Tag Archives: featured

Town Sign Project: Jasper County

February 3, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 37 Comments

A few weeks back, I loaded up into the car with my Mom and we drove around the enormous county that is Jasper County harvesting the signs that I was missing. It was a good trip that include the traditional breakfast from Hardee’s. If the TOWN SIGN PROJECT has a sponsor it would be Hardee’s breakfast. I’m waiting Hardee’s. Just open up the checkbook!

Here are some facts about Jasper County:

+ As of the 2010 census, the population was 36,842.
+ The county seat is Newton.
+ The county was organized in 1846 and is named after Sergeant William Jasper, a Revolutionary War hero.

Here is a look at the Jasper County Photo Map:

Boundaries are approximate at best.

Here is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PUPRLE=COMPLETED

12 counties completed. 12.1% of the Cyclone State conquered.

Here are the Jasper County Town Signs:

Newton, Iowa
Newton
Population: 15,254

Mitchellville, Iowa (Mostly in Polk County)
Welcome to Mitchellville
Population: 2,093

Colfax, Iowa
Colfax – Est. 1866
Population: 2,093

Monroe, Iowa
Welcome to Monroe – Home of the PCM Mustangs
Population: 1,830

Prairie City
Prairie City
Population: 1,680

Baxter, Iowa
Welcome to Baxter
Population: 1,101

Sully, Iowa
Welcome to Sully – Est. 1882 – Home of the Jasper County Freedom Rock
Population: 821

Kellogg, Iowa
Welcome to Kellogg – Founded 1865
Population: 591

Lynnville, Iowa
Lynnville – A great place to live
Population: 379

Mingo, Iowa
Mingo
Population: 302

Lambs Grove, Iowa
Lambs Grove
Population: 172

Oakland Acres, Iowa
Oakland Acres – West
Population: 156

Reasnor, Iowa
Welcome to Reasnor – Founded 1877 – Population 190
Population: 152

Valeria, Iowa
Valeria – Town of a Railroad Romance
Population: 57

Ira, Iowa
Ira – Est. 1883
Unincorporated Community

Jasper County covers a lot of space and has 14 communities and 1 unincorporated community that I stumbled across. Once again, I no longer pursue unincorporated communities. That being said, I think Ira is more of a town than Valeria. And Oakland Acres. I don’t think Oakland Acres is a town at all. I think it is a bunch of rich pricks that live around a golf course that probably founded a “town” to escape paying their fair share of taxes. I could be way off base on that one, but I mean, prove me wrong. There is no city hall even. They have their city council meetings in the maintenance shed of the golf course. I’m going to give Oakland Acres, dead last for the worst town sign in Jasper County.

Best in Show. Hmmmm… I really like the town sign for Lambs Grove. Although I’m not really sure Lambs Grove is an actual town or just a neighborhood in Newton that doesn’t want to admit it is part of Newton. Monroe has a really nice sign. For an expensive town sign, I actually like it. I also like Sully’s sign. I’m not sure what the word Sully is supposed to be on, but my guess it that the blob is supposed to represent the Freedom Rock. I’d give it more points if it actually looked like their Freedom Rock a little bit. Newton’s sign is okay. There is an alternate Newton sign that I would consider the best town sign in Jasper County, which would be the first ever win for the best town sign in a county to go to the biggest town in that county, but I’m not 100% sure it is a town sign. So I’m holding it back. Best in Show in Jasper County goes to…

Jasper County Best in Show – Lynnville, Iowa

Although, I could probably be talked into giving this award to Ira.

There were a couple of alternate town signs in Jasper County:

Oakland Acres – Alternate

Baxter – Alternate

Newton – Alternate

Kellogg Sign – Backside

Kellogg – Alternate

However, there was one sign that bothered me. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It was Valeria:

What is this “railroad romance”? The railroad has long since left Valeria. There is a trail nearby where the railroad used to be. There aren’t any historic markers in Valeria. There is nothing to indicate what this is all about. My mad Google searches found the story on what appears to be a now defunct website called Iowa Backroads:

This modest metal sign welcomes visitors to the Jasper County community of Valeria, highlighting the railroad romance that led to its establishment. In the early 1860s, the William H. Johnson family left the South to escape the atmosphere and attitudes of the Civil War, and settled at the present-day site of Valeria. William’s son Nicholas and his sister Edna Valeria would play key roles in the birth of the village.

Edna fell in love with a young civil engineer named McBride, who worked for the Chicago and Great Western Railroad. She and her beau convinced her father to allow the tracks to cross the Johnson land. An agreement was reached based on the condition that the community’s depot would be known as Valeria. The couple ultimately married, though McBride left the railroad to become a dentist.

I’ll assume it is true because I could find no other information on the story.

