Merge and Simplify

It was back in September 2015 that my websites last got revamped: prophotonut.com, passionphotographyexperience.com, lovegroveshop.com, lovegroveportraits.com, lovegrovephotography.com, leather-portfolios.com and lovegrove.lighting. Some sites have gone already, some will survive as stand alone websites and some will merge.

I currently have lovegroveadventures.com as my key website with prophotonut.com on the wings sharing the menus and styling. These two will merge at some point so that they share the same URL. That will be stage two. I have also recently added scatterflash.com to my portfolio.

lovegroveweddings.com went as soon as we retired from wedding photography. Lovegrovephotography.com became an online portfolio featuring over 1000 photographs from my personal collection once I had retired from photographing portrait clients too. This body of work has attracted a steady stream of visitors and I’m creating new galleries on lovegroveadventures.com to take over that role. The new galleries will look like this. Navigate through the shots using the arrow keys or click and drag. You will see retina ready pictures plus a caption and exif data for each shot. Every photograph has its own URL too so it’s perfect for SEO apparently.

The new branding for Lovegrove Adventures and Scatterflash. The minimalist custom designs are by Luke Knight. I’ve always steered clear of beige in my life but I think it is quite calming here. I’m the sort of person that knows straight away if I like something and Luke is a great designer in tune with my ideas.

Website Systems, Themes and Editors

I was envious of some Square Space users but I knew I needed the flexibility of WordPress. My vision for the custom gallery and lightbox was key to everything. I had a plugin re coded to give me exactly the look that I wanted. It was effectively the best bits of two plugins merged into one. With this in mind I researched editors and themes and finally decided on DIVI for both. It took a bit of learning but now I can get creative without the need to geek out.

I think my favourite plugin is Slider Revolution 6. It was quite a steep learning curve for me but it is so professional. It’s a bit like Final Cut Pro or Photoshop; daunting at first but very capable.

The final cog to get sorted out was a hosting company. Bluehost proved to be incompetent on every level and I needed to switch quickly to a decent hosting provider to get my sites back up and running. I went with Skystra in the end and wow! those guys know how to look after a client and how to provide a decent service. 10/10

Workshops and Adventures

Finally for 2020 I have my workshop in Venice. This is scheduled for 8th to the 10th of October and I’m fully expecting the city to be quiet. Venice will be amazing without the cruise ships tourists flooding in. I can’t wait! We’ll be shooting with flash creating magazine grade fashion images over the three days.

2021 plans

2021 is going to be a full on year of workshops for me. I will start them off with an epic road trip in California called Deserts & Gold Dust I’ll be there in October this year finalising the route as we wind through Death Valley and locations including Mono Lake. We’ll be shooting in the old gold mining ghost towns and capturing the stars at night too.

After my USA adventure will come a road trip exploring the Iberian Peninsular. We’ll do a circular route starting and ending in Madrid taking in the most spectacular locations that I’ve found in Spain and Portugal over the years.

Italy will feature too as always and I fully expect to be running a Tuscany workshop plus maybe an event in the south taking in Matera.

I aim to publish my full schedule by November this year so sign up for our Newsletter here to receive news and updates as they happen.

Where do you want me to run workshops? Use the comments section below to let me know where I should go next. I’m always open to new ideas. Leave me a comment, question or suggestion below.

Production Information: A one hour documentary for Fujilove by Tomasz Trzebiatowski and Jens Krauer about the celebrated photographer Damien Lovegrove. “In this revealing documentary, Jens uncovers a hidden side to this outwardly confident, charismatic photographer. We see Damien at his best shooting fashion on the streets of New York City and get his take on art and the life of a photographer.” (4k video)

Damien says: “We shot this video over one day in Brooklyn NY back in 2018. It was originally filmed by the Fujilove team for an ambitious project called Pholaborate. Unfortunately, Pholaborate didn’t survive, but I couldn’t let all this hard work go without getting an audience so with permission of Fujilove the complete video is now here for you to enjoy.”

Model: Denisa Strakova

If you own a Fujifilm X, or GFX camera be sure to subscribe to Fujilove magazine for advice, ideas and inspiration.

A short tutorial video I made showing how I make exciting light using a simple Speedlight and Scatterflash gels. At the end of the video I visit my local woods and take a portrait of Alice on a rock. Presented, written, produced and edited by me, Damien Lovegrove

Run time: 5.28
Production notes: The video was shot in 4k using an iPhone 11 Pro Max and a GoPro Hero 8. The sound was captured with a Rode lav mic into a Sony UX570 pocket recorder.

Scatterflash will feature in my workshops this year for sure. You can read more about this wonderfully simple flash modifier here.

Photography kit

Fujifilm X100v & GFX50s cameras, GF23-64mm & GF110mm lenses, Tiffen Black Pro Mist 1/2 strength filter, Novo tripod, Benro ball head, RRS quick release plate, Billingham 307 camera bag.

Lighting kit

Godox AD200Pro with X2T-f transmitter, fresnel head, Scatterflash kit, Matthews compact stand

Video Kit

GoPro Hero 8, Fujifilm XA-7, XF18-55mm lens, Amazon Basics tripod, Insta360 pole and tripod base, Pola Pro ND filters, Sony micro audio recorder, Rode lavelier microphone.

You will soon get to see the BTS movies that we shot when I’ve worked out how to cut it all together :) All the kit went into a Think Tank Logistics Manager and the Billingham.

