Category Archives: WPC – Reminder

Art, Black & White, Calendar, Christianity, History, Holidays, Music, Road Trip, Still Life, Travel, WPC - Reminder

Fayette & Winneshiek County Aux – Vol. 2

December 24, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Today is Christmas Eve. This year I didn’t share any kind of Advent Candle Devotionals. I think it is just part of Christmas sneaking up on me this year. But I better share one. The one for lighting the Christ Candle tonight.

Advent hope moves us; Advent love leads us; Advent joy stirs us; Advent peace stills us, that we might affirm our King Jesus.

It is time we set flame to this Advent affirmation by lighting the Christ Candle.

We believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judea. He was the long-awaited Messiah whose coming was prophesied. The same Jesus lives today in our hearts. He deserves our highest loyalty and total commitment. In Jesus Christ, our hope is fulfilled; our love is consummated; our joy is complete; and our peace is sealed.

Rejoice, a Savior is born.

A savior is born, indeed. Joy to the world!

Merry Christmas Eve everybody!

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Time to reveal the May image for the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar:

May

This image is of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, Florida. It is also an image I knew that I was going to process in black and white. I was in Miami Beach for the computer mine and I happened across the memorial sorta by accident. I knew it existed because Tony had brought it up, but I didn’t actually intend to see it. I was walking around the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens that were unfortunately closed and I walked straight into one of the most unique and powerful pieces of art I have ever seen.

May is my birthday month, so I frequently like to put a picture that I don’t think will have a lot of mass appeal, but that I personally love. It is sort of a gift to myself.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M2
DATE: May 22, 2022 – 6:30 PM
LENS: Tamron 17-28 f/2.8
FOCAL LENGTH: 17mm
APERTURE: f/5
EXPSOURE: 1/80
ISO: 100
EXPOSURE BIAS: +1.0
FIELD OF VIEW: 93.3 degrees

Tomorrow I will reveal the June image of the 2023 Photography 139 Calendar.

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Time to reveal the second collection of images I took while cruising around Fayette and Winneshiek Counties harvesting their town signs.

Waucoma

Fort Atkinson

Spillville

I’ll talk about the Bily Clock Museum in a future post. It a pretty cool museum with one of a kind clocks that only exist in that museum.

Still more to share from this road trip.

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

EXPLORE

REMINDER: Next Monday is the day after Christmas. It isn’t a holiday per se, but most people don’t work. I don’t work at my day job. I might just go on a road trip that day. What I am saying is plan to get your submission in cause you might not get any kind of reminder.
EXPLORE! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is an EXPLORE picture? Simply put it is a picture taken of somebody that is EXPLOR(E)ing or trying to at least. See Billy’s efforts in the theme reveal image. It can be of something you found when you were out on the EXPLORE. Or it could be a picture of things you use when you are out on the EXPLORE. There are so many possibilities!

Happy photo harvesting!

Event, Iowa State, Street Photography, WPC - Reminder

Soap Box Derby

December 16, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Back in June I went to the Red Bull Soap Box Derby in Des Moines. Nathanial was competing and I wanted to check out his team, but truth is I probably would have went even if I didn’t know anybody that was competing. It was some kind of scene.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

I don’t know when or if the Soap Box Derby will come back to Iowa, but I would definitely go again!

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

WATER

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

But what is a WATER picture? Simply put, a WATER picture is a picture where one of the major compositional elements is WATER or related to WATER. For example, in the them reveal picture is a WATER tower. The picture doesn’t necessarily have to include straight WATER. But can be something that is WATER related. Or a picture of something that contains WATER.

Happy photo harvesting!

Angie, Animals, Art, Sabas, Sara, State Fair, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

ISF Last Day Wanderings

December 9, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

This is the final collection of pictures from the Iowa State Fair (nonflower) that I have left to share. These pictures are from the last day of the Fair. I attend it with Teresa.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s Iowa State Fair!

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I did this thing on Monday where I accidentally posted Sara’s picture twice and Sabas’ picture never. So to clarify and get Sabas’ picture some airtime, here they both are… labelled correctly:

Sara Lockner

Sabas Hernandez

Sorry for the mistake. Won’t be the last time I make one.

Here is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is STREET PHOTOGRAPHY:

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

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

But what is STREET PHOTOGRAPHY? Besides consistently the least popular theme… every single year. This is the most important thing to note: it is NOT a picture of a street. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY is photography that is done in a public place. The most popular version would be candid portraits, but it doesn’t have to be a portrait. It can be anything found in public. Like a piece of public art. Anything you find in public that interests you.

