Of course not.....they are actual lenses as opposed to the earlier versions which were some kind of bolt-on thingy, and are used on a "real" camera. I'm not in charge here and I never said "no Lensbaby images allowed," -- only Arn would have that power! -- but frankly, yes, I do find them rather gimmicky and IMHO seeing image after image using them does become rather tiresome. That's just my opinion, though, of course. I'll just ask, though: there are so many ways to express one's creativity, why limit oneself?
As for the cat guy, yeah, that whole thing was a real trip, wasn't it? He just went above and way beyond and then some with his apparent obsession with cats and when after a while we were seeing what felt like nothing but snapshots of cats in the POTD thread and a couple of other threads, to me and I daresay a few others, it really became more than merely annoying. If he'd started a separate thread about photos of cats, where he and others could've posted their cat photos to their hearts' content, that would have not been a problem. He didn't, though. Actually, I had the feeling that at some point he was well aware of our annoyance and so then he was doing it deliberately, too, kind of trolling us. Whatever his intent actually was, though, the result we were seeing day after day was really OTT and it definitely was not an appropriate use of the POTD or any other photo thread.
There is so much here to unpack. Over the past few years, you have made your displeasure known about so many things. You don't like:
- cat photos
- photos taken with an iPhone (or any other phone)
- photos taken with a Lensbaby
- people who aren't "serious" about photography
- HDR images
It's fine that you have such strong preferences, but you seem to forget that this is not a traditional photo forum with traditional artists. There are plenty of traditional photography forums.
While you say that you find Lensbaby images gimmicky, I can say with absolute certainty that despite your distaste for them, they stick in your (specifically you, Clix Pix's) head. And that seems to bother you. They stick in your head so much that you had to talk about me and my work on a
completely different forum, where you literally confused people who had to ask "who is 'her'?" My work is memorable to you, and you really hate that.
I have spent a bit of time perusing this forum, going back to its inception in late 2005. There is not one "rule" or guideline that says only real cameras can be used to participate in this forum. You are not the arbiter of taste or aesthetics, or techniques. You might be the longest standing member in this forum, but that doesn't give you any more or less clout than any of the rest of us.
I don't limit myself to any one thing in my work. What I share here is a small sample of what I shoot; after all we are limited to one photo a day in the POTD thread. And even if I did limit myself, who is to say that is a bad thing? There are plenty of one lens challenges out there; that is certainly a creative limit. Is someone who limits themselves to a 35mm lens more or less creative than someone who limits themselves to a non-traditional lens? And who decides what is traditional or not? Lensbaby lenses were originally designed to emulate lenses from the 1920s; that would seem fairly traditional to me. Many people compare the LB twist to the Helios lenses. Just because you personally don't see a use or vision with them, does not mean others shouldn't use them.
You get so hung up on what is "serious" or "traditional" that you seem to forget that all of this is art. It's personal preference, it is what makes an artist's soul or heart sing. That is different for every single artist. If I start hanging out on traditional artists forums, am I going to find people arguing over whether watercolors or oil paints are better? Because to me, that is all this is...an argument over semantics and what tool gets the job done. And just because one artist prefers watercolors, doesn't mean they should trample over the oil painters. I suppose it is the retired librarian in you wanting everything to align neatly to the Dewey Decimal system, but real life, and especially art, does not line up into neat little categories.
Sony vs Canon vs Nikon. Lensbaby vs traditional. One lens vs many. NONE OF IT MATTERS. Get out and shoot. I don't care if someone doesn't like my work, I am shooting for myself. And given that I am already published in a book and also a magazine coming out this month, and given that I was selected to teach a class, and given that my work has been accepted through various portfolio platforms, it's apparent that my work does speak to some (many) people. If a handful of people here and there don't like it, I don't care.
You can take your negativity with people who don't conform to your
"serious" standards and leave it on a different forum. MR has not a single stated guideline that this forum is only for people using specified gear or techniques.
There’s a PL50-200 that’s kinda the last big lens on my wish list. I think I’d get a lot of mileage out of it, but it’s not exactly cheap. I think it could do portrait work really well, and then also end up as a butterfly lens in that season.
