Wheelistically @ Claire.NU » Toys

Macro Day: Black and White

Claire — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:07:11 +0000

This week’s Macro Day Challenge: Black and White

Jack
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

This is Jack Skellington from the Tim Burton film, The Nightmare Before Christmas (TNBC).

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my all-time favourite films and one that I remember watching most years as it formed my childhood staple TV-diet in the run-up to Christmas (along with The Muppet Christmas Carol and Disney Sing Along Songs: Very Merry Christmas). Not only are the songs and characters wonderful, but even after all these years, the film continues to be the most stunning piece of Stop-Motion animation I have ever had the joy of watching. I continue to be completely enchanted by even the most basic forms of Stop-Motion animation; seeing inanimate, tangible objects literally being brought to life by photography never fails to fill me with the giddy, child-like wonder I felt when I watched my Grandad walk up and shake Mickey Mouse’s hand at Disney World when I was 5 years old.

I have collected TNBC memorabilia for several years now and as of last Christmas, completed my collection of Limited Edition NECA resin figurines.

Jack was one of the first in my collection and seeings as I’ve been meaning to take “proper” photos of my figures since forever, it only seemed right that he should be the one to mark their debut.

(P.S. I have a spare mint, boxed, sealed “Corpse Family” set of NECA TNBC figures that I’m willing to flog at a decent price, if anyone is interested…)

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The Bit Where I Heart Crumpler…

Claire — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:20:04 +0000

My first Crumpler bag was a XXXL Ben’s Pizza camera bag in charcoal grey. Purchased 2 years ago at a discount from a seller on eBay, it was the most expensive bag I’d ever purchased at the time. I’d heard wonderous things about Crumplers’ build quality, endurance and funky, distinctly un-geeky styling. The bags had nonsensical names, were made from mystical fabrics (Chicken Tex Supreme, anyone?) and had a ridiculous website. And I wanted one so bad.

That Ben’s Pizza bag started a loyalty to and love for a brand that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before or since. Not even since swapping to a Mac. Crumpler allow me to carry my gear in something that is well-made, well-padded and well-designed without screaming “Look at me! I’m carrying expensive camera/computer equipment!”.

In the process of planning a weekend away, I wanted to find a bag that would enable me to be able to carry my DSLR with me during our trip without having to lug around a huge bag or have something with conspicuous NIKON branding all over it. And because Crumpler rocks, I found just what I was looking for:

Jimmy Bo 300
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens/Filters: NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 D AF
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 0.008 sec
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO Speed: 200
Fill-in Flash: No
Post-Processing: Minor brightness/contrast adjustment, resized and tagged for web

This is Jimmy Bo. He lets me carry my camera whilst also leaving room enough for other vital gubbins, like my bus pass, a set of eyelash curlers and my medicines that helps sooth The Crazy. I like Jimmy Bo, he’s got great abs. All I’m left to do now is decide which lens I should take to last me the duration: my 50mm prime lens, or my 18-70mm zoom? Any thoughts?

The rest of this post is dedicated to long-time reader and Herfordshire-esque little-green-alien, Imo. A fellow Crumpler-lover, she asked to see the rest of my collection. And given that I’ll just about jump on any excuse to break out my new light tent, I spent yesterday obliging merrily.

My Crumpler Collection
Click the images to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Are there any other fellow Crumpler lovers out there? What Crumplers are in your collection and why?

And more broadly, regardless of your Crumpler status, what do you use to carry your camera(s) in when you’re out and about?

Care to share?

The Bit Where I Had More New Toys…

Claire — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:50:48 +0000

Micro NIKKOR 60mm f2.8 D AF
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens/Filters: NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 D AF
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 0.02 sec
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO Speed: 200
Fill-in Flash: 95
Post-Processing: White-balance and colour correction, resized and tagged for web

In addition to the other camera-related toys that I mentioned recently, Father Christmas also brought (amongst numerous other things) a new 60mm macro lens. Or rather, my mum and step-dad did. They’re nice like that. The skylight filter, case and retractable hood (not pictured) came courtesy of my sister and her boyfriend. Turns out they’re nice, too. Hugs and kisses should also be sent to Vixx, who graciously gifted camera-related Christmas goodies my way.

