Category Archives: WPC

Black & White, Boone County Fair, Formal Portrait, Railroad, Scottie D., WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Page 73

July 26, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A week or so ago the largest steam engine in the world pulled into Boone and spent the night. I wasn’t able to get a lot of great pictures of it because of its location and my work schedule at the computer mine. However, I was able to get a picture for Page 73 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.

Page 73 – Turn form into rhythm.

The idea of this photo page is to take a picture concentrating on the shapes that make up an object, rather than the object itself.

I can only physically adhere one picture into the physical THE PHOTO JOURNAL, but I did take a few other pictures:

These are the pages I still need to photograph:

Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason by Jason Evans. – This is a profoundly stupid page, but I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and do it at some point.
PAGE 27- Create drama around the edge of your frame.
Page 28 – Recreate a famous photograph without looking it up.
PAGE 31 – Tell a joke with two pictures.
Page 64 – Head out with a fellow photographer and play a game of photography dare.
PAGE 66-67 – Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).
PAGE 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compose your shot using touch rather than vision.
Page 106-107 – Email one of your pictures to your photography hero and ask them what they hate about it.
PAGE 116 – Shoot an advert where the image says it all without need for any additional copy.
Page 117 – Freeze the frame exactly 57 minutes and 32 seconds in to your favourite film. Take a picture inspired by what you see.
PAGE 121 – Show us that photography is a form of magic.
Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.

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Here is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is BLACK & WHITE:

BLACK & WHTIE

A BLACK & WHITE picture can be of any subject, as long as it is a BLACK & WHITE picture.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Boone County Fair, Formal Portrait, Kim, Micky, Monica, Scottie D., Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 201 – ANGER

July 22, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I thought for sure that this week would not be a double digit week, but it was! The 4th straight week! That makes me happy that so many of you found your ANGER, which I consider to be one of the hardest them of this set of 52.

A note, if you have an idea for a theme for the next set of 52, leave it in the Comments section of this here blog.

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

Andy Sharp

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Micky Augustin

Michelle Haupt

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Stephanie Kim

Tamara Peterson

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:

BLACK & WHITE

BLACK & WHITE! What a great theme! This is the closest you get to a wild card theme. You can literally take a picture of anything, and as long as that picture is in BLACK & WHITE, it qualifies for this theme.

You may have to do some editing after you take the picture, but a lot of digital cameras have a BLACK & WHITE setting.

This is my favorite theme, so I definitely look forward to 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 monochrome Monday!

Baby Got Rack, Boone County Fair, Contests, Jesse, Jodie Cue, Logan, Michelle, Monica, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Steph, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Page 16

July 19, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

REMINDER that starting tomorrow, my 5 entries for the Boone County Fair should be on display. They usually put them out about noon. They will be displayed in the Community Building.

Thanks to:

Logan Kahler
Jesse Howard
Michelle Haupt
Shannon Bardole-Foley
Monica Henning

For selecting the 5 entries.

Special thanks to Stephanie Kim who volunteered to pick a photo, but I think took it too seriously and ran out of time.

Plus thanks to Jodie Cue who volunteered to be an alternate.

Soon I’ll begin the process of selecting photos for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Keep your eyes peeled to this website for details!

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Last Friday I took off work early to go down to Van Meter to the military cemetery to join the Howards for Larry Howard’s graveside service. It isn’t the type of event where I take a camera or ever think about taking pictures. I’m not altogether comfortable taking pictures at a funeral, but this is, strangely, the second time that I’ve done such a thing.

However, after I arrived I was asked to take some pictures, so I did. I don’t know that I’ll share those, but we’ll see. After the service was over I wandered around the cemetery looking around. It was there that I stumbled across the perfect subject for Page 16 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.

Page 16 – Photograph the last thing that made you laugh.

