Personal Pictures

Pictures I took myself.

Way too hot today

Analog, beauty, erotic, Personal Pictures, portrait

a small preview of the shoot I did with Erika Albonetti in Brussels.

model and make up: Erika Albonetti

assistance: Nathalie Renard

photography: Ludwig Desmet

 

• way too hot today •

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Erika is a wonderful model to work with, you’ll see more of her appear here in the weeks to come. Photographed with Rolleiflex 3,5 on Kodak T-Max100 film.

location: Kunstberg/Mont des Arts  –  Brussels.

Laura in my backyard

Analog, beauty, Personal Pictures, portrait

shot at home, in my garden

• Laura on film •

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Rolleiflex 3,5 on Ilford HP5 Plus

I love the quality of film, I love how the unsharp areas get their own feel, but I should have avoided the wire in the background in image 2 and 3, … it gives a disturbing pattern in my opinion.

Hair: Nathalie

make up: Hanna E.B.

Model: Laura – assisted by Falco in the first image 😉  she was somehow tense during the shoot, but she did great. Thank you Laura!

thank you for watching,

ludwig

Now was it the twenties, or thirties ?

Analog, beauty, Personal Pictures

the first of July I had two models coming over. A new experience to me, having to concentrate on several things at a time, and not much time to come up with ideas during wardrobe changes or pauses, there’s always another model waiting. We worked in a former furniture store. There have been final sales for a couple of months, so most places are rather empty. There are however a lot of different rooms and spaces, and a lot of different lighting situations, that’s what I like about a location like this. I had my lovely assistant doing hair and wardrobe assistance with the models, and she also keeps an eye on little details during the shoot.

I shot both Pauline and Laura apart as well as together. more to come. Pauline is a long time favourite, and she brought a lot of her friends to me in these last couple of years. Laura is one of them, you’ll meet her in my next post.

• Pauline •

 

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shot with Rolleiflex 3.5 TLR on Kodak T-Max 400 film.

this film is a little grainier than the Kodak T-Max 100, but for interior work you have to get a faster film than the 100 I mostly use. All images available light only.

Thank you Pauline, for being my model

Hair: Nathalie

Make up: Hanna E.B.

Ava, lazy afternoon on the terrace – NSFW

beauty, erotic, Nude, Personal Pictures

A second series with Ava at the Castle.

 

The weather is fine, not much to do but being beautiful

and spend the afternoon on the quiet back-terrace of the castle.

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All except the last images on Canon 5Ds and Canon 100mm f2.5 Macro L IS.

Last image Sigma 50mm f1.4 A DG.

 

thank you for watching – I’m on instagram too now, but there you won’t find any nude images: instagram.com/ludwigdesmet

cheers,

Ludwig

Helmut Newton – Retrospective

erotic, exhibition, Nude, portrait

FOAM in Amsterdam had a retrospective exhibit on Helmut Newton, fashion, art, fetish and erotic photographer from the last century. I wanted to visit it, and it ran till september 4th, so yesterday we went for a visit, unfortunately for you, my readers, its over.

I had an autobiography on Helmut Newton since a couple of years now I guess, and I quit reading it for I got a little annoyed, even irritated by the rather arrogant, selfish, non woman-friendly narratives in this book. (Helmut Newton Autoportrait, by Robert Laffont).

Anyway, I still love his work, his way of depicting strong, beautiful women, and his way of combining fashion photography with daring eroticism, both implied and explicit.

The exhibit had a fine collection of prints, starting with his 60’s fashion work (that made me think a lot about a long time favourite of mine: Jean-Loup Sieff), over the more erotically oriented images in his long collaboration with Vogue, his personal work with protheses and nude women, his impressive ‘big nudes’ and finally his extensive list of portraits of famous people.

Especially interesting I found the film montage, made by his wife June, which gave a very intimate insight in the life and working atmosphere in which Newton, his wife and his entourage moved along. Not the spoiled kid he talks about in his biography, but a rather playful, humorist, (hard) working, focused photographer. It surprised me that some people started sniggering when he was instructing his models into a certain pose, and that made me think about how little is known about this kind of photography, this kind of dialogue between photographer and model, to people who are not part of this world. We discussed about it (Nathalie and me) and she decided she should film me when I’m working with my models. – GOOD IDEA! –

I was rather pleased to see so many people visit this exhibition (Sunday being the last day might have been a factor) and especially to see so many women around. This makes me think the perception of Helmut Newton being an ‘objectifier’ of women is not a general one.

