About — Vellablu Imagery

My Story

How I Got Here

I'm JD. My photography started on film with a Nikon Nikkormat, a fully manual camera that makes you slow down and think about every frame. I still work that way.

These days I shoot Fujifilm X-series cameras and build my own film-simulation recipes: Classic Chrome for the street, Velvia for landscapes. That way the colour is mostly settled in camera, before I edit. When the weather turns, I switch to a weather-sealed OM System OM-5.

Vellablu Imagery is where I share that work: street scenes, landscapes, low-light images and portraits, mostly from around eastern Pennsylvania.

How I Work

My Approach

I like images that feel like they were found rather than staged: natural light, honest expressions and compositions with a little room to breathe.

Get It Right in Camera

Film taught me to commit to the frame. I'd rather get the exposure and colour right when I shoot than fix it later.

Light as a Language

Low light, overcast days, the last few minutes of dusk: I'm usually chasing the light other people pack up and leave.

Restraint in Editing

I edit in RAW on a calibrated monitor, and only to make an image look more like itself, not to turn it into something else.

The Kit

What I Shoot With

Camera Bodies

Fujifilm X-H1 Primary
Fujifilm X-T1 Street / Recipes
OM System OM-5 Weather-Sealed

Lenses

Fujifilm XF 35mm f/2 R WR Everyday
TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8 Compact Street
M.Zuiko 12-45mm f/4 PRO Landscape / Travel

Look

Classic Chrome Street
Velvia Landscape
Custom film-simulation recipes In Camera

Post-Processing

ON1 Photo RAW RAW Editing
Calibrated monitor Colour Accuracy

Want a Print or a Portrait?

Prints and introductory portrait mini-sessions are available. I'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch Prints & Sessions