its a baggy bag world!!

22 July 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

just when I was in sort of a pain with a pile of bags in my makeshift studio, the idea came in.... in fact, you have to be in trouble in order to come up with a solution..... photographers are sort of gear heads..... you have to have "the gear" to get a photo.... and sometimes, you have to have the "gears" to get the photo.... in my case, the word "gears" has taken a new meaning since I've started using artificial lights.... now, its not the camera and lenses that take up the most amount of space.... its rather the accessories helping with lighting that outweigh cameras and lenses at least 4-to-1..... organising all these bulk has become a real headache since then....

I first got the idea from a Chase Jarvis video.... this pro knows how to organise things... his safe looks like a weapons bay in a sci-fi flick!!.... though I'm far from Chase, he surely is one of my icons when it comes to organising photo gear....



thanks to Chase, I've finally ordered my custom-made "bag-rack"!!..... yea, its my ultimate photo-organiser.... now I've got almost all my photo-gear stowed in a 3'x2' floor space.... it took up 6'+ space vertically and did the job..... now I have most of my room empty..... it freed my mind, so that new ideas can flow!! :)




here we go.... lets have a count!!


01: the massive soft roller bag that holds my stands and tripods, booms and DIY diffusers.... I only took it once out of home, to Rajshahi.... it did the job in some ways... the best thing about it is that it can hold my 3'-long light-stands....

02: just out of view, its the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox.... its too long to fit in any of the bags!!

03: Elinchrom Ranger kit case.... useless actually.... didn't want that.... it just came with the offer.... and I didn't have an option with the offer.... it now holds a spare battery for the Ranger system, a Simpex Prolite monolight and some heavy-duty extension cable for the monolight...

04: one of the heavy light-stands I got from Simpex

05: my favourite old shoulder bag.... originally a laptop bag... but I modified it to become a camera bag.... I used; sorry, abused it for several years.... it still goes on.... currently it holds cables and chargers..... its the cheapest equivalent of a Think Tank Urban Disguise series of camera bags....

06: a laptop bag that I bought with my Lenovo netbook.... one of the worst investments I've made.... no longer have a use for it...

07: Pelican 1550 case.... this tank now holds most of my lights, including the Elinchrom Freelight-A head that came with the Ranger unit.... my new favourite location lighting kit....

08: this is the Pierre Cardin luggage bag..... great thing.... when I'm not needing it to carry luggage, it holds photography stuff.... currently storing most of my grip equipment, including two hotshoe softboxes, three small light-stands, a monopod and various other stuff, mostly made out of metal....

09: Pierre Cardin backpack..... currently holds the monster, the Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed AS battery pack.... this 8kg beast is accompanied by a couple of folded softboxes from Simpex.... yea, they do fit the Elinchrom mount!!

10: my trusty old backpack that I used for most of my photo-outings.... its been through a lot.... and pretty much battered now.... carrying a heavy load is no longer the safest option for it..... but I've found a use for it.... it now stores all the fabrics..... its a great kit if I need to setup a studio on location.....

11: Nikon shoulder camera bag..... I use this for short outings, when I know exactly what kind of gear I would be needing most.... mostly use this for street photography....

12: big duffel bag.... its my grip kit.... currently holds folded DIY diffusion panels and umbrellas, which are too long for the Pierre Cardin bag... it also has two other bags inside it with the redundant Pelican foam inserts in them!!

13: my oldest shoulder camera bag.... currently holds my two film camera bodies.... don't use it outside home....

14: Tiroll backpack.... its another bag that I've improvised to carry photography equipment.... its a good bag.... also can carry my netbook.... but once it gets really heavy, the shoulder strap doesn't really back it up!!

15: Lowepro Vertex 100 bag.... my new favourite camera backpack.... I can also carry my netbook in it.... holds most camera and lenses that I have....

16: Lowepro Rezo 190 shoulder bag.... just got it several days back.... it would allow me to add some strobist stuff in addition to an extra tele lens.... this is something that I can't do with the small shoulder bag (11)....

the only thing not here is my most favourite bag of all.... a cheap and small JiaJun shoulder bag that I use to carry my netbook.... it also holds my Panasonic Lumix LX-5 p&s cam....


more to come later....

its all about perspective.....

