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Amy Shutt's Travels with Lensbaby

Amy Shutt specializes in wildlife and nature photography with a focus not only on the fine art aspect, but on conservation through visual storytelling. Her work has been published in books and magazines and her work has been awarded by the Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice International competition and has been shown in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

She has lead photography classes at botanical gardens, nature institutes, natural science museums, and wildlife rehabilitation centers not only in Louisiana but also in Colorado, Texas, California, and Arizona. She currently offers photo tours in Africa, the Americas, and Canada, with Iceland upcoming.

Amy's goal with her photography is to educate and inspire fellow humans and to help conserve the wild animal species and spaces of the world.

Amy writes, "I love my Nikon D810 and wouldn’t trade it for the world. I also love my extremely sharp prime lenses. But, one thing I have noticed is that through this digital camera age, I struggle more than I ever did with film and manual lenses as far as creativity is concerned. I think about this a lot and try to pinpoint exactly what it is, and I think it lies in the fact that we are using such incredibly powerful gear and technologies these days that we just may have become hyper-obsessed with technical perfection. We also have programs now that help us to enhance images in a way that was impossible in a darkroom. And often, unfortunately, I notice that many of today’s technically sound photographs lack a soul."

"The first time I used a Lensbaby, I was in love. I immediately fell into some state of nostalgia. Something about the imperfect manual focusing, the manual aperture ring, the quality and feel of the bokeh, the bit of hazy grain, the way it felt in my hands just resonated with me. I was shooting more like I did in the days of film, taking more chances and breaking more rules. It felt like the the days when light, tones, hues, atmospheric aspects, and emotions weighed more heavily than how sharp an image was. Lensbaby gives a photograph the soul it needs to be truly successful."

"I think one of the main reasons I love using my Lensbabies while traveling is that they act as a catapult into an otherworldly creative space for me. In this day and age with social media, when it feels like you’ve seen every location shot in every way possible, Lensbaibes offer me the ability to exercise my creative eye and produce truly unique one of a kind images."

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