Love Rules

Hey guys! We are Love Rules, a Dutch wedding photography team of 2 photographers: Peter and Mitzy Geluk. And yes, we are married!

We have 2 kids, 1 business, and a bunch of cameras. Peter has been a full-time wedding photographer since 2010 and Mitzy joined the company in 2016, after helping Peter on a few weddings.

The photography bug bit her, and she’s been successfully conquering the world of wedding photography ever since.

After the company changed its name from (the very inspirational…) Peter Geluk Wedding Photography to Love Rules, in 2017, we have found our niche in photographing almost exclusively in reportage style.

Sure, we’ll do a photoshoot, but it’ll rarely last more than half an hour. Our deep belief is that moment-driven photography will stand the test of time and be meaningful to our couples, for years and years to come.

Gear isn’t all-important to us; we try to focus on getting sh*t done with what we have. However, a few things do stand out to us in our selection of gear, so let’s get into it, shall we?

Main Gear Talk

We both shoot with FujiFilm cameras. Peter has the X-Pro 2 and Mitzy has the X-T2 series.

They are light, easy to use, and we just love the Fuji colors. These guys have a few things worked out really well – one thing being the form factor of their cameras.

They’re light, sturdy, have a great hold for our small(ish) hands, and they look cool, at the same time! Awesome combination, if you ask us.

FujiFilm has some 85 years experience with film, so they had some time to get their color science right. And they did!

One of the main reasons we love Fuji is for their color profiles. It helps a lot with editing, as the photos come out pretty much edited. Great time saver for us, as we’re not loving the editing process.

We’ve never used any other lenses than the ones Fuji manufactures. They’re great, and there hasn’t been a reason to try other ones.

Flashes don’t get used much on a wedding day shot by us. We primarily use them on the dance floor, usually on stands. Sometimes we dip into some flash during the photoshoot, but that’s not set in stone.

The reason we’re not using flash during the rest of the day is mainly practical: it’s a bit of a hassle and slows us down too much.

That’s not to say we NEVER use flash. When we’re shooting a wedding in an extremely dark venue we’ll grab our flashes to bounce the hell out of that thing.

Cameras

Mitzy:

2x Fujifilm X-T2 – I love the hold on this camera, the grip is ideal for my tiny(ish) hands. The fact that these cameras are light is a big plus.

I started with Canon cameras, but, at the end of the day, my hands and wrists were a bit painful because the are just too big. Another plus is that I find it easier to get closer, because people are less afraid of these smaller cameras.

The Fuji colors are pretty and great for our style of photography.

Peter:

2x Fujifilm X-Pro 2 – Rangefinder style cameras, a form factor I love very much. Coming from Canon, the great colors were a pleasant and time saving surprise, but, most of all, the fact they are small and discrete.

Lenses

Mitzy:

Fujinon 23mm f/1.4  1 of 2 lenses I always use. This baby is great in horrible light circumstances. (We like to shoot without flash because it is less intrusive). I use this lens 90% of the day.

Fujinon 56mm f/1.2  2nd lens for my 2nd camera. Great to use in low-light, as well (focusing is a bit harder for this lens in darker circumstances). Great bokeh; a really nice lens.

Fujinon 10-24mm f/4  The only zoom lens we own. We mainly use this one for the group shots (if the groups are BIG), and I use this one on the dance floor. Add some flash, and you get some nice party pics.

Peter:

Fujinon 23mm f/1.4  Together with the 56mm, part of my basic kit. Go-to lens for all my stuff – just a great documentary lens with just the right wide-angle for what I’d like to show. Because of the 1.4 aperture, it’s possible to shoot low light without flash – something I love to do.

Fujinon 23mm f/2  Smaller lens, but with smaller maximum aperture as well. I use it for street photography, mostly, as it’s lighter and helps me blend into the crowd more.

