Category Archives: Ruins

Art, Black & White, Christianity, Photoshop, Road Trip, Ruins, Street Photography, WPC - Alternate

I’m a Doctor with No Job. Me, I Don’t Have No Patients. I Keep Pacing Back and Forth, I Keep Racing.

April 17, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

The world wasn’t ready for these SIGNS pictures on Monday. I’m not sure the world can handle them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:

Beaver, Iowa – The jewel of Boone County.

Grand Junction, Iowa – The jewel of Greene County

Jefferson, Iowa – They have an A&W, that is the only positive thing I’ll say about Jefferson.

Churdan, Iowa – Home of moderate high school athletic success in the 1980s

Paton, Iowa – Home of the Globe Conspiracy

Dana, Iowa – Making Paton look good since 1907

Boone, Iowa – God’s Country

I took all my signs on a little road trip on Saturday. As is known to happen to me, I got obsessed into my own little world and lost track of time. I missed the Methodist Men Potato Peeling Party. They managed without me.

That is all I have to say about these pictures. You’re welcome world.

Andy, Becky, Carla, Dawn, Jaxon, Kim, Linda, Michelle, Photoshop, Road Trip, Ruins, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 135 – SIGNS

April 16, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Another big week for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. People didn’t let the weather stop them from harvesting all sorts of SIGNS pictures. This week the Photography 139 empire stretched as far north as downtown Boone, Iowa. As far south and east as Kentucky. As far west as Folsom, California. There are 2 special notes need to be made about the submissions this week:

SPECIAL NOTE #1

Jaxon made his first submission this week. I’m very excited and I expect big things in the future.

SPECIAL NOTE #2

Pay special attention to Linda Bennett’s submission. It is a very special submission. Many of you will be able to figure out why.

But you didn’t come here to listen to all that tommyrot, you came to see the submissions:

Becky Parmelee

Dawn Krause

Jaxon Schoff

Christopher D. Bennett

Kim Barker

Linda Bennett -I found this in a trunk filled with cards and letters from the last 70 years. Made me smile.

Kim Barker

Teresa Kahler

Shannon Bardole-Foley
“All license plates in California are made in Folsom Prison. So it seemed fitting for the closed sign for the museum to be a license plate. However, we were there when the museum was open, so it was partially hidden.”

Tamara Peterson

Andy Sharp

Michelle Haupt

Carla Stensland – Form of sign..?

A very solid week of submissions!

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:

GOVERNMENT

GOVERNMENT! What a great theme! But what is a GOVERNMENT photo? A GOVERNMENT photo is any photo that shows the GOVERNMENT at work. There is the obvious, a picture of a court house. GOVERNMENT. City Hall. GOVERNMENT. Police Station. GOVERNMENT. Fire Station. GOVERNMENT. But there also many GOVERNMENT activities you might not think about. That road you drove to work on today. GOVERNMENT. That public school where you dropped your kid off (I’m talking to those of us in the lower and middle class here) at this morning. GOVERNMENT. City Park. GOVERNMENT. County Park. GOVERNMENT. State Park. GOVERNMENT. National Park. GOVERNMENT. Iowa State University. GOVERNMENT. Other public universities. GOVERNMENT. The military. GOVERNMENT. A county hospital. GOVERNMENT. The Post Office. GOVERNMENT. The clean water (assuming nobody from Flint, Michigan or a state that allows fracking is reading this) coming out of your tap. GOVERNMENT.

Even organizations that aren’t the GOVERNMENT, are GOVERNMENT. That youth sport organization that you allegedly resigned from the Board, but sit my basement have 30 minute conversations about who should mow the lawn and chalk the fields. (That got strangely specific.) That board is a GOVERNMENT.

As you can see, there are a plethora of options and there are a ton more.

