Lensbaby Photowalk, and Some Brief Thoughts About the Lensbaby

This past weekend I went on a Lensbaby photowalk that I found through Meetup (seriously! great site, highly recommended, especially if you're in an urban area). I already blogged a couple of photos from it, here and here.

Many people signed up to go to the photowalk, but only 4 of us actually showed up. In a lot of ways, this was awesome. It meant we could stay together, but that our group size wasn't too unwieldy to be flexible, and we didn't slow each other down too much.

We met up at the Embarcadero in SF, and 3 of the 4 of us had Lensbabies, which was the stated purpose of the photowalk. (Didn't really matter though. Photowalks are awesome.) I've written about the Lensbaby before. It's an interesting lens, kind of neither fish nor fowl. Basically it's a 50mm lens that has a curved plane of focus, and also functions like a tilt-shift lens. Kind of. What all that means is that only one spot in the image is in focus. Also there are aperture rings you have to manually insert into the lens to stop down or open up. I shot outside at f/8, because I prefer a little less blur on my Lensbaby shots. It's nice to have something that's really in focus, as the images can be a little hard on the eyes otherwise.

It was overcast and so the light was really soft, even though it was the middle of the day. That was great, as the middle of the day is usually not my favorite time to shoot.

A view of the Bay Bridge

The sun came out a bit, and then we had some blue skies.

San Francisco skyline, Lensbaby style.

After a while I loaned my Lensbaby to another Canon shooter on the walk. This gives you some idea of what the lens looks like - it's pretty small. Which is another nice thing about it.

Not a Lensbaby shot. 50mm f/2.5

It's nice being in a group of photographers, even if we do look dorky. There's permission to take a picture of something just because it might look cool.

Also not Lensbaby. 50mm f/1.8 

So, would I recommend the Lensbaby Composer? (That's the name of the model I have.) I don't know. I really like mine when I remember to use it, but it's manual focus only, and changing the aperture is a bit of a pain, although it does feel nicely old school. But it's a bit expensive for a lens I only pull out every few months. And there are fewer photos I've taken with it that I absolutely LOVE.

But I did see that they have a new 35mm optic you can switch into it (as opposed to the 50mm length of the regular Lensbaby optics). In fact, there are quite a few optics you can switch in and out (once you've bought them). Pinhole/zone plate. Plastic (for the Holga look). Fisheye (which I have, and also almost never use). Soft focus even. For the most part, I think the double glass which it comes with is the most versatile. But your mileage may vary.

You should check out the Lensbaby Gallery though. Lots of amazing and inspirational photos there.

It's All in the Details

50mm, ISO 400, f/1.4 1/80s

Sometimes the smallest details can make a big difference. Like some flowers in a cafe where you wait to get your sandwich.

Suddenly, the wait seems a lot shorter.

Holy New Look, Batman!

So you may notice that the look of the blog has changed a little  a lot. Actually, when I sat down at my computer tonight, that was NOT what I intended to have happen. I did consider a bit of tweaking, though. So I played with a couple of options, and in the process accidentally lost all of my previous settings and basically had to start from scratch.

Oops!

In general, I'm pretty please with what I managed to pull back together, although some more tweaks are definitely in order. I absolutely need to organize all the widgets at the bottom of the page, and I think I'll probably change the background. It's pretty, but it isn't really me. I'll also fine tune that slideshow at the top. At the moment it's just playing what images I could throw into it at the correct pixel ratio.

Still, change is fun. I'd love to hear your feedback. Since this isn't a change I was eagerly awaiting, I'll take any criticism pretty well. :)

April Goals

Ocean beach 50mm f/22 ISO 250 1/100s

Inspired by Gail Werner, and also in part by the Happiness Project, with its emphasis on goal-setting, I have decided to set out my goals for April for all the world to see:

Photography:
-Start one new photo project and see it through to the point where I have a few good images for it
-Marketing marketing marketing: direct mail? Perhaps. SOMETHING. Marketing may be my Achilles heel at this point.
-FINISH TAXES. Oh yes. And soon. Must be done in April, absolutely, no excuses. The IRS is a good motivator.
-Get all those photos I've been promising to friends to those actual friends and off my hard drives. This is a worthy goal.
-Refresh the content on my website, tweak it a bit, maybe add something more. I have a few ideas for this percolating.
-Create a really sustainable, easy backup solution that doesn't cost a million dollars.
-Read Enchantment.

Life:
-Spend at least half an hour every day outside. Honestly, if I get this one done, I'll be sitting pretty. And I mean quality time, one half hour all together, not five minutes here and there.
-Organize. Get my ducks in a row.
-Go to bed earlier.
-Streamline. Do fewer unnecessary tasks.
-Buy nothing except groceries. I've got all the photo gear I need, and my place is full. So no more little impulse buys. At least for April.

What about you? What are your goals? Or maybe you don't make goals. Or perhaps you call them something else. Either way, I'm interested to hear what works for you.

Inquisitive

The squirrels in Golden Gate Park are unnaturally friendly. Pretty sure this one was expecting me to pony up some nuts or bread. He was disappointed. Worked out for me, though, I got this picture!

And, you should definitely check out: Chema Madoz. Surreal, simple, black and white. Just great. This blog post has a lot of my favorite images. (Found via The Online Photographer.)

Oh! And a recipe for homemade spaetzle that I can't wait to try. As a veggie, this was my meal of choice in Germany and Austria many many nights.

Blogger Dynamic Views

Blogger has recently introduced Dynamic views, and I think they're kind of interesting. Basically they're just different ways to see all the posts in my blog. To view them on my blog, just type in http://quotidian-photography.blogspot.com/view, and then you can scroll through them in the blue button at the top of the page.

What do you think? I'm partial to Flipcard and Mosaic, myself. Don't really understand Timeslide. But they seem fun, and I'm all for fun. Why not?