to retire that green t-shirt.” Yeah, that is true enough.