And if you think you need some extra inspiration, look into the works of Vivian Maier, Henri Cartier-Besson, Saul Leiter, Robert Frank, and Garry Winogrand. Some of the greatest street photographers of all-time.

Vivian Maier’s history is particularly interesting, and worth a Google search.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Basketball, Boone FUMC, Carla, Derrick, Football, Iowa State, Jason, Jesse, Nader, Naima, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

Selfie Project – November 2022

December 3, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

I don’t know that November was a particularly active month for me. It is getting to the hardest part of the year to do this project. The sun isn’t up when I go to work. It is barely up when I get off work. That being said, I think I took a few decent picture in November for THE SELFIE PROJECT:

November 1

November 3

November 4

November 5

November 6

November 8

November 9

November 10

November 11

November 12

November 13

November 15

November 17

November 19

November 20

November 21

November 22

November 23

November 24

November 25

November 27

November 28

November 29

I don’t know that I’ll be that active in December either. But I’ll try.

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

ANIMAL

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

But what is an ANIMAL picture? Simply put it is a picture of an ANIMAL. It can be a wild ANIMAL or it can be a pet or it can be a stuffed ANIMAL or it can be a statue of an ANIMAL. It can be a dog or a bird or a squirrel or a fish or a lizard or a dog or a deer or a possum or a dog or a hamster or a rat or a dog or a bear or an alligator or a dog.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Art, Evie, Iowa State, Jen, Layla, State Fair, WPC - Reminder

Iowa State Fair – Day 1 Wanderings

November 25, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

After we watched Evie’s Irish dance group perform, we wandered the State Fair for several hours taking in the sights. Here are some pictures from our day:

I went to the Iowa State Fair two more days, so lots more Iowa State Fair adventure pictures left to share.

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

IN THE AIR

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

But what is an IN THE AIR image? Simply put, an IN THE AIR image is a picture where the subject of your picture is untethered from the earth. So a flag, that is technically IN THE AIR, but it is still tethered to a flagpole, which is tethered to the earth. (Yeah technically everything is tethered to the earth via gravity, but take it easy Isaac.) This picture can be as simple as throwing something up in the air (or have somebody else do it) and taking a picture of it. An exercise that produces interesting pictures is throw something to somebody and take a picture of them trying to catch it. The portraits you can get this way are often intriguing and are a different way to see somebody.

Happy photo harvesting!

Boone FUMC, Evie, Jen, Layla, State Fair, Street Photography, WPC - Reminder

Iowa State Fair – Irish Dancing

November 18, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Probably well past time I start sharing pictures from my trips to the Iowa State Fair. I went to the Iowa State Fair 3 times this year. The first time I went was on the first day of the Fair with Jen, Evie, and Layla for Evie’s dance performance with her Irish Dancing Group.

The first collection of pictures I’m going to share are from their performance:

As you surely noticed, Evie did lose a shoe during one her performances, but she mustered on like a champ. Layla got stung by a bee or wasp while watching the performance, so she earned a merit badge too.

Plenty more pictures from that trip to the Iowa State Fair left to share!

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

COMMUNICATION

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

But what is a COMMUNICATION photo? A COMMUNICATION photo is simply a photo where the subject or a major compositional element shows a form of COMMUNICATION. The theme reveal picture is of a sign that is COMMUNICATIONing that there are rules to using this parking lot. It is for church parking and no overnight parking is allowed. While signs are great at COMMUNICATIONing, there are all sorts of COMMUNICATION. The phone. A letter. A postcard. Talking. Just talking to somebody.

Happy photo harvesting!

Event, Evie, Jen, Layla, Music, WPC - Reminder

Renaissance Faire – Misc

November 4, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Back in May I met up with Jen, Layla and the twins at the Renaissance Faire down in Des Moines to watch Evie do her Irish dance thing.

Here is a collection of pictures from just walking around the Faire:

There is one more collection of pictures from my day at the Renaissance Faire left to share.

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

DECORATION

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

But what exactly is a DECORATION photo? A DECORATION image is simply a picture of a DECORATION or a picture where a DECORATION plays a heavy element in the composition.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Event, Evie, Jen, Layla, WPC - Reminder

Renaissance Faire – Knight Battle

October 28, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett 9 Comments

Way back in May I met up with Jen, Layla, and the twins at the Renaissance Faire down in Des Moines to watch Evie dance. I’ve already shared the pictures of Evie dancing, but I took plenty more pictures on that day.