One of my shoot locations was this beautiful old house on Piotrkowska, a famous street in the heart of Łódź. Kate acted as fixer and translator for me and together as well as capturing a few stills we shot a short BTS movie for Scatterflash. Both of these shots were taken with the Godox AD200Pro with the fresnel head and I used a Scatterflash kit for the shot on the left to create the magical light. GFX50s, GF32-64mm lens, ISO 100, 1/125th second exposure at f/5.6 for both shots.

Left top and bottom: A couple of shots of Kate taken in the morning sunlight that graced my apartment. Right: A simple shot lit using a Godox AD200 with Scatterflash from the left of the frame.

Beautifully simple photographs of Kate taken with the GF110mm lens. Left: ISO 200, 1/125th at f/2  Right: ISO 1250, 1/60th at f/2.2

A part of my strategy of shooting portraits that have eye contact is to have a strong and deep connection. It usually takes time to develop the rapport to pull this level of connection into the lens. I didn’t set out to take so many shots with eye contact but Kate’s professionalism made my work easy. Left: GFX50s, GF32-64mm, ISO 1250, 1/60th second at f/4  Right, top & bottom: GFX50s, GF110mm ISO 1250, 1/60th second at f/2

The hallway, stairs and landing of the house location were green. It was a calm green and the paint surface was quite chalky.

GFX50s, GF110mm lens at f/2, ISO 1000, 1/125th second exposure for both images.

Zero cash

I didn’t use any cash for the whole trip as I used the debit card of my Transferwise bank account via my iPhone for all the transactions. This system works a treat everywhere,  in corner shops, restaurants and petrol stations etc. The £250 contactless transaction limit when using my phone combined with a no fee/ low fee multi currency debit card is a game changer.

Far fewer of my business transactions these days are in GBP. I get paid royalties in USD, some workshop and webinar fees in EUR and I pay for web hosing, cloud storage, gateway fees, website plugins, and all those pesky small monthly amounts in USD. I have no need to convert money via GBP anymore. I went straigt from USD to Polish Zloty for this trip as required without any transaction or cash handling fees.

These stairs went a short way up to a hay loft over an old stable. The door at the top was padlocked but the stairs themselves seemed like a great spot for a quick shot. ISO 160, f/2 at 1/500th second with the four stop ND filter. The Godox AD200 flash was on 1/2 power and fitted with an Alto Scatterflash.

There is massive building development underway in Łódź but there are still a few run down classic buildings in the ‘Old Town’ area of the city. It has a Havana vibe and the textures are wonderful. I used natural light for these casual shots of Kate. All shots: X100V, ISO 250, 1/125th at f/2

I pushed the sensitivity up to give me a fast shutter speed.  This was to reduce subject blur on Kate’s movement. ISO 1000, 1/500th second at f/2

I was using the ISO dial in the locked raised position on the X100V to tweak the exposures throughout the shoot. It’s a great way to keep the control of the exposure while shooting in full manual mode. I wanted to shoot at f/2 because this lens is superb wide open and a shutter speed of 1/125th was spot on to keep camera shake at bay. Left: ISO 800 Right: ISO 200

Simple beauty portraits like these work so well with the 23mm lens of the X100V. There is an intimacy created by the short camera to subject distance but the distortion is well handled. These are the kind of shots that I’d miss being able to take if I had chosen the Leica Q2 with its fixed 28mm lens instead of the V with its 35mm equivalent lens. It was a close call and I feel I made the right decision.

The great thing about shooting film and optical printing back in the day is there was no cloning. Just dodging and burning. I shot film professionally from 1984 until 2001 hand printing everything in my own lab. These days of course its trendy to shoot on film but if the negs are scanned and Photoshopped the benefits and integrity of the medium are lost.

X100V, ISO 160, 1/500th second at f/2

Next we headed off to EC1 Łódź – Miasto Kultury. A redeveloped power station with big open spaces to shoot in. We avoided the security cameras and set about capturing some casual shots like this and the fashion styled shots below using flash.

I lit Kate with the Godox AD200 and the ‘Crunch’ Scatterflash gel. Flash was on 1:1 full power. X100V, ND, ISO 160, 1/125th second at f/2.8

Settings as above. Once I have my settings dialed in I leave them set and just move the light between locations.

A BTS set showing the Crunch Scatterflash and the relationship between light position and subject.

I took all these photographs using the Fujifilm X100V, it’s a small, fixed lens camera and is ideal for Urbex (Urban exploration). Processing was done in Adobe Lightroom.

Enjoy,

Damien Lovegrove

Built on an epic scale, the architect of this mill clearly had a Cathedral in mind when he or she laid out the plans.

It was a Howard Carter moment when we first glanced the treasure within the mill. “Can you see anything?” “Yes, wonderful things”.

Nothing quite prepares you for the beautiful tones and textures in this shrine to an industrial past in Tonedale.

Wheels, belts, chains and pullys at the ready to whir back into action.

This part of the complex is very low lying and liable to flooding. Plus it has the added advantage of being right underneith high voltage pylons. I say advantage, because there is no way this site will get cleared for housing. It would make a fabulous museum as long as it wasn’t cleaned up too much.

Top Left: This fire escape has seen better days. Top Right: The vast open ‘shop floor’ where rows upon rows of textile processing machines once stood. Bottom Left: One of many industrial fans set into the walls of the mill. Bottom Middle: The wire cut, handmade, clay bricks that litter the site are perforated. These holes allow for a better bond with adjasent bricks and they save weight and costs too. Bottom Right: Classic Roman arches adorn the site. These were made using ‘red rubber’ bricks and they add style, strength and a touch of quality to the buildings.

