Could there be any greater resemblance? The curves of the female body and the smooth shaped hull of a glider. At least I sea beauty in both, I hope you too can appreciate these smooth curvatures.
Taken with the well appreciated approval of the gliders club director, and the willing club-handyman. Somewhere in the Netherlands.
• Smooth curves •
model: Michelle Alba
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 A DG
1/500s f/1.8 ISO 100
Travelling art-nude models mostly rent very small rooms, to make their travelling as cheap as possible. Shooting in their room is most often not an option. This one was different. Some other photographer booked her a spacious and very well lit room in the centre of Brussels, and for some reason he only booked the model for a very short period of time, so she had a couple of days available for other photographers. A bit of a last minute arrangement and I was of to Brussels. The room had a line of windows facing south/west, and every widow had its own curtains. A perfect spot for a shoot.
It’s a tedious process, developing, scanning, retouching the dust …
… but when the results are good, it’s all worthwhile. From a shoot I did in the beginning of june, taken with the Rolleiflex, on Ilford HP5 plus film (ISO400).
• Lilith •
from a while ago,
I shot with Vita Goncharuk in a public park near Brussels earlier this year. I was a bit worried about not having a location with full and agreed access, so we shot outside. The park is open to the public, and you might wonder if there are no risks of being caught. There is actually not really a problem as long as you are not shooting porn or really shocking the eventual witnesses. If you get caught by the owner of the place, you might get expelled from the premises, but they can’t file a complaint unless they can prove you did harm to their person/business/property.
Some people have been asking about public wandering around. First of all, get this agreed upon with your model. Most professional models don’t care much, some don’t like it. Vita didn’t mind at all. When somebody shows more interest than normal, I just go to them an say hello. I do a little chit-chat and then I give them one of my business cards and mostly they disappear after that, or they take some more (comfortable) distance. Some even send me an email about my website or my work afterwards. I even had one person sending me some behind the scenes images. (with Erika in Brussels)
The weather was splendid, the camera did very well, All shot on Ilford film, with the Rolleiflex TLR camera. I love the look of film, it gives a soft, rich tonality and it has some imperfections that are creating a romantic atmosphere. It has a natural grain, that adds to the softness of the images. The medium format (6x6cm) camera has a great shallow depth of field, (hard to focus though) and enough detail in the negatives for really big enlargements. It can’t beat the current 50Mpx camera’s, but its very close. I also love the time-span between shooting the images and having the developed film ready for scanning. The fact that you do not see results is a benefit for working slowly. When shooting digital, I get a little overwhelmed by the immediate results, which stresses me to shoot more and more and more. When shooting analog, I thing about every image, about light, about framing, about what to leave out of the frame and what to get into it, about pose, about a possible story, … I feel that I do not take the same amount of time when shooting digital. You shoot far less images when shooting film, but you get as many good ones than when shooting hundreds of digital images. … I experience a great feeling of joy when seeing the images on the developed film for the first time. They are a physical result, they have a more ‘real’ presence in my opinion than digital files. Film is not dead, at least not for me, and I’m sure for a lot of people with me. 🙂
I have about ten more films that just have been developed, but need scanning and retouching … come back again soon,
Ludwig
the tomatoes need a lot of water in this warm weather don’t they?
second shooting location after • flight club • the garden of the AirBnB where we stayed. Michelle is ready to do some role playing, and gladly gives the gardener a hand.
• taking care of the vegetables •
thanks to Michelle Alba for being my model on this very hot day, in a very hot glasshouse.
thanks to Bas for lending me her garden as a shoot location and for the hospitality all over the weekend.
Ludwig
Ludwig Desmet in het Godshuis from ludwig desmet on Vimeo.
jij komt toch ook eens kijken? 🙂
a first result from my experiment of last week. Hope you like it, I love it, …
… but I’m very sorry the statue is gone already … 🙁
have a nice day,
Ludwig
• statue in my garden •
Charisse was here again today,
and people who have been following my or her work, know that this is about 100% guaranteed to deliver some stunning images.
We took benefit of the hot weather we have in Belgium these days and made a little mess with some leftover clay I had from the walls of the boys’ rooms on the attic.
Charisse is always in for a little experiment and I had been talking about the clay shoot earlier, so she sent me a text message a couple of days ago ‘about the hot weather and da da da … ‘ . A hint not to be misunderstood.
this image is just a preview of the preparation, a preparation that I gladly took as a photoshoot occasion …
it got even messier than this, and much better as well 😉
make sure to come again soon, for the rest of this magnificent series, again.
The exhibit at Godshuis Sint Laureins (B) has started last Saturday, make sure to visit it if you can, more details in my previous post.
have a nice day,
Ludwig
shot with my trusty old Rolleiflex, on Ilford HP5plus film.
Ancient Egyptians worshipped Ra or Re as the Sun God, he was one of the most important gods in the Fifth Dynasty (25th-24th century BC).
• RA •
The obelisk depicted here is one of modern ages (1968-1969) and was built in two ‘size’ stages, because the landlord found that the first one at 27m was not high enough. So he did aks the builders to build a second concrete formwork over the existing one, and ordered it to be 36m in height, which makes it final size bigger than the Paris’ Luxor obelisk at the place de la Concorde!
The obelisk is situated near Brussels, and was erected because the landlord loved the sunrise, but since he had changed his main room to the west side of the castle, he no longer had the sunrise in his room. That’s why he also wanted a large sun disk on the obelisk.