These images were taken using my new Lastolite Pro light tent — a gift I purchased for myself (well after all that gift-giving to everyone else, it seemed only right…) It’s a rather fandangly gadget that lets me light things nicely on crisp whiteness. Well, when it’s not springing out of its case and smacking me right across the face, that is. Any delay in the next vlog instalment will be due to me having to wait for the cartoon proportioned bump on my nose to go down.

Speaking of vlogs, don’t forget to send me/post any questions that you didn’t get chance to ask me or have left over from last time as I’ll be waffling on…and on, once again, in the New Year.

Although 2009 has not yet quite begun, I have already resolved to make it a year of creative progression; I want all this photographic paraphernalia to become tools as opposed to toys and as such, I have enrolled as a member of The Disabled Photographers’ Society with the intention of earning my Licentiateship level Distinction (the requirements for which, are said to be identical to those of the Royal Photographic Society). I have an awful lot of work to do in order to get there, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy sharing my pictoral journey with you. Be sure to wish me luck!

Before I go, I’ll leave you with a new “stocking filler” little buddy of mine (taken with my new lens!)… and my heartfelt best wishes to you all for the coming year. Roll on 2009, may it be full of squee!

Wall.E
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens/Filters: Micro NIKKOR 60mm f2.8 D AF
Focal Length: 60mm
Exposure: 0.05 sec
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO Speed: 200
Fill-in Flash: 95
Post-Processing: White-balance and colour correction, resized and tagged for web.

The Bit Where I Had New Toys…

Claire — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:45:44 +0000

New Toys
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens/Filters: NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 D AF
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 0.00625 sec
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO Speed: 200
Fill-in Flash: 32
Post-Processing: Minor brightness/contrast adjustment, resized and tagged for web

Folks, I’d like to introduce you to the latest additions to my kit bag: The Lensbaby Composer and The Lensbaby Optic Kit.

They arrived in the post a couple of days ago and K said it felt silly to wrap them up and save them for a particular day (she’s agnostic, so for her Christmas = Presents, food and fuck-all else) when she could give them to me now and I can have longer to enjoy using them. I can’t say that I put up much of a fight. In fact, I may or may not have had her hand off.

The Composer is a member of the new generation of Lensbaby lenses out now and differs from the Lensbaby 3G [shown right] in that in place of bellow-like tubing that allows you to move the sweet-spot of focus around, there’s a ball and socket joint. However like the 3G, the lens stays in fixed/posed position without needing to be hand-held, which makes it great for macro and tripod work and for those with woolly fine motor skills (i.e. me).

The other big difference between these new generation ‘babies and the older ones are the introduction of interchangeable optics. The Composer comes with a double-glass optic as standard, but if you buy the kit, you can swap that out for a single-glass, plastic or pinhole/zone plate optic, instead. It’s like having four different ‘babies in one!

I’m really excited about the new possibilities that are now on the cards in terms of what sorts of images I can captures straight from the camera. I think these new optics are really going to open doors in terms of stretching and developing my photographic style. Hopefully, I shall be posting my first experiments with them soon.

On a slightly unrelated note: If you link to my blog or have my blog bookmarked, can you please, please make sure that it points to: http://claire.nu. This is because the web addresses with my full name will direct to a new, (very) little portfolio site within the next couple of weeks and I wanted to give plenty of warning so that I don’t go breaking anything/confusing anyone.

Thankies in bunches for your co-operation on this.

The Bit With The Purple One & Broken Brains…

Claire — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:14:28 +0000

Meet my new toy:

The Purple One
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens/Filters: NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 D AF with +4 Dioptre Close-Up Filter(s)
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 0.0125 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO Speed: 200
Post-Processing: White Balance correction, resized and cropped for web

Splendiferous, isn’t it?

It was given me as a complete surprise on Sunday and was a “Thank You” gift for successfully selling Chris’ cars on my website. The purple BMW was snapped up several months ago and the custom Yaris (complete with a copy of the magazine and calendar it was featured in) went happily to its new home last weekend.

For those of you that keep up with my Twittering, you’ll know that I’ve filled up my white 5th Generation 30GB iPod, so this new 4th Generation 16GB iPod nano is an addition very much welcomed.

