Hey Taxi ! …

Analog, beauty, Personal Pictures, street

I cannot prevent this happy feeling coming back when I start thinking about this session.

We were all in a great mood, the weather was excellent (remember, way too hot today) and Erika was more than happy playing the roles I gave her. I asked her to be the lazy tourist in our Brussels most upscale shopping lane, the Avenue Louise.

Nathalie managed to fix a taxi driver willing to cooperate for some nice shots too.

All images shot on Rolleiflex 3.5, Kodak T-Max100

Thanks to Erika Albonetti for being my model, her manager for carrying all the stuff she had, my wife Nathalie for being a splendid assistant and hairdresser …

Remember, all my images are available as a fine art print, so if you are still looking for a lasting present for Christmas or New Year, don’t look any further, scroll trough my blog, take a look at my portfolio pages and take your pick!

Hey Taxi ! …

thank you for watching,

see you again soon,

ludwig

Confront your enemies …

beauty, Nude

“Confront your enemies, it will bring you inner peace and strength”

click for bigger

model: Kamaliza

Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A

1/60s f1.6 ISO320

thank you for watching,

ludwig

Erika – a little bit of fashion – in Brussels

Analog, beauty, location, people

I shot this entire day with my 60 year old Rolleiflex camera. Kind of stressy and awkward feeling to get home with nothing but some rolls of film. … I only found out in the evening that I didn’t even have a memory card in my digital camera. … I must have had some kind of enlightenment when I decided in the morning to go ‘all analog’ that day.

Continue reading →

Vic Toria – preview

Analog, beauty, people, Personal Pictures, portrait

I photographed this young lady in the grey and dull city of Charleroi, on a grey and dull day, but she proved to be all except grey and dull, we had a wonderful morning session, and made some great images together! Thank you Victoria!

– Victoria –

Rolleiflex 3,5 with Ilford FP4 Plus film

thank you for watching,

ludwig

High Key made easy

beauty, Lightroom, Nude, Personal Pictures

hi there,

this below image had quite some succes on Facebook and different groups I published it onto. Actually people were asking about the way I did the high key development.

It was a rather straightforward and easy process, a little explanation below.

The lighting conditions where not good, NOT. 🙂

I needed an ISO setting of 2000 to be sure to have sharp images, that’s at least way over my usual limits. (I rather keep ISO settings below 800) You’ll see that the image has some noise in the shadow areas (like the throat area).

the original image looked like this: quite even light conditions, although the light was a little directional (from the left), there were no hard lights, no deep shadows.

I work in lightroom, my settings:

exposure: +2.10 / contrast: +40 / highlights: +67 / shadows: +36 / blacks: -42 / Clarity: -11 … that was about all I did. The image looks like this now:

next I added some light using a local brush with + exposure, to get rid of the remaining bed sheet shading. No big secrets, just add plenty of exposure to make things white.

At last I added some noise reduction to get rid of too much grainy noise in the shadow areas. …

I hope you like the image, I certainly do.

The image was taken at a private tuition day with Sacha Leyendecker.(http://www.sacha-leyendecker.com) The model is Steffi Rubia Stringsi, from Brussels. The image was taken in an available light studio in Köln, Germany.

see you soon.

ludwig

Just a little word …

beauty, Nude, Personal Pictures

to tell you that a lot happened lately

I officially announced my www.renderhouse.eu customers that I will stop providing rendering services for them from januari 31, 2017. I am still looking for someone willing to continue this service, so my customer base is for sale. (3D rendered marketing illustrations and animations)

Hopefully this decision will free some space, energy and time for more photography in the nearby future. I have no idea where this will lead me to, but It is my absolute will to spend more time developing photography projects, continue giving my classes, and maybe start doing some workshops on a more regular basis.

It has not been an easy choice, since Renderhouse still provides a good income, but as you know I have been inspired a lot by the Holstee manifesto (see this post) , and I still think it is a good way to prevent boredom, burn-out, depression and other mental blockades.

…

next to that, I had the opportunity to work together with some afro-models, both great personalities to work with, one more experienced than the other, but they both did great and had a great story to tell.

I love this image, so does she.

• kamaliza •

Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm A DG 1.4

1/60 – f1.6 – ISO 320

thank you for watching

ludwig

Feel the sun

Analog, beauty, Personal Pictures

• Feel the sun •

Model: Charisse

Make up: Kelly

photographed on location at ‘Godshuis Sint-Laureins’

Rolleiflex 3,5 with Kodak TMax400 film.

thank you for watching.

ludwig

La Dame du Château II

Analog, erotic, Nude, Personal Pictures

• The Castle Lady – part II •

Model and make up: Ava

Assistant: Nathalie

photography: Ludwig

Rolleiflex 3,5 on Kodak T-Max400 film.

thank you for watching.

