Lamisa's water bottle.....

25 June 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Lamisa has showed her affection towards a lotta objects so far.... and none of them get her attention for long.... and its always interesting to documents her short love affair with those objects..... the most recent being a water-bottle.... just a few days back, she was in love with her first water-glass.... and now the water-glass seems to be an old item....

I was also looking to compare the Lastolite Ezybox 24" Hotshoe softbox with the Shashinki 24".... the former being the more expensive of the two.... a lot more expensive to be exact.... $190 vs. approx $60.... I somehow ended up with both of these in my hands.... so, had some time to compare the two.... the very first thing that comes up here is the weight and construction.... the Shashinki seems to be a much better build with metal speed-ring and flash holder.... it also has a ball-head under the flash-holder that would make it a better softbox to be used with simple lightstands..... but the ball-head also puts the question whether it would last..... its certainly not a Manfrotto ball-head... the Ezybox, on the other hand, is dependent on plastic mostly.... that plastic construction puts the question in mind, why the product is so expensive and would the plasticky stuff really last.... but its certainly lighter.... that makes the Ezybox more suitable for hand-held boom operation.... my wife was surely complaining less with the Ezybox at the end of that Manfrotto monopod.... but as it doesn't have the ball-head, its suitability becomes more limited to boom, and not simple lightstands.... the Ezybox also has double diffusion inside the softbox.... probably it helps to reduce highlights in the middle of the softbox.... but I don't expect it to be as good as the Westcott Appollo, which is an indirect light-source.... I'm also hoping to get one of those.... for the moment, I would like to make use of both the softboxes, as they have some different purpose.... the Appollo, on the other hand, is likely to add a completely different dimension.... lets see.....










anyway, lets get back to the shoot.... I used the Manfrotto monopod as boom arm and put the Ezybox right overhead.... and I've also tested with the monopod fully extended... it can hold the Ezybox, even though the assistant would feel some pressure... its still practical to fully extend the softbox into the frame...... seems like a great combination..... I also used a silver reflector on the floor to bounce a bit of light from below; softening the shadows.... not fully, but at least somewhat.... didn't wanna use the over-and-under combination, as the backdrop was pretty close to her back..... didn't want any light falling on that black backdrop.... perhaps I could put a backlight to separate her from the black backdrop.... but for the moment, didn't go into that overdrive.... may be some other time....

more to come later.....

blue gel fun.....

24 June 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka

just thought about doing something different.... putting some gels on a flash creates a different backdrop.... thats the easiest way to change the backdrop..... I was also thinking of putting the Phottix lightstands to some sort of test.... Lamisa gave me that excuse when she refused to complete her meal.... she got busy with me setting things up..... and by that time, her mother did her job.... anyway, I wasn't gonna pack my stuff just as she finished her meal.... a done setup should be utilised....











put the 24" Shashinki softbox on a lightstand and made it my main light.... as I was looking to create a coloured backdrop with a gel filter, I positioned the softbox in a way so that it doesn't wash out the backdrop light.... the backdrop was illuminated by a flash with blue gel and a 1/4" grid spot.... the grid spot made sure that the blue light wasn't all over the place.... the last thing I would want was to have a blue cast on my subject because of a spill from the background light.... that light was also on a Phottix lightstand.....

the lightstand proved to be sturdy enough with the softbox on it.... I mean up to around 5' height.... once it crossed 5', it began to sway a bit.... and remember, I was within my house.... a location testing would reveal something different.... especially with a softbox on top, which usually catches wind like a sail!!..... beyond 5'6", the lightstand needed support..... and didn't even dare to open the last section, which probably would've taken it beyond 7'..... anyway, its always good to know the limits of your hardware.... they really help in situations....

more to come later.....

playing with DoF.....

21-22 June 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka

I was just looking for an excuse to try out a new softbox.... its a cheap 24" softbox for speedlites... its especially suitable for location shoots where you want to put an overhead light.... this softbox can be mounted on a simple light-stand as well, but the weight of the softbox sets it apart.... now, the question is, how do I manage to put the softbox overhead?.... I don't have a dedicated boom.... I never had.... previously, this job of overhead light was totally dependent on improvisation.... and needless to say, it was a real pain to set things up for it... you have to face it when you are using stand-ins....