As always, 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

The latest person to show taste, class, and sophistication and sign on for a Photography 139 Email Subscription is Linda Clark. I honestly don’t know much about her, other than she is a relative of Andy Sharp and he says she has an interest in photography. Welcome aboard Linda! If you see her, feel free to give her a knowing glance and teach her the super-secret Photography 139 Handshake.

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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 governed Monday!

Road Trip, Ruins, Town Sign Project

The Town Sign Project: Vol. 3

April 13, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

On my recent sojourn to Marshalltown, I was able to collect a few more signs for the TOWN SIGN PROJECT.

Mackey, Iowa

Story City, Iowa

Randall, Iowa

Jewell, Iowa

Radcliffe, Iowa

Garden City, Iowa

Gilbert, Iowa (Side 1)

Gilbert, Iowa (Side 2)

Most towns have multiple town signs. I only pick one for the project. For example, Story City has a couple nice, brand new looking signs. BORING! I almost fell asleep looking at them and I was driving at the time. I’m sure I’m not able to find all of the town signs in the towns I’m tooling through. My preference is old decrepit signs like the Garden City sign.

I should point out that Mackey isn’t really even a town any longer, but somebody put up a sign to mark where it used to be. I’m not above photographing town signs for towns that don’t exist any longer. I’m looking forward to my dance with the Zook Spur sign at some point in the near future.

You can review other signs that I’ve harvested for this project by clicking on the link below:

TOWN SIGN PROJECT

I hope to more than double the current number in the next month or so.

NOTE: The Gilbert sign was taken on a different road trip.

Art, Black & White, Mom, Night, Photoshop, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins, WPC - Alternate

I Get So Frustrated, Take A Look at What I Created, Time is Wasting and I Ain’t Waiting!

April 11, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The world wasn’t ready for these ROAD TRIP photos on Monday. The world still wasn’t ready for them on Tuesday. I’m not sure the world is ready for them now, but I can’t hold them back any longer:

After Jewell, I tooled through Ellsworth. From Ellsworth I moved onto Radcliffe. Radcliffe is notable for the shortest water tower I have ever seen. From Radcliffe I went through Garden City. Garden City gave me a DELIVERANCE type vibe. I’ve only really felt that similar vibe, to that degree in Beaver. Beaver, Iowa creeps me out. There is a reason why I once created a series of photos called “The Beaver Machete Massacre” I don’t believe those photos are online anywhere. So don’t go looking for them.

In Garden City, I realized I was going to be late for my supper appointment with some of my favorite miners. I pressed on the gas and made haste for Marshalltown. Only stopping briefly in Zearing.

If you have never been to Zeno’s in Marshalltown, I would highly recommend it. Zeno’s gets the Christopher D. Bennett Endorsement. In particular, I can’t recommend the BBQ Brisket pizza enough. Smoked beef brisket, red onion, peppadew peepers. Drizzled with sriracha bourbon bbq sauce. It is even more amazing than it sounds. Even people with questionable taste in food products like Elizabeth endorse it. She normally only likes meat paste pizza.

The final picture with my Mom (dinking with her phone like a millennial) was taken on our way back from Wingstop on Sunday after our post-church lunch.

That is all the ROAD TRIP alternates I have. You’re welcome world!

Art, Automobiles, Baseball/Softball, Black & White, History, Photoshop, Politics, Railroad, Road Trip, Ruins, Small World, Town Sign Project, Travel, WPC - Alternate

I’m Not Complaining, I’m Just Being Honest, I Promise That I Will Not Beg for Respect, No!

April 10, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The world was not ready for these ROAD TRIP pictures on Monday. It is highly doubtful that the world is ready for these ROAD TRIP pictures now, but I can’t hold them back any longer.

This is not an endorsement of Rick Young for Hardin County Supervisor, although he has a sweet website.

I took a little ROAD TRIP on Saturday on the way to Marshalltown to meet some fellow miners for supper. On the way there I decided to head north a little bit before heading east and to pursue some signs for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT.

