Just a worn out old bicycle


Its almost hard to believe that I've been home for a bit over a month due to Covid 19 social distancing and this is the first functionallyunfunctional post I've made. Better late than never right?

While home, I've doing a lot of organization projects, one of which had me moving this bicycle. Once a high quality bicycle, its best days are sadly behind it. It may not be the best bicycle to ride today but I can't think of a more suitable subject to photograph given the spirit of this blog!

I grabbed my good ol' broken down 7D and some lights and went to work.

If you haven't been following the blog and want to learn more about the 7D I'm speaking of, its in this previous post... (https://functionallyunfunctional.blogspot.com/2019/01/next-came-7d.html) 

Based on the bicycle I'd pre-visualized four different images. I ended up with only three because despite it's interesting, classic spring style, the bicycle saddle just wasn't yielding and interesting image in my opinion. Perhaps someone with better skill or imagination could create magic with it but I quickly settled on three shots rather than four. Call me a quitter if you must.

For each of the shots, I'd decided to use a different "broken" lens.



For this first image of the spring suspension front end I used one of my favorites, my Carl Zeiss 135mm Jena lens. Technically, the Jena isn't a broken lens at all. Its fully functional. Its really just an old screw mount lens designed for film cameras that I ended up with. Zeiss, the world's premier lens manufacturer, created the screw mount lens in the late 30s but by the mid 70s just about every manufacturer had developed proprietary mounts. Technically its just old and since it doesn't actually fit any camera made today most people would consider it worthless and toss it. In that regard I believe it qualifies for this project. And since its my project and my blog, I get to make the rules.

Here's a picture of all three lenses used including the Jena.


As I mentioned, the idea I had using the classic spring style saddle just didn't pan out so you'll have to imagine a cool old spring saddle here...


I quickly moved on to the next image I'd envisioned. Spokes.


For this image I used another screw mount lens. A mystery lens. The front bezel, where all identifying markings would be, is missing so I don't actually know what it is. By comparing it to other lenses I can get a fairly good idea of focal length but I've been unable to identify its manufacturer. Its not severely broken but it certainly qualifies for the project. And it was fun to shoot with considering I really don't know what it is.




For the final image, I returned to the broken 35mm lens my friend Andria gifted me a while back.  This previous post explains more about that lens...
(https://functionallyunfunctional.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-very-broken-lens.html)



I really like the images this lens produces and definitely appreciate the gift. Its been a lot of fun making it work and creating images with it. There can be little doubt that this lens qualifies for this project. That might also play a part in why I enjoy using it so much.



The goal of this blog is to demonstrate we don't need the newest, shiniest tool - or subject for that matter - to create satisfactory images. I hope to inspire someone, somewhere, to worry a little bit less about the equipment they use and a bit more about having fun simply creating images they like.







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