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Fitness photoshoot The importance of photography nowadays and imagery, in general, is constantly growing. Look around you, we are literally surrounded by images. Subways, stores, magazines, blogs, from the streets to our smartphones, images are everywhere. Professionals, entrepreneurs, and brands know that they know that a good picture is inestimable for their growing business. First specialized in Dance photography I decided a few years ago to broaden my competencies. I am now proposing my skills to athletes and all sorts of performers from circus to ballet. I've been regularly working for a wide variety of projects and clients ranging from small businesses to big dance companies. If you need to boost your brand, market yourself, or add credibility to your work, you need professional-looking photos. Only a professional with the required experience, knowledge, and skills can showcase the best out of what you have to offer. I decided last year to slowly share more of my work outside dance photography. Expect more circus photos, sports and athlete portraits, and even more creative personal projects. I'll also regularly share behind the scenes videos to show you how I work and what it takes to make great images. here is an example of a short BTS video I posted on my Instagram: Down below, is the work I've done a few weeks ago with Ex-gymnast and personal trainer Marlène Chameroy in Antibes. I am actually working on the French Riviera (South of France) but I am available worldwide. If you have an interesting and challenging project... I am in! Shot early in the morning, with a little help from a Broncolor Siros L (800w):

Behind the scenes video feat. Ornella and Kevin I captured these images in Cannes (France) a few weeks back. 2 CrossFit athletes and a simple goal: make a series of dark, dramatic shots. I've done a similar video in the past with bikini fitness athlete Priscilla Del Canto back in Strasbourg . Check out the setups I used back then if you haven't already. For this CrossFit session, I used the same technique throughout with a few variations on placement depending on the number of shadows I needed. The lights are almost always facing each other, helping my athlete to pop out of the dark background. The angles of my lights were chosen according to how the muscles were shaped by the shadows. I would start from the side (complete split at a 90 degrees angle) and go slowly to a 45 degrees angle. No use of HSS here, we are inside and not a lot of light was coming in. That is the reason why I am around ISO 160 and at a speed of 1/125th or 1/160th for most shots. I wanted dark but still, keep some details in the background. With these settings, you need a very short flash duration to freeze the action. With the Broncolor Siros L in speed mode, I was sure to get the shots. I used the Beauty box 65 as a Rim/side/backlight with a grid on it for more control and to avoid light spill. Here are a few details on 9 shots from this photoshoot. If the video goes too fast you can now take your time and analyze the diagrams and related pictures. Gear: 5D Canon mark III 24-70 mm 2.8 L mark II 2 x Broncolor Siros L 90 x 120 cm Broncolor softbox 65 cm Beauty box by Broncolor 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8 and 9 share the same setup: The video was filmed by my beloved partner and assistant Marlène, with a GoPro Hero 4. Huge thanks to Ornella Nicolosi and Kevin Fako Rantrua of Crossfit Cannes for letting me make this video.

This article is kind of special... and not in a good way partially). it was the last city of our InMotion 2016 road trip tour and it wasn't supposed to be. Why? Simply because we got robbed in the beautiful city of Lisbon. I am not going to talk about this in this article because we've already discussed this painful event on social media a while back, and it's not worth an entire article. We even talked about it in one of our vlogs so I guess that now that we are in 2017, this belongs to the past. So someone broke into our RV and stole a bunch of our stuff, but did this stop us from continuing? Yes and no... The tour did end, but we are still making images. The mishap put us in a difficult situation financially but we are now (early August 2017) almost seeing the end of the tunnel. If you are following me on social media, you may have seen the Toulouse InMotion special edition made earlier this year, the new series I am trying to produce that was launched in Strasbourg, and I am now temporarily based in Antibes, so people living French Riviera, no more excuses to not work with me. But we'll get to this later in a future blog post. So now that we have definitively turned the page and digested this painful experience, what do we have left? Wonderful memories of a unique adventure (our vlog) and some unique photos. Yes, these 2 photoshoots are the last pictures we officially made on tour last year. So now, let me present you Joana Silva, a unique and lovely human being, who kindly offered us shelter during our stay in Lisbon. She even showed us around and made our Lisbon experience a bit better. A part of being a wonderful host and guide, she is also a talented pole dancer and artist overall! We made a quick night photoshoot together (off-pole), something I do not do often and that I will try and do more in the future. Shot at the Fonte Luminosa, these are some of my favorite shots from the tour: The 2nd photoshoot will not surprise you... it's another ballerina session... Oh yes, I had to, and judging by your reactions on Instagram, you guys prefer when I strictly shoot ballerinas, which I believe is a shame! But hey, I love ballet photography so I will continue to shoot ballet dancers do not worry. Here are the final photos of this tour made with the lovely Isadora Valero Meza. We worked early that day at the MAAT ... the place was quickly crowded with tourists so it wasn't an easy one. Still got a few nice shots, what are your favorites? This article concludes definitively the 2016 tour. It took me some time to get over this but now we can serenely move over.

