The second shot was done with my Lensbaby, which I think turned out to be very appropriate for the What Cheer Brigade. If you've never seen them, they are a very entertaining marching band from Providence, Rhode Island. They get dressed up in funky things (mostly in black), have tats all over, wild hairdos, and play some great music. They start by marching around to get the crowd's attention, then they stop somewhere and play a few songs circling around in the same spot and encouraging the audience to get in close and dance. I thought they were fun.

I also thought it would be fun to shoot with my Lensbaby for some reason tonight. I think the first three performers I shot had on blue jeans and a black t-shirt and didn't move much, so I felt the need to get a little creative. As luck would have it, I ran into the What Cheer Brigade shortly after putting the Lensbaby on.

If it works, the links below should take you to see the two photos I posted. If you send me money, I'll show you the rest. In other words, you won't see them. Maybe I'll do something with them some day, we'll see. Besides these two, I also shot Jenny Owen Youngs, Pat Dinizio (of the Smithereens), and Everclear. And by the way, I do not give my best shots to the paper. I keep the best ones.

Cracker

What Cheer Brigade

Hakaniemen asema, originally uploaded by kesakko.

”Miten voisi pysyä paikoillaan, kun aika liukuu niin kuin jää kuumien käsiemme välistä.” Paul Morand

OK that is a cool toy for your brain and eye. This toy a a kind of no nonsense in the digital era, It is a lens contraption that fit your modern, automatic, super sharp and fast autofocus, that will allow you to do selective focus, pat tist and blurred images by pushing and pulling the edge of the lens with the help of 3 or 4 of your fingers... Yep No-auto, No-self... just you and the beast... the toy... the tool... I shoot mainly industrial images for my commercial life and portraits and nudes for my artistic life... This tool is the best imagination stimulation gizmo in my whole toolbox.

The Lens Baby will allow your brain and eye to concentrate on the details in the big pictures , when you thik you have seen it all... just click on the lens baby and the world is on heavy drug, Your handling of your Lens baby will correct, accept or enjoy the new reality offered by it.

As if this was not enough, you can ad to your lens, a wide or tele converter and you can change the aperture of your lens with a clever magnet tool design just for tha and that comes in the box....

Don't get bored, get a baby, a lens baby that is!

Lensbaby Raaseporissa, originally uploaded by kesakko.

Lensbaby 2.0 on samaan aikaan riemastuttava ja raivostuttava objektiivi. Se ei päästä kuvaajaansa helpolla. Erikoinen linssi ja sormenpäillä hoidettava tarkennus tekevät kuvaamisesta haastavaa - ja kiinnostavaa.

Tänään lensbabyharjoitusteni kohteena olivat Snappertunassa sijaitsevat Raaseporin linnanrauniot.

Lensbabykokeilu kohti Merihakaa, originally uploaded by kesakko.

Sain uuden lelun, jota piti heti kokeilla. Lensbaby 2.0 -objektiivi tekee mielenkiintoisia asioita kuva-alalle.

Last May, Jack and I held our first Macro & More workshop in the Columbia River Gourge Area in Oregon. We had a great group for our first workshop together and it was very successful.    Jack and I hope to expand this Macro & More theme to new locations each year, and we'll update you with new info on the Macro & More blog as we put it together for 2009.

http://macroandmore.wordpress.com/

Jack Graham's website, www.jackgrahamphoto.com

Mike Moats website, www.tinylandscapes.com

Last night I attended a potluck.  Though to be honest, it was less pot and more luck...or maybe that's what you get for being the only vegetarian among a sausage-philic crowd of omnivores.  Alas, sometimes a girl just has to fill up on beer.

The fun thing about last night's potluck--apart from the guacamole, fresh corn on the cob, the American beers, the chatter of my favorite people--was bringing my new camera.  Did I mention my sausage-philic friends are also shutterphiles?  My new lensbaby was a real crowd-pleaser and the result was a bunch of sticky (and mildly intoxicated) fingers on my new Nikon--picture me saying, "okay, Andrew?  Andrew.  Strap around the neck," over and over again.  And a series of unexpectedly lovely portraits of my friends, taken by my friends, which I discovered this morning.

alistair

john and thara

Nate

claire

justin

nathan

andrew

and me.

ah summer:

.

Echinacea Purpurea 3 181/365, originally uploaded by Gallery32/Chocolata.

Since my 15-55mm lens mount broke on my Nikon d80, I decided to go to the train depot and take some photos with my Lensbaby, I have wanted to gain more experience with this lens because every time I shoot with it I never get the results I want. Today I had a couple of free hours and went out and took about 75 shots and just played with some different settings. I finally think I have a grasp on how it works. Of the 75 shots, I got about 6 that were acceptable. You can see those on my flickr page.  Oh well, I can always delete them.

Happy Birthday to my sweetie Debi D.  I was thinking of you when I took this photo.

Happy Friday!

T.

Lensbaby, originally uploaded by seltzer_jeff. ]]> http://toves.wordpress.com/?p=144 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:42:35 +0000 toves http://toves.wordpress.com/?p=144

I had way too much fun photographing all the random little bits and bobs aboard some of the big military ships we traipsed about on as part of the Glasgow River Festival. I especially liked this (weather?) instrument thingie.

An entire day in the big city and where do I find inspiration? The tourist information centre. Hmmm...

All's quiet on the West End front. Well, sort of. I went to London for a night and day to see a gig and welcome Richard back to the UK. I focused on film, so not so many digi shots, except when Richard turned the camera round on me as we got ready for a long day walking about museums and shops. We got up at the crack of dawn, then had to wait around for our gracious hosts to stir. I was perhaps a wee bit tired...

[gallery]

July 5, 2008 #1

Originally uploaded by F.Scala

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! I had a quiet night at home with The Boy, and the katzen. It was a much needed rest.

Got out and about with my Lensbaby this past week. I haven't dusted that little guy off in a while, and thought it was about time I started using it again. I forgot how fun it was.

Here's one of the shots I got with my LB, and theres a few more over in my Flickr gallery. Hopefully I'll get some more up soon, but first I have to go develop some film.

During Hobgrumble's maiden voyage to Glasgow, we made a quick stop at the Kelvingrove museum, and I stumbled upon the armour room - for the first time! How I could have possibly missed it during my 1001 previous visits, I do not know, but boy was I excited to wield my lensbaby on these armed devils!

Finally, after a good kick in the ass by the esteemed Hobgrumble, I snapped another stranger for the 100 Strangers Project! We spotted Colin eating his lunch on a bench at the university. We were worried at first that he might be a bit mad, but in fact he was just lovely! I couldn't resist that beard, in any case. Who could? Amazing!

...and here's Hob's photo of me taking this shot! Ha! Now tell me, would you have made the approach?

Spanish Victory celebrations after their semi-final match with Russia