magical photo

the magical thing about photography is that you never know what you're going to get. as i contorted myself amongst the stinging nettles to try to catch the right ray of light during the golden hour, i didn't imagine this photograph. but due to the magic of very shallow depth of field (thanks to the 50mm fixed lens, at 1.4 aperture) and the perfect (read: low) light, this was my result. and i think it's magical, even if i do say so myself. and even more, i love that despite it being a digital photo, it has a film-like quality. and it's straight out of my camera, no processing at all, aside from a slight crop on the left. it's a photo you could fall into and get lost.

nifty fifty meets the kittens and falls in love

a couple of weeks ago, i spotted a used nikkor 50mm 1.4D lens in the window of photographica, denmark's most wonderful photography shop. they weren't open, but i contacted them and was able to buy it via mail. i'd long wanted a portrait lens and since it was used, the 1.4 was about the same price as a new 1.8, so i went for it.

sabin has fallen in love with it and it has awakened her interest in photography - she even gets out the tripod regularly! i'm still getting to know it and learning that i can't get as close with it as with my 60mm macro lens, but i love how fast it is and how well it does in low light.

it was way too dark when i took these photos of the kittens last evening, but somehow making them black and white seems to give them a soft, filmlike quality that i really like and that i don't really get with my other lenses.

the kittens are wonderful portrait subjects when they hold still, don't you think? funny how having a new lens has renewed my interest in photography a bit as well. i'll admit my daily photo efforts had stagnated and become a bit routine of late. this helps.