High End Weddings with Leica MPs and 3 Lenses in FL

wayneolson said:
Yes, he also shoots a Rollei TLR, a Pentax 67 and a Widelux.

I recently got out of the wedding industry myself and was pretty excited to have stumbled onto Riccis' work earlier this year and to see that he shoots weddings almost exclusively Leica. As noted above, his black and white work is outstanding.
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Thank you, glad to hear you stumbled upon my work. IMHO, the ability to shoot different formats to better tell a story or just to take us out of our comfort zone is one of the things I love more about film.
 
softshock said:
What a wonderful business model! I do however wonder why he doesn't develop his own film considering his statement early in the article about not wanting to outsource post production. Regardless, the photos still look great!
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Thank you... I don't like developing my film although I love printing in the darkroom. I apologize if I wasn't too clear in the interview, but the main reason I went back to film is because of the easier workflow than with digital. Even my digital look was very stylized to look like film (as this is what I like best) and this is the part that would take the longest and, while I could outsource RAW conversions, I still have to apply my customized look by myself. After I was introduced to Richard Photo Lab, it was clear that the best approach for my business model will be to shoot the real thing.
 
ray*j*gun said:
I agree....the last wedding I did I used a combination of film and digital. It worked out well and by word of mouth I have gotten calls asking about doing film weddings.

I was never comfortable processing wedding film either due to my REALLY clumsy hands along with the need for total darkness. My dark room is fine for printing but too porus for film.
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Good to hear about your success... Like I stated before, I have no problem developing the film but don't like the process and scanning is painful. Why go through this when I have access to the best lab in the US (maybe the world) at unbeatable prices.
 
Mpmckenzie said:
Riccis work and vision is outstanding, knows his subject matter,ability to use the SUB-PAR, manual focus, old tech. leica m cameras, i wonder if many younger wedding photogs. could make the transition without auto everything canons & nikons. willing to rely on there ability instead of the cameras.
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Thank you... I've been able to inspire plenty of my peers to get a rangefinder and shoot all manual or even dust off old AE-1s... The one thing they don't forgive me is for showing them how wonderful but expensive Leica ownership can be 😀
 
Zonan said:
That way, he's not tied down with processing all the rolls, doing the scans, etc. He notes he can better spend the time serving clients and looking for new ones. And as pointed out above, what if something went wrong with his processing, since this event can't be repeated? Better to send it out to a highly-regarded lab like Richard, who do this every day, in volume.
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Correct. My business is better served by me networking and marketing than being behind a computer. Thank you!
 
tom.w.bn said:
The point is: if he can rely on someone for development and print so he could rely on a professional for digital postprocessing.

But it seems that it pays off for him.
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Please refer to my previous answer. My digital look was also highly stylized to be more similar to film. This takes time, training of employees and, more importantly, is not film.

Thank you!
 
Gray Fox said:
In the old days, '70s and '80s many of us used to send our film out to large custom labs that did wonderful work. While in the Army in Germany in the early to mid '70s, I had a photo business on the side and sent every roll to a lab in FL for proofing and then portrait reprints, wedding packages, and memory mate style youth athletic stuff. Knock on wood, I never lost a roll of 35mm or 120 film, and had the same results getting prints back. I have a few of my sample prints from that era in an album and they have barely faded in all that time. If I had a business now I would try to find a lab like Richard's on the East Coast, or, failing that send them to LA. Confidence in the lab you use sure does make the time available for other business and personal projects.
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Correct. I am now free to do more things including taking on more personal projects that in the long run also helps me grow as an artist. Thank you!
 
Thank you... I've been able to inspire plenty of my peers to get a rangefinder and shoot all manual or even dust off old AE-1s... The one thing they don't forgive me is for showing them how wonderful but expensive Leica ownership can be


I forgive you Riccis ! ;-/
 
gb hill said:
Riccis work is incredible. Haven't read the article in my Rangefinder yet. Got asked to shoot a friends wedding next Saturday using film. Can't touch Riccis work but the inspiration is on time. Great blog too!
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Thank you for your comments and happy to serve you as an inspiration. Concentrate on developing a style of your own and go for it! It is a hard but fun journey 🙂
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
Nice guy: great spirit and great shots... When he said "less is more" and said he uses 21, 28, 35, 50, 90, 135, M3, MP and M9, did he mean "less is less" or "more is more"? 😉

Cheers,

Juan
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Good catch, but please allow me to clarify. I have a nice stable of gear but only bring a couple of bodies and two or three lenses to a wedding. For example, if I am shooting in a beautiful island with plenty of light, I lighten my load and bring a 21 or 24 Elmarit, 50 Summicron and 90 Elmarit but if I am shooting in the winter in places with very little light I then bring a 21 Summilux, Noctilux and 90 Summicron. I always pick the right tools for the job and have actually shot complete weddings just with a 35 Summicron, so yes, less is definitely more for me.

Thank you!
 
redisburning said:
If I could hazard a guess I think what they mean is that he's got his own routine to give his images the look that he knows he gets every time from a certain film as long as it's done right (ie nothing really out of the ordinary), and that he doesnt trust the digital labs to do this specific sort of thing consistently. To solve that, he would have to train someone who he could check up on regularly, I guess.

I imagine that his post routine was rather involved.
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You got it. Thank you!
 
berlincontemporary said:
How many weddings are "digital" today? 99%+ I assume. One wedding photographer serving a niche is not a reason to celebrate anything.
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You are correct. No reason to celebrate whether someone shoots film, digital or with a 3D camera. The main message is to do your own thing and don't worry about what anyone else is doing. A clear vision of what you want to achieve and a solid business plan is what is all about.

Thank you!
 
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