Category Archives: Ruins

Art, Black & White, Christianity, History, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins, Street Photography, Tenderloining

Eclipse Road Trip Day 3 – Mostly Belle Plaine

December 6, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Can you believe it. This is the final collection of images from the Eclipse Road Trip. After leaving Le Claire I head to Belle Plaine to try their famous Lincoln Cafe. I already wrote about my food adventure there on a long Sunday past. You can revisit that part of the trip by clicking on the link below:

Tenderloining: Belle Plaine Field Work

On my way to Belle Plaine a took a couple of pictures in Marengo.

Have a looksie:

That is it. My long, but not very long, strange, definitely strange trip has come to an end. It was an excellent adventure. I could use another such adventure fairly soon! I think I can finally get started on editing those pictures I took in New Orleans!

Animals, Art, Automobiles, Christianity, Road Trip, Ruins, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa

Pella Road Trip Day

October 23, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I’ve shared all the tulip pictures I took when I made a road trip to Pella with Teresa back in April. But I also took a few other random pictures that I haven’t shared yet… until now!

The last 4 pictures were taken in McHose Park in Boone. The reflection of the trees in Honey Creek feels very retro to myself. When I first started out in photography I must have taken a million pictures of things reflected in water. It was my jam. Probably still is on some level.

Adam, Art, Jesse, Ruins, Street Photography, Tenderloining, Travel

Home of the Blues – Day 3 & 4

October 4, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Day 3 of the Liberty Bowl Road Trip was the day of the actual Liberty Bowl. A game that didn’t go very well. I didn’t take very many pictures as most of the day was spent at the game. Afterwards, was in no mood to take pictures. Before the game we went to Gibson’s Donuts. A recommendation from Adam and one that definitely hit the mark. Then we met up with Jon and his friend at Railgarten for a We Will pregame brunch.

Gibson’s was amazing and Railgarten was one of the coolest bars I’ve graced with my presence. It just had a really cool setup.

The next day we loaded up and went back home. That was pretty close to a straight trip home. I only took a few pictures on the trip. So this collection will wrap up the collection of images from the Liberty Bowl Road Trip:

Now I’m through this trip, I can start on pictures from the Eclipse Road Trip!

Art, Black & White, Bokeh, Contests, Flowers, Lowell, Macro, Nature, Ruins, State Fair, Still Life, Tenderloining, Teresa

Food Truckin’: Winery Field Work

August 18, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett

By the time this publishes, I will be in possession of my entries to the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. So it is safe to reveal what pictures got entered and what picture got shown the door. Which picture was told “You’re no good. Get outta here kid. You got no future!” I bet when the rejected image is revealed, there will be more than a few haters out there that will be filled with joy. That is okay. Marty McFly would go on to revolutionize rock music. Some day my photography will do the same.

Here is what I entered:

Class 11 – Colored Leading Lines – Selected for Display – Honorable Mention

Class 17 – Color Flowers, Plants & Trees – Not Selected for Display

Class 18 – Color Animals, Insects, & Wildlife – Selected for Display

Class 23 – Black & White Places & Landscapes – Selected for Display

This is where I tell you that next year I will put more effort into selecting my submissions. I might even look for the opinions of others. And like the mooks that you guys are, you will totally believe me. Then next year in June I will panic and select and order all my pictures in about an hours worth of time. Any ways, it was a good enough showing this year.

+++++++

Back in May Teresa and I met Lowell, Leah, and the rest of the Davis fan out at The Cellar Winery to watch the great Shannon Curfman rock the vineyard. A bonus to the fantastic music was food trucks. One food truck sold grinders which meant your boy had a chance to continue his quest to find a replacement for the grinder from Jennie’s Grinders. Widely, nay, universally considered the finest grinder the world has ever know.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Mojo Grinders

Lowell and Leah checking out Shannon Curfman merch.

The grinder ended up being a little blah, but the onion rings were the truth!

It could have been better, but I still crushed it!

The cookie was dang good too!

Shannon!

Leah got this funnel cake monstrosity. I didn’t try it, but I bet it was deliciousness personified!

A sign in the winery that I found amusing.