This collection is of the knight battle we watched. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting a sword duel that would put the sword fight between Inigo Montoya and the Dread Pirate Roberts to shame. This was mostly dudes in armor kind of grabbing each other and trying to throw the other to the ground.

While Inigo Montoya’s swordplay still stands as the greatest these eyes have ever seen, this battle was still fun to watch.

I’m not steeped in Renaissance Faire culture. I knew some people in college that were involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism, but I was too big of a jerk then to take anything they said seriously. Therefore, I didn’t learn much. But my understanding, is that one of the knights in the battle had to win so many fights to become fully knighted or something like that. I should have taken notes.

One thing I remember clearly is that it was incredibly hot that day, so wearing all that armor and fighting, must have been brutal. The guy trying to earn his title was wearing a helmet that didn’t have a way to access his face, so in between bouts they had to run a tube from a water bottle through the helmet to keep him hydrated.

I still have a couple more collections of pictures from the Renaissance Faire to share.

I wasn’t sure if I was a Renaissance Faire Person, but I had a great time. I hope Evie dances down there again next year and I get to go again.

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

ART

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

But what is an ART image? It is simply a picture of something that is a piece of ART. I would urge you to not just take a standard straight on picture of a piece of ART. Try to see it from a different angle than it might be normally viewed. While your subject might be ART, your interpretation of your subject should be ARTistic. Now a truly arrogant photographer could just claim that every picture they take is ART.

Happy photo harvesting!

Carla, Contests, Fisheye, Greyson, Kio, Logan, Monica, Pufferbilly Days, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

Pufferbilly Day 2022 – Photo Contest

October 21, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of images from Pufferbilly Days. This collection is the behind the scenes pictures from the Photo Contest. Which for the most part went well, but there are already ideas being explored to streamline some of the process. By streamline the process, I mean find ways for me to do less work.

There is going to be a new person running Pufferbilly Days in 2023. Laura moved on to a job at the best university in all the land, so it is hard to blame her. I don’t know how that will effect that Photo Contest, but I don’t think it will much. Those might be famous last words.

I imagine many of the same people will help me again next year. But I bet there will be some new people as well. I have my eye on some of you.

I’ve kind of gotten used to using Fridays to mostly share pictures from fairs or festivals. I think next Friday I will share some pictures from a Renaissance Festival I attended back in May.

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

LINES

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

But what is LINES photo? Lines are a very powerful compositional element. The eye will naturally follow lines through the image. This is why they use of leading LINES is a very popular tool. That would be placing your subject at the end of a line in the picture. But you don’t have to just use leading LINES. Just any picture of a LINE(S) would work. Whether they lead somewhere or nowhere. Of course there are all sorts of different types of LINES. There are LINES to the bathroom (or so I’m told, I’m a man, I’ve never experienced such a thing) or LINES at a cash register. Traffic LINES. Some of us that are a little more aged even have LINES on our face. In some ways, it is practically impossible to take an in-focus picture that doesn’t include LINES.

Happy photo harvesting!

Cathie, Flowers, Macro, Olympic Sports, WPC - Reminder

Pufferbilly Days 2022 – Mud Volleyball

October 14, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

Sometimes it happens that in my haste to post the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE images I let one slip through the cracks. This week was one of those. Cathie actually submitted two pictures, but I only posted one for VIOLET. Cathie is one of those hardcore one submission I week folks, so I completely missed her second picture. So enjoy it now:

Cathie Morton

Cathie’s submissions were take in the Bahamas. So, that is another place on the map to color in.

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For the first time ever, I went out to watch some of the mud volleyball tournament during Pufferbilly Days. I wasn’t sure I knew anybody that was competing, but I think my cousin Toby usually competes. I thought I would probably take pictures of a couple of games, but I immediately ran into Fran, so I ended up just taking pictures of one of her team’s games. I really only knew Fran on her team, so really, this is just a bunch of pictures of Fran, on some level.

Mud volleyball:

I’ll definitely have to check out the mud volleyball again next year. I’ll have to check with Fran ahead of time to see if she is competing again.

I still have one or maybe two more collections of Pufferbilly Days photos to share. I’m on the fence for sharing the pictures from the model train swap meet. They aren’t great. We will see.

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

MACRO

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

But what exactly is a MACRO photo? There is a long technical definition of MACRO photography that involves being a 1:1 ratio on 35 mm film, but for our purposes, just think of MACRO photography as getting close to your subject. On this theme you should figure out what the closest focusing distance of your camera is and be awful close to that in your closeness to your subject.

Happy photo harvesting!