Halfway Point

It's the middle of July, and I'm halfway through the first month of my new Photo a Day project. I've posted nine Lensbaby images, this month's chosen piece of gear, so I'm averaging a bit better than every other day. Actually, I've made images more days than that, because there have been times when I was unable to download for whatever reason. Regardless of the number of posts, the project is having the effect I intended it to-- I am getting much more comfortable with this funky little lens. My frustration has decreased because I'm more used to manipulating it, and though I can't yet say it's totally automatic, it's certainly a good deal easier. I'm also much more excited about its potential. I've made some images I really like, I'm not as hesitant to put it on my camera due to feeling that I don't have time to 'fiddle' with it, and I'm experimenting more. In the past, I've treated the Lensbaby mostly as a macro tool. Yet, I've seen images that others have made of portraits, landscapes... anything you might shoot with any other lens. So, I've been making an effort to try images that are not macro. I find that one of the benefits of this self-assignment is that I'm working on it even when I don't have the camera in my hands-- as in, thinking about potential shots, what I'm going to do for the day's 'assignment', and so on. I've also joined a couple of Flicker lensbaby groups, which has been helpful in inspiring me to experiment and learning from others' work. I'm really glad I still have two weeks to go before moving on to something else!