With Page 16 put to rest, here are the following pages that I still need to photograph:

Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason by Jason Evans. – This is profoundly stupid page, but I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and do it at some point.
PAGE 27- Create drama around the edge of your frame.
Page 28 – Recreate a famous photograph without looking it up.
PAGE 31 – Tell a joke with two pictures.
Page 64 – Head out with a fellow photographer and play a game of photography dare.
PAGE 66-67 – Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).
Page 73 – Turn form into rhythm.
PAGE 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compse your shot using touch rather than vision.
Page 106-107 – Email one of your pictures to your photography hero and ask them what they hate about it.
PAGE 116 – Shoot an advert where the image says it all without need for any additional copy.
Page 117 – Freeze the frame exactly 57 minutes and 32 seconds in to your favourite film. Take a picture inspired by what you see.
PAGE 121 – Show us that photography is a form of magic.
Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.

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The Boone County Fair is going down right now, which means tomorrow is the annual barbecue/grill-out competition. Baby Got Rack will once again be there competing!

BABY GOT RACK!

If you are around the fair, go ahead and stop by and say hello. It is going to be a brutally hot one so you might want to check to see if we are still conscious.

We are taking a completely different set of recipes than we normally do, so we’ll see how it turns out. Baby Got Rack is nothing, but risk takers!

Hopefully it pays off and we qualify for the Iowa State Fair, but if it doesn’t, we will have no regrets!

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

An ANGER photo is any photo of somebody thit is ANGERy or something that makes you ANGERy.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Becky, Carla, Kim, Micky, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Still Life, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 200 – SIGNS

July 15, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

SIGNS were a very popular theme. In fact, it was the third week in a row that we hit double digits for submissions. I have a feeling that this week’s theme wont’t be so popular.

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

Micky Augustin

Kim Barker

Stephanie Kim

Teresa Kahler

Becky Parmelee

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Andy Sharp

Carla Stensland

Mike Vest

Shannon Bardole-Foley

ANGER

ANGER! What a great theme! But what is an ANGER picture? An ANGER picture is any picture that shows somebody that in in the middle of ANGER or the results of ANGER or something that creates ANGER.

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 angry Monday!

Brandon, Contests, Formal Portrait, Photo Journal, State Fair, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Page 36

July 12, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A week ago I went to my mailbox and found the results sheet from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon sitting in my mailbox waiting for me.

The Iowa State Fair Photography Salon is one of the most prestigious and hardest photo contests in the state. I usually count myself lucky if I get one picture accepted. There have been plenty of years where I have been shutout. It is always with low expectations when I grab the yellow card out of my mailbox and take a look at it:

It would appear that I got one picture accepted and that picture got an award. That is nice. If you pushed me on it, I would probably rather get multiple pictures in rather than an award, however an award comes with a cash prize, so that is nice.

I don’t know what picture got accepted, but I guess this gives you a reason to go to the Iowa State Fair. I will find out when I go to the Photographer’s Reception in early August.

Since I can’t pick up my pictures until the last day of the fair, it looks like I will be going to the fair on the last day again. If you would like to attend with me, let me know. I usually hit the fair about 11 AM on that day. Leave after 10 PM, so this isn’t a trip to be considered lightly. And if you are a woman, for God’s sake, wear sensible shoes!

Unfortunately, there is no badass band like Here Come the Mummies playing on the last day of the fair this year. However, Nelson will be taking the stage at 8 PM that night. Although I confess, I’ll probably try to make my way to the Bill Riley Stage at 8 PM to see Unspoken. They are a Christian rock band.

Looks like all the hands that were in the air to join me at the fair just went down when the bodies they were attached to read the words “Christian rock”. I’m telling you, Unspoken is a solid band and you would probably love the song “Who You Are” and more than enjoy the tune “Reason”. If you don’t like “Start A Fire”, I think you probably just have terrible taste in music.

Hit me up on the horn or the Snapchat or the Insta or the Tweets or the emails if you are interested.

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The other Sunday Brandon joined us for our post-church feeding. I have had my eye on Brandon for awhile now as the model for Page 36 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. I used this chance to get him to come over so we could get Page 36 knocked out.

Page 36 – Use shutter speed to capture anger.

