iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 09/02/2026

Dormant asparagus ferns in my neighbor's geodesic greenhouse. Experimenting with that Industar-61 53mm f/2.8 lens on my Sony. Loving the fall-off from sharp to out-of-focus on this lens. (San Pedro cactus in the background)

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 06/02/2026

Industar-61 53mm f/2.8 on my Sony. This is a LTM lens built in the FED factory in Kharkov in Ukraine. I was hoping it would have some personality and wasn't disappointed. Here's an example shooting towards the sun wide open and the wild bokeh. Example photo with 100% and 200% crops.

Industar-61 53mm f/2.8 lens mounted on a Sony A7III camera body. LTM to Leica-M to Sony adapters.

Example photograph made with the Industar-61 wide open at f/2.8. Shallow depth of field, not too much vignetting.

100% crop of previous photograph, showing flare from sun and bokeh.

200% crop of example photograph showing interesting mix of large and small bokeh circles from the Industar-61 53mm wide open at f/2.8

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 12/11/2025

New classes just posted at StrudelmediaLive for Winter 2026, including two of mine. Repetition as Practice: A Year of Deep Observation strudelmedialive.com/classes/repe... Mastering the Lightroom Print Module strudelmedialive.com/classes/mast...

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 18/10/2025

If you come to Santa Fe, visit me at my new job at photo-eye books! Thursday to Saturday 11am-5pm.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 14/10/2025

The male tarantulas are on the move. Looking for love. This one came through the yard this afternoon. Did quite well walking upside down on this rock.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 30/08/2025

Twilight on the corner of Cielo and Cerrillos. Santa Fe, NM

Twilight sky with clouds. Illuminated sign frame missing the sign on the corner of a commercial parking lot. A beacon.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 28/07/2025

Campsite, near Conejos River in Colorado

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 21/07/2025

Monsoon Season in New Mexico means plenty of thunderstorms rolling through on the regular. This one is from last night.

Lightning in the sky above a small house with ponderosa pines and cactus on the outskirts of Santa Fe, NM

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 12/07/2025

Mullein with beaded dew. They call it a weed here in NM but I love the way they sprout up in our yard and shoot up their tall flower stalks.

Mullein plant with leaves darkened by morning dew

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 09/07/2025

Work shirt drying in the sun.

Shirt hanging to dry on a clothesline on the screened in porch. Backlit by the strong morning sun making the shirt as translucent as the screen.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 09/06/2025

Anthill + Underground cable marking flag taken yesterday. Love the confusing perspective and the NASA-moon-landing aesthetic.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 03/06/2025

Morning light for long shadows. Saw blade teeth and cactus needles.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 01/06/2025

Found Still Life: Bird hit the mirror at the outhouse this morning and landed like this in the sink.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 24/05/2025

The venerable vehicle roof as tripod stand. Good enough for Ansel, good enough for me.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 21/05/2025

Happy Humpstice (Hump + Solstice), when the sunrise aligns with the hump each year. This was at 5:57 this morning.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 14/05/2025

Stretched out in the hammock on the porch with my copy of @craigmod.com “Things Become Other Things” that arrived in the post this morning. Ready to dive in. (learned about Craig Mod a while ago from @kottke.org —thanks!)

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 05/05/2025

Branching and Tendrils, organic and otherwise.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 23/04/2025

Headlamp at 5am with fresh wet snow.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 16/04/2025

Hashtag-Signs-of-Spring: Bringing the Underwood out on the porch for some barefoot typing.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 12/04/2025

Couldn't walk past this rock with lichen eyes and cactus mouth without taking a quick photograph.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 09/04/2025

Dreamed up a project to try out my new 4-jaw chuck--a toggle switch plate for the 24VDC LED light on the porch. Great to be able to machine square stock on the lathe! 50mm x 12mm 6061 aluminum bar. I recently learned the CAD software onshape and modeled it there first.

New aluminum toggle switch plate installed.

CAD drawing of the switch plate made in onshape.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 07/04/2025

Finished turning down the cast iron backing plate. Had to order transfer-punch screws and counterbore for M8 bolts to get the holes drilled. All came together yesterday. Now have a 4-jaw chuck!

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 07/04/2025

The Hump: 6/IV/2025 [sunrise beyond the heavy clouds]

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 04/04/2025

What is it about a slightly defunct handmade sign that is impossible to resist (photographing)? Walker Evans knew.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 03/04/2025

Saddened to hear of the passing of Paul McDonough—a constant on the NY photo scene for decades and longtime faculty at Pratt—teaching there for over 40yrs.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 03/04/2025

The Hump: 2/IV/2025 [from the porch with laundry]

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 27/03/2025

That feeling on the first truly warm days of Spring when you are driving along and roll down the window and spontaneously stick your arm out into the warm wind.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 21/03/2025

Walking around town with a small mirror making example photographs for my next Shake Up class. Like this one quite a lot.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 20/03/2025

My 1972 Saab Sonnet III basking in the NM sun. Needs a little work (bleed the brakes, adjust the carbs). Hope to get it out on the road this summer.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 19/03/2025

Santa Fe dust storm with sun-bleached Stop sign.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 19/03/2025

Mirror-deflected sunlight on the moon

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 18/03/2025

No shortage of cute cactus around our cabin. This one, tucked away in the rocks, was getting a glamour lighting treatment from the sun.

Cactus surrounded by pine needles in strong sunlight

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 16/03/2025

Like shooting stars, these contrails at dawn streak the sky.

Contrail strikes across the sky at dawn above a silhouette of a ponderosa tree.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 15/03/2025

Today I was sizing a backing plate for a new 4-jaw chuck for the lathe. Cast iron chips and smoke from the cutting fluid jumping all over. Using the lathe to make parts for the lathe—nice.

Turning down a cast iron backing plate for a new chuck on a Maximat 7

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 14/03/2025

I wanted to hang my X100F close to the door, easy to grab on the go, but unlikely to get knocked off. Made this hook from 10mm aluminum bar by first drilling a large hole and then cutting it open. Sits in a channel I routed in the plywood and held in place by two 5mm bolts hidden in the back. Ready!

Camera Hook from 10mm aluminum bar with plywood base

X100F hanging at the ready from new Camera Hook by the front door.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 14/03/2025

All about the Left Hand today. Back to back posts in my feed from @flakphoto.news and @momaphotographs.bsky.social

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 08/03/2025

Snow Day on the Mesa. 3inches and still coming down.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 05/03/2025

When you have to trust your equipment and co-workers a little too much. Manhattan, 2012 [35mm Ilford HP5]

Window washer on treacherously long ladder.

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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 28/02/2025

Somebody dumped this turf on the sidewalk in the industrial section of Bushwick, Brooklyn in 2017. Always makes me think of Mr. Snuffleupagus. This is about a block from Justin Waldinger's studio where he runs Tap & Dye and makes excellent camera straps: www.tapanddye.com/pages/maker