Mondiani Photoblog

A glimpse of the Thé dansant @ the Magic Mirrors – Brussels – july 17th

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 10:55:50 +0000

Back to my first love, party photography! A little glimpse of the Magic Mirrors parties.

click on the picture

Casting call – female models wanted in Brussels

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:33:36 +0000

Dear followers,

I’m looking for several female models, agency represented. It’s for a fashion shoot, more fashion than I usualy do and that you can see on my website: http://www.mondiani.com/

It will be on sunday 26th, monday 27th june, sunday 3th and monday 4th july. Each model must come only one of these 4 days . A mua and a hair stylist will also be there.

Please email me or phone me (contact on the banner above)

Have a great day !

bnb longue vie

admin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:36:34 +0000

I’ve added one picture from a serie on my website. Done at the bnb longue vie, in Brussels, it’s all about metamorphosis. This is to underline the importance of the location, as you can see the bnb is just gorgeous. And the people there were really nice and the service excellent!

Prints vs Digital portfolio

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:51:54 +0000

As you can see here, not all the pictures are suitable for online display. This one requires print! A big one! Mainly beause the model has only a small part on this picture, the main focus being the huge columns of the Magic Mirrors venue.

That said I think as a photographer it’s really important for me to show literally the big picture. Not to focus only on small parts, like a single feature of the face, or the figure of the model, … the more you expand your frame the more you can tell in one single frame. Cropping too tight would have been to miss the most important quality of the location which is its size. But hey it’s still a portrait, so I balanced the small size of the model with the lights.

Catching up with photo editing

admin — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:10:30 +0000

Here is a sample of the next huge update of my website. I didn’t originally wanted to do a pin-up themed photo-shoot. But all in this picture with beautiful Scania screamed pin-up. Well more is coming (not so) soon; because I had quite a lot of editing to do, so be patient… it’s worth it!

The first rule of the Fight Club is …

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:33:02 +0000

… you do not talk about the Fight Club! Here is a little preview of this shooting. Thanks to all the participants. You did great!

Knokke – Brasil

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:18:19 +0000

I know a blog is quite a demanding investment in time… and I don’t have much. So I let it a bit down after the first post. Anyway here is a preview of a photoshooting I did this week at the beach in Knokke with 3 great models!

It makes me want to do some more very soon. Maybe in Portugal, maybe in Brasil! If you happen to live there or want to join me for a photo trip just email me!

Acquiring a style

admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:49:13 +0000

A style for a photographer is the key, the starting point. You can’t go anywhere before having one. It means that people can just by looking at your pictures guess they are yours. It seems to be some kind of magic but it’s absolutely not. A style it’s like a recipe plus the experience and the talent of the photographer. It conforts your clients into choosing you it tells them what they see is what they will get from you. That’s the practical purpose of a style. And your portfolio should show all of this, what you are good in, not that you can do everything.

Basically most photographers just stick to one or two genre of photography, and do over and over the same pictures. The simplest and safest recipe. No risks no surprises… like a Big Mac. You eat one whenever you want something reassuringly familiar and cheap when you are far from home and your stomac had had his share of exotic experiences.

So don’t go for the cheap, for the McJob, when you get a style, a simple recipe, try to improve it relentlessly, try to make it more complex, add new ingredients to it. Keep it subtle too! How to achieve this? Know yourself describe your own photos in a few words… and rate them. Or at least what part of your photography you need to improve.

Here is a step by step definition of a style, beginning with the basics:

digital or film
color or b&w
close up or full shot
depth of field
lighting technic
subject (portrait or landscape or …)
narrative or document
statement

Mine would be: digital, colorful, full shots, medium depth of field, lightings that suits best to the narrative (dramatic or high key mostly), portraits and… my statement would be the rich (the location thus not shallow depth of field and the styling) and the beautiful (model, hair and make up) with a pinch of references (movies, tv shows, art, …)

To go further I need to focus more on the narrative by introducing an offscreen dimension. Right now my pictures looks more like a poster than a movie-still with the offscreen dimension I will get the viewer much more involved into my photography.