On Thanksgiving I took Rodan139 out for a very brief spin to take some pictures of the Boone First United Methodist Church’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner. It was very brief as Rodan139 was constantly be harassed by a flock of birds (the same flock of birds I photographed for my ANIMAL submission) so I brought the drone down after only a few minutes.
Here are some of the pictures I took:
Hopefully I can get Rodan139 out again sometime soon. We will have to see.
I realize now that I forgot to wish people a Happy Thanksgiving yesterday. I don’t have a picture that represents Thanksgiving to me this year, but I do hope that everybody had a good Thanksgiving! I had a pretty good one. Enough of one that I am going to have three posts that cover my Thanksgiving.
This first one is from ground pictures I took of the annual Boone First United Methodist Community Thanksgiving.
It was a great event. I’m not sure what the final numbers were, but there were more people fed than expected. I’d guess more people than last year based on the length of the drive-thru line and the fact that extra tables had to be setup. Still more pictures from my Thanksgiving day left to share.
Today is Suzie’s birthday. So I need to wish her a happy birthday!
Suzie is the short one in the picture, in case you didn’t know! I hope you have an amazing birthday!
Time to share more pictures from the road trip I took with Nader after I dropped off my pictures for the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. This collection starts where the first collection ended, hanging out with Albert the Bull in Audubon.
Gray
Manning
Still one more collection of images to share from this road trip.
If you or somebody you know is looking for a Thanksgiving Meal, my church is having it’s annual FREE Thanksgiving Meal again this year. Check out the flyer below for information:
I should be there for at least part of it. Hope to see some of you there!
This is a collection of images from the road trip I took with Nader where I dropped off my pictures for the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. After we left State Center, we went down to Des Moines to drop off the pictures. We had a bit of time to kill before they Cultural Building opened up to take submissions. So we hung out around the Asian Garden in downtown Des Moines. After that we went to Hamelin to have a delicious tenderloin at Darrell’s Place. Then up to Audubon to check out Albert the Bull.
Here are some pictures:
Hamelin
Audubon
Still many more pictures from this little sojourn.
Here it is. The final collection of auxiliary images I took during THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. Finally being shared almost 14 months after I took them. Closing the book on pictures I took in 2022. To be honest there is one last collection of pictures I took in 2022, but I’m not going to share those. Those I will keep for me.
The final county of town signs I harvested was Davis County. A county I left for last because I wanted to save the Paris, Iowa (there are two unincorporated towns named Paris in Iowa) for the end because I have some family history on my Mom’s side of the family there. Paris is almost a ghost town now. There is a cemetery a couple miles down the road. There are a few houses and there are the remains of a general store. But it was still interesting to visit and I don’t regret leaving it for last, even though it really didn’t have a town sign.
Here is the final collection of images, starting at a general store in Cantril.
I swear Randall’s had this exact same signs when I was a kid.
The artist definitely spend most of their time and effort on the boobs.
Troy
This building housed the Troy Academy. Which was one of the first institutions of higher education west of the Mississippi.
It is also the subject of a painting by Buckley Moss.
Back to Bloomfield
Paris Cemetery
Marshalltown
It is a little sad to close the last page on this photo project. My original plan for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT was to turn it into a book. I have made next to no progress on that. None. I haven’t really made much or no progress on what was going to be my next photo project. I have let you down…
But maybe I will make progress on the book this winter. Stranger things have happened.
I’m not sure what will be posted on Wednesdays going forward. But there isn’t a shortage of RAW images waiting to be edited and shared!
I need to start this milestone post by wishing Elainie a happy birthday!
I hope your birthday is amazing!!
Today is also Layla’s birthday!
I hope you have an awesome birthday!
Can you believe that this is the 5,005th entry in the blog known as “An Artist’s Notebook”? Every 250 posts or so I like to take a moment to reflect on where this post has been and post a lot of meaningless stats. I meant to post this post on Sunday night when it would have been Post #5,000, but you know how my week went. Not great.
As always on these posts, I like to start by quoting the very first “An Artist’s Notebook” entry that published on August 9, 2006. That first post that published 6,296 days.
That post that started with these words:
So here is the first journal entry. I felt like having as pretentious sounding name as possible for my journal. I have a few goals about this journal. My main goal is just to actually write in it. My second goal is to be as truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings. I have another journal on another website, but it is really just a collection of sarcastic statements and cheap jabs at open faced sandwiches. This journal is meant to be about what my achievements and failures are in the world of art. What projects I am working on and what I have accomplished and what I have failed to accomplish. What I am photographing and what I am thinking about entering in photo contests. What I am thinking about. It might not always make sense. It might just be things I need to write down because they strike me as poignant or inspirational. This is in a small way an online “idea box”.
