Category Archives: WPC

Aaron, Andy, Becky, Cathie, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Music, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Still Life, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 236 – ENTERTAINMENT

March 23, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

This is Day 1 of me working from home for the next couple of weeks. So far, so good. I haven’t been crushed with the loneliness of isolation, yet. However, I also have been chatting quite a bit with people. So maybe it will set in this afternoon.

One bonus of working from home is that I can listen to music. I mean really listen to music. None of this headphone trash. Today is going to be Miles Davis all day.

Another bonus of working from home is that I was home when my annual battle with ants in my bathroom started. I was able to get the ant traps out nice and early. On the negative side, while I was cleaning my sink, I knocked my mouthwash onto the floor, spilling, half of it and as a bonus, the lid flew into the toilet.

A positive is that the coronavirus did not stop the streak of double digit submissions! We are now up to 25 straight weeks!

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

Andy Sharp

Monica Henning

Andy Sharp

Micky Augustin

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Christopher D. Bennett

Aaron Barnett

Becky Parmelee

Tamara Peterson

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Cathie Raley

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:

MUSIC

MUSIC! What a great theme! But what is a MUSIC photo? It is a picture of somebody making MUSIC. An instrument that makes MUSIC. A device that makes MUSIC. 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 musical Monday!

Animals, Birthdays, Black & White, Equipment, Logan, Macro, Mom, Naima, Nature, Pufferbilly Days, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Still Life, Underwater, Work, WPC - Reminder

I Don’t Know Why You’re Mean to Me

March 20, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

I took Thursday and Friday off this week to watch basketball. Obviously there is no basketball right now. There is no basketball for at least a month and there is no NCAA Tournament this year at all. I wasn’t sure if I was going to still take these two days off. I waffled for a few days and then I ultimately decided that I needed a few days off.

I understand that can sound tone deaf. To need a few days off, when there are many people that aren’t able to work right now. People who suddenly are finding themselves unemployed. I am blessed that for at least now, the Computer Mine is still open for business. I am also blessed that starting a couple days ago, the Computer Mine opened up the option to work from home for some employees. They started by opening it up to workers that are in high risk groups and workers that are around people that are in high risk groups. I fit into that second category.

I wasn’t sure I was going to work from home or continue to work from the office, but after listening to a few co-workers regurgitated Fox propaganda talking points, I knew that I no longer trusted my co-workers to make smart decisions for their health, for the health of the people the come into contact with, and the health of the people that they come into contact with.

Starting on Monday, I’m going to start working from home. Because of this, I spent Thursday building a computer to use as my work from home computer from some computer parts I have laying around. I didn’t want to complicate my main home computer. So that is what passes for ENTERTAINMENT for me yesterday.

I also added a web camera to my work-from-home-computer so I could have video calls with my co-workers:

It isn’t the best web camera in the world. In fact, it is the web camera I bought a few years back so I could set up a modest photo booth at my birthday party:

But it will get the job done as far as video chatting goes. Because the one thing that I’m definitely going to miss as I work from home for at least a couple of weeks is some of my fellow miners. Most of them have opted to work from home, but I think Joe, Micky, Elizabeth, and Ron and a few others still seem to be committed to showing up to the mine. I’m going to miss you guys

Working from home does mean that I’ll have more time on my hands. I won’t have the 20 minute or so one way commute every day. My one hour lunch break will also be spent at home. Plus with not going pretty much anywhere at night, I will definitely have added time to work on my photography backlog. You guys might have to endure some days of TWO “An Artist’s Notebook” entries! Oh the humanity!

Hopefully the webcam will help with the social isolation. Hopefully my dog adjusts to having me around all the time!

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Since I mentioned birthday parties, I might as well mention that while I have been planning to have a birthday party this year, it is definitely off. Which is sad because Scottie D. and I had a tremendous menu planned. Baby Got Rack was going to cater the heck out of that party! You’ll just have to imagine what it would have been like.

What you don’t have to imagine what it is like, was what the invitations were going to look like. My nephew Logan took some of the photos that were going to be used for the invitations, that were going to look like they came from a political candidate. Here are a couple of the pictures that won’t get used:

That last picture wasn’t getting used for sure, I just like it. Maybe 2021 will be a better year to bring the party back!

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Last week I took more than one picture for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, so here is a good chance to share the once that didn’t have what it takes to make the big show on Monday:

The pictures of Naima were taken with a new Lensbaby lens I bought for my new camera. I will probably going into some boring detail about it at some point in the future.

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

ENTERTAINMENT

I have no clue what participation will look like this week. However, I can assure you that even if you are taking social distancing to self-quarantine, this theme and every theme in the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is a theme that can be accomplished within the confines of your house or your yard.

Happy photo harvesting!

Aaron, Angie, Carla, Elizabeth, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Shannon, Tamara, Underwater, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 235 – WATER

March 16, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I was worried that the global pandemic might squash participation this week with WATER. It would have been a minor price to pay for people hunkering down and being safe. Although, there are few better activities when social distancing than a little photography.