Charisse

beauty, Personal Pictures, portrait

somewhere near an undefined ‘wheel of fortune’ in flanders.

• Charisse •

All images Canon 5Ds with Canon 135 mm f2 L

thank you for watching

La dame du château – preview

beauty, location, Nude, Personal Pictures, portrait

a first one from a series of analog images I did with Ava

too hot outside, we fled for the cool interior of the chateau. The atmosphere was great, the castle was quiet, Ava was feeling comfortable. Some of the main ingredients for a great shoot. The models, although more accustomed to getting undressed than any other person, still prefer a quiet, unbothered atmosphere. There’s nothing more disturbing than people hopping in at unforeseen moments. A kind of understanding builds between model and photographer (and eventually assistants, make up artists etc …) and this makes intimate pictures possible. Thank you Ava for your confidence, and for being my model during this shoot.

• La dame du château •

model and make up: Ava Lacour

Hair and assistance: Nathalie

Shot on location in Tournai, Belgium

Rolleiflex 3,5 TLR on Kodak T-Max400 film.

all images © ludwig desmet

thank you for watching.

Thumbs up for excellent customer service – Berlebach

photo gear, Uncategorized

I do not often speak about material I use, or my brand of camera’s being better than the other one, … you know what I mean, mainly because I don’t think gear matters all that much.

It is a pleasant thing to know your gear will be working whenever you need it, so I do appreciate reliability and so, but I don’t think that you’ll absolutely need the latest gear to make good images.

This said, I would like to write this little post about the makers of the tripod I have been using for about 6 years now. It has been facing salty sea water, clamping down on my motorbike, rain and ice, mud and dirt, and all nice things in between. The brand is Berlebach. They are nice ash-wood tripods, comparable to the type of tripods land surveyors use for their theodolites. Not excessively expensive, very sturdy, very stable (wood has the natural ability to absorb vibrations), very well finished and beautiful to look at. They don’t get your fingers freezing in cold temperatures, all good things. The downsides: they are heavy, mine does have long leg segments, which makes them(it) a bit cumbersome on long hikes. Mine is from the Report series, and it features a very handy ball-joint built into the tripod itself. This makes levelling the tripod a piece of cake, no matter what surface you are working on. The head is a three way head, all metal, beautifully finished and with a very tight grip.

Now, after six years of good service, one of the handles broke. It happened on the way back from the institute where I teach photography classes. My tripod was tightly secured on my motor when suddenly I took a road bump (they happen to be quite present here in Belgium) and I heard some clattering under the bike. Stopped, saw the handle in the middle of the street. It just broke off of the tripod head. No idea why or if it had been damaged before or …

So I sent an email to customer service to ask if they still could provide a replacement for this handle. The answer was short and very clear “Dear Ludwig, we will send you a new handle”. I thanked them and asked if this would be a payable replacement, that I would understand that since my tripod was at least 5 years old (didn’t bother looking how old it was exactly) …

Again a quick reply: “No, it will be sent free of charge, we only need your post address.”

😀 😀 😀

It dropped into my mailbox a couple of days later, not the same design, but even more handy, since a little smaller. Now here is my thought about this all: Where do you find companies these days that, after 6 years of buying their goods, will replace a part for free, send it for free, all with a smile? Thank you Berlebach!! www.berlebach.de

ludwig

DUO

Analog, beauty, people, Personal Pictures, portrait

you’ve seen one of this series before here: envy

a new experience,working with two models at the same time,

I shot digital and analog for this series, all available light at the former Pinehouse interior shop in Ronse.

• Laura and Pauline – Duo •

analog:

first one not entirely sharp, this means not enough dept of field due to low light (large aperture needed) and medium format negatives (gives a shallower DOF than 35mm film).

I especially like the last image, don’t know why.

thanks for looking,

ludwig

Ebony

beauty, Nude, Personal Pictures

• Ebony •

1/20s – f2,2 – ISO640

Canon 5Ds with Canon 135mm f2 L

there’s more to come, see you soon again,

ludwig

Laura – digital

beauty, Personal Pictures, portrait

• Laura •

LudwigDesmet_LM-1991

All images shot with Canon 5Ds and Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A

(except last one, Canon 135mm f2 L)

thank you for watching,

ludwig

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 •

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.

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 •

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.

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. 🙂

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 –