once in a while....

22 October 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

motherhood is a once in a while thing for most.... its one of those extraordinary times when a person discovers the biggest gift she got from her creator.... these extraordinary times last for a short while and leave a deep impression.... on last Saturday, we were after some moments that would live in memory and leave a deep impression....







huge thanks to Sadia Sharmin.... Sadia, a very accomplished artist, is one of those people who own the frame.... she had displayed her works of art in well-publicised exhibit... and to aid our effort even further, her exhibit was all about her experiences during her first-time pregnancy.... artists are great subjects with their creations.... they easily create a bonding between the photograph and the viewer.... its almost like subjects within subjects.... their creations not just characterise their creators, but also help the viewer to find the very purpose of the photograph.... its only been a day since I had a first ever session with an artist... now, I have two experiences.... and they are both unique....





as an artist, Sadia's creative help made our photo-shoot doubly effective.... she was full of ideas... her perception about framing and lighting made the session so much easier for us.... and how can I ever forget to give huge thanks to Firoze Bhai for making the couple shots so much more intimate.... their first child, Israar, was a bit on the edge at times, but he was managed, mainly by his Dad.... the group shot was very challenging... it wasn't the perfect one, but it was satisfactory in the end considering the 'availability' of Israar....













on the technical end, the first setup (first three pics) was based on two lights.... control of light was the key here... I used an arch between two rooms to control the spill of light on the back wall... Elinchrom Ranger + 120cm x 50cm Simpex softbox was the key light.... SB-900 + Westcott Apollo 28" softbox was the edge light....

the second setup (next two pics) was a bit more challenging.... used the Ranger as the key light and used an SB-900 with a grid-spot... the photo with Sadia and Israar was done almost instantaneously... and as Israar was much more difficult to manage, I just clicked away as the chance arrived....

the third setup (next six images) was much simpler.... two lights on two sides... Ranger + 120cm x 50cm softbox and SB-900 + Westcott Apollo 28" softbox... the third shot in this setup was the result of the SB-900 not coping up.... it was an accidental discovery, more or less... but the shadows and contrasts created by the one-light setup gave the whole thing a different mood....

much much more to come....

arts and artist....

21 October 2011
Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh

the type of portrait that I like most is probably environmental portrait... I almost invariably get attracted to the environment that somehow defines the subject... its one of the easier ways to talk about a person.... sure it gets complicated sometimes, and sometimes it isn't even possible... but I do look for an environment around a person.... almost always....

I've always wanted to photograph artists.... I tend to get fascinated by their ways of thinking... their eyes are not like others.... its almost like an extra sensory perception.... and not being in contact with a lot of artists, I grew an interest of photographing artists.... several months back, I got to know that one of my young colleagues possesses the unique abilities of an artist... the moment I learned about his special skills, I decided to photograph him....



but deciding to photograph and actually doing it turned out to be quite far from each other.... it took several months to finally reach an agreement on a specific date and time.... in fact, it was instigated by the coming departure of one of our esteemed colleagues for a far-away country.... Riad, my young colleague, is also a great cook... he decided to invite some of our co-workers to taste his superb dishes.... I gave my consent without a delay... well, not for the feast though... rather I took the opportunity to have the portrait session that we had been planning for so long.... and reaching there, I discovered that his multi-talented hands.... the steaks were awesome!!



I instantly got stirred by the disorganised nature of his room.... there's an absent-mindedness about him... his mind doesn't live in this world for the whole day for sure... the arts hanging and lying around his room instantly catches attention of a visitor... heavily inspired by comic books and characters, his works carry marks of his individuality and uniqueness.... not being an art critic myself I only took note of his philosophies behind some of his most favourite works... I somehow enjoyed that session even though I couldn't relate to all the words he uttered!... its the honesty with which he described and critiqued his own works that fascinated me...



anyway, the portrait session was not too simple, but not that complex either.... it was evening and the sun was down.... so, there was no question of using ambient light..... used a Westcott Apollo 28" softbox as the main light with an SB-900 inside.... another SB-900 was with a grid-spot, illuminating the art-cluttered wall.... used a Nikkor 20mm lens to bring all of that environment in the frame....

I tried to keep the whole shoot as representative as possible... moved around a few things including covering up an air-conditioner unit with an art-piece... also photographed Riad with his unfinished works.... doing some final retouch.... with the same setup.... in the same way and place where he actually does it.... the whole shoot was done within a very short time.... its only the setup that took a bit of time... big thanks to Riad for the lovely evening.... and also for being so spontaneous with the session.... his enthusiasm in explaining his works gave me cues about arranging the frame and lighting...

a lot more to come....

perfect memories in an imperfect world.... part four-B

15 October 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

well, well, well..... thats it... this is the end.... the last of the last.... this is part two of part four and last of four!!..... the long shoot delineation of the session with Arif and Tajia comes to a close.... feeling relived, and also feeling a little sad, considering there won't be another blog on this wonderful session from tomorrow... anyway, it was a privilege doing this shoot and also a pleasure writing about it....

part one explored the contrasts and commonalities within a specific context.... part two and part four-A showed conflict.... part three showed contrast of interest; yet respect for each other.... and the last part would show how it all glues together despite all the contrasts and conflicts... its the ultimate thing in a relationship.... a relationship isn't a relationship unless there's emotion in it... this bunch of emotion keeps the wheels rolling for years; decades.... and how does emotion do that?.... yep, that what this part is all about....














