Broken?
A few weeks ago I went to use my favorite 20mm f2.8 lens and noticed something didn't look right when I peered through the viewfinder. The edges of the photo were not in focus, but the center was. It looked a little bit like an aura. Something I was not familiar with until I started using anti-depressant medication a few years ago during some tough times. Needless to say the doctor who prescribed that medication told me to stop taking it immediately.Anyway, I was disappointed that my favorite lens was broken. The center-focus issue made it unusable, I thought. So I looked around for a camera shop that can repair it. I found one. Then I decided to wait for a little while and see what I could do with this "broken" lens.
I'm not strapping it on every day, but I'm taking it out now every once and a while to see what I can do. My first trip was to an old city cemetery.
The place is called Olšany and I got lucky with really nice light the day I went with my broken lens. I think I wandered around for three or four hours contemplating my mortality and thinking about how the graveyards in the U.S. are so much different. I'm pretty happy with the results. It seem I do some pretty good work in cemeteries.
Anyway, there are a lot of photos for me to stick in here, so I'll stop with the copy. Remember, if you're not a person I know I own the copyright to these photos and don't authorize anyone to use them without permission.
This headstone is not here anymore. I went back a week or so later and it was gone.
This one is pretty close to my favorite. The light is great and the soft edges really work.
There are a lot of benches near graves. Most of them are placed so people can sit at the end of a grave and rest.
There are a lot of crypts built around the cemetery this one isn't in such great shape. The back wall is missing.
There is a ton of bent and broken iron around the place. I guess rust and the elements do a number after 150 years.
No stopping progress. Actually that's not true, in some countries the IMAX theater would be built on top of the graveyard. For all I know this one is built on top of at least a few graves that were placed outside the walls.
I wasn't sure if I like this one better in color or black and white. I did like the pauper's grave feel to it though.
See, black and white looks pretty good too.
Iron isn't the only broken this in this place. There are a lot of broken and overgrown headstones. And check out my cool Golden Mean composition.
People even leave flowers on graves for people who have been dead for 100 years or so. It's nice.
I'll end it with another bench. I think I like this one more than the other one up there. I have other photos I like too, but 15 is enough I think. I'm not that upset with my broken lens anymore. I'm still going to get it fixed through, just not this week.
I forgot to add this one I really liked. I like the clearly hand-made wooden cross in a bucket of flowers with a computer-printed headstone on it. To me this is was the best grave in the whole place. Simple and right next to a pretty large monument to someone else. I think it makes a good juxtaposition.
