Went to The Track Lounge this evening for a listening of The Robots (see last thumbnail strip), the first venue where I photographed a band at, and the the first band that I had ever photographed. A 2-for-1 deal as it were.
This place and this band do mean a lot to me. Good memories. Patrons come and go over time, a changing of the guard. Yet the atmosphere is still genuine and friendly every time I have been there (since 2012). The staff is great, they serve food, and the proprietor, Richard, always greets me when I come in.
This evening I was sporting my new replacement lens. The one I used to photograph back in 2012 is a bit worn now, causing focusing issues. The manufacturer no longer supports the lens that age, so being It could not be repaired, I bought the new model replacement at a discount they offered me. Glad I did. I never realized how much a camera lens can degrade. Just not become loose, but fog the glass and perhaps not adjusting well to the camera body signals for the f-stop. Yes, for this large investment I could have taken it apart myself to fix, or taken it to a local camera shop to have it gone through. The lens was refurbished by the manufacturer 5-years ago or so. You cannot just keep doing this without having to replace parts, and parts are now scarce.
So, the photograph at the top of the blog, and this next photograph were taken right out of the box as my first shots. What a difference. This new lens brought me back to the quality when I first started photographing with my 2012 lens. Afterward the lights were killed over the band, which made it difficult to photograph. I did not make enough adjustment to the camera (I photograph in full manual mode) to overcome it. My fault. Still, here are some photographs for you to enjoy!