this time, I used another improvisation, but this time, it was a lot better than what I did previously.... I used a monopod.... a carbon-fibre monopod from Manfrotto made it all possible... I mounted the softbox on the monopod and instantly, I had a boom-mounted softbox..... mounting the softbox on the monopod was a bit of a challenge..... it required a stud from an umbrella adapter to get the two pieces together.... I don't have to worry about lightstands creeping into my frame now.... but one problem still remains.... its a monopod, and it requires an assistant.... I can't just put it on the ground like a c-stand.... and the overall mounting is still heavy when the session is long and the monopod has to be extended quite a bit.... it becomes a tough ask for the assistant.....

anyway, I was planning to do some close portraits using shallow DoF; also, where I could control the light on the subject and background .... a very low-powered flash was a necessity as I was mostly shooting between f2.0 and f2.8.... I mostly shot at the lowest settings for the flash....






my first subject was my typical model Lamisa.... haven't had a session with her for a while..... my stay outside the country took those sessions away and put them in the closet.... now, she's back with a bang!.... her mom became the assistant....













and then my two old photog buddies Rumi Bhai and Gazi Bhai came up... they both became subjects and assistants..... we tried to do some funky portraits.... Rumi Bhai featured like an urban stroghand.... and Gazi Bhai featured like a techno-freak!




but also did a more typical portrait of Rumi Bhai..... used a 1/4" grid-spot for that.... the idea was to bring a shadow on the wall, where the shadow would also have some character.....

Picasa and Blogger both became temporarily out of my reach for a couple of days due to some incompatibility with my ISP.... anyway, with that solved now, I can go on posting again.....

more to come later....

Delhi diary: Part 3.....

14 June 2011
Delhi, India

so far all the sight-seeing has been in New Delhi.... well, you can hardly call this sight-seeing, since all we had been doing upto this time was to go to malls, hang out, eat, and watch movies.... but there's that really old part of the City which identifies Delhi has been out of our schedules all along.... in comes Caesar.... an old frield who's been living at Gurgaon.... he comes to give that badly needed push....

it was hardly 2 minutes' decision-making that took us to Delhi Metro.... we were heading for the old part of the City.... and what time to enter the Metro!!.... we automatically boarded the train; didn't even have to move.... the rush was on, and its not always your choice when you end up in a particular place!!.... but we lived and disembarked alive!!.... its a great system, mind you.... the system has reduced Delhi's traffic jams to virtually nothing!!....

the Old Delhi was a real surprise for me.... not because it was something extraordinary, but because it is so similar to our Old Dhaka.... someone could take a photo there and tell others that he has taken it in Old Dhaka.... only the language got changed.... signboards are different.... and some of the roads are comparatively wider than what we see in Bangladesh....

we dined at Karim's and made that wish fulfilled!!.... I've heard so much about this eatry that going back without tasking it would've been a crime.... and yes, it surely is a taste to remember.... there are words of National Geographic and the BBC printed on the door as a publicity stunt!!.... why wouldn't they?.... the place is ont the map as one of the places to see in Delhi....










in front of the Jama Mosque of Delhi, something familiar captured my attention.... security!!.... everywhere I went in Delhi, they had me put through the scanners.... God help!!... if I continue to get such radition all throughout my life, I'm probably gonna end up looking like the radiation workers at Chernobyl.... anyway, the security situation is not comfortable here, which was predictable, I think... so much has happened to India; lives changed forever....




it was evening already; so, there was no way we could have a look at the inside of the old monument.... we rather decided to skirt it.... a bit of look around brought us in front of a big open-air market... the market sold what not products at bargain price.... its wasn't the busiest time of the year, which was obvious, since this is predminantly a Musilm area.... and the place becomes teeming with people during the Ramadan....



we couldn't visit the red fort because of our odd timing.... so, we rather went to India Gate.... the big monument was brilliantly lit up to 10:00PM and everyone seemed to be taking photos at their heart's content..... I was able to see the monument everyday on my way to and from office.... but wasn't able to stop by... at least, until now.... again, thanks to my old frield Caesar....

even though it was well into the night, there were thousands of people roaming around the place.... a warm day of summer is supposed to attract a big crowd at an open place like this.... and its one of the most recognisable monuments of India, thus, a very good hang-out place..... the spotlights on the monument just died at 10:00PM.... yet, we saw a lotta people still reaching that place...

during the whole evening, from Old Delhi to New Delhi, I was using the D700.... it was the first time I used the D700 that much inside Delhi.... I had to confine myself to the LX-5 mostly....

more to come from Delhi....

Jaipur diary: part 2......

