FunctionallyUnfunctional

A couple years ago there was a fire at the Karpeles Manuscript Library here in St. Louis. The building housing the Library/Museum is a historic church building and the contents were priceless. Fortunately most of the contents of the building were saved and the building is soon to be restored thanks to its steel frame.  Taken with the 28mm I wanted to get some images of it before they began the restoration process, slated to start soon. Naturally a broken building demanded being photographed with broken gear right? I had rescued a couple Minolta film camera lenses that were crying out my name. One, the 28mm has fungus in it which is, in old lens terms - totaled. The 58mm lens has oil in the aperture blades rendering the lens non-functional for normal operation.  For this project, I mounted the lenses to my Canon EOS R. Adapting old film camera lenses to DSLRs can get tricky but it due to the design of mirrorless bodies, the adaptation is much easier. And that adds to the fun an...

Lately in my Facebook beginners group I've really been pushing my viewpoint that photography is about light and not about cameras. Anyone that has been around me long or read my posts quickly learn that I am not all about shiny new gear. Granted, I own plenty of it, but frankly I get more enjoyment out of creating images with my old broken down "junk."  So recently I responded to someone asking about what lights to invest in. Now, without a doubt, like anything else, if you invest in heavy duty, solid equipment it will treat you well for decades. This is a fact.  But my response to the post was in another direction entirely because, well, I'm me. I told the author to invest in knowledge, to learn light, to study art, etc. Because with the right skill, a great photograph could be created with a flashlight.  Well, wouldn't ya know it, someone challenged me to prove it? So, I did. I put my money where my mouth is. I needed to update the blog anyway right? There is ab...