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

Angie DeWaard

Aaron Barnett

Tamara Peterson

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Micky Augustin

Christopher D. Bennett

Elizabeth Nordeen

Monica Henning

Michelle Haupt

Carla Stensland

ENTERTAINMENT

ENTERTAINMENT! What a great theme! Now, I understand, that some might think that ENTERTAINMENT might be a difficult theme when pretty much every concert and sporting event is being cancelled. With the CDC recommending that events with more than 50 people should be cancelled or postponed for the next 8 weeks. But ENTERTAINMENT doesn’t have to be on a grand scale. Many of us will be finding ways to ENTERTAIN(MENT) ourselves in the coming weeks. You hobby is ENTERTAINMENT. Playing games is ENTERTAINMENT. For some sick, sad people, cleaning is ENTERTAINMENT. Photograph the way that your are having ENTERTAINMENT while you are being safe and being cautious.

I look forward to your interpretations! I have a feeling I will find ENTERTAINMENT in them!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

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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 entertaining Monday!

Black & White, History, Naima, Ruins, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

Hurting My Head from Things that I Said

March 13, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Happy Friday the 13th everybody! Considered to be a very unlucky day, but considering how bad of a shape our country is in right now, I don’t want to invite any more bad luck. So I am going to celebrate by watching a Friday the 13th movie tonight. Not sure which one yet, but maybe the 3-D one or maybe the one with Corey Feldman or maybe my favorite one, which involves a soundtrack littered with one “great” Alice Cooper song after another.

I’ve always believed that Friday the 13th was an unlucky day because those camp counselors decided to sneak off and “get it on” instead of watching that little special needs boy. I hope it was good for them, because he drowned and now we all have to suffer on this day… forever.

Turns out, that isn’t why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky. Turns out, maybe we don’t even know why it is considered unlucky. There are just theories on it, but nobody really knows.

One theory is that there were 13 guests at the Last Supper. Jesus and his 12 apostles. Judas betrayed him and on the next day, a Friday, Jesus was crucified.

This created a longstanding superstition that I’ve never heard of that having 13 guests at a table is a bad omen. This is why the Methodist Men always seat tables for 8 people. Not really, but it would be cool if we did.

But do bad things happen on Friday the 13th, besides the bad things that happen to camp counselors?

In 1964, the infamous Kitty Geovese murder.
In 1970, 300,000 people were killed in Bagladesh by a cyclone.
In 1996, Tupac was murdered.

Seems like a pretty terrible track record to me. So let me just celebrate this Friday the 13th with some of my favorite Tupac lyrics:

With all this extra stressing
The question I wonder is after death, after my last breath
When will I finally get to rest through this suppression?
They punish the people that’s asking questions
And those that possess, steal from the ones without possessions
The message I stress: to make it stop study your lessons
Don’t settle for less – even the genius asks his questions
Be grateful for blessings
Don’t ever change, keep your essence
The power is in the people and politics we address
Always do your best, don’t let the pressure make you panic
And when you get stranded, and things don’t go the way you planned it
Dreaming of riches, in a position of making a difference
Politicians and hypocrites, they don’t wanna listen
If I’m insane, it’s the fame made a brother change
It wasn’t nothing like the game
It’s just me against the world

Happy Friday the 13th. I hope you enjoy your favorite Friday the 13th movie tonight!

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Last Saturday morning I spent some time at McHose Park photographing the junk pile that is on the backside of the park for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme JUNK. Why there is a small junkyard on the backside of probably the most beautiful city park in the Cyclone State is a bit of a mystery. This is what I believe happened:

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how, the city dump used to be on South Division Street. Eventually Boone decided that maybe the dump shouldn’t be in town and built a landfill outside of town a few miles. They needed to do something with the junk that was in the city dump and rather than move it or recycle it, they just shoved it all down the ravine on the backside of McHose Park. Problem solved. Given a choice between doing something smart and something lazy, people will usually take the lazy option. Over the years, rain and snow and wind and mud has slowly moved all that junk deeper and deeper into McHose Park. The beautiful part of it is that there is a lot of water run off that goes through those rusted out fridges, washing machines, barrels, tires, and cars through an abandoned old train bridge and right into the water of Honey Creek.

Here are some pictures of some beautiful old JUNK that didn’t make the cut for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE on Monday:

What looks like was an old milk crate is something that I could see my sister Carla using in decorating somehow. I thought about grabbing it for her, but I’m not sure what the legality is of just taking junk from a city park is. But I did put it in a place where I can find it if I decide to push the limits.

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

WATER

A WATER image is any image where WATER is an important part of the composition of the picture.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Angie, Becky, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Micky, Naima, Ruins, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 234 – JUNK

March 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

23 weeks! 23 straight weeks of double digit submission! Now JUNK wasn’t a super popular theme. I think it is mostly a Bennett thing to like to hang out surrounded by JUNK. Not garbage but JUNK. I went and wandered around my favorite local JUNK pile, even though I thought about just taking a picture of my 401(k) this morning. Just watching that thing circle the drain.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about the fact that I’ll never be able to retire. You came to see the submissions (include a first time submission from Aaron Barnett.. woohoo!):

Dawn Krause

Aaron Barnett

Becky Parmelee

Angie DeWaard

Cathie Raley

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Carla Stensland

Tamara Peterson

Micky Augustin

Andy Sharp

WATER

WATER! What a great theme! But what is a WATER picture? A WATER picture is simply any image that involves WATER. A picture of a lake, a pond, a stream, a river. All qualifies. But people also drink water. At least they should drink lots of water. People are also baptized in water. They clean with water. They give water to pets and to plants. Sometimes, water even falls from the sky. So many water options, I can’t wait to see your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

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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 watery Monday!