The savanna of Somerset encroaches on this wonderful relic of the past in Tonedale. The three centered arches above the windows in this building are sublime. Beautiful proportions that still delight dog walkers and passers by.

The chimney makes a statement and is in surprisingly good condition.

You can read more about the Tonedale Mills here. Including the woollen mill, the dye works and khaki dye production for the British Army.

In this 4 minute video, you will see me photograph model Kate Ri in an old house in Poland. I show the whole process including how I blend the ambient light with the flash. The punchy, fashion style images are lit with a single Godox AD200 Speedlight fitted with a Scatterflash.

Let me know in the comments section below what you would like to see me shoot in a future short video.

Sarah’s dear friend Jean-Claude Bligny got wind of my journey plans and commissioned me to take his portrait. Fabulous I thought, all I needed was good light and a backdrop. We had 20 minutes of the best light and four locations to shoot so we whizzed around and got the shots that we needed. I used my trusty GF110mm lens at f/2 and my GFX50s camera on a tripod.

The light was to contrasty at the start of the shoot and 20 minutes later it had lost it’s contrast and was flat. The moment of best light was like a Poisson distribution curve, a gentle rise to perfection before falling away.

I opted to shoot with the late afternoon sun and I encouraged further warmth in the shot bottom right in the panel above using a LUT in Lightroom. The rich, warmth of this look will be better placed alongside his paintings in books and catalogues.

Lighting: Godox AD1200pro with 70cm softbox and grid
Camera: Fujifilm GFX 50s with GF 32-64mm and 110mm lenses
Tripod: Nova T20 with Benro ball head and RRS lever lock plate

This location caught my eye on Google Earth and I just had to drive the few thousand kilometres to check it out. I did a recce with my friend Dave and we went back the next day to shoot with Martina. There are so many shoot spots here and absolutely no graffiti. I’m saving this location for my workshop clients in 2021 before revealing its whereabouts.

Smoke can make a big difference to a shot. I love the randomness of real smoke on set.

The long walk home. I gave this shot a 16×9 crop to make it feel more cinematic.

Camera: Fujifilm GFX50s, GF23-64mm and GF110mm lenses, Novo tripod
Lights: Godox AD200 flash with Scatterflash modifier
Smoke: Scotty 2 smoke machine

I love the way that the smoke adds depth to the shot. I was lucky with the sunlight for the shot of Kate bottom right. I used a Scatterflash on all the ‘lit’ shots in this blog post.

I used a really simple lighting rig for these shots. Nothing too pricy and kit that is easy to use. I taught how to balance ambient light with flash, retaining shadow and highlight detail yet keeping the pictures punchy. If you like this style then connect with me here and I’ll keep you in the loop of upcoming workshops and tours.

Free video tutorial

In this short yet sweet 8 minute video, I share with you how I create a portrait shot from scratch using flash. I show you how I combine the flash and ambient light, the camera settings I use, and how to dial it all in. The end result is a bit of magic. Enjoy.

Feel free to ask me questions below.

If you want to know more about using off-camera flash I suggest you join me on an Urban Portraits workshop. All the details are here.

In the summer of 2020, in the month between lockdowns, I got into my car and drove to Italy. It was a road trip mainly for pleasure with plenty of photography practice built-in. I set up a few shoots along the way with models that I had discovered on Instagram. On my way through Switzerland, I stayed in Fribourg and met up with a friend, Keren Bisaz, for a fun shoot with Amelia.

1. I am putting a book together called Gold Dress so I tend to use this dress quite a bit at the moment in my personal work. I lit Amelia with a single Godox AD200 fitted with a Scatterflash attachment using the ‘Crunch’ gel. This gives beautifully dappled light and creates a bit of magic in the process.

2. Right opposite my hotel entrance was this shuttered window and I thought it would make an interesting photograph. I bought the dress that Amelia is wearing on Alibaba and it worked really well for my road trip shoots.

3. I used reflected sunlight for the shot on the left and the Godox with a Scatterflash for the shots on the right.

The shot on the left was not meant to be, because it was just a random capture that I took before setting up my light and arranging the shots on the right. When I got back to my studio I loved the softness of the light and with a bit of shadow lift in Lightroom the picture took on quite an etherial look. I just wish I had sorted out Amelia’s hair and taken several new frames without poor timing relative to blinks etc. The thing is, I learned something new, so expect to see this kind of wistful tonal balance popping up in my work over the next few months.

4. The top shot here is lit using the Godox AD200 and Scatterflash from high and to the right of the shot. The bottom two shots are lit with sunlight.

5. I wanted sunlight to come through the window but we were at this empty mansion on the wrong time of the day. I decided to make my own sun using the Godox AD200 with a Scatterflash on a high stand out in the garden. I fitted a ½ CTO gel to warm up the light and to allow me to set the room to a colder balance. I used the flash on full power.

6. A Tiffen ½ Black Pro Mist filter on my lens gave the top shots here a halated look that I love. The shot at the bottom was for a moody child narrative. I love the way Amelia is slunk down with her heels on the floor.

Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments section below about these pictures, the lighting or the techniques used.

A Road Trip To Remember

Having stopped off at the Alfa Romeo museum near Milan I headed south to Rome to meet up with Martina Belacima for a couple of shoots. We have shot many times before and although Martina doesnt speak English we get on just fine especially with her friend Francesco translating for us.

01. We started our shoot in a woodland with big boulders and it gave us an opportunity to reconnect and put some shots on the SD card. I used a Godox AD200 flash and a Scatterflash attachment for the top and right hand shots.

