Wedding season officially kicks into full gear for us this week! To get everyone in the mood here are some gorgeous photos from a styled shoot I participated in this week hosted by The Mitchell House of Lebanon, TN. It was such a fun afternoon hanging out with old friends and making some new friends. I had never been to The Mitchell House before and I was surprised by how beautiful each of the rooms was. All of the photos you are about to see were taken inside the house or on the gorgeous wrap-around porch. All of the vendors brought their A-game and delivered some gorgeous details that were a treat to photograph.
Two very fun and distinct dresses were provided by Karen Hendrix Couture and Posh Bridal Couture of Nashville. The guys looked especially dapper in their suits provided by Street Tuxedo. The flowers by Belles Fleurs and Green Finch Floral brought the whole color palette together. But my favorite of the whole shoot was the cake by Oh Crumbs Bakery. I first saw the cake from the back and thought to myself “Wow this is a really elegant cake with its dark blue icing and gold flake detailing and orchids!” then I saw it from the other side and just about lost my mind. This was the first “Geode Cake” I had seen and it left me speechless for a couple minutes. Seriously sooo cool!
Also this was my first chance to test out my new Fujifilm X-T20 camera in a wedding situation. If you aren’t a photographer or interested in camera gear go ahead and scroll down for all the beautifulness.
Seriously stop reading. Scroll down to the photos!
If you’ve been following me on instagram you know I just got back from Italy. 🇮🇹 🍝🍕🍷 Right before I left I picked up the Fuji X-T20 and the kit 18-55 F2.8 lens. I always struggle with what gear to bring with me on international trips. I always pack super light (only carry-ons) so weight is super important. I usually have to choose only one body and make the even tougher decision to only bring a film or a digital body. I got this camera just for this reason and really only planned on using it for these types of trips and maybe some personal work.
When I first got it I was really surprised at how small and how much is packed into this tiny body (it has the same 24mp sensor as its bigger brother the X-T2). For the first few minutes I actually thought that I wouldn’t like it because of how small it actually is. But the more I played with it I realized that it is a exactly what I wanted for travel. I love how this camera looks and how it operates. It feels like I’m shooting with one of my old film bodies and the images look great straight out of camera. I never thought I would really want or need WiFi on a camera but I’ve ended up using it quite a bit with my Nikon D750. The Fuji wifi app isn’t that great but I was able to transfer some photos while I was abroad to my phone and upload them to instagram (hopefully some improvements will be coming soon). But that’s the only negative I’ve found so far. Other potential negatives for wedding work with this camera are lack of weather-sealing, only one memory card slot and no option to use a battery grip (but these really aren’t deal breakers for how I plan on using it).
I love the tactile feedback of my film cameras and the metal wheels on top of this camera feel great and gives me a lot of the joy I get from shooting with one of my film cameras. I only wish it had a dedicated ISO wheel but I mapped the AE-L to ISO select (and the AF-L to back button focus). This camera is super customizable and you can really set it up to your needs/preferences. It’s fun to shoot with and I really fell in love with it while in Italy. Which brings us back to the States and this styled shoot. I was so excited to get to try it out in a wedding type situation and see how it would deal with portraits and details all while in changing (mostly) low-light. I also got an adapter so that I can use all of my nice Nikon glass (that has aperture rings) and I was surprised to find all my Yongnuo flashes and triggers work on this body. But I didn’t bust either of those out during this styled shoot as I wanted to see how the kit lens would do in low-light (plus we were getting gorgeous window light for most of the afternoon).
I shot with the Fuji X-T20 with the kit 18-55 2.8 and my Nikon D750 equipped with a Sigma Art 85 during the styled shoot. At first I was consciously trying to take similar shots so I could compare later. But after a few shots and really loving what I was seeing (from both cameras) this dual setup really felt good and made sense in my workflow (and I think more so than having a wide prime on another Nikon body). I loved the different complimentary shots each setup/system was giving me.
The Fuji files have a pretty distinct look and I was interested to see how they would look next to my Nikon files. After applying the “Classic Chrome” camera profile and making some tweaks to the tone curve in Lightroom I feel like the Fuji images look great next to the Nikon files. I’m still working on setting the X-T20 up to work best for me but I’m already loving the results and looking forward to incorporating it into my workflow at actual weddings. The savings I get in weight and how inconspicuous this camera is make it great for my style of shooting. For the curious about 20 photos below are from the X-T20 setup and 30 are from my Nikon D750. Most of the X-t20 shots are in the ISO 2000 range shot with the lens wide open or close to it.
Enjoy. 😍📷 If you have any questions on my fuji setup hit me up on instagram.
Ok Picture Time!
Vendors that made this shoot happen 😍😍😍: