Fuji X-Pro1

 

I decided to share far more pictures than normal with this set. More shots mean a weaker selection but I thought it worthwhile sharing my evolution to some of the images plus my choices and the reasons why I chose them. So I apologise if you are on a slow connection but I hope the subtlety between frames isa worthy subject to study. Now these pictures are what I call viewing files. Straight from Lightroom 4.2 without any Photoshop or skin softening. This is the standard I show my clients and then I work further on any that they buy for their album or folio. Prints are usually on art paper from 16 bit tiffs. What you see here is pretty much what I saw in camera on the shoot. I drove my ‘cool’ new Fiat 500 to Cologne a couple of weeks ago just for the fun of it. My reason for the trip was to spend time at Photokina and to enjoy the delights of Belgium too. I’ve long been a fan of cities like Antwerp and Brugges and my trip to Cologne gave me good reason to pop in on and spend time with some amazing photographers. I stopped by Luc Peters sensational studio in the heart of Antwerp and was treated to a fabulous dinner in the restaurant opposite. The man is an inspiration on every level. I then had a trip to De Haan to meet up with Tom Museeuw. I met Tom on Twitter and we struck up a relationship straight away. Tom is the master of reflectors and is rightly sponsored by California Sunbounce. Tom also has some Lupolux spotlights so we decided to set up a creative continuous light shoot. Tom mainly shoots children’s fashion and shoots more than 30 catalogues each year. You can follow him on twitter as @fotofolio. Boudoir was right out of Tom’s comfort zone and I admire that he agreed to give it a go. Tom booked me into the fabulously eccentric guest house Chant d’Oiseaux for a couple of nights and we took over the place on the day in between. I had discussed the possibility of an impromptu shoot in the woods with Tom on the afternoon I arrived (the day before our scheduled shoot) but the sun turned to rain and it became stormy so we soon retreated to the hotel. I was feeling rather despondent at that point but Tom fired me up. The energy and passion of another photographer is such a valuable resource and I must admit the next few pictures are powered by Tom’s drive and determination…