now the boring technical stuff.... absolutely nothing more to add to the setting used in the prevision setup.... three-light setup against a black backdrop.... there's always a play of light and shadow.... never tried to shoot the daylight out of moody images.... anyway, would've loved to have a bigger studio to control the light even further... for now, you gotta struggle a bit with it....














the last part of the shoot was on request from Tajia... this was her idea... she had seen similar posing in her parents' old images.... she wanted to relieve that... such a cute idea.... instantly loved it... its always good to listen to photography subjects... you never know they may come up with the best ideas.....






their story was so simple in its nature and so honest that we instantly fell in love with the ideas... its the simplicity of our life's small stories that move us most and also give us the most amount of pleasure.... but we tend to forget them over time... this whole effort was tailor-made for Arif and Tajia so that they can remember those simple stories.... we have dramatised the whole affair and made them part of an experience, which would surely give them a stronger memory.... and to help them remember, the pictures will be at their side... may be years from now, these pictures would be able to bring a bit of smile at the corner of their eyes.... may be...

and oh, those surprises in the images were actual surprises!!... the expressions were dramatised for sure... but those surprises were presented just moments before the shoot... :)

more stories coming up...

perfect memories in an imperfect world.... part four-A

15 October 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

parts one, two and three are history.... this is part four of four.... but not the last... how come??.... well, this is the first part of the fourth and last part!.... you think I've cheated??... whatever..... its a pain to edit all those images after spending all day at office.... its better to cheat and come with half and post than going blank for the day.... what do you think?

well, enough of explanations..... lets do some formal portraits.... strictly formal portraits; okay?.... naaaaaaa.... would you just do the formal portrait when you have the couple for 10 more minutes?.... certainly not.... there's enough time left here to tell yet another story.... thats right.... another story embedded in that formal portrait.... it may sound weird, but thats exactly what we did..... Arif and Tajia had been so expressive that I hardly had to pinch them; well, not literally though....
















again, this session shows the differences in people's behaviour that makes us wonder how two people spend their lives together.... it looks like a miracle... yet, its that miracle that is so common in God's green earth.... a common miracle that is.... we never ask ourselves how this miracle saves our relationships so frequently.... perhaps we know this miracle by another name.... another word.... love....










now the technical stuff.... used a black backdrop to make the setting moody.... the black also went with the deep colour outfit of the subjects.... used two lights from two sides to illuminate the two subjects separately.... on the right was the Elinchrom Ranger + Simpex 120cm x 50cm softbox.... and on the left was a YN-560 + Westcott Apollo 28" softbox.... a third light, a Nikon SB-900 + Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe softbox.... was used a hair light for separation from the backdrop.... that light was on a monopod, held by my wife.... trigger was Elinchrom Skyport for the Ranger and the Westcott... for the SB-900 it was optical trigger (SU-4) mode.... used the cheapie 28-80mm lens.... its really sharp when stopped down... and I was shooting @f10 for enough DoF... so, no sharpness issues....

hoping to finish the series ASAP....

perfect memories in an imperfect world.... part three....

15 October 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka

the story continues.... this is the third part of a four-part series of a photoshoot with our photog buddy Arif and his life-partner Tajia.... the first part tried to dramatize their contrasts and commonalities.... the second part was all about portraying the differences in philosophies, which increases our interest in learning about their relationship even further... this part tries to portray their respect for each other.... it doesn't always have to be a common interest that would bring them together.... perceptual differences have to be realised and well understood for a relationship a relationship to prosper....

 

 





 


this setup was the easiest to accomplish, as this was just about the same setup as used in the previous part... I only had to make a closer crop to focus on the issues here.... used a 70-210mm lens for the crop..... and another reminder here for the reader is -- this is not to be taken literally... rather its a portrayal of their characters in a dramatic way and in a symbolic manner..... its more like a drama that is based on real characters, but not necessarily real events.... the drama is needed to make photos interesting and to make the overall shoot a soothing experience...

the fourth part of the story is coming up in a hurry....

perfect memories in an imperfect world.... part two....

15 October 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

this is the second part in four-part series...... as posted in the previous blog, Arif and Tajia are a wonderful couple.... we hardly had to do anything with them.... every time we told them to do something, they ended up doing even better than that.... so, as a photographer I only had to keep an eye on the technicalities....









the second setup was to be more symbolic than the first one.... I decided to put them against a white backdrop to get rid of all clutters.... that way, we would only be focused towards their activity and expressions.... and as a sequence of images the images were to look as part of a single story....










unlike the previous setup, this was to show the contrasts only.... and again, this is not to be taken literally... rather its a portrayal of their characters in a dramatic way and in a symbolic manner..... its more like a drama that is based on real characters, but not necessarily real events.... the drama is needed to make photos interesting and to make the overall shoot a soothing experience...














now the technical stuff.... the lighting was pretty simple.... Elinchrom Ranger + 120cm x 50cm softbox on left and Lastolite Ezybox 24" Hotshoe softbox + YN-560 flash on the right.... to create an uncluttered background, 8'x12' white backdrop was used.... two lights from two direction created a play of light and shadow, gave some depth to the image..... use of the "Lazy Light" would've made this a flat image.... didn't use any lights against the backdrop, as the subjects were too close to the backdrop... any light on the backdrop would've resulted in a blow-out!.... cheap but sharp Nikkor 28-80mm lens used for the shoot.... shot @ f10.... though about shooting @f11 may be... but it seemed that f10 created enough depth....

the third part is coming in a rush!!