I took several pictures for Page 36 (including one with a camera inside the aquarium), but only one can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL. Here are some of the other pictures I liked, but will only exist in the tunnels of cyberland:

The shutter speed on these pictures is 1/8000th of a second.

This is the list of pages I have left to capture for THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

PAGE 16 – Photograph the last thing that made you laugh.
Page 18 – Shoot the other half of this picture by Jason by Jason Evans.
PAGE 27- Create drama around the edge of your frame.
Page 28 – Recreate a famous photograph without looking it up.
PAGE 31 – Tell a joke with two pictures.
Page 64 – Head out with a fellow photographer and play a game of photography dare.
PAGE 66-67 – Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).
Page 73 – Turn form into rhythm.
PAGE 101 – Find an object, close your eyes and compse your shot using touch rather than vision.
Page 106-107 – Email one of your pictures to your photography hero and ask them what they hate about it.
PAGE 116 – Shoot an advert where the image says it all without need for any additional copy.
Page 117 – Freeze the frame exactly 57 minutes and 32 seconds in to your favourite film. Take a picture inspired by what you see.
PAGE 121 – Show us that photography is a form of magic.
Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.

I might be looking for some volunteers to help finish this project off.

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Reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SIGNS:

SIGNS

A SIGNS picture is any picture that involves a SIGN(S).

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Animals, Becky, Carla, Kim, Michelle, Naima, Road Trip, Shannon, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 199 – ROAD TRIP

July 8, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

We are approaching the Boone County Fair, which means that I need to select pictures for the Boone County Fair Photo Contest. I am picking those pictures in the same way that I did last year. I’m letting other people pick them for me.

The next FOUR people that text me that they are interested in picking one of my entries will get to pick my five entries for the Boone County Fair. Once you have been selected as a selector, I will send you instructions on how to make your selection.

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I don’t know if it was the holiday or if ROAD TRIP was just a particularly popular theme, but there were several submissions for the ROAD TRIP theme. The submissions were taken as far east as Chicago and as far north as near Canada.

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

Andy Sharp

Carla Stensland

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Kim Barker

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Becky Parmelee

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

SIGNS!

SIGNS! What a great theme! But what is a SIGNS photo? A SIGNS photo is literally any picture of a SIGN(s). Remember, there is more than one definition of SIGNS.

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.

+++++++

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!

Andy, Candid Portrait, Jaxon, Mission Trip, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Travel, Vacation, WPC - Reminder, Youth Group

Rapid City Mission Trip – Day 3

July 5, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I woke up Wednesday morning and it was the first night I got something that resembled sleep. My hair was starting to look greasy as the ice cold shower wasn’t being 100% effective in washing out the travel shampoo-conditioner combo I had brought on the trip.

We got up and went to Black Hills Works. What had been awkward on the first day was now becoming routine. I knew the names of most of the clients and how to communicate with them.

It was the first day that I made a connection with Amy. Amy was one of my favorite clients because I think she has the system worked out. Amy spends most of her day in the fitness center. In the fitness center is one massage chair. Amy monopolizes that chair.

I also had a good conversation with Mike in one of the learning centers and helped with BINGO in the other learning center. I also played lots of War and Go Fish and UNO Attack and Yahtzee.

When we went to the shower site I went down to the basement shower with I think his name was Ken. I freely admit that one of my biggest weaknesses is learning the names of the other adults from the other church’s. It was either Ken or Steve. I know the Pastor from one of the other churches was named Tom because I had a couple long conversations with him. I had a long conversation with Ken or Steve as well, but I just can’t pull the trigger on his name.

The only thing I can remember about the other adults is that the kids in our church were convinced that a couple of the other adults were having extramaritals. I don’t believe that they were, but I didn’t put much effort into trying to convince them otherwise. This usually throws gasoline on the high school imaginations. Best to let those embers rest.

