Hajiganj tour was a really nice break.......

I had become so bored during this long stretch of holidays....... virtually spent most of the time at home...... missed several photo opportunities for this reason or that...... but I did continue shooting within my home; becoming a strobist by this time.....

my nanabari Hajiganj in Chandpur was a nice break from this boredom...... and didn't miss any chance this time...... missed the Durga Puja Bijoya Dashami celebrations in Dhaka, but got a different taste of the same event in a rural setting..... still trying to figure out whether I've really shot some keepers..... didn't get a lotta time since my return though.......

went to the bank of the mighty Meghna River at Chandpur for a nice break with the family.... it was not just a nice break, an opportunity to give the camera some practice as well....... on the way to Chandpur, I had to stop the car to shoot this........


just when the sun decided to peep........

this was a great moment of Nature...... but I don't consider this as one of my better works...... there's no subject in this shot..... and it hardly has any other substance other than the rays through the smog and the sun-star..... but still, this is one of those pics that keeps ppl interested in my photography, rather than getting bored with images that require a lot of thoughts......:)

will sit with the 550+ images that I shot during the tour again this evening.....

Moha Shaptami at Dhakeswari, September 2009

went to watch Durga Puja (Moha Shaptami) at Dhakeswari Temple with the TTL buddies........ it was a nice photowalk indeed... everywhere I could see TTL-ers........ there were almost too many photographers at times on the stage..... I constantly had TTL-ers showing up in my frame.....

it was a particularly busy place today and had some difficulties shooting with almost too many people in the frame....... as evening fell, the pressure of visitors increased, while light deteriorates...... I came back from there some time after 7:00PM......

hope to go there again during the next few days to cover the event.....

From Durga Puja, September 2009

Temporary tattoos...........

From Durga Puja, September 2009

A bit too high for some........

From Durga Puja, September 2009

Faith........

From Durga Puja, September 2009

A timely support.......

I'm now a strobist!!!

had been looking for off-camera flashes for some time now....... and had been exploring many areas too.... its a pity that photography hardware are so difficult to get in Bangladesh...... you have to change your preferences constantly until you get to a point where things are reasonably available...... I had to give up most of the options on my plate just on the group of availability..... and when I talk about availability, I mean not just being available in Bangladesh, but in south-east Asia too!!...... most people are content with basic outputs....... only a few are bothered about advanced stuff and their availability is next to nill......

anyway, got my new stuff the SU-800 flash commander and the SB-900 speedlight...... they combine with the earlier SB-600 that used to satisfy me up to some time last year.... SU-800 replaced the camera's built-in flash as the remote trigger...... but it uses the same technique, IR; thus has the same limitations...... so far, I haven't found any fault with it shooting indoors...... and its been 100% success up to now.... well, I've shot no more than 30/40 shots with this combination since getting the SU-800 on the 22nd September...... but the SB-900/SB-600 combination has been shooting with the help of the camera's built-in flash since the 18th September......

still haven't got some light modifiers that should improve shooting by some margin....... but for now at least, the need for more power has been reduced..... further addition to overall flash power has to be achieved with studio flash.... camera flashes are way too expensive..... though their portability is a great plus....... but use of studio flash brings to the original problem that I had faced -- flash triggers..... I looked for radio triggers for more than a month, but in vain...... I didn't rely on small brands as I don't have an intention of replacing them within several days....... looked for Pocketwizard Plus II, which is the industry standard........ and it was nowhere to be found.... all the suppliers failed........ and then I had to be content with SU-800, which was also difficult to find..... found it just before I was again giving up on it.....

now, SU-800 is not compatible with anything other than Nikon's latest flashes..... so, if I need more lights, I would have to go for radio triggers....... and need for more power isn't too far..... any kind of light modifier would eat up light and would reduce the available power of the flash units...... and when using flash with light modifiers for group portraits, thats when the need for more powerful flashes would come up......

anyway, I've successfully become a strobist by shooting multiple remote flashes....... lets see, where I can go with this....... here are some examples from the recent shootings...... these were shot using SB-900+SB-600 triggered by camera's built-in flash or SU-800......


Strobist info: Nikon D90 + Nikkor AF 85mm f1.8D (@f4, 1/160, ISO200) + SB-900 (on right; on the floor; indirect; TTL fill-flash) + SB-600 (on left; direct; @1/32) (all triggered by camera's built-in flash)


Strobist info: Nikon D90 + Nikkor AF 85mm f1.8D (@f4, 1/160, ISO200) + SB-900 (on right; on the floor; indirect; TTL fill-flash) + SB-600 (on left; direct; @1/32) (all triggered by camera's built-in flash)


Strobist info: Nikon D90 + Nikkor AF 85mm f1.8D (@f4, 1/160, ISO200) + SB-900 (on left front; on the ground; indirect; TTL fill-flash) + SB-600 (on right firing on white wall; direct; @1/16) (all triggered by camera's built-in flash)



Strobist info: Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 50mm f1.4D (@f11, 1/100, ISO200) + SB-900 (beside camera's left on stand ; indirect; TTL fill-flash) + SB-600 (behind subject firing on white wall; direct; @1/4) (all triggered by Nikon SU-800)

The brilliant Raghu Rai............

what a treat it was to visit Magnum photographer Raghu Rai's exhibition at Bengal Gallery!...... I've seen Raghu Rai's works and always found myself amazed...... but seeing those same pictures in front of your own eyes as massive printouts is something different..... for me, the visit to Raghu Rai's exhib was almost a 'life-changing' thing.......

each of his works were so expressive and descriptive that it was very difficult for me to move from one picture to another....... I had seen most of the displayed images online..... had admired them, but was never able to "touch" them....... most of the images had enough vastness to captivate a viewer for minutes...... they're not just photographs, they're a study of human life......

most of the images had the potential to look like cluttered images to the untrained eye...... where there were too many things in the image and everything was in focus..... but once one spent some time in front of the pics, he/she would begin to realise how much detail one image contained and how they completed the story that the photographer wanted to say....... those tiny details showed the keen eye of Raghu Rai; an eye for detail that is difficult to match......

each image contained a decisive moment that made it unique....... it made me wonder how on earth was he able to manage that moment in every single shot!....... that gave me an idea why Raghu Rai is considered one of the bests in the world......

his shots reminded me that every part of a frame is precious and should be utilised..... and what did he fill the frame with?...... was he always able to find something to fill the frame?....... yes! always!....... he filled the frames with life.......

most of the images had great depth in them...... most of the thing in focus........ they all combine to tell a story........ and yes, you needed those massive prints to realise that...... tiny thumbnail shots are no way to study the works of this genius......

one would be able to find that the images were not taken with utilisation of hardware's extremeties...... they were just as we see the world...... there was no use of extreme wide-angle distortion or flattened tele perspectives...... they gave you a feel that you're part of the image too....... you could touch life just by staring at them......

for me, this was a lesson in photography, a lesson in viewpoint, a lesson in philosophy........ we're so easily attracted to images that have very few elements in them...... they're so easy to read, even if you see them as a thumbnail...... but does it always tell the story?....... is life so uncluttered?....... is life so isolated?.......

Raghu Rai's prints have made think twice about what to do with a camera.......