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Kai McBride

@kaimcbride.com
102 followers 115 following 132 posts

Living off-grid in the high desert of New Mexico, teaching photography, and dabbling with electronics, acoustic guitars, typewriters, woodworking, ping-pong, and cycling, while keeping my '96 tacoma running. kaimcbride.com

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Reposted by Kai McBride
Robert Macfarlane @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Hello — the film adaptation of my book Underland will be showing at the BFI IMAX on 1 April. It should be spectacular on the 26m-high screen there. Tickets go on sale at 4pm today (Friday) here via bfi.org.uk. I’ll be there for a Q&A with the director, Rob Petit, who’s created an extraordinary film.
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Reposted by Kai McBride
nomoth @nomoth.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I used three different vintage lenses on my super-grim day out today. 1. Polkinar 110mm f1.8 ...
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 11/02/2026
Lovely. That Polkinar is so reality distorting--amazing! Great marriage of subject matter, atmosphere, and lens rendering. Not to take anything away from the sensitivity of the photographer :)
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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 · 09/02/2026
They look happy!
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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 · 03/02/2026
Created a short promo video for an upcoming class for StrudelmediaLive, "Mastering the Lightroom Print Module" www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ2J...
youtube.com
Mastering the Lightroom Print Module with Kai McBride
YouTube video by StrudelmediaLive
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Reposted by Kai McBride
Michael Chovan-Dalton @realphotoshow.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Closing out the year with my former co-host and good friend, Kai McBride - @kaimcbride.com, to catch up on what he's been up to. In 2021, Kai and Corn Wagon Thunder finished creating a small off-grid cabin on a mesa east of downtown Santa Fe which he named ATARAXIA.
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 24/12/2025
Real Photo Show Interview kaimcbride.com/posts/real-p... Sat down with Michael Chovan-Dalton for a one hour catch-up yesterday for his podcast @realphotoshow.bsky.social We cover off-grid living and how the move to New Mexico has changed my photo practice. Available on Spotify and YouTube
kaimcbride.com
Real Photo Show Interview
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 14/12/2025
Turning the Car Around kaimcbride.com/posts/turnin... I think every photographer can relate to this scenario. You’re driving along and spot something up ahead that looks intriguing. You split your attention between the road and the rapidly approaching scene. [click to read more]
kaimcbride.com
Turning the Car Around
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 11/12/2025
Canon Selphy Dye-Sub kaimcbride.com/posts/canon-... New Way to Make Prints As our new studio building neared completion, the first new purchase I made for the studio was this tiny Canon Selphy dye-sub printer. [click on post for the rest]
kaimcbride.com
Canon Selphy Dye-Sub
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Reposted by Kai McBride
kottke.org @kottke.org · 11/11/2025
Bill Wurtz’s History of Japan is the most entertaining history of anything I have ever seen. [kottke.org]
kottke.org
A History of Japan
Bill Wurtz’s History of Japan is the most entertaining history of anything I have ever seen.
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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 · 19/10/2025
Thanks, Michael! Nice to be surrounded by all these books and have photo-book lovers stopping through to chat and browse.
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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 · 30/09/2025
Santa Fe, 2025-09-29
Early morning sunlight reflecting off of unseen objects projecting their reflections on an adobe wall with a roof mounted vent hood. Santa Fe, NM
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 06/09/2025
Thanks, Kevin!
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 06/09/2025
Opuntia and flower
B&W Photograph of a spiky opuntia cactus with fruit and a black eyed susan flower all delicately splayed against the spines.
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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 · 14/07/2025
Yeah, they are hardy to be sure!
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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 dewMullein 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 · 22/06/2025
Brutal for sure
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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 · 04/06/2025
I heard a rumor you might be coming through New Mexico too--Santa Fe or ABQ??? (fingers crossed)
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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.
dead bird in an outdoor sink basin
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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 · 23/05/2025
That's a stunner
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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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Reposted by Kai McBride
Andy Adams @flakphoto.news · 17/05/2025
Photography folks, here is a little something to start your Saturday — Janelle Lynch on the art of noticing. Enjoy!
flakphoto.news
How to make a good photograph
Janelle Lynch on the art of noticing
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 16/05/2025
Somewhat related is the request for a review of banal everyday products. Home Depot emailed to see how I was liking that roll of duct tape I picked up last week and would I post a review on their site. 🤷
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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 · 07/05/2025
River looks high!
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 07/05/2025
That’s why I had to quit Instagram cold turkey. Yes, I miss seeing posts from friends and folks I admire that aren’t on this platform, but that is such a tiny percentage of the current Instagram experience. The majority is, like you said, the stuff you didn’t sign up for.
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Kai McBride @kaimcbride.com · 05/05/2025
False Horizon at Dawn
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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 · 20/04/2025
Happy Easter (Bunny)
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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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