02. I used my favourite shutter speed for moving water of 1/15th second and I added a spash of flash from a Godox AD200 pro fitted with a Scatterflash attachment. The flash was rigged in the water in order to get the direction of light far enough away from my camera angle.

This behind the scenes video shows my flash rig and Francesco wafting the smoke using my Scotty 11 smoke machine that I bought from ‘The Smoke Factory’ in Germany.

Click on the magazine picture to read what I had to say in the feature article. It was a small part of a larger item on the camera settings used by professional photographers. In the piece, I describe my setup to ‘get it right in camera’ and the strategy behind those settings.

It’s always a pleasure to get my work published in magazines and especially so when the editors are super experienced, talented, and have been in the industry nearly as long as me.

03. Downstream from the waterfall, through the tunnel of love, are the ruins of an old mill. I popped a bit of smoke in and used the same AD200 rig to light Martina. Now, you might be wondering “Why does Damien shoot the gold dress a lot?” Well, it’s because I’m working on a book and a boxed set of photographic prints called Gold Dress. More details will follow shortly.

04. This abandoned convent was a spectacular location to shoot in. I popped the AD200 behind the pillar and rigged it with Scatterflash in my usual way. I set the exposure for the deep blue daylight in the forground shadows.

05. I decided to include a couple more behind the scenes shots in responce to requests for more of this kind of thing. I always use a tripod so taking a frame with the flash in shot and then taking another identical shot but without the flash is an easy process. It takes seconds to remove the flash from the hero image in Photoshop later.

While I was in the Rome area, I met up with a friend Dave who flew in from Munich to join me for a couple of days of shooting and a few nights of drinking the fine wines of the region. I find it’s good to share experiences in life.

06. I was intreagued by the hole cut in the limestone pavement and then it dawned on me. This is where they cut the mill stone out of the bed rock and then they had to break away the side piece on the right to free the stone. I asked Martina to relax there for a while so that I could get this shot. The dappled light here was created by sunlight coming through the trees beyond.

Gear list

• Fujifilm GFX50s camera
• Fujifilm GF32-64mm and GF110mm lenses
• Nova T20 tripod, Benro ball head, RRS quick release plate
• Godox AD200 Pro flash head on a Lowel Grand Stand
• Scatterflash attachment for the Godox AD200 fresnel head

Come and Join us! Martina and I, along with a bunch of other passionate photographers will be attending my workshop in Tuscany this September. At the time of writing, there is just one place left. Failing that, there is always next year, so please do check out Lovegrove Adventures from time to time or join my mailing list to be kept up to date when something new gets announced. I don’t spam, I just message out one or twice a month.

Please leave any comments or questions in the section below.

Thank you for getting this far, Damien.

These two new galleries of black and white and colour images showcase the work of Damien Lovegrove with the Fujifilm GFX system. Over the past four years these lenses have accounted for 95% of his photographs.

Fujifilm GF110mm F2 R LM WR lens

This is a gallery of 90 photographs that clearly show the characteristics of the fabulous GF110mm lens. This lens is widely regarded as the crown jewels of the Fujifilm GFX system.

A life on the road

~ The world is my studio and I love shooting in a wide variety of interesting locations. My life is all the more exciting for it as I meet interesting people and see amazing places on the way. The Covid 19 Lockdowns have been hard for me, but now at the time of writing, the world is slowly opening up once again.

The scouting process starts with scouring Google Earth for potential locations and then involves putting pins in Google maps. The next step is to go and do reconnaissance or a recce. Once I’ve checked out the potential shoot spots I assess the hazards and safety issues that might occur when shooting with a model.

I love abandoned places. The textures and simplicity of places like these make wonderful portrait shoot spots. This collection of portraits were shot in the USA, Spain and Italy. As the economy of these countries improves more and more of these locations are being renovated and becoming lost. I like to shoot while I have the chance as time is running out for a lot of these places.

I avoid grafitti and tagging. The further I travel away from urban sprawl the cleaner the locations seem to be. A 4×4 vehicle is a must as the tracks leading to these shoot zones are often overgrown. This collection of pictures were shot in France, Italy, Spain and England.

These photographs were taken in Cuba, Singapore, Italy, Cambodia and England.

Some locations are just too colourful or saturated with one heavy colour tone throughout. In those situations I set my camera to black and white to simplify the image and to help my composition at the shooting stage. The locations here are in Fuerteventura, Spain, Cambodia and England.

The faded industrial zones of Europe provide some fabulous places to shoot portraits and fashion. This collection is made up of shots taken in an abandoned coal mine, a factory and a ship repair yard in Belgium, a dissused sugar factory in Italy, and other locations in Poland and England.

Abandoned monestaries, chapels, casinos and convents are superb shoot spots and quite easy to find. I just have to do a spot of research to find them. The pictures in this panel were taken in Italy, Switzerland, Cambodia, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, and England. Local knowledge helps too.

No matter what country I’m in I’ll try to seek out the best places to shoot. Sometimes my requirements are extensive, especially if I’m running a workshop. I’ll need washroom facilities, catering, and a safe environment for us to shoot in. The locations in this set are in Norway, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and England.

The grandest of houses and palaces are exciting places to shoot in. Extra care must be taken during the rig and shoot. I use rubber feet instead of spikes on my tripod and I work from battery power to avoid tapping into electrical supplies that might be historical. The locations here are in Switzerland, Italy and England.

Styling is important too. Especially when I want to match the look with the location.

If you have or know of a fabulous location or several decent locations close to each other leave a comment below asking me to contact you, or message me here. I’ll be in touch and let’s see how we can collaborate. I have a location budget that I can tap into to help secure the best spots.

