It’s LENSEL. The news just for wedding photographers like you. Here’s what we have for you to dive into today:

• The ‘blanding’ of luxury

• POV shooting a wedding at Villa Balbiano

• How RED is the color right now

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THE BIG IDEA

The ‘blanding’ of luxury is over.

Luxury is the buzzword. And every photographer wants to be it. But what does it mean to be a luxury wedding photographer? And why is the ‘luxury’ look just more and more of the same? The same fonts, the same white florals, the same villa on Lake Como. No shade to Como, we love it there and love these wedding BUT when everyone is chasing this formula, things get BLAND. How can you stand out?

It’s not just weddings. The whole luxury industry has been blanding their branding. Everyone using the same sans serif fonts for logos for example. Fortunately, we are starting to see a hard reaction to this and brands are starting to lean back into their heritage in an effort to stand out again. Love this example of how Burberry is doing this. And jump into this insight by @orenmeetsworld on Instagram reels for more on brands blanding and what’s next.

So how can photographers avoid blanding themselves and really stand out in the luxury world?

The Answer - Remix It
Take the luxury look and give it a twist! We love seeing wedding photographers working in the luxury world but standing out by making their own remix on classic shots, poses and locations. It’s not just the same standard flat lay, or classic portrait at the front of the hotel mixed in with a few drone shots. It’s a necklace placed on the headless statue, or a portrait with an alternative pose and lighting situation… Successful businesses are remixing, not copying.

Documentary resurgence.
Another big shift we are seeing this year is the refocus on documentary style photography. We’re talking:
- more landscape images again.
- more images with layers and depth.
- things in the foreground.
- searching for more in the moment moments - while still leaning into a luxury vibe.
We have loved seeing the growth of Counterpart Photos, a collective of more documentary wedding photographers who are leaning into the heritage and timelessness that the luxury world is moving towards. We have also love seeing industry favs, The Ferros, bring their unique cinematic, documentary style to weddings at classic luxury hot spots like Lake Como.

NEWS

Happening this Week

• Red is the colour right now. Jump into this trend report from The Wed to see the wedding world in red.

• New medium format options. Fujifilm added to their medium format line up this week with the new GFX100SII. When everyone is shooting the same gear, maybe medium format can stand out?

• Never delivering photos. More headlines this week as another wedding photographer is exposed for never delivering photos and in some cases never turning up. How can we stop this happening before it does?

• Album company closes down after 20 years. Momento Pro, an Australian based album company has suddenly closed it doors yesterday. A stark reminder to support your locals.

• Jumping the Canon. This week Adorama released specs of the new Canon R1. However, quickly retracted them after it was made known they were just making them up. Although, Canon did announce it will have the R1 ready this year. Always exciting because it never holds anything back from the 1 series.

• Bridal Takeover. More wearing bridal dresses to non-wedding events. Seen here at the Bridgeton premiere this week. 

• Microsoft believes it can take on Mac at editing. In this test at the recent Microsoft event, they run a batch editing competition between a Macbook Air and the new Surface Laptop. You be the judge.

• Zooms are spoiling us. Sigma’s new version 2 of their 24-70mm lens might be better than the Sony GM version. Are the prime only days numbered?

• Ever wonder where the iPhone camera sound comes from? Here’s the iconic camera behind it.

POV

It rains at Villa Balbiano

We loved this POV insta story in the rain from photographer Andrew Badya at Lake Como this week. Bleak in one way but beautiful in another.

TOGETHER WITH NARRATIVE

Cull the worst part of your job

We all LOVE shooting. But the culling through thousands of images afterwards? Reviewing the outtakes of uncle raiding the cocktail hour platter? Not so much.

Narrative select makes culling so much faster.
Whether letting AI do the job for you, or just letting AI help you make faster, better decisions, Narrative has tools that will save you time and improve your workflow.

Check it out here and use LENSEL10 for a 10% off discount. And don’t forget to check out their new Edit feature, which is actually a total game changer.

IG HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEK

⬆️ APERTURE TREND ALERT. We all love the bokeh but notice the higher aperture in parts of this set. Wonder where this is going… More on this soon.

⬆️ Don’t miss the second frame of this set. Amalfi is always good, but this is SO good.

⬆️ Beautiful film frames from Daniel Kim.

⬆️ A Korean wedding in Spain? Sign us up.

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