Lensbaby and the Weeting Steam Rally

Living here in England offers some of the most unique opportunities one could ever imagine. Case in point: the Weeting Steam Rally and Country Fair. Held just outside the small village of Weeting, Norfolk (pop. 1750) it is celebrating 40 years of shows in which steam powered vehicles (called traction engines) gather to show their stuff. Today I took my 4 children and my Lensbaby 3G mounted on a Canon 40D to Weeting to look around and I have to say, it was really an incredible time.

We parked in a huge field and as we approaced the main event area you could see plumes of grey sooty smoke rising from numerous locations, the smell of sulfurous-coal thick in the air. As we rounded a huge white tent we saw example on example of huge, lumbering machines. What a fantastic sight, some of these monstorous vehicles were 100 years old but looked as if they rolled out of the shop only last week. You have never seen or smelled so much Brass-o in your life!

At one engine we stopped to talk to a very nice gentleman named Rob who kindly took the time to explain what a traction engine was, what they were made for, and how they worked. The children were even asked to step up onto the platform and shown the controls. What a fantastic learning experience. He would explain how the coal fire heated water in the boiler and as he did, a lumbering 8-10 ton machine would go by, gigantic masses of cast iron spinning and stroking about with a speed that nearly defied belief. The ground shook, flecks of coal soot invaded every inch of body. It was grand.

I'm going back tomorrow with my serious gear to get even more images. Enjoy Weeting as seen through the Lensbaby, you can view more and larger images at my print order website.

Signs of Spring

In typical atypical weather prediction fashion the Met Office is issuing severe weather warnings for wind, rain, sleet, snow and I thought I heard them say flying pigs (but I'm sure that's a mistake on my part) as I'm sitting down and editing photos of Blue Peter crocus that are in full bloom on my back patio. Also in bloom are daffodils and I saw the first batch of snow drops under a tree in the backyard. I just don't understand the weather anymore. Its gone all wonky.

I'm starting to get the "feel" of this nifty little Lansbaby and what it does when you squeeze and point the lens element off-axis. In the photo above the center bloom is tack-sharp while the further away you go the more "slurred" it gets. Don't know if I could make a living by doing it exclusively but it is a neat little tool to add to my optics arsenal. If you're thinking about picking one up yourself, be sure to get the supplimentary telephoto and wide-angle lenses. They really do round out the useful range of the Lensbaby 3G.

Red Lion pub at night

There was a very short break in the miserable weather we've been having (and I DO mean miserable) so I decided to do a little experimentation at night with the new Lensbaby 3G. A short drive down the A47 and I was in the middle of Swaffham which was sparsely populated at the hour of 8pm. After a few "orientation" images I finally got my exposure dialed in (no auto-exposure or auto-focus features, talk about old school) and I was off.

One image that lept out once I was back home was the one below. All pubs in the UK have a sign hanging out proudly displaying some sort of graphic designation of their name. Often times you can also tell if it is a "contract" pub with a specific brewery or if it is a "free" house meaning they pick and choose which beverages they offer their clientele. You'll notice that the pub sign is sharp (and I mean TACK sharp) but as you get away from it the colors quickly go to blurry and what I have heard other photographers describe as a "slurred" look. This is because of the bellow design of the Lensbaby, a construction technique gleaned from the larger and much more expensive large-format cameras.



I like it, expect more "visual slurs" to appear here in the future!

~James

New Baby in the house

And before you get all worked up it's not THAT kind of baby!!!! It's a new piece of equipment and the "baby" part will become apparent in a moment, but first we must have a story...

Most of you know Jill and I have been blessed with 5 wonderful children. First, there were three boys. Then, we realized we just had too much free time on our hands and over a three year period adopted two beautiful little girls from China. It's on this second trip to China to get Emmalea that I obtained one of my favorite souveniers: my beloved Chairman Mao windup alarm clock and desk calendar.

Remember that Jill and I both grew up in a culture where Russia and China were the "bad guys" and endured all the propaganda that went along with such a position. Now try to imagine being in that country and having the mental paradigm shift that, by golly, they're pretty much like you and me at the "normal joe" level of things. We had an incredible time on both trips but I was still looking for that special something that would bring back memories of my travels and possible stir up a conversation when guests saw it. Well, I found it in a little shop on Shamian Island in Guangzhou, Guangdong province and I knew I had found my souvenier the moment I set eyes on it.

On close inspection it has all the requisite "good party member" items: red color, utilitarian styling, a practical use as well as the likeness of Chairman Mao leading the masses. Then you look a little closer and notice the second hand is a Chinese fighter jet swooping through the skies. And finally, the piece de restance, when wound up and the seconds tick off one of the masses being led by Chainman Mao is waving their Little Red Book along to the rhythm of the jet swooping above! I can't tell you how old it is but there is a bit of age that came along with the purchase price, something in the neighborhood of $4-5USD. Oh, and it still works AND keeps very good time.

So, now you know the background to this interesting little piece of kitch I have a strange fondness for.

"How in the world are you going to make this come around to having a new baby in the house?"

Oh ye of little faith.

One of the nifty gadgets I recently acquired for my professional endeavours is a small lens that, by way of a flexible lens barrel, allows me to achive a very nice selective focus effect while making for some incredibly blurred and smeared parts of the image. As we photographers are always trying to make our work stand out and grab YOUR attention, I thought that this little guy would be a hoot to experiment with.

Thus, the Lensbaby 3G has now been added to my optical aersenal of image making equipment.

Let the fun begin, and how about we start with my buddy Chairman Mao...