Join me on a portrait shoot adventure this summer and discover the places that make location portraiture exciting. Workshop and adventure Information is here.

Queensbury, the company behind my global fulfilment are based in New Zealand and have decades of experience of delivering fabulous photography albums, prints and frames to a global client base.

The Print Shop platform by Queensbury has allowed me to build an online shop showcasing my work. I’ve started with a collection of thirty mildly erotic photographs but I’ll expand the collection into other genres as this project progresses.

It took me about a week of work to get this print shop up and running and now it’s a case of adding more photographs and back linking to them from my galleries. Please feel free to suggest photographs to add. An photographer rarely makes a good picture editor and that is very true in my case.

If you’ve been one of my first customers, Thank you.

I’d love to see a photograph of you with your print, or a shot of your new framed canvas in situ.

In this short yet sweet 10 minute video, I share with you how I create a couple of portraits from scratch using just one flash. I show you how I combine the flash and ambient light, the camera settings that I use, and how I dial it all in. The end result is a bit of magic. Enjoy.

A free video tutorial

Feel free to ask me questions below.

If you want to know more about using off-camera flash I suggest you join me on an Urban Portraits workshop. All the details are here.

This is a collection of photographs of Carla Monaco taken in Bristol during my Urban Portraits workshops in July 2021. The aims of the workshops are to teach how to find and use great light in the urban environment and how to create light using one off-camera flash head. The spin-offs are plentiful as I guide the craft skills of the photographers in the group.

1. The old railway wagons on the waterfront sidings make a great shoot location. I’ve given these shots an autumnal look with a LUT in Lightroom.

I usually run these workshops on weekdays between early May and mid July each year. That is when the weather tends to be warm enough to shoot outside all day and when school children are in class studying. On weekends and school holidays the city centre of Bristol is overrun with people enjoying themselves. Bristol is my favourite city in the UK and a happy stress free place to shoot. We can shoot under cover if it is raining too.

2. This simple sunlit shot was converted to black and white in Lightroom using the Fujifilm Acros G film simulation.

3. The top left and right shots were lit with sunlight and the bottom left shot was lit using a Godox AD200 on a lighting stand. I have Godox flash triggers for every make of camera and at some point in the day I cover how to balance the ambient and flash lighting in the shot using both regular sync and high speed sync. This can be quite hard to grasp without expert guidence. I use a simple to understand holistic approach to using flash and with my proven technique you can have full control of your flash without using a light meter.

4. Being able to use flash to create some visual drama when the light is dull or if it is raining is a useful tool to have in the box.

5. These naturally lit shots were taken in a location that not many photographers would choose to shoot in but the light there is magical. I used the GF110mm lens wide open at f/2 for these closer shots of Carla. On this workshop, I teach how to spot the potential for magical pictures in seemingly dark or dingy places and this can prove very useful indeed.

6. The shot on the left is taken with natural light and I used a Godox AD200 with a’crunch’ Scatterflash for the shot on the right. I used the flash to create the dappled pattern on the background and to light Carla too. This dual purpose using one flash to light the subject and the background without the shadow of the subject in the shot is gold dust.

7. I showed my group how to work with multiple types of reflection and how to find shadowless natural light whatever the weather.

8. One of my favourite shooting zones delivers soft beautifil lighting.

9. And finally, we shot under the trees on the waterfront. It’s a location that I used to use for my pre wedding shoots back in the day.

The aim of the day was to avoid any obvious Bristol landmarks and to concentrate on keeping the focus of attention on Carla Monaco. The shots that we take on this workshop are largely transferable to other cities around the world.

Join me next year when my workshops start up again in May. You can register you interest here.

Camera: GFX50s II (pre-production)
Lenses: GF 35-70mm (pre-production), GF 110mm, GF 250mm
Lighting: Ambient plus occasional use of Godox AD200
Camera Support: Gitzo 2552 monopod with RRS head and a rotator device
Styling & concept: Damien Lovegrove

Head In The Sand I love deserts, fluffy dresses too. I saw this baby blue skirt for sale online and just had to have it. The fine white windswept sand on Fuerteventura makes a beautiful background for a shot like this. All the photographs in this post are from in camera jpegs. Fujifilm GFX 50s II with the GF 250mm lens – 1/1600th second at f/4, ISO 640. (The odd ISO value is because I knocked the dial unknowingly). There are no locks on the thumb and first finger wheel. It is going to take some time to get used to using this camera if you are coming from the 50s.

Fujifilm GFX50s II

Pre production copies of both the GFX 50s II and the GF 35-70mm lens were kindly sent to me at the end of July. I had a planned trip to Fuerteventura to recce locations for a workshop and it gave me a great opportunity to give this new kit a run down in a typical shooting environment.

Top left: The only way to distinguish the 50s II from a 100s is the notation on the side door. Note that the tilting screen comes away from the body to clear the protruding viewfinder. Top right: The large screen on the top plate can be also configured to show virtual dials. Bottom left: The MASP dial has stolen the place of the ISO dial. Bottom Right: The L-plate from a 100s fits the 50s II like a glove. The lower profile of the viewfinder looks great and overall this camera is far prettier than its predecessor.

I met up with my long term friend Wlada because she happened to be on a neighbouring Island. She popped over on the ferry. We had a few laughs and put the world to rights as we drove between the potential locations. Fujifilm GFX 50s II with the GF 35-70mm lens at 45mm – 1/200th second at f/16, ISO 200. I chose f/16 because I wanted the foreground, mid ground and background in focus. The lens coped very well at f/16.

The law of diminishing returns

It has finally come, that day when Moore’s Law died. From way back in 2001 when I stoped shooting film and started to shoot digitally, every two years or so, a camera upgrade was released that doubled the image quality of its predecessor. I noticed the diminishing returns first with the Fujifilm X series with barely any distinguishable difference in observable image quality from the X-T1 to the X-T4 and now the GFX has reached this point. No amount of pixel count increase will deliver substantial gains in image quality in a lens limited system. We have to ask ourselves is the image quality from the 100mp sensor twice as good as the 50mp sensor? My answer is definately no. The 100mp does has more detail in the centre of the frame for sure but this is not always a good thing. I’ve shot both the GFX100 and the GFX50s side by side and I prefer the 50s look. There is a creamyness and characteristic in the 50s images that reminds me of the original X-Pro1 files. The tonality, smoothness of detail and resolution are a perfect combination for my portraiture. By contrast there is an unnecessary amount of detail for people photography in the 100 sensor and Fujifilm have introduced a “Smooth Skin Effect” feature to smudge it out a bit. I realise the sensor debate is a bit like the LPs vs CDs one. The clever and far more technically advanced 100mp sensor is playing the part of the CD and the simple but pure 50mp sensor is the LP. The 100mp sensor wins the debate on paper but that’s not really what matters. Ultimately it comes down to the print.

Four and a half years ago the GFX50s set the benchmark for image quality and to be honest 50mp is more than enough for people photography. It is the sweet spot and where I want to remain. With this in mind the GFX50s II is an interesting proposition. The same great image quality within a redesigned body with IBIS and a faster processor. What is there not to like? and is it a worthwhile upgrade for GFX 50s owners? Read on to find out.

Our scouting sessions on the island of Fuerteventura took in a variety of locations including this bus stop seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I love the slightly surreal nature of this shot. Wlada had a go at levitating :) Fujifilm GFX 50s II with the GF 35-70mm lens at 59mm – 1/800th second at f/5.2, ISO 200

Volcanoes, lava flows, deserts, wind and heat sum up the core of Fuerteventura. I love the isolation and solitude that places like these evoke. Fujifilm GFX 50s II with the GF 35-70mm lens at 70mm – 1/800th second at f/5.6, ISO 125. By day three I was becoming familiar with the dials and lack of knobs on the GFX50s II.

Who is the GFX50s II for?

The GFX50s mark 2, as it will no doubt be called is aimed squarely at photographers upgrading from full frame or APSC cameras who want to experience the fabulous image quality that this larger format sensor delivers. People who are happy with a relaxed way of shooting. This camera is made for photographers like me, who shoot fairly static subjects and who don’t mind the process of moving the focus point to the exact place needed before each shot. This GFX50s II camera is ideal for some photographers shooting:

• Landscape
• portraiture
• Architecture
• Interiors
• Editorial
• Food
• Product
• Still life

Inteligent AF tracking is not what this camera is about.  Nor is it a walk around fast responce tool. Although the GFX50s II has in body image stabalisation my guess is it will likely to be used on a tripod most of the time.

Should I upgrade from the GFX50s?

This GFX50s 11 camera is an evolution from the GFX50s and as such is not an upgrade. There are significant changes like the introduction of image stabalisation but the lack of a removeable/ tilting viewfinder and the loss of the dedicated dials is a backwards step in my eyes. I guess you could call it an updated camera rather than an upgraded camera.

Case study

My GFX50s is 4½ years old now and is showing significant signs of wear. I’ve had excellent use out of the camera as I have used it for every shoot over those years. It owes me nothing. Alongside the GFX 50s I’ve had an X series kit including four lenses gathering dust as a backup, just in case I needed it but luckily I haven’t had any issues yet.

Now I have the opportunity to buy a brand new GFX camera complete with a kit lens at a remarkable price. That will relegate my trusty GFX50s to be my back up solution for my professional work. I’ll put the ‘kit lens’ on the 50s and then sell off my complete X series kit reducing the cost of the update.

The GFX50s II should represent an excellent return on my investment, especially if I get another 4 or 5 years of service from it. That will see me through to retirement. The cost per use is important to me as a professional photographer. If my GFX50s was only two years old I would not be buying this mk2 version now. I’d wait a couple more years until my 50s had earned its keep.

Will I buy the GFX50s II?

Yes, I’ve got my order in already.

Fujifilm GFX 50s II with the GF 35-70mm lens at 35mm – 1/800th second at f/5.6, ISO 100

The GF 35-70mm zoom lens

That is it on the left. The ultra compact GF35-70mm mini marvel of a lens. I loved how lightweight the 50s II camera felt with this 35-70mm lens attached. The lens performed well considering its size and weight. I can hear them now, the old school folk who say “a good lens has to be prime and it has to be fast”. This is neither but the GF35-70mm lens is fabulous. I’d even consider taking this camera/ lens combination on holiday.

Comparison with the GF 32-64mm zoom lens

Who would have though that 3mm would make such a big difference? On many occasions I found myself stepping back a little further than I’d like to get the shot. This in turn reduced the intimacy so that 3mm is important to me. The 32-64mm lens is sharper in the corners wide open and is not going to be replaced by this young pretender any time soon. If I were putting together a kit around this tiny 35-70mm lens I’d want to add the GF 30mm prime to my bag so maybe there is little bag weight difference in the end. With the camera on a tripod the weight of the camera lens combination becomes less of an issue.

Will I buy the GF 35-70?

Yes, I’ll take that too please as part of a ‘kit’. I’ll pop it on my 50s mk1 and that will become my backup kit. I really enjoyed shooting with this lens and I’d be happy to shoot any professional assignment with it.

Top L&R: Fujifilm GFX 50s II with the GF 35-70mm lens at 50mm – 1/320th second at f/8, ISO 200. Bottom Fujifilm GFX 50s II with the GF 110mm lens – 1/2000th second at f/2.8, ISO 100. These are just a few of our shoot locations that I’ve lined up for my workshop in 2022.

Lighting: Lupo Superpanel 30, Godox AD200 pro
Camera kit: Fujifilm GFX50s, GF32-64mm f/4, GF110mm f/2, GF250mm f/4
Camera Support: Novo T20 tripod with Benro G2, Gitzo monopod with RRS

Top: This is a famous view in Tuscany and at first light, there are always several workshop groups milling around waiting for the sunrise. Experience has taught me that 09:45 am in early September is the perfect time to shoot the scene. The first reason is by that time, the sunlight is just scooting down the foreground hill lighting the tops of the olive trees nicely and the second reason is all the earlier groups have long gone giving us the freedom to shoot the location from any angle. This shot was made using a 5 exposure panorama technique with my GFX50s in portrait mode. I stitched the shots together automagically in Adobe Lightroom. I normally overlap by about 20% to give the software something to work with and I find the best results come from using a long lens. In this case, I used the fabulous GF250mm f/4 lens set to f/11. Bottom left: This is a 4 shot panorama using the same technique as above. Bottom right: I visit this chapel every year and I shoot using a different technique each time. This shot of Madeleine was lit with the Godox AD200 pro with the fresnel head.

2. Left and Top: Madeleine out and about in the Tuscany countryside. I used the GF250mm lens wide open at f/4 for these shots to minimise the background and to provide separation. Bottom Right: Madeleine sitting on a wall in Pienza, taken using the GF110mm lens. I don’t carry the 250mm around when I’m shooting on the street. I just have one lens on the camera and one in the bag.

Tuscany is fabulous. I’ve been returning each year to run workshops for over 10 years now and it was only in 2020 where I had to cancel the workshop because of Covid. I still went to Tuscany though, I chose to drive down in my Alfa Romeo visiting the fabulous Alfa Romeo Museo on the way. It was masks and safety first back then. This year, in 2021 things had calmed down and as long as we all had a double vaccination Covid Pass on our Apps we were good to go into restaurants etc. This workshop out in the country felt like normal life once again. I’ll be back in Tuscany one last time in 2022 and you can see the workshop details here. At the time of writing there is just one place left. In 2023 I’ll be moving on to new locations. I have so much of the world yet to see and photograph.

3. We snuck into an open doorway in the local town and found this fabulous bench in the entrance hall. Madeleine was lit with the light from the partly opened door.

4. Pienza always delivers surprises. It’s quite a busy tourist town so I try to find little corners to shoot in like this wonderfully simple set of steps leading up to a grand palace. I bought the dress from an online store in the UK called Nasty Girl. Great name :)

5. This little spot is tucked away out of sight in Seggiano. At 15:45pm the sunlight reflected off a distant building and illuminated this spot. 10 minutes later it was gone. When I do my final location checks the week before workshops I visit places at different times of the day and calculate the ideal time to visit to get the best lighting angles from the sun.

6. Seggiano may not look much at first sight. This scene for instance has concrete tiles on the road surface and cement based render on the walls. The key to making great pictures here is to look beyond the weaknesses and to utilise the wonderful crisp sunlight that Italy gives us.

7. We used the window shutters to control the light on Madeleine. Incidentally, I bought the knickers from a retailer in China as they were cute and perfect for a French scene. I didn’t get round to shooting with them in our French Chateau so I popped them in the car for Tuscany. I knew our villa had a bath like this in one of the bedrooms and it was begging to be shot. Thinking ahead is key to bringing all the elements of a shoot together.

8. Closing the shutters further kept the daylight from the windows out of the camera and concentrated on Madeleine.

9. Splish splash. Top: A ¼ strength Tiffen Black Pro Mist filter gave the window light some welcome halation. GF32-64mm lens. Bottom Left and Right: GF 110mm lens

10. In a secret ravine deep in the woods where two rivers meet lies this pool where once a day the sun penetrates the canopy down into to the water.

11. One of my favourite photographs of 2021.

12. Afternoon sunlight on the streets of Seggiano. Madeleine’s hat and a Bardot skater dress from Boohoo. After a siesta during the hottest part of the day the light came good once more and we followed the slashes of light as they moved around town.

13. This ticks all of my boxes with crisp hard sunlight, dappled shadows, a strong graphic element and a strong pose.

14. The fading sun at the end of the day comes good for punchy portraits.

15. What could possibly go wrong? Haha, I can hear me saying it now. Fun with shadows for the last shot of the day. We made our way back to our villa for pre dinner drinks as the sun set.

16. A couple of shots from the bike shed. I really love the shot on the right; deep and reflective thoughts.

17. The bike is a fixer upper. The bottle was placed for effect.

18. These photographs were taken in the cellar of a farmhouse that I’d love to buy. I lit with Madeleine with the Lupo Superpanel. It runs for hours on its battery. We used it turned down to 9% and set it to 3200k to light our dinner table under the stars. The hat was bought in a street market in Rimini ten years ago and I’ve now retired it. The skirt is something I cobbled together with a bit of tulle.

19. I kept this shot darker to emulate the tonality of the grand master painters.

20. Daylight at 90° and real texture are wonderful condiments to a beautiful portrait.

21. From country girl in rags to Bond girl. Madeleine has the looks. This infinity pool and beach was at our villa so I felt compelled to use it.

As you can see Madeleine is a very versatile model with confidence and beauty. She is a pleasure to shoot with and that is why I have booked her to model for us on my Fuerteventura workshop in April 2022. At the time of writing there are just two places left. Do join us for three days of fun in the sun. Details.

Lighting: Lupo Superpanel 30, Lupo Dual Colour 1000 and 650
Camera kit: Fujifilm GFX50s, GF32-64mm, GF110mm and GF250mm
Tripod: Novo T20 with Benro G2 ball head and an RRS quick release plate
Atmospherics: Scotty 2 smoke machine

1. Our first workshop session with Simona got off to a great start at this abandoned railway workers hut. I placed the bottles on the mantlepiece for aesthetic reasons and removed the green fly screen from the window shutters. I directed Simona as each photographer shot in turn. The natural light in the room was wonderful and just needed a bit of control with the window shutter.

Simona joined us from Rome, driving up in her cool convertible. This kind of photography in abandoned places was new for her and once we got going we really settled into a wonderful shoot. I hadn’t shot with Simona before so I had arranged for a day of test shooting prior to my clients arriving for the first of our two workshops. These shakedown sessions are great for building rapport, aligning creative styles and figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

I always share all of my images with my models as this helps them see my thought processes and the progression of a shoot with respect to direction. I just give them the camera and show them the playback controls and the delete button. When I’ve given a simple direction like “relax your shoulders” my model can toggle between the before and after shots to see the difference.

2. This is just half of the shot as captured because the framing was similar to that of the shot below. It’s rare that I crop hard like this, but when working with the GFX 50s it is easy to crop down without sacrificing detail. Many times, magazine editors have pulled cover shots out of my horizontal compositions shot on GFX.

3. I love this abandoned farmhouse. The views are delightful and the structure is sound. It is the kind of place I could live in once restored. Next year, when I pop back for this workshop, I’ll ask around for the owners contact details. Simona was lit with the Lupo Superpanel.

4. The cellar of the same farmhouse once housed the cattle in the winter. The body heat from the animals working their way up through the house, a bit like an underfloor heating system that runs on hay. This shot of Simona is one of my favourites of 2021. I lit her with the battery powered Lupo Superpanel and balanced the lighting of the scene for the foreground, background and subject. Selecting the direction and angle of the light along with careful feathering is a skill that I share with the photographers on the workshop. Once they have seen the process from start to finish they are empowered to create simple and beautiful shots like this. One key element to making a shot like this work is to be in control of shadow detail. The great master painters of the past rendered the finest of detail in the shadows that surrounded their portraits and I like to do the same.

5. Left: At a quarter past four on a hot September afternoon the sun streaks through the broken roof of the station onto the abandoned platform. Both: Crisp, hard, sunlight is a favourite light source of mine for portraiture. Black and white is a great way to render high contrast scenes too. Because we don’t see the world in black and white we can really bump up the contrast and drama in the tonality of a photograph without it looking wrong.

Out of the twenty eight shots here, eight of them have eye contact and that is probably too many. I love a bit of mystery and the sense of remote observation of a moment.

6. When the sun went hazy we had a great opportunity to capture soft delicate tones in our shots of Simona whilst maintaining crisp hard shadows. This location was at an abandoned railway station. The hat came from a street market in Rimini 10 years ago and I’ve retired it now.

7. The rendering is a bit slap dash, the paint work is a bit slap dash too, but I love it. I couldn’t get away with that where I live in the village of Wedmore, Somerset.  The oblique sunlight reveals the textures and the anonymity afforded by the straw hat allows the viewers eyes to linger.

8. Left: There is so much to take in at an abandoned station like this and the technique that I use is to isolate. A telephoto does that well by cutting out the majority of the background. A bit of the water tank and the old rails give enough detail to build the narrative. Right: Simona waiting for her train to come in. Lost in a thousand thoughts in transition between a broken past and a hopeful future. Incidentally I love those lace up gladiator sandals.

9. This Sorcerer’s Pool of Redemption and the Secret Cascade are set deep in a valley, far from the bustle of daily life in the hilltop town just four kilometres away to the South. I directed the action for Simona and used 1/500th second to capture the water beautifully.

10. Ancient olive trees and fields of lavender surrounded our Tuscan villa and I used the GF250mm lens to capture this set.

11. Simona

12. Top Left: I decided to use a couple of Lupo fresnel spotlights for a quick set up in our villa. The camera is at 90° to the lights here. Right: I moved the camera round under the key light to take this shot with the same lighting rig. Bottom Left: This shot taken moments before is lit with available light. Notice the same classic two point lighting.

13. The light from a Superpanel glances Simona in this cool dark basement.

14. I used the Superpanel here to provide a kick light on Simona. The fabulous metallic dress is Simona’s.

In just a couple of days we covered so many set ups and had a lot of creative fun along the way. The GFX 50s was the perfect camera for this shoot for sure. There is more than enough detail, perhaps too much at times. I’ve replaced it with a 50s ll for the 2022 season and the 50s will become my back up kit.

15. I love this scene so much I want to share a different frame with you. The puff of smoke added a another dimension. We were at the location by 10am to get the morning sunlight through the trees. By 10:30am the lighting had gone and the moment was over.

I’d like to thank Simona for her total commitment and professionalism. Modelling for a workshop requires patience and energy. I’ll definitely be photographing Simona again. Perhaps in the South of Italy, near Matera.

If you want to join me in Italy in 2022 you can see the details here. At the time of writing, there is just one place left.