The park was meant to have a large water surface in front of the surface, but the owner died before completion of the surroundings and the lake was never realised.
thank you for reading,
Ludwig
… or maybe a little rough will do tonight
thank you for watching,
be kind to your partner 😉
Ludwig
with the lovely Yana Mood, shot in an attic room in Leuven,
All images f1.8 at ISO 125, shutter speeds vary (1/25-1/200s)
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG A
thank you for watching, don’t hesitate to leave a comment,
Ludwig
I found another castle lady willing to pose nude for me in her residence:
shot in a castle in Belgium
• The great-great-granddaughter •
1/13 sec. f/5.0 at ISO400
Canon 5Ds with Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5 L II tilt-shift lens
Prequel of a whole series about this theme.
Hard waking up, realising you are alone in bed. …
• the bed is too big without you •
Model YanaMood
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm DG A
1/100s f1.8 ISO 125
Shot in a tiny bedroom in Leuven, Belgium
… you get to see the most angel-like creatures
enjoy your work-week!
Ludwig
I had worked with Charisse before, we had met each other at an exhibit in Damme (B) where I had my work exposed, she seemed interested in my work and browsed trough my book attentively, we talked briefly and I gave her my card.
Early this year we agreed to work together again, and besides fixing a date, we also discussed what style we were going to work on. She told me she had found more confidence in herself and that posing went better since she had been working with another photographer intensively some time ago.
I have tried not to interfere too much in the posing, and had her work on her own flow of poses without interrupting her. She managed to ignore me, and we found a good subject to guide her: an apple I left in the studio since I had been painting there two weeks before that. I kind of lost a bit of its freshness, but Charisse managed to compensate for it 200%.
First I would like to show a little behind the scene’s video, fastforward trough the entire session, if you are a photographer, you might even learn something from my light setup:
Ludwig Desmet behind the scenes fine art nude photoshoot from ludwig desmet on Vimeo.
I am working with two camera’s here, one with the Sigma 50mm f1.4, the other with the Canon 100mm Macro lens. I have light all over on the left side, I work with the sun screens from time to time, and I have one large reflector panel on the right side (styrofoam board)
Then the images.
I think they came out particularly well, Charisse well understood my style and she worked on different poses in an endless flow, God, wouldn’t you want to be that apple? 🙂
images all shot at my studio in Ronse (Belgium)
Canon 5Ds and Canon 5DII
Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG and Canon 100mm f2.8 L Macro
1/250-400 f1.6 ISO 100 – 1/200 f3.2 ISO100
thank you for watching,
Ludwig
As it is difficult in wintertimes (temperature!) to shoot in grand locations, exquisite gardens or castle halls, I have been working a little more on emotions and body-poses lately. Enjoy this wonderful image I made with Yana last thursday. This was shot in a small attic living room, we had to move a little furniture around to be able to capture the best light in the spot I wanted it, but I think this worked out quite well. An overhead roof window and some ‘available Swedish furniture’ was all that was needed to make this image look well. Remember to look at the light, and pose your model accordingly 😉
Thanks to Hanne for providing the last minute location, I hope you could still find your stuff after all the moving around with things.
Thanks to Yana for being my wonderful model.
Hi,
quite a while since my last post, great news, exciting changes.
no more doubts
no more last minute panics
no more goosebumps
no more begging other people
…
I’ve got my own dedicated shooting studio !
I’ve rent a space in my home town, 6 x 11 meters open space, 3m ceiling height … nice oakwood parquet floor, big windows south side …
Started gathering decor elements and painting about two weeks ago, and yesterday I had my first shoot there. It takes a bit of getting used to, where do I have good light, what are the best looking lines, etcetera, but I’ll manage to make this into a fine shooting space!
enjoy this first image of yesterday’s shoot
• inspiration •
thanks Valérie, for being my ‘test’ model in this new space.
thanks Joyce, for being my make up artist,
settings: 1/100 f2.8 ISO250 – Canon 5Ds with Canon 100mm f2.8 L Macro IS
An image that has been shot about a year ago, with the kind cooperation of Riona, my model for that day. I haven’t posted a lot of this shoot yet. It was on a cold december day, in an empty house with minimal heating.
Although she was clearly suffering the cold, she did not complain. We were all dressed in winter clothes, she was completely nude. Of course, as a photographer, you will take measures so the model can have some time off with a warm blanket or clothing, so she does not get ill in the process, but Riona has a very good understanding of what a cooperation is supposed to be like, of what a photographer has in mind and why a photographer would invest in a professional model. In doing so she has built a good reputation among photographers internationally. Besides her perfect work attitude, she has a very beautiful body. Not extremely skinny, and with beautiful female shapes. On top of that, she has an angel-like face, that is strongly emphasised with her white hair.
• Angel •
for those who find it interesting,
shot on Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm DG A – settings 1/50s f/2.0 ISO800
For those interested in working with Riona:
more info and a behind the scene’s look (also of this very same image) HERE
A cactus (plural: cacti, cactuses, or cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. (From Wikipedia)
A small series of images I did about a year ago together with Kate in some semi-public glasshouse. The glasshouse was the only place where it was more or less hot enough to do nude work, and Kate didn’t care about the public character of the place, we met only very limited people, and managed to keep out of sight of most of them, at least we think. 😉
Taken with the Rolleiflex 6×6 TLR, on Kodak TMax400 film.
hope you liked that,
come again soon,
Ludwig
there is a collection in this house, of wild boar’s, in all shapes and sizes, on paintings, sculptures, drawings, teeth, … everything that reminds of the wild animal living in the heart of the Belgian Ardennes has received its place on these walls, in this castle …
the study is the most quiet space in the castle, where one can stay all day without being disturbed. Old books are being well taken care of, and this place is not influenced by day-to-day matters.
Meet Eva Evian, my model for this day, experiencing the atmosphere of the place, enjoying the quite and calm of the day.
All shot on Kodak TMax400, with Rolleiflex 3.5 camera.
#everypictureastory
thank you for watching,
Ludwig