The ultimate verdict. It was an okay grinder, but not transcendent. The quest to find a replacement for Jennie’s Grinder will indeed continue. They need to take the kick up a notch and lightly toasted isn’t the way to go for a grinder. As you can tell in the picture the cheese isn’t fully melted. A grinder needs some texture.

But I would eat it again, but if Mojo Grinders comes back into my sphere of influence, I would probably try something else on the menu. Probably the Porker. I definitely get onion rings again. And that parmesan garlic sauce was fantastic!

Next Sunday, I will cover my State Fair food experience OR a food truck that I had up at Fridays on the Green! You will have to wait and see. I know… the suspense is already killing you. Can you imagine what it is doing to me!

Art, Naima, Ruins, Still Life, Street Photography, WPC - Alternate

Couldn’t Look You in the Eye

August 14, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is a collection of images I took back in November in Webster City. They are mostly alternate images for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme SIGN. Just walked around and did a smidge of the street photography.

There was one more picture I took on this day that I wanted to share.

That is a picture of the treat Stan used to give Naima. These were the treats he left for her on his window sill. I took this picture after I told him that Naima had passed away.

Art, Automobiles, Black & White, Bokeh, Christianity, Jay, Monica, Railroad, Ruins, Self-Portrait, Shorty, Still Life, Willy, WPC - Alternate

Will Make You Miss My Wretched Heart

July 20, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett

This collection of glorious BLACK & WHITE images i took on July 6. I had a fairly lazy Saturday. I took a mini-road trip over to Jefferson for some A&W and had Jay, Willy, Monica, and Graham over for watermelon. But that was about all I did all day.

This was Shorty & Doris’ farm.

Only 1 day of alternate glorious BLACK & WHITE images left to share, but it might take several days to share them all. We’ll see.

Art, Black & White, Ruins, Street Photography, WPC - Alternate

So Find Someone Great, But Don’t Find No One Better

June 28, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to share the final collection of street photography images I took in downtown Des Moines while searching for an ARCHITETCTURE picture for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

This collection is making me want to get out there and do some street photography! Like right now!

Black & White, Ruins

Pizza Remains

June 19, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Last October the Boone Fire Department burned down the old Pizza Hut to get rid of it and to practice. I didn’t actually watch it and photograph it, as I was out of town. Logan and Nathanial got some amazing photos of it though. I’m not here to share those though. I’m here to share some pictures I took of what was left of the old Pizza Hut after they were done with it.

Here are those pictures:

I can’t say I was sad to see Pizza Hut go. Other than it was an eating option in Boone gone. Granted, one I never used. We were a hardcore Godfather’s family when I was growing up. Even after Godfather’s left I never really ate at Pizza Hut. In the last several years it was open the only time I had Pizza Hut was when somebody bought it for the youth group. So there aren’t a lot of fond memories in the rubble for me. Hopefully someday something new will take its place. For now, it remains an empty lot. And the pizza options in Boone are currently: Casey’s (3 stores to choose from), The Adobe, Bellucci’s, Roosters, Pizza Ranch (if you want to pay an arm and a leg), and Domino’s. Which is probably enough. But when has there ever been enough pizza options?

Art, Road Trip, Ruins, Street Photography

Jeffersonian Visit I

May 29, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett

Last September I ended up in Jefferson and I wandered around doing a little street photography of their beautiful, fascinating downtown area.

Have a look:

One more collection of images from this little jaunt to share.

Adam, Alexis, Andy, Angie, Animals, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Deanna, Elizabeth, Jesse, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Lowell, Michelle, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Nathanial, Ruins, Sabas, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Shannon, Sheri, Suzie, Teresa, Vest, Work, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 452 – RUINS

May 13, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett

RUINS! A great theme! But were enough people interested in it to make it a popular theme or will many streaks lie in ruins? You will have to keep scrolling to find out!

