Strolling trough Paris part II – shooting with the Rolleiflex

this is from a while ago.

Visiting Paris is something I love a lot. I have been there many times now, and I feel no real urge anymore in visiting particular places or monuments, and I enjoy more and more just being there, and observing people, looking at things happening, or seeing things being just things.

Documenting with the old Rolleiflex helps me being a more attentive observer. Trying to shoot whatever presents itself is a challenge, but is also fun and maybe a bit contradictory, a very relaxing thing to me. It is a mixture of being an observer, and in a certain way being part of the city life.

Next to this, it is also a way to get socially engaged in a certain way. I get many conversations when shooting with this old camera, from people interested in what camera it is, how it works, if it is still able to find film etcetera etcetera. I try to go unnoticed, but that is difficult sometimes, and I don’t mind.

All shot on Rolleiflex 3.5 and Kodak TMax 400/100 film.

thank you for passing by.

Ludwig

I need to do more sport

Analog, Personal Pictures, street

Rolleiflex 3.5 planar with Kodak TMax 100 film.

Antwerp.

thanks for looking,

ludwig

The Engine Room

beauty, Personal Pictures

A single image post today, Enjoy. The Engine Room used to be the most prestigious part of the textile factory. It was the place where visitors, customers could see the wealth of the company. Complete with glass in lead windows, tiled arches and so on. …

It was the place where pressurised vapour was created with a steam engine, providing both heat and mechanical power. due to the fact that this room is unaccessible from the ground floor, it has remained unused since the removal of the engine.

Canon 5D II with Canon EF 24mm f1.4 II L. This image reminds me that some time ago in a digital publication (EOSzine) I have urged the wish to combine model photography with my earlier subjects of urban and landscape photography. I’m getting nearer. 😉 Taken on tripod, multiple exposure blend (1/125 s. of a second at f4.5 for the model and the interior, 1/1000 s.at f4.5 for the windows).

Thank you for watching, and thank you Eline, for being my model.

ludwig

Paris strolling

Personal Pictures, street

I had the chance to finish these summer holidays with a 4 day leisure weekend in Paris, together with my wife.

We normally carry our bikes on this kind of city trip, and this time it was no different. We remembered well from 7 years ago that biking trough Paris was ok, except for the weather (last time we did it it rained four consecutive days).

We had better luck this time, with four sunny days, only a bit of rain one evening.

We had no special plans for this holiday, except seeing Paris not the tourist way, but just enjoying what we get to see, and trying different routes than the Champs-Elysees or visiting the Eiffel tower. So we just rode our bikes trough the city, with no particular plan.

We enjoyed the calm of the Père-Lachaise Cimetary and the charming buzz in the Rue Saint-André des Arts, we went to Bois de Boulogne, came back trough La Défense business centre, had some really nice food just down the hill of Sacré-Cœur, enjoyed seeing the ships go trough the Canal Saint-Martin, the small streets of Le Marais and the marketplace on Boulevard Richard Lenoir.

Enjoy the images, I hope you can feel some of the atmosphere in these places shine trough.

For those interested, all images taken with the Sigma 50 mm 1.4 DG, on my Canon 5D mark II.

thank you for watching, come again soon.

Ludwig

Male model – Urban style

beauty, Personal Pictures

Hi,

It took a while since my last post, sorry for that. The exhibit is running fine but it is taking a lot of my time in-between classes and jobs. I get good reactions, I sold about 10 limited edition books for now, and we have two more weeks coming. The exhibit ends on nov. 17th. Hurry if you still want to get a look inside this wonderful early 20th century house. Contact if you need more details, but you should be able to find them in my earlier posts.

A while ago I did another model shoot, this time for a male model. Not my usual thing, but when people ask me, then – why not? I permitted myself some developing styles I normally don’t use. A male model can have some more contrasty – edgy style developing than a female model (in my opinion of course) We worked in different locations, some of my usual ones, but also outside at the Ronse train station. Actually I can work about everywhere as a photographer, especially if my model is fully clothed, outside is fine, even in colder weather. The model is Bjorn, thank you Bjorn.