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Jasper County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Wright County

No change to the BENNETT TOWN SIGN POWER RANKINGS:

#10. Scranton

#9. Ricketts

#8. Liscomb

#7. Dexter

#6. Templeton

#5. Haverhill

#4. Farnhamville

#3. Pilot Mound

#2. Moingona

#1. Coon Rapids

I’m not sure what county I will visit next. The last couple of weekends the weather has been rough, so I haven’t done any sign harvesting. The hopper is clear. Hopefully I get out on the open road this weekend!

Naima, Self-Portrait Project

Selfie Project – January 2021

February 2, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I decided last year to bring back THE SELFIE PROJECT for 2021. If you don’t recall, that is where I take a picture of myself everyday for the entire year. It is a little different in a pandemic because for the first month, there isn’t a single picture with anybody else in it. Not I don’t know if that will continue, but I sure hope not.

We are more than a month into 2021 and the only people I have seen in person this year are my Mom, Teresa, Jesse, and Jay. Yes, I’ve seen other human beings in grocery stores and I’ve been to Wal-Mart once this year. But, that is really it for human beings that I’ve seen in the flesh.

Because I barely leave a 3 block radius of my house, sometimes it is hard to remember to do this project, because I’m not doing much of interest. I think my greatest accomplishment in 2021 is watching all 6 seasons of SEX AND THE CITY and both movies to prepare myself for the reboot. My biggest surprise from that project, I liked Big more than I liked Aiden.

I also completed season 1 of BRIDGERTON. There is more sex in BRIDGERTON than there is in SEX AND THE CITY. In case you are say, going to watch that show with your Mom and sister.

My point is really this. In January, there are more times than I care to admit where I laid in bed and realized I hadn’t taken my picture yet, so I just snapped a picture there. Done, but not interesting. Thankfully the selfie flash on the Pixel 5 is pretty solid.

Here are my favorite pictures from January:

December 31

January 1

January 2

January 3

January 6

January 7

January 9

January 10

January 12

January 15

January 17

January 19

January 21

January 22

January 23

January 24

January 25

January 27

January 29

January 30

January 31

I’m not posting these on the social medias on the regular. But if you want to peruse all the images, you can clink on the link below:

Selfie Project – 2021

And if you want to look at the ghosts of Selfie Projects Past, click on one of the links below:

Selfie Project – 2019

Selfie Project – 2017

Hopefully next month, there might be a couple of humans in the pictures besides me.

Andy, Becky, Carla, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jesse, Kim, Kio, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 281 – BLACK

February 1, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

BLACK! Another theme. Another Monday. Another week of double digit submissions! 70 weeks in a row to be exact! WooHoo!

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

Jesse Howard

Kim Barker

Jesse Howard

Kio Dettman

Carla Stensland

Kio Dettman

Michelle Haupt

Kio Dettman

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Christopher D. Bennett

Andy Sharp

Dawn Krause

Elizabeth Nordeen

Becky Parmelee

Monica Henning

Micky Augustin

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:

USE OF SPACE

USE OF SPACE! Another great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

USE OF SPACE is an important theme historically for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. It was the very first theme ever for THE WEEKY PHOTO CHALLLENGE. All the way back when Vest and I invented THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE in the build area of the Computer Mine. Back then it was called THE RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT and the theme was determined each week by a program that Vest wrote. Back then we both received submissions and he also published submissions on his website.
Much has changed back then, and not just the name. While that little bit of history is fascinating, it doesn’t answer the question, what is a USE OF SPACE picture?

It is possibly a confusing theme on the surface, but couldn’t be simpler in reality. All you have to understand is that in an image, there are two types of “space”. Positive space and negative space.

Positive space is the area in the photo that attracts the viewer’s eye. It’s the main subject that commands attention in the composition.

Negative space is the space in the composition that is typically the background. It usually doesn’t attract very much attention. It is used to define or contour the positive space.

In the example, my hand is the positive space. The brick wall is the negative space. In a USE OF SPACE (or negative space) photo, the photographer uses the space that is usually not the primary focus and uses it to fill in most of the composition. The negative space commands more attention than the positive space and creates a unique perspective. It also adds definition and can create strong emotions.

The challenge of this week is to make an image that is mostly negative space.

It is a counterintuitive way to compose an image. The natural instinct is to fill most of the frame with positive space. But you can really ratchet up the emotional impact by putting more negative space in an image than you normally would.

Of course, there are other ways to define USE OF SPACE. You can meditate on this quote by Bob Dylan, while you think about how to compose your USE OF SPACE picture:

Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.

Meditate on these words while you thinking about how you are going to create your USE OF SPACE photo.

Then send me you submission(s) by 11 AM CST next Monday. Remember, while I might consider you FAMILY, 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 USE OF SPACE in this place that is tries to make wise USE OF SPACE next Monday.

