He built this mansion so his wife and children would be comfortable. They never lived there or even visited for very long. Seems it was difficult to share a vision of privilege in the desert heat and dust. What good is wealth unless you enjoy what it brings to your life?
“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” – Abraham H. Maslow
An often heard cliché is that the camera is just a tool in the hands of a photographer. That is true as long as the photographer can come to terms with a particular camera to use it as a tool. I may have reached that point with the Sony A7II.
Of course the camera as tool encompasses both body and lenses. That complicates things when using legacy lenses because the two were not designed to work as a system. Finding the right match of body and lens requires some work on the part of the photographer. There is at least a little luck and intuition involved as well. This is particularly true if you have limited experience with legacy glass. I am in that category.
All of this makes me reluctant to say that I’ve found the right tool for my year long photography project. The camera body is indeed excellent but the lenses are a work in progress. With only four lenses, three of which were purchased several years ago, I can’t say that I have the right lenses. How do you know if they are the right lenses?
Being pragmatic at heart and trying not to be a gearhead my approach is to shoot with what I’ve got. Given the results so far this seems to be a reasonable if not optimal approach. As I get deeper into the project a time may come when purchasing additional lenses will make sense. Until then I’ll muddle along using my current glass.
Best to remember that my project is to shoot the A7II for a year using legacy lenses while spending the least amount of money. As long as the images look good I’ll stick with what I have in the bag.
Northwest of Llano on state highway 71 is the small crossroads village of Pontotoc. It has a few inhabitants, a winery which is the sole major business and a group of spectacular ruins from the nineteenth century. Besides the ruins there are many other interesting artifacts in the area to see and photograph. Fortunately the current residents are tolerant of strangers poking around.
The major ruins in the village are of the San Fernando Academy founded in 1882. It was short lived as a private academy but continued as a public school until around 1927. The area prospered for a few years at the beginning of the twentieth century. Then in the late 1940s a fire which started in the local movie theatre destroyed most of the commercial buildings in the town. Pontotoc never recovered.
There are ruins of residential buildings constructed of beautiful native stone just a hundred yards from the academy. They may have been occupied by school staff members. Within a couple of miles there are also historic cemeteries that are worth exploring. On good years the spring wildflower bloom is spectacular for fifty miles or more around the village. In winter the rolling hills reveal the richness that enticed many settlers to this country.
Pontotoc is well off the tourist track so you have to make an effort to get there. Seeing the well preserved ruins is an interesting day trip.