Nathalie M. at the Mansion

Still working hard at the mansion, doing natural beauty shoots whenever I find the time.

I never prepare these shoots I must tell, I prefer working into the magic of the moment, and taking instantaneous decisions based on the conditions of that day, based on the mood I am in, and the model I am working with. The results are varying of course, but always a true result of a spontaneous collaboration. The mansion is still being renovated, and some places are unusable, while others are near finished. I can’t but express my feelings of joy for being able to expose my work in the mansion soon. I will try to show the images in the same place they were taken, to make a direct link with the building and the atmosphere that reigns in every room.

enough talking, here are the images. Thank you Nathalie, for being my model that early morning, thank you to the owners of the place, for letting me in.

All images with Canon 5D mark II and Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 85mm f1.8 and Canon 135mm f2 L. Processing in Lightroom 5.

Thank you for watching, come again soon!

ludwig

Helga Rock’n Roll

beauty, people, Personal Pictures

Helga asked me if we could do a quick shoot together. She said it could be a little rock’n roll. She brought her electric guitar and I brought a single flash and a cactus trigger.

I am lucky enough to have some locations in my immediate neighborhood. Not that they are always available, but I have at least one available most of the time.

This time an old textile factory where some rooms are empty and ready to shoot in.

first two images with Canon 24 mm f1.4 II L and the others with Canon 85 mm f1.8.

Only the first two images are made with flashlight, rest is natural light only.

Black and white conversion with LR4, as well as some minor retouching.

thank you for looking.

The Mansion shoot – Prt I – the directors office –

beauty, Personal Pictures

A week ago I had the opportunity to shoot in beautiful mansion style house. The building is from the first half of the 20th century, and full of splendid decorative details that make for a perfect setting for beauty shoots. I had never shot there, only visited it once for a very short moment, so it was new to me.

I had Pauline for a model. We never met before. Actually her mother linked the two of us together to get a shoot organized. We discussed some things over FB about the style and the mood we would work in. I sent her two mood boards I made before: Natural beauty and clothed sexy. I’ll leave it up to you what genre the results best fit into.

Pauline has some previous experiences with modeling work. She has a well sculpted muscular body and beautiful blue eyes. We worked together for about three hours, finding our ways trough the house. It is not really big despite its appearance from the outside, and currently undergoing restoration. This made for an extra challenge to cover that up. (ladders, floors being covered with protective sheets, bags of old tapestry all over the place, tools, etc.)

All images taken with Canon 5D II, with Canon 24 mm 1.4 L II, Canon 50 mm 1.4 and Canon 85 mm 1.8. No artificial lights were used (except for the desk lamp). In some settings an extra Lastolite Trigrip reflector was used. Some minor touchups have been done in Lightroom 4. Mainly getting back highlights in some pictures and adding some contrast here and there. The sepia tinted images all got some extra contrast.

Click for a bigger view!