Category Archives: Religion

Animals, Boone FUMC, Naima, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

Naima + Snow

November 29, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Happy day to celebrate America’s addiction to soul-crushing consumerism! I will barely be leaving my house other than to ring the bell for the Salvation Army (4-5 at Hy-Vee if you are interested in dropping in and saying hi), do a little photography, and go watch Ashley Joens and the gang crush some hapless fools. So go punch another person in the face to save 5% on 2015’s television model for me.

Hitting up the 2018 backlog with a collection of Naima pictures. These pictures of Naima frolicking in the snow, which she is know to do. Big fan of snow, that dog. Extreme cold, not so much. Snow, definitely.

I believe this only leaves 4 folders left in the 2018 back log. We should be finished up my the middle of December, at the latest!

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

COLORFUL

A COLORFUL photo is a photo of any object that is filled with color.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Alisa, Anders, Andree, Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Baier, Becca, Becky, Bethany, Bill, Billy, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Carla, Dae Hee, Derrick, Dory, Elainie, Evie, Flat Earth Joe, Frank, Geri, Grandma, Iowa State, Jason, Jaxon, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Jonah, Jorge, Kanoa, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nader, Naima, Nora, Pastor Sarah, Russell, Sara, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Suzie, Teresa, Vest, Willy, Youth Group

Gratitudo

November 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Happy Thanksgiving! Every year on Thanksgiving I like to think about my many, many blessings. I know, real original. You should feel free to try it sometime. But make sure you let everybody know that I invented gratitude.

I am thankful for my family, no matter how family is defined:

I am thankful for my friends:

I am blessed with an amazing church family:

I am blessed with a decent job and work friends that I don’t mind seeing more than 40 hours a week:

I’m blessed to share my house with Naima:

This is only a small sampling of my blessings, but I feel to go on much longer would sound like boasting. Thank all of you for choosing to be part of my life!

Alexis, Andy, Becky, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Carla, Dawn, Drone, Elizabeth, Michelle, Micky, Monica, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 219 – SHADOW

November 25, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Running just a tad bit behind schedule today. As I am on vacation and my motivation levels might not be what they normally are. Fortunately, for the 9th straight week, motivation levels were high enough that we had double digit submissions. Perhaps a record. I don’t know. I’ll have to check with the Photography 139 historian.

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

Andy Sharp

Elizabeth Nordeen

Dawn Krause

Micky Augustin

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Monica Henning

Becky Parmelee

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:

COLORFUL

COLORFUL! What a great theme! But what is a COLORFUL photo? That is pretty straight forward. Any photo that is filled with COLOR. Find something COLORFUL and photograph it. Go crazy with the saturation in your photo editing. Remember, there is more than one definition of the term COLORFUL.

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 colorful Monday!

Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Tamara

Glenn Peterson

November 20, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

On Saturday, I attended the Celebration of Life for Glenn Peterson.

Glenn was one of my favorite people and I’m sure most people that got the pleasure to meet Glenn also shared my admiration for him. Seeing and talking to Glenn was a bonus reason to go to church on Sundays. To participate in Methodist Men activities. Glenn was one of the few people who’s opinions on restaurants I respected.

Glenn was the true human embodiment of Luke3:11 to me:

11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

I thought I would share Glenn’s obituary so that you could partially know the great man that Glenn was (and the obituary doesn’t even mention that he made a mean glass of root beer):

Glenn Lionel Peterson, was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa on December 5, 1947, the son of Clayton and Phyllis (Wheaton) Peterson. He attended grade school in Fort Dodge and graduated from Perry High School in Perry, Iowa in 1966. He also graduated from DMACC in Ankeny in 1995. In 1968, Glenn enlisted in the United States Army and served during the Vietnam War and was a member of the Iowa National Guard for 23 years. Glenn was discharged from the Guard in 1999 with the rank of Sergeant First Class. On October 18, 1986, Glenn married Tamara Rose at the Iowa National Guard Chapel in Johnston, Iowa. In earlier years, Glenn worked for Oscar Mayer as an electrician maintenance man, for the Iowa Department of Public Defense at Camp Dodge as a Mechanic, and as a technician for the Iowa Department of Transportation. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Boone, NIAPRA Car Club, and the Iowa Street Rods Association. Glenn was a member of the 2017 Boone County Freedom Flight. Glenn enjoyed old cars, O,S, and HO scale trains, fishing and hunting, especially wild boar hunting.

I don’t have many pictures of Glenn, but I thought I would share one.

Looking through some old Methodist Men pictures really made me miss some guys that aren’t with the church any more. Some have passed away and some just moved away, but I really miss Jim Jordan, Bob Impecoven, Jeff Lorimor, Wayne Rouse, and Dick Morrow. Just to name a few.

But time only moves in one direction, so what can you do?

