frozen memories....

22 December 2011

Bashundhara R/A, Dhaka, Bangladesh

every now and then these guys make my day.... well, this time it was evening... the Paraboyz are the unique bunch of guys with little similarity... 'living close by'..... yet, that small similarity is strong enough to create a long-term bondage like no other.... this bunch of dudes had been connected for almost twenty-three years.... and interesting to note that some of the members of this group are just too young to remember the early days of interaction!!.... but couple of decades later those early days are more precious than ever...

can't thank Aurnab and Nazia enough for taking the initiative and making it all happen.... would've loved to see the gathering even bigger.... but anyway, thats how it goes now.... people are just too busy to spare an evening.... thats what makes such gatherings so precious.... those who showed up deserve appreciation for daring the weather and weekday traffic.... they all sacrificed their times somewhere else to attend this event.... hats off!!

Aunik and Omi filled the memory cards of their DSLRs with lots of candid moments.... so, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to freeze everyone's face given that every time we see one another, there's always some change happening!!.... the group is already much bigger than before, as Srabon noted out in one of his Facebook comments.... everyone's gone through at least some sort of change.... that makes a frozen moment so much more interesting... 

I took my tiny little P&S, the LX-5.... and also took a couple of flashes and a set of radio trigger for the flashes.... all that fitted in a small bag, which none would believe contained a portable studio.... thanks to everyone who posed in front of the tiny camera against their will and still gave an expression which should hold until the next get-together!!

 

on a technical note, the flashes were two YN-560s.... the trigger for one was an Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger and the other one was in optical trigger mode (S1).... the main light was coupled with a DIY tiny diffuser to soften the light....  thanks to Anonto, Srabon and Rahat being excellent assistant, holding both the light and the diffuser.... the second light gelled orange, was behind the subject, shooting into a white wall....

the last few pictures were in a different setting.... basically one YN-560 on camera right shooting into white ceiling.... simple one-light bounced solution.... Shihab was a bit hesitant to make their couple portrait a bit more interesting.... so, the dudes just showed him how to do it!! :)

a lot more to come.....

fashion shoot with LX-5??

18 August 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

oh yes!!.... Lamisa just got her new pair of shoes from her grandpa and she was more than just eager to show it off.... and when such moments occur, you have to resort to the best camera (which is defined by Chase Jarvis as the camera that is available to you).... I was privileged, because I had a lot more than what Chase Jarvis was mentioning about.... I had the fantastic Panasonic Lumix LX-5, and with it I had my most portable strobist gear (a YN-560 flash, Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger and receiver and a 60cm x 38cm home-made collapsible diffuser).... and all of that was packed inside the same bag where I had my netbook with its charger, mobile internet and some small stuff... this is my most favourite bag, which I mentioned in an earlier post....











Lamisa's mom played the assistant's role with the diffuser and the YN-560 flash.... and that turned out to be a fashion shoot after all.... I used the "Paper Toner" tone in Color Efex Pro for some of the images to make it more punchy and to focus on Lamisa's growing talent as a baby model!!









for the last part, some old collectibles of my wife and her brother gave Lamisa another excuse to stay still in front of the camera.... in fact, that was the only way to shoot her shoes!!

more to come soon enough.....

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....

utilise all opportunities.....

28 May 2011
Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh

you have to have a camera with you all the time.... at least, thats what I had in mind for a long time.... I used to carry a DSLR with me for a long time.... even when I was going to office.... but it finally came to a halt when that camera was replaced by a netbook.... the camera quietly took the back-seat and never complained.... the D700 was too big for carry-around-all-day type of use.... unless you have some specific aims, its not really worthwhile carrying a 1kg+ camera kit..... so, when I finally got the Panasonic Lumix LX-5, it opened some new avenues for me.... I'm hoping that this new machine will increase my shooting by some margin....

an opportunity may never present itself once again.... and a moment will never come back.... and to capture that precious moment, you have to carry that camera with you.... all the time.... and I just got that benefit today.... my resolution about people photography in 2011 is on..... and when an opportunity presented itself, you've gotta grab it with both hands....

TTL Photo Adda was over..... most had already left Red Lounge (TTL office).... and then the time came to give a short demo of the smallest possible strobist kit.... the opportunity just presented itself when Faisal Bhai volunteered in front of the camera.... we were testing out with a photogenic face (Rezwan Razzaq).... but when Faisal Bhai volunteered, it was no contest.... you don't always get him to feature in front of the lens....



