I would love to think that everything that squirts out of my camera is art with a capitol "A." But I know better. Sometimes I shoot things because I like the color and sometimes because I like the shape and almost always when there's a beautiful person involved.
Udi asked me to review the Lensbaby Composer
for his site: http://www.diyphotography.net So I did. He might not like the review. I was amazingly honest. And then, after dinner, I came back out and looked at this photograph and wondered if I would have gotten it with any other lens. Don't know why I like this so much. I was out shooting test shots and I parked near a little crepe trailer a block off south Lamar. I walked over to the table, picked up a few rocks and put them down, played with the lens and shot them. Then I moved on. It was only a few minutes ago that I really looked at the image in earnest and decided I liked it. A lot. Interested how a brain works.
Sometimes there's no meaning in what we photograph. Just a juxtaposition of color and shape that seems to resonate with something deep down. That's what I did for a few minutes this afternoon.
Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour on Saturday night, if you live in most areas of the U.S.A. Are we the only nation that messes with time?
Strange pic - the blur the Lensbaby imparts adds an odd sense of action/urgency to a still life. Great colour though - love the Olympus blues.
ReplyDeleteIf you think the US messes with its time, try Australia in summer: http://tinyurl.com/4zd5gyj
P.S. Typo in the diyphotography URL there.
So. Essentially you can walk up to a table, throw some rocks on it and make art? You never cease to amaze me. In a good way.
ReplyDeleteI sense the hint that your review was not all that favorable. I can understand why; the Lensbaby is basically a one-trick pony and its radial-blur effect, while interesting the first time you see it, gets old fast. Still, I'll be interested to read your review. I hope you'll provide a link when it's been posted.
ReplyDeleteIs it not really cool that you can take an epl-1 and a lensbaby and do something like this. Again, at times I curse you for making me get the second epl-1 and the second evf-2, but when I have a lensbaby 2.0 or the canon "nifty fifty" on them and I see the results after a little "settling down" time I am often times amazed (nothing as good as this shot, but some pretty good stuff, still yet).
ReplyDeleteAnd I thank you for that.
We need to set our clocks *ahead* one hour on Saturday night, not back. We're not the only nation that does it - Europe has 'Summer Time', and a similar system is used in several other countries around the world. Africa, Asia, Central America, and South America generally don't, but there are exceptions in each region.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lovely blue on the table - I can see why you like the shot. Sometimes, things come together in a mysterious way.
Kirk, I like your picture. Great colour and movement. I used to have a Lensbaby and I liked it a lot. I find it good for portraits, too. In that genre I think it worked the best for me, without leaving that 'one-trick' feeling but rather adding certain pictorialist character to a portrait. Here's an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregshanta/4951106804/lightbox/
ReplyDeleteI sold my Lensbaby because I changed the whole system from Nikon to Leica M but sometimes I miss it and want to get one of those small interchangeable lens cameras just for a chance to use Lensbaby (and couple of other things not possible on a Leica M).
Cheers,
Greg Shanta
Duplicate layer with gaussian blur applied.
ReplyDeleteErase the parts you want the sharp layer underneath to show.
Trickery done. $$ saved.
But, that blue is amazing. And the subtle shadows are alluring.
This is the stuff I shoot sometimes and people will look at it and shrug, "Huh. Rocks on a table. Do you have any pictures of babes?"
I give up.
No, Canada messes with time too :) I have a lensbaby (the older 2.0 one) and there is something about it that is both frustrating and fun at the same time. It is a look that can be done in photoshop to some extent, but there is more to it that just blur - it can shift colors around too... To me the difference between the lensbaby and blur in photoshop is like using a prime lens versus a zoom at one focal length - it forces you to shoot everyone with it as long as it is on the camera so you start figuring out how to get more out of it.
ReplyDeleteI think the art filters in the Olympus Pens create a similar effect - pinhole & diorama. Easy if that's what you like.
ReplyDeleteIf your job depends on the sun, why don't you just wake up earlier, and quit when the sun goes down. A majority of the world messes with the time, I wish they would synchronized their efforts so we were all doing it at the same time, or not at all, like Arizona. Not a lens baby fan.
ReplyDelete