This summer, seven friends and Lensbaby enthusiasts led by Ana Rosenberg, embarked on a project called 100 Days of Summer With Lensbaby. The idea is to document their summer fun with family and friends by posting a photograph shot with a Lensbaby every day for 100 days. We reached out to the photographers involved to ask them a few questions about the project, their own photography careers, and more. We got some nice photos to go along with the interview as well. The photographers involved are Ana Rosenberg, Pauline Putt, Sonia Marfatia-Goode, Justyna E Butler, Nicola Stewart, Kelly Jacobi, and Laura Lee Twining.
How did this project come about?
Ana:I've always wanted to do a 100 days of summer project to capture summer fun. We love this time of the year, all of those relaxing days playing in the sun, water, dirt, and bubbles. What a better way to do it than with my Lensbaby. I decided to invite a couple friends to encourage them to shoot more with their lensbaby. All Lensbaby lovers are welcome to continue our summer project using the hashtags #LB100daysofsummer #100summerdays_Lensbaby
Justyna:In the years past, I have always wanted to document the Summer fleeting moments, the details that nobody notices, to notice the unnoticed beauty around us. Lensbaby is a perfect choice of lens for this amazing project to create a painterly, dreamy, and timeless frame. I have shared a couple of images on social media, and noticed that a few other artists from the Lensbaby Artistry FB group posted their first frame of "100 Days of Summer With Lensbaby" that Ana started with a few other lensbaby friends. I was thrilled to join the project!
Sonia:I met Ana Rosenberg through another Lensbaby Facebook group project. Her talent with Lensbaby lenses have always inspired me and before I knew it I bought my first lens, the Composer Pro with the Sweet 35 Optic. Fast forward a year and a half, and Ana decided to do 100 Days of Summer, only with a Lensbaby. She knew that I wanted to master these lenses, and the only way I could do that was to practice practice practice. So that's what this project is for.
How long have you been a photographer, what is your area of speciality or favorite subject matter to shoot, and where do you live?
Nicola:I had always been interested in photography and wondered if I could ever take the plunge and do it myself. My husband bought me my first DSLR for my birthday in 2012, but as I was planning our wedding and the birth of my second son I didn't pick it up with any purpose until late 2013. I'm completely self-taught and after quickly catching the photography bug I became obsessed. I’m not really sure what my strongest area of speciality would be, although what I love to shoot is the everyday joy, fun & emotion. Living in Scotland with the beautiful countryside and unpredictable weather gives me plenty of different photographic challenges.
Ana:I'm currently living in New Jersey. I loved photography since I was young. I've used a point and shoot to capture images of my family... My love for photography started when I had my daughter 9 years ago. That's when I decided to buy my first DSLR Camera! I felt I wanted to capture all of the moments of my daughter’s childhood! In 2014 I felt I was ready to venture deeper into my passion and explore new things. I felt like something was missing in my work until I discovered Lensbaby. My favorite subject to photograph is children. Their emotions, movements, and reactions are so genuine.
Justyna:I am a natural light and lifestyle photographer based in Denver, Colorado, with a deep passion for painterly frames. My art continues to be a journey where I open and close doors! Allowing myself the freedom to “notice the unnoticed”, "see" in a new way. Soulful and painterly are both words that have been used to describe my images, and I absolutely love shooting fine art frames. I view every frame as a piece of art. I love blur, movement, and emotive imagery! My love for photography started when I was just a child, chasing my brother with my point and shoot. I am also a visual art teacher and I do believe I am the luckiest person on Earth to be able to have two best jobs ever!
Kelly:I was born and grew up in the mid-west but just recently moved to North Carolina. I’ve had a film camera in my hands since high school but it stayed in auto, and I didn’t know much about it except how to load the film. But it was truly just to document the days. When digital came around I switched to a point and shoot and continued to document the days. It wasn’t until about two years ago that I realized it could be so much more; that I could both document and create. I love to find beauty and art in our everyday.
What about this project interests (or excites) you most?