Saud Al Faisal..... already a legend among a lot of young photographers in Bangladesh..... founder of TTL and a mentor to a lotta photographers.... a great visionary and great friend.... a pioneer in organising young Bangladeshi photographers online..... he is the reason why we are able to do a lot of the things that we do today.... there would be a lot of photographers who can say that they are better than him.... but it would take some effort to equal the success of Saud Al Faisal as a promoter of photography in Bangladesh....

Kamal (Shadow) volunteered to hold the flash (YN-560) and the DIY diffuser (60cm x 38cm)... Kamrul was also asked to hold a magazine on the side of the flash to block light from hitting the back wall.... the flash was triggered by Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger.... I'm loving the hot-shoe of the LX-5.... shot @60mm equivalent, f2.8 1/200sec ISO 80...

a day with the LX-5.......

27 May 2011
Mohammadpur and Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Panasonic Lumix LX-5..... had been thinking about it for a while now, but didn't really make progress for a lot of reasons..... the most important being the lack of supply in Dhaka.... the market looked almost too pessimistic in Dhaka.... but things really took a nice turn when I arrived at Kualalumpur..... it didn't really seem that there were any kind of crisis going on in the supply of photographic equipment.... at least, the impression that I had received in Dhaka was shattered to pieces during the first several hours of my transient stay at KL..... there was an abundance of camera and accessories in every store I looked into..... that gave me strength to go for the LX-5....

had been reading online reviews for some time now.... I shortlisted the brands to LX-5, Canon G-12 and Nikon P7000..... the list contained 3, as there was apparently a "crisis" in the supply chain..... the situation in Japan was talked about so much.... but my visit to KL made the list shorter.... the LX-5 was everywhere.... so, no issues....










anyway, the LX-5 deserved some tryouts.... and this Friday was the day..... because of the presence of the hot-shoe and complete manual control, I decided to start with my improvised studio.... Lamisa volunteered, as usual.... this was her first photoshoot since she lost her hair to an angry hair-stylist.... she advertised my newest DIY thing..... a very small diffuser that can be stowed within my small netbook bag... the diffuser is 60cm x 38cm in size.... folded, this comes down to around 20cm in diameter.... Lamisa displayed the "product" in front of the LX-5 with Elinchrom Skyport trigger.... the Skyport triggered a Ranger A-Head and that, in turn, triggered a Yongnuo YN-560 flash in optical trigger mode (see diagram).....




I shot in RAW mode.... the speed of the LX-5 in RAW mode was definitely impressive.... its not as fast as a D700, but it certainly isn't slow.... struggled with editing the RAW file for a while.... it eventually worked out..... but after that I confined myself to shooting JPEG only.... and I had received some opportunities of that during the day.... went out with the family and had some shooting opportunities.....

used a YN-560 flash sporadically to test out the practical aspect of carrying a flash in some situations..... its portability and capability certainly made it my camera of choice for at least some occasions..... I'm sure that the kind of shooting opportunity I had during the day, I would've left my D700 back home just to save my shoulders..... it was a cakewalk with the LX-5; even with a YN-560 flash and Elinchrom Skyport radio triggers.... I even carried that DIY diffuser that Lamisa tried to market in the earlier images.... the carry-on pack was extremely comfortable.... I usually carry my netbook in it... and in fact, that bag gave me a real push to look for a P&S camera.... another push came from that weird problem I encountered during the Jessore Safari....

I loved the 24mm perspective of this Leica lens... its truly a revelation.... didn't really expect a P&S camera to come up with a 24mmm lens, although now-a-days a lot of the P&S cameras are actually coming with a 24mm wide lens... the image stabilizer is really good.... tried out this below shot at 0.4sec....




the wide aperture and close focusing of the lens gave me a surprise... it produced some nice background blur.... the following was shot at 60mm equivalent at f2.8.... there was a YN-560 flash on top of the camera shooting at the ceiling....



I've also tried out that small diffuser.... it was a bit clumsy to work with, as the wire structure is a bit wobbly for hand-holding.... certainly not for any windy situations.... but it works well for such a small pack.... the light source needs to pretty close to subject to produce soft light.... thats not a real issue for a lot of shooting types....



more to write soon..... especially my KL diaries.....