Disclaimer: I just couldn’t resist but share how happy I am with a photo-related purchase. So bear with me, you’ll get to learn some new stuff too maybe.

A 50mm lens (or it’s 35mm equivalent) is the one that best matches the perspective of the human eye. This is why such a lens is also called “normal” or “standard”. I’ve just recently become a happy owner of the mid-range 50mm (non-zoom or “prime”) lens by Canon. As a matter of fact, it’s precisely that lens pictured on the left of the text.

It’s a lens that has a very large aperture opening (f/1.4, the smaller the number, the larger the opening). This means that photographing in low-light conditions has just become even more fun for me.

But so I don’t bore you to death, I’ve attached a few shots of Petra (with her new haircut!), pretty much the first ones I took with the lens. Having a non-zoom 50mm lens is a definite creativity pusher and eye-opener at the same time. The amount of blur on the background (known as depth-of-field) is just mind-blowing. Anyhow, enjoy the photos below and keep reading after them for some more on me and my photography.

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If it weren’t for Hebrews 11:1, perhaps the case of blind Bartimaeus would be most fitting. How much further could it get than a blind man’s hope for being able to see.

The Bible says that Bartimaeus was doing the regular daily “exercise” – sitting at the city gates and relying on the pilgrims’ mercy for his dinner. There must have been a decent amount of dust on his clothes… over his body… And the heat certainly couldn’t have made his situation any better. But what else could he do? He’s an outcast after all – a cast out one.

But Bartimaeus isn’t just any outcast. Not just any blind guy. He isn’t just any beggar either. Bartimaeus is a believer, but not just any – a true one he is. The Bible says he heard Jesus approaching and began to shout – perhaps a usual picture given the popularity of the Lord. He was an emerging star for many of his time. The picture becomes unusual when a minute goes by and blind Bartimaeus is still shouting. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Some from the crowd tried to shut him, but apparently whatever he had lost with his sight had now turned into a voice amplifier.

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