16 July 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

it all depends on the view we have of something.... our differing views can make the same thing look different.... and that was what we experimented with when Rumi Bhai and Gazi Bhai showed up.... while reviewing the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox, we decided to try it out with some shots..... Lamisa's favourite "mama" is Gazi Mama and there was no problem getting the two in one frame..... I was just too lazy bringing out all the black fabrics to set up a black backdrop.... so, decided to improvise.... I put the softbox in a 90-degree stance to the subject and work around it.... this made sure that the wall, which was around 6' in the back, didn't get a lotta light from the softbox..... the first idea was to shape the light using the surface of the softbox..... put Lamisa in different positions to get different views and also experimented with Gazi Bhai's face...... at one point, also used a reflector on the other side to take off some of the shadows....























the crazy thing started when we decided to take the softbox off the top of the light.... two hard lights from two different directions created that hard-edge look.... also used a kicker light on the floor to bring a bit of detail on the shirt of Gazi Bhai, also not forgetting the chain around his neck.... decided to use the silver reflector as a backdrop...... well, its not too bad to experiments, isn't it?..... the hard-light combination opened up the horizons and created that latitude I was looking for..... wanted to create something different..... and thats what we got.... the ever expressive Gazi Bhai came up with some great expressions to produce something out of nothing..... we were able to create something different without doing a lot..... just changed the perspective..... and we were through.....










more to come later.....

in the realm of Gollum......

12 July 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

can we really know Gollum unless we see him in the Mines of Moria, among the cold and shabby surroundings?....... surroundings can play a huge part in defining characters.... and activities can add more to it..... this idea clicked in my mind and decided to take the camera in hand....

Lamisa is not always the cute and quiet baby that we always see in the pictures.... in fact, her activities give others around the house a pretty hard time.... and that is not a once-in-while thing..... what about shooting Lamisa in her busy times, while she's most at home?..... well, thats what we did.....

an overhead softbox was used to keep the light confined.... I used my long unused 18-35mm lens to cover the whole room.... haven't used this lens since that strobist meet in my place in March 2010 when the lens got damaged after falling on the floor with the camera body and tripod.... it still functions; and the damage is not noticeable unless you see the pics at 100%....
















Lastolite Ezybox 24" softbox was fitted at the end of a Manfrotto monopod, which was used as a boom..... my wife did that part with some efficiency, while I went on shooting.... Lamisa was difficult to keep in focus though and needed that quick recycle for the flash, which is why I was shooting at f7.1..... didn't really want the environ go completely dark.... a bit of it was vital to what I was planning to display -- Lamisa in her environ.....

more to come later.....

our photo-shoot offers.....

A Summary of Our Photo-shoot Session Offers:

Individuals:
Posed session of up to one hour (One-hour Magic)

Couples:
a. Exclusive and premium custom story-telling session (Your Drama)
b. Posed session (intimate and indoors) of 1-1.5 hours (Intimacy)
c. Outdoor session of 1-3 locations (Under the Same Sun)

Pregnancy/Maternity:
Exclusive and premium maternity session (Transient Emotions)

Newborn: 0-2 weeks age
Exclusive and premium session for newborn babies less than 2 weeks old (First Light)

Baby: 6 - 12 months age
6 month session (First Step)
1 year session - first birthday session (The First Cake)

Child: 2 - 5 year olds
a. Exclusive and premium custom story-telling session (Childhood Stories)
b. Exclusive and unique theme-based session (Scrapbook Memories)
c. Colour-based thematic session (World of Colours)
d. Simple session without themes (Snow White)

Family:
a. Exclusive and premium custom story-telling session (Family Ties)
b. Group session of 6 people or more (My Family My Moment)
c. Simple group session of up to 4 people (One-hour Magic)

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Here are the details....

Newborn (0-2 weeks)

Click on the image to see this most exclusive and premium offer.

