Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh
it was an invasion; well, almost..... we just stormed Sumon Bhai and Lina Apa's home with all those equipment..... it was almost a surprise for the family.... we didn't disclose our intention to them until about an hour or so before our arrival.... it was as natural as it could've been..... and it turned out to be a very entertaining evening....
I had photographed Lina Apa's daughter Naorin several times in the past.... the most memorable was when she was one-week old..... lots of beautiful memories.... but its been a while since I had the opportunity to take some photos of her.... busy times and some less-than-best effort prevented another photo-session with her.... she's definitely one of my most favourite child subjects..... and now after the arrival of her little brother Naqvi, there are more reasons than one to invade their house!!
in a previous post of mine I was talking about being flexible with carrying equipment.... that was a good practice and this time that practice paid dividends.... because of the unique positioning of their house, I had to devise a way to bring as much equipments as it is necessary to complete the job, but within the limits of two bags at best and probably some other stuff hand-held...
with Naqvi, it was difficult considering the limitations that we had to face within their house and also to make the best use of the equipment I had been able to bring.... I decided to put the adorable Naqvi within a pool of white... he was really enjoying his upright position, trying to have a look at everyone around.... I used the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox as the main light and told my wife to hold a YN-560 on top to illuminate the white backdrop.... the backdrop is something that we had managed from their household.... we had to leave the backdrops back at the car for obvious reasons..... I switched to the Sigma 150mm macro lens to be able to shoot a bit wider, blowing the backdrop within putting too much pressure on the YN-560s.... the flashes were already firing at 1/4 power....
and all on a sudden, it was feeding time for Naqvi.... so, we took some opportunity shooting the two other adorable kids circling around us..... Naorin was joined by her cousin Diya in their most beautiful angelic attires.... I had a field day shooting those two..... they had been so expressive, and also old enough to take at least some instructions.... used only one light, the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox and a silver reflector on the opposite side.... switched to the cheap Nikkor 28-80mm lens for this shoot....
then Naqvi was back.... he was in full energy!!.... this time, decided to use the top view to give him enough space..... he was so happy.... and when Naorin joined him on, it was another great frame..... used a Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe softbox as the main light from top; my wife holding it and the Wescott 28" Apollo producing the edge and fill from the bottom right on the frame.....
then switched to the previous setup once again..... the one-light solution.... even though I didn't bring a black backdrop, the Wescott Apollo did a great job with controlling and shaping light..... the 34" collapsible reflector (silver side) was used on the other side to wipe off some shadows..... Naqvi went to sleep, but we continued out shoot.... we evolved from the lovely frame with Naqvi and his mom..... then we added his dad in the frame..... and found out that there was enough space in the frame to add Naorin as well..... it became the picture of the whole family..... but I had used only one light!!.... greatly enjoyed the shoot!!
before we knew, it was quite late..... we didn't think that the shoot would take that long.... but ultimately the outputs justified the delays.... the family was very happy and so were we.... it was a superb day with some heavenly bodies!!
more to come soon.....
