The Thunder Rolls & The Lightning Strikes: OKC & the Death of a 90mm macro lens

Note to self: When choosing the best time for a work trip, check the schedule for back-to-back Thunder home games.

Last week I popped down to Oklahoma City for work. I managed to be there when the Thunder had a back-to-back home stretch with the Knicks and the Pistons. Sunday I caught the game with the Gies Law Firm team. Monday I was able to take my brother who I get to see maybe once a year if I’m lucky. It felt like a small miracle of timing, but it was just exactly how I planned it.

There’s a big part of OKC I’m proud of and look forward to returning home to. It’s the people and their craft, and all the space art takes up. Creativity doesn’t feel performative. It just lives in things. It’s good to see. Family doing their thing – the food scene having its moment (please go eat at Takaramono). It’s like watching your old friend mature into their potential. Everything is changing, but somehow also remains exactly the same.

It’s flat, the sky is big and wide, and I feel like I’m on the earth.

Work-wise we were focused on locking in a new client, meeting new members of the team and trying to squeeze in a few photos of us. I think we did alright with the time we had.

Most of the photography I do is macro and product based, so it’s always a fun challenge to shoot teams and people.

But the challenges peaked when I returned home, opened my camera bag, and discovered a devastating surprise. I left my Sony 90mm macro lens attached to my camera body while traveling and learned the hard way that is not something anyone should ever do. The mount and rear assembly connection completely snapped off.

I noticed something was off as soon as I opened the bag. It looked a bit more horrific than it was at first with the sensor totally exposed. I couldn’t really tell that it was my lens that had detached from the mount at first.

After cutting my fingers open trying to get the broken lens attachment off the body, I took some test shots and rested easy that I only lost a lens. I honestly still have no idea how I handled this so well looking back. Maybe I'm just slowly getting better at practicing accountability.

I do still have my ultra macro lens in commission, but I haven’t used it much. I’ll have to get a bit dialed in with it in the interim of investing in a new 100mm or 90mm staple. I always like nerding out with a new process, but the Sony native lens just felt like such a natural match for everything I needed it to be getting started in macro photography. Photography has probably been one of the more humbling things I’ve taken on. Just when you think you’re getting somewhere, you’ll have streaks in a macro stack or make a rookie mistake and break your lens. It all keeps me in check and striving to improve. I can appreciate that about it all.

Blue Moon from Carbon Cannabis

And really, that’s something I can apply to so many other areas of my life. I’ll be getting a lot more creative with what I’ve got to work with while I save for another macro lens I guess – and keeping all the lessons and love from the past few weeks close to heart. See you next time OKC, hopefully in tow with a new (properly detached) lens.