Category Archives: Christianity

Art, Black & White, Christianity, Road Trip

Hancock County Auxiliary Images Vol. 1

October 31, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Several weeks back I cruised around Hancock County harvesting their town signs. It was a solo trip. Some of these pictures were taken in Hamilton County. I stopped in Webster City to take a picture of their courthouse. Here is the first collection of auxiliary images from this road trip:

Warning to the Puritans in the audience, there be boobs ahead!

Webster City

Goodell

Kanawha

Corwith

Garner

Duncan

Britt

This is something that has bothered me ever since I’ve seen it. The One Nation Under God wall. That seems fine to me. But why did they think it was necessary to add “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. Do they not respect Hindu or Sikh or the other over 200 religions recognized by the United States Military? Is it necessary to put up a stinger that says, “Screw you Buddhist veterans!”

I don’t think so.

And my actual theory is that this was a clumsy attempt to be Islamophobic. Although I believe that Moslems would argue that they do worship the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” I mean after all, Abraham (Ibrahim) is the second most referenced person in the Qu’ran. Even bad attempts at Islamaphobia are disgraceful.

But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the people of Britt just really hate Wiccan Veterans. Either way, it ruins what is otherwise a beautiful park giving tribute to veterans.

Art, Baseball/Softball, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Christianity, Flowers, Road Trip, Shannon

Warren County Auxiliary Images Vol. 3

October 20, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final set of peripheral images I took on my road trip with Shannon harvesting the town signs of Warren County. The last couple of pictures are from Maxwell that I took on my way back home. I stopped there because I still needed to photograph their Freedom Rock. They have a tank next to their Freedom Rock. Story County don’t play.

Martensdale

Churchville

Cumming

Summerset

Maxwell

It was a good trip and hopefully Shannon joins me for another town sign harvesting trip in the future.

Art, Automobiles, Christianity, History, Road Trip, Ruins, Shannon

Warren County Auxiliary Images Vol. 2

October 15, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is a second collection of auxiliary images I took while harvesting the town signs of Warren County with Shannon.

Medora

New Virginia

Couldn’t quite figure out what this was…

This is one of the most enigmatic things I’ve come across in my travels. It was just there. No explanation. Nobody monitoring it. Nothing else around it.

Shannon really wanted to take this picture.

You didn’t know The 4 Wheel Drive was invented in Iowa, did you?

St Marys

They must’ve heard I was coming to town.

87 wins in a row! That is impressive!

88 wins in a row! That is even more impressive!

The streak was 88 wins in a row. It was eventually ended by Des Moines East, which is a school that has more students than St Marys and Martensdale has people combined.

About that 4 Wheel Drive, Here is the story from the Des Moines Concours website:

At the 2020 Des Moines Concours, we’re honoring the Iowa roots of 4-wheel drive. Our 4×4 and 4-Wheel Drive Class pays tribute to the foundational work of Jesse Livingood in creating a 4-wheel drive attachment for a Ford automobile in 1914.

At the time, Iowa’s road system covered a good portion of the state. Roads, particularly in rural Iowa, were little more than graded dirt. Iowa’s “gravel bees” in 1916 and 1917 saw the first concerted efforts by communities to make huge improvements of these roads.

Livingood lived in New Virginia, Iowa and ran his repair shop out of an empty corn crib on the family farm. He tinkered as he sought to improve traction, reduce wear, and lower the running costs of driving on Iowa’s roads and around the farm. This led him to develop a bolt-on 4-wheel drive system that he fitted to a Ford Model T. The system could be mounted to any Ford chassis in three to four hours, and would provide braking on all corners and sure footing in mud, sand, and snow or any other inclement weather Iowa could muster.

Livingood is credited for many more inventions including the “pulley and ball” thrust bearing, the differential transmission, the speed governor, two- and four-cylinder steam engines, and the four-wheel brake system. Sadly, due to errors at the U.S. Patent Office, Livingood did not profit from his inventions and lived a modest life.

There will be one more collection of Warren County pictures.

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

PASSION

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

But what is a PASSION picture? First we need to establish the difference between love and PASSION. What separates PASSION from love isn’t just a warm feeling about something or somebody. PASSION is what you are willing to suffer for. That is why the movie is called THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST not THE WARM FUZZIES OF THE CHRIST. Because Jesus’ love for us was so intense that he was willing to suffer for us. In the theme reveal picture it shows the result of Jesus’ PASSION for us as he has been lowered from the cross into Mary’s arms after being tortured to death for our sins. I’m sure there are many things in your life that you love. But this challenge asks you to take a picture of something you love so much that you are willing to suffer for it. Remember though the PASSION in your submission doesn’t have to be your own. It can be somebody else’s PASSION as well.

Happy photo harvesting!

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

Warren County Auxiliary Images Vol. 1

October 13, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back I travelled around Warren County with Shannon harvesting the town signs of Warren County. Here is the first collection of auxiliary images from that trip:

Indianola

Ackworth

Beech

Milo

This would be a great idea for people like my neighbor Stan.

I love that Milo took memorial benches up to an 11!

Lacona – Breakfast purchased the day before at Rinehart’s.

Liberty Center

The Town Sign Project Auxiliary Images gallery now houses over 1,000 images! To take a gander, click on the link below:

Town Sign Project Auxiliary Images

There is at least one more collection of images from this trip coming. Probably two.