Sonia:What interests me about this project is the consistency of shooting only with Lensbaby, even if the results are never consistent. In the past, if I felt that I was getting in a rut, I'd pick up a Lensbaby and shoot for a day or so, and then it would be forgotten. I never understood how to get those cool rainbow flares, they were just happy accidents. But what excites me most about this project is the potential to know these lenses inside and out, and really understand how to use these effects to the best of my ability.
Pauline: Getting out of my comfort zone fuels me. Having a group of fun loving friends to do this project with thrills me. It gets better when I have other Lensbaby lovers to come together and pour inspirations in to one another – now that spells “FUN” and “PASSION” at its best because Lensbaby lenses are not your everyday “go-to” lenses to some. So, with this project, to showcase how each of us interprets with our Lensbaby lenses in our images in so many ways … is to me… a GREAT FUN – that excites me a lot!
Justyna:As I have mentioned before, allowing myself to notice the unnoticed is the most thrilling factor about this project. Our “Life and summer are fleeting,’ sang the bird. ‘Snow and dark, and the winter comes. Nothing remains the same.” ― Elyne Mitchell, Silver Brumby's Daughter. I believe we should share our passion, our vision of beauty around us.
Laura:My interest in participating is due to my long time passion for Lensbaby and the 100 day duration. This is my first experience with daily posts and I am having a blast reading other posts and enjoying the creativity involved and determining my next Lensbaby subject to shoot and share.
What is your favorite Lensbaby product to shoot with?
Pauline:Ahhhhhh…. Please don’t ask me to choose hahaha. Because each one is different. Just Sweet 35 alone is different from Sweet 50 and Edge 80…Circular Fisheye has its own beauty that I love. Velvent 56 is a whole different lens altogether… so does my previous Lensbaby systems with the Single/Double glass that I played around some days with the Creative Apertures. Given the right atmosphere Pinhole/Zone plate are excellent. This is a trick question! I guess whichever fuels your creativity the most; suits that particular moment and you knew the image produced will be pretty much what you had conceptualized the minute you press that shutter – that will be your favourite Lensbaby product.
Nicola:This is a very difficult question for me. My first Lensbaby was the Sweet 35 with Composer Pro which was a great introduction and I instantly fell in love. It was, and still is, my go to lens. I love its versatility and I have taken so many beautiful images with it... but I have recently received the Edge 80 and I'm finding the love!
Laura:When I fell for Lensbaby way back when they did not have any kits, aside from the Optic Kit. So, as each lens or optic was created and introduced, I was able to add to my own family of Lensbaby gear. I will admit I fell in love immediately with the Velvet 56 lens, based on the incredible images other photographers revealed on April 7 when it was released. So exciting and fun to enjoy the vast diversity of subjects shared via social media. I have had the Composer Pro and the newest "Sweet Optic," the Sweet 50 on my Nikon for quite a bit of recent shooting with 2.5 as my selected aperture.
Kelly:Currently I own the composer pro with the edge 80, sweet 50, sweet 35, and the macro converters. I don’t think I could pick a favorite if I had to. They are each unique in their own way and each bring a unique perspective to whatever you are shooting.
What is your favourite photo you've shot with a Lensbaby? Why?
Nicola:My favourite shot, so far would have to be the image of my husband carrying our son on his shoulders. We took a family adventure to a local country house and I captured them perfectly. I was lucky enough that the sun was shining which gave me a beautiful flare and the bokeh was amazing. It’s an image that I will treasure forever.
Ana:This is a tough one to answer, there are so many Lensbaby images I like and I fall in love with everyday. Right now I’m in love with an image of my son in our bedroom bay window, I converted the image to black and white so it gives the illusion that he is floating in space. I used the Composer Pro/Edge 80.
Kelly:I think my favorite came from this project. My day 9 was a shot at the splash pad. The boys were playing under the buckets of water and I grabbed a shot with the sweet 35 right as the water splashed over them. The water and movement together mixed with the sweet spot where the water hit and the smooth blur pulling at the splash. The effect totally encompassed the feeling of the day.
Make sure to explore these wonderful photographers work, links below: