Maintaining is such sweet sorrow...

I've been thinking about this whole blog thing... at least, offline. And I've come to the realization that in a previous entry, I laid out a groundwork for what I wanted to do here. The sick realization has come to me. To do what i said i wanted to do, would have me blogging non-stop. So, the solution? Blog when i can... about stuff that really matters to me. Sure, i like to discuss all sorts of things, but the truth is... i prefer to blog about what I like... directly. Like for instance - the elipsis. I can't get away from using it dot dot dot It's a sick obsession(?) that i continue to use it when a simple period should suffice. Anyhow... (damnit) I'm really going to aim for a better organization of my thoughts here. First and foremost, I think a goal of mine here should be to explore and explain the function of a lens that i own, known as the Lensbaby 2.0. Now, i have to be upfront with what the Lensbaby 2.0 does. Perhaps i should just quote their website? Once again, i have to be upfront, informing you all that... the Lensbaby 2.0 is no longer in production... per se. Lensbaby reworked the product and it now has a different optics system, however the 2.0 is still around, albeit in the form of the "Muse" Here's what they have to say about it:

Bend it Baby! The Muse captures the spirit of Lensbaby photography, opening up a new realm of fun in focusing. Squeeze the Muse to focus, and bend your Sweet Spot around the photo.

Llike the Composer and the Control Freak, this little baby comes with Lensbaby's new Optic Swap System, offering artists an almost unlimited variety of looks and styles to capture their unique visions.

The Muse comes in two flavors. You can buy the Muse with the tack sharp Double Glass optic installed or get dreamy with the Plastic Optic version. Your choice!

The Lensbaby 2.0 is closer to the former, but I often feel that it's giving me the latter results - not by choice.

So, what does this lens do exactly? It imposses a selective focus on the area of your photo that you want attention tuned to. It does this by altering the lens's plane and DOF. The result is an effect of blur that can be likened to being gaussian or caused by motion. Another effect of the lens is control of Bokeh. This is the part that I absolutely love, despite my ability to control it and such.

Observe:

This photo was achieved by arranging some coloured christmas lights, that under normal circumstances run along one ceiling corner, but with a hanger and some strategic manipulation, the result is such. The Heart shaped points of light themselves were a result of the aperture disk shape. In the creative kit you can buy for the lens baby, comes a heart and star shaped aperture disk, along with a half-dozen "blanks" for you to play with. So far, i've only made 2, and one of them didn't turn out quite right. The one that did, is a animal paw.

I hope to use that one more in the future. I have no furry house mates of my own, but i do have friends that do.

Anyhow... That's the heart shaped disk... Now the star shaped disk. This one has been a bit tricky for me to work with as I haven't come across any decent ideas as to what I can do with it. Incidently, I (by fluke) captured this *ahem* stellar pic of my friend Sara. Already a gorgeous woman... one would never dare think of how to make a photo of her more mystical... more celestial. In this awesome case, the photo turned out pretty well thanks to strategicly place light, though one could argue that it didn't hurt having a subject that just came in from poorly lit outside, into semi-well lit inside. The pupil dialiation is what makes this photo, i'm sure.