Animals, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Candid Portrait, Holidays, Johnathan, Logan, Mom, Naima, Nature, Still Life, WPC - Alternate

Dogface

November 14, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is another post from the 2018 backlog. These are mostly pictures of Naima. I think they might have been alternates for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme the week they were taken. I’m not entirely sure and I’m not up to that level of soul searching and research.

There is still more in the 2018 backlog, but it is getting smaller every day. Well maybe not every day.

Andy, Billy, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Derrick, Dory, Elizabeth, Flat Earth Joe, Iowa State, Jesse, Jorge, Kim, Kio, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Nate, Schmidt, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Youth Group

Selfie Project – October

November 7, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Now is as a good of a time as any to check in with THE SELFIE PROJECT. I’m sure I did a bunch of interesting things in the month of October, but I’ll let you be the judge of whether or not I capture that while taking my daily THE SELFIE PROJECT photo or not.

Here are a few of my favorites from October:

October 2

October 4

October 5

October 6

October 9

October 11

October 12

October 13

October 15

October 16

October 18

October 19

October 20

October 21

October 23

October 24

October 25

October 26

October 27

October 29

October 30

October 31

Phew… 2 months to go!

Andy, Becky, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Evie, Formal Portrait, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Youth Group

WPC – WEEK 216 – FORMAL PORTRAIT

November 4, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I was a little worried that our 5 week double digit submission streak wouldn’t his 6 weeks with FORMAL PORTRAIT. I hadn’t received some of the normal early submissions, and I translated that into a lack of enthusiasm for the theme. However, there was a deep late arriving enthusiasm. In fact, we almost hit 20 submissions. Which might be a record, but I don’t keep those kind of stats. Maybe when I get some free time, I can comb the archives and see what the record is for most submissions is for a week. If it isn’t 19, it can’t be much higher than that.

In fact, after I wrote this, I got a semi-late submission for 20 total submission!

Add to the excitement of the FORMAL PORTRAIT theme, we have a first ever submission from Evie Gorshe. I’m not sure if she is the youngest to ever submit, but she has to be pretty close. I know a couple of the Augustin girls have submitted before. I think Scott Krause submitted at a pretty young age as well. We’ll just say that Evie is a Top 5 youngest to ever submit!

Almost as exciting as Evie’s submission is Dawn’s return to the fold. Dawn has been wandering the wilderness for the last couple of years. But she has a different job now and says she is back in the game. It is good to have her home. Somebody bring me a fatted calf!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me make weak links to parables and talk tommyrot about participation rates, you came to see the submissions:

Micky Augustin

Evie Gorshe

Dawn Krause

Andy Sharp

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Micky Augustin

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Carla Stensland

Mike Vest

Becky Parmelee

Cathie Raley

Christopher D. Bennett

Elizabeth Nordeen

Jesse Howard

ORANGE

ORANGE! What a great theme! But what is an ORANGE photo? An ORANGE photo is any photo where the color ORANGE plays an important part in the image. Luckily, this time of year, there is a lot of ORANGE in nature.

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 orange Monday!

Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Frank, Work

2009-07-02

November 2, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

There are two sets of pictures from the folder called 2009-07-02. One is from a trip to see the Boone City Band play and ran in to Josh and his progeny Wesley.

The other is a collection of pictures of Frank. I’m not entirely sure why we took the pictures of Frank, but we did.

It seems that this is the first time I’ve published any of these photos.

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve the 4th of July.

Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Event, Holidays, Jaxon, Jodie Cue, Self-Portrait

Eastern Star Christmas Service – 2018

October 10, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

More from the 2018 backlog. After knocking out pictures from the Eastern Star Trick-or-Treat night, put me in the mood to also knock out the pictures from the Christmas service that my church did at the Eastern Star Home last year.

These pictures include at least one person that has since passed away and people that have passed on from our church to a next phase of their life.

I’m starting to get to the end of the 2018 backlog, but some of the collections I have left to tackle are BIG!

Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Event, Jaxon, Kio, Mom, Tamara, Youth Group

Eastern Star Home Trick-Or-Treat – 2018

October 8, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Once again, knocking out the 2018 backlog. On Monday night I sat through my favorite monthly meeting, the Outreach Committee Meeting. It was while I was sitting at that meeting, trying not to tinker with my phone, that it occurred to me that the Eastern Star Home’s annual trick-or-treat night was coming up soon.

It also occurred to me that I never published pictures from last year’s event. I usually go to the event to photograph people from the church that are there to volunteer and help out.

While I was perusing the pictures, it really hit home how drastically our church has changed in a few short months. But even when things change, things don’t change. If that makes sense.

Here are pictures from last year’s event:

Eastern Star Home Trick-or-Treat Night - 2018

This year’s trick-or-treat night will be October 22. It lasts from 6-7 PM. If you have a kid that likes candy, they will get lots of candy. If you would just like to volunteer to help out, I can hook you up with that opportunity as well.