This image was done with a lens I nearly threw away.  It's a little 4+ inch projection petzval I had sold to a guy and he asked if he could send it back.  It was so long and narrow that it would barely illuminate 35mm film.  And the rear group had problems so I almost tossed it overboard when it came back to me.  The front group is a simple doublet but it's big.  About 2 1/4 inches across.  I took the front group and mounted it on my Kodak 2D and this is the first image I made.  Actually I was trading out another lens and had already been looking at this subject.  When I looked at the ground glass this image was there.  Pure magic.  For once I had the sense to not adjust or tweak anything.  I put a piece of 6.5 X 8.5 film in, calculated the exposure and made this image.

Bamboo no. 1

I made 2 other images with this lens and I'll share them when the paper is dry.  It's been a printing session that has taken my breath away.  Hey, that's why we keep slugging it out year after year, isn't it?