Lensbirdie & her Lensbabies

Hi there, I am Birgit. The moniker for this photoblog—”Lensbirdie”—came naturally, having been called birdie for more than half my life and being a shutterbug for nearly as long. I live in southern Norway with my longtime partner and two adult sons. I work as an in-house graphic designer at a large multidisciplinary consultancy. Photography has been my main hobby for well over 20 years.

I purchased my first Composer, half on impulse, during a lunch break in the fall of 2010. It came with the Double Glass optic and the default aperture disk set. I must admit that I struggled quite a bit at first — finding a balance between the right amount of focus and blur — but I never considered giving up. Some strive for perfection in their photography, while I resonate deeper with images that some would consider imperfect — and, as such, perhaps closer to reality than the technically perfect ones. Lensbaby’s magical bent and blurry look is spot on for my life experience and photography style.

My Lensbaby lenses have become my go-to optics; I now use conventional lenses almost exclusively for volunteer assignments, most often documentary work such as music festivals, concerts, and TEDx talks. Even then, I make sure to add a little LB magic..!

Camera club activity and organisational positions

As an enthusiastic amateur photographer, I have long been active in the camera club community. I served as deputy chair of the Norwegian Photographic Society (2017–2021) and as the editor-in-chief of their online membership magazine for five years (2016–2022). Since 2025, I have again been serving on the board. I have also been a board member of the Nordic Photographic Society since 2021 and of the Norwegian Nature Photography Festival—the largest festival of its kind in the Nordic countries—since 2020.

In the autumn of 2017, I opened my own photo gallery, showcasing both my own work and that of fellow amateur photographers. The gallery became a gathering place for like-minded enthusiasts, with weekly meetups where we either went out photographing together or shared editing techniques and workflow tips. We also started each weekend with coffee together on Saturday mornings. Following the pandemic, the activity gradually dwindled, and the gallery has since been put on hold.

Since 2025, I have been affiliated with WikiPortraits, a project under Wikimedia Commons. The project’s aim is to provide Wikipedia with professional-quality photographs while also contributing documentary coverage of various events, festivals, and cultural activities. View my volunteer spotlight presentation here.

Photographic achievements

Occasionally, I compete in national and international salons. I am proud that I have managed to get photos taken with a Lensbaby accepted. One of my photos is published in the 2017 Lensbaby calendar — an incredible honour and highly regarded acknowledgement!

My Lensbaby gear

I shoot with two full-frame Nikon cameras (Z6III and Df) and an m4/3 Olympus EM-10. Over the years, I’ve built up quite a collection of Lensbaby gear; as of 2026, I only lack the Soft Focus II optic and the Twist 28 lens to complete the entire Lensbaby optics and lens lineup.

Swap optics:

• Double glass (Oct 2010)
• Edge 80 (Feb 2013)
• Sweet 35 (Aug 2014)
• Optic swap kit: Zone/Pinhole, Single Glass, Plastic (Aug 2015)
• Soft Focus (Dec 2015)
• Edge 50 (July 2016)
• Twist 60 (Oct 2016)
• Edge 35 (Jan 2019)
• Sweet 80 (June 2020)
• Sweet 50 (Jan 2022)

Accessories:

• Macro kit (Aug 2014)
• Creative Aperture kit (Aug 2014)
• Omni Creative filter system + Color expansion pack (March 2020)
• Omni Crystal expansion pack + Flare wand expansion pack (June 2021)
• Omni Universal Expansion Pack with Shapes (nov 2024)

For mobile phone:

• LB-M10 (through Kickstarter Aug 2014)
• LB-M20
• LB-M30