A SUNRISE ELOPEMENT IN FLORENCEFederica & Marco

Federica and Marco met me in Florence at four in the morning. We photographed for two hours and finished before the first tour groups reached the Ponte Vecchio. Every photograph they walked away with was black and white.

I want to photograph more couples this way, in Florence and around Europe. Early, before the crowds, when you can stand in the middle of a famous square and have it to yourselves. A session like this takes an hour or two. You do not need a wedding to book one.

We spent the blue hour along the Arno, working from the Ponte Vecchio down past the other bridges while the water was calm enough to reflect them.

The one colour photograph

I shoot in black and white. It’s my preference, and it’s what you’re looking at here: the black and white JPEGs straight out of camera, unedited, handed over the same day.

The camera also saves a RAW file for every shot, and a RAW file can be turned into colour. The photograph below is the one I converted. It’s the only colour frame in the set. The rest stay black and white.

Why black and white

The camera is set to black and white before we start, so the JPEGs come out that way from the first frame. It’s close to shooting film.

Most of this comes from old Ingmar Bergman films. Bergman was a Swedish director, best known for The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. He shot in black and white, and his close-ups of faces are some of the best there are. That is the work I keep going back to.

Where we shot in Florence

We covered the old centre on foot: the Ponte Vecchio and the Arno for the blue hour, the terrace at Piazzale Michelangelo for the view over the city, the Uffizi colonnade, the statues under the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria, and the Duomo as the sun reached the marble.

The sun came up while we were on the bridges. After that the light was warm and low, and the two of them had loosened up, which is when the better frames tend to happen.

We finished at the Duomo. The cathedral steps were empty for a few minutes, which almost never happens once the day gets going.

Book a sunrise session

If you are getting married in Florence or somewhere else in Europe, planning an elopement, or you want an hour of photographs at sunrise, get in touch. I photograph full weddings and elopements as well, so we can talk about whatever you need.