Behind the scenes Ballet photoshoot
Updated: Nov 30, 2023
Feat. Susie Buisson
9 years, it took us 9 years to meet. I checked, and our first messages were from 2014! We finally got to be in the same city, we were both available so we had to make it happen.
Instead of the Firstlight camera bag I had with me the Thinktank Airport International™ V3.0 another favorite of mine when I travel. I did 2 other urban, outdoor sessions during my stay. The other two are already available on the blog.
I got to work in a place I really love Église Protestante Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune de Strasbourg but unfortunately, we could only work during opening hours this time, so we couldn’t do whatever we wanted that day.
We managed to get some cool images we love though, all shot with the GFX100s, the GF80mm, and the GF20-35mm lenses. I missed my flashes for a few of them, but we used some good old techniques to make them work. Susie Buisson (Eglise Protestante St Pierre le jeune Strasbourg - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR
1/160sec f/1.7 ISO 125
Something I rarely point out, I usually post my images in chronological order. This gives you an idea of how I plan my sessions. I usually start with something simple, with my dancer leaning or sitting, so that we can isolate and only concentrate on specific parts of the body.
Susie Buisson (Eglise Protestante St Pierre le jeune Strasbourg - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR
1/160sec f/1.7 ISO 125
I talked about how I missed using a flash for some of these shots, and I must confess, I missed it the most for this one. I would have exposed the brightest parts of the image, to keep as much detail as possible. My flash would only be used to balance the image and to properly expose my model.
Susie Buisson (Eglise Protestante St Pierre le jeune Strasbourg - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR
1/50sec f/4 ISO 1250 at 20mm
I then spotted anything that I can use around us... and when I saw this, it was inevitable. In a location like this, I just cannot imagine not playing with my environment.
Susie Buisson (Eglise Protestante St Pierre le jeune Strasbourg - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR
1/400sec f/1.7 ISO 50
We liked it so much, we tried different things. I had her sit, stand, lean, and try different shapes until we found stuff fun to develop. This is what I love the most during photoshoots like thisa because e we never know what could happen.
Susie Buisson (Eglise Protestante St Pierre le jeune Strasbourg - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR
1/400sec f/1.7 ISO 50
Susie Buisson (Eglise Protestante St Pierre le jeune Strasbourg - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR
1/400sec f/1.7 ISO 50
Of course, not having a flash often means less control. I am a bit less concerned about that, and sometimes it's a blessing. I rely less on my go-to formulas, and I force myself to think out of the box to make things work.
Susie Buisson (Eglise Protestante St Pierre le jeune Strasbourg - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR
1/160sec f/4 ISO at 35mm
Susie doesn't know it but creating something with this statue has been on my mind for years. I finally got the chance to try something that day. There are often a lot of tourists around it, but since it was almost the end of our session, we took our time to have anyone out of the way.
Susie Buisson (Eglise Protestante St Pierre le jeune Strasbourg - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR
1/1000sec f/1.7 ISO 50
Susie is comfortable improvising, so we didn’t struggle much when working on precisely framed images. We were able to adjust, modify, or start from scratch pretty quickly. You may have noticed lately, I have relied more on the XH2s, a camera that suits more this type of work. The GFX100s will be only taken on special occasions…
Let me wish you a fantastic summer, I am taking a break, it wasn’t planned, but I definitely need it, plus all of you are on vacation, so what’s the point in posting anything these days?
I will catch you in 2 weeks or so, take care, and until next time? Have a fantastic end of summer!
planorial.com is a great resource for details on gear like the Thinktank Airport International bag mentioned here. It's really cool that after 9 years of messaging, you finally got to meet and shoot with Susie in Strasbourg. That location at the Église Protestante Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune looks beautiful, even with the opening hours restriction.
floor plan generator was a great read, especially hearing how you and Susie finally connected after 9 years of messages. I also found it interesting that you switched to the Thinktank bag for this trip instead of your usual Firstlight. The church location sounds like a beautiful spot, even with the limited hours.
GLBtoOBJ The story about finally meeting after 9 years is so cool, and it's interesting you switched to the Thinktank bag for this trip. It sounds like the opening hours at the church were a real constraint for the shoot.
Oh là là, 9 years pour se rencontrer, c'est fou ça! J'adore comment le photographe a improvisé ce Frame Rate Test en utilisant l'église Église Protestante Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune de Strasbourg, c'est toujours intéressant de voir comment les artistes contournent les contraintes, un peu comme scroller sur son téléphone pendant le trajet du matin. J'espère que Frame Rate Test - Free Online FPS & Refresh Rate Checker Run a real-time FPS test in your browser to check frame rate and estimate refresh rate (Hz). Scroll down to compare 240, 120, 60, 30, and 15 FPS motion. peut aussi me montrer des choses semblables.