MEET OUR LENSBABY AMBASSADORS!
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SHOOT EXTRAORDINARY
“The inspiration and creative results I get when shooting with this lens system is the secret sauce to some of my favorite images.”
Patrick Shipstad is a professional photographer based in Los Angeles. He shoots creative portraits as well as celebrity, beauty, fashion, and product photography. Some of his clients have been NBC Universal, DreamWorks, Disney, Buena Vista Television, DirecTV, Billy Idol/Steve Stevens, The Artist SHAG, Samsung, Jones of New York, Costco, Seagram’s and MTV Books.
Some of my earliest memories revolve around time spent in my dad’s darkroom and under the dark cloth of his view camera. Since my teens, I have been doing my own photography, starting with film, and going digital early in the DSLR era with a D100.
Recently, I have done mainly landscapes, cityscapes, and detail work like wildflowers. In addition to photography, I am involved in several related things, with some photography apps, a YouTube channel, and a blog.
The Cheshire Cat famously told Alice: where you should go very much depends on where you want toend up, and what Lensbaby optics has become for me is exactly this kind of Looking-Glass that helpsme create an ever-elusive image from my mind's eye,conveying my feelings and emotions ratherthan remains a mere statement of fact.
They say that a photographer is either a picture taker or a picture maker; I am firmly in the picturemakers' club. While fully appreciating the "what you see is what you get" approach, I am much moreinterested in chasing an ever-elusive image that appearsin my mind's eye, an image that conveys myfeelings and emotions, rather than remains a mere statement of fact. After studyingArt History in university, I worked in various museums and galleries,these days I teach my favorite photographicsubjects:flower portraiture, still life, and in my own time enjoy photographing impressionisticlandscapes, and collectible artist boll-jointed dolls.
My art converges in the sphere of optical unrealities, of parallel worlds and alternative scenarios. My artistic discourse encompasses the contemplative action of bringing together time, the eternal and fleeting, in search of the magical quality of reality.
I’m interested in reinterpreting reality because I feel that things have multiple readings, and I apply diverse techniques, as my ability to communicate ideas originates here.
“Into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul.” ~ John Muir
Regina Boston of RMB Photography is a family, nature, and macro photographer from
Maryland. She is a wife, mother of 7 children, 2 grandchildren, and 2 dogs. She truly enjoys capturing subjects as they are, helping people notice the small, beautiful details in the world around us. She has a huge passion of shooting extraordinary with Lensbaby lenses, allowing her the opportunity to express herself visually and emotionally through creative art achieved in camera. Regina is a Lensbaby Ambassador, Click Pro Elite, and Hello Storyteller Pro.
Hola! My name is Robert Pugh. There is nothing I love more than people plus capturing their authentic moments. I have been shooting images for the best part of my life, and I can still remember shooting my first wedding for a friend and getting the buzz to become a full-time wedding photographer. I’ve covered assignments from the X-Factor to photographing the King of Qatar. I have a wide range of interests but they all centre around creating and communicating with people (I love to talk, and some say I can talk for England).
My passion is my job my saying live life in the moment.
“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” Rumi
Sally Rudy is a US-based photographer primarily working with real life & creative portraiture of the female (and anyone socialized or identifying as female) form. She loves combining light, creative techniques and her vision is to create artistic imagery of bodies that feel true and affirming to the individuals’ selves. Her dream is to honor bodies of all shapes & sizes in an effort to expand the societal narrative of beauty and provide representation in imagery to a wider range of individuals socialized as women than what current mainstream media offers.
Lensbaby allows me to awaken my senses and cultivate mindfulness. The velvet lenses in particular, simplify exactly what I want to convey to the viewer in such a beautiful manner that renders my macro images as a piece of fine art.
Sarah lives in Rochester, Minnesota with her husband, son and a few furry kids. She is a natural light photographer who uses dark and light contrasts to create depth. Sarah is drawn to environmental portraiture, lifestyle photography, fine art, nature and loves layering color and tones to create soft transitions in her imagery.
"Lensbabymeans to me the ability to create original, one-of-a-kind art every single time I take aphotograph."
