Tag Archives: featured

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.

Art, History, Road Trip, Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Fremont County

October 12, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A few weeks back I cruised around Fremont County on a solo town sign harvesting trip. Fremont County was the third county I harvested on that day. I have no connection to any of the towns in Fremont County. I’ve never left I-29 on any of my trips through Fremont County. However, I was strangely looking forward to Fremont County. Not only because Fremont County is in the southwest corner of Iowa, but also because my Paris grandparents lived on Fremont Street. Funny how the mind works and makes strange connections.

Here are some facts about Fremont County:

+ Population is 6,605. That makes it the 93rd most populous county in Iowa. Right below Ida County and right above Wayne County.
+ The largest town and county seat is Sidney.
+ Formed in 1847.
+ Named after John C. Fremont. An explorer, military officer, U.S. Senator from California and the first Republican nominee for President of the United States. Fremont, is one of the most interesting figures in American history that gets forgotten. But that is just my opinion. I’m not saying he was a great person or a bad person. Like most people of his time that didn’t flat out suck (see John C. Calhoun) he was a mixed bag. But he was an interesting mixed bag.
+ Home of the world’s largest continuous outdoor rodeo in Sidney. Started in 1928.
+ Major highways are I-20, US-59, US-275, IA-2, and IA-333.
+ Adjacent Iowa counties are: Mills and Page.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 18,546.

Fremont County has an average to slightly better than average looking courthouse:

The Fremont County Courthouse located in Sidney, Iowa.

The Fremont County Freedom Rock is located in Hamburg, Iowa:

With Fremont County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLTETED

40 counties completed. 40.4% of the Cyclone State conquered.

Here are the town signs of Fremont County:

Sidney, Iowa
SIDNEY
IOWA
Population: 1,070 (-68)

Hamburg, Iowa
You’re Always Welcome In HAMBURG
ESTABLISHED 1858
Population: 890 (-297)

Tabor, Iowa – Also in Mills County
WELCOME TO TABOR
Lighting the Way Since 1852
Population: 1,014 (+58)

Farragut, Iowa
Welcome to FARRAGUT
EST. 1870
“DAMN THE TORPEDOES! FULL STEAM AHEAD!
-ADMIRAL D. G. FARRAGUT
Population: 490 (+5)

Riverton, Iowa
Welcome to RIVERTON
EST. 1870
Population: 245 (-59)

Thurman, Iowa
WELCOME TO THURMAN
Population: 167 (-67)

Randolph, Iowa
WELCOME TO RANDOLPH
Population: 189 (+21)

Imogene, Iowa
IMOGENE
Population: 39 (-33)

Technically a small sliver of Shenandoah is in Fremont County, but not enough to share it yet. That will wait until I reveal the town signs of Page County.

Who has the worst town sign in Fremont County? I don’t know that I think there is a bad town sign in the county, so I’m going to give the distinction to Thurman, even though I actually love its rustic charm.

Then who gets Best in Show for Fremont County? I’m fascinated by how Imogene, a town of 39 people, has such an expensive looking sign. However, they do have a restaurant that is on The Tenderloin Trail 2.0, so it isn’t a town without means. At least the have the means of making a pretty good tenderloin. I haven’t tried it yet, so I will hold back my praises for the time being. I also like the Sidney sign and how it fits in with the rodeo “theme” of their town. Then there is Farragut’s sign. It isn’t the most impressive design, but I stay awake nights wondering why they put quotation marks at the beginning of the quote from Admiral Farragut, but not at the end of the quote. However, my favorite town sign belongs to Tabor. You might be wondering why there is an old-timey lantern on it. Was Tabor once the home of a burgeoning lantern industry. You may be disappointed to find out the answer is “no”. It actually represents Tabor’s place on the Underground Railroad. Here is a snippet on the history of the town of Tabor:

In 1852 the city of Tabor was founded by several Christian clergymen, who were also active abolitionists (George Gaston, Samuel A. Adams, and Rev. John Todd), and their families. They chose to settle in what is now Tabor in order to found a Christian college, which eventually became Tabor College. The founders “were impressed with this high location and mutually selected the name ‘Tabor’ after the Biblical name of Mount Tabor, a mountain near Nazareth, the town of Jesus’ childhood”.

The residents of Tabor held monthly abolitionist prayer meetings, and helped runaway slaves whenever they could.

