What do you do with an old mirror cabinet that is on sale on a secondhand website and actually taking too much place in your studio? Use it of course. Lucky me, I also had a model that I like to work with and an afternoon off. I would like to introduce you:
remember these: … A little bit of fashion ? Those were all taken a couple of years ago in Brussels, when I met Erika Albonetti for a morning session. They were shot on film with the Rolleiflex twin lens reflex I have been cherishing for a couple of years now.
Time for a new ‘working collectible’, (although you’ve seen some results before with this camera here). The Fujica GW690ii, with a fixed 90mm f3.5 lens. Nicknamed the Texas Leica, it handles more or less like a Leica, but then one for big hands 😉
See the comparison with my Fuji X100f here, a big chuck of camera:
It is a viewfinder camera, but then in the medium format class, the negatives are with their size of 6×9 cm also huge in comparison with the X100f sensor size. (14.66 times bigger area)
This large format gives a narrower depth of film, so even with relatively closed apertures you still get narrow sharpness and softer backgrounds.
Like a lot of analog camera’s of older age, the Fujica has the shutter built into the lens, not in the camera. The shutter is a leaf shutter, a bit similar like an aperture, so opening from the center of the lens. The shutter speed is to be set on the lens as well as the aperture. focusing is manual and the viewfinder proves to be a lot more accurate than the matte screen on the Rolleiflex.
The camera itself is very simple in operation, there’s only a switch to be set to the right type of film 120 or 220, two shutter release buttons (one on top, one on the front side) and a film advancing lever (which you need to crank one and a half turn for a complete transport). There’s no built in light meter and no electronics at all, despite its rather modern looks and recent built year(1985), that’s rare. It has a built in frame counter (counts one unit per 10 frames) on the bottom of the camera. If the counter says 10 it has shot 100 frames. It also came in 6×7 (GW670) and 6×8 (GW680) film formats. These camera’s are well known for their robustness, with a fixed lens and so little things that can break, that seems logical. It weighs 1440 grams. It is frequently sold on Ebay, for prices ranging from €400 – €700.
As said before, focussing is a lot easier on this camera than on the Rolleiflex or for what its worth with the Voightlander Bessa I also have and which has the same film size but only a metering scale on the lens. With the Fujica I get every frame to be sharp (if I pay attention)!
Altough I still like the square format more, I’m ok with this 2×3 aspect ratio which we all know from current digital reflex camera’s. The number of shots per roll gets more limited though (8 in stead of 12) and thus you even need to be more attentive for each shot.
The images were made in Brussels, with Sofi ka, an Ukrainian model traveling Europe on a regular basis. We had a walk in Brussels in the morning, enjoying beautiful light in the city.
I shot this film in colour (Kodak Portra 160) and then another film in Black and white (see below). One film, alle shots: Sofi Ka in Brussels.
All negatives are ‘DSLR-scanned’ and converted to positives with Negative Lab Pro in Lightroom.
I also shot another film, which apparently was a gift from someone, and after further investigation by Ilford, the film turned out to be from 1992 … it came out all mottled and speckled, including the backpaper frame numbers in the negatives 🙁 bummer, although some people seem to appreciate the artistic qualities of it. …
Mjeah, maybe with a little bit of sepia colouring and some vignetting 😀 let me know what you thing
As you might have seen I hosted two private ‘available light art-nude’ workshops in July. I had rented a flat in the historical centre of Ghent for a couple of days and I had two different models coming in. My second day participant wanted to find out how he could enhance his story telling abilities trough images. I had Violaine as a model (currently also on the front page of my website) and one of the sets we did was the ‘lazy Sunday morning’ set, in which I had Violaine improvise and pose without instructions, I had done this before with models I worked with multiple times, and I knew these images prove to be very genuine and ‘real’ looking. The idea behind it is that when you simply observe your model during her daily routines, you’ll get your story without having to invent one. I was not sure how Violaine would (re)act, but she wonderfully expressed her ‘lazy morning feeling’ over the course of about half an hour, without me or the participants’ need for intervention in the form of posing instructions or imposing our ideas. I had my participant move freely about the bed, and took the opportunity to grab a series of images from different angles at the same time. I think it was a very good experience for both participant and model, and I think the images are great.
The images below are of course a selection of the shots made during this set, and selected to convey the idea we were after, but they all came naturally thanks to Violaine’s non posing qualities.
Please scroll down to the end for this weeks ‘specialty’ 😉
Attention please!
Now for the specialty of this week, from next month on, I’ll offer one free photo session every month* to you, my audience.
