Tampa Union Station - 2024

 I think I took some pictures of the station some 8 or 9 years ago.  It has a very classic style, and it's a fairly grand looking place. Exterior is done with brick, which in this area, is not a common sight. Bricks have to be shipped here from other states, likely Georgia. 

Ybor City - Brick and old buildings

 You don't see much brick buildings in Tampa area.  I think the main reason is that we just don't have any clay in this area to produce bricks, so they must be shipped to this region.  most of the houses are build with cinder blocks, then stucco over the concrete blocks.  

there are a few older cigar warehouses in Ybor, and an older library. 

Shot with Sony A7Sii, with Minolta 50mm f1.7. 

Canon FD 50m f1.8 magic

 I have had this lens for a while, but for some reason, I was not able to get into it.  But recently, I picked it up again to try it out, just to verify how the FD breech lock lens gets attached to the mirrorless camera adapter, since getting it mounted to ensure the aperture ring will adjust correctly is a bit tricky.  I will post some tutorial on it, because I got a little frustrated with the whole process. 

Camera today - Panasonic G3, Fotasy FD to M43 adapter. I think I had -1 EV, so they looked a bit dark.

Anyways, I really like the way the color was rendered, now I am going to test my other 50-55mm range lenses and see how they perform.

Sunny day out and about - Dunedin

 I live in Clearwater, FL, but there's not much going on in downtown Clearwater except for the new concert venue, The Sound, because most of the buildings there are taken up by the Scientologist. But we are only a few minutes away from downtown Dunedin, it's definitely a lot livelier with more people and things to do.

Pictures today are taken from an actual camera, Panasonic GH3 and Lumix 25mm lens.

ATM - I thought it was a pay phone at first....   😂

Lens Test - Nikon 28-105mm 3.5-4.5D

 This is a bargain of a lens I purchased from KEH. 

The range this lens provided was fairly nice.  It is much lighter than the 35-70mm, plus it has a nice 1/2 Macro feature. 

I tested this out with my new Nikon to Sony E mount adapter, no electronics, so all manual focus. 

Camera - Sony A7Sii.  

Nikon 35mm f1.8 DX. ISO200, 1/13sec. Shot handheld.

This lens' focusing motor stopped working.  Kind of pissed.  Apparently a common issue. 

Taiwan - visited old places 50 years apart

On this last trip, while walking through a city part, I remembered I had a picture taken on this bridge when I was little, thought I would reproduce a shot.

 

March 1973

Thank goodness my parents had a camera with date feature. I don't think it was a polaroid, not sure why it's square. 

Back from a pause/gap...

Hmm, it's been over 9 years since my last post here. 

Don't know why, just have lost the interest in using a camera past few years.

I still take some pictures with my cameras, but I got to the point where I don't even upload them to the computer.  Most of the time, I just use my cell phone.  

In Summer of 2023, we took a trip to Taiwan, I didn't even bother bringing my camera on the trip, I documented the whole trip with my cell phone..

In late 2023, some random video on YouTube popped up with some adapted vintage lenses.  Knowing I had a collection of older Pentax M42 and Canon FD lenses, and Micro 4/3 adapters, I thought I would give them a shot again. 

This collection of test shots are made from Pansonic DMC-G3 and Canon FD 50mm.  Camera set to aperture priority. 

Fresh Thai Basil in Winter (yeah, I am still living in Florida).

ISO 800, 1/500 sec 

 

Colonial Williamsburg in the Fog

St. Pete - Murals

Near downtown St. Pete, between 7th and 6th St. North, in the alley way on the north side of Central Ave, you can find enormous amount of murals.  Most of the pictures are from that section, while a few a up and down the block off of Central Ave.

They are really nice works, but there are many obstacles that may kept you from taking full shot of them.  I know the murals in the area has been getting some attention, as there are now guided tours for them.

Enjoy..

The bricks are real...  :)

Tampa Train Station

Talk about nostalgia.

I love this old train station, it is a passenger train in Tampa.  

It's not the camera -

This picture, remains as my all time favorite, was taken with a point and shoot.  Canon SD400.

Set to auto mode, it exposed the shot perfectly (to me at least), and really did the scene justice.

Can I reproduce this shot, at the same location, with a "better" camera?  I don't know, I am curious if I can.   Sometimes, in the moment, just pick up the camera, take a shot, a lucky shot perhaps, and it just works.   No fiddling with controls and dials to try to get the shot "perfect".


Believe me, I think I got lucky, just at the right place, at the right time.  Just "clicked"....

Happy New Year from Hammock Park - Dunedin, FL

Wow, can't believe it's been another year already.  What has happened to time?

Took a morning walk in Hammock Park, a little on the cool side at 60 degrees, but can't complain when I know what brutal Winter could be.  But I do miss cold weather sometimes, just not shuffling snow.....

Vibrant vs. decay.

Olympus m.Zuiko 45mm

Received my gray market Olympus 45mm lens from Japan.  The estimated shipping time is 3 weeks, I received it within 1 week.  Not bad, and can't beat the price.  But I guess it wouldn't receive the same warranty treatment, if it develops any issues.

Fern

Classic autos - Sarasota.

Went to Ringling Brother's museum back in March, just now posting these pictures..

Just my luck, caught this gathering of classic automobiles in the parking lot.


Lots of pictures here to share.

Can you name and date the cars?  :)

Cadillac. 

Mazzaro's Italian Market

Cool market, located, in St. Pete, it has a nice cult following, offering wide variety of goodies that you can enjoy right out in the back patio.

Not many shots from inside of the store, just too dark, but I loved the old cars they have outside of the store.

Italian Mini... 

Back to posting - with Sunset by Clearwater

While northern states are suffering through a second round of cold snap, here in Florida has been experiencing super nice weather.

Too bad it's not as nice during the Summer time, but still it's better than shuffling snow!

Waiting for that Big one

A Day at the Market - St. Pete, FL

During the Fall to Spring time, downtown St. Pete hosts Farmer's market every Saturday morning from 9AM to 2 PM.  It is kind of far from my house, so I don't get to visit there that frequently, but when I go, I usually enjoy the outing, even if I don't buy anything, just people watching, dog watching, and walking around to remind us why we enjoy living in Florida (Fall to Spring time)..


Free belly dancing exhibit today..

Northwestern Cuisine.

Had another trip to China/Hong Kong back in September.  I had a chance to check out this really neat restaurant.   

This is actually a chain, I went to the one in Guangzhou. 

This restaurant is very clean, perhaps because it is fairly new, but the decoration is nice, not tacky at all, and no smoking rules were really enforced.  For those of you who have been to China, the no-smoking sign is merely a suggestion, and rarely enforced, which is quite bothersome for me..


Outside of the restaurant, huge front doors..

Continuation of NYC Streets

Uploading some more of my past visits to NYC. 

Night time at Time Square

A day out at the FMoPA

Finally became a member of Florida Museum of Photography Arts.  Maybe I can join some classes offered by the museum, but another reason is that I signed up for the NARM (North American Reciprocal Museums) program, where I can visit member museums for free.  There are many in the Tampa Bay area that are members, so it should be money well spent.
FMoPA address:
400 N. Ashley Drive
Tampa, Florida 33602
813-221-2222
info@fmopa.org


The museum is located inside of what I considered as a business building.  It is very cool, just to look at the building alone.