Marco Kesseler

Hi! I’m a British photographer with an interest in portraits and contemporary social stories, often working with communities over an extended period of time.

Since graduating, I’ve been working with clients like The FT Weekend Magazine, The New York Times, and The Guardian Weekend Magazine; but when I’m not taking pictures, you will find me cycling around London or foraging for wild food.

I started out playing with cameras before digital photography was around so the learning process and unexpected results of film, as well hours in the darkroom are what drew me in (and still inspire me now).

Where I can I will still shoot on film, although it’s not always possible, so this kit often rotates from job to job. Some of my gear has been with me since the start of working professionally, while other parts have evolved as technology gets updated or I just wear old kit out.

Cameras

Sony A7R III: My digital workhorse. It’s much lighter and more compact than my old DSLRs and the flip screen gets me working from different angles, but one of my favourite things is its low light capability.

Mamiya 7: A plastic fantastic 6×7 rangefinder with great lenses. This goes with me most places and is pretty much everything I want in a camera, I just wish that Mamiya had made them with a metal casing because mine get abused.

Mamiya RZ67: The ideal camera if you’re looking to add some extra weight to your camera bag. Aside from that, it’s great for portrait work or for a different approach to working with the rangefinder.

Lenses

I try to keep lenses to a minimum where I can, as long as I have something to cover the bases of wide, standard, and telephoto. Where possible I stick to prime lenses, which offer much wider apertures and help in low light situations.

Sony 35mm f/2.8: Great as an affordable lens that is very compact and packable to cover wide angles.

Sony 55mm f/1.8: This is my go-to lens for most work if I can get away with shooting at 55mm. Incredibly sharp and much better than Canon’s L series that I used to use before switching to Sony.

Sony 70-200mm f/4: This lens is really only a backup but when it does get used, it’s mainly on commercial jobs.

Mamiya 65mm f/4: This lens is fixed to my Mamiya 7 – I’d rather move around more to frame something how I want rather than changing lenses around.

Mamiya 110mm f/2.8: The same goes for my RZ67; I keep the 110 fixed to this camera which inevitably ends up being used more for portrait work.

Lights/Triggers

The majority of my work uses natural light; this is really more of a personal preference but there are times when I work with lights.

Elinchrom ELB 400: Powerful, packable, with a great quality of light for the price and Elinchrom also makes my favourite modifiers out there.

Reflector: Technically not a light, but I don’t go anywhere without a reflector of some kind. One of the most useful (and cheap) pieces of kit whether you are using flash or natural lights.

Hardware & Software

All my film gets scanned through a Hasselblad Flextight and minimal adjustments/spot removal gets done on Adobe Photoshop.

Digital work is edited either through Capture One or Adobe Photoshop and I make my own presets to try and keep things consistent between film and digital.

Photo Mechanic is my go-to for fast and easy workflow.

www.marcokesseler.com | @marcokesseler