As Ken/Steve and I were waiting for the kids to finish up there showers so that we could enjoy the mountain stream that was the shower, a guy came walking down our hallway wearing a raccoon tail. Not a raccoon hat. A raccoon tail. Coming from his backside. He tried to go into the youth shower but we stopped him and let him know that there were kids in there and he would have to wait.

When our last youth came out of the showers, Ken/Steve and I went into the locker room and got ready for the shower. Raccoon Tail followed us in and then just sat in the locker room staring at his phone.

When I got out of the shower, he was still just sitting there. Staring at his phone. I never feared for my safety, but man was it creepy. I hoped I wouldn’t see Raccoon Tail again.

That night our cultural event was going to the Club for Boys and learning to dance with the Lakota. I can tell you that this was a tremendous workout. I must have sweat out about a gallon and my quads were on fire by the end of the night.

Despite Wyatt ratting us out, I still took the group to Armadillo’s for ice cream and our Church Time. This is always a light Church Time. With the set up at Armadillo’s it is difficult to communicate as a group. Jaxon wanted to run Church Time, so I let him. We went around and shared our favorite part of the trip so far.

Then we announced that anybody that we were going to take an early morning trip to Dinosaur Park. Anybody that wanted to go needed to be awake by 6 AM.

Here are some pictures from the day:

The pictures with the potato dancers was a contest. I think Andy and I finished just out of the medal stand. Kyle and Autumn finished second, but they were bested by experienced potato dancers, so I consider them to be the winners.

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Here is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ROAD TRIP:

ROAD TRIP

A ROAD TRIP photo is any photo you take on a ROAD TRIP or preparations you make for a ROAD TRIP.

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Becky, Billy, Candid Portrait, Carla, Dory, Kim, Micky, Nate, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 198 – CANDID PORTRAIT

July 1, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

While BREAKFAST was a universally hated theme, CANDID PORTRAIT made a bit of a rebound.

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

Andy Sharp

Becky Parmelee

Kim Barker

Andy Sharp

Christopher D. Bennett

Stephanie Kim

Carla Stensland

Micky Augustin

Mike Vest

ROAD TRIP!

ROAD TRIP! What a great theme! But what is a ROAD TRIP photo? A ROAD TRIP photo is any photo that involves the act or preparation of going on a ROAD TRIP. It doesn’t have to be a huge ROAD TRIP. Some time just driving to work in the morning can feel like a ROAD TRIP to me.

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.

+++++++

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 open road Monday!

Andy, Kim, Still Life, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 197 – BREAKFAST

June 30, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

As it turns out, BREAKFAST was an extremely unpopular theme. One of the most popular themes ever. Which means that I will definitely bring it back next year. I like to give unpopular themes multiple chances.

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

Andy Sharp

Christopher D. Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Kim Barker

Andy Sharp

Hopefully this week’s theme will rebound the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE to greatness.

Mom, Photo Journal, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Work, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Page 109

June 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Ever since the first time I flipped through THE PHOTO JOURNAL and landed on Page 109, I knew exactly where I wanted to take that picture. I flipped flopped on what I wanted the subject to be, but I never waiver on the setting.

It wasn’t until a week or so before I took the photo that I decided on what I wanted the subject to be. I decided the subject should be me.

Occasionally on Wednesdays I shoot over the ISU Surplus Sale. I don’t usually buy anything, (although I occasionally I come home with a gem) but I like to peruse. A week before I finally pulled the trigger on Page 109, I planned on taking this picture. However, after I left the ISU Surplus Sale and headed west on Airport Road to take the image, I found something terrible. The setting had been fenced off. It now required a security code to get there. A security code I didn’t have. It became obvious that Page 109 was going to need a new setting.

Then out of nowhere I got an email that Micky, I, and others were going to take a Computer Mine Field Trip out there. Boom! Plan back on!

Page 109 – Photograph a word to change its meaning.

While I can only physically adhere one image into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take one more photo that I feel like sharing:

I think I have about 10-15 of these pages left.

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Here is you weekly reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is CANDID PORTRAIT:

CANDID PORTRAIT

Happy photo harvesting!