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Baby (6-12 months)



we are about to come up with a new offer for 6-12 month olds.... stay tuned.... and if you want to do a session immediately, please give us a call: +8801711-055524

if your baby's first birthday is just a couple of weeks away, this should be your offer: The First Cake!!

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Children (2 year plus)

For children aged 2 to 5 years, we have a custom offer that is the most exclusive and premium. If you want unique photos of your child that you will cherish for decades, this is what you need. To learn more about this offer, "Childhood Stories", just click on the image below:

We also have two more offers for children aged 2 to 5 years....

for the most exclusive photos we have "Scrapbook Memories" (click on the image to see details)

for a more bargain offer, we have "The World of Colours" (click on the image to see details)

& the best bargain offer is "Show White" (click on the image to see details)

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Maternity Portraits

Transient Emotions, the most exclusive maternity photo-session from Ideasrbulletproof.com... just click on the image below to see details....

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Family Portraits (relationship stories, group portraits, individual portraits)


We offer the most exclusive and premium family photo-shoot session, where we tell stories of relationship and individual characters. To learn more about this offer of ours, "Family Ties", please click on the image below:

If you want ONLY GROUP PHOTO-SESSION, we have one offer specifically for that......

For an exclusive group portrait session, please have a look at our "My Family My Moment" offer. Just click on the image below to see details about this particular offer:

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Couples Portrait Sessions

we offer "Under the Same Sun", an exclusive on-location photo-shoot offer for couple.... to know more details about it, just click on the image....

for those who desire intimate photos of themselves, we have the most artistic offer.... this short 1-1.5 hours' session is called "Intimacy".... click on the image below to see details....

we also offer the most unique photo-shoot offer, "Your Drama", that tells the stories of the couples..... its a fully customised session that sets the session apart from any other.... for details, click on the image below....

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looking for the best bargain for a photo-session?.... this one-hour session is probably for you.... "One-hour Magic!".....

a sunny day at last, and windy too!

09 July 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka

it has rained quite heavily in recent days.... hardly a day gone by without something coming down from the heavens.... a nice outing without getting wet was becoming a rarity.... and worse still, quite frequently it rained during the golden hours of photography..... so, when the weekend coincided with a sunny day, I could hardly wait... it was a nice day off with the family.... avoided any outdoor stuff just to spend a lazy day....

the golden sunlight at the end of the day took us to the rooftop.... the sun was actually behind the clouds when we had reached the rooftop.... and when it did come out, it was too weak to aid real photography..... I decided to try out the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox in the outdoors for the first time.... the softbox is basically based on an umbrella, which made it perfecting for catching every bit of wind there is.... and unfortunately, there was more than enough wind to make me scramble.... I put a couple of brick blocks on the light-stand base to make it stable.... one wasn't enough; the whole setup got imbalanced and headed downdowns once when I grabbed it at the last moment!.... two bricks made it stable enough to reduce some of my worries.... yet, it required manual help to keep its direction.... it was constantly changing its direction, making proper lighting difficult.... and the higher I put the softbox, the problems just got multiplied....

anyway, Lamisa was at her best getting that open space.... she was running too much to get her to face the light.... we did enjoy the shoot; she enjoyed the space.... the Apollo proved a great light source with one YN-560 flash in it.... its light is even and creamy....


















more to come soon....

when it rains.....

02 July 2011
TTL Photowalk at Mawa, Munshiganj, Bangladesh

it was more like a walk in the rain than a photowalk.... it rained.... it really did... I don't remember a single moment when the rain actually stopped!!.... but it surely was fun... we enjoyed the splash of water and also enjoyed the rain-soaked countryside....

there was little shooting for some like me.... I was more content watching it rain.... it was a nice break from the life in the cities.... just seeing that open space under the endless skies fills the heart.... but I ended up collecting some sample images as an evidence of participation in the event!!

