My name is Haze and I am mainly a commercial photographer based in the southwest of France and people usually refer to me as a dance, and performing arts photographer. My style of photography has been changing slightly over the past 2 years, and coincidentally this happened at the same time I discovered the Fujifilm GFX line.
It started using the GFX 50S back in 2019, shifted to the GFX100, and now the GFX100S for the majority of my work. This system has changed the way I photograph people. It gave me a new perspective on my photography and has pushed me to create more personal work. I now carefully think about each shot I make, every element I incorporate, everything in my images is important, and this, more than before.
Photographing dancers and performers will remain an important part of my work. I learned the craft through dance photography and the joy of shooting dancers still remains. Wherever my photography will take me, I believe I will still find time to photograph these amazing human beings.
The first thing that caught my attention when using the GFX100S was the ergonomy, size, and weight. Something really important for me as I am often on the move and predominantly shooting on location. I sometimes use my cameras in odd angles and perspectives. During these sessions, I hung my camera from the ceiling, attached it to a boom arm, and triggered the camera with the Fujifilm camera connect app. In these types of situations, you want to do things securely, and having a lighter camera helps greatly.
Having a system that I can easily forget to concentrate more on my work is really important to me and to achieve this, I‘ve got to be able to customize my camera. You can save up to 6 custom settings on the GFX100S and reassign some of the buttons. We are all different, so being able to make a camera my own makes my job easier.
Trust for me is key, I don’t want to worry about the performance of my camera. With such a resolution you might think that shooting on a tripod is mandatory. But thankfully, you can trust the GFX100s for a lot of handheld shots thanks to the In-Body Image Stabilization.
During these sessions inside the Château la Louvière and the Château la tour carnet, I was accompanied by 4 dancers, an ex-Gymnast and a model. My goal is always to celebrate every human being in front of my lens. I want to showcase their hard work, and their extraordinary abilities. But beyond their strength, I also do my best to capture their beauty, and of course their stories.
I try to get to know my models as much as possible before the shoot, and once on set we discuss the mood and poses together, rehearse with the team, and then we shoot. I do my best to make everything in-camera, but sometimes, due to time restrictions linked to the location, we have to find little tricks to make it work.
From simple portraits to more creative images every detail counts and locations play a huge part in my work. Preparation is key, I need a basic understanding of the space I shoot in before the session. I need to know where the windows and light sources are, the size of the rooms, the colors, and the height of the ceilings. I even sometimes sketch some of my shots and list the different accessories I might need, and lighting setups I might use. But this doesn’t mean I don’t let myself improvise on set. This is why the compactness of the GFX100S compare to its big brother is a huge deal for me.
During all these sessions with the GFX100S, I had in my bag the GF110mmF2, the GF63mmF2.8, The GF30mmF3.5, and the GF23mmF4.
The large-format look isn’t a Gimmick, I still remember the first time I’ve worked with GFX files. I am still amazed today by the quality of the images I get with the GFX system. I always shoot in RAW for my work because I need the best image the sensor can give me, and with the GFX100S I have the details and enough room to push my images in post. If I want dark images, deep shadows, If I need an underexposed image for creative reasons, I can! I know I will still have all the details of my scenes available. This opens doors to new possibilities and gives me more options for my creative needs.
One thing I thought I didn’t really need and that has become a time saver now is the resolution. I used to work with cameras that delivered images of around 20 – 24 megapixels. I would worry a tiny bit every time on a shoot and had to spend time making coverage to make sure I had a wide variety of shots for my client to choose from. Although I would love my clients to use the original crop all the time, at least now, I worry less because I know that they can potentially use any images I made and severely crop them without the fear of losing too many details.
This new body is small but not too small. I can bring it anywhere with me on the road, without thinking about its footprint and this without sacrificing all the major improvements Fujifilm made with the GFX100 compared to the GFX 50S. So if the size and weight of the GFX100 were an issue, the GFX100S is a no-brainer.
To my eyes, the GFX100S is perfect for the working professional or anyone who needs a compact and versatile camera that makes no compromises in terms of image quality.