Alexis, Billy, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Dory, Formal Portrait, J.T., Laura, Nate

Miller Time – 2020 – Vol. 4

January 31, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of pictures from when I went to Manhattan to take pictures of the triplets near their second birthday. Chaos! That is the only way to really describe what a photo session with 3 two year-olds with their own agenda. I should have brought a photo assistant, but that certainly isn’t the easiest thing to do in a pandemic. However, in the future, I am going to try to get Alexis to come with me for all family portrait shoots. She has a great eye for the part of portrait photography that I generally fail at. Posing people. I don’t know that she will want to go on 10 hour car rides, but I’ll figure out a way to make it worth her while.

Here are the remainder of the Miller pictures:

A picture that proves sometimes, there are no rules in photography.

Hopefully we have another great photo session when they get ready to turn 3!

Flowers, House, Macro

2010-06-20

January 30, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

There were mostly a lot of flower pictures in the folder 2010-06-20. A few lilies. A few coneflowers. A few other flowers. Plus, a few pictures of some members of my church picking cherries from my cherry trees.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entry to their original glory:

RWPE #24 – COLORFUL

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve lilies. Definitely lilies!

Art, Black & White, Christianity, Road Trip, Ruins, WPC - Reminder

Hamilton County Auxiliary Images

January 29, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Today I’m sharing images I took while tooling around Hamilton County harvesting signs for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. There aren’t many of them because I actually had already harvested most Hamilton County town signs before this little road trip.

Might be wonder why I took this picture of this bench in Williams. It is because these people went to my church. I was surprised to see their name on a bench in another town.

There are a few more counties worth of auxiliary photos to share out there.

+++++++

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

BLACK

A BLACK image can be of all sorts of things. Things that are BLACK. Things that make you feel BLACK. Or it could be BLACK humor. Who knows, let your BLACKest imagination run wild!

I don’t have a movie quote for you to meditate on this week, instead I have song lyrics from Johnny Cash:

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black
Why you never see bright colors on my back
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone
Well, there’s a reason for the things that I have on

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Living in the hopeless, hungry side of town
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime
But is there because he’s a victim of the time

I wear the black for those who’ve never read
Or listened to the words that Jesus said
About the road to happiness through love and charity
Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me

Well, we’re doing mighty fine, I do suppose
In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes
But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back
Up front there ought to be a man in black

I wear it for the sick and lonely old
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold
I wear the black in mourning for the lives that could have been
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men

And I wear it for the thousands who have died
Believing that the Lord was on their side
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died
Believing that we all were on their side

Well, there’s things that never will be right I know
And things need changing everywhere you go
But ’til we start to make a move to make a few things right
You’ll never see me wear a suit of white

Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every day
And tell the world that everything’s okay
But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back
‘Til things are brighter, I’m the Man In Black

Meditate on the words of the greatest country singer, while thinking about how to create your BLACK image.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Flowers, Macro, Nature

Vacation – Misc.

January 28, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today I’d like to share a collection of images I took on a day the last time I took a “vacation” back in September. Most of these pictures are from my yard, but a few are from a little cruise I took around rural Boone County.

Even though we had a terrible drought in 2020, I’m pretty sure it managed to rain everyday I was on vacation. That is my luck.

Drone, Photoshop, Postcard

Postcard Recreation Project – Bird’s Eye View

January 27, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This round of old-timey postcard recreations for THE POST CARD RECREATION PROJECT don’t really have a history lesson to go with them. They are simply a “bird’s eye view” of downtown Boone.

Have a look:

Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Iowa – Original

Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Iowa – Redux

13599 – Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Ia – Original

13599 – Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Ia – Redux

Bird’s Eye View of Boone, Iowa – Modern Interpretation

The next time we visit THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT, it will involve more views of downtown Boone, but from a more grounded vantage point.

Anders, Bill, Birthdays, Faust, Jay, Jesse, Jodie Cue, Mom, Road Trip, Teresa, Town Sign Project, Willy

Town Sign Project: Wright County

January 26, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 20 Comments

I need to start the day by wising Anders a happy birthday. Happy birthday Anders!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

+++++++

A few weeks back I loaded up into the car with my Mom and Teresa as they joined me as I went around and harvested the town signs in Wright County.

Here are some facts about Wright County:

+ Wright County is a county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,229.
+ The county seat is Clarion.
+ The county organization became effective in January 1851, and is believed to be named either after Silas Wright, a governor of New York, or Joseph Albert Wright, a governor of Indiana.

Here is a look at the Wright County Photo Map:

Boundaries approximate at best.

And with Wright County completed, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

11 counties completed. 11.1% of the state conquered.