• The nature of the session (portrait, fashion, glamour, nude …) will be your choice entirely.
• These sessions will be either studio or outdoor sessions, digital or film, to my choice.
• The first session will be scheduled on Wednesday afternoon September 1st, and then every month after that on the first Wednesday of the month. Count for two hours, always in the afternoon as I eventually want to be able to shoot with available light.
• If you want to participate in a free session, send me an email at ludwig-at-ludwigdesmet-dot-com right away. First come first serve. Your subject line should read ‘free photo session’.
• Don’t be shy, you don’t have to be a model, you can bring a buddy if you’d like, and I’ll make sure you get some wonderful souvenirs, for free!
• Open for women and men, but only for adults.
*The session will result in a uncertain number of images, digitally delivered in a watermarked version, available for purchase if you’d like that.
For the first time I had color film with me for the Rolleiflex. One of the first times I shot Kodak Portra 160 too. I had limited myself to black and white because this is easily self-developed at home but not this time. (although I took a bunch of BW film with me too 😉 You have seen those images here)
Disclaimer, these images have been shot in 2019, you’ll notice why.
I think color has an added value in a lot of these images, and as a photographer it is also fun looking for images that benefit from color. I think I look differently when having the mind set to ‘color film’ than to ‘black and white film’. In this aspect I found this an interesting exercise.
The images were lab developed, scanned using my ‘DSLR setup’ (see movie link above) and imported into Adobe Lightroom using the Negative Lab Pro plugin. This software alone is worth an in depth study. I think the images get a sort of vintage feel due to the colors of this particular film. Enjoy!
Somewhere mid-July I had booked Agata Suduiko for half a day in Paris. I was there with Nathalie for a weekend and I always enjoy working with a model in a new environment. Paris is not really new to me but I never worked with a model there. I had not really prepared anything except that I had scouted several possible locations the day before, and we used none of them the day of the shoot 😉
I had never met Agata but we had some communication on social media. She knew I wanted to shoot in public places, fashion style, and she brought some clothing that fitted my plans well. As I did with Erika Albonetti in Brussels (click here and here to see more of that session), I worked solely on film for this session. I used the recently acquired Fujica GW690ii. I love working in a new environment because that tickles the inspiration and of course, Paris has a lot to offer in ways of decorative elements to work with. Enjoy this series of images! (bonus on the bottom of the page)
As Nathalie joined me for this session, I had a camera-woman available and I did a behind the scene’s video of the shoot. You can view it here on my Youtube channel. (including Dutch subtitles)
thanks for watching, please consider subscribing to my blog (use the grey + triangle on the bottom of the homepage of my site for this) or to my youtube channel if you prefer video instead of stills.
Door een foutje in het abonnementen-systeem van mijn website is het mogelijk dat je al een tijdje geen bericht meer ontvangt als ik een nieuw bericht publiceer. Hierdoor heb je mogelijks een aantal berichten gemist. Dit zou nu terug in orde moeten zijn. 🙂 Excuus hiervoor. Blader zeker nog eens terug in mijn blog zodat je alle berichten nog eens kan nalezen.
Due to a quirk in the subscribers-system it is possible you haven’t received notifications for a certain number of posts, I’m sure you still wanted to read them, sorry for that but the problem should now be resolved. Make sure to check out my blog for catching up with the latest publications.
I have finally decided to create a studio space in an old factory building that is situated in my own garden. The building is not really in good shape, but it is more or less weather-proof and this should be enough to keep me running for the next couple of years.
What I did: Within the volume of the first floor (approximately 8 x 12 meters) I created a smaller volume, approx 4.5 x 8 meters that I have completely ‘re-finished’. I got rid of the roller shutters in the windows, I re-plastered the brick walls with natural clay, I put up a new wall in timber structure and re-painted the whole thing. I just finished a large double barn door this week. This ensures the poly-valence of the space. In case I need to bring in large items, that’s perfectly possible.
I wanted to keep the space as simple as possible, and I divided the long side in two halves, a dark side and a bright side. The dark side is handy if you want to have full control over your light, with virtually no light spill off the walls/ceiling. The bright half is interesting whenever you are looking for fill light on your subject.
There’s still a lot to be done, but last week I could do a first shoot in this new space, and I’m very glad my client Sofie has approved to use some of the images in this blog post. The session took about 3 hours and I’m sure you’ll be as impressed with these results as I was. Sofie never posed before, she’s a natural! Thank you Sofie for your enthusiasm and your confidence!
