The kinetics of the growth of depletion zones around a static trap in an effective two-dimensional geometry were studied experimentally with photobleaching of fluorescein dye by a focused laser beam. The phototrap served as an imperfect trap with a finite size. The growth of the depletion zone was monitored by the theta distance, defined as the distance from the trap to the point where the concentration of the reactants reaches a given arbitrary fraction theta (0