Since those words, I have posted 5,005 journal entries. (Normally I would do this little exercise on post #4,750, but I was in Vegas at that time.) This website is still something of an “idea box”. Sometimes I’m just working stuff out here. I don’t know why, sometimes I need to work stuff out in public. But this website is definitely more than just an “idea box”. It is a place where I post a few thoughts and a ton of pictures. I’ve gone through a few photo projects on these pages. From THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT to the 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT to THE SELFIE PROJECT to the POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT to name just a few. This website has also created a community with THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Which is one of my proudest achievements. Even if it sputtered and spit and barely survived in its first few years.
5,005 posts. I can’t even measure the elevation changes my life have taken since then. Major ups. Major downs. Peaks and valleys. 5,005 posts and I vow to keep on chugging along.
On these reflective posts, I like to publish a bunch of statistics that me and Joe Duff find interesting. So I might as well get to it.
Every post in “An Artist’s Notebook” is tagged with at least one Category. It is one of the easiest ways to navigate around the website. They are listed at the top of each post. Here are some statistics about Categories:
THE TOP 10 MOST USED CATEGORIES (RANK IN POST #4757 & INCREASE SINCE THEN)
10. Carla – 582 (#8 – +52)
9. Teresa – 590 (#9 – +65)
8. Road Trip – 611 (#6 – +42)
7. Macro – 627 (#10 – +132)
6. Formal Portrait – 638 (NR)
5. Jesse – 684 (#4 – +54)
4. Art – 744 (#5 – +122)
3. Animals – 790 (#3 – +65)
2. Flowers – 958 (#2 – +77)
1. Black & White – 1,212 (#1 – +220)
Dropping from the from the Top 10 was Shannon, a category that was #7 in Post #4757.
The 5 categories that have the best shot at making the Top 10 in Post #5,250 are Shannon, Nature, WPC-Submissions, and Candid Portrait.
It should be noted that some of these increases are caused by my working on the categories on some older posts.
THE TOP 10 NON-HUMAN CATEGORIES
10. Photoshop – 432 (#10 – +43)
9. Candid Portrait – 475 (NR)
8. Nature – 538 (+101 – #8)
7. Road Trip – 611 (#5 – +42)
6. Macro – 627 (#6 – +132)
5. Formal Portrait – 638 (#8 – +191)
4. Art – 744 (#5 – +122)
3. Animals – 790 (#3 – +65)
2. Flowers – 958 (#2 – +77)
1. Black & White – 1,212 (#1 – +220)
WPC-Submission fell out of the Top 10. It was ranked #7 in Post #4757.
The categories that are just right outside of the Top 10 are Still Life, Naima, History, and Self-Portrait and Christianity.
THE TOP 10 HUMAN CATEGORIES
10. Vest – 350 (NR)
9. Jay – 353 (#6 – +5)
8. Micky – 359 (NR)
7. Logan – 380 (#9 – +61)
6. Kim – 395 (#7 – +53)
5. Mom – 464 (#5 – +6)
4. Shannon – 576 (#2 – +37)
3. Carla – 582 (#3 – +52)
2. Teresa – 590 (#4 – +65)
1. Jesse – 684 (#1 – +54)
Dropping from the rankings was Willy and Derrick.
The categories that have the best shot at cracking the next Top 10 are Willy, Derrick, Jen, Andy, and Sara.
If you are wondering what is your best way to improve your Photography 139 Score and crack the Top 10, it is simply to be active in THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE or go on trips with me or participate in various other photo projects or be related to me. Now these aren’t necessarily the 10 people that have influenced my photography the most, but these are the 10 people that have made the largest imprint on this website.
I can tell you the people that have influenced my photography the most, but that is a tale for another time. But I’m pretty sure you can guess who.
If you have spent any time on the Photography 139 website, you know that on the left sidebar, the “Top 100 Categories” are listed. I thought I would give a little bit of coverage to the Bottom 10 of the Top 100. There are currently 203 categories used on the website. I could cover the Bottom 10, but they are mostly people that either very recently came into the life of this website by birth (Jonah Kahler) or another way (Nathanial, Mindi, Fran). Or people that I thought would be a bigger part of my life and then weren’t. No need to cover those people. The Category that is #203 probably needs to be purged.
THE BOTTOM 10 OF THE TOP 100
#10. Andree – 77
#10. Flat Earth Joe – 77
#10. Self-Portrait Project – 77
#9. Photo Journal – 79
#8. Commercial – 83
#7. Sabas – 84
#6. Becca – 89
#3. Pufferbilly Days – 91
#3. Pastor Sarah – 91
#3. House – 91
#1. Faust – 92
#1. Writing – 92
The following categories have either fallen out of the Bottom 10 of the Top 100 or climbed out of it:
Kelly, Lowell, and Suzie.
