Benjamin Brette

I’m Benjamin and I’m 30 years old. I live near Paris and I have been photographing weddings for over 10 years. I shoot mostly in France but travel much further sometimes. My approach is 99% documentary and 1% creative work. The 1% makes me believe I’m an artist.

I see weddings as a part of real life, encompassing the good and the bad, and certainly not as fairytales. I do not use filters and want to show moments as they really happen without staging anything and without asking anything of anybody. This is real life magic.

I used to shoot Nikon for nine years and the cameras were awesome, but at the end of 2018 I decided to switch to Fujifilm because I love the brand’s philosophy. I’ve tried several Fujifilm cameras in the past, such as the X-Pro1 and X-T1. At the time they were not good enough for my purposes (ex. focus, viewfinder), but I bought two X-T3s and they are wonderful. I wanted something much lighter than my previous D850 and the X-T3s are like feathers. I can’t believe it!

Mirrorless cameras show the final result in the viewfinder and, after using a DSLR for years, this is like magic. I would never go back to DSLR. The focus is very accurate and the face and eye detection works very well. I heard the new firmware version coming soon will improve it even more. Switching from full frame to APS-C sensor gives me more depth of field. This is something that is really helpful when you want to show what happens in the background as I like to do.

My favorite lenses are primes because they are lighter than zooms. I mostly use the Fujifilm 16mm f/1.4 R WR (see review) with a full frame equivalent of 24mm. I love wide angles because it allows me to include a lot of context to show what happens around my subject.

My other favorite lens is the Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4 with a full frame equivalent of 50mm. I consider it a telephoto lens because it allows me to isolate the main subject when needed while also keeping the context. Sometimes I use something longer like the Fujifilm 56mm f/1.2 with a full frame equivalent of 85mm, but this is only for portrait sessions. It creates a wonderful creamy bokeh. Portrait sessions are not my cup of tea so I use it quite rarely.

When there is a large group, I love using an ultra wide-angle lens like the Samyang 12mm. It allows me to shoot very close to people to create a dynamic image. It is fully manual but set at hyperfocal you can keep things in focus. I take all daylight pictures with these lenses.

When taking photos, I have my camera in my right hand and my flash in my left hand. Doing this with my previous Nikon DSLR was very difficult and painful for my arm. Speaking of flashes, I use Godox which are affordable and seriously built. They are mostly used off-camera and triggered by the Xpro remote.

I’m not a pixel peeper, as I trust my gear. Here in 2019, I believe every lens is stellar and 100% convenient for photographing my clients. If the photo is not good enough it is the photographer’s fault, not the gear.

www.benjaminbrette.com | @benjamin_brette_bphoto.fr