12 June 2011
Jaipur, India

we had a packed day planned on Sunday.... even though there was no respite from the weather expected, we still wanted to make the best use of the day.... we had already missed the best of Hawa Mahal as we had skipped the morning visit there.... actually we had a great chance of going there early in the morning, but some weird circumstances prevented that as well.... so, we rather planned for The City Palace to come in first....


Hawa Mahal and the snake-charmer.....


Hawa Mahal is one the way to The City Palace.... so, we simply had to take a pause on the road; everyone does.... even though we missed a great opportunity to shoot this magnificent building in the early morning light, something made this stop worthwhile.... a snake-charmer was a surpise find there, and had to shoot him.... well, not for free though... but that filled up some of the gaps created by missing that early morning visit... anyway, The City Palace was to take the major time there... Hawa Mahal is kept as a secondary as far as time spent is concerned....




















The City Palace is another example of luxury enjoyed by the bygone era royal families... the architecture and designs are really admirable... and no surprise to see quite a few tourists, even in such extreme heat.... it was all about shooting architecture at the Palace, as the whole tour has been so far... there were some characters there that I would've liked to shoot... but didn't really go too far with it... my experience with a guide at Amber Fort didn't encourage me to try it again.... but the Palace guides wear great clothes, making them stand out among the intricate design details of the buildings.... they are themselves something to see...














we rushed to hotel, checked out and paid a nice short visit to Hawa Mahal.... it was right under mid-day heat.... although we didn't really plan for an extended stay there, we couldn't help taking some pictures there.... while inside, we were able to see what we missed in the morning hours.... its a nice building, although its inside isn't as attractive as its outside.... but the back side of the building does contain facades similar to the one in front... its more like a trade-mark facade....

our main plan was to visit Nahargarh Fort.... we simply didn't want to miss the view from up there.... we don't know how it would look.... it may even suck totally.... but as its totally unknown to us, its better not to miss it..... we don't want someone to come in and tell us that we missed the greatest view on earth!!.... so, after lunch and another shopping trip to RTDC, we were off to Nahargarh.....

it took us some time to reach Nahargarh..... on the map, it showed that it was 6km from Jaipur, whereas Amber was 15km from the City.... I thought the two would be on two different routes... and there was the Jaigarh Fort, which resides 400ft above Amber... but as it turned out, they're all basically in the same place.... Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort are on the same hilly road.... a fork divides the road into two and thats where we left Jaigarh and went to Nahargarh..... as we climbed, the view became more and more majestic.... as people from flat lands, we were awe-struck!... the roads are pretty pleasant, even though they're made across such harsh terrain.... the roads are easily accessible to small cars.... you don't require a 4WD car to reach the top....











the captivating view of Nahargarh instantly reminded us that it would've been a real miss if we opted not to visit the place.... its not the fort itself; its the view that attracts.... the fort lives on top of the city and the whole of the city can be seen from there.... the view of Jal Mahal from the top is simply awesome.... while at the City, I was constantly looking for an angle that would be a bit different from usual.... but I couldn't.... now I got this one.... I don't know how this would look in the fading evening light.... the walls of Jaigarh Fort seen from Nahargarh reminded us of the Great Wall of China....












we spent some time inside the fort, which isn't that small actually, even though its basically a supporting fort for Amber.... monkeys are the only current residents there.... their presence in this ancient settings puts some life in history.... its strategic location overlooking the city makes someone realise how it would've looked during its days of glory.... we thought it would take a whole day to explore all the unique angles of this fort.... and this fort surely has all those unique views.... just a few of them impressed us enough to justify this visit....

by around 4:30PM, we were off to Delhi.... it was supposed to take a bit longer as most people usually travel outside Delhi during the weekend and come back on Sunday night..... and it was a long journey.... quite tiresome.... we didn't reach Delhi before 10:40PM....

Jaipur was a tough tour considering the weather.... but got our money's worth.... its a unique place and its worth visiting anytime.... perhaps we missed out some of the more important cultural traits of Jaipur that makes it unique.... you have to come during the season to make the best out of a tour.... this is a place for National Geographic photographers....

more from Delhi to come....

Jaipur diary: part 1....

