Category Archives: WPC – Alternate

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

Hammering away at the backlog. This is a collection of pictures I took in April that never really had a place in previous “An Artist’s Notebook” post. Some of these pictures were taken for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, but not used. Some are from Easter. Enjoy!


I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Shy and Lowly - 2022

I Read All of Your Self-Help Books

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Easter - 2022

Still a few more April images left to curate and share. But none of them involve dropping Mentos into Orange Soda.

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

Seems like a good time to clean up all the pictures from March that I haven’t shared before. There is still one more collection, but I’m going to keep those for myself I think. I don’t keep many for myself, dang exhibitionist tendencies, but those I think I will.

Some of these pictures I took for the SHADOW reveal for when it was the theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Others were taken for the theme ABSTRACT, but I didn’t use them because there can only be one.

I love doing ABSTRACT photography. It isn’t popular. I think I’ve only heard one person ever say they enjoy it, (hi Monica), but on the other hand, there aren’t people that openly hate it, like my flowertography. I’m sure there are people that hate it, just nobody sends me messages about how much they hate my abstract photography, like people do with my flowertography.


And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

And Your Favorite Songs by Heart

I suppose I should start working on the April backlog now.

Rodan139: Richland

Back in May, while I was cruising around Keokuk County harvesting their town signs, I stopped in Richland to pub Rodan139 in the air. My main goal was take a picture for that week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme. That theme was SQUARE. But I also took a few other pictures.

Have a look:


Rodan 139: Richland
This is actually my block.

Rodan 139: Richland
This is Richland.

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

Rodan 139: Richland

One of my 2023 goals is to get Rodan139 out and about more this year. We’ll see how I do.

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


WEEK 384 - RED
RED

RED! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a RED image?

A RED image is simply an image where the subject or a major compositional element of the image is the color RED. That is simple enough!

Happy photo harvesting!

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

Taking another Sunday to clean up some, but not all of the March images that I haven’t shared in the past. This will be a fairly short post, but there are more March images to clean up.


And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew Hou You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

And I Knew How You Took Your Coffee

Some of these were alternate images taken for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. For the themes HOBBIES and GOVERNMENT.

Someday I’m going to get back to Formal Portrait Sundays. I swear this is true.

‘Cause I Thought You’d Like Me More

I’m putting off Formal Portrait Sunday for at least another week. The people that were supposed to be featured today recently broke up, so I’m not sure if I should still post the pictures. I’ve decided just to think on it and we will see what happens next week. Or the week after that.

Instead, I’m going to publish a bunch of pictures from January I never published. Some are from an experiment with a fisheye lens. I’m still not particularly comfortable with my current fisheye lens. I need to really work with it more. Which means, for you, you might start seeing way more fisheye lens pictures. Get pumped.

The rest of the images are pictures that didn’t make the cut for various THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes. Like LOVE and TRIANGLE, for example.


'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

'Cause I Thought You'd Like Me More

I can’t believe that it is almost Christmas. I’ve done pretty much no decorating. Carla and I did the reading and lit the 4th Advent Candle in church today and it still doesn’t feel like Christmas to me. Maybe I’ll get there.

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

Today I’m going to share a collection of images that I took for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme BLACK & WHITE, but they didn’t make the cut. As you know, BLACK & WHITE is my first love in photography and therefore will always be a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. And with that statement, now you know 1 of the 52 themes for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. The other 51 will remain a mystery for the time being.

In this collection are pictures of Logan that are similar to the image I ultimately chose as my interpretation of the theme. There are also pictures of Naima sitting on our couch and pictures taken in McHose Park. These pictures were taken back in January as BLACK & WHITE was the first theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. There were 29 other submissions for it.

Here are the rejected:


I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

I Wore Makeup When We Dated

You might look at the last picture of Logan and be thinking, “Hey, wait a second! That picture isn’t black and white! What is with these shenanigans!”

That picture was originally taken in black and white and then I colorized it with a neural filter in Photoshop. Someday I might cover the neural filters in Photoshop. I’d like to get back to some of the “how-to” posts again in the future. Hopefully I’ll get back to that, someday. But even a fool will tell you…

The swirl effect in the last two pictures of Logan are 100% in-camera effect though. No how to post on that coming though.

Fat Mum Slim – May 2022

On Tuesday I completed another month of the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. It was month of random prompts and I think for the most part, there is some good work mixed in with mediocre work. The kind of thing you get with a Photo A Day Challenge. This month I took pictures in 3 different states. Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota. I’m not sure how many different towns I took pictures in, but for sure it was Boone, Miami, Miami Beach, Des Moines, Ames, Nevada, Alta Vista, and Minneapolis. A few in rural areas as well.

