Some days you pick up your instrument to perform with it, but on most days you’re picking it up to practice with it. We photographers love to beat ourselves up when every image isn’t performance ready, but we tend not to think of what other artists go through to hit the stage with their best work. There are a lot of missed riffs and horribly off-key notes in private to get things right in public. A LOT.
Backyard, Strathmore, AB, 2025-05-015
Strathmore, AB, 2025-05-015
I think it has been legit half a year since I busted out my venerable Pentax macro lens and I have definitely lost the feel for using it over the winter. Out of over 100 shots in a strong wind, only seven were sharp enough to use. Of those only four were usable, but they’re definitely off-key, at least to my mind.
That’s okay, it’s all just part of being an artist. The failures are steps on the path to the next success and should be celebrated. Any day you are holding a camera is a good day, even when the images that fall off the SD card are not.
Today I used my SMC PENTAX-A 100mm f/2.8 macro lens mounted using a Fotodiox PK-EF lens adapter. The Pentax is over four decades old, but it works wonderfully on my Canon EOS R5.