Martin Makowski

Wedding | Last Updated: September 29, 2021

Hi there! I’m Martin, a wedding photographer from Nottingham, UK. I specialise in documentary wedding photography and I’ve been doing so for nearly a decade. I’m a curious observer and love shooting weddings in a completely unobtrusive manner.

I believe that wedding photography should be as unique and authentic as the people in it. I don’t apply a template or work to any pre-planned ideas. I approach each wedding with a fresh mind and open eyes. In constantly changing surroundings spontaneous photo opportunities await. It’s a bit like street photography at weddings.

Finding myself amongst a large crowd of people that is fully loaded with positive emotions is like a free ticket to a Funland! Being around happy people makes me happy. Creating meaningful and storytelling imagery for people is both very exciting and fulfilling.

Cameras

Fuji X-T3 x2 – Until early 2018 I was a loyal Nikon shooter, I then decided to go mirrorless. I switched to Fuji and absolutely love this system. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

I’m not a camera geek and technical aspects of photographic equipment are not that important to me. If the camera is capable of capturing the photo I’m aiming for, it’s a winner. Fuji gives me exactly that, yet it’s such a joy to handle.

It may sound weird, but I somehow feel an emotional connection with Fuji cameras. I love them for their image character, colours, grain, size, and exposure triangle dials.

Lenses

Fujinon XF 23mm f/1.4 – This is my most used lens during the wedding day and it’s fair to say that I capture 85% of my images with this beauty. I generally photograph in ambient light and would only reach for the flash at the dance floor, so having a faster lens is a massive bonus. It stays attached to one camera body all day long.

Fujinon WR 23mm f/2 – This is my go-to lens for street photography, days out, and travel. I absolutely love it for image quality and size. At weddings, it usually sits in my car as a backup to the main 23mm f/1.4.

Fujinon 56mm f/1.2 – This lens goes on my second X-T3 body. I trained my photographic eye to see in either 35mm or 85mm, it’s a pure gem. However, it only covers a small percentage of the overall wedding shoot.

Fujinon 16mm WR f/2.8 – This is a very recent replacement to its big brother the 16mm f/1.4. I use this lens mainly on the dance floor when I’m super close to the action, or in small rooms where 23mm is a tad too narrow.

To flash the action on the dance floor I use my trusty pocket FLASHQ 20 from LightPix Lab. I also have a Nissin i60 that I occasionally pull out of the bag, usually when the FLASHQ battery goes flat.

On top of the mentioned gear, I pack a few items into my Peak Design Everyday Sling bag 10L including various SD memory cards from Sandisk and Lexar, plus a few spare batteries for my Fujis. Not to forget a tiny umbrella for rainy days.

Over the years I went through some camera gear obsessions and by eliminating unneeded and unwanted stuff, I found my perfect cameras and lenses.

www.makowskiphotography.co.uk | @makowskiphotography

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4 Comments

  1. Martin Makowski on October 7, 2021 at 10:06 pm

    Hey Shotkit team. Thanks so much for this feature.

    • Mirca on October 11, 2021 at 1:09 am

      Links not workings

      • Christopher James Hall on October 19, 2021 at 5:22 pm

        Hi,

        I’m Canon and full frame for weddings. How do you find the noise levels on the Fuji?

        Also have you tried them in the studio?

        Thanks
        Chris

        https://christopherjameshall.co.uk

        • Shawn on April 24, 2022 at 10:32 pm

          I used to use Canon and switched to Fujifilm around 2016. At the timw there was no difference in noise and Canons fastest glass like the 85 1.2L was softer than the Fujifilm lens with no real difference in noise. However in dark rooms when noise is a factor the Canon 6D would give me ugly lines in Bands of noise while the funifilm gave me random film grain style noise that was much more pleasant even though Id prefer a clean raw image.

          Today as I understand it Canon eeks out Fuji in noise because with Canon youll have f/1.2 glass on full frame bodies the bigger sensor has larger photo sites and so there should be less noise. But Fujifilm has a 50mm f/1.0 (and several f/0.95 third party lenses) which will get more light in the first place so less noise and more bokeh. Thats going to mitigate the difference unless you use f/1.0 canon glass.

          For me Canon is also just less fun to use the color isn’t as pleasing and the system was more expensive which will prohibit your creative options (your budget buys less gear).

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