{Coming Attractions} Muddy’s Menu Photos, IV
Okay you-y’all-ya’ll, maybe you’ll remember that I did a series of photo shoots last year for Muddy’s Bake Shop to be used for their online menu on an upcoming website redesign. I don’t know if this really counts as “coming attractions” still because…Well, that redesign is now up and running!
^^^^^ Yeah, dawg!!!
While we’d gotten photos of a HUGE percentage of Muddy’s baked goods, we did have a few stragglers/newer menu items to photograph. We had one (last?) product shoot last week at their Broad Avenue kitchen – what a beautiful space they’ve created over there, btw! You’ll be able to see the fruits of this latest shoot on the Muddy’s website soon, I’m sure, but here are a few just for fun photos in the meantime!
My Favorite Faves: The Sears 55mm/1.4 lens
I just decided that I will begin a new series here on the SWP blog, about equipment or photos I love the best but which haven’t been written about on the blog yet. I have only had this blog since 2009, so there’s equipment I’ve used in the past or photos that were never shown here. Today, I begin with one of my all-time favorite lenses…
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This is a lens that was made to fit cameras with a lens mount called m42 screw mount – or universal screw mount or Pentax screw mount. My first 35m SLR was an m42 mount, and I continued to use various m42 cameras for the first several years of foray into photography. I had a couple of favorite m42 lenses, but I think my absolute fave is the Sears 55mm/1.4. Yes, that Sears, though their lenses were reportedly made by Mamiya-Sekor.
The Sears lens came to me via my long-time pen pal, Mike, who was trying out a variety of equipment several years ago and allowed me to try some of it out. He let me keep this one instead of sending it to him in Australia! I love this lens so much that, not only have I shot it on actual m42 cameras, but I got an adapter so it’d work on my Nikon 35mm auto focus cameras, Nikon 35mm manual focus cameras, and a Nikon dSLR I used to have. What makes me so ga-go over the Sears 55mm/1.4? THE BOKEH (<—— that term is something I did my best to explain in a post or two in the early part of my SWP blogging career.) I especially love using it with a macro extension tube attached – it really emphasizes that dreamy, creamy, swirly bokeh that makes my heart go pitter-patter. Perfect for my style of food photography! And when it came to using this lens on my Nikon digital SLR, I actually even felt as if it gave my photos a more film-like appearance. SO GOOD!
Difficult to cull my absolute favorite photos taken with this lens, but here’s my best attempt:
Nikon D50 + Sears 55mm/1.4
Praktica VLC3 + Sears 55mm/1.4
Praktica VLC 3 + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Praktica VLC3 + Sears 55mm/1.4
Praktica VLC3 + 55mm/1.4
Praktica VLC3 + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Praktica VLC3 + Sears 55mm/1.4
Praktica VLC3 + Sears 55mm/1.4
Yashica TL Electro-X + Sears 55mm/1.4
Nikon N50 + Sears 55mm/1.4
Nikon D50 + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Nikon D50 + Sears 55mm/1.4
Nikon D50 + Sears 55mm/1.4
Nikon N8008 + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Nikon FE + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Nikon FE + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Nikon FE + Sears 55mm/1.4
Nikon FE + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Nikon FE +Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Nikon FE + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Nikon FE + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Nikon FE + Sears 55mm/1.4 + macro extension tubes
Now that I’ve looked at all these pictures, I think it’s high time I attach that Sears lens to one of my Nikons and take advantage of that beautiful bokeh again!
{‘Roid Week 2013} Bonus Day: The ‘Roids that Time Forgot
My previous ‘Roid Week bonus day blog was filled with photos which I found to be more misses than hits. This bonus day post is made up of photos which I actually liked but never bothered scanning in. Mostly, they were taken last year during a time when I had a lot going on and spent most of my photo-related computer time editing wedding photos. And as scanning prints is not a favorite task of mine, these pictures never made it into digital form so I could post them online. I’m trying to right that wrong today, by giving them their own bonus day ‘Roid Week 2013 blog!
“The day my Impossible Project Pioneer Card arrived” • Polaroid SX-70 Sonar • PX 70, NIGO edition
(Better BIGGER)
“Tractor and Radio Flyer” • Polaroid SX-70 One-Step “Rainbow” • PX 70 Color Shade Cool
(a camera I only owned two days – bought it at a junk shop & sold it immediately at a profit)
“Tree, looking up” • Polaroid SX-70 • PX 680 Color Shade (old gen) + Neutral density filter
“Cafeteria Jukebox” • Polaroid Sun 660 AF • PX 680 Gold Frame Edition
“Motorcycle in the Lobby” • Sun 660 AF • PX 680 Gold Frame Edition
Better BIGGER
“Ice cream with strawberries” • Polaroid SLR 680 • PX 680 Gold Frame Edition
“Yashica GT, in my lap” • Polaroid SX-70 Sonar • PX 680 Gold Frame Edition + ND filter
I feel as if I have a clean slate after I’ve gotten my backlog of instant photos posted online during ‘Roid Week 2013! Yay!