Bramley Apple

Captain slow.

Apparently, I'm starting to create some rumors among models, saying I'm slow and awkward to work with, because of my critical manual focusing technique.
Things got even worse when I started using the GFX medium format camera, that require even more precision.
But I also noticed this is happening more with younger models.
Improvements in continuous autofocus tracking of the subject introduced by Sony as a state of the are solution for the laziest photographers, are gaining ground in t...

Relaxing tones.

Even if this is the same hotel as always, the color palette of the bed was more sedate and relaxing in this shooting with Paulinepastel, as if to acknowledge her aristocratic beauty and make it shine even more on a mere neutral background.
Whatever, I have been making some great shootings with spectacular models, and she is just one of them, and still I feel privileged to have worked with her.

If you want to learn more about the Bramley Apple Project or Archive...

Demanding locations.

Currently working on Elfa's shooting in the asylum to gain more experience about the place, as I might be doing 2 more attempt this year there in August.
One with Barbora and one with Maria, hoping they are not overlapping...
I have to see how other models are interpreting this scary place, because looking at what we did with Elfa, there ir room for improvement.
Her sequences of poses were always the same, leading her face constantly out of the focus area, or out of any meaningful ex...

Playing kitty.

I wanted to get a seriously sexy photo in this case, but Maria is a playful model, and this position reminded to her a cat asking to be pet.
We tried also her version, but she cracked up in laughter, as you can see here.
In this case you have to be cold blooded and keep shooting, to record a fun moment with this heavenly beauty.
So today you get 5 pictures + BW versions, but a sequence like this need to be seen all at the same time, to appreciate the process.

Later today you ca...

Elfa's fears 3 of 3.

The worst fear of Elfa on that day, were humans.
Whenever she heard a voice coming toward us, she jumped and run for her jacket, that was long enough to cover every sensitive part of the body.
I have no idea why she would want to cover such beauty, if I was as beautiful as her, I would be walking around constantly n4ked in the Summer.
But I could see a genuine terror every time she heard voices, and in this case it gave me the opportunity to shoot this nice candid photo of the panic ...

Elfa's fears 2 of 3.

I promised to shoot at least one photo of Elfa wearing her safety slippers, and here is the first one, but I shot a lot more, so you will see the yellow sandals again.

The fear she experienced on the roof of the taller and more modern building surprised me.
All of a sudden we hear a noise, she gasps and points towards the breach in the tiles, from where the light was coming in, so I looked and saw a harmless lizard.
I had to reassure her it was not a serpent, not dangerous, and th...

Elfa's fears 1 of 3.

This is the second time I shoot with Elfa, but it is the first time I get to use the Monbello Asylum as a location!
I went there in August of 2024 to check out the location with a friend, and finally (now that the weather is good) I tried to shoot in this huge location.
It is inside a park, with numerous buildings, most of them abandoned and from various periods, but the place is famous since the end of WWI for having hosted the soldiers coming back from war.

All in all it was a s...

Best things don't come easy.

Today I'm not inside Milano, but very near, for a shooting I've been waiting to do for the past year.
It was August when I went to do a preliminary inspection last year, with a friend of mine, and found it was a great location.
Since then I have been planning to take some model there.

Elfa today will be my first attempt, possibly I will still have problems finding my way in this huge location, but it is unlikely I will get nothing else than marvellous photos.
At the same time I...

Urbex strategies for Monday.

With the shooting of Elfa in the abandoned Asylum, I will definitely take a different approach to the urbex style photos I made in Sotto il Monte with Ania.

No Nikon D810, no AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED, no flash.

I hope I will not regret it, but I've chosen to shoot only with available light.
Main camera will be the Fujifilm GFX 50S II + "Martin" (the Zeiss T* 1,4/85mm Planar ZF named after the Patron that sponsored part of the purchase), equivalent of a 68mm on full frame form...

Choking.

Today I'm showing you Inna again, but with less shadows, and with her beautiful silhouette fully extended.
Also this photo was shot on the Fujifilm GFX 50S II + "Martin" (the Zeiss T* 1,4/85mm Planar ZF lens named after the Patron that sponsored part of the purchase), so I suggest you enlarge the image to appreciate the details and the smooth tonal gradations.
These medium format files are a pleasure to work with, and a pleasure to look at.