Fujinon 56mm f/1.2  Amazing lens when it’s sharp. When it’s not sharp, that’s usually my fault for moving it about too much 😆. Go-to lens for my second camera.

Fujinon 35mm f/1.4  Fantastic little lens with a very big aperture. Used predominantly for portraits. Tack-sharp, but a bit slow for documentary work.

Fujinon 16mm f/1.4  The lens I use at the wedding party. Just a little bit more wide-angle to capture those funky-looking shots of people getting their groove on. Also gives me some leeway in post when I’m jumping around the dance floor myself, guesstimating my angles.

Lights/Triggers

Two Yongnuo YN-560 flashes  Old, sturdy, and lots of battle-scars: can’t beat these guys. Bought them 6 years ago for around €40 and lost a few, along the way. These can’t be stopped unless we beat them with a hammer, I suppose. Great little lights!

One Yongnuo YN-560II flash  Little less old but just as reliable. Don’t like the digital menu system though, the other flashes are way easier and faster to work with.

One Canon 430EX II flash. Leftover relic from the Canon days. Over 10 years old, beat up, but still working just fine.

Six Yongnuo RF605C triggers. Simple and easy little things. Last year is the first time they started to give some hiccups, not firing every time. So they will probably get replaced before the 2020 season.

Bags/Straps

We both use HoldFast MoneyMaker straps; a his and a hers model. Peter’s strap is a bit older, so it is more worn down. Mine is a few years younger and is still a bit stiff. Plus, they look great, we always get complimented on them, but for the ladies, I have gotten a lot of bruises because the skin of my upper arm got stuck between the leather and the metal ring, when you slide your camera up.

Bag’s: Mine (Mitzy) is a Think Tank Retrospective 10.  Peter: a nondescript, Chinese-made, brown bag with enough space for all of my stuff. Might get replaced soon.

Hardware & Software

Peter works and edits on an Apple 2011 iMac 27”. Mitzy uses an Apple 2015 MacBook Pro 13”. Peter sometimes also uses an Apple 2015 MacBook Air for working on location.

We have 2 WD 4TB Hard Drives that we have Synced through Dropbox to make sure we are always up to date. Works fine, but not great. We haven’t found a better option, so far, without switching to a Windows server setup or similar (which we don’t want to do).

At a certain point, stuff will get moved to our NAS (a WD one with two HD slots).

For culling we use PhotoMechanic 5.

Everything gets edited in Lightroom CC Classic. It’s not ideal for speed, but there’s no better alternative for us yet. We have a really simple preset we apply upon import. It covers only the basics: contrast, sharpness, color profile.

Everything else gets done by hand for every photo separately. Nothing against using presets, of course, but this works for us.
None of our photos ever reaches Photoshop.

Misc.

So, this is where the fun is. We bring:

• SanDisk extreme PRO cards (64 and 32 GB). Fast cards and very reliable.
• Some simple light stands and clamps for flash mounting during the party.
• Lens cloths.
• Business cards (we have really cool square black matte cards with gold foil that we’re very proud of).
• Bottles of water.
• Sachets of almonds (great little energy bombs).
• Bananas.
• Dextro energy.
• Some buns, for quick, in-between eating.
• Gaffer tape (for flash or other gear mending or mounting).

Final Words

Gear is important, but not defining, in our opinion. A good photographer will know his way around many different cameras and still get great shots.

But sometimes form, looks, ease of use, or build quality will help you choose your tools of the trade. And that’s what it is really: a tool.

Like a carpenter will be able to swing any kind of hammer a lot better than you or I could, we will be able to get more from any kind of camera than most people.

Our current brand choice is not definitive. We might switch to whatever suits our needs in the future, or we might stay with Fuji.

We strongly believe that smaller cameras get us better photographs at weddings, but we see other people do great with bigger DSLRs. So, don’t get bogged down with what other photographers have, but choose your own weapon.

And most of all: HAVE FUN!

www.loverules.nl| @loverules.nl