In the 1850s the abolitionist John Brown kept a store of weapons in Tabor, and met here with other supporters to plan his raids in Kansas and Virginia, including the raid on Harpers Ferry. The town was the home of many abolitionists, including John Tod, a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad and co-founder of Tabor College. Tabor College was located in the city from 1853 until 1927, when it closed for financial reasons. The college’s buildings housed German Prisoners of War during World War II.

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, those German prisoners of war didn’t carve a nativity set that can only be described as exactly what a nativity set carved by Germans would look like.

One last tidbit about Tabor. The novel “Gilead” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 was based on Tabor, Iowa.

Anyways, they have a cool sign:

Tabor – Best in Show – Fremont County

A few town have alternate town signs:

Sidney Alternate

Imogene Alternate

Hamburg Alternate

Hamburg

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Adair County

Best in Show – Adams County

Best in Show – Audubon County

Best in Show – Benton County

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Butler County

Best in Show – Calhoun County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Cass County

Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County

Best in Show – Clarke County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Franklin County

Best in Show – Fremont County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Grundy County

Best in Show – Guthrie County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Hancock County

Best in Show – Hardin County

Best in Show – Humboldt County

Best in Show – Ida County

Best in Show – Jasper County

Best in Show – Lucas County

Best in Show – Madison County

Best in Show – Marion County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Montgomery County

Best in Show – Pocahontas County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Poweshiek County

Best in Show – Sac County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Tama County

Best in Show – Union County

Best in Show – Warren County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Worth County

Best in Show – Wright County

The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Page County.

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!

+++++++

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.

Candid Portrait, Iowa State, Layla

4-H Photo Scavenger Hunt

October 10, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

On Tuesday night Layla wanted to go to a 4-H Photo Scavenger Hunt on the Iowa State Campus, but both her parents were indisposed. They asked me to take her and since 4-H photography runs through the blood of this family (both my sisters were accomplished 4-H photographers) I agreed to the excursion.

Before the hunt, there was a presentation where a Story County 4-H Photography Judge gave pointers on taking pictures for the photo contest. She mostly hammered down on the “rule of thirds” and “giving space for objects in motion to move”. Good rudimentary rules for beginning photographers.

Here are the 10 items Layla was to photograph:

+ “Images” on the ground from the sun.
+ You can see me in the water, but I never get wet.
+ A type of insect with antennae on its head. It might be found in a hill and can be red.
+ Out in nature I can be seen, I fall, but not from an evergreen.
+ Any item you can see moved by wind or force.
+ I am pretty and smell sweet, you will find me if you look down near your feet.
+ Here, books are organized by numbers and from A-Z.
+ Orange, blue, yell, green, red, indigo. What is the color this is missing from the rainbow.
+ Full of water, but not a lake. On top sits a 40 foot tank.
+ I’ve told you what to find until now, here’s your chance to make me say “WOW!”. Find an object and show your own unique perspective.

Here are pictures I took of Layla taking her pictures.

After they completed the hunt, the group posted it up in the new Student Innovation Center (which is a sweet, sweet building) and everybody showed their favorite picture from the hunt. Then the judge and her son gave the pointers and lot more talks of Rules of Thirds. But don’t be surprised if at the Story County Fair next year (I honestly have no clue where or when that is) there are lots of pictures of the Marston Water Tower.

I do think that the Photo Scavenger Hunt is a good idea for getting the youth to take pictures they can enter in a photo contest. You may not know this, but the original idea for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE (born the RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT) was to generate pictures that could be used for photo contests. The idea, Vest said was that at the end of the year you would have 52 pictures you could consider for photo contests. While I’m not sure how many (or if any) pictures I have taken have ever been entered in a photo contest, but the idea still stands.

I wonder if I could somehow steal the Photo Scavenger Hunt idea to try to generate youth entries for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. This would be an easier idea to pull off if Boone still had a Camera Club. Hmmmm…

Black & White, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Jen

2011-02-06

October 9, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

I’m still trying to piece together a folder of 2011 images that make sense. The pictures in the folder 2011-02-06 are from when Jen and Derrick posed for THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT. I still need to fire this project back up and get more victims… err models.

Here are the pictures in the folder 2011-02-06:

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

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #59

The next time we take a stroll down memory lane it will involve actual film photography.

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.

+++++++

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!

Flowers, Mom, Naima

Mountains of Love

October 7, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is another collection of pictures of flowers from my Mom’s yard. There are also a couple at the end that were taken in my yard. There is also a bonus picture of Naima thrown in. These pictures were taken on June 3 and June 7.