I left Boone and went through the remains of Mackey. Took a few moments in Story City before heading north and spending quite a bit of time in the fascinating town of Randall. One of the fascinating things I found in Randall was the Dodge truck. I find it fascinating that on the hood ornament was the Star of David. I wonder when they took the religious symbol out of their marketing.

I looked into this and found the following:

1. The Dodge brothers were not Jewish. It is not a Star of David.
2. But nobody seems to know what it means. It might represent the Greek letter delta or it might be a masonic symbol or it might have to do with medieval mysticism.
3. It was not done to taunt Henry Ford, who was a noted anti-Semite as has often been theorized.
4. They symbol disappeared from Dodge cars when the 1939 model was introduced. Hmmm… what was going on in the world in 1939.
5. The Dodge brothers both died in 1920 as victims of the influenza epidemic of that year. They took the truth of the symbol with them to their graves.

Here endeth the lesson.

The small world picture is of Randall. From Randall I headed north. I stopped briefly at Little Wall Lake to take a couple of self-portraits. I also took a couple lake pictures, but they did not please me.

After Little Wall Lake, I spent a few minutes cruising Jewell. Just to the east of the Jewell town signing (heading north of 69) is the fascinating remains of the animal sculptures. They’ve sadly fallen into a degree of disrepair. I could analyze this piece of of art for days.

It feels like the kind of tableau that should be in any respectable roadside curiosity book about the great Cyclone State!

There are a few more images from this ROAD TRIP in the hopper. You’re welcome America!

Andy, Becky, Black & White, Carla, Cathie, Christianity, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Photoshop, Road Trip, Ruins, Shannon, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 134 – ROAD TRIP

April 9, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

A healthy amount of people hit the open road for a ROAD TRIP photo. I think this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE EMPIRE extends as far north as Randall, Iowa. As far south as Arkansas. As far west as West Wendover, Nevada. As far east as Virginia, I’m guessing.

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

Micky Augustin

Kim Barker

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Michelle Haupt

Andy Sharp

Tamara Peterson

Andy Sharp

Becky Parmelee

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

SIGNS!

SIGNS! What a great theme! But what is a SIGNS photo? The obvious answer is any picture of a SIGN(S) is a SIGNS photo. But there are more than just the SIGNS that tell you to stop, yield, sit down, and shut up. If she hasn’t responded to your text message, but she has posted on Facebook twice, added to her Snapchat Story and tweeted 3 times… those are SIGNS that bro, she just isn’t in to you. If he doesn’t acknowledge your existence around his friends, but at 2 AM he is always sliding into your DMs, that is a SIGN(S) that grilfriend, you can do better!

As always, 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

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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 signed Monday!

Art, Black & White, History, Mom, Photoshop, Railroad, Ruins, Travel

My Land is Where My Dead Lie Buried

March 29, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to hit the backlog again. Here are pictures from the my trip to the Crazy Horse Memorial with my Mom:

I loved the Crazy Horse Memorial. My one complaint is that I wish there was more about Crazy Horse there and a little less about the family carving the monument.

Art, Black & White, Christianity, Road Trip, Ruins

The World Needs More Chaps and Less Apps

March 9, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Hitting up the back log, these are pictures I took on my way up to Brushy Creek one July afternoon.

Most of these pictures were taken in Dayton. The last few were taken in Burnside.

Black & White, Jay, Road Trip, Ruins, Willy

Nothing Behind Me, Everything Ahead of Me

March 8, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Dipping back into the back log. These images are from the Caves Road Trip that Jay, Willy, and I went on back in July.

On our way to the main course, the Maquoketa Caves State Park, we passed through a virtual ghost town. Scotch Grove. The only things is that it appears that somebody forgot to tell the people that live there that there town is dead.

We learned a little bit of the history of Scotch Grove from a local that came out to accuse of casing the town for a future theft. But I think he was covering up. He just said that this Balster family just lost interest in the businesses and closed them down. I think there was a mass suicide, like at the Lemp Brewery in Saint Louis*. Prove me wrong.