Category Archives: Railroad

Bethany, Candid Portrait, Dory, Kim, Railroad, Ruins, Steph, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 176 – SURPRISE

January 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I knew SURPRISE was a tough theme and participation took a predictable hit this week. This week’s theme is considerably easier, but you might have to go out in the -50 (wind chill) temperatures to get a picture. You don’t have to, but I know I will be! Probably. You need to be careful with electronics in cold temperatures. I know a guy who recently bought a drone and can’t fly it yet because the temperatures are just too cold.

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

Tamara Peterson

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Stephanie Kim

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:

RUINS

RUINS! What a great theme! But what is a RUINS photo? A RUINS photo is any photo of something in decay. Not necessarily something organic, but if you feel like interpreting the theme that way, more power to you.

I can’t wait to see your interpretations!

+++++++

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. 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.

+++++++

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 ruinous Monday.

Alisa, Animals, Art, Baby Got Rack, Becky, Black & White, Blogging, Boone County Fair, Carla, Contests, Dae Hee, Dawn, Derrick, Flowers, Holidays, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Macro, Mom, Nader, Nature, Photoshop, Politics, Railroad, Road Trip, Sara, Scottie D., Self-Portrait Project, Shannon, State Fair, Teresa, Travel, Vest, Willy

Post #3252 – 2018 Year in Review

January 1, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Happy New Year to people who celebrate such things.

I like to look at some meaningless statistics every 250 posts and I also look at fairly meaningless year end statistics.

Just so happens that I get to combine them today!!

Here is both a year in review and a celebration that I have made it to 3252 blog posts. I was on the Alamo Bowl Road Trip visiting submarines, cults, and reality television stars when post #3250 came around, so I hope you can excuse the tardiness.

The first thing I want to look at are the most popular CATEGORIES in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”.

Top 10 Journal Entry Categories

1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Jesse – 361
6. Photography – 355
7. Shannon – 320
8. Teresa – 296
9. Black & White – 291
10. Carla – 280

Top 10 People Categories

1. Jesse – 361
2. Shannon – 320
3. Teresa – 296
4. Carla – 280
5. Jay – 279
6. Mom – 277
7. Derrick – 256
8. Willy – 227
9. Vest – 221
10. Jen – 209

Top 10 Not-People Categories

1. Portrait – 527
2. Weekly Photo Challenge – 504
3. Flowers – 497
4. Animals – 405
5. Photography – 355
6. Black & White – 291
7. Road Trip – 262
8. Personal Photo Project – 261
9. Life – 234
10. Nature – 215

“Photography” and “Life” are general categories that I have been working on eliminating as I go back and restore historical “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory. Hopefully they will have both dropped off the Top 10 Lists by journal entry #3500.

If you are wondering how to become a Top 10 person on this list. The easiest way is to submit to the Weekly Photo Challenge. After that, the best way is to volunteer to model and photo assist for photography projects. Then after that, I would suggest going on road trips with me or attending Iowa State athletic events with me or going on road trips to Iowa State athletic events with me.

The people that are right outside of the Top 10 are:: Sara, Kim, Dawn, Becky, and Nader.

If you are looking for a goal for 2019, you could do worse than trying to crack the Photography 139 Top Ten People Category List. You obviously could do way, way, way, way, way, way, way better too.

Now we will turn out eye towards 2018.

Top 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries of 2018 by Views

1. 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT – 48,722
2. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – 37,614
3. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE YEAR 5 – ALTERNATES – 33,622
4. 2008 – JANUARY – JUNE – 26,032
5. SELFIE PROJECT – 2017 – 23,141
6. HOUSTON MISSION TRIP – 2018 – 22,046
7. SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP – 2017 – 21,868
8. BOONE COUNTY FAIR CONTEST NOMINEES – 2018 – 17,211
9. SAYDIE HOWARD – CLASS OF 2017 – 14,808
10. IOWA STATE CYCLONES FOOTBALL – 2018

The 10 Most Popular Photography 139 Images by Views

1. 2524

2. 2386

3. 2327

4. 1958

5. 1621

6. 1456

7. 1445

8. 1321

9. 1293

10. 1241

On the Instagram, these were my 9 Most Popular Photos based on Likes:

My theme for my 2018 Instagram posts was Black & White. My theme for 2019 will be HDR Toning. Also, I will be bringing back THE SELFIE PROJECT to Instagram in 2019.

You can follow me on Instagram here:

@christopherdbennett

I entered 3 photo contests with the following results:

Red Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Purple Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Blue Ribbon – Boone County Fair

Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

Not Selected for Display – Iowa State Fair

1st Place Photoshop – Pufferbilly Days

1st Place Photojournalism – Pufferbilly Days

Pufferbilly Days

3rd Place Hidden Treasures of Boone County – Pufferbilly Days

Pufferbilly Days

Last note:

My goal for 2019 is the same as it was in 2018:

I’m gonna step my game up and get what is coming to me.

Good luck in 2019 everybody!

Olympic Sports, Photo Journal, Railroad, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 44

November 23, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

When RAGBRAI came through Boone a few months back, I knew it would be a great chance to tackle Page 44 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.

Therefore I took a day off from the day job, grabbed my camera, and began walking down Old 30 between Boone and Ogden.

Page 44 – Take us on a journey through your picture.

I took hundreds more pictures of the RAGBRAI experience, but I’ll share those at a later date.

Next time we check in on THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we’ll… I have no clue what page we’ll check in on. I need to get out there and take some more pictures!