I hope you like the results. If you have any questions or remarks, pls drop a line.

Amsterdam Highlights

Personal Pictures

In my ‘highlights’ series, I had Barcelona and twice Paris (I) and (II), this time I visited Amsterdam hit-and-run style (about 24 hours between arrival and departure)

In short:

Bikes, old and new architecture, canals, (missing) prostitutes, a lot of wind, (noisy) dutch people, good company … and a restaurant cat.

Oh I love strolling around in a big city, taking pictures, watching people, searching for good subjects and good light.

I don’t wanna spend a lot of words on this one. I enjoyed my walks, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

I have taken these pictures with the only lens I had with me, Canon 50 mm f 1.4. It is a challenge worth taking. Take only one lens, look for subjects, frame them.

take care, and come again soon. There’s quite some beauty shoots on the planning.

Ludwig

Eline at the Warehouse prt II

beauty, Personal Pictures

The shoot with Eline resulted in so many beautiful images that I decided to make two posts for this one.

The warehouse where we worked is one of my favorite locations in Ronse. It offers plenty in lighting situations, large rooms, corridors, staircases and a mix of contemporary and classic designed furniture (for sale 😉 ). It’s certainly worth the visit. I would like to thank the owners big time for letting me use it for my beauty shoots from time to time.

A word about the processing. I’ve been developing in both color and sepia tinted images. I tend to go more towards the black-and-white images for the more intimate shots, where my subject shows more tenderness and a gentle look. The fashion style images ask more for a color rendition. I don’t know if you agree with this. Just my feeling.

for the technical part, all images have been done with available light. Only the first image with the blue pull-over has an added flash light (highlights from left).

Anyway, I hope you like the images. Thank you Eline, for coming to Ronse and bringing half your wardrobe with you.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Come again soon!

ludwig

All images clickable for bigger size!

Paris Highlights II

Personal Pictures

Last weekend I was in Paris again, for a short break of one and a half day.

I was there with the family, and we strolled around a lot. my kids got to see the Moulin Rouge, place Pigalle, the Sacré Coeur with place du Tertre, we visited an exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe, we saw the Panthéon, the Jardin the Luxembourg, visited the Tour Montparnasse and we walked a lot!

I’m not so much into the classical pictures of monuments and all, but couldn’t resist to include some of them. I love the city atmosphere and the typical details you get to see in Paris.

Imagine a gray overcast sky, chilly but not cold, horns tooting everywhere, and the constant chatter of the Parisians.

I hope you get a feeling of being there, at least a little.

All pictures taken with Canon 5D II and Canon 50mm 1.4. All images can be clicked for a bigger version.

Parisians love dogs, apparently. There’s dogs on every quay, in every park.

The institute of the Arabic World held an exhibition on the stories of 1001 nights. This was a listening area, where one could sit down in almost complete darkness and listen to the spoken versions of the stories. Next is the facade of the building, and a metal sculpture.

Nightlife in front of the Sacré Coeur chirch, and then down towards the place Pigalle. Made me think of the movie ‘Midnight in Paris’.

The banks of the Seine, with the Notre Dame, and next the Panthéon, the Jardin de Luxembourg and the magnificent view from the Tour de Montparnasse. No queue, and I believe it to be cheaper than the Eiffel Tower.

The woman felt my presence. She suddenly looked back at me.The ambiance in the restaurants and food almost as good as in Belgium. 😉

Academy for music and word

architecture, Personal Pictures

Hi all,

I’ve been very busy the last couple of weeks, sorry for the long wait.

This morning we had another gathering for the lessons of architectural photography. We are supposed to know all about the subject now, and we do, of course. 😀

It’s been a tough selection, we are supposed to deliver only 5 images. I’ll show you my favorites and leave you guessing about the final 5.