Animals, Art, Candid Portrait, Logan, Nader, Politics, Self-Portrait, State Fair, Street Photography, WPC - Reminder

ISFRXOII

March 6, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Even though it is barely March, it is about time that I start turning my thoughts to the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. I hope to be more current with my images by the time I actually have to make a decision, but I am pretty sure I know of at least one picture I’m going to enter. Even though, I currently can’t remember that picture. I just remember taking a picture and thinking, I’m going to enter that in the Iowa State Fair. Could be a false memory planted by my therapist. Since, after all, having a therapist is a false memory placed by parts unknown.

Today’s collection is of pictures I took on the last day of the Iowa State Fair with the Sony RXOII. Nader went with me and Logan met me down there.

This is just the beginning of the pictures from last year’s Iowa State Fair.

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

JUNK

Remember, that there is a difference between JUNK and garbage. Also remember, there are many definitions of the word JUNK.

Happy photo harvesting!

Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Formal Portrait, Kim, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Shannon, Still Life, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 233 – FASHION

March 2, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

FASHION barely drew enough interest to march our double digit submission streak all the way to 22. I mean, if you’ve seen the way my friends dress, it is obvious that FASHION wasn’t going to appeal to many of them. Not everybody is a dandy like me.

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

Kim Barker

Carla Stensland

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Christopher D. Bennett

Dawn Krause

Micky Augustin

Cathie Raley

JUNK

JUNK! What a great theme! But what is a JUNK photo? Well for starters, I should start by pointing that there is a difference between JUNK and GARBAGE. JUNK is often something that has been discarded or set aside because it has little value. GARBAGE is something to be thrown away because is has ZERO value. For example Congressman Steve King is a piece of garbage. He has zero value. It should be pointed out that JUNK has more than one meaning. It can be something of poor quality. JUNK is also slang for drugs. People can have JUNK in their trunk. For examples, I direct you to my friend Tim’s Snapchat stories. A JUNK is also a type of ship. JUNK is also slang for male genitalia, but please don’t send those to me. Send them to that girl you met at the bar last night that gave you a fake phone number. (Okay, don’t do that either.)

As always, I look forward to your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

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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 junky Monday!

Candid Portrait, Derrick, Event, Formal Portrait, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

Ash Wednesday Spaghetti Fundraiser

February 28, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

A big thank you to all the people that showed up and supported the Youth Group on Ash Wednesday! This year, it was a huge success! We raised more than double the money that we raised on last year’s Spaghetti Fundraiser!

Here are some pictures from the event:

Don’t worry if you couldn’t make it on Wednesday. There will be at least one more, possibly 2 more fundraisers for the mission trip to Indianapolis in the next couple of months!

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

FASHION

Remember a FASHION photo is any photo where you get an look at the clothing that the people are wearing.

Happy photo harvesting!

Carla, Dawn, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Monica, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 232 – OLD

February 24, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

OLD was not the most popular WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme, but we still managed to have double digit submission for the 21st straight week with a certain amount of ease!

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

Dawn Krause

Micky Augustin

Kim Barker

Monica Henning

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Carla Stensland

Jesse Howard

FASHION

FASHION! What a great theme! But what is a FASHION photo? It doesn’t have to be a high FASHION photo. You don’t need to go to a FASHION show. You don’t need to find somebody that is a fancy dresser. All a FASHION photo needs to be is a picture that shows what somebody is wearing. Probably best to look for somebody that is dressed at least interesting. You can ask them to make their best FASHION model pose, but it isn’t necessary.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

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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 fashionable Monday!

Art, Equipment, Naima, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

The New Hotness

February 21, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I recently purchased a new camera. I don’t want to go into the details about what I am calling an “adult decision” at this time because when I open up on the details I’ve why I bought what I bought and the intricacies of the new camera and what it means for the future of my photography, it it going to take a bit of time. Most of you won’t want to read it. Heck, all of you might not want to read it. Some of you have already been bored with hearing about it already.

I received the new hotness on Wednesday and I just want to share some of the pictures I took on its first flight. Some are pictures I took of Naima in the backyard. Others are pictures I took at Youth Group.

If you are wondering what the Youth Group was doing, I had them make Valentine’s based on their understanding of God’s love. If you ever want to see these cards in person, they are on display in the Youth Group Room window that faces 7th Street.

I’m wondering how many of you are going to show up on Wednesday to support these amazing kids!

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

OLD

An OLD picture is of something or somebody that you consider OLD. Be careful telling somebody your taking their picture because they are OLD. Some people don’t take kindly to some young whippersnapper calling them old. Unless you are taking a picture of me. I fully acknowledge that I’m old AF*.

Happy photo harvesting!

*AF means autofocus, right?