Some of the images were taken with studio light (studio flash) and others were taken with available light only. All were taken with the help of ambient music 🙂
First a series with a single flash head, standard reflector with 20° grid aimed at a white wall. The grid limits the width of the light beam and creates a nice falloff on the wall. It creates a rather hard shadow. The flash light overrules any available light there might be in the space.
I found them to be very fashionable.
We continued with the same setup, single flash but I’m using another wall as background.
Below the white wall reacts as a perfect reflector for the models face. The shadow gets harder the closer the model comes to the wall.
As I have a dark side and a white side, I have one sharp black/white edge. I used a styrofoam board as a second white surface behind the model. Single flash with 100 cm octa softbox.
From the garden shed I recovered this old work bench, cleaned it up and it will now serve a second life as studio prop. Full of character, a ton of possibilities and well contrasting with the female curves. Two flash heads left and right, small square softbox 66 cm each. By removing the subject from the back wall I can keep the background perfectly black.
Another setting at the dark side, a single softbox slightly higher than the model, model laying down on a black trunk. Using the light as a feather light over the body. Styrofoam panels on the opposite site give just a hint of volume in the shadow areas.
And then at last, over to the bright side again, using available light only, and with the help of the white wall for fill light I get a beautiful overall light.
And last but not least, did we have fun? Yes, of course, we had a lot of fun.
Sofie wrote me in a message afterwards ‘Ludwig, thank you for making this such a wonderful experience … ‘ . Well, I guess that’s what this is all about. Making women feel great about their body, giving them the space they need to build self-confidence and then, as a privileged witness capture this beautiful moment in images.
Thank you for reading this blog post, If you are a photographer and interested in building your own space, I hope you’ve learnt something. If you are thinking about booking a shoot session yourself but you are not really sure what to expect, here you have it. In an afternoon’s time, you can have yourself depicted in beautiful, sensual, intimate images and never forget that moment!
As I do conduct the workshop myself, I do not have very much time to make images myself, it is my absolute desire to help the participant as much as possible.
Nevertheless, I managed to make some good shots in between tuition, and here they are, in the hidden gems 2019 category, images from the portrait workshop.
Remember, all images taken with available light only, on the day of the workshop.
On the bottom of the page I’ll re-link the youtube video I made from this interesting day, go check it out!
As a registered 18+ Youtube user you can see the video on my Youtube channel, but for your convenience I’ll put it here trough Vimeo:
It was a fun day, I didn’t really adapt my shooting to the cameraman, but still, there was some influence at least. I’m quite pleased with the results of this day, look for yourself, you’ll probably recognise some of the scenes from the video. The film shots are black framed.
Shot on film: (Rolleiflex Tlr 3.5 Planar on Ilford Film)
and then one more, as a tribute to the cameraman Franswa. You can see me make this shot at 4.52 in the film!!
thanks for looking, If you want to make sure to see everything I publish, you might consider subscribing to my blog. You can do this on the bottom of the welcome page, click the + sign.
is over, and I would like to thank everyone that has taken the time to visit my place and enjoy the show. I have received very good feedback and appraisal and even sold some works.
A couple of reactions from the guest book:
“Beautiful landscapes, that tend to meditation. Beautiful bouquets, turning decay into art, is an art in itself, that you master very well”
“You touched my soul”
“Congratulations, your recognizable style and impeccable finish, and yet innovative. Love the new landscapes”
English followers, this is for my local audience, so in Dutch only.
De workshops zijn al een tijdje aangekondigd, maar ik was vergeten ze hier eveneens te vermelden, … tsss shame on me.
Deze workshops zijn NIET voor beginners bedoeld, maar voor mensen die al een tijdje met Lightroom aan de slag zijn, en niet meer helemaal zeker zijn of ze bepaalde functies helemaal goed gebruiken, OF zich even willen bijscholen in de nieuwste gereedschappen uit de Lightroom CC software. Met de eigen laptop kan je stap voor stap meevolgen wat ik doe. We overlopen alle gereedschappen, met nadruk op de nieuw bijgekomen functies.
Eéntje gaat over kleur-ontwikkeling, de andere specifiek toegespitst op ontwikkelen in zwart-wit.
Zaterdag 06.07.2019
09.00 – 12:30 uur
Prijs: 79,- Euro (BTW vrijstellingsregeling)
Deelnemers: Min 6. Max 8. (Bijna Volzet!)