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, May 6, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore everything in parentheses):

1-Johnathan Stensland (IA) – 1 week
2-Mary Green – 1 week (IA, MI, IN) <2>
3-Alexis Stensland – 2 weeks (IA) <2>
4-Monica Jennings – 3 weeks (IA)
5-Sabas Hernandez – 4 weeks (IA, OH)
6-Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 6 weeks (IA, CO, MO, TX, TN, VA, IL, FL)
7-Willy McAlpine – 7 weeks (IA)
8-Deanna McClain – 8 weeks (IA)
9-Adam Gordon – 10 weeks (IA, MS, MO) <2>
10-Becky Parmelee – 11 weeks (AR, IA, OK)
11-Sara Lockner – 15 weeks (IA, BHS)
12-Lowell Davis – 18 weeks (IA)
13-Michelle Haupt – 18 weeks (IA, MO, KS, LA)
14-Brandon Kahler – 19 weeks (IA, MN)
15-Scott Degeneffe – 37 weeks (IA, FL, UT, CO, KY, IN)
16-Sheri Fakhouri – 47 weeks (IA, NE)
17-Logan Kahler – 48 weeks (IA, MN) <2>
18-Nathanial Brown – 49 weeks (IA, SD, GA, TN)
19-Jesse Howard – 49 weeks (IA, MO, NE, FL, ABW, CUW)
20-Tamara Peterson – 61 weeks (IA, MN)
21-Mindi Terrell – 64 weeks (IA)
22-Linda Bennett – 93 weeks (KS) <2>
23-Sarah Toot – 94 weeks (PA, NY, VT, NV)
24-Angie DeWaard – 98 weeks (IA, IL)
25-Dawn Krause – 102 weeks (IA)
26-Kim Barker – 109 weeks (IA, CO, LA) <2>
27-Joe Duff – 109 weeks (TX)
28-Teresa Kahler – 120 weeks (IA, NE) <2>
29-Carla Stensland – 120 weeks (IA, MO) <2>
30-Micky Augustin – 122 weeks (IA, IL)
31-Andy Sharp – 123 weeks (IA, NE, AR, MS, MO, TN, LA)
32-Bill Wentworth – 124 weeks (NE)
33-Cathie Morton – 127 weeks (IA, FL, BHS, MO, LA)
34-Elizabeth Nordeen – 129 weeks (IA)
35-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 131 weeks (IA, CA, NV)
36-Kio Dettman – 133 weeks (IA)

Here is the list of rules for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

1. The picture must be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch and take pictures challenge!
2. There is a limit of 2 submissions per person per theme. If you send me more than 2, I will use the first 2 that you submit.
3. Deadline to submit your submission is 11 AM next Monday.
4. To be considered the photographer of an image, you have to be the one that clicks the shutter. If you hand your camera over to somebody else to take a picture of you, you are NOT the photographer of that image.
5. No screen captures. This is a photography challenge. Not a “look at what I found on the internet” challenge.

There are still 2 ways to submit:
1. Email your submission to bennett@photography139.com.
2. Text your submission to my Google Pixel 8 Pro.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks or the rules of the challenge or how to submit. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Adam Gordon (Boone, Iowa) – 11 weeks

Adam Gordon (Boone, Iowa)

Alexis Stensland (Pilot Mound, Iowa) – 3 weeks

Alexis Stensland (Pilot Mound, Iowa)

Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa) – 124 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 99 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa)

Becky Parmelee (Bella Vista, Arkansas) – 12 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 125 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Ames, Iowa) – 20 weeks

Carla Stensland (Ledges State Park – Boone County, Iowa) – 121 weeks

Carla Stensland (Highway 169 – Between Ogden and Harcourt)

Cathie Morton (Iowa) – 128 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 – New Orleans, Louisiana)

Dawn Krause (Carlisle, Iowa) – 103 weeks

Deanna McClain (Iowa) – 9 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 130 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 50 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 110 weeks

Kim Barker (Nevada, Iowa) – 109 weeks

Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa) – 134 weeks

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 94 weeks

Linda Bennett (Kansas)

Logan Kahler (Perry, Iowa) – 49 weeks

Lowell Davis (Iowa) – 19 weeks

Michelle Haupt (Iowa) – 19 weeks

Micky Augustin (Ames, Iowa) – 123 weeks

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 1 week

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 65 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Monica Jennings (Boone, Iowa) – 4 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Hancock County, Iowa) – 50 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 5 weeks

