Silent Sunday
Posted under Lensbaby, Silent Sunday
Posts Tagged ‘Lensbaby’
Lensbaby Super Wide…my nemesis
Posted under Lensbaby
My love for the Lensbaby composer is unbounded. It raises me up, so I can stand on mountains etc etc. But the superwide optic? Not so much. Actually I can’t get a good shot with it at all. They are all either a blurred mess, or the composition/selective focus mix are so awful they often make me feel slightly giddy to look at it. I’ve never, not once, kept a shot I’ve taken with the superwide on.
I can’t decide whether to push on, and master the beast. Or just give up and stick with what I know. Any togs out there use the superwide optic with any success?
Looks quite freaky and alien like, no? Pretty much how my pictures turn out too. Damn that weird bit of glass.
If you liked that, you might like this ...
Silent Sunday…looking out
Posted under Lensbaby, Photography
If you liked that, you might like this ...
Lensbaby London
Posted under Lensbaby, Photography
‘Iconic London’….that’s what I’ve called that shot above. For what could be more iconic that the McDonald’s Men in their kit…mmmm, I’m lovin’ in. Ha.
Today I went to London Town to visit the Queen. Well, actually to spend a day with lovely Bee but she’s very regal so it was almost like seeing the Queen. We didn’t do alot really. We ate cake and talked smut (much to the delight/horror of our tablemates I’m sure) in the cafe at the London Review Bookshop (now my best new favourite shop in the world), we bought books, we nipped next door to Blades Rubberstamps and I marveled at how your first and second favourite shops in the world are right next to each other. Such planning on the part of some clever soul!
Then we shambled to Trafalgar Square and ate lunch at the National Dining Rooms. It was a long, long lunch. We were still there at 4pm, so no time to look at anything in the National Gallery. Oooops. So we basically ate all day although, mostly, we talked. We talked and we talked until there were no words left in the world. So anxious was Bee to get going with the talking that she rang me, as I was walking to meet her, to say she was setting off my direction so we didn’t waste valuable chatting time. That added a whole FIVE extra minutes of chatting I’d just like to point out. FIVE MINUTES. But it was so worth it.
I manged to snap a few pictures and Bee surprised me by unearthing her D90 from the bottom of her shopping bag and even taking some photos ;-) I decided to stick with the Lensbaby all day and had a bit of fun with the superwide angled lens attachment.
So, here’s London, Lensbaby style…a bendy bus at Trafalgar Square, outside St Martin-in-the-Fields
Pavement art encouraging feedback on the Fourth Plinth
Railings around the back of St Martin’s
Trafalgar Square, with a very blurry wobbly looking Nelson’s Column
And Boris’s Bikes…the new iconic London…
If you liked that, you might like this ...
Photo A Day: You can’t touch this
Posted under Photography
I’m trying to challenge myself my Photo A Day project, trying different subjects, different compositions and different styles of processing than ‘my usual’. What I can’t seem to change is the ongoing Lensbaby addiction. It’s not an easy lens to work with and the results are unpredictable to an extent, but I love its quirkiness and the sharp contrast of focused/unfocused, it has a really ‘creamy’ feel to it that is so appealing.
The thistles are blooming. Last year I couldn’t stop taking photos of them since we had a field’s worth in front of our office which attracted bees, wasps, butterflies and goldfinches. I have made a promise to limit myself to one shot this year, and here is is. A different perspective than usual, from underneath and the back of the flower. I kind of like it, bit sombre perhaps, but certainly a contrast from last year’s shots. I love how you can see the fine spiderweb bound around the prickles. PSA: those prickles? They are really, really prickly. Ouch.
Last year’s ouchy prickles:
If you liked that, you might like this ...
Photo A Day: All together now
Posted under parenting, Photography
Oh, that old classic ‘pen’ shot. I don’t think I’ve done one of these before. It’s quite annoying that my children didn’t think to arrange them in so that similar shades/tones weren’t adjacent. Must get them in to Colour Appreciation Boot Camp to avoid this in the future. Taken with the Lensbaby of course. What else? Can’t…get…it…off…my…camera…send…help.
Random selection of the World According to Diggy (3) today:
Me: Look! Look over there, can you see that animal that looks like a really big rabbit? That’s a hare…look how fast he can run!