This time it was not me asking Inna to p...

NEW #BRAMLEYAPPLE BLOSSOMING ON THE 🍏 TREE…

No teaser this time round, because today I will post 2 more photos of Inna, the new model from yesterday, on my regular social media feed and on DA Subscriptions!

The day before the shooting and the very same morning we had numerous hiccups, like she couldn't check-in the apartment in time for our arrangements, so I had to ask for a discount and book a room in the usual Da Vinci hotel.
But, from the moment we met in the hotel room and started shooting, everything went smoothly, and I...

About what's coming, and what might be lost forever.

Today I'm in Milano, shooting with yet another brand new model.
So you Patrons are the only ones to get a post, and something similar is going to happen on Monday, the 16th, with the return of Elfa.

A busy period also this Month, but how can I waste every opportunity to work with the models I love?
Think about Martina, I'm not managing to book her for shootings any more, it is a heartbreaking prospect to give up my favorite muse, made tolerable only by knowing I still have numerou...

Looking at our future straight in the eyes.

Deciding which and where to post the 2 pictures of today was a difficult choice!
This first shooting with Barbora is extremely important for me, and I didn't want to give away too much about the various corner of the house.

I have a long sequence of photos in the corridor, shot on the Leica SL2-S + the Contax-Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f1.7.
This lens is growing on me, because it is the perfect blend of sharpness and smooth bokeh wide open, with a classic Zeiss pop.
I'm keeping this ...

Exposed on the balcony.

Another photo of a model exposed on a balcony, you can't tell, because I was with my back to the city of Milano, pointing the camera on the inside of the balcony, where Quinn was leaning on the wall.
So anyone looking at us would have seen my back whilst I was taking the picture, and the front of Quinn like this behind me.
We shot just a few pictures on the balcony with the Leica M240, because it was cold in November 2022 (as you can see from her contracted nipples), but that was enough...

Let her move freely.

Starting the week on a high note, with Martina's bottom in plain view.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to move my attention from her mesmerizing eyes and front of the body, to pay some attention also to the rest of her body, especially the backside, which is so charming.
This is why I have to let her move freely, because she knows how to turn round from time to time, to show all sides to my camera: this is what an accomplished model is doing.
By the way, this was June 2020.

I...

Just for you.

Cara Mell is one of the most appreciated models I've ever photographed.
So my Patrons deserve to have another look at her, on a Sunday, and just for them.

In the mean time, let me tell you more about the preparation for Elfa's shooting on the 16th.
She accepted to pose with bare feet, so I searched for a pair of cheap sandals to make her wear whilst walking around the asylum premises, something that can get dirty whilst protecting her feet, something I can remove from the frame wh...

Historic madness.

I might have managed to bring Elfa back to the table.
After she asked for a 40% increase from last year's fee, and I had to refuse, she came back with another offer.
I accepted the offer, and she accepted my location suggestion, because I didn't want to shoot again in the same hotel.
So on the June, the 16th, we're going to be shooting in the abandoned asylum I visited last year, and that's going to be a blast!

We're in for a very different approach to her beauty, no more intim...

Dirty pictures.

This image is refined, made with a medium format camera and a very special lens, the ultimate portrait lens from Nikon from the past millennium, the Nikkor 135mm f2 Defocus Control.
In this photo the details are superb, with every single hair in focus perfectly visible, and the out of focus areas are deliciously soft and melted.
I love this photo, I also love the one I will post later today on DA Subscription made with the same camera-lens combination, because this is technical perfecti...

Marketing propaganda.

I was looking some YouTube videos about the Leica SL2-S, just to keep informed about what are the opinions of other photographers, and I keep hearing praises about the extraordinary high ISO performances of this camera.
Something I don't agree upon.

To verify I'm not doing something wrong, I posted a query on Leica forum.
I didn't get a definite reply, but numerous people in the forum found my sample pictures to be perfectly fine, giving me the suspect that it is just the normal ...

Karina in the basement.

It's a long time since I posted a photo of Karina, March the 3rd to be precise, and here she is!
I was still experimenting colors arrangements with the Leica SL2-S, and now I might do a different interpretation of this image, but it is still such a pretty photo.
There is no right or wrong in photography, just the reflection of a specific moment in time, and this was a great moment indeed!
The Contax-Zeiss Planar T* 100mm f2 is giving a beautiful appearance to Karina, isolating her fr...