...in 5 basic steps Nothing revolutionary here, just a few basic tips that you can apply for almost any type of photography or at least if you plan on working outside a studio. 1/ My number one tip is simple, it involves getting out of your house, apartment, or hôtel, or whatever place you are staying in and going out to explore the world. You have to be curious and make scouting a fun part of your creative process. You don't necessarily have to travel to a remote exotic place to take amazing pictures. You can find beauty at the step of your door. 2/ The tourist office, is my number one source of information. They will quickly tell me what are the most touristic, interesting, crowded, and less popular places in the city I am in. If I know I am only in a city for a few days, I email them or even call them to gather all the info I need to choose the places I want to use for my pictures. Most of the time they save me time in googling by giving me the names, numbers, and email addresses of the people in charge of some of the biggest monuments in town. Obviously not the best way to shoot in original places. But giving a fresh perspective on a famous location is an interesting challenge, and knowing what city has to offer is always a good start to reduce your searching fields. Really consider shooting at these "Famous" places, if you are working there for more than a week, this will show people that are following you that you are actually working in their area and who knows, they might book you for a shoot. 3/ Don't overthink it and reach out to the people that may help you. If you have done number 2 you will have a list of people to call and email... Just do it! Keep in mind that some locations require a credential for access that can take up to several months to get (it happened to me!), so don't waste your time, and just reach out to these people, present your work and project and see what you can do with them. What are you risking? A/ No B/ Yes, but you must rent the place C/ Yes let's meet and see what we can do together. Obviously, your success rate is low, and renting is not cheap, so be used to being rejected and to move over, that's part of the job. 4/ This is not an easy one...Building one's network. You have to meet people, for real. Don't just stay behind your computer. Attend as many events as you can, related to photography or not. Go to photo walks, exhibition openings, and shows... Show your work and specify the importance of finding inspiring locations for the people you meet. You never know, you might meet someone who will be able to help you, or who knows someone that can. Plus, I personally remember people much more easily when I meet them in person, so you will quickly gain more true followers this way. 5/ the most basic tip I will give here... The importance of web search. Reading some comments on other blogs, forums, social media, I sadly noticed how lazy people are. Don't expect anyone to do the work for you. Sometimes most of the information you are looking for is already on the web. Googling should actually be my number one tip. When I don't have time and need to find a place to shoot, I check out the most famous photographers of the town I am in to evaluate which locations are overused. Then, I see what's relevant for the type of images I want to create. Apply Step 2 and 3 right after and hopefully, you have found a place to shoot. You can also use google maps, street view, and satellite view if you really don't have time to check the place for yourself (Although you should always check for yourself beforehand as Google is not always up to date). To summarize the whole thing, to get somewhere you got to work for it! This is how I do it, what about you? Would be glad to read your suggestions. Video filmed by Marlène Soundtrack: Birocratic - Overexpressed https://soundcloud.com/allgoodrecs/birocratic-overexpressed-2 KRANE x Oceans - Silencio https://soundcloud.com/kranesessions/krane-x-oceans-silencio POOL COSBY - Sooner or Later https://soundcloud.com/poolcosby/sooner-or-later

A photoshoot with Tatjana Van Onna I kinda love Amsterdam... or at least let's say that this city made a good first impression on me. Back in 2015, my girlfriend and I started what has now become a ritual. Every year she takes me to a new city we never visited before for my birthday. The first city was Toronto ( by the way Check out my Canadian Work! ), a fantastic day spent exploring the city that ended at the top of the CN tower. If you have never been up there I really recommend you do so. The year after we went to Lyon ( Check out the Vlog for this one ) which was also a stop during our 2016 road trip. And this year we flew for a few days to Amsterdam. We had a fantastic time there, loved the city and we were lucky with the weather as it was partially sunny during our entire stay. The sick man that I am, had to set up a few photoshoots and this is one of them. This can be directly related to my previous blog post on how I find locations for my photoshoots . I didn't want to do the basic touristic monument thing that I usually do, I wanted to make a fast session, in a cool place without getting up at 5 am and dodge the tourists downtown (Yes I was lazy that weekend... But hey it was my birthday after all!). Since we were only in Amsterdam for 4 days and I had to travel light, my kit was really basic. I brought with me a 5D mark III, my 24-70mm L 2.8 mark II lens, and an 85mm 1.8. No strobes, no telephoto, the minimum needed for a natural light outdoor session. So I googled and browsed the almighty web and found some interesting locations and the W Amsterdam rooftop was one of them... Judging by the pictures I found, it was the perfect place for me so I sent an email right away. The next thing I knew, I was informing Tatjana Van Onna that we were about to shoot on the Wet Deck of this beautiful Hôtel. It was all improvised, as we didn't have the time to visit the place beforehand. Sometimes a little improvisation doesn't hurt, and with such a talented artist with me, I could only be happy with the results! We played with reflections and tried to do our best with the constant change of light. The complete gallery is down below, so what do you think? Huge thanks to the W Amsterdam hôtel staff that welcomed us that morning. I just wish we had more time, this place has so much to offer, I would have loved making more pictures there!

Handstand & Contortion photoshoot behind the scenes This is a follow-up to the Crossfit behind the scenes posted 2 weeks ago and the 2 lights setup on a fitness photoshoot post I did a while back. This video was made last year in Lyon in an abandoned building with a talented French handstand performer and contortionist Eloïse . I've already shared the results of this session in a previous post but I'll save you the click on a new link, with the gallery down below. I was slowly getting used to working with 2 lights even though it is not an easy setup to bring with me on location. I am still working with 2 Broncolor 800w SIROS L and shooting with the Canon 5D Mark III. What makes it different here from the fitness photos shoot are the shapes, forms, and poses of the artist and the changing available light. Not all shots were done with 2 lights, I quickly explain the reasons for my choices on 6 different shots in the video, and in addition, here are a few diagrams showing you how simple my light placement is: 1/ ISO 200 - 90mm f/ 3,5 1/160sec 2/ ISO 200 - 80mm - F/3,5 - 1/160sec Broncolor Beauty box 65 and Siros L placed camera right and bare Strobe camera left. 3/ ISO 200 - 24mm - F/3,5- 1/125sec Broncolor Siros L + Beautybox 65 placed high at a 45 degrees camera right. 4/ ISO 100 - 50mm - F/8 - 1/200 Broncolor Siros L and Beautybox 65 placed high camera left. 5/ ISO 100 - 44mm - F6,3 - 1/160sec Broncolor Siros L with Beautybox 65 hitting the left side of Eloïze. 6/ ISP 160 - 31mm - F/3,5 - 1/160 Broncolor Siros L and the beauty box 65 avoid the complete "Split" on Eloïze. What do you think? Feel free to ask me all your questions.

Hi there, releasing the complete gallery of my work with Ex-Gymnast Gillian Leopold. 5th month in Antibes now, and getting used to the heat and landscapes. I had to completely change my approach when looking out for new locations. The French Riviera has a lot to offer! I am from Strasbourg (Northeast of France) and I am not used to being surrounded by Mountains, Rocks, and beaches. By looking at my recent work, you might have noticed the change in my pictures. I had to adapt and put aside my desire for modern urban backdrops for my photos. I was wondering when I first arrived if there were any athletes, dancers, artists in the area... It took some time, but I discovered there were plenty of them around. Huge news for me for my upcoming projects, I had some time during summer to visit Cannes, Nice, and Monaco, and I feel there will be some epic projects in the works shortly. I hope Gillian will join me again on future projects, but only time will tell. Below, quick behind the scenes posted on IG: @HkVisuals I would like to thank all the people that took a little bit of their time to help choose between these 2 pictures on Facebook. Both are in the galleries down below, but I will only use one of the 2 for my front page. I'll let you find out which one! In this session, I worked with a single Broncolor Siros L, the beauty box 65 (light modifier), and my good old beaten up Canon 5D mark III, here is the result of our first meeting:

What happens when you accidentally stumble upon a broken fence that gives you access to the Fort Carré? You have found a new location for your up-and-coming fitness photoshoot! Laurena Giunipero ex-member of the French national aerobic gymnastics team, joined Marlène and me that afternoon for a test shoot in Antibes. My website is actually being updated and should be fresh shortly. If you come here from time to time you might have seen a few changes already. I've decided recently to share more of my work outside dance photography. I simply would like to invest more time in sports-related projects and share it with you. The following pictures are a starting point for future creations. The idea is to start with the basics and slowly build on new ideas with elements, props that will enhance the performance or highlight it in a new way in order to build a strong visual identity. I also wanted to test the power of my 800 watts Broncolor Siros L against the powerful sun of the french riviera... Of course, I have done it before, and as usual, it performed pretty well and I was able to achieve that contrasted, dark look I like. I hope I will be able to aim for the next level really soon. Whatever happens, I will let you guys know!

Almost 5 years now that I've been working with performing artists. 5 years of tests, failures, and victories. This is part of the fun of photography. Looking back on my work I am proud of what has been accomplished so far. This is one of the reasons I launched this blog in the first place. Being able to look back on this incredible journey, and share this experience with others. I have decided recently to invest a bit more time into youtube. I've had a love-hate relationship with the platform for years, but we seem to get along again... at least for now. This past month I started posting regularly. A new video every Tuesday, about my experience as a photographer, showing behind-the-scenes images and sharing my tips and tricks to the community. I know I have a lot to learn yet and my recent videos are a little bit all over the place. But I feel I am slowly finding my rhythm and my style. This video is probably my "real" first attempt in making a "How to" video. I had the idea and topic of this one a few days back while reviewing past videos I made. While watching them one by one I discovered I had developed a systematic approach. Every time I was on location with one light I often used the same technique. Nothing revolutionary, others have done it before, and I believe others will continue after me. This simple light setup is just amazingly simple and yet effective. It produces great-looking images, especially with performers and athletes. Whether they are moving or posing it works every time I used it. The idea is to use this technique as a starting point. I am not here to tell you how you should light your subject, I am just showing you how I do it and how you can benefit from my approach. When I started using it, I thought of it this way. Having my light aligned with my camera, unless it was on a close-up headshot with my light placed above my model, gave my subject a "Flat" look, and I did not like that. Going for a complete split by placing the light at a 90 degrees angle was fun from time to time but often a bit too much. So what do we have left? All that's in between! Like the diagrams show down below find your sweet spot by slowly shifting from a 90 degrees placement to 45 and stop before aligning your light with your camera! I usually figure out the pose first and place my light afterward. Once we have chosen what to do, my reference at first will be my subject's face. The goal is to create shadows on the talent's face and/or body to create depth and give a "3D look". Shadows will help sculpt the face and body, the more shadows, the more drama, it's up to you and to the look you're going after. In our first example, we were closer to a split lighting configuration than usual (between the 1st and 2nd diagram showed you earlier). Vanesa Garcia an amazing dancer at the Grand Ballet de Montreal is placed in profile to the camera. I didn't want to place my light at a 90 degrees camera left cause I thought it was too much. I am using a Broncolor 1200L and the beloved Para 88... Just look how her athletic figure is enhanced by the lighting. The second picture features Miriam Kacerova, a dancer at the Stuttgart Ballet . The light is simply facing her at almost a 90 degrees angle camera right. This placement gave us a nice shadow behind her, giving her body more depth. We used the Siros L and the 90 x 120 Broncolor softbox for this one to balance the exposure. On my last example captured at the Basilica St Sernin in Toulouse, the direction of the body was my reference. Julie Loria a dancer at the Capitole, proposed different head placements and I thought it would be cool to have her turn the other way. The light is just facing her (Diagram number 2) and even though she's turning her head in the opposite way, it still works. Again the 90 x 120 Broncolor softbox and the Siros L were used in this shot. All pictures were captured with the Canon 5D Mark III. This is what made me fall in love with off-camera flash work. Possibilities are then endless because you can then go further, by backlighting your subject or adding more lights and creating crazy combinations and scenarios. Iy you are an outdoor shooter you can already experience working with 2 lights having just one strobe... Yes, only one strobe because the other one is the sun! My choice in light modifiers could be the topic of a new video and blog post. I actually work essentially with the beauty box 65 that truly acts like a beauty dish... The difference is that it's collapsible thus portable. I sometimes use the 90x120 broncolor softbox on big occasions (ha, ha) , mainly for indoor shoots because, outside, you have no chance against the wind. I haven't always worked with the 800ws Siros L, I played with the Canon Speedlite 600ex rt back in the days coupled with a deep reversed silver umbrella, and had other great tools in my hands. The Beasty 1200L and its para 88 and the ELB 400 by Elinchrom. Here are 2 shots showing you can use a simple Speedlite : The following photograph of Juliet Doherty was captured in New York using Diagram 3 for light placement. We used the Canon 600ex rt that day to balance the exposure. Fanny George, with a light placement close to diagram 2. Canon's Speedlite 600ex RT was used again here but this time with the beauty box 65. Experiment with this at home, outside, with your friends, or whoever wants to help you create your "go-to " one light set up. After a while, it will become second nature and you will know quickly how to place your model and adjust your light placement to your needs. I personally started using 2 lights on location regularly only last year. I posted a video about this recently , you should definitely check it out. If you have any questions, feel free to ask... If you have no questions, then Rendez-Vous in my next post.

