Luke Chisholm

Wedding | Last Updated: November 26, 2020

My name is Luke Chisholm. I am a wedding and portrait photographer based in Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia. I live here with Megan (my wifey) and my awesome little munchkin kids. I split my time between shooting weddings, portraits and personal work. Sometimes Megan shoots weddings with me which is brilliant!

My first camera was an Olympus OM10 given to me as a gift in high school. I loved that camera so much and shot so many rolls with it!

My digital gear has evolved a fair bit over time. I had one Nikon DSLR early on but from that point, I have always been a Canon guy. I started out shooting lots of wild little kids so I was into the fast big boys toys. I was using Canon 1D Mark III bodies which were great for this and served me well for ages. When I started to shoot more weddings I hated the weight of those big bodies so I changed it up. These days I am using two 5D Mark III’s which I find responsive enough for just about anything and the quality of the images in low light is unreal. Megan is also rocking one as well and she loves it.

Lens-wise, I shoot Canon L series primes – Canon 24mm f/1.4L, Canon 35mm f/1.4L, Canon 50mm f/1.2L, Canon 85mm f/1.2L, Canon 135mm f/2L and have the Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8 Tilt Shift in there too which I love. Shooting primes gets me physically involved in what I am doing and I love that feeling. I use all my lenses regularly but the Canon 35mm f/1.4L stays on just about all day. For me it’s the holy grail of wedding lenses and everything about it is top notch. The Canon 135mm f/2L is also a lens I can’t do without. I used to carry my 70-200mm f/2.8 around but that didn’t last too long after I discovered the lighter, sharper Canon 135mm f/2L. I take three 600EX-RT flashes with me to every wedding but rarely use more than one at a time.

I use the Holdfast Moneymaker camera strap system and it has been awesome so far. My back is loving me for using it. My camera bag is a Thinktank Airport Accellerator and Megan’s is a Kata Bumblebee.

I have a Fuji x100S for family stuff when I need to travel light. It’s such a great little camera and even though it makes me angry sometimes, it’s good points far outweigh the bad.

I love to shoot film whenever I get the chance. I developed a love for film in University, particularly the larger formats. I am yet another fan of the Contax 645 and Zeiss Planar T 80mm combo. Favourite medium format films are definitely Fuji 400h and Kodak Portra 800. I love the way this camera/lens combo captures people. So much soul. I love how I can create portraits with it that are more like paintings than photographs.

My baby is my Leica M6 TTL and it’s 1960’s Summilux 50mm f/1.4. I have a real connection to this camera and I just know I will shoot it for the rest of my life. The way it feels and responds is like nothing else. I have this camera with me almost every day and mostly shoot Kodak Tri-x 400. I develop and scan that stuff myself. It slows me down and keeps me in touch with what photography is really about.

I don’t really want to buy any more gear. In fact, I want to carry less if I can get away with it. I think in a lot of ways everyone goes through this cycle. We try everything and think we need it all, only to find we really only need a few key things that help us do what we do.

www.lukechisholm.com.au