From Mawa Photowalk, Jul 2011

From Mawa Photowalk, Jul 2011

Mawa is a "ghat" or a small river port.... its where vehicles ferry across to the south, crossing the mighty Padma... not far from here, a bridge across the river is planned... probably the activities around this place will change forever then.... I remember such changes happening at Daudkandi after the two bridge across the river Meghna got completed.... Mawa is not that busy though.... most of the vehicles cross the Padma from Paturia.... but Mawa is still a place for fishing.... the fish market here is quite active.... we were a bit too late getting a glimpse of that market.... the market usually closes before sunrise.... so, it all looked deserted under the persistent drizzle.... some lonely bystanders and domestic birds made sure that the place was not lifeless.....

From Mawa Photowalk, Jul 2011

it was also a nice experience watching people's lives around the fish market.... you shouldn't expect that everyone living around the market would be dependent on fishing or fish trade.... we ended up in front of a family that was actually dependent on business around utensil trade.... and that too wasn't based at Mawa; rather far away at Chittagong.... the head of the family is usually away from the house for 20-25 days to run that business..... but we arrived at that lucky moment when we found him in the kitchen with his wife.... chicken was in today's menu, indicating at sort of a feast!..... but the big surprise was inside that kitchen, where there were two more "inhabitants"..... this is right in the middle of monsoon.... and the cattle don't have a dry space for them.... and thus they end up in the kitchen!!..... quite oblivious to the health hazards of this, this portrays their love for these animals, whom they consider as part of their family.... maintaining their six children isn't an easy job for them..... but they have got used to it and for them, life has to go on whether it rains or not....

From Mawa Photowalk, Jul 2011

we also spent some time at another house where Faisal Bhai, Kamrul, Khalid Bhai and others found some interesting subjects.... I tried to assist others and was content with having a feel of the rain-soaked environment... the inhabitants of the house seemed to be a bit on the edge when talking about their patience and tolerance.... anyway, we were able to come out without any incidence....

the whole tour was cut short by at least 2-3 hours because of the weather..... there was no indication that the rain would actually stop.... so, it didn't look like worth staying there soaking under the relentless rain..... around 35 people participated in the event.... probably a lot more would've come out had it not rained the way it did.... but the rain-walk would remain in memory as one of the most wet!!

some debts are there for life…..

01 July 2011

Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

some people make their mark on your life only once and you carry that debt for the rest of your life…. but worth the try to pay off some of that debt when you get the chance…. its a small token of gratitude, yet its also an expression of love and care that resulted from the same things you had received once…. this session was one of those that gave me a different kind of satisfaction….

it was also a venture into an untried territory for me…. I had always thought about venturing into that intimate part of life that most people do not even think about documenting…. an expecting mother’s emotions can’t possibly be understood by anyone else… that emotion is hard to record in a photo…. still, its possible to record that transient period, which, in time, can bring out emotions…. time is a very important documentation and there’s nothing better than photography to record time….

from photographic point of view, it was a really nice experience for me…. learned many things, which spawned many new ideas as well…. hoping to build a base on that…. lets see…. had to take a truckload of equipment with me…. the reason being, I had no idea what to expect over there…. what I was certain of, was that it would be an indoor shoot, which made me carry a lot more stuff than a much lighter outdoor shoot…. a bag-full of fabric turned out to be a great ally… I actually ended up using every single piece of white fabric I had in the bag…. I still had the 4′x4′ diffusion panels packed in the bag in case they were needed…. had to work with the confined space that was there on offer…. but there was enough space to flatten perspective with a longer lens, which came in handy, reducing pressure on the limited options with backdrop….

didn’t take the Simpex monolight with me, fearing power interruptions…. the Elinchrom Ranger was the main workhorse behind creating that white backdrop…. two hotshooe softboxes got used and they both performed as expected…. in the end, used a total of three small flashes with the Ranger…. the Westcott Apollo remained in the car as a backup…. though didn’t end up using all the lightstands, its difficult to ignore them… just in case that window option for backdrop setting wasn’t available, I would’ve needed to use two lightstands as backdrop stands….







now, to the shoot…. my first idea was to isolate the subject in a white empty space…. needed some photoshopping to achieve the last output, even though I suck at it…. tried to create as much white space around her as possible…. Ranger + a lotta white fabric did the job…







the next try was with an idea on reflections of time…. that photo album was the key attraction here and wanted to isolate that with a shallow DoF….







the last idea was with the couple…. it was a show of bondage and caring that needed to come out in the picture… we had some nice laugh while doing it…. it was hard for the subjects in front the family members, but the effort paid off…. had to couple of softboxes for this shot to have even exposure on both subject’s faces…

more to come later…..

battle of the boxes…..

