lensbaby love

Long time no write.

I thought I'd use this blog as an opportunity to speak about something vaguely photography related (for once).  I'd like to talk a little bit about the lensbaby, a lens which has been close to my heart for a while now.

As digital photography becomes more technologically advanced and pushes the boundaries of what we can achieve via this medium even further, it is natural that countervailing resistance from traditionalists becomes ever stronger.  You only have to take heed of the city's large and ever-growing number of film users and lomographers as evidence.

As a person who still strongly upholds the use of film in his own personal work, I think the lensbaby strikes a happy balance between the digital/film divide.  It can be used both with digital and film bodies, though the general consensus is that they are best attached to your digital SLRs.  The effect of the lens, for those of you who are uninitiated, is to create an area of selective focus whilst diffusing the rest of the photo, creating a dreamy, often surreal mood.  I now own two lensbabies, one with a plastic optic, the other with a glass optic.  They started out as a somewhat cultish diversion from 'proper' lenses - however, I noted with glee that even photographers covering the Beijing Olympics were using them, such is their notoriety now.  I saw one fantastic photo of Usain Bolt crossing the line which was taken with a lensbaby, absolutely awe-inspiring.

With digital bodies, I feel it lends that feeling of manual configuration and personal input to what can sometimes be a somewhat clinical process, churning out hundreds upon thousands of digital shots (often a real bugbear of those who still devote their hours to shooting film).  I think the lensbaby can make what is otherwise a relatively unintersting shot into something special.  The danger there, of course, is that you take a 'bad' shot and just use the lensbaby to jazz it up.  But with this lens, as with any, I think if your basic shot is good, hopefully the quality shines through regardless.  Anyway here is some recent stuff I've come up with, which has apparently been fairly well received... if you like these and would like to investigate further you can always find me on www.flickr.com/photos/justinlim

all images copyright J. Lim 2008-09

oh... and happy new year to you all!