Thursday, March 28, 2013

Surrounded by genius - My weekend at Warther Museum

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be asked to help a story that is truly American.  It's the story of a hard working man that took his passion and made it his lifes work.   Ernest “Mooney” Warther was a man that was able to take a piece of wood or ivory and turn it into an exquisite and detailed piece of artwork.  His passion for carving was trains and at the Warther Museum there are many to see.  The family, now his great grand children, continue to show his work and had contacted me to capture images of them with my camera.  With the help of my wife, we spent last Friday and Saturday at the museum capturing in detail the beauty of these items.  Being able to look at the pieces with the zoom lens really gives you an appreciation for just how much detail this man put into his work.  If you are ever in the Dover, OH area, I strongly suggest you stop by the Warther Museum yourself and check it out. 
On Sunday of last week, we went back down and took the official tour and learned much more about many of the items there.  I've added a few images from Sunday's visit, (since the other ones are for my client ;-) )  Remember, everything you see in the museum is carved from either wood, ivory, (from deceased Elephants) or bone.  Very cool stuff.  Also at the museum is a collection of thousands of buttons all arranged in different patterns.  For Mooney's wife, that was her passion and those too are something to see.
On a photographic note, there was one thing I did last week that was pretty funny.  On one of the items we were shooting, we wanted to do it in the dark to highlight the interior of the train car.  While that worked ok, I still wanted to get some detail of the outside of the train car.  That's when I remembered the flashlight app on my iPhone.  I turned it on and basically moved the iPhone around the train car much like I was dodging and burning in the darkroom.  Okay, it was funny to me and I guess you had to have been there.




Friday, March 8, 2013

Taking my pancake for a walk


Was very happy to come home this evening to find that my new Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM "pancake" lens had arrived.  Ever since I had dove back into photography, I've found that sometimes it's hard to have the one lens do exactly what I've wanted it to do compared to the old days of shooting full frame film cameras.  So, in my quest to find that control/balance, I purchased a 50mm Canon EF lens last year.  While it is a very sharp lens and takes great pictures, I've found it to be too much of a telephoto lens and not a good all purpose lens.  So when I read about the new 40mm, I was excited about what it may do for me.  For the bit I've used it tonight, I'm amazed at it versatile nature and ability to be a great all-purpose lens.  Tomorrow will be a true test of the lens as I head to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park for a little dander.  But as of right now my thought it, "I wonder how much I can get if I sell the 50mm?"
All images below are taken with the 40mm.