30 June 2011

Mohammadpur, Dhaka

just received the Westcott Apollo 28″ softbox…. had been waiting for it to complete the orders that I had placed for in recent times…. after some testing of the Shashinki 24″ and the Lastolite Ezybox 24″, I could get a sense of the difference among those two….. I’ve already posted a blog on the differences between the Shashinki and Ezybox…. that was mainly based on its utility and operations…. no attempt was made to compare the lights coming out of the two…. so, to fill this blank space, I decided to put all the three softboxes side by side and shoot some flashes through them...







with a huge 28″ front, the Apollo is the obvious different one…. its the only one with the ability to receive any kind of flash…. the other two are predominantly hot-shoe flash softboxes…. the next difference lies in the way flashes are places in it…. the Apollo is manly designed as an indirect light source, with the flash shooting away from the subject; into a silver reflective surface…. that makes it possible for the Apollo to be bigger than the other two…. but I’ve noticed a significant amount of light-loss for the Apollo…. its a bigger light source alright, but it requires more power to properly illuminate the subject…. the Ezybox seemed to be the best light source with the most uniform output…. and it also looked the brightest…. its double diffusion proved to be very effective…. I thought there would be some light-loss because of that, but didn’t really see that…. it was in fact, the brightest of the three….

the design of the Apollo makes it more suitable for studio….. it seems like a softbox that wants to sit back and relax, rather than hovering in the air on a hand-held boom…. it can be put on a boom, but I’m not really sure how it would perform that way…. a bit of wind may spoil the party….. and as this is an umbrella design, wind can certainly do damage to its structure….. and I’m not sure how it can be repaired if one of the steel rods inside is broken….. weight isn’t an issue, as it certainly is very light….

the other unique feature of Apollo is that it holds the flash inside the softbox, which makes it almost mandatory to be triggered with a radio trigger…. and it certainly is a pain to remove the diffuser every time you need to change the power settings…. and its design makes it stand more upright, not encouraging bending forward or back, unlike the Shashinki, which has a ball-head, helping to move the softbox on its axis….. Ezybox, on the other hand, will stay straight, no matter what…..you will need a boom to give direction with it….

the Apollo is an umbrella…. its purely an umbrella and works like an umbrella…. it folds like an umbrella…. a BIG umbrella…. while folded, its length comes down to around 3ft1inch…. thats a pain for sure!!…. the thing hardly has a weight, but takes up an odd amount of space…. and it also doesn’t come with any carrying pack, which makes it even more odd for carrying to locations….. I can take the Shashinki or Ezybox anywhere, but not the Apollo…. Shashinki comes with a small bag, in which the softbox can be folded and stored…. but the Ezybox comes with a big triangular bag, where every arm is two feet long…. it can be folded just like the Shashinki, but as it doesn’t come with a small bag, it requires some improvisation to carry it within a small space…. Ezybox is, of course, the lightest softbox…. its speed-ring and holder are made of plastic…. Shashinki’s are made of solid metal…. and the Apollo doesn’t even have a speed-ring…. the version that I ordered, didn’t come with a flash bracket… so, I’m using my umbrella adapter with it…. it would’ve been a pain had I not have this adapter….

none of the softbox is a world winner…. they all have flaws and their own advantages… that makes them suitable for different purposes… knowing their boundaries is critical to utilising their full potential….

for this test, I used a Nikkor 28-80mm lens on D700 with Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger to trigger the YN-560 inside the Apollo, which optically triggered a YN-560 inside the Shashinki and an SB-900 inside the Ezybox…. all were on Phottix lightstands…. all the flashes were fired at 1/32 power, and zoomed at 24mm…. the pics were shot at 1/160sec and ISO 100…. aperture ranged between f7.1 and f4.5….

