Ricoh GXR: photographing a wedding

johannielscom

johannielscom

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Went to a wedding as a guest, but brought my camera:eek:, and ended up with a set of 46 images for the bride and my friend the groom...:D


Untitled by johanniels.com, on Flickr


Untitled by johanniels.com, on Flickr


Untitled by johanniels.com, on Flickr


Untitled by johanniels.com, on Flickr


Untitled by johanniels.com, on Flickr


At the Wedding by johanniels.com, on Flickr

All pictures shot with a Ricoh GXR with M mount, the Voigtländer Heliar 2.0/50mm LTM nickel and the Nikkor 2.5/35mm LTM.

Click any picture to go to the set on my Flickr.

Bride and groom were impressed and very happy with my shots when I sent them over in web size (print size to follow by CD), other guests at the wedding were hanging over my shoulder to see my shots, I think I might be on to something here...:D
 
no surprise here, wonderful lenses on an excellent delivery vehicle for manual focus lovers. in low light with the gxr b&w is the way to go; color in low light is much more of a crap shoot...

very enjoyable images.
tony
 
Wow, the Grandmother in the wheelchair and B&G dancing are superb shots. Great tones. Been wondering what platform I can use for my M lenses after I dropped my M9 in the Harbour, maybe a GXR.
 
Excellent.
Easier to get these when one is not the 'Official photographer'.
Sadly the pros shoot thousands of images but somehow are not involved..
i only shot weddings where i had met the B and G a few times before the wedding and as many of family as possible. If i 'gelled' with them, they with me, i did the wedding.Your pix have that stamp.well done.
 
Thank you folks,

the Ricoh GXR is my Great Enabler. It brings me shots I would not get with any other camera, I'm sure.

Gotta add, these were all shot at 2500 ISO, both lenses wide open at 2.0 and 2.5 most of the time.:cool:
 
hausen said:
Wow, the Grandmother in the wheelchair and B&G dancing are superb shots. Great tones. Been wondering what platform I can use for my M lenses after I dropped my M9 in the Harbour, maybe a GXR.
Click to expand...

Hauser,

I can recommend it wholeheartedly!

Only thing you need to learn to live with is the crop factor. Not an issue for my in digital since I never shot a FF digital camera yet.

Other than that, I feel I can get pretty close to M9-like image quality, for significantly less cash!
 
Nice set of shots.

I hope they do something about some updates for it soon.

It is a great little camera. I have a 35 cron v4 on mine w/ the evf as well. I don't use it as much as I should these days.

Gary
 
sailor said:
Great shots. Did you have the electronic viewfinder fitted?
Click to expand...

Sailor,

I do.

the camera is set to B&W images in the viewfinder and on the LCD, and to high contrast. I shoot my lenses in manual mode, mostly.

This allows me to work very traditionally when it comes to exposing, while the image the viewfinder shows is already in B&W.

Finding my lights and darks in images is real easy like that and I can see what the final image will look like while looking through the VF. The meter is displayed in the VF but I mostly disregard it since the EVF instantly shows what a change in the exposure will result in. It's like composing the ready image while shooting:cool:

For critical focusing I use the zoom function. Which is funny because before getting the camera I had imagined I would make most use of the contrast-finding feature, where the optimum contrast is highlighted with the white dots. Turned out, it distracted me too much!
 
Duane Pandorf said:
Very nice Buzzard! I sold my M module but still have the GXR with 28 module.
Click to expand...

Duane,

how are you liking that 28mm unit? I'm thinking of getting a second body and that 28mm unit too, since my widest lens at the time is an LTM 35mm, which translates to a 53mm on the GXR-M.
 
Nice work!

I did the same at a friend's wedding last September, but used the A12 50mm and a Leica Brightline finder. The M-mount and 40, 28 mm lenses would have been better. But the GXR performed beautifully anyway.

I don't know why it needs to be updated. It would be nice, of course, but I don't have any problems with its performance just as it is.

G
 
buzzardkid said:
Duane,

how are you liking that 28mm unit? I'm thinking of getting a second body and that 28mm unit too, since my widest lens at the time is an LTM 35mm, which translates to a 53mm on the GXR-M.
Click to expand...

The 28 module works very well. Very happy with the results from it. It's what I use now if I need wide.
 
Wonderful Set J ;)
The rendering of those Lenses is Lovely...
Beautifully Crisp, soft Glow
Charming Intimacy
 
Bravo my friend. There's your portfolio for a different kind of wedding approach, if you care to develop such a thing. Intimate, candid, momentous, in glorious black and white that dispenses with the superficial candy-shop of colors to focus on the subject in a way that will outlast the events themselves.
 
rhl-oregon said:
Bravo my friend. There's your portfolio for a different kind of wedding approach, if you care to develop such a thing. Intimate, candid, momentous, in glorious black and white that dispenses with the superficial candy-shop of colors to focus on the subject in a way that will outlast the events themselves.
Click to expand...

Robert,

I like that. It is a unique selling point waiting to happen ;).

As a matter of fact, I am planning to get into wedding photography like this. No planning to do so on a high profile, but more as an extra income next to editorial and artistic work. All with their focus on people.

Meanwhile, I've got some care taking to do at home, my daughter has been suffering from depression for some months now, my wife last month was diagnosed with a large hernia and is awaiting March surgery. They need me around and as a result I am 'grounded' and distracted.

I've got one wedding planned, in June. Looking to secure another one before that, to actually build that small portfolio.

Thanks for encouraging me, much appreciated!

This Sunday I will be covering the opening of a new exhibition in the gallery where I work as a volunteer, there's some spectacular work going on display and the opening will be a blast. Check back in the GXR forum after the weekend to see shots!
 
Prayers & health-wishes for your loved ones. Speaking as a lifelong depresso myself, that is. I'm glad, though not surprised from the set, that you were already exploring that thought. I have been thinking about a similar approach to documenting the lives of older people for their children, because I had a lot of positive feedback on a 75-image set I did of my own mother between her 90th birthday and her last days. Families hire photographers to shoot a hundred dress-up shots of high school graduates; why shouldn't families be interested in an album of the days and nights of their grandmother or grandfather, as s/he lives life when no one else is there to force a "Smile for the camera everyone!" cliche? Weddings are rife with photographic cliches, but you're applying a different standard of vision, empathy and development, and someone is going to notice if you stick to this visual, character-driven ethos. You just might have to take a Total Football approach to the business plan....
 
Robert,

I have been thinking about what you wrote about documenting the last days of loved ones and I find it an interesting idea.

In the past I have been considering shooting funerals but the time before that is at least as valuable to those that remain, I should hope.

It might be hard to find and approach people to photograph their loved ones but also worth the effort.
 
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