Diggy: [disappointed voice] oh. I thought it was a reindeer
Later…
Me: Who did you play with at nursery today?
Diggy: Just my own self. Who did you play with?
Me: No one. I was working.
Diggy: And did you do tidy up time afterwards?
Me: No. I didn’t need to
Diggy: [stern voice] Well, that was very naughty behaviour.
If you liked that, you might like this ...
Photo A Day: After the rain
Posted under Photography
Poppies…a weed of such contrasts….from blousy splendour to architectural in a few short weeks. It’s hard not to be wowed by the sea of red when they’re in full bloom, but I have a secret passion for them when they’re like this. Taken with the Lensbaby Composer at f4. Love the creamy bokeh of the Lensbaby. Love the Lensbaby fullstop.
All red hat and no knickers poppies, taken 3 weeks ago. Such a change!
If you liked that, you might like this ...
Hairy Bikers
Posted under Photography
I’ve alluded to this before in Secret 22…I used to be a biker but let’s just get the Big Fat Truth out. I do have a little bit of a ‘thing’ for bikers. And the hairier and scarier the better. It’s not a fetish thing, just a bit of envy I think? Deep down, I would love to have a gigantic motorbike and have the freedom to zip off on my own or be part of the pack and alarm people. Mwah ha ha.
Worse, I like to engage bikers in conversation if I can. It’s like an illness, I can’t help myself. I’ve yet to meet a biker who wasn’t anything but friendly and charming, despite outward appearances. Nor have I met one who doesn’t love a good old chinwag with someone who knows nothing about bikes (like me) but who casts enough admiring glances in its direction. Get a camera out and you’re friends for life.
My name is Spud. I love bikers and wish I could be one. I enjoyed this photoshoot last year more than I dare admit:
Today’s victim was easy picking to be honest. He parked up right next to us at the beach, rather ordinary looking, minimal facial hair and very chatty with us. I stalked him to the cafe later and engaged in a little light biker banter. I’ve had my fill for today.
The bike was a Triumph. I snapped it with the Lensbaby. The bodywork was blue. The chrome was shiny. That’s as far as my bike knowledge extends. You can imagine how much bikers love talking to me…
If you liked that, you might like this ...
Never let me go
Posted under People I love, Photography
Please excuse my dark and moody processing. Just trying something. Just getting out of my comfort zone (oh WHY do I have “I went to the danger zone” from Top Gun playing through my head as I write that? Embarrassing)
Here’s Mr B, gripping on for dear life whilst scaling the scallop on Aldeburgh beach today. Looks terrifying doesn’t it? He was, ooooh, about a whole FOOT off the ground. I’d laid a safety net of course and had an ambulance on standby…
Later both boys made deposits of knee skin on the beach path whilst cycling, cried a few (hundred) tears and were consoled with fish & chips on the beach. To round things off nicely, Mr B made a second skin deposit on our garden path as we came home. There’s a leeetle bit less of my boys tonight than there was this morning. Oh well.
Taken with the Lensbaby yet again. I love the Lensbaby so much it’s like an actual baby to me. But without all the crying and whinging and wailing. SCORE!
I am really pleased with this shot. Am I allowed to say that? Ooops, I just did.
If you liked that, you might like this ...
Birthday Girl
Posted under Uncategorized
Hello baby Sofie…not such a baby now….all growed up and 1 whole year old! And walking like a professional and sleeping like a champ.
How the last year has flown. You seemed to spend the first 4 months of your life asleep but you’ve made up for lost time since then. Fast and furious, in to everything, zooooooming around with that cheeky smile glued to your face and charming the stars from the sky. Jeepers creepers…where’d you get those peepers….you’re a heart breaker that’s for sure. Already the Megaboys are fighting over you, tussling over who gets to have a cuddle with you.
We love you and your shoutyness when you’re hungry and must have your food RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE MUMMY I’M NOT KIDDING I’M ACTUALLY STARVING OVER HERE!!
And Diggy especially loves you for your fondness for sucking your thumb. He says that all the best people suck their thumb…
Happy Birthday Gorgeous Sofie. And congratulations to big sister Anna for breezing through the first year of being a big sister with such good grace and so much love xxx
