Oh man, that soap residue trick is the worst. I had the same thing happen at the old Valley Fair center. Try wiping your lens with a microfiber cloth first, then shoot from a lower angle to avoid that direct light bounce. It cuts down on the ghosting effect a ton.

My friend found a petrified orange slice behind her stove, @jason_fisher4, which is just grim.

My uncle ran a small hardware store for forty years, he could find any obscure part just by rummaging in the back. When he retired, the new owners cleared all that old stock in a week, sent it straight to the dump. That kind of knowledge just vanishes, and now you're stuck driving across the city for a simple piece of metal. Makes every job take twice as long.

But is it really that deep? Sometimes a photo is just a photo, you know?

What did the moisture damage look like in the end, just stains or something worse? I've heard that paper facing is a real problem in spaces that aren't perfectly dry. Did you have to pull all of it out, or was there a way to fix it?