Jamuna Resort, Tangail, Bangladesh
it was a hectic tour actually.... and it was official.... well, not that strictly that I wouldn't be able to use my camera..... and that became the best part of a day that mostly contained mathematical figures.... a dizzy day to say the least....
though it was a tour with the co-workers, it was more like a tour with friends... at least as long as we were not staring at the overhead projector..... and that drowsy stuff went on up to the evening hours when the recess finally came.... while everyone went to the swimming pool in the evening, I began to look for excuses to bring out my camera.... and the opportunity finally came when some of my co-workers raised their hands to participate in some late-night craziness...
I didn't bring a tripod, keeping the official nature of the tour in mind.... but I did have my strobist package with me.... its become something of a staple food for me now-a-days... a couple of SB-900s, a set of Elinchrom Skyport radio triggers, a 34" collapsible 2-in-1 reflector, and a DIY grid-spot.... without a tripod, I decided to use a chair for steadiness.... I was shooting somewhere around 1/10sec with 85mm and 20mm lenses.... the idea was to use the sodium street-lights.... with the white balance following the flashes, the sodium lights created a nice reddish backdrop.... and the 85mm did the rest.... there were more than enough volunteers to hold the SB-900 and the reflector, which were the main lights for most settings.... the Elinchrom Skyports were the triggers...
I wanted the pictures to talk..... to say something about the actual subjects.... in some cases I was actually successful.... and in other cases, they were dramatized portraits reflecting some ideas....
started with Tareq.... a guy with a lot of charm and attraction.... he just did whatever we told him to.... well, not really.... somehow his charming personality was feeling shy in front of the lens.... yet, we were able to produce something very moody.....
the real surprise was Khalid... didn't think that he contained that sort of a personality inside him.... his mild manners took a back seat when he showed up and began to do his stuff... he seemed so natural in front of the lens.... he is a guy who knows how to adapt... and he surely showed what a master he is in that... he became the most spontaneous in front of the camera....
it didn't take too long to find our how I would like Asheq Bhai to shoot... with his meditation background, he was going nowhere else.... and showing off his most common simplicity, he simply refused to sit on the road!!... it took Helal to take off his slippers for Asheq Bhai!!.... and we got the frame we were looking for.... his concentration was unbreakable..... if I had to go out of Jamuna Resort with just one photo, this had to be it...
I had shot Romeo before.... but here I discovered his interest in dance moves and the only thing I had to do was to set-up and shoot.... it was his move all throughout and it became a photo....
I knew his interest in acting.... I've seen that during the office event right after Pahela Baishakh.... but somehow, Helal wasn't able to bring out his expressions.... some people are very good with a script, but without the script they look in too many directions..... I switched to 20mm wide angle and tired to create some drama.... we wanted to make it look like a "Blair Witch Project" kinda shot.... we had smokers among us.... so, you can guess what happened... a bit more smoke would've triggered the fire alarm!!... thanks to the chain smokers for making this happen....
it was Sohieb next and we were all disappointed.... all his interests in music went down the drain.... literally.... he was nowhere.... and to complicate matters, we didn't have any musical instrument or any mike or any other prop that might've added a bit of interest..... anyway, ultimately a candid moment was something that interested me more than anything else..... and it was more "Blair Witch" than Helal's....
last of all, we went indoors..... and the idea was to create a scary-movie kinda shoot..... the light had to look like coming out of the TV.... and the mood of the light had to go with it..... I didn't have gels, so, I decided to play with the white balance.... a second flash (with warm gel) was placed in the room next door to fill the frame.... the dark door looked too empty.... I was really impressed by the expressions presented by Mehrab.... they were superb!!.... similar expressions were tried by Helal too.... but they were not as dramatic.... I would say Mehrab has some prospect with acting.... :)
it was well beyond midnight when we stopped shooting..... there were other subjects who also featured in front of the lens... Aslam Bhai, Sami, Rashed Bhai they all showed great deal of interest.... they had their own stories to tell.... may be would tell their stories in the coming days.... we did this as a good deal of fun.... the best part of it was that we all enjoyed the moments together.... we work shoulder-to-shoulder day in and day out.... and we also enjoyed the moments there shoulder-to-shoulder..... all that would remain in the coming days would be memories....