11 June 2011
Jaipur, India

a weekend is a weekend if you get to use the time at your own discretion.... well, in this case, coming to India, we did have one weekend in our schedules... we planned for a getaway to some place near.... a place that can be reached and returned from within the weekend.... Agra was one option, and the other was Jaipur... already some cautions were aired by some colleagues regarding the unsuitability of Jaipur in this season.... but we ultimate went for it.... Agra is a great place, but unfortunatel, its one of those very typical places that everyone visits.... so, we would rather explore the unknown if we have only one precious weekend.... touching both Jaipur and Agra was also not an option, since that would've meant that we would be on the road most of the time, enjoying very little sight-seeing, and no rest...






















anyway, a car drive very early in the morning was planned.... Jaipur is usually around a 5-hours' drive from Delhi... we reached there by 11:00AM.... the plan was to reach Amber Fort first, which was just outside the City.... we reached Amber under unbelievable heat!!... they said that it was 46-degree Celcius on that day!!.... its a magnificent fort to say the least.... its grandeur is something to see.... it has some lovely architecture inside.... the palaces inside reminded of the luxury enjoyed by the rulers of those times... the monkeys inside the palaces are the only attractive residents now-a-days.... great place!!... worth a visit; but gotta come during season....







Amber was something of a challenge under that heat.... took lunch inside the city and rested at the hotel..... waiting for the sun to give us a break.... there's a lovely place called Jal Mahal, which was our target for the evening.... its a palace in the middle of a lake, surrounded by hills on two sides.... we spent some time taking some snaps there.... lovely reflections of the building in lake waters..... the lake was also teeming with various aquatic birds.... Egrets, Herons, Lapwings decorated the already pristine view..... the heat was still on.... even well after the sun's departure from the skies, the heat was still difficult to digest.... the locals resort to many ways to save themselves from the tremendous heat.... a lot of people wear robes around their heads.... some women wear some hand gloves which cover their whole hand, almost up to their shoulders.... women wear both traditional and modern dresses.... traditional dresses are extremely colourful and remind us of the National Geographic covers... the streets are full of activities that would seem unique to a visitor.... but you have to have the time to see all that....

we took to RTDC (Rajastan Textile Development Corporation) after seeing Jal Mahal.... its a huge complex.... even though it says that its about textile, it was actually a mix bag of everything.... RTDC is just the sponsor, and under their umbrella, all of Rajasthan's handicrafts were on display.... a great place to promote the State's products....








we were keeping an eye on the watch, as we had another target... some light-shows at the Amber Fort... before coming here, I found on the web that Nahargarh Fort was the best during the evening.... so, we had a notion that it would be a good idea to go there in the evening... but ultimately we planned for Amber's 'lights-and-sounds' show... this is something I didn't read about before.... once we reached there, the show was already on.... there are two versions; the English one starts at 7:30PM and the Hindi one at 8:30PM.... we caught up with the latter one.... its more like a narration of the history of Jaipur in its glory days, when Rajput warrior kings ruled and made history.... the nice audio is given a lovely visual touch by some dynamic light-show on the huge walls of Amber.... the overall experience was awesome... it surely would've been a great miss if we failed to pay a visit there....

anyway, a dinner at a local restaurant brought the day to an end for us at Jaipur.... we were dead tired.... mainly because of the sapping heat and very little sleep the night earlier.... we had a lotta plans for the next day; so, some rest was essential....

more to come....

Delhi diary: part 2.....

10 June 2011
New Delhi, India

the tour continues more-or-less the same way.... the 4th day at New Delhi wasn't too different.... we only changed the place of visit in the evening.... the weather had been much better for the last couple of days.... there even had been some cloud in the sky in the morning... although the cloud stayed there only for a short while, it wasn't that punishing during the evening hours....



flute player....




arches.....



arch and Sardarji...



four-legged relaxation....



wow....



we planned for a visit of Connaught Place (CP).... a shopping area spread around a huge circular complex.... there was also an underground market for bargain-hunters.... just like Saket, we found all the branded stores out there... the experience of Saket melted aways quite quickly.... this is no Saket, rather its a cool place to hang around.... it doesn't always have to be a great ambience inside an air-conditioned mall.... sometimes outside air doesn't hurt; even in a Delhi summer day... the mall is circular, surrounded by roads.... a big central park fills the center of the complex.... there are places to sit around and to hang out....



Levi's



Pepe Jeans



Summer Denim Blast....


we spent some time walking around and taking some snaps... I was looking for contrasts, which were quite available; especially, with such an extreme kinda lifestyle environ.... I was using the LX-5 for the day.... the Saket memories still haunted me.... and apparently, the LX-5 seemed quite successful in shooting pics without attracting undue attention.... cool.... the LX-5 has been a good investment....

the weekend is coming.... we are already planning for it.... it would surely be a different day if we go outside New Delhi...

more to come....