oh Baby!!

A few weeks ago while stopped in traffic I noticed an interesting picture composition framed by my sunroof. An old-fashioned street lamp and lacy tree branches. While the composition was good, the lighting was not. Because of the lighting seminar I had recently attended I started instinctively considering the ways the picture might be taken and turn out well. Then I found myself thinking ‘to heck with that – it would be a lot easier to get what I wanted out of that composition by drawing it!’

my niece

Then I laughed, out loud and hard, for six blocks of driving and three of walking. To think I’ve come so far with drawing that a thought like that could cross my mind! Easy? Hmmm. Ok, I guess so.

My next thought was to wonder if this meant it was time to put away the camera in order to focus on some of my other creative outlets. Seriously, I did. I wasn’t laughing at this point. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have a single point of attention for all this. Wanted it even. And hoped at some point I could narrow down my hobbies to the one. This is pure fantasy, but for about 10 seconds I thought I might be on that path.

A caterpillar from my sister's back yard

Instead I decided that I needed to shake up the photography. To do something with it that produces a kind of impact that would be difficult in painting or drawing. Maybe I was just looking for justification. Which is crazy, because I was about to go on a trip and I always use a trip to justify this.

Yes, this story is just all a preamble to announce that I bought a new lens. A lensbaby, to be precise. It’s seriously fun. And I do consider it some sort of quirky sign that another photographer whose work I follow and love has recently been playing with her own lensbaby. But signs or no, quirks or no, I’m a little more excited and motivated to do a little shutterbugging now.