Since discovering The New York Times’ blog Lens, I visit almost every weekday. It is mainly a photojournalistic blog that shares captivating and thought provoking images on a weekday basis. As I continually check the blog, I find myself more and more interested in the day’s current events- probably because they are shown with clear, high quality images and short captions. The pictures that they post bring the news you would normally hear on the radio or television to life. I find the emotions that photos create cannot be evoked through any other form.

The site is dark, with a mostly black, gray, and white color scheme- besides for the photographs, of course! Josh Haner and David W. Dunlap explain their logic in stating that they wished for the images to stand out against a darker backdrop. Captions are in white font, and they are clearly legible. This simple color scheme gives the blog a clean and sophisticated look.

Each day, the blog posts twice. The first post is a localized and focused post that contains images all with the same theme, time period, or setting. This post seems to choose its content just as an article would. The second post is the “Pictures of the Day” link which features images from around the world that reflect events that took place throughout the day. This aspect focuses on more general, worldwide stories.

The nature of the captions are short yet informative. Most contain the date, name of subject, and location where the photograph was taken. These captions are relatively journalistic in nature. Underneath the caption of most posts, there is a link to an in-depth article describing the nature of the collection of photos. These articles are informative, and therefore give more background meaning to the photos. By reading the captions and the supplemental articles, the photographs really come to life.

Lens’ about page tells of the different ways to navigate and experience the page, as per your preference. The blog is relatively new, so it seems that it will still undergo some more changes as comments and feedback is submitted by visitors.

The comments are submitted and then reviewed before they are posted, so comments are initially screened. As a result of this, most comments are well written and show deep thought.

Because this blog is under The New York Times, it does not have a shop or store. There are, however, ads featured throughout the site. They are minimal and do not drastically effect the viewing experience. When sliding through photographs, you can simply skip the ad to continue onto your next image. Some ads are displayed on the right side of the website as well, but they are not invasive, as none contain sound or popups.

Full access to this blog requires a digital subscription to access more than ten articles (which The New York Times allows you to read for free) a month. The home page and blog fronts, however, are not included in this, and are accessible as many times as necessary. The price for a digital subscription varies, depending on the device you will use, but most range from around $3.75-$8.75 a week.

I enjoy visiting this blog, as it reminds me of things happening outside of my immediate knowledge. Not only is it informative, but also interesting.