Abi Coop
Melissa Richard
Kristen Ryan
Hello Storyteller is excited to continue with our next installment of the Traveling Lensbaby Project! We have several Lensbabies circulating around the globe, and our Hello Creatives are excited to share their unique art with our community. Our next submission is from the incredible Christie Cunningham with the Lensbaby Sol 45!
“I was so excited to be a part of this project with Hello Storyteller! I have always had a interest in fellow photographers who use lensbaby in their work. So when I had a chance to try out the Sol 45, I jumped at the opportunity.
When I first received it, I kept it on my camera. I had heard that the focus was tricky to get the hang of, as it is manual focus. I wanted to only shoot with this lens. That way I could really get a feel for it and master it in the amount of time I had it. With the Sol 45, it is a manual focus lens that allows you to change your focus point while adding blur around your focus. Since I heard focusing was tricky, I took what I knew from freelensing and used the live view mode on my Nikon d750 to get a better feel for the manual mechanism. I got used to it fairly quickly and found myself using the viewfinder almost immediately, even with moving children.
The Sol 45 worked great for both indoor and outdoor photography. You can make the blur very noticeable, or just slightly there. I prefer to have the blur add to the image rather than be the focus of the image. The effect made my images feel like it was a flashback or memory. I did use it for self portraits as well which was fun. It added an extra dreamy like effect to the image.
However, I noticed I didn’t care for it as much with my documentary style images. I have a lot going on inside my house, and while the blur is a nice effect, I felt that it made the image feel even busier. If I had a single subject in a simpler part of my house, I could get away from it, but it wouldn’t be a lens I keep on 24/7. Just, maybe, for when I am feeling in a creative rut or want to specifically create something with it.
Overall, I loved working with the lens so much that I bought one for myself! Here are some of my favorites from my time with the Sol 45.”
Stay tuned for more Lensbaby adventures with the Sol 45, Burnside 35, Velvet 56 and Omni System as we travel with these amazing lenses!
Thank you for sharing! This is my first time to hear about the traveling Lensbaby. I just got the Sol 45 for my birthday so I appreciate hearing about what you learned by keeping it on your camera. This will help me as get out there and start using mine.
Your pictures are beautiful! Christmas time with all of the lights is a fun time to experiment with it.