Hello from winter wonderland and the cottage 👋🏻The clear blue sky, the bright light and the crispy fresh air reminds me to be grateful for the magic of every season 🙏🏻 January is precious in its own way and it’s the perfect opportunity to restart, reset and refocus. 12 new chapters. 365 new chances. Let’s go🥳
I HOPE THIS NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU…
❄️ Courage to try again
❄️ Passion for doing what you love
❄️ Moments of rest & rejuvenation
❄️ Resilience in overcoming obstacles
❄️ Trust in your abilities & intuition
❄️ Kindness and compassion for yourself and others
In 2024 I’m super excited to host new photography workshops and online courses and I would love for you to join me. In May I will host a 2-day still life workshop in Aarhus and in June it will be a nature and landscape focused retreat in the Danish countryside. This will be my very first workshop in the cottage – something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and now I’m finally doing it. YES!
So if this is the year you want to up level your photography skills, reboot your creativity and finetune your photography style check out my courses here >>
I was suddenly thrown back down memory lane to my time as a portrait photographer when I got an email recently. The email was from Helena, a wonderful person and model I had worked with a few times in the past.
“Are you up for a spontane shoot?” she asked. I didn’t have to think long about it and said YES!
Heck, I wanted to find out if I still had it in me to shoot styled portraits. It took me a minute for my foggy pre-menopause brain to count the years… gosh..it had been 8 years since I was in the business of the beauty/glamour/fashion portrait niche and then shifted to Lifestyle photography.
I was excited to see Helena again. Of all the people I’ve worked with in my time as a photographer she was one of those I remembered. A kind soul, down-to-earth, professionel and fun to work with.
When we met at my house, it was like the years didn’t matter. We clicked right away and quickly decided on a plan for our shoot.
Helena’s goal was to get some new photos for her model portfolio, and I saw the opportunity to test four different cameras against one another, (yes, I’m a gear geek) while I investigated how I felt shooting portraits again.
Helena and I decided to use my garden as our shooting location as we had limited time available for our session. I had a lot of fun styling the “boheme-girl laundry scene” and loved using the garden as our backdrop.
For this portrait session I tested:
>> Canon R6 Mark ii (Mirrorless)
>> Canon EOS 5D Mark IV (DSLR)
>> Fujifilm X-E1 (Mirrorless)
>> iPhone 13
I had just gotten a new camera; the Canon R6 and this photo session was my first time shooting with it. And because I wasn’t 100% comfortable with the camera yet, I decided to also use my beloved long time friend; the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.
And as always, I love to test other types of cameras up against the professional ones. So I picked a 10-year old Fujifilm X-E1 that I hadn’t used for 8 years and then last but not least the iPhone camera – I have iPhone 13 Plus. You can read under each image what camera it was shot with.
It’s easy to see that the iPhone images and the Fujifilm images are more grainy and low in quality. But somehow it gives that vintage feeling. I like that it’s a little less perfect. It adds a bit of charm.
I didn’t feel very comfortable shooting with the new Canon R6 but when I uploaded the photos to the computer I was pleased to see the quality and now I’m motivated to make friends with it.
As you’ll properly notice, I ended up using the Canon 5D the most and the reason for that is because I know it so well I don’t have to think when I use it. With the other cameras I had to be much more aware of what I was doing, which is not a bad thing just more time-consuming.
I will write more about my experience with the Canon R6 Mirrorless in the near future. In case you consider upgrading to this camera it might help you make your decision.
While giving my studio a good autumnal cleanup I looked through some old storage boxes. To my surprise I found a special lens among my photography gear that I had forgotten all about; a Lensbaby Velvet 85.
I bought it a couple of years ago but never got into the habit of using it. I was curious to see what it could do, so I immediately took it out to test it in the garden.
Luckily, there’s still a few flowers left even though the autumn weather has arrived and the night frost is getting closer.
So in case you haven’t heard of a Lensbaby before; it’s a series of special camera lenses designed for playful photography; encouraging photographers to see in a new way.
The lenses are designed to force you to think out of the box, let go of perfection, and break free of expectations. It can give effects playing with the mix of selective focus and bokeh/blurry effects.
A Lensbaby can take time to master and get to know. I personally find it challenging because a Lensbaby only offer manual focus and so it takes a bit of work to get the sharpness right.
I want to mention that I was shooting handheld because I was literally running in and out whenever there was a short break from the rain. This is not the most ideal way to shoot with a Lens that only has manual focus.
To get the images sharp in the area you want, it’s best to put the camera on a tripod, and then use the liveview screen to set the focus by using the zoom function. This will make sure that the image is perfectly sharp.
The lens I used for these flower photos is the Lensbaby Velvet 85 and it’s actually made for photographers wanting to create dreamy, artistic portrait photography, but I have yet to test it for that.
There’s an entire family of lensbaby lenses that all offers different creative styles. I also have the Lensbaby Composer Edge 80 which I will dust off and take for a playdate in the countryside next week.
What is fascinating with these lenses are their ability to create a delicious blurry/soft background, and also the photos have a film-like atmosphere. Of course, I have edited these pictures to convey that film-like style which add even further to that mood.
So do I love the Lensbaby Velvet 85?
It’s too early in our relationship to say😆 I will still have to test it for portraits and landscape/travel photography. But I’m very curious and excited to use this lens more and see what I can do with it as I get to know it better.
Would I recommend it?
Hmm… if you already own a 100mm macro I’d say save your money. A macro lens will create a similar look and a classic macro lens is easier to work with because it has autofocus.
So who should get a Lensbaby?
I’d say this type of special lens is perfect for photographers who desire a creative challenge. If you have been stuck in a rut for a while creatively I find that it is always great to get playful and perhaps use equipment that you are not so comfortable with. Personally, testing and playing with gear out of my comfort zone helps me stay mindful of my creativity😀