Lens-Artists Challenge#385 – Unusual Crop

Ritva hosts this weeks Lens-Artist Challenge and has asked us to provide image examples of unusual or extreme cropping – ‘This week, we encourage you to deliberately defy traditional framing conventions.‘ Ritvas original challenge post can he found here.

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International Lego Day – 28/01/26

Rachel and Ross on the apartment balcony. I’ve given them a slight dusting of snow – actually it’s icing sugar!

Yesterday, 28th January, was ‘International Lego Day’. I didn’t know, or realise, this until late in the day when I saw a related Lego post on Flickr. So, although I started writing my article yesterday I’m a day late posting as I didn’t have my Lego images available to upload.

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Photography – Nikon NIKKOR-S.C Auto 50mm f1.4

I shot this in my garden. I pulled the Danbo out of retirement for a bit of foreground interest but what I was really trying to do was create some round, soap bubble, bokeh balls. That worked well with the sun creating nice bokeh ball highlights off the leaves on a bush in the background.

I bought, yet another, vintage lens from Ebay last week. I’d read a favourable review of the Nikon NIKKOR-S.C Auto 50mm f1.4, a 1970’s classic and decided I’d like one. It’s still widely available and I bought a copy, in mint condition, for £100. I’ve never owned, or used, a Nikon lens before but I’m suitably impressed. The build quality is superb and it’s a dream to use.

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Lens Artists Photo Challenge #381- Minimalism in B&W Photography

I shot this a couple of weeks ago. It’s a statue called ‘Still’ in our local marina. It was a test shot with a new ‘vintage lens’ but I really liked it once I got back and processed it.

Ritva has set this weeks challenge – Minimalism in Black & White Photography. You can read Ritva’s original challenge post here. It’s a great theme for a challenge and one of those that makes you think about your own photography. I’ll confess that I never shoot in black and white or even with a black and white image in mind.

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Lens Artists Challenge #380: What’s Around the Corner

John Ateyo. A 1950’s Bristol City FC legend. We walked through the soccer stadium grounds on route to the harbour and the view of the suspension bridge.

Well this is really spooky. This week Anne challenges us to post images from photo opportunities we’ve stumbled across on one particular walk. I’ve done exactly that today, before I knew what was coming with this weeks challenge! Here’s the story of that walk.

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Lens-Artists Challenge #379 – Favourite Images of 2025

The Lens Artist Team are asking followers to select their favorite images of 2025 – whether they’ve been included in previous posts or not.

So, I’ve organised a few of this years images into these categories.

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Photography – New Vintage Lens Additions

Canon FD 55mm f1.2 – A photography book Christmas present I was given this year.

Following on from the success and enjoyment I had using my vintage lenses in Marrakesh (blogged here) I decided to invest in a few more old lenses. I’ve spent hours researching on YouTube channels, blogs and Flickr and came up with a short list of lenses that might compliment those I already owned.

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Tyntesfield at Christmas

We live very close to Tyntesfield, A National Trust property in North Somerset. Here’s a brief description lifted straight from Wikipedia – ‘Tyntesfield is a Victorian Gothic Revival country house and estate near Wraxall, North Somerset, England. The house is a Grade I listed building named after the Tynte baronets, who had owned estates in the area since about 1500.’

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