Cayadutta Tanning Company: Inside Gloversville's Dead Tannery

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The Pink Flamingo on Harrison Street Whether it is a dead mill or tannery, a car will always be sitting in a discrete corner.  Gloversville, New York, earned its name for a reason. For decades, it was the undisputed glove capital of the world. But today, the massive tanneries, dressers, stitching factories, and dyers that built this city are quietly disappearing. One of the most fascinating casualties was the former Cayadutta Tanning Company Inc. Locals called it the Pink Flamingo. Before that, it was E.S. Parkhurst & Company, a place workers simply knew as the Hair Mill. Sitting at the southwest corner of Harrison Street and NY-30A, the property spanned two parcels. A private owner held one piece of the land, while the city owned the other. Visiting the abandoned site felt like stepping into a forgotten tannery that just needed a bit of TLC and elbow grease to restart operations sans a pocketed overhead roof. Just outside the main tanning building, a junked Mercedes sa...
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Sharp Shooter Super-Takumar Asahi 55mm 1:2


Pollinating Bee Inside Flower
Shot all these photos wide open at f/2.

Yellow Daisies Behind Backyard Fence
No editing was done in the post. Straight RAW and unprocessed.


You can't go wrong with a Super-Takumar lens. Sharp images, sharp contrast, and crazy bokeh. I purchased my 55mm copy (a steal) for around $23.00. The lens does have an inordinate amount of these white particles sitting on the back element lens but you would not even know that if I did not reveal this tragic flaw. The pictures here would not even show any discernable trace of particulate in the way. The quality make and feel of Super-Takumars is phenomenal. If you are not into manual focus lenses and believe in the auto-focus Gods, a Takuma inside your camera bag is worth a bit of space any day. I recommend getting yourself a copy in the 50mm, 55mm, and 135mm. Matter of fact any will do. These lenses perform like champions. If the postman would hurry up and deliver my takumar 135mm I can get outside and test it out.



Purple Cluster of Flower Heads
Very willing flower buds and bee subjects for my shoot today.

Round Bokeh Flower Buds
The blues and purple colors really stand out. Deadly sharp.

Hovering Bee Pollinating Flower
A bee among young flower buds. 

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