Sarah R. Bloom Photography

I found a too-good-to-pass up deal on a first generation Lensbaby 2.0 a couple of weeks ago on Amazon. The free shipping clinched it. I’d borrowed my friend Jennifer König’s Lensbaby about eight months ago to play around with during a visit and realized it would take some more time to get the hang of it. But I liked it. I liked the feel of it and more than that, I loved what I was seeing with it. Their motto is “see in a new way,” but for me it was almost like seeing in the right way or rather, like seeing closer to my own warped version of reality. I had an affinity for this lens, baby.

Here's a shot I took with Jen's lens. She has the newer generation of Lensbaby, the Control Freak model.

That's Michael Bowman (aka Desolate Places) there in the photo.

The Lensbaby has a very small depth of field. With the mini bellows fully extended, the lens will have a focus distance of about 12 inches. By pushing in the bellows (and this takes some getting used to because you need to use two fingers yet still leave your shutter finger functional), the focus goes to infinity (yes, infinity). The bellows also manipulates at angles, so you can move what they call “the sweet spot” (your point of focus) to somewhere other than the center of the frame. There are also aperture discs you can swap out. It’s a trip, man.

So after that visit to Jen, I officially added a Lensbaby to my list to “wants” in relation to photography. I scoped some out when I got home and couldn’t justify the money. Even the cheapest was just under $100. I occasionally looked at Ebay and Craig’s List and then would forget about it for a while. Then the other week I was indulging myself in a little drool time on Amazon in the camera equipment section looking at lenses so far out of my range that it wasn’t even risky to look, when I decided to peek at the Lensbabies again only to be aptly rewarded with a sale.

I received this adorably odd-looking lens just 8 days ago and have had a great time playing around with it. I would say I’m still a long ways off from “mastering” it by any stretch of the imagination, but I am still managing to get some cool shots. I walked around in my neighborhood, where we still have lots of snow and the other day still had major icicles everywhere.

Now is the winter of our discontent

My new friends from the band Talking to Walls (who bought one of my images to use on their newest CD release) were playing in Philadelphia this past Friday night at The Fire, so I went to meet them in person, get a copy of the CD, and take some photos of the show. Shooting a live performance was something I hadn’t done before and wanted to try and I thought the Lensbaby might come up with some really interesting shots in that environment. While I can see I need some more practice, I think this baby delivered.

This is more than a toy to have fun with (though of course it is that, too), but it is also a tool that can convey a wonderful sense of motion that in reality may have been more felt than seen, if you know what I mean. I see a lot of potential here and plan on exploring every angle.