Andy, Bill, Carla, Christianity, Elizabeth, Holidays, Jen, Kim, Michelle, Shannon, Still Life, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 317 – TIME

October 11, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Need to start today by wishing everybody a Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day and remember F*CK Christopher Columbus. For raping 9 and 10 year old girls. For the murder of 8 million Arawahs, while enslaving them. For cannibalism. For feeding babies to dogs. For using biological weapons to kill 97 million people. Yeah, F*CK Christopher Columbus.

But this day isn’t about reminding people that Christopher Columbus was one of the most evil persons in history and isn’t worth of veneration and should be thought of in the way that people think of Hitler or Stalin or the Confederacy. It is to celebrate the people who first called this land home. To remember the struggles and tragedies they endured. To honor their place in and contributions to the shared story of America.

And for that reason, I share the amazing Navajo prayer Walking in Beauty:

In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful…

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!

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It appears that a few people made TIME for TIME.

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

Andy Sharp

Bill Wentworth

Christopher D. Bennett

Teresa Kahler

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Elizabeth Nordeen

Carla Stensland

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:

PASSION

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

But what is a PASSION picture? First we need to establish the difference between love and PASSION. What separates PASSION from love isn’t just a warm feeling about something or somebody. PASSION is what you are willing to suffer for. That is why the movie is called THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. Because Jesus’ love for us was so intense that he was willing to suffer for us. In the theme reveal picture it shows the result of Jesus’ PASSION for us as he has been lowered from the cross into Mary’s arms. I’m sure there are many things in your life that you love. But this challenge asks you to take a picture of something you love so much that you are willing to suffer for it. Remember though the PASSION in your submission doesn’t have to be your own. It can be somebody else’s PASSION as well.

While considering your options for a PASSION submission, consider the following quote:

It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind.
-T.S. Eliot

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing our idea of PASSION in this place that has caused more than its fair share of suffering the next Monday.

Art, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Carla, Christianity, Flowers, History, Nature, Road Trip, WPC - Reminder

BUTLER COUNTY AUXILIARY IMAGES VOL. 2

October 8, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of auxiliary images I took while on a road trip with Carla to Butler County to harvest their town signs.

Clarksville

If you aren’t down with Mollie B, you aren’t down with me.

Allison

Greene

Aredale

Bristow

Butler Center

Ackley

I plan in great detail the order in which I will harvest the town signs on these trips, but I don’t really plan for other stops. I like these trips to be as organic as possible and to be surprised at the things I find. One of the most amazing discoveries on this trip was that memorial garden/park we found in Bristow with the little chapel. I had no clue it existed and I was so glad we found it.

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

TIME

What exactly is a TIME photo? In a way, all images are a TIME photo because all pictures record a little slice of TIME that will never ever happen again. Your challenge is to figure out how to capture that slice of TIME. Will you use a quick shutter speed to freeze TIME? Will you use a slow shutter speed to make TIME seem more fluid? Will you be more literal and like the theme reveal image take a picture of a TIME recording device?

Happy photo harvesting!

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

Butler County Auxiliary Images Vol. 1

October 3, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A few weeks back I tooled around Butler County with Carla harvesting their town signs. I’ve already shared pictures from the beautiful garden in New Hartford. This is a collection of other images I took on the trip.

I have so many questions.

Aplington

I have questions about the hours.

Parkersburg

New Hartford

Shell Rock

I’m not on Boone’s Art Council and I am not privy to their budget or plans, but I think something they could do that would be cool would be to restore the old faded advertising murals in Boone. You can see how cool they look in Shell Rock. There are at least 2 in Boone I can think of off the top of my head that haven’t been painted over that would look great repainted.

There will be one more collection of pictures from Butler County in the future.

Art, Automobiles, Christianity, Road Trip, Ruins

Sac County and Ida County Auxiliary Images Vol. 3

September 24, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the third and final collection of images I took while harvesting the town signs of Sac County and Ida County. However all of these pictures were taken in Pocahontas County, Webster County, and Hamilton County.

Varina

Fonda

Palmer

Fort Dodge

Stanhope

I have a feeling that werewolves drive a pretty hard bargain when selling cars.

The next county to share auxiliary images from is Butler County. Flowertography haters be warned, we came across an amazing garden there!

Art, Christianity, Road Trip, Ruins

Calhoun County Auxiliary Images

September 15, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Several weeks back on went on a road trip where I harvested the balance of town signs I needed for Calhoun County and also crossed over to Sac County to grab a few of theirs. I like to always harvest a few extra signs on these trips. I still do, but I also now am taking a different tact for choosing what counties I am harvesting that I think will speed up the process a bit. The changes have made a difference I do believe. But that is a story for another day.

Here are the auxiliary images I took on my road trip to Calhoun and Sac County:

Manson

Pomeroy

Jolley

Rockwell City

Lytton

Sac City

I’m really far behind in sharing auxiliary images. I should get on that, maybe someday when my schedule opens up a little bit.

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

Humboldt County Auxiliary Images

August 25, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weekends back I tooled around Humboldt County and harvested their town sign. Here is a collection of some of the auxiliary images I took on this road trip, including some I took as I went back south threw Calhoun County.

Humboldt

Renwick

LuVerne

Livermore

Ottosen

Rutland

Gilmore City

Pioneer

Somers?

Rinard

Lohrville

The next set of auxiliary images to share will mostly come from Calhoun County.