April 16, 2012

i had a baby...


her name is lensbaby. she arrived this weekend. 
she's a tiny thing, weighing almost nothing and has a mind of her own.
i love her, but i'm not so sure she loves me. yet.
~
the photos above and any other ones in this post 
that have a more than noticeable blurry edge to them, were taken with her.
oh gosh, i have SO much to learn.



{slight interruption regarding my baby}
remember when i returned the sabrina ward harrison book that i didn't like. well the one thing i did like about it, were the collage pieces inside a vellum envelope, attached to the inside cover.
well, mostly i loved the word collage pieces. 
so without her book,  i made my own.
lots and lots of them.




for some reason, i feel that i want to get close to my subjects while shooting with my baby, but that's not really what she wants to do. so we're working on a compromise. the stairwell is a good example of us playing well together.
~
when i shoot with her, i'm on manual. manual forces me to use my eye to focus. 
you see, for 4 years now i have always used auto focus. auto focus is not the same as auto.
so i'm still shooting on aperture, my favorite mode, but manually focusing the lens.
this my friends is not the easiest thing to do.
~
this child of mine is talented though. 
with my help, we can focus up or down and left or right.
have you ever ridden a unicycle. while juggling oranges.
that's how hard it is to find the the off center sweet spot my baby has.
did i mention i have lots to learn.


so just like anything else, you practice. and practice some more.
so i will be practicing for hours and hours and days and days until this new child of mine and i
can finish each other's sentences. seriously, that's how close to her i want to be.
*
ps....i could care less that brad and angelina are engaged.

36 comments:

  1. I love the photo collage........I don't use my Nikon to its full potential......I am taking an 8 hour mini course on the 28th, from Carl Heilman who is a great Adirondack photographer.......
    and I agree.....who cares about Brad and what's her face.

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  2. Brad and Angie got engaged? Lol...I had no idea. I love your baby...I never really wanted one...until now! Dang it!

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  3. Brad and Angelina who? LOL

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  4. Wow, love the new lens....you lucky duck! Have fun with it and practice until your heart desires!!!

    PS. I agree....Brad & Angelina? Please, give me a break!

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  5. love the shots with your new baby: love the funky focusing you've got going on!

    glad you're having so much fun (dork :) )

    who are Brad and Angelina that you are talking about (haha)

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  6. love the shots with your new baby: love the funky focusing you've got going on!

    glad you're having so much fun (dork :) )

    who are Brad and Angelina that you are talking about (haha)

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  7. J'adore!

    Oh, you ~ oooo la la gorgeous!

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  8. I love the slightly dizzy look of your photos...are the photos dizzy or do they make me dizzY? In any case, is that the effect of that lens or did you edit them that way? And the word collage may just become an upcoming project of mine!

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  9. oh i love the word collage... you have just given me some ideas for a project over the weekend.

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  10. I guess I will never have a lensbaby because I have an astigmatism ... sigh.

    As for Brangelina .. seriously after 7 yrs and 3 natural children + assorted adopted children they're ENGAGED???????????????????

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  11. Love the "atmosphere" created in your photos!! Cool!! Congrats on your new lense!!
    And I could care less about Brad as well!
    Sigh!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  12. I could care less about them but I do care bunches that you have a new baby! And a special baby at that! You two are already getting along amazingly well...I can tell.

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  13. I could care less about them but I do care bunches that you have a new baby! And a special baby at that! You two are already getting along amazingly well...I can tell.

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  14. I am sure you and your baby will have many many hours of fun playing together !!! Cool tool !

    Love the collage words. They are a lovely way to put those sweet messages from the Universe out there !!!Taking your advice and heading out to visit Mother Nature today. So beautitul here !!!

    Miss you. Love you !

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  15. Oooh.. I'd never heard about these lensbabies. What a fun toy!

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  16. Oh beth! You make me laugh when I visit you here. Love the results so far of this new lens. You temptress, now I think I would like that lens too.

    Now on brad and angelina, who cares for sure! I am learning our energy is not to be spent on worthless cares such as this.

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  17. What fun! A new baby! Yup. Heard of Lens Baby. Looked it up. Someday.

    Brad and Angelina who?

    ;)

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  18. You're a much more patient mother than I. My baby frustrates me and therefore spends much of her time left alone.

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  19. Interesting about the lens. When I was very young my Dad had a camera that took the same sort of fuzzy-around-the-edges pics, but I don't remember a special lens. Love the effect!

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  20. Engaged? Seriously? Don't care either:)

    I recently had a chance to try someones Lensbaby out for awhile...Fun! and definitely a learning curve involved:) I think you did great in these shots! Especially if you never used one before! Have fun!

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  21. Hi Beth, gee I thought they married yonks ago, but who cares and why bother.
    I love your new baby thanks for sharing.

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  22. Hey there,
    first time commenter at your blog. Beautiful work with your new baby. Is she a 50ml 1.2? Mine is so new that I am stuck on across focus.

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  23. brangelina engaged?

    and your baby is definitely a keeper! love love love these photos!

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  24. You wrote all those cards-- Wow, LOVE your hang writing :-)

    And your baby looks like a sweetheart to me. Those first few pics are especially cool and the purple flower... ahhhh.

    Have fun playing together.

    And I'm with you on Brad and Angie-- What's the big deal of an engagement after living together for 7 years-- Like it a big surprise or something. Lord help us with all the nonsense we're in for with the upcoming wedding. Ugh.

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  25. I rolled my eyes at the news... does anyone care, really? So over it.

    love your new baby!

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  26. Oh, how I envy you and your Lensbaby! I would so love to have one one day!

    Kate

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  27. What? I had no idea they weren't married. All those kids? I am practicing with a raynox magnifier, trying to find the sweet spot. Not easy - and also manually focusing. Your baby is taking some fabulous shots - I like the leaf on wood a lot.

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  28. I had an opportunity to play with some lensbaby lenses a couple of months ago. I must say, you are finding the sweet spot much quicker than I did. I do enjoy the lensbaby photos, I just don't like the ones I take. Yes, the baby can teach us a lot.

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  29. those photos are just WOW!
    big happy wow!
    amazing stuff you're doing, Beth!
    -Jennifer

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  30. I can't wait to see what you and your baby are going to do together.

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  31. love the lens baby photos... makes me want a lens baby... hmmm.
    love the words, too! you have such beautiful handwriting. so pretty!!!!
    happy friday! xoxox

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  32. congrats! :-) looks like you two are already an item!

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  33. I could care less about B and A, too. But I'm eager to hear more about your lens baby! I don't know that my eyes are good enough to focus in manual anymore!

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  34. oh congratulations! you will love her! calling it your "baby" made me chuckle. if that's the case, mine is probably in grade school by now.

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  35. Oh, I want to play with a Lensbaby!!

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  36. I've been considering having a "baby"
    as well. Just not sure if I'm ready
    for it. Which one did you get?

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**I love reading the comments you leave, as they make me feel like we're sitting in my kitchen, having a cup of tea, discussing life and wondering where all the time has gone ...beth