The Garden of Sleepers
Part of my series "My Secret Garden" - the roses are handmade :)
Part of my series "My Secret Garden" - the roses are handmade :)
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Jul, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken along the Isar river in my hometown, Munich (Germany). I did some location scouting before the shoot and really liked the way the path seemed to go on into eternity. I took this shoot from a ladder to be able to show the path behind her more. Of course, what you cannot see here is the bridge directly behind where I was standing which was full of spectators watching and commenting. Because of the white dress, they assumed it was a bridal shot and it was really funny hearing comments like "where is the groom?"!Time
The photo was taken mid afternoon last year in October - It was a sunny day and I knew that beforehand so I wanted the photo to have enough light but have the strong midday light. I also had to consider that it gets dark much earlier in late autumn so we had to meet relatively early considering there was still make-up and hair to be done and we had to walk a bit to get to my chosen location.Lighting
Because of the hour of the day we were shooting (mid afternoon in late autumn), I knew there wasn't going to be harsh shadows on her face anymore. I did however chose a shadier, darker spot to take my photo to not take any risks. I never use external lights outside so the light was completely natural.Equipment
This was shot with a Nikon D7000 (a few weeks before I upgraded to a D810) at 35 mm/2.5. I didn't use a tripod but was standing on a ladder while taking it. We used a reflector - not for lighting though but to get wind into her hair.Inspiration
This image was the first one I took for my ongoing project "My Secret Garden" - even though it was the second one that I posted. “My Secret Garden” is inspired by several different fairytales including “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Thumbelina” and books like “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the looking glass”. The series is a mixture of fashion and what I like most of all – telling a story. The series will have different sub-series but also contain strong individual images. It will be an ongoing series for which I have already sketched several more ideas and planned several shootings. The whole idea for the project came to me when I couldn't find inspiration for anything anymore after my mother passed away last year. Creatively (and in a way also privately) I felt like sitting in a dark hole and I needed something to keep me busy and keep me going. Working on this series - mostly with my intern and friend Andreas Sichel last year - helped me a lot and still inspires me to create more.Editing
I always do post-processing on my photos. My favourite thing to do is storytelling with my photos so in order to do that, I need to create a world I mostly only see in my head. In this case, the roses are real and were really that big but I still had to adjust the position of a few because some of them were for example not standing in the way that I wanted (they kept falling to the side or leaning over after we put them into the ground). Also, we only had about 20 roses so I shot them in 3 turns, moving them further and further to the back and then combining the photos later. I do that quite often, combining several photos I took on set to create one. Here, I had to combine the roses and then a few different ones of her as well because I wanted the hair and the dress to look a certain way. And then of course I did my usual color correction, slight desaturation and played with lights and shadows until I achieved the desired look.In my camera bag
Of course, I always have my camera with me - a Nikon D810 which still amazes me with the quality of the photos! And then I also always have my 50 mm 1.4 lens with me which I have had since the beginning and still love dearly - even more so since I switched to full frame. I used to shoot mostly with a 35 mm 1.8 lens but not so often anymore since switching to full frame - I carry it with me sometimes still though. And then little bits and pieces like a small reflector (one of those 5 colors in one reflectors where you can swap the cover around), additional SD cards and the like. Most of the time, I also carry with me an analogue camera of some sorts - either a Polaroid or a film camera - but to be fair, I often only remember after the shooting that I wanted to use it as well.Feedback
If you want to start creating storytelling images, think about what story you want to tell. Read books, watch films, do things that inspire you and come up with your own story. It can be inspired by books and stories which was the case for me too. The difference is finding a story inspiring or copying it. Both is ok I think but finding your own story to tell is probably more interesting for the viewer. Then think about what you need to fulfil that idea. Do you need props? Do you need clothes? Can you make the things yourself? Can you buy them? Where do you want your photo to be? Do you have a location in your area that you can use? There are a lot of little things that need to come together until your photo works but think about it this way, the more work and preparation you put into it, the more you will appreciate the result and the more unique your photo will end up being.