Plaats: Studio Ludwig Desmet / Ronse.
a long time ago I made some studio setup diagrams for this blog, … time to make a new one. First the image, it dates from a while ago, last fall I invited two friends to do some studio work. I rarely use my studio equipment for light, but in winter times it can be handy to have an alternative to available light sometimes.
the image:
I wanted Steven to get some sort of gangster look, cool looking, hood, sunglasses …
I wanted a soft light and deep shadows under the hood, so I went for some sort of symmetrical light setup, using two studio flashes with 60x60cm softboxes, and two large reflector panels to even enlarge the light source.
The setup:
it was only a matter of finding the good ‘depth’ position of the model, to create just enough light on the face, and keep the light only on the front.
looking for a Christmas present?Black friday promo:
-25% on all orders till 24/11*
you can find more info about my books here: https://www.ludwigdesmet.com/books/
Send me a message for your orders on ludwig(at)ludwigdesmet(dot)com.
Women edition 2018 now 59,99€ was 79,99€
Landscapes and other things… now 93,75€ was 124,99€
Nude (in)cognito now 59,99€ was 79,99€
If you are an entrepreneur, you can get an invoice for your order of course.
no I haven’t been to Paris recently, so these images are, well, from a while ago (late 2017), I have published a single image from this trip already, but here is a more complete set. All taken with the Rolleiflex 3.5 TLR, in dark and difficult light this time (interior, winter, …)
What is it that convinces me to shoot film from time to time? I talked about this before, but here’s one other reason, I started thinking about it listening to an vlog about Photokina, and how this is all about gear and how the big brands have missed the revolution on the mirrorless camera’s and now need extra marketing efforts (and lies) to get to pace with the competition etcetera, etcetera. … (Michael Zelbel from goodlightmag)
when shooting analog it makes me feel that I am not running into this treadmill of commercial marketing ‘have to sell’ rush that the mainstream photography world has become since it became a mass-product. Look at the average photography magazine on the book store shelf. Half of the pages will be about new gear that has reached the market, how the latest gear has reached new levels of ‘better’ since the last best camera. How it will improve your photography, become an extension of your eye, and even bring you the ultimate shooting experience. blah blah blah, I have been in marketing for a while myself … The other half will be divided in ‘how to’s’ on the use of the latest software updates to make that perfect camera shot even better, or how to use the latest lighting gear to enhance your vision and creativity. Duh. … If you are lucky, there is a small section in the magazine that will cover large exhibitions, and maybe some portfolio’s from photographers (a couple of pages from the 100+ total number of pages)
I am sure that the Rolleiflex came with its own sauce of marketing blahblah at the time it was launched, but that’s a long time ago and I’m not bothered with it. Even now, new film camera’s are still made, but have you ever seen an add for one? They don’t really push, they wait till you go looking for them and then you’ll find them.
I shoot this antique Rolleiflex camera, with black and white 120 film that exists for ages now, and no accessories. When I use it, I simply can not feel the need to rush to get my images on the web (FB, Insta, … ) because that is literally impossible, with the film needing to be developed. I don’t get stressed on having to recharge batteries, because it has no batteries. I do not have to decide which lens or focal length to use, because it comes with a fixed focal lens that is not removable. I even don’t have to decide to shoot horizontal or vertical, because the image format is square. I can allow myself to just observe my environment, look at what people do, try to capture moments, details, … that come to my attention. If I miss a shot because my gear isn’t up to date, well I missed it, maybe I will be lucky next time. …
long live simplicity (maybe I’m getting old 😉 )
The pictures, with a little word, so you can find out where I’ve been strolling.
107 cubic inches, this one has been published before on my blog. Waiting for service at the Harley-Davidson shop in Boulevard Beaumarchais.
the queue for the Irving Penn exhibit that ran in the Grand Palais in Paris
part of the exhibit on Irving Penn
preparing for a kite flight on the Esplanade des Invalides
taking a break from cooking – the chef at Café de Mars – Rue du gros Caillou
plagiarism at Fondation Louis Vuitton
smooth curves architecture by Frank Ghery (Fondation Louis Vuitton)
people enjoying the audio-installation at Fondation Louis Vuitton
Me taking a self portrait at Fondation Louis Vuitton
time to prune the plants maybe? – artisan fleuriste at Rue Vieille-du-Temple
cheers, hope you come back here soon.
If you want to see more images taking with the Rolleiflex in Paris, look here
If you want to re-read a previous article about shooting on film, this is the place: shooting film
Nu Zondag 2 September ben je welkom voor geleid bezoek aan de tentoonstelling in het Godshuis. Met achter de schermen verhalen, uitleg bij de foto’s, en een antwoord op AL uw vragen 😀
Zondag 2 September, 14:00u 15:00u en 16u stipt, aan de receptie van het Hotel, Leemweg 11, 9980 Sint Laureins.