His work is inspirational to me, it has long been underestimated from the photographic art scene, and it probably still is, it was daring in its time, and it still is daring to tackle the nude subject in our times, so not much has changed. There’s a lot of work to do, and its a tough job, but someone has got to do it, so let’s get going. 🙂

some impressions, © of the depicted images is Helmut Newton of course.

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Thank you for reading,

ludwig

 

Strolling trough Paris with the Rolleiflex – Part I

Analog, Personal Pictures, street

we love Paris,

this means, Nathalie and I often go to Paris, and the more we go, the less we prepare our visit. We started using the ‘Vélo’lib’ bycicle’s (the city’s own public bycicle’s), an ideal means of transportation if you are not too scared to move along the traffic. (which can be ‘busy’ at moments)

this allows us to travel criss-cross, without limitations of public transports, and with the advantage of staying above surface (unless metro, which also has good service in Paris, but tucks you away underground).

I decided not to take a digital camera with me, and only look for opportunities with the twin lens Rolleiflex I have. It makes you less visible as a photographer, because you have a completely different body attitude (bent over looking from top into your camera) so people don’t notice you as much as they would when photographing with a reflex camera.

a first series of images I thought worth looking at:

 

 – (try to) follow the bride –

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 – Georgio Moroder is coming to town, but the letter spacing needs some fine tuning –

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 – Fondation Louis Vuitton –

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 – a book worth reading –LudwigDesmet_street-

 

Rolleiflex 3.5 TLR with Ilford Delta 100 Pro film.

thank you for watching, see you soon for some more images

 

ludwig

Ava playing Solitaire

beauty, erotic, Personal Pictures

It’s hot outside, very hot, so let’s remain in the freshness of the castle library. No-one bothering us, some time to spend with … solitaire.

 

 

Ava playing solitaire

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Model: Ava

Hair: Nathalie

shot on location in Tournai (B) thanks to the owners of the house and a big thank you to Ava for her confidence and charm.

© ludwig desmet – 2016

Selfie – old style –

Analog, people, Personal Pictures, portrait

with the Rolleiflex

don’t ask for exposure info, cause I have none. aperture probably 1/3.5, film Kodak T-Max 100, shutter time will have been fairly slow. (1/15th or 1/30th of a second)

Focusing is getting better, I no longer use the split prism for focusing, but the fresnel concentric lines. When something comes in focus, the fresnel lines start ‘dancing’ 🙂 .

 

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thank you for watching.

ludwig

Ava playing Solitaire

beauty, Personal Pictures

Ava playing solitaire at the chateau.

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Hair and assistance: Nathalie
Model and make up: Ava
Photography: Ludwig Desmet

Canon 5Ds with Canon 24mm f1.4 L II – 1/8s  f3.5  ISO100

available as limited edition print, for info: ludwig@ludwigdesmet.com

Yashica 635 …

beauty, Personal Pictures, portrait

… and a very nice photographer.

 

Jane again, she got to grips with my old Yashica 635.

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Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A – 1/20s  f4.0  ISO 320

 

thank you for watching, …

just a small reminder that a small selection of my work is to be seen till the end of August in ‘Het Godshuis’, Leemweg 11, 9980 Sint-Laureins, Belgium.

ludwig

 

for fine art prints or shoot bookings: ludwig@ludwigdesmet.com

Jane at Baudries castle

beauty, erotic, location, Nude

from the shoot – and exhibit at Baudries Castle – Dikkelvenne

 

 – Jane –

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Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG A  –  1/50s f2.5 ISO 160

Model: Jane, Hair: Nathalie, Make up: Heidi.

Although the place was one big transformation site, we managed to do some really nice things up there. Enjoying a wonderful bright day and using some of the original interior elements as a decor, both Jenn and Jane proved great models. Thank you Jane, thank you Jenn. A lot more images of this day will follow in the coming weeks.

A big thank you to the owners of the castle, for letting me work there, and for their hospitality, both for the shoot and the exhibit. The exhibit is over, some of the images can be seen at ‘Het Godshuis’ – Sint Laureins, till the end of August.