super clients understood perfectly the idea of real photos and just let me do exactly what i wanted. one day more than the very very few here will get it.

i come back with rolls of this stuff. i shoot far too many pictures.

at least people can see here the photos are all real.

fun wedding
they were all like this all night

Valery Lemberg-no posed staged nonsense "wedding photography"

Valery Lemberg-international wedding photography for the enlightened few.

party in full swing

happy people - real photos.

Valery Lemberg-alternative wedding photography since 1992

i just take the photos.

the new wedding camera - the fastest wide angle p&s there is. its so small and cr*ppy looking people seem to relax a lot more with it than with a big modern reflex like the other local wedding photographers use in

there are times i just put it on af and keep the button pressed down at 4 shots a second.

wedding photos

People like a lot of wedding photos.
if i upload a lot, they can see i produce a lot. they like a lot.
everyone is included, everyone is smiling and hugging each other and the people they like best lots of times.
its a winning formula.

i like anything that just goes slightly off angle or cuts through a front of smile that people hide behind in wedding "photography". i am not sure what this one means so its in.

it may not be fine art but it feels happy enough to me and i think it feels real enough to be ok.
i think its the lady from right who saves it from deletion.
its hard being a wedding photographer and trying to keep principles.
clients like this are the ones you need.

parents try to ruin my pictures by telling the poor kids to smile all the time.
i tell them straight not to direct my models
i care more about real pictures than i do about rich guests getting put out.

people have often asked me what my real (digital) wedding photos are like. well when i am allowed to shoot the way i think best i try to do this. just people happy, together and preferably looking a million dollars.

people together with the people who mean most to them. that's all that really matters to me.

Wedding photography. The Pierre, New York December 2010 by Valery Lemberg

Film Black & White photography
Leica M3 from 60's & Noctilux 50mm F0.95 from 2010

found still life. taken during a moment off in wedding in Pierre.

no tricks no effects just Leica Noctilux glass & fuji neopan film

from the new lab i use that actually develops the film properly and doesn't scratch negatives

i suppose a real photographer wouldn't have under exposed her dress but speed is the key in weddings in my opinion

the bride, eyes, a stare, a galnce, a moment of stillness, a conncection with the camera, captured, frozen in time. nothing else.
Leica MP VIP Black & White wedding photography.
All rights reserved.

i can't paint, i can't draw but i can point-and-shoot.

leica MP
classier photos than canon L at a fraction of size and weight. when film is this good i can't see any reason to use a big digicam. no special effects, no photoshop needed
it just takes very high quality pictures with quiet strength, timeless atmosphere, and class.
i'll leave digiautofocus to the thousands of other local wedding photographers to compete over

i was hired to shoot portraits of the vip guests

move over george clooney

From a very upscale wedding in New York
Leica MP
Lens:Noctilux 50mm f0.95
Ilford Delta B&W

i want wedding photos in 2010 that look like italian films from the 1970's.
the films used are almost from the 1970's as are the cameras.

happy dad. happy day.

funny guy he just let me do what i wanted and laughed.
from my personal collection of offcuts.

One day wedding portraiture will be about that little light reflection in the look from the eye, the connection between black & white film and the soul.

My wedding photos may not be art but I like to think that despite their unpopularity they are simple but genuine, well taken, classical monochrome pictures

this is what the super quiet Leica film camera is designed for.

people uninterupted, unaware of intrusion. I aim to capture moments that are important to people.
I aim to make my wedding pictures look like stills from classic movies.
Valery Lemberg - weddings
in New York, Miami & Worldwide
since 1992.
All rights reserved.