About us....

the story of "Ideas R Bulletproof"....

where the term(s) came from....
the term(s) "Ideas are bulletproof" came from a movie named "V for Vendetta" where the chief character utters these words while heavily wounded, but before he kills the villain.... he died, but his ideas lived on through his followers....

who we are....
we're a husband and wife photography team based out of Dhaka, Bangladesh..... Aniqa is the creative director, and Sharif is the photographer....we aim to show our countrymen what family moments they are missing today..... we took the challenge of creating a type of photography market here in Bangladesh that most people are not even aware of.... we do not just want to take photos of people..... we want to capture moments and give an experience to people.... an experience they will talk about for decades.... we are not a typical photography studio.....

how it all started....
me (Sharif) had been a travel photographer and blogger for the last seven years, and she (Aniqa) had been a homemaker for the last six years..... our real inspiration behind this specific venture came around four-and-a-half years ago from the birth of our daughter Lamisa.... this ground-breaking event provided a different dimension to our photography.... this provided not just the motivation to document the most transient part of Lamisa's childhood, but also opened up the opportunity to learn portrait photography, especially the art of lighting.... a huge amount of study and practice provided us the technical knowhow needed to think ahead.... we were also lucky enough to be blessed with a child like Lamisa, who constantly provided us an excuse to shoot photos.... but to make sure that this regular shoot didn't get boring over time, we decided to innovate.... regular brainstorming ensued and that resulted in images that we only dreamed about.... the images had always been there, we just needed to dig them out....

my passion for photography took over when my long-standing corporate job started to take the life away from me.... my mind started to question whether my private life was being eaten by the very job that was supposed to help me sustain....ideas rolled; plans unfolded; decisions stamped.... and here we are.... to prove a point or two....

our uniqueness.....
our edge is our ideas..... we do not want two photoshoots to look the same.... and to make sure of that, we customise our ideas based on the people we would do the photos for.... their characters and relationship stories would give us the ideas to make the photos stand out of the crowd....we talk to our clients first, which help us to cook the ideas....

if you're bored watching the same types of family photographs and looking for a break, you've come to the right place....

 


update(s).....
we have evolved since we started this business venture.... we have diversified our efforts and at the same time, developed our core competencies....
a) blogging: we are still the blogger that we always had been, but now, with more vigour.... though we haven't maintained our travel blog for long, we kept up with the portrait lighting blog; developed another blog in Wordpress to talk about photography in general where we have several contributors; we also kept up the updates on our 'daily' (well, almost) blog at Tumblr.....
b) workshops: we added training ventures to our portfolio as we had received many requests for photography and lighting workshops..... updates on Idea Workshops would be found here.....we're also involved with organisations like Through the Lens: Bangladesh and Counter Foto in the photography-related workshop and training ventures.....
c) fine art prints: we brought all our fine art travel photography under one banner - Desherchobi Prints.... and you can get updates on those here.....
d) food photography: this is our latest venture.... we're currently developing this venture (Dhakai Menu) along with some of our core competencies.... to get updates on this, please visit this link....
e) Facebook: we would love to have you with us as we put regular updates our work in Facebook.... you can find updates on our portrait photography (Ideas_R_Bulletproof) venture here.... and our food photography (Dhakai Menu) venture here....
f) Twitter: you can follow us on Twitter to get regular updates on our activities....
g) Youtube: we started a video podcast series in Youtube, which hasn't seen a lotta updates since around early 2013.... but we hope to resume this series as we see fit....
h) commercial photography: this is a new venture of ours..... not publishing any link right now.... but anyone interested can contact us at: +880-1711-055524
i) consultancy:  this is one of our oldest competencies..... concentration area is marketing research.... we do research design, advise clients based on acquired data and also work with organisations and professionals to develop human resources in the field of marketing research.....  again, not posting any link right now....but anyone interested can contact us at: +880-1711-055524