There is no place on earth with more natural beauty than the Texas Hill Country on a Spring morning. In a good year you can drive for a hundred miles with the roadsides, fields and hillsides in continuous bloom. This is a good year.
Spring – 2017
Tag: Sony A7II
Among the Trees
My year long project to photograph using only a Sony A7II body and legacy lenses is nearing completion. I plan to do a full postmortem of the project later this year. In the meantime some things have become clear. Most importantly I have discovered that using manual focus lenses is an advantage in almost all situations except for fast action shooting. Going into the project I expected that manual focus would be a limitation. It is not a limitation at least for me. Slowing down and thinking before shooting has improved my photography. I see no reason to go back to using auto focus lenses any time soon.
Another interesting thing I’ve discovered is a preference for using shorter focal length lenses. In the past I relied upon zoom lenses and often used long focal lengths of 200-300mm simply to frame shots without moving. That is a bad habit. Now I find myself using a 35mm prime lens for almost all my photography. Long lenses do have a place but they should not be a crutch for sloppy technique.
This photograph was shot a few days ago using a forty plus year old Super Takumar 35mm m42 mount lens. It has proved to be my absolute favorite lens for the project.
Sunlight
Spring generally comes early in the Central Texas Hill Country. This year is no exception to that rule. It has been a marvelous winter season with lots of rain. Texas is poised on the edge of a spectacular wildflower bloom starting about now along the coast and progressing northward for the next couple of months.
The Hill country is just at the point of transition into spring. Cypress trees along the Medina River are not yet covered with new growth. They are still elegant silhouettes lining the banks of the river. It was eighty four degrees here yesterday and the locals were picnicking and swimming with the giant trees overhead.
After years of severe drought we can all rejoice in a gentle abundant Spring season.