The following categories have the best shot at dropping back into the Bottom 10 of the Top 10:
Sarah Toot, Lowell, Suzie, Russell, and Nate
The following categories have the best shot at climbing up into the Bottom 10 of the Top 10:
Layla, Kelly, Vacation, Saydie, and Kalista
“An Artist’s Notebook” is part of Photography 139. The 139 comes from Psalm 139:1-12. The Photography part comes from the fact this website is supposed to be filled with photography. So, what are the most popular photo galleries on the Photography 139 website? Glad you asked:
10. Naima – 64,796 views
9. Tenderloining – 75,558 views
8. 9 Emotions Project – 81,405 views
7. Selfie-Project – 2022 – 88,632 views
6. Drone – 99,708 views
5. Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 9 – 108,852 views
4. Town Sign Project – 118,563 views
3. Las Vegas 2023 – 169,257 views
2. Town Sign Project Auxiliary Images – 219,546 views
1. Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 10 – 323,781 views
Galleries that fell out of the Top 10 are:
Christopher D. Bennett, Miami Beach, Jayton Poole, and Alexis Pregnancy Photo Shoot – 2020
Galleries that fell just outside of the Top 10 are:
Sleeping Angels – 2023, Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 6, Photo Journal Rejects, Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2008, and Christopher D. Bennett.
But what are the most popular single images of the last 365 days? Don’t worry, I’m gonna feed you baby birds.
9. Maven’s Birthday Party – 2022 – 2,820 views
8. Boone FUMC Thanksgiving – 2022 – 3,073 views
7. Color the Wind – 2023 – 3,149 views
6. Renaissance Fair – 2022 – 3,302 views
5. Fran and Pepper – 3,687 views
4. World Food Festival – 2022 – 3,754 views
3. Howards – 2022 – 3,976 views
2. 2023 Barbecue Contests – 4,168 views
1. Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship – 18,045 views
If you are interested in checking out some of the milestone posts of the past, I got you. Click on any of the links below to check them out:
I think that is enough. We will check back in, in another 245 posts.
Here is the final collection of images from the birthday road trip I took with Jesse and Nader. On the way back we stopped at The Grotto of the Redemption. Nader had never been to it before, which was no shocker. But this was also Jesse’s first trip there.
But before we made it to The Grotto of the Redemption, we stumbled across an unincorporated town with a town sign that had a town sign I hadn’t harvested:
Maybe not a great town sign, but a solid town sign.
When we pulled up to The Grotto, I wasn’t sure if Nader was going to get out of the car. He was being a grumpypants and was pretty addicted to his phone. But he did finally get out of the car and then after he saw the Grotto he described it as the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life. It is definitely beautiful.
Here are the pictures:
I wonder where I will go for my birthday road trip in 2024?
We begin this collection of auxiliary images I took on my trip to Davis County with Teresa to harvest the town signs of Davis County where the last collection left off. In the beautiful town square of Bloomfield. This collection will also include pictures from the Dutch Country General Store. Which if you are ever remotely in the area, I highly recommend visiting.
There are still quite a few more pictures from this trip left to share.
Time to start sharing the final collection of auxiliary images from THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. The final county I harvested town signs from was Davis County. Teresa went on the final THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT road trip. There are only 4 incorporated towns in Davis County, so there were stops in other counties. Including the first stop in Pella for the Jaarsma Bakery:
Near Chillicothe
Ottumwa
Floris
Drakesville
Bloomfield
There are plenty more pictures left to share from this road trip. Including two sweet general stores!
Today is the birthday of the Miller Triplets. So I must wish them happy birthday!
This picture was taken at their 1st birthday party in 2019 so that makes them… 5! They are 5 years old?!? How did this happen!
Back in February I purchased a new lens. It was a Sigma 150-600mm DG DN OS Sports Lens. At one point, I was going to write a long post on it with a collection of the first images I took with it. But here it is. Halfway through October and the lens is old news now, so real need to go into too much details about the specifications of the lens. But I still want to share some of the first images I took with it. I went down to the Kate Shelley High Bridge and went to Lake LaVerne and took a few pictures of Logan.
Here are those pictures:
On the day I went to Lake LaVerne I also hit up the Ames Library. I took pictures there for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme BOOKS. I didn’t use any of those images. Here is a collection of those:
I do love that lens. It is kind of a limited purpose lens, but I should find more of those limited purpose opportunities.
