wedding

Strolling trough Paris part II – shooting with the Rolleiflex

Analog, street

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

 

Wedding Dress – Nice and Naughty

beauty, Personal Pictures

I normally don’t do weddings, this shoot has been a kind of a ‘after wedding’ gift from the bride to the bride. 🙂

Never a bad thing if you can give yourself a gift. Elisa chose to have herself portrayed as a souvenir for later.

We played around with a lot of different themes, here’s the wedding dress theme. We started nice, we ended a bit naughty.

Extremely difficult shooting situation, with almost no light (1/25s at f2.8 and ISO640) a tripod is of good help in such situations. All images Canon 5D II and Canon EF 100 mm f2.8 Macro L IS. A tripod and live view allow for accurate focusing (using live view zoom modes and the tripod takes care of long shutter speeds. Be careful to tell your model not to move during exposures.

I hope you like them.

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thank you for watching,

ludwig

Sofie’s wedding – reportage style

assignments, Personal Pictures, wedding

Its not gonna rain, its not gonna rain its not gonna rain.

It rained all day. 🙁

I was really fortunate to be able to photograph this wedding of Sofie and Dries. I know Sofie since quite some years now (she’s our boy’s optometrist) and last year she asked me if I could assure her weddings pictures.

I do not especially promote myself as a wedding photographer, but whenever I’m asked to do one, I’ll make sure to fit it into my planning. Wedding photography is a hard job, getting up early, make sure you capture all the important moments of the day, and often stay up late in the evening. This wedding was a bit of an exception, since Sofie only wanted coverage from 10 am, till about 9 pm.

Wedding photography is often also fun, because people are in a good mood, there’s a lot of emotions, a lot of old friends coming over etc. etc. Later in the day, as the tension fades, happiness is becoming the main feeling of the event.

I love treating a wedding day as a reporter, and this is what this post is about. Not the average couple and family shots, but all the things happening in between important moments.

Enjoy a look behind the scene’s on the wedding of Sofie and Dries, a typical Flemish wedding day.

thank you for watching,

ludwig

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Isabelle & Laurent

Personal Pictures, wedding

I have been able to join Hung Tran as a second shooter on his latest wedding shoot. He encourages young (me, ahum ) and dynamic (me again 🙂 ahum ) photographers to try to join an established wedding photographer whenever possible, to learn the inside tricks hands-on. I contacted him and have had the opportunity to shoot with him last saturday. As a second shooter you don’t get paid, except in experience. It has been a very fruitful day to me, with lots of things happening, fantastic weather, a great looking couple and a playful atmosphere.

What I’ve learnt especially is that the difference between a good wedding photographer, and a great wedding photographer lies not in his technical skills, but rather in his social abilities. The way Hung handles his audience was a big eye-opener to me. I’ve got a lot to learn.

Thank you Hung, thank you Isabelle and Laurent!

Enjoy this selection of a very inspiring day! – click images to see a bigger version –