There are plenty more flower pictures to share. Plenty more.

Andy, Boone FUMC, Teresa, Youth Group

Methodist Women’s Rummage Sale

October 6, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Although there isn’t really a youth group at the church right now, Andy was able to rustle a bunch of kids to help the Methodist Women collect items for their annual rummage sale and help tear things down after it was over. Other than an unfortunate run-in with a douchey member of the Boone Fire Department, every day went really well. I think a few of the kids were happy to be back in the church. Even if it was only a few of them.

Here are some pictures from the day:

It was good to see some life back in the church again.

Art, Road Trip, Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Montgomery County

October 5, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A few weeks back I cruised around Montgomery on a solo town sign harvesting trip. Montgomery County was the second county I harvested on that day.

Here are some facts about Montgomery County:

+ Population is 10,330. That makes it the 72nd most populous county in Iowa. Below Mitchell County and above Keokuk County.
+ The largest town and county seat is Red Oak.
+ Named after Revolutionary War general Richard Mongtomery.
+ Birthplace of Clyde Cessna of aviation fame.
+ Location of the infamous unsolved Villisca Axe Murders that knocked the Titanic off the front pages of the nation’s newspapers.
+ Major highways are US-34, US-71, and IA-48.
+ Adjacent counties are Pottawattamie, Cass, Adams, Page, and Mills.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 17,803.

Montgomery County has a beautiful courthouse:

The Montgomery County Courthouse in Red Oak, Iowa.

The Montgomery County Freedom Rock is located in Red Oak, Iowa:

With Montgomery County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

39 counties completed. 39.4% of the Cyclone State conquered.

Here are the town signs of Montgomery County:

Red Oak, Iowa
Welcome to RED OAK
Population: 5,596 (-146)

Villisca, Iowa
VILLISCA
Population: 1,132 (-120)

Stanton, Iowa
STANTON
Population: 678 (-11)

Elliott, Iowa
WELCOME TO ELLIOTT
Est. 1879
Population: 338 (-12)

Grant, Iowa
Grant
Population: 86 (-6)

Coburg, Iowa
Coburg
Population: 26 (-16)

Tenville, Iowa – Unincorporated
POP 30
TENVILLE

Montgomery County might have the worst collection of signs to date. But even in a collection of mediocre, it is pretty easy to pick out the worst. Coburg only has a DOT sign. So they have the worst town sign in Montgomery County.

Best in Show is also pretty easy. It goes to Grant, even though their town sign is sitting on the ground in the courtyard of the town bar. I do believe that they are getting ready to put up a new town sign, so maybe I’ll have to check that out again on my future travels, but until then, Grant wins Best in Show.

Grant – Best in Show – Montgomery County

A couple towns do have alternate town signs:

Stanton – Alternate

Red Oak – Alternate

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Adair County

Best in Show – Adams County

Best in Show – Audubon County

Best in Show – Benton County

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Butler County

Best in Show – Calhoun County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Cass County

Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County

Best in Show – Clarke County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Franklin County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Grundy County

Best in Show – Guthrie County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Hancock County

Best in Show – Hardin County

Best in Show – Humboldt County

Best in Show – Ida County

Best in Show – Jasper County

Best in Show – Lucas County

Best in Show – Madison County

Best in Show – Marion County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Montgomery County

Best in Show – Pocahontas County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Poweshiek County

Best in Show – Sac County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Tama County

Best in Show – Union County

Best in Show – Warren County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Worth County

Best in Show – Wright County

The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Fremont County.

Andy, Bill, Carla, Cathie, Elizabeth, Flowers, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 316 – FLOWER

October 4, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Despite it being late in the year and FLOWERs not necessarily being in abundance this time of year, FLOWER ended up fueling the creative fires of quite a few people.

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

Teresa Kahler

Elizabeth Nordeen

Kim Barker

Micky Augustin

Cathie Raley

Michelle Haupt

Tamara Peterson

Amy Peterson

Bill Wentworth

Christopher D. Bennett

Elizabeth Nordeen

Carla Stensland

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Carla Stensland

Logan Kahler

Andy Sharp

TIME

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

But what is exactly 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?

While thinking on making your TIME image, meditate on the following quote:

Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

RULES

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 TIME in this place that is little more than a shadow of my time next Monday.