His name is The Purple One and he is FUNKY.

iPoladroid
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

The gift rounded off a pretty good weekend; we spent Saturday at The O2 (the white elephant formerly known as the Millennium Dome) having got tickets to see the BODYWORLDS and the Mirror of Time exhibition. The exhibition of real, preserved human (and animal) bodies was amazing and I recommend getting a wiggle on and going to the O2 to see it. Sadly, K didn’t take to it too well and ended up slumped against a wall after coming over all peculiar and almost blacking out after seeing the preserved X-week old foetuses and the Pregnant Woman. After several attempts to persevere, she ended up deep-breathing in the gift shop for an hour whilst I went round the exhibition on my own.

The exhibition took you on a fascinating journey from conception, right the way through life, the ageing process and eventually, to death and all the while used real human specimens (preserved using a technique called Plastination) to show you the effects of various lifestyles, medical conditions and diseases.

Personal highlights for me included: Realising and being able to truly appreciate just how small and fragile (and lucky) I was when born after seeing actually foetuses at a similar gestation having died and been preserved. Seeing skeletal structures that had experienced similar Orthopaedic surgical procedures that I myself have. Being able to actually see the physical impact and literal differences in brain tissue between that of a normal, healthy brain and those that had been irreparable damaged through strokes, haemorrhages and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Having suffered significant, permanent and irreversible brain injury myself, I was blown away by the fact that you could actually see it and see what parts of the brain were affected just by looking at the brain tissue, without scans and such.

Maybe it’s because I’ve constantly been in and around “medical” environments and have had numerous serious surgical operations and diagnostics and x-rays and been poked, prodded, studied, examined, cut to bits, pulled apart and put back together again that I’m pretty used to feeling human. I’m fully aware and comfortable with the fact that I’m just bits of (wonky and twisted) bone, gore and squishy stuff and that my brain that’s supposed to make it all work and be wondrous was in fact, faulty on arrival. Part of me thinks it would be really interesting to donate my body to Medical Science when it’s dead and I think of how fascinating it would be to see how far removed my brain and body is from the “normal” human experience. But then, I get disappointed because I think well, I’ll be dead and I won’t be there to see it for myself and marvel at it. And that’s a shame, because I’d love to see it, to appreciate what I’ve lived with and through. Doctors and medical students will see it; see the differences, but they won’t appreciate it, won’t understand the full weight and the magnitude of those differences, not really. Whereas I’d know what it was like to live and see life through the confines of a body like that and it would mean so much more to me because of it.

I have always felt quite disappointed that I wasn’t born in more recent times as now it is standard procedure to scan the brains of infants that have been thought to have suffered damage. When I was born, this wasn’t the case as either the technology wasn’t all that or it was just too expensive, or both. I’ve always wanted to see a scan of my brain and have it explained to me what parts were/are affected and to see it compared to a “normal” example. During my A levels, my Psychology class was offered a chance to take part in a Psychological study that involved having your brain scanned whilst doing certain activities and I was really excited at the idea of seeing just how my brain did and didn’t work and what the differences were. Unfortunately, it was because of those very differences, that I wasn’t eligible to take part as my brain damage would have acted as a confounding variable in the data collected. Only Normal Brains Allowed, apparently. And you had to be right-handed and I’m a lefty, so I clearly just wasn’t destined to be part of the fun.

Maybe one day, someone will want to do a study on broken brains and I’ll get my chance.

The Bit Where I Filled You In…

Claire — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:28:10 +0000

Where have I been, you ask?

Mostly either preoccupied with my new photography toys or completely flat-out and exhausted from my physiotherapy programme. Yup, that’s right, I’m back ‘on the wagon’ with the physio and this time, I’m serious.

As some of you may know: my back, hips, neck, shoulders and Achilles tendons have been giving me merry Hell over this last year to the point where these last few weeks, I’ve been stuck in bed for the duration braving K’s Windows Vista laptop as my sole source of entertainment. Yes, it was that bad. On one day in particular, I was marooned in bed with a therapeutic heat pad for about 6 or 7 hours, dosed up on Valium and having eaten only half a dozen Custard Creams the entire time as they were the only source of food near the bed. Part way through, after I’d managed to get reasonably settled, I weighed up the pros and cons of moving when I needed to get up and make the agonising journey to the bathroom in order to have a much needed wee. After a few spasmodic moves and withering yelps, I voted to stay put; more prepared was I to lay in my own piss (should the event arise) than risk setting my back off again. THAT IS HOW MUCH IT HURT.

