Lens Artist Challenge #378 – Last Chance 2025

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This week the Lens-Artists team are featuring their “Last Chance” challenge. In that challenge, we are invited to share images captured in 2025 that were not featured in the previous challenges throughout the year.

My next door neighbour bakes these sourdough loaves and kindly gave one to us. I just really like the image. I’ve never been happy that my past attempts have done Alice’s bread justice. This one works for me though. I shot it standing on some small steps and shooting over my wife’s shoulder.

Vintage lens shots and holiday pics are going to feature predominantly in a mop up post of some of my favourite images from the past year. So, without further ado, here we go…..

This is Black Nore Lighthouse. Our small town is situated on the Bristol Channel. I took this earlier in the year when I was experimenting with a vintage lens I’d acquired in a local Charity Shop. I didn’t realise what a little gem this Auto Takuamar 35mm f2.3 was. It’s not an overly special image but I’ve included it here because that lens has had quite an impact on my photography year. More on that later.
We’ve walked/hiked a lot this year. We spent some of that time exploring the Cotwold’s, UK, during the Spring. This was a view of the middle English countryside taken on one of those Cotswolds walks.
Some street art, in Bristol, that caught my eye this week. I’ve researched the images and they were painted by Taqi Spateen, a Palestinian Street Artist who painted this for Bristol Upfest.
On the left, a modern Fuji lens. On the right my 1958 Auto Takumaar 35mm f2.3
Rethymno, Crete, Greece. I photographed this lighthouse, through the arch, a lot whilst we were there. This evening shot with the two little girls was the best of the bunch.
What a cake this was. It’s known as a Bertha and we had it delivered from the Get Baked bakery in Leeds. Just getting one is a feat in itself, they sell out within minutes of going on sale. Yes, it tasted as good as it looks!
Sailboarding in Rhodes. I’m always drawn to photographing sailboards. This one worked out well for me.

I could go on and on. I’ve taken a lot of images this year but I’ll come back to my earlier comment about using vintage lenses. I’ve owned a couple of old manual lenses for a couple of years now but, towards the end of this year I really got into using them. In fact for our last holiday in Marrakech I only used vintage lenses.

It was really nice to slow down, using prime lenses and having to manually focus. I was worried at first I’d miss lots of shots without auto focus but I didn’t. Overall I came away with the best bunch of images I’ve managed on any holiday. I’ve spent the past month researching this old glass more and have another couple of old lenses arriving next week.

Two images shot with the vintage lenses in Marrakech.

Finally, thank you to all you guys who organise and set the challenges. I also appreciate the effort you all make to always comment on the entries. As a thank you, I’ve told Santa and you’ve all been added his ‘Nice List’ this year, as per the image below – ‘Son of a Nutcracker’, I hope I’ve included everyone in the team and apologies to anyone I might have missed! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone….

Weston-s-Mare Pier last week – Canon FD 24mm f2.8

All images: ©Stephen Hyde 2007-2025 – All rights reserved.

22 thoughts on “Lens Artist Challenge #378 – Last Chance 2025”

  1. Steve, I really enjoyed this collection of images. Both the loaf of bread and the cake look delicious! Thanks for asking Santa to add me to the Nice list! Thanks for taking part in our challenges this year. Wishing you joyous holidays and a very happy 2026.

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  2. Steve, this is a beautiful gallery. The lighthouses and windmills are my favorite shots in this collection. That red sail is picture perfect! Now, can I have some slices of that sourdough bread? I love sourdough bread.

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  3. Loved your post from start to finish Steve. The bread looks beautiful as well as scrumptious and the two little girls in Greece looks fantastic – what a great capture of the multiple types of light! More power to you on the antique lenses 😉 I still have one of my original lenses from some 40 years ago and wouldn’t even THINK to try to use it LOL. Happy Holidays and thanks for that wonderfully creative closing image!! – FAB!!!

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  5. Excellent photos, Steve and you got me thinking about lenses now 🙂 There’s a distinct difference I do like a lot. Thank you for the last shot, such a nice thing to do! Happy Holidays to you and yours.

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  7. Beautiful images Steve, the bread reminds me of the sour dough I used to bake and fell out of that habit this year, I think this is my sign to get back into it, the bread is so delicious! Awesome ending photo, brought a tear to my eye. These challenges and all of the people have truly been awesome for me and my own healing this year. Merry Christmas!

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    • Thank you Pamela. They’re great aren’t they – The Lens Artist posse. I just wanted to show some appreciation for others putting themselves out and making an effort for other people. There’s not enough of that around at times. Merry Xmas to you and your family 🙂

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  9. A wonderful collection Steve and the sourdough bread looks so yummy! I’m really enjoying your images taken with the vintage lenses and I love what you’ve done with Santa’s list! 😊

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