Sarah Toot (E. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania) – 95 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Boone County, Iowa) – 38 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 132 weeks

Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa) – 48 weeks

Suzie Brannen (Baltimore, Maryland) – 1 week

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 62 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa State Farm Museum – Iowa State University – Ames, Iowa) – 121 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa State University – Ames, Iowa)

34 participants this week. A drop of 3 from last week. That is the lowest in a minute. Sad.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Arkansas (1)
+ Iowa (33)
+ Kansas (2)
+ Louisiana (1)
+ Maryland (1)
+ Nebraska (1)
+ Pennsylvania (1)
+ Texas (1)

Suzie’s trip to Maryland adds yet another state to this year’s map! WooHoo!

Here is the Year 11 list of places where submissions have been taken (submissions taken in each places):

+ Arkansas (11.5)
+ Aruba (1)
+ Bahamas (2)
+ California (3)
+ Curacao (1)
+ Colorado (5)
+ Florida (85)
+ Georgia (1)
+ Hawaii (2)
+ Illinois (5)
+ Indiana (4)
+ Iowa (661)
+ Kansas (28)
+ Kentucky (1)
+ Louisiana (8)
+ Maryland (1)
+ Michigan (5)
+ Minnesota (6)
+ Mississippi (1.5)
+ Missouri (10.5)
+ Nebraska (27)
+ Nevada (2)
+ New York (12)
+ Ohio (1)
+ Oklahoma (1)
+ Pennsylvania (14)
+ South Dakota (3)
+ Tennessee (2.5)
+ Texas (28)
+ Utah (1)
+ Vermont (1)
+ Virginia (1)

29 states so far! 3 foreign countries! Not bad! So far, the following people have submitted from multiple places:

+ Jen Ensley-Gorshe (IA, CO, MO, TX, TN, VA, IL, FL) – 8
+ Andy Sharp (IA, NE, MO, AR, TN, MS, LA) – 7
+ Scott Degeneffe (IA, FL, UT, CO, IN, KY) – 6
+ Jesse Howard (IA, MO, NE, FL, ABW, CUW) – 6
+ Christopher D. Bennett (IA, MO, NE, IL, IN, LA) – 6
+ Cathie Morton (IA, FL, BHS, MO, LA) – 5
+ Michelle Haupt (IA, MO, KS, LA) – 4
+ Nathanial Brown (IA, SD, TN, GA) – 4
+ Sarah Toot (PA, NY, VT, NV) – 4
+ Kim Barker (IA, CO, LA) – 3
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley (IA, CA, NV) – 3
+ Adam Gordon (IA, MS, MO) – 3
+ Mary Green (MI, IA, IN) – 3
+ Becky Parmelee (AR, IA, OK) – 3
+ Micky Augustin (IA, IL) – 2
+ Susanna Funk (IA, CO) – 2
+ Brandon Kahler (IA, MN) – 2
+ Logan Kahler (IA, MN) – 2
+ Sara Lockner (IA, MN) – 2
+ Tamara Peterson (IA, MN) – 2
+ Carla Stensland (IA, MO) -2
+ Mike Vest (IA, MO) – 2
+ Teresa Kahler (IA, NE) – 2
+ Sheri Fakhouri (IA, NE) – 2
+ Angie DeWaard (IA, IL) – 2
+ Sara Lockner (IA, BHS) – 2
+ Sabas Hernandez (IA, OH) – 2
+ Suzie Brannen (IA, MD) – 2

Jen is in the lead to be crowned “The Most Travelled THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE Photographer!” Jesse and Andy Scott are in striking distance though!

Suzie joined the list of people to submit from multiple places!

The big milestone this week was Elizabeth joining the 2.5 Year Club! WooHoo! WooHoo! Woo!

But it wasn’t all fun and games. There was a literal bloodbath of streaks that bit the dust. Johnathan and Mary couldn’t build on last week’s submission. Jen’s streak is over at 6. Willy’s streak is over at 7. But worst of all Scarecrow, Sara’s streak is over at 15! Sacre bleu!

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:

WORK

WORK! What a great theme for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will see your idea of WORK in this place that hardly feels like work most days next Monday.