Medication wasn’t working, bed rest wasn’t working, the only thing left to try was my old physiotherapy programme back from the days of my post-op rehabilitation programme. It’s been years since I last did any proper form of physio; physio is to me what a balanced diet and regular work-outs are to everyone else. You know and accept that it’s all good for you and you definitely think it’s something you should be doing, but not today, eh? Maybe tomorrow, when you’re less busy. Or next week. Yeah, get the weekend out the way so that you can have a Chinese and start afresh on Monday. Only, it never really happens. Or you do it for a couple of days and then it fizzles to nothing. That’s exactly how the last 3 or 4 years have been with me and physio.

This last week I resolved to play the game. Every day for 45 minutes to an hour, I’ve committed myself to the programme, even the bits that I hate, and I’ve not had to whimper back to bed. Not even once.

But, ye Gods, do I hate it. I despise physio with a passion that knows no bounds. I seldom feel more disabled than when I’m doing physiotherapy exercises. It’s the one time when I’m deliberately and repeatedly smacking my head against every minutiae of what my body will and won’t do; having to fight against the demented way my body instinctively operates to try and get it to move in a way I want it to, for a change. Each movement is so pathetic, so tiny, so weak and yet every one is an exhausting victory in the constant battle of getting my legs to do what my brain tells them to. I never really appreciate just how mangled the messages sent from my brain are until I’m sat there concentrating, staring, willing my toes to wiggle or even twitch in the tiniest, tiniest way and they just stare back at me totally static, refusing to move and all the while my entire foot makes small, spastic, juddery, up-and-down movements at the ankle. It’s like my brain’s way of saying: Will this do? Is this close enough because I can do this, look! This is what you meant, isn’t it?

Admittedly, it’s not quite what I was going for, but I never have the heart to say anything as I can tell it’s trying so very hard. It can’t help being broken.

To keep my spirits up and keep myself on track, I’ve taken to bribing/rewarding myself with new photography equipment and as a treat to myself this week, I’ve ordered a wireless remote release for my camera. Squee.

Speaking of new camera equipment, a Manfrotto tripod head arrived this week for use with my Gorillapod. It’s a small ball-joint head with a quick-release plate so was a bit more expensive that the cheaper alternative without a plate, but I think the extra expense is well worth it. Unscrewing and re-screwing my camera every 5 minutes would drive me nuts, not to mention cause undue wear and tear on the thread inside the D70s.

This is the third piece of Manfrotto hardware in my kit and as usual, I’m not disappointed. It feels really solid and I trust it with my camera, the additional plus being that the plate on the tripod head also fits well on my existing Manfrotto Magic Arm, so I don’t have to piss about switching plates.

Besides having the initial out-of-the-box play, I’ve not yet had much chance do much tripod work and give my new addition a good work out. I have however, indulged and used it as the subject of my recent Macrobation.

Screwed
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

The Bit With The 50mm…

Claire — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:19:13 +0000

Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Several weeks ago I made a promise to myself to get back in the swing of posting up some of my photographic efforts. Part of that promise involved ordering some new toys for my camera, namely: a NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 D AF lens and a Wide Angle/Telephoto converter kit for my Lensbaby 3G.

I’d always wanted to get another lens for my camera as I was never really satisfied with the standard kit lens. Not because the kit lens was at fault, as such. It seems a sturdy, decent quality lens, it doesn’t feel cheap and nothing’s ever broken (touch wood). But, it is what it is: a bog-standard, middle of the road, any-Jenny affair. I guess it’s good for those that have never used an SLR before (digital or ‘analogue’) and want to get to grips with the basic concepts and seldom veer away from the preset Programs settings. And, perhaps it is good for other types of photography like scenery or happy holiday snapping or something, I don’t know.

All I know is, it was never really suited to the sorts of images I wanted to make. I always felt like I was shoved up against the limits of what the lens could do and was always making compromises. I adore really shallow depth of field, but trying to achieve that whilst shooting 99% of the time indoors (read: with iffy light conditions), without a tripod and with a maximum aperture of f/3.5? You’re just asking for grief and an incredibly noisy or underexposed shot.