+++++++

This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ? PLACE:

? PLACE

A ? PLACE picture is a picture of a PLACE from where you are at or wherever you are from.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Becky, Black & White, Cathie, Micky, Naima, Railroad, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 166 – PETS

November 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Heads up that next week we will be back on our normal schedule of Monday WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE drops into the foreseeable future.

PETS did get a few people revved up and taking pictures. Although not as many as I would’ve thought. Some of you people don’t love your PETS nearly enough. You need to get on that.

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

Cathie Raley

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Teresa Kahler

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Becky Parmelee

Micky Augustin

? PLACE

? PLACE! What a great theme! But what is a ? PLACE theme. Take the question mark out and replace it with where you are from or where you are at. So it could be a BOONE PLACE or an IOWA PLACE for me, since I’m not planning on traveling anywhere this week. The idea is basically taken from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon that has categories like Iowa Place, US Place, or International Place. The idea for this category is to take a picture of a PLACE in you area. A PLACE that is well known or famous. At least to the people in your area.

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.

+++++++

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 well placed Monday.

Art, Ernie, Flowers, Railroad, Teresa, Travel, Vacation

08-02-08

October 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Pictures from the folder 08-02-08 are from my second day of a Kentucky vacation to visit Ernie with Teresa.

On Day 2 we visit a tobacco farm, a gravity pull hill, Newsom’s, and Lambert’s. Plus we also visited a PostSecret display in Paducah. I think everybody knows how much I love PostSecret.

If you ever have a chance to eat at Lambert’s, I highly recommend it. Might be the best restaurant I’ve ever been to. If you every get to eat a ham from Newsom’s, I highly recommend that as well.

If you don’t know what a gravity pull hill is, it is a hill where if you put your car in neutral, ghosts will push your car uphill. I can’t remember why there are ghosts on this particular gravity pull hill, but I think a woman murdered her children here. Similar to the haunted Bannwell Bridge near Fort Dodge.

If you watch Ghost Adventures, they visit a gravity pull hill in one of their episodes.

Here are some of the pictures from the folder 08-02-08:

I should point out that a gravity pull hill is actually an optical illusion. Ghosts don’t really push you up a hill. I have no commentary on whether or Bannwell Bridge is haunted. I have never been there. Maybe I’ll visit before Halloween to see.

By adding these photos to The Photography 139 Photo Gallery I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” journal entry to its original glory:

Down South – Day 2

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a trip to a Southern Baptist church and a trip to a lake and a trip to a pond. Plus, some pictures where I might have accidentally desecrated the memory of Abraham Lincoln, not as thoroughly as the modern Republican Party, but still not good.

Animals, Flowers, Macro, Naima, Photo Journal, Railroad, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 48

October 5, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back when I was taking the pictures for Page 49 for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, I also took pictures for Page 48:

Page 48 – Take a photo that whispers.

To take this picture I cranked down the saturation, contrast, and sharpness levels on my camera.

Only 1 picture can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL, but I did take several more. Have a gander:

The next time we check in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT we will check in with Page 111.

+++++++

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

MOUTH

A MOUTH photo is any photo that involves a MOUTH or something that goes in a MOUTH or is used by a MOUTH. Remember, there is more than one definition of MOUTH.

Happy photo harvesting!

Black & White, Carla, Fisheye, Jaxon, Kim, Micky, Railroad, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 159 – ARCHITECTURE

October 1, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Before we get into the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, here is my plea to help the Boone First United Methodist Church’s Youth Group fund their annual mission trip:

Download and print that flyer. Cut it into 4 coupons. Then, come to the Boone Pizza Ranch this Wednesday night and have supper. Between 5-9.

Where: Boone Pizza Ranch
Date: Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Time: 5-9
What: Mission Trip Fundraiser

The Boone First United Methodist Church will be going to Rapid City, South Dakota for a mission trip the last week of June. Help us get the kids there!

Thank you!!!

+++++++

It was a good rebound week. More people were moved by the ARCHITECTURE theme than the previous week.

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

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Jaxon Schoff

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Carla Stensland

Micky Augustin

Mouth

MOUTH! What a great theme! But what is a MOUTH photo? A MOUTH photo would be any photo that involves a MOUTH. Or things that go in a MOUTH or is used by a MOUTH. Of course, there is more than one definition of MOUTH.

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.

+++++++

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 mouthy Monday.

Animals, Flowers, Macro, Mom, Naima, Photo Journal, Railroad, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 49

September 28, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back I was messing with some camera settings and decided it was a perfect time to crank out Page 49 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 49 – Take a photograph that shouts.

By a photograph that shouts, it is a picture that is bold in its colors, contrast, and sharpness. I jacked these settings up all the way on my camera and photographed some flowers in the Photography 139 flowerbeds and at my Mom’s house.

While only one picture can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take several others. Here are some of those I like, but won’t be in the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL:

Next time we check-in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will check out Page 48.

+++++++

This is your weekly reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ARCHITECTURE.

ARCHITECTURE

An ARCHITECTURE photo is any photo that has to do with a building or a man-made structure. Inside or out. Doesn’t matter.

Happy photo harvesting!

Formal Portrait, Kim, Railroad, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 158 – BOREDOM

September 24, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

It doesn’t appear that many people were in touch with their inner BOREDOM. That is okay, I feel like this week will be a bounce back week.

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

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURE! What a great theme! But what does it mean?

An ARCHITECTURE photo is any photo that deals with a building or a structure. Either the inside or the outside. Doesn’t matter.

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.

+++++++

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 architecturally sound 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.

+++++++

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.