Bridal Portraits | Fine art wedding photography | Pentax 645N

Two of my goals for 2019 is to: 1) master my film photography and 2) create beautiful, fine art and magazine worthy images.

I bought a used 35mm Canon EOS 3 film camera from a local camera store two years ago and shot my very first roll of film at a styled shoot. Looking back, practicing film photography during a styled shoot (that I paid hundreds of dollars to attend) wasn’t the right move. I remember thinking at the time how many shots I missed out on because I was juggling between my film camera and my digital camera. Afterwards, I felt defeated and didn’t have the motivation nor the confidence to continue shooting film. Honestly, I was also afraid of how the pictures would turn out. So what did I do? I stashed the roll of film along with the camera inside a bag and never took it out again. Until now.

As you probably know, I took a much needed break a few months ago and went on a trip to London and Budapest. During the long flights there and back, I had some time to reflect back on my work and jotted a few things down that I wanted to improve on for 2019; one of them being able to create more fine art images. I was drawn to the whole fine art aesthetic… the dreamy and ethereal feel of film images and how it can evoke certain emotions when you look at it. With some new-found inspiration, I came back ready and excited to learn film photography. I went out on a early Sunday morning in early January and practiced on my film camera. After finishing 3 rolls of film, I sent them in (including the very first roll of film that I shot two years ago) and got them developed. When I received the pictures back, I was was blown away by how the pictures turned out! They were exactly how I envisioned them to be… soft colors, imperfect compositions and the feeling of reality caught on camera.  Together, all of these factors created the image that I had been longing to achieve.

With those results, I immediately invested in a medium format film camera, a Pentax 645N and decided to put together this styled shoot to practice  my new film camera.  This time around, I decided to use ONLY film, no digital cameras.  With  limited exposures available in film photography, I was forced to really think about the composition and envision the shot before taking it.  I really had to hold myself back from taking the same shot multiple times (which I would normally do on a digital camera).

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The inspiration behind this shoot comes from my love for all things French… I visited Paris a few years back and fell in love with the romantic city along with its language, feminine fashion trends and old-world architecture.  With my love for the city, I decided to caption this photo shoot “A French Affair.”

My vision was to create a dreamy and intimate bridal suite featuring feminine details such as French lace, tulle skirts, blush florals, and delicate stationery.  I love pretty details and everything you see below was styled by me 🙂

All images below were taken on a film camera and were scanned by Photovision.

An elegant bridal suite:

I love cotton paper stationery with deckled edges with hand-written calligraphy because it gives off an old-world romantic vibe…

Brass candle holders:

Some of my own personal jewelry:

A simple yet elegant tablescape (the blush rhinestoned charger plates were purchased from Michaels):

The picture below is probably my FAVORITE shot of the 8 rolls of film that I photographed:

 

Pink tulle skirt and top was purchased from Chic Wish.

 

Lace robe/gown purchased from Le Rose.

 

My DIY flower crown:

  DreamBox Photography | Hybrid film photographer in Michigan specializing in fine art wedding photography