Whilst researching the sort of lens I wanted, I stumbled upon a Flickr group dedicated to 50mm prime lenses and fell in love.

I put the order through for the 50mm lens with one of my usual dealers, but as they’ve been having dreadful trouble with stock supplies from Nikon, I was put on a waiting list and after an agonising 5 weeks, my order arrived yesterday.

The images in this post are test shots that were taken yesterday in my Mum’s living room (a notorious sun-trap in the afternoon). With the exception of me shrinking them a bit and tagging them for Flickr, this is exactly what they came out like straight from the memory card.

I don’t ever want to take this lens off my camera.

Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens/Filters: NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 D AF
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 0.0025 sec
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO Speed: 200
Post-Processing: Resized and tagged for web

Stand by for “Playing with the Wide/Tele Lensbaby kit”, coming soon.

The Bit With The Show & Tell…

Claire — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:15:55 +0000

Because I like sharing pictures of squee…

For those that follow me on Twitter, you may remember me squeeing recently about having won a competition held by SplatGirl on her blog. The first ever SplatGirl Creates giveaway was dreamt up in order to give SplatGirl the chance to test out prototype designs for unique, made-to-order camera cases (intended for the pocket/point-and-shoot variety) that would later be on sale in her etsy shop. All you had to do was submit the dimensions of your camera and then 5 submissions were picked at random later that week to win a free protoype each made to fit each individual’s camera.

See more/full-size images in the Photo Set

Mine arrived this morning after an eventful journey from Minnesota; it seems Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs fancied having a swift Butcher’s and then taped the box back together using their feet, before sending on to good ol’ Random Mail. Luckily, nothing was harmed and the contents arrived in good condition, even if the packaging was on its last legs by the time it reached me.

The measurements were perfect, the case fits my camera like a glove and Lara made a great choice on the fabric(s) (my fave shades of green, plus extra points for slightly “retro” goodness). I heart it so much I’m on my way now to ask for a matching strap to clip onto the little metal loop and another (small) custom order. At this rate, SplatGirl’s going to get sick of hearing from me.

The “Show and Tell” concludes with this fantastic photo:

Nanny & Grandad, circa 1954

Last night, Mum brought home this photograph of my Grandparents that dates some years before they were married, when they were in their teens. Apparently, this photo was taken during a holiday in Great Yarmouth, although Nanny can’t remember who actually took the picture. Nanny had been going through her masses of old photos and putting together some albums and Mum stumbled upon this one, stuffed in an unmarked envelope and just *had* to bring it home and show me. I love looking through old photographs — even if they’re of people I don’t even know. But, seeing Nanny and Grandad like this is so amazing. Nanny looks so glam and Grandad is so tall and thin! I never saw Grandad like this; to see pictures of him looking like “John” as opposed to my beloved, late Grandaddy is both strangely alien and wonderfully intriguing all at once.

This isn’t so much a photo of my Grandparents, but a picture of the people they were before they were my Grandparents. I feel like I’m looking at a photo of people I’ve known all my life and yet all I can see in it are people I’ve never met.

The Bit Where Splatgirl Creates…

Claire — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:18:40 +0000

Over the weekend, some goodies arrived all the way from Minnesota. No, not Prince goodies. Oh no, these were extra special, one-off, totally unique goodies courtesy of the illustrious ‘Splatgirl’. When they arrived, I wanted to kiss the delivery man, not least because I’d been secretly petrified of the parcel going missing in the post and (due to the unique nature of the goodies) never being able to replace its contents. Thankfully, the parcel arrived at my house, in one piece, with everything intact and splendiferous. Squee.

I discovered Lara of Splatgirl Creates and Modern in MN fame well over a year ago and was very proud to be one of her very first MOOPocket customers. Since then, she wonderfully upgraded my MOOPocket back in February to a rather fabulous leather and striped affair and as a lovely gesture for my repeat custom, she also enclosed a matching key fob wrist strap:

Gorgeous, aren’t they? I loved them so much that when messenger bags started appearing in the Splatgirl Creates shop on etsy, I just had to get in on the funky bag action.

