Weirdo Camera Accessories Can Be Surprisingly Useful

Here’s a picture of, oh, I don’t know, I guess it’s the Citibank Building in downtown Los Angeles. It’s a panoramic shot stitched together in Photoshop, taken from one of the elevators of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel:

September 19, 2020 — Los Angeles, California

I know what you’re about to say: Sure, Kevin, whatever. Kinda boring. Still, you got surprisingly little reflection through the elevator glass. That was pretty lucky. But no! This took extra-special photographic gear, pictured below:

If you put the camera right up to the glass with this huge rubber lens hood attached, the hood blocks off all the reflections. This was very, very handy at the San Diego Zoo last month.

Now, as it happens I actually bought this lens hood in hopes of using it in the rain to keep water off the lens. I haven’t had a chance to try that yet since there’s been no rain lately here in Southern California, but I’m optimistic. And if we get heavy rain? Check this out:

That should do the trick! Assuming the wind doesn’t just blow the whole thing away and I end up like Mary Poppins.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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