Here are the Wright County Signs:

Eagle Grove, Iowa
Eagle Grove – Chamber of Commerce – Summerfest – June 18-20
Population: 3,583

Clarion, Iowa
Clarion Welcomes you
Population – 2,850

Belmond, Iowa
Belmond Welcomes You!
Population: 2,376

Goldfield, Iowa
Welcome to Goldfield
Population: 635

Dows, Iowa
Welcome to Dows – A Friendly Community
Population: 538

Woolstock, Iowa
Woolstock – “The Friendly Town” – Birthplace of George Reeves – Humanitarian, Veteran, Actor
Population: 168

Rowan, Iowa
Rowan
Population: 158

Galt, Iowa
Welcome to Galt – The Little Town That Won’t Give Up!

Holmes, Iowa
Holmes
Unincorporated Community

Wright County only has 8 communities, but it has a solid set of signs top to bottom. There isn’t any that I think are terrible, with maybe the exception of Eagle Grove. Their sign is more of an advertisement for the town festival. Which is fine, but the sign doesn’t even welcome you to town.

Dows and Woolstock must have a healthy rivalry. A friendly rivalry though. Cause one is a “Friendly Community” and the other is a “Friendly Town”. I also really like Galt’s sign. It is a little surprising that a town of 32 has such a nice sign. There must be some money in that town. There probably is, because they murderize a lot of chickens in that town. No joke, 15 million chickens in that town. Also lots of salmonella in that town. But you probably don’t want to talk about having to recall 380 million eggs due to salmonella on your town sign. However, their can only be one Best in Show and it goes to:

Wright County Best in Show – Woolstock, Iowa

We will discuss George Reeves when I publish the auxiliary images from this road trip. I can say though, thanks to Jodie Cue for the tip on Woolstock.

There are also a couple towns with alternate town signs:

Belmond – Alternate

Dows – Alternate

Galt – Back of Sign

Also, on the way back home to Boone, I discovered that Roland had updated their Gary Thompson sign:

The Roland Rocket

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Wright County

No change to the BENNETT TOWN SIGN POWER RANKINGS:

#10. Scranton

#9. Ricketts

#8. Liscomb

#7. Dexter

#6. Templeton

#5. Haverhill

#4. Farnhamville

#3. Pilot Mound

#2. Moingona

#1. Coon Rapids

The next county we will visit is Jasper County.

Andy, Becky, Bill, Black & White, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kio, Linda, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 280 – HOBBIES

January 25, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

HOBBIES! People seem to love them and it is no surprise that HOBBIES was the 69th theme in a row to crack double digit submissions! It did it easy as well. In fact, this might be the record for most submissions ever in one week. The problem is, I don’t know what the record is. I’ll have to do some research and get back to you, but if this isn’t the record, it has to be pretty close!

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

Andy Sharp

Dawn Krause

Linda Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Cathie Raley

Joe Duff

Kio Dettman

Christopher D. Bennett

Kio Dettman

Teresa Kahler

Micky Augustin

Becky Parmelee

Bill Wentworth

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Monica Henning

Carla Stensland

Jesse Howard

BLACK

BLACK! Another great them for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

What defines a BLACK photo? Well, to be honest, the reason I selected BLACK as one of the themes this year is because I did not allow myself to use any of the Hall of Fame themes for Year 8. That meant no BLACK AND WHITE theme. So I split them up and this year there is a BLACK theme and a WHITE theme. That doesn’t mean that your submission has to be BLACK AND WHITE. I’m just taking you behind the curtain of my thought process.

While all that is very interesting to me and I’ll guess three other people, it doesn’t answer the question, what defines a BLACK photo? BLACK is the very darkest color. It is the absence of light. However, BLACK has many other definitions.

I don’t have a movie quote for you to meditate on this week, instead I have song lyrics from Johnny Cash:

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black
Why you never see bright colors on my back
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone
Well, there’s a reason for the things that I have on

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Living in the hopeless, hungry side of town
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime
But is there because he’s a victim of the time

I wear the black for those who’ve never read
Or listened to the words that Jesus said
About the road to happiness through love and charity
Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me

Well, we’re doing mighty fine, I do suppose
In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes
But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back
Up front there ought to be a man in black

I wear it for the sick and lonely old
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold
I wear the black in mourning for the lives that could have been
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men

And I wear it for the thousands who have died
Believing that the Lord was on their side
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died
Believing that we all were on their side

Well, there’s things that never will be right I know
And things need changing everywhere you go
But ’til we start to make a move to make a few things right
You’ll never see me wear a suit of white

Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every day
And tell the world that everything’s okay
But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back
‘Til things are brighter, I’m the Man In Black

Meditate on the words of the greatest country singer, while thinking about how to create your BLACK image.

Then send me you submission(s) by 11 AM next Monday. Remember, while I might consider you FAMILY, 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 BLACK in this place that is more purple than BLACK next Monday.