I love working with Lara on custom orders (not long after she sent my key fob strap, I was in talks to snag my sister one, too). Not only is her work beautifully and meticulously finished, but communicating and negotiating a way to your ultimate creation is a fun and smooth process (even when stuck with a potential crisis such as only having a postage stamp-sized square of beloved stripe fabric left). She does her utmost to come up with a unique design best suited to the style, size and function needed (often working totally from scratch or adapting and melding together elements of the existing designs in her range) and is very open to discussion and bouncing around and trying out new ideas.

Work on my bag started weeks beforehand with me ~~window shopping and drooling over~~ researching potential sizes, styles and designs in shops and then deciding that nothing was as cool as what I’d seen in the Splatgirl Creates shop. Cue me convo-ing sweetly and doling out custom measurements and working through the finer details over a series of messages to and fro.

The main goal was to create something in a brown oil-tanned leather and fantabulous stripes so that it matched my existing MOOPocket and key fob. It also would be “mini” in size; what with me being a Claire-Bear of iddy-biddy proportions, I was concerned that a regular-sized messenger bag might drown me. So, a custom size was in order, complete with short strap so that I could wear it across the body whilst seated in my wheelchair.

Technical Spec:

9″ tall, 6 1/2″ across with a 2 1/2″ depth (i.e. just big enough for a large moleskine, my keys, wallet, phone and a pen).
A fully-lined, fixed-length brown leather strap about 1.5″ wide and 37″ long with metal clip/D-Ring (de)attachments.
Internal pocket with envelope-style closure, I.D-style window pocket, business card pocket and pen pocket “under-the-flap”.

About this time, a range of stunningly edible fabric covers made to measure for large Moleskine notebooks had also been launched. As you may know, I heart Moleskines almost as much as I adore matching accessories. I don’t even need to say what happened next…

Ta, da! And here they are, a bag and matching Moleskine cover, settling in nicely:

See more/full-size images in the Photo Set

The Moleskine cover is constructed from the same leather as the bag and is lovingly lined with stripes to keep my notebook safe and snug. The cover also features an ingenious detail on the reverse that stylishly accommodates the elastic banding characteristic of Moleskines.

I cannot tell you how giddy matching sets of things make me. Look at that set, it’s utterly beautiful. The leather has a rich and tactile finish which, if I understand oil-tanned hide right, will actually grow darker and more beautiful with age, and the stripes just make me go all warm and fuzzy inside.

I am so pleased with how it’s all turned out, I think it’s amazing how someone on the other side of an ocean can make something that looks just like I’d originally envisaged it inside my head; a feat which is due, in no small part, to Lara’s seemingly boundless talent. And I’m not the only one who’s been impressed. K was so infatuated with my lovely new things that we’re currently going through the process of nabbing K her very own custom bag and matching mobile phone case.

For more “Leather <3 Stripes” goodness, be sure to check out the post and photos of this project on the official Splatgirl Creates blog (my bag looks so much more glam in the swish surroundings of her sprawling abode).

Fancy your own? Why not take a peek at Splatgirl Creates on Etsy?

P.S. On reflection, I realise that this may read a bit like an ad — it’s not, no-one asked or paid me to write this — I’m just ridiculously excited about my new swag and wanted to share my buying experience/photos with you. I endorse these products on here solely because I’ve bought them with my own money, think they rock and think you might like them, too. The End.

The Bit Where I Loved My LensBaby…

Claire — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:15:45 +0000

It’s been a while since I posted any photography, so I thought these experiments taken with my beloved LensBaby 3G were long overdue, not least because these photos were taken back in February!

“LensBaby Mosaic“
Click mosaic to view the full ‘LensBaby Love’ set.

[Partial EXIF data coming soon; I sadly don’t remember what size aperture ring(s) I used on the LensBaby as these were taken so long ago.]

The “new” (and use that term loosely) photos feature Valentine’s roses given to me by K and a rather apt page taken from the small fold-out manual that came with the LensBaby. I’m not 100% happy with them as I’d like to work on getting the focus of the sweet spot just that bit crisper, but they are what they are: experiments and examples me loving and learning with my favourite camera-related toy.

It’s been a good couple of months since I last picked up my camera and I’m really starting to get withdrawal symptoms. Hopefully, now that I have some time off from studying, I can get back to posting pictures regularly.