Super Takumar - PhotoTrice

Sunday Morning in the Hill Country

Hay Field, Comfort Texas
Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @f5.6

It has been my habit to go for an early Sunday morning ride since I was old enough to drive. For most of that time my preferred vehicle was some motorcycle. As a young man I favored speed. The technical challenge of riding the back roads and canyons was my obsession. Much later the idea of enjoying the ride in a more relaxed fashion finally occurred to me and I slowed down. That’s when I bought my first camera.

For some years now a four wheeled vehicle has been my choice for Sunday morning drives. Not as much fun perhaps but infinitely safer while allowing me to carry some lenses and a tripod. I got old or I got practical. Take your pick.

Echo Bluff Ranch Gate
Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @ f3.5

If you live in Central Texas the obvious place to spend Sunday morning is in the Hill Country, The pace of life there matches my weekend ambitions. Getting out before church means you see few people. You can literally stop anywhere to shoot even in the middle of the road.

I carry a camera whenever I’m on the back roads but I tend to look more than shoot. Once in a while something catches my eye but mostly I drive slow and enjoy myself. If I shoot more than two or three photographs then I’m highly motivated. Last weekend I got three.

These photographs were all made within a few miles of Comfort Texas. Just at the Southern edge of what I consider the Hill Country. There are still many active farms and ranches in the area but they are slowly being replaced by recreational properties. Some of which are quite large.

Fence Line Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @f8.0 — Fence Line
Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @f8.0

Contrast

These days most of us live in urban areas with access to every possible consumer product. Even if we live outside the city, internet retailers are there 24/7 to meet every need. Most of us in the developed world have the expectation of living a comfortable life.

In the days BD (before digital) expectations of having a comfortable life were similar to today but the scale of consumer choice was somewhat different. For the most part we made do with goods that were available locally. Our choices were fewer in number but more than adequate. So we thought.

Today there is a simultaneous explosion of access and goods that drives us as consumers. Every possible need is met with multiple choices. Novelty drives our shopping experiences as much as need. In some ways we have too many choices available which makes selecting the best goods nearly impossible. Compared with earlier times I’m not sure whether we are actually better off or not. Regardless I’m happy living in a connected world of endless possibilities.

Photography 101 – Learning To See

Guadalupe at Sunrise – Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @ f8.0

My project to use legacy manual lenses for a year has helped me understand things about photography that are obvious to old timers. If you used film cameras and prime lenses even as a student then you probably know how to determine the correct focal length to capture a scene as you visualize the finished image. For most untrained photographers the process is simpler, just plant your feet, zoom the lens and shoot. No regard is given to how a particular focal length will render a scene beyond what is in or out of the frame.

I’ve used both extreme wide angle and telephoto lenses so the concepts of distortion and compression are familiar to me in a general way. Still in the past I would find a convenient spot from which to shoot, zoom in or out until the frame contained the elements I wanted and fire away. Any distortion of the scene was just something to live with in order to get the picture.

Using prime lenses has required me to think more carefully about what is captured by my camera. Not just the elements in the frame but also how the perspective is different from what I see with my eyes. That understanding may be the single most valuable lesson I’ll take away from my project.

The real purpose of a zoom lens is now clear to me. It is a convenient way to select the proper focal length for shooting a scene without changing lenses. The photographer drives the process by visualizing the finished image then selecting the proper focal length to capture the scene. It is so simple.

I read about visualization and lens selection countless times over the years but incorrectly using zoom lenses kept me from fully grasping these important concepts. Understanding why to select a particular lens focal length is a milestone for my photography. With luck I will learn many more ways improve my image making in the next year.