Dancing in the rain.

Ok, the rain was not exactly falling on Linda at the time, but it was refreshing a hot August day in 2021, and is visible in the background.
The advantage is that the hair of the model is dry, and it can move with the wind in front of her face, and making this photo much more dynamic.

If you want to learn more about the Bramley Apple Project or Archives, or DA subscriptions, ask me on 2025-06-03 07:30:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Photography is a disease.

September 2023, shooting number 18 with Martina, this is the corridor sequence.
In this case I had to create the light artificially, using my spotlights (I believe I had already a couple at the time...)
The quality of the Leica SL2-S sensor is not so impressive at 1.600 ISO, but overall I like the images and the concept, and Martina was a great partner in crime as usual, bringing her craftswomanship on the table.

In the future, I might consider bringing with me also a tripod for t...

Exposed.

I shot in this Milan apartment several times, but the best feature was surely the balcony, dominating the City.
Feeling so exposed was surely a great sensation, and adds to the pictures.

If you want to learn more about the Bramley Apple Project or Archives, or DA subscriptions, ask me on bramleyapple@yahoo.com

Hairy bits.

I was listening at a YouTube video, where they were talking about hair of models, and how lenses that are too good can make life difficult when retouching untidy strains of hair in the picture.
And that might be true in case of photos for commercial, or high end photographers...
But for amateurs like myself, the more messy is the hair on my models, the more I want to keep it as it is!
For example, I love how the blond hair of Ania is trying to hide her n4ked body, without much succes...

A feast for the eyes.

I've learned my lesson, I can experiment shallow depth of field on full frame sensors, and with 50mm lenses, but with medium format I have to be careful!
The Fujifilm GFX 50S II + "Martin", the Zeiss T* 1,4/85mm Planar ZF (named after the Patron that sponsored part of the purchase), is framing the equivalent field of view of a 68mm lens, but I have to close down at least to 2.8 to have a sufficient portion of the model in focus, and the background is going to melt away regardless.
In th...

NEW #BRAMLEYAPPLE BLOSSOMING ON THE 🍏 TREE…

I hope you like this new model, Barbora, because she is likely to become my next favorite model, now that Martina is so hard to book!
I was excited about her and had great expectations even before meeting her in person, but after our first shooting I can confirm she is going to become my new flagship model, an I will try to work with her every time she comes to Italy.
Of course she is not going to be as "versatile" as Martina in all styles, but it is as if she got me back on the origina...

Searching for the right attitude.

Got some pretty light contrasts in this photo of Martina, from February 2020.
The cold light from the blue hour outside, and the tungsten light from the existing light fixture, are contributing in defining the hot spot represented by Martina's body.
Even with the most ordinary lights, she shines just the same.

Today I'm in Milano, again, but this time I'm shooting a brand new model!
I have high hopes about her, and I even hope to get from her the same relaxed and badass attitud...

Challenged by Demi.

The exterior of the apartment booked by Demi was promising, in an area of Milano full of trees and squirrels running around.
It was the apartment itself that was not ideal, especially because it was too dark.
It is not the first time I experience this kind of problem in apartments on the ground floor, but the situation in this case was worsened by the trees outside, cutting out most or the natural light.

The real challenge for me, is to shoot decent pictures even when the conditio...

The vintage lens secrets.

I was considering the idea of buying lenses from brands, or periods in time, I have not yet sampled, just to give them a go, as a sort of photography encyclopedia, and the Pentax I used for this photo is a perfect example.
I had already 3 of the more recent SMC Pentax lenses, 28mm, 100mm macro, and 135mm (the latter donated by a follower), but none of the previous era, so I bought this inexpensive Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 M42 mount, and used it for nudes for the first time with Dovil...

Demi Fray is back!

What a strange week this has been, with 2 models returning to the Bramley Apple Project for a second helping, both shot for the first time several years ago (6 for Dovile, 7 for Demi), and both born in 1991.
In some ways the experience with Demi has been the opposite of the one with Dovile, because the trip of today was comfortable and in perfect time, but the shooting was disappointing.
The ground floor apartment was small, ugly and dark.
We tried our best to make this reunion spark...