Sarah Menard is a true crime addict, Air Force veteran, and lover of all things caffeinated. She currentlylives in Maryland and is the proud owner of a Lensbaby Sol 45, Edge 50, Trio 28, Sweet 80, and the Omnisystem.
Lensbaby enables me to evoke emotions in my captures in an artistic way and opened up awhole new world for me.
Savita is a self taught hobbyist photographer who lives in the Bay area in California with herhusband and her now main muse, her daughter. Her work is filled with emotive, authentic,colorful and joyful moments. She loves chasing light and shadows.
"Lensbaby special effects lenses give photographers the magical power to transcend reality in their artwork."
Sharon Covert resides in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, along the Jersey Shore. Over the years, she has developed a strong focus on conceptual self-portraiture. Sharon teaches multiple classes, including a 4-week Expressive Self Portraiture class. She believes self-portraiture helps artists process their emotions and life experiences through art and creativity while giving them a healing outlet through self-expression. Sharon's work has been published in The Sun, Click Magazine, SHOTS, and F-Stop Magazine, among others. She has been in numerous juried art shows and exhibitions worldwide. She is proud to be both a Lensbaby Ambassador and Click Pro Ambassador.
Seattle-based artist Shelly Corbett is very serious about play. Her enchanting photography creates a sense of joy and wonder by revealing the unexpected. The toys take center stage, whether they’re flying pigs, bicycling stormtroopers or canoeing princesses. Her imaginative compositions turn the tiny into the mighty. You’ll find magic, hope, friendship, and epic journeys with her magical imagery.
Originally a photographer of the human form, Shelly became enamored of not-quite-human, yellow-in-color, 1 1/2"-tall plastic figures. Figures that had stories to tell, demons to slay, joys to seize. Shelly's toy companions and their worlds embody the archetypal paths we mere mortals can only hope to traverse.
Her signature blurred landscapes are captured using the Lensbaby Composer Pro II. The images often evoke a certain privacy and intimacy, as if her toy subjects are inviting you into their secret worlds. The magical effect is further enhanced in her one-of-a-kind encaustic pieces. She creates layered images and adds wax and pigments that create depth and luminosity.
Shelly doesn’t just create art for you to enjoy. She shares her photography techniques,
storytelling skills and more in her periodic workshops, as well as lends support and expertise on the Toy Photographers blog. You can find Shelly at art festivals around the Pacific Northwest.
Simone is a photographer and MakeUp Artist from Germany. She specializes in portrait, fashion, beauty and experimental photography. 15 years ago she became a photographer, using experimental tools and prisms from the beginning. Her main focus is to create pictures of how she sees the world and people around her, in her own way. She discovered Lensbaby 13 years ago, what finally gave her the chance to create these kind of pictures and uses Lensbaby lenses, optics and the OMNI System for every shooting.
"Lensbaby allows me to manipulate images unlike anything you could naturally see."
Skylar Watkins is a cinematographer and photographer currently working in Philadelphia, PA. Although she’s made a name for herself as The Sad Punk, Skylar has worked with a wide range of musicians across genres from rock to rap to pop and everything in between. Her other photographic work focuses on fashion and portraiture both on location and in studio.
"With Lensbaby everything I imagine becomes real, everything has meaning."
Sofia Sitnikiene is an award-winning fine art photographer based in the United Kingdom. She is also a Lensbaby Ambassador, a Click Pro Elite, a Hello Artist and a mentor. Sofia graduated from the University of the Arts London with a Master of Arts (MA) Graphic DesignCommunication and is an experienced macro, portrait, and street photographer. Combining all of her training and background in fine art and graphic design has helped her develop into the photographer she is today. Being constantly inspired by emotion, light, details, and nature, as well as by dreams, music, poetry and time, moves Sofia to strive to capture an honest reflection of how she views the world. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally.
My name is Stephanie DeFranco and I was born and raised in Roswell, NM. I’m currently living in New Mexico with my two cats, Jasmine and Ella, but traveling is my passion. I love working with high school seniors, & just humans in general and I would describe my photographic style as whimsical, authentic and colorful! I always try to make sure the subject will pop out of the photo with a burst of color or unposed movement. I love capturing the moments between the poses when subjects are just being themselves.
I’ve been shooting with Lensbaby products since 2011 and since then, my collection has grown to include almost all of the products they’ve produced. I try to implement them into as many sessions as possible and when story boarding personal projects, I try to plan my sessions around a particular effect. My favorite effects are the Edge Series, the Omni Filter, and the Sol 45. I love how I have the ability to switch focal lengths with the Edge 35/50/80 and use the slice of focus to highlight the subject and bring it out from the background. The Sol 45 is the other lens to always be in my bag. With it being as small as it is, I love that I can have it with me all the time and have the spot focus effect at any point of my session. With that being said, every lens has a special place for what I use them for. I love all the products from Lensbaby and always have people asking for specific effects for their sessions.
Credits include:
• Best of Category and Finalist for the Click Magazine Voice Collection
• Rangeinder Magazine "Take Your Best Shot"
• Summerana Magazine
• Click Magazine Senior Photographers to Follow
• Hot 100 Senior Photographer
• Photobiz Featured Photographer
"To me, Lensbaby means experimentation, freedom, rulebreaking, and growing."
Stephanie Schweitzer is a hobbyist photographer, wife of 10 years, mother of 3 young kiddos, Catholic, board game collector, FertilityCare specialist, watcher of nerdy shows and movies, and food enthusiast. She shoots with her Nikon D750 and several lenses, including the Lensbaby Edge35 (with Composer Pro II) and Sol 45, Nikkor 85mm1.4, and Sigma 24mmART 1.4. Her photography ranges from documentary to portrait (just depends on what her kids are up to that day), and she enjoys color theory, artful blur, diptychs, and self-portraiture.
Susan Currie is a Palm Beach-based poet with a camera. She is the author of three books - Once Divided, Gracenotes, and Breathtaking, and the creator of CHARMCODES. The workshops she offers throughout the country share her signature approaches for practicing mindfulness in order to connect more authentically with our creative voice.
I’m Theresa Sujata Senti (aka Sujata Photography), a photographer from the tiny Principality of Liechtenstein. My work is focused on creative people photography, especially portrait, beauty, and fine art. I enjoy being outdoors and working with available light. I love to incorporate the wonderful landscape, the colours of nature and the changing seasons into my pictures. Also, I adore working with humans and animals.
Lensbaby allows me to add something on top of my pictures. A certain flair, that I wouldn’t get otherwise. Especially the Velvet glow is perfect for my fine art projects which is why it is one of the lenses I ALWAYS have with me.
"The Velvet 56 allows me to capture the beauty of nature in a way that is truly extraordinary-the way itrenders blur and bokeh transforms the mundane into something magical."
Tiffany Kelly is a professional photographer born in Atlanta GA and now living in Suwanee GA with her husband and two young daughters. She became seriously interested in photography when she became a mom in early 2011, striving to capture every little detail of her first daughter. She then opened her photography business in 2013. In addition to photographing families and children, her specialty is fine art macro photography. She is inspired by the tiny and beautiful details in nature and finds macro photography meditative. Tiffany is self-taught and now is a photography teacher herself. She strives to be an engaging photography mentor and instructor and teaches macro photography classes online at Click Photo School and in person. Her work has been featured in Click Magazine and Dear Photographer magazine.
Ute Reckhorn, a Los Angeles-based photographer, started her photography journey in 2012. After picking up her first Lensbaby lens in 2015, she immediately fell in love with its playfulness and the ever-growing community of Lensbaby artists.
Originally documenting her own family of five, Ute blended her photographic skills with inspiration that comes from 20 years of moving around the globe. With roots all around the world and a deep love for the Californian lifestyle as her inspiration, she creates portraits and landscapes that evoke emotion and a sense of movement.
She believes that there is no point in making pictures that you can see with the naked eye when you can bend your vision to your liking.
When she’s not taking pictures, she teaches photography and offers photo walks in the South Bay Area of LA.
