Kaash bon whites......

17 September 2010
Aftab Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

"kaash" had always been one of my favourites, especially since picking up photography... I've tried several times to capture the beauty of these seasonal flowers in frames.... I got a stint with them at Jahangirnagar University once and again, Bashundhara Residential Area ..... the first one was in September 2008 and the next one in October of the same year.... this is the season.... Autum is blessed by their beauty and a lot of creative poeple lost their mind trying to describe their uniqueness.... I also lost my mind several times, not being able to decide how I could do justice to them.....

anyway, this was yet another photowalk organised by TTL... and who else organised it other than Shudipto?..... the photowalk was actually planned inside Banasree Housing, but we crossed the dividing canal to end up within the boundaries of Aftab Nagar Housing...... it was a short gathering, yet very productive in terms of photography.... I was scared a bit when I saw the rain clouds.... but the rain stayed away during the golden times of the afternoon sun.... and thats what mattered.... I had a couple of fantastic models with me, who would love to pose in front of my lens..... we kinda stayed away a bit to have some private time as well.... there were almost too many participants in the photowalk whose direct presence in front of us might've ruined my child's nice day out...... Lamisa enjoyed it to the full and so did we..... and the natural light was so good that I didn't have to touch my lighting kit, which I had to tug along with the help of my teammates.....

some challenges were there.... electric poles did their best to ruin pictures.... I was lucky to get some nice vantage point there..... but the limited spread of the "kaash" restricted my frames... I used a rather shallow DoF to utilise the light conditions and limited backdrop...... I started with a 20mm and then switched to a 50mm lens..... ended again with the 20mm..... I almost exclusively shot @ f2.8.... somehow, that aperture seemed right.... anyway, here are some of the outputs that I liked.... :)



















and this one was taken my buddy Tahmid Munaz..... :)

Aftab Nagar Strobist Meet, 01 May 2010

after a heck of a lot of debate, we finally were able to go out with our cameras..... the whole of Friday went through debates and counter debate before it was finally canceled..... it then became sort of a mandatory thing to make it on the 1st of May.... being a government holiday, things became much easier for most..... though we again struggled to confirm the venue and also struggled to find enough confirmed participants.....

the decision went in favour of Aftab Nagar...... the place, being on the eastern edge of the City, provided us with some open space, which has become so rare now-a-days..... though I'm sure that that open space would get concrete pillars drilled in soon enough..... anyway, we were so happy seeing that open space..... the weather was pretty warm though..... we waited for the afternoon sun to shine with all its warmth..... and then we began to bring our gears out of our bags.....

we started mostly with available light...... but soon figured out that we were not getting enough separation of the subject from the background..... we shaded the sun with a scrim and went on, but needed to set up some flashes to get the separation...... the idea of shooting a biker among the tall grasses was grabbed by others very quickly....... Hameem had the ultrawide to do the job..... I played as assistant holding the scrim..... others held flashes..... using warm gel on the flash also paid rich dividends......

From Aftab Nagar Strobist Meet, 01 May 2010

model: hameem
Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 20mm f2.8D
f8, 1/800sec, ISO 200
Strobist info:
One SB-900 on camera left with warm gel filter on voice-activated tripod (rakib); TTL mode; triggered by SU-800 on camera.

From Aftab Nagar Strobist Meet, 01 May 2010

model: rezwan
Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 20mm f2.8D
f2.8, 1/2,500sec, ISO 200
Strobist info:
One SB-900 on camera left with warm gel filter on voice-activated tripod (rakib); TTL mode; triggered by SU-800 on camera.



anyway, I also tried out the same frames I tried a while back; but this time with a flash...... the sun was well on its way down..... so, it wasn't producing enough pop to separate the background..... the flash with warm gel did the trick...... the same trick applied for another close portrait..... the sun was replaced in the sun-glasses with the flash..... the original sun was too low down at that time and was featuring too mildly in the on the sun-glasses....

From Aftab Nagar Strobist Meet, 01 May 2010

model: sadia
Nikon D700 + Sigma APO 150mm f2.8 EX DG HSM Macro
f3, 1/640sec, ISO 200
Strobist info:
One SB-900 on camera left with warm gel filter on voice-activated tripod (hameem); shooting though a white shoot-through umbrella; TTL mode; triggered by SU-800 on camera.



the last individual shot for me was with a tele..... the idea was to utilise some nice warm clouds in the eastern sky..... the sun was already down, so needed another flash to get the separation..... set-up an umbrella to get the light to soften.....

From Aftab Nagar Strobist Meet, 01 May 2010

The Koba Squad!!
Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 20mm f2.8D
f8, 1/30sec, ISO 200
Strobist info:
One SB-900 each on camera left and right on tripod; TTL mode; triggered by SU-800 on camera.



the last effort of the day was a group shot...... it became sort of a pain to trigger the two flashes with the SU-800.... the angle was consistently becoming too steep..... anyway, we ended up with a decent shot to call it a day.....

just a couple of hours' effort..... life has become too hectic these days to manage more time than that..... for me, this has become the difference between being in photography and getting out of it...... I'm blessed with quite of lot of friends at TTL, who are helping me to keep in photography...... missed some regular fellas who had kept the strobist spirit alive..... Faisal Bhai, Biju, Tahmid, Saif Bhai jumped off the team at the last moment.... hopefully they will be there for the next meet..... may be another weekend...... lets just hope for that day everyday during the whole week!!

for more shots, please go to the gallery:
Aftab Nagar Strobist Meet, 01 May 2010