The academy has been deserted with the move to the new building, late september. It is still occasionally used for theatre plays and music concerts, but the classes have not been used since. The building is in good shape and will probably be rented to local artists.

All images with Canon 5D II and a selection of lenses: 85mm, 50mm, 24mm and 17-40mm

I hope you’ll like some images too!

See you again soon. I have had two shoots at the Mansion last week which I am eager to show to you, but I need approval from my models for my -selection for publication first. That’s the fairest way to go.

Paris Highlights

Personal Pictures

I was in Paris last week, for only one day, but I had some time to make some pictures in the afternoon/morning I was there. Some of the better ones:

A dog is a dog, even on the Champ de mars

running trough wonderful colors

Photographing around the Eiffel tower.

500 on the banks of the Seine.

Entering the darkness of a long winter night.

We Belgians did it again. Strike on the railroads in Belgium, so no train got to Brussels. Luckily I booked from Lille so I got home at the scheduled time.

thank you for reading. Remember, next thursday, I’ll post the third and final part of ‘the mansion shoot’

Urbex shoot

architecture, Personal Pictures

Hi there, it’s been a while since my last post, but a lot has been going on here. I have been pretty busy with my Renderhouse jobs, and next to that, I have been assigned as a teacher for two evening classes in photography. YESSS!! I will be giving the basics of photography to one group (all about camera settings, exposure, composition basics, etc. …) and another evening class will handle Photoshop Lightroom 4 editing. I’m all excited, today is the first day I will be in front of one of the groups. …

I still found the time today to finish my urbex shoot post-processing from two weeks ago. I have been shooting in a place that has been abandoned for about two years I guess, but is still in pretty good shape. No vandals have passed by here (yet) The place is owned by one of my Renderhouse customers, and we made a deal. I would to shoot the ‘heart and soul’ of the villa as it is now, and then I can make use of of the location for future model/beauty shoots. Great, I love that kind of deal!

What you see here is the result of a 3 hour shoot, a short time of image selection, and about 3 hours of postprocessing. Hope you like them. click images to see a bigger size version of them.
Most of the images have been made with the 17-40 mm f4 L wide-angle zoom lens, some with 50mm f1.4, some details with 85mm f1.8. All on Canon 5D II.
Thank you for watching, please leave a comment if you feel so.

Come again!!

ludwig

Sanne modelshoot

people, Personal Pictures

Sanne is a model describing herself as a ‘Plus model’, this means, not fitting into the ‘ideal size’ category.

We had a fun shoot last week after someone else cancelled on this superb location. Sanne immediately jumped in to take this opportunity! Please enjoy these pictures. Click for bigger images!

The shoot was shot with 85mm, 135mm and wide angle 17-40 (last image). We had a large reflector and an off camera flash, used trough umbrella. Images were shot at ISO 500 – ISO 800 on Canon 5D II.

model Bjorn

people, Personal Pictures

I went for a shoot in the deserted school building in Ronse last week. I had done some urban shoots there before, so I know my way around. I had an arrangement with Bjorn for a shoot. He is thinking about becoming a model and asked me to help build a portfolio. We did some nice stuff with this vandalized building, some flash experiments etc. … We didn’t steal anything, didn’t break anything, but had to scrape glass fragments from our shoe soles afterwards. Welcome to what used to be a nursery-school.
Some images have been re-colored in Lightroom, just for some extra atmosphere and variation in the portfolio, hope you like it.

Gear used: Canon 5DII, 50mm, 85mm, 17-40mm, 135mm, flash with or without umbrella.

There’s more to come, don’t forget subscribing to my blog if you like my posts!

Click to view full size.

ludwig desmet

beauty and fine art photography

urban

Strolling trough Paris part II – shooting with the Rolleiflex

I need to do more sport

The Engine Room

Paris strolling

Male model – Urban style

Amsterdam Highlights

Eline at the Warehouse prt II

Paris Highlights II

Academy for music and word

Paris Highlights

Urbex shoot

Sanne modelshoot

model Bjorn