Here are May’s pictures:


May 1
May 1 – This is Me

May 2
May 2 – Good Morning

May 3
May 3 – Free Choice

May 4
May 4 – Trees

May 5
May 5 – Mirrors

May 6
May 6 – Leaf

May 7
May 7 – View from Here

May 8
May 8 – Love

May 9
May 9 – A Seat

May 10
May 10 – Where I Stood

May 11
May 11 – Something Small

May 12
May 12 – In Nature – See the turtle?

May 13
May 13 – Green

May 14
May 14 – Sunshine

May 15
May 15 – Upside Down

May 16
May 16 – This Season

May 17
May 17 – A Shape

May 18
May 18 – A Door

May 19
May 19 – Creative

May 20
May 20 – I Read This…

May 21
May 21 – Waves

May 22
May 22 – Flying

May 23
May 23 – Stairs

May 24
May 24 – A Pair

May 25
May 25 – Something Warm

May 26
May 26 – Pink

May 27
May 27 – Lucky

May 28
May 28 – Horizon

May 29
May 29 – A Car

May 30
May 30 – Sky

May 31
May 31 – This is Also Me

The plant that is in the picture for May 6 is also the plant in the picture for May 17.

There is only one prompt for the month of June. That is Grateful. The instructions are simply take a photo each day of something you’re grateful for.

This could be a very difficult month or a very easy one. I have a ton of things in my life to be grateful for, so in theory it should be pretty easy. But on the other hand, it is actually coming in to contact with those things (or more directly people) to get the pictures that I want in my head. I’ll at least try to make it happen. Or maybe my Instagram feed will just be filled with 30 pictures of nonsense. It could break either way.

Remember, you can follow along with this project on the daily at the Instagram account I’ve created just for this project at @fmsbennett.

Here’s hoping June goes well and that you are grateful you get to see those pictures.

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


WEEK 351 - FLOWER
FLOWER

FLOWER! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a FLOWER picture? Simply put, a FLOWER picture is any picture where a FLOWER is a major compositional element of the picture. The FLOWER can be real. The FLOWER can be fake. The FLOWER can be a artistic rendering. There are so many options!

Happy photo harvesting!

If You Look to the Sky and Pray

I need to start this post by encouraging you (if you have a pet) to enter the Pufferbilly Days Pet Show. It is this Sunday at 11 AM. Registration begins at 10:45. It is located at Veterans Park (9th and Story). Awards are given to the dog that is the Best Beggar, does the Best Trick, and had the Best Tail Wag. For Misc. pets, prizes are given to the Most Unique, the Most Colorful, and the pet with the Most Appropriate Name. There is a prize given for Most Look-Alike and Best in Show. Also some awards for cats, I assume.

Here is a flyer that has the ratio way off.



The Pet Show is open to all ages of humans and pets. As you can tell, this isn’t a super serious competition. So grab Fido and come on down for some fun with your four-legged (or two legs if it is a bird) friend! Also, no poultry.

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I haven’t taken Rodan139 out hardly at all this year. In fact, probably less than 5 times. I need to start stretching its wings more than I have. But here is a tiny collection of the last 2 extremely brief flights that it went on. One was just to look at all the fireworks going off around town. The others are alternates for my THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme of PATHS.


4th of July - 2021

4th of July - 2021

4th of July - 2021

Paths - Alternate

Paths - Alternate

Paths - Alternate

Paths - Alternate

I’m laying down my pick and taking about a week long sabbatical from the Computer Mine starting next week, so hopefully I’ll get Rodan139 out of the hangar at least once in that time frame.

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


WEEK 308 - TOY
TOY

TOY! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a TOY image? Simply put, a TOY image is a picture of something that you use for recreation. It isn’t used for work. It is used for play. However, what one person might consider a TOY, another person might consider a TOOL. What is considered a TOY might be more personal than one thinks at first glance.

Happy photo harvesting!

Congregation

This collection of images is cleaning up some random photos from January and February. The highlight and the majority of these images are taken from when Logan brought Dahlia over see Mom and Teresa.


Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

Congregation

That was a good day!

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


WEEK 302 - COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a COMMUNICATION image? It is simply any picture that shows a type of COMMUNICATION or people COMMUNICATIONing or things that are used for COMMUNICATION. For example, in the theme reveal there are several things being COMMUNICATIONed. The business is a carwash. The phone number to reach the proprietor is 515-890-1900. Somebody fears the commercialization of Christmas. They also must like fish. Signs are a great form of COMMUNICATION, as just an example.

Happy photo harvesting!