An improvised session with Anna Ol First time in Amsterdam, but I think I said it before in a previous post. Yes, I am inviting you to read if you missed it, my post on my photoshoot with Tatjana Van Onna on the rooftop of the W Amsterdam Hôtel . 3 Sessions in total and this is one of them. We are back in the city, playing around the Eye museum with reflections and architecture. No Strobes again this time, just using the available light. I had the pleasure to be joined by Anna Ol, a principal dancer at the Het National Ballet. I have always been an admirer of her work with other photographers, and never thought we could find some time to meet during our short stay. I really wished we had more time to prepare our shoot, as I and MArlène were only in Amsterdam for a long weekend, our options were scarce, so we had to set up something with what we could possibly have on such short notice. We still managed to pull out some good shots... But I guess it's hard to miss any when you work with such a talented dancer. Watch out for the 3rd session next week with...

"Composition in photography"... Just type these words in Google and you will find hundreds if not thousands of articles and videos on the subject. The Golden ratio and the rule of thirds are probably the most commonly shared and recommended "rules" for all beginners eager to step up their composition game. We won't talk about these here because I don't think I can add anything new to what has already been said on the topic. Instead, I will give you guys my simple approach to composition, and how you can easily apply it to your own work. As a beginner, you often struggle at taking a decision on what to include or exclude in the frame and where to place your main subject. When I started I ended up centering everything! Having your subject in the center of your frame is not a bad thing... but it can get really boring if not motivated. There are so many other options at your disposal to make your shots much more interesting, and I won't cover them all here. Let me share with you the ones I believe are easy to understand and use right away. 1/ Leading lines A true eye trainer! Using leading lines will help the viewer look in a certain direction or at a particular spot in the frame. It also builds tension and adds a little sense of movement and depth. People love being guided, it helps them get into your picture and understand it much faster. This works with your subject centered or not, or even placed on the left or right side of the Frame. Nicole Muratov - Base sous-marine (Bordeaux - France) Final image: It also gives depth to your shot giving your brain elements to hold on to. Lines help us visualize where the subject is placed in a 33-dimensional world but in a 2-dimensional picture. Ksenia Abbazova (Madrid - Spain) Final image: Bonetics (London - UK) Final image: One easy way to apply this tip is to use stairs like on this shot of Lyria Van Moer captured at the Institut du monde Arabe in Paris. I like shooting my models from below and that dark atmosphere is often my "go-to look". It gives an epic feel to this photo... something I want to imply in my ballet photography. 2/ Vertical lines The next thing you might use to help you compose your shots is vertical lines. Instead of having these lines going towards your subject, you can search for vertical lines and ideally, a repetition of them, like a succession of columns for example. In these 2 shots, the parallel vertical lines give an organized picture. As if everything was carefully placed and were all meant to be exactly there. Applied in dance photography it gives you the opportunity to capture simple poses for portraits. Pauline Perraut (Madrid - Spain) Final image: Fanny George - Pavillon joséphine (Strasbourg - France) Final image: 3/ Frames Another simple technique is the use of frames! Easy to understand, I don't need any fancy drawing, the images speak for themselves: Kimmy Street (Milano - Italy) Helena Moon (Paris - France) A little variation and one of the most fun