Hey it’s LENSEL. Ooo the wedding season is sneaking closer, so here we are delivering up fresh inspo to keep you excited, motivated and ready to go. Here’s what’s on:

• 3 IG post breakdowns - we dive into how the best photographers balance trendy photography techniques while remaining ‘timeless’

• AI twin models and photos taking fashion photographer jobs

• The (real?) cost of hiring Villa Balbiano

• And of course the best inspo from the week to keep you sharp

  Now, let’s go ⬇️

NEWS

Happening this Week

• Directory Drama and Fake Brides. This week saw BIG drama in the wedding directory world with a New Yorker article calling out The Knot for sending fake leads to members. OOPS. While The Knot denies these claims, it’s sparked big backlash and more fall out as vendors tried to cancel their memberships. More discussion here.

• WED VIBES ‘Fall in Love’ starts this week. Wed Vibes just started their legendary ‘Fall in Love’ marketing course this week, but you can still jump in here! You might also see a sneaky guest appearance from us at Lensel for a session talking about ‘Perfection and Chaos’! See details here.

• Does Villa Balbiano really cost this much? This bride announced the costs of hiring the iconic Lake Como villa for her wedding in 2026, with an easy little additional fee to ‘open the gate.’

• Would a 16-300mm lens work for you? The newist cool kid of the photo world SIGMA just announced an insane lens at 16-300mm. Yes, yes it’s f3.5-6.7… So not ideal. But still crazy. Check out their announcement here. If nothing else, to see their cool new website and branding.

• Waiting bride goes social. This week saw a thread pop off where a bride waiting for her photos is annoyed by the photographer posting photos from more recent weddings. Lots of lessons in clear communication here. If you care to dive into the comments.

• Nikon quietly announces the Z5II. Nikon just released an update to its ‘ideal for wedding photographers’ full-frame camera, the Z5II. Changes aren’t revolutionary, but improved autofocus is always a win for wedding photographers. Read the full announcement here.

• The WED weighs in on ‘must have’ reception shots. Speaking to photographers, The Wed put together a curated list of must have shots for receptions this week. Is it inspo for shooting, yes? Also inspo for how to curate your own content that you could be putting out there for your brides? Heck YES!

POST BREAKDOWNS

⚖️ Balancing Trends - How the best photographers balance trends in their work

There are photographers who have an amazing few years, HOT on Instagram, HOT on the blogs, and then they fade away. And then there are photographers who build careers that last. Careers that keep them consistently booking the best weddings, creatively alive, and in love with it. Even after a decade, two or even three.

Those are the ones with styles that everyone might call “timeless.”

But here’s the thing with these ‘timeless’ photographers. They’re not stuck always DOING the same thing. They’re not coasting. They’re still adapting. Experimenting. Leading.

So how do they approach these TRENDS we see coming and going? Think direct flash during the day, tilted images, motion blur, super wide lenses and experimental film. WELL?

*Or join LENSEL PRO and get access included in your membership

AI

 🧪 H&M is using AI to clone models

Your likeness, replicated by AI.
H&M is experimenting by creating digital versions of real models, like apparently, down to the birthmark real. To do this they are photographing 30 models from every angle, under every kind of lighting, and sending that data to a tech company called Uncut to build these DIGITAL TWINS.

The goal? To create campaign-ready images without needing the actual model to be there.
Or the photographer for that matter.

Importantly, models still own the rights to their twins and can negotiate payment like any other job. Which is great…

But here’s why this might matter for wedding photographers.
We all think AI won’t touch us because we shoot real people and real events. Weddings feel safe. And we think that is true… BUT if someone can digitize their likeness, pose themselves, and generate realistic images… Is there a world where clients might just opt to do that instead??

Dive in here to read more about what H&M are planning to do here. And here to see a positive outlook on the story.

INSPO THIS WEEK

⬇️ Nothing like some epic light in the veil. This set goes so good.

⬇️ Umm how cool is this. An Indian wedding in an iconic Italian villa. There are SO many epic shots here, you’ll need to click and see for yourself.

⬇️ Sharing the winter wedding while we can. LOVE this set, full of ideas by abbyhartphotography, shot alongside @kayleightaylor

⬇️ Talk about WORLD BUILDING. Yes these are ‘moving’ images but still the ideas, the direction and concepts are NEXT level in building a feel and world for this couple. 10/10.

⬇️ Letting the light be the light - love this dimly lit series where the photographer doesn’t push the exposures to try and brighten up faces, but rather just let’s the light be and embraces the low light feel. Let’s see this more.