“Home is where your heart is”, right? Then, it has a truly captivating story to tell. With a keen eye for the spaces we inhabit and a passion for playing with light, Renée Kemps reveals these stories and makes them visible, turning everyday home details into unique communication tools. Recently equipped with her FUJINON’s GF30mmF5.6 T/S and GF110mmF5.6 T/S Macro lenses, she became an architectural storyteller, using all-new camera capabilities and benefits of the tilt-shift lens to document a sense of place.
“There’s something in a space, a property or architecture, that really only speaks to you. Focus on that individual perspective. Personally, I love intimacy in my images, but there’s also elegance and fragility,”
Renée Kemps.
For architectural photographers, maintaining straight lines is paramount. The tilt-shift functionality of these lenses proved to be invaluable, enabling Renée to correct perspectives in real time. This is particularly crucial when capturing details from a slightly downward angle, ensuring that lines remain straight without the need for post-production adjustments. It also offers a unique perspective for those who seek more complexity and variety in photo compositions.
“It’s quite unusual to have a telephoto tilt-shift lens. Often, they’re only made super wide, which limits you. I think this variety is beautiful to have, because for me and a lot of other people, it lets us apply tilt-shift benefits to so many different things. Partnered with the shorter lens, you have an incredible range. You can play around and take a whole different approach to scenes,”
Renée Kemps.
Paired with the new FUJIFILM GFX100 II body, with a remarkable 102-megapixel quality and the rapid functionality of X-Processor 5, these tilt-shift lenses have a powerful ally for image perfection. The large sensor quality provides bigger flexibility and allows for extensive cropping without compromising image quality. It is especially useful when working with challenging spaces.
“They make you slow down a little. Sometimes, you just end up running around a property photographing everything all at once, because it looks so good. With this pair, you can really say: ‘This is the corner I want to document, and I want to have it perfect.’ You live in that moment, and that’s where you can create your best work,”
Renée Kemps.
Read the full story of Renée’s experience with the GF30mmF5.6 T/S and GF110mmF5.6 T/S Macro here.
A commercial and editorial interior, architecture and lifestyle photographer and art director. Based in both London and Amsterdam, she operates on a global scale, producing remarkable work that has been featured in editions of Kinfolk, Ark Journal, Openhouse Magazine, Wallpaper, AD, Ignant, Elle Decor, Vogue, and Harpers Bazaar. Her clients include, among others: American Express, AMAN, RIMOWA, Carl Hansen & Søn, Ark Journal, Ogilvy, Kinfolk, Virgin, H&M Home, The White Company, Creative Blood Agency.
I prefer to be surprised by the places I visit and let them speak to me as I make my way into the unknown. Avoiding preconception of a physical location helps my process: I believe it helps me to create more honest images. Honest, because the final output reflects my own discoveries as opposed to try to emulate what I have seen others do – even subconsciously. This can be frustrating at times, but frustration is a part of the creative process which welcome with open arms. Much as necessity is the mother of invention, frustration can be the propeller of creativity.
I found myself traveling in Mexico City, where I was able to enlist and schedule several dancers before my trip. I had a full schedule of shoots before landing. Yet, I had no idea where was I going to photograph. While the thought frightened me, it also motivated me. Throughout the trip, I relied both on the advice of my dancers and local Fujifilm X-Photographer Jaime Ávila who, out of his own initiative, pre-scouted a few places for me (thanks a lot, brother!).
However, seeing is believing. In spite of their local knowledge and willingness to help, it is not until I am at the actual locations that I face the real challenges: Will this location work for me? How can I make this place my own? How can I translate it into my visual language? My mission is to make the dancer the protagonist. It’s my responsibility to feature him or her in the location while creating a narrative evocative of the city. I can only achieve this through patience and observation.
