RONALD KIRK PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
JULY 25, 2026
DALLAS, TX
PANASONIC LUMIX ZS40
After shooting with the impulse-buy Canon two weeks ago in McKinney, I was convinced that a used point and shoot was a photographic necessity. Stats and crap tech be damned! Photographers deserve to feel shameless walking around with something that’s the equivalent of a toy to them. It‘s akin to a car enthusiast daily driving a new beetle - looks like a dumb option unless you realize fun for the sake of fun is…uhh…AN OKAY THING. Go have a laugh, ya greasy curmudgeons!
I could use the Canon, but seeing how much I was wishing for a viewfinder, I dug around on e-bay and found me a new steed: the Lumix ZS40. The one I got was in near mint condition, so I gave my credit card a small gouge to snag it before the price got too unruly. I 100% overpaid for this gadget. Regrets? Pah! This was definitely a happy buy. I’d do it again at the same price of $388 (minus shipping).
Not only does it have an EVF, but it also shoots RAW which makes editing so much better. The RAW files don’t gouge my hard drive like my XE-5 does either, so there’s a pretty high chance I’m going to be shooting with it more often than either of the other two workhorses I own. The lens is definitely soft, and the images are noisy, but for those who like “vibey, film like” photos, a soft lens and natural noise are two key ingredients to making a photo look like it came out of your mom’s favorite vacation albums. All that’s left is to color correct in whatever editing app you choose. Mine is Adobe Light Room or SnapSeed.
As for the location, I went south of the Trinity River in Dallas, which is more like a tiny creek, and shot along the Ronald Kirk Pedestrian Bridge. This bridge connects the Trinity Groves neighborhood with the southernmost edge of the Design District, and has a funky sculpture of a roadway next to it called the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. The Hunt Hill bridge cross-hatches the sky around its giant modernist arch with long cables reaching from the arch to each end of the bridge. This natrually lends it to being the star of the show. But, despite that, there were funky little sights scattered across the pedestrian bridge that were equally as interesting as the Hunt Hill Bridge next door. It seems to be a pretty popular place with the locals. The walk was a pleasent surprise. I’d wait to go back in the fall though, the Texas heat did nearly black me out. Oof.
Anyway, here’s some photos:
