In The Mood For Love
After several photo sessions with this beautiful couple, I decided to bring everything together and turn it into a kind of project, almost like a documentary series about them.
One of my favorite photos of all time. Shot with the Hasselblad 500CM and Kodak Portra 400.
Chapter One
We began with the very first photos, back when I began shooting on film with my first 35mm camera, a Pentax Spotmatic.
This was the first time I used Fomapan 200, and wow! It really surprised me.
Their natural connection made everything fall into place.
My fave from this session.
Still in the mood for experimenting with the roll, it was on the first decent street we found that I shot this very short session, hoping at least one frame would turn out well, and that would be enough.
Contact Sheet
With this couple, something magical happens: I need no artistic direction. I simply stand there, photographing them, while ideas rise naturally between us.
To my surprise, several images revealed themselves. Fomapan 200 astonished me. I carry a love/hate relationship with this film, a stock with undeniable character.
Chapter Two
Pentax k2 and Hasselblad 500cm both with Cinestill 800T
I followed them as they walked their dog, Apollo, and kept photographing a little longer. The landscape…fields, vineyards, and winding dirt roads, felt made for them. With my Pentax K2 and Hasselblad 500CM, both loaded with Cinestill 800T, I captured moments that lived somewhere between posing and pure documentary.
The only problem was that we were already drifting into the blue hour, and I had no tripod with me. I could have embraced motion instead, letting blur and movement take over, where a tripod wouldn’t be needed and the images might have become even more artistic.
It was a session filled with mood, a late afternoon beautifully spent, doing what I love most.
The Last Chapter
This session leaves its doors open to many interpretations.
All I can say is that they were not upset, they were tender, deeply connected, even if a certain tension seems to linger in the images.
In the end, it becomes a subjective session, one that gives wings to the imagination.
For this, I also used the Hasselblad 500cm with Kodak Portra 400, and the Pentax Spotmatic with Cinestill 800T.
This session was incredible and deeply special to me. I imagined the scene, prepared the lights, and released the shutter at one second.
The mere fact that the couple managed to remain still for a full second without blurring was, in itself, a small technical miracle.
This photo is one of my favorites of all time, the cinematic mood, the couple, their expressions inviting endless interpretations, lending it a mystical aura.
The Tiffen Black Pro-Mist diffuser on the lens played its part as a secret ingredient, completing the final look.
Moving forward, this is exactly what I want to do more often: create inspiring, cinematic sessions.