techniques to use in your photography is the "Frame within a frame". In the example below, see how I cumulated other techniques explained earlier. Vertical lines, Repetitions, frames, and... Symmetry! Bboy Sope Lo ( Strasbourg - France) 4/ Symmetry When in the field, never forget one thing: have fun! Play, experiment, don't be afraid of making weird choices and mistakes. That's how you learn. Symmetry is another useful tool to use. In this photo of athlete Emma El Achkar, the idea was to push the viewer to focus on her. To help us achieve our goal, we concentrated the lighting on her. We then played with the hurdles to isolate her more from the environment by using the frame within a frame approach. Mixing multiple techniques again, playing with symmetry, lines, and repetition (kids don't try this at home! ). Nhât Nam Lê thanks again for being crazy enough to follow me on this one. The pose we chose was influenced by all the elements around us. 5/ Mix things up! Examples shown earlier are already illustrating this. Remember rules are meant to be mixed up, and of course broken. But yes, you have to start somewhere, and applying these techniques all at once can be overwhelming. To isolate a particular skill and apply it to your work regularly until you feel comfortable with it. On this particular photo, I wanted symmetry, but also a bit of movement to break the static pose of the performer. That's why we added the silk work to make the shot more interesting, much more dynamic. Since it is a wide-angle shot (24mm), we also used silk to fill the frame. Every time you are out there with your camera try these 5 tips one by one! With time you will slowly no longer need to have obvious lines and frames in your shots all the time. This will become 2nd nature and you will focus more on the story rather than the technical side of your shot. I always say that my photography is the result of multiple decisions. So there has to be a reason behind everyone I make. Placing randomly my subject in the frame is not an option. What do you want to tell, what do you want people to feel, what is the purpose of the shot? You have to answer these questions before capturing anything. Am I doing it right all the time? No, not at all... I am still a student, I hope to learn all my life... There is so much out there to learn from and so much beauty to capture... That's why I love photography! Tell me the tricks you use for better compositions or even send me pictures of how you applied these 5 tips in your photography. Rendez-vous next Tuesday for a new video or later this week for another blog post!

My 1st ballerina photo shoot on the French Riviera feat. Maëva Cotton I am Antibes... or at least, I am leaving there. A beautiful small city in the south of France I am learning to enjoy. It is basically my first time on the french riviera, and life is quite different from what I've experienced so far. I was used to Strasbourg, its grumpy people, the overcrowded Christmas market, its wine, and gastronomy. In a way, I miss my hometown, cause it's a whole other story here. People are different, they hate strangers, they only wear sweaters in winter (at least that"s what I've heard) and life seems "easy" here judging by the number of yachts, villas, and expensive cars... I am joking of course (partially), it's a totally different world here indeed but even though it will take me some time to get used to it I have had a pretty positive experience so far. Starting from scratch is never easy, I still travel from time to time for different projects, but I still have to get a few contracts locally. I was supposed to leave in October, my departure is pushed to early February, guess this leaves me time to get my name out in the southeast. My friends warned me about the people in the south, of how mean and odd they were... Well, Maëva Cotton proves them wrong. A lovely person and a talented dancer working actually at the Ballet de Nice. Down below are the result of our first meeting... yes there might be a 2nd Rendez-Vous!