Meet VIEWBUG community member and French photographer marcwildpassion. Marcwildpassion shares some of his favorite images and the unique story behind them.
Your photos are very creative! Can you share 3 quick tips to improve photography?
1. Think about your composition even on your baby's birthday. Think of the rule of third until it becomes a reflex.
2. Stick to the simple parameters of your camera. Use mode A and play with the DOF, the ISO will be automatically selected.
3. Move 20cm to 50cm up, down, to one side, or to the other from where you stand and always with your eye on the camera.
This photo is very unique, what is your favorite thing about it?
The geography of that place; is the National Library in Paris, France. The red smoke and balloon all were planned and placed in the frame. It is tough succeeding in playing with smoke on a windy day because the smoke is very versatile and subjected to the wind. Here the red smoke and the red balloon were perfectly in the frame for a few seconds with the model yet visible in the smoke. That kind of smoke works for 1 minute or 2 maximum, so those kinds of shoots are quite complex to obtain in a windy environment and some luck is indeed welcome. The second aspect is that smoke is not always welcomed in public places like this one, so in all cases after one or two trials, you are sure to get visited by the security people.
How did you take this photo?
This picture was taken in the sea at Miami Beach in July 2014. The beauty here is that the water level is not so deep and despite this, a small wave came and destroyed my camera! The lesson: Always carry a water protection kit when shooting with water. The model was floating in the sea and was captured in natural light in the early morning. I did some in another place in Florida and we saw many Stingrays during the shoot and that was a little bit scary.
This is another unique shot, can you share a quick tip on how to get your models to cooperate with your ideas?
I am lucky. Audrey, the Model has worked with me on many conceptual pictures for years and we succeeded to keep trust even when I have strange ideas. This one is not a small fish. In the temperature of a studio you cannot play with the fish for very long, so speed matters. Light / Stobe testing is done when the fish bought in the fish market is in the fridge just before the makeup starts; the temperature keeps the fish fresh. As you can see the hand of the model plays a role in the picture but it's also to keep the fish. At the end of the day, you have a photograph and a meal.
What is the story behind this photo?
POV is one of the key success factors but in many cases, you have your picture in mind and then you move around your POV to get want you want. I always have a quick view of the location to select where to place the model and myself. But you need to keep a small voice somewhere telling you “move around”, and look at other angles /perspectives as sometimes you have something good but it could even better form a different perspective.
Trocadero in Paris is one of my preferred spots for fashion-like photography. It is visited by at least a million tourists per year and it gives a marvelous view of the Eiffel tower. The key issue in this place is to get it empty, you have to get there before the sunrise. We do call the Eiffel tower the Old lady. Even in steel, this construction shows transparency by the design and I wanted to capture a young lady (Alex) and the Old lady facing each other in a very early morning nice light environment. Emilie Bastet the dress designer, made this transparent dress that was perfectly fitting the intention of having a glamour/fashion view and tints with the transparency of the dress. Alex is perfectly wearing it and it's a marvelous dress. Even if I’m a big fan of the old lady, I definitely would have the young as a strong competitor.
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