under the Minar....

The Making of TTL Group Shot at Shaheed Minar
17 March 2012
Central Shaheed Minar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

TTL's (Through the Lens: Bangladesh group of Flickr) group shoot right before the Bangladesh in Frames (BIF) exhibit has become something of a yearly event for the last several years now... its an event that produces a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of expectation... last year's shoot at Martyred Intellectuals Monument was a big success and created expectations for this year.... its never an easy job to handle that many people for a single shot... there isn't anything called perfect that you can achieve from such a shoot... usually you end up being happy with something that is workable... and because of the involvement of so many people, luck plays a important part as well... meticulous preparation leaves less to luck and can make the shoot look more an outcome of planning... that was ultimately the aim, but there are always some things that just don't go according to plan.... and you have work around it... thats the reality... always...

anyway, the shoot's original idea came from Avik Bhai (Avikbangalee)... he devised the the idea of shooting in front of the Central Shaheed Minar... we were to illuminate the Minar with light in low light conditions and bring everyone's face out in the dark with another source of light... that source of light would probably be candles.... so, candles in the foreground in everyone's hands and flash on the Minar... some drama it is... but it had its inherent challenges...

I paid a visit to the Central Shaheed Minar couple of days ahead of the shoot to do some feasibility study.... the main problem there was getting a formal permission... I went there on a Thursday and the crowd there was appreciable... Saturday (shooting day) was likely to attract even more people... and the more people there, the harder it would be to get a cleared ground.... and without a formal approval, people are not likely hear us... there weren't any big shooting challenges though... the only challenge came from the big lights there on the sides.... the lights may cause flare on the lens if they somehow end up in the frame's corners...the lights were possible to be kept out through composition though.... if the group was positioned in the centre, right in front of the Minar, it would be much easier to avoid the lights... but if we wanted to be a bit creative and shoot from a corner, there were possibilities of getting the lights in the frame... because of the stairs in the front of the Minar, use of some sort of ladder was a must to get a bit higher vantage point.... on the shooting day, we decided to shoot from a corner, which also presented with a higher vantage point... and with the ladder on top of the position, it was even higher.... this corner position allowed us to use some creative composition, using some designs (Alpona) on the ground that were drawn during last 21st February, International Mother Language Day...

safe shot at 5:39PM

the other thing that played a very important part on the shooting day was weather.... it already rained before the shoot and threatened to wash it away while we were shooting.... in fact, we were just about lucky as heavens broke down the moment we packed things up!!... the weather dictated the duration of the shoot.... because of the time constraints set by weather, we went for the safe shots at the start... just available light... f9 for depth and shutter between 1/60 and 1/160sec.... pushed the ISO with consent from Avik Bhai, as the light was really low to start with.... he was going to be end user of the photo, as the huge banner to be produced in front of Drik Gallery for the exhibit was to be ultimate outcome of this shoot, and Avik Bhai was to be the editing guru for that... we shot at 1600 ISO.... and got at least something if it rained off completely...

 second shot at 5:56PM

as rain stayed off after the safe shot, we went for the second try.... we used a similar setup as that of last year's.... one big light illuminating the group and the Minar to be illuminated only by ambient light, which was by then pretty low.... one Elinchrom Ranger RX unit was the main light for this... f11 aperture, shutter varied between 1/60 and 1/20sec.... because of the use of flash, we could bring down ISO to 250...

 final shot at 6:26PM

with the second shot done, we could go for the ultimate idea... the one with candles... it was difficult still, as it was windy, but it wasn't raining as yet... although there was lightning around... it went dark enough to light the candles... this time we moved the Ranger unit to the back and illuminated the Minar with it in 'full power'.... yep, that it... all 1,100w/s of it!!... the group was illuminated by six speedlites (4 x YN-560 + 2 x SB-900)... now, why use speedlights when you have two candles in everyone's hands?.... well, this picture was to be printed really big... sharpness was critical... if we exposed for the candles, there was a possibility that candle lights on the faces would make the faces blurry.... it not physically possible for 60+ people to stay absolutely still for a period longer than 1/15sec... so, we decided to expose for the flash keeping just a bit of exposure from the candles... f10, ISO 100.... it was possible to bring out the faces more in post production, but the image wouldn't lose sharpness in that case...

final output.... edited by Avikbangalee

we used Elinchrom Skyport trigger for the shoot... one receiver was with the Ranger unit... and two with two speedlights... the other four speedlights were in optical trigger mode, taking orders from the other flashes.... Avik Bhai's name doesn't need mentioning as he was co-producer of the shoot... big thanks to Shudipto, Kamal, Tahmid, Hameem and others for helping with the shoot in many ways.... Nasif gets all the credit for the BTS video shooting... and how can I not thank everyone else for their patience and enthusiasm?.... it was the spirit of TTL that lived through.... it rained heavily right after the shoot... in fact, it was already raining when we were packing things up.... we needed some hands to keep the equipment safe....it was a great experience... and was lots of fun....



don't forget to enjoy the BTS video... lots more blog posts coming.... stay tuned....

KL diary, part 2: Abang Avik....

24-25 May 2011
Kualalumpur, Malaysia

I've tried to memorise some words in KL.... Keluar, Tendas, Dilarang Masuk, etc. are some of the common learnings.... these are written everywhere and easy to read, since Malaysians use English alphabet.... but another word caught my attention only because I was roaming around with a friend, Avikbangalee..... yea, it had to be him.... if I write two parts about my KL visit, one has to be on him.... Avik Bhai has been a friend and "boro bhai" for some time now.... thanks God that one fine morning I've picked up that machine called camera.... I've come in contact with so many great guys since that day....






"Abang" is word of respect that people use to call others.... there can be other uses of this word, but with my limited knowledge of their language, this is the best I can do.... I watched Avik Bhai call every local human being Abang, whether they were male or female.... I really got curious about the use of this word.... when Avik Bhai used the word to describe me, I was a bit shaken.... since he's so much senior to me in terms of age... but truly speaking, I learned something from him about how to respect people... it may come as a surprise for a lot of people who know him well or little....

the moment I got to see him there, I knew I was in good hands.... it was an official trip for me and my official work didn't last longer than the lunch on day one.... so, I had more than one day to spend there..... I was overwhelmed by the hospitality I've received from him during this day-and-a-half visit.... this is especially true since there are so many of us visiting KL so regularly.... I was honoured to be the one...







we had a very busy schedule all through.... but managed to spend some time talking while we had some special KL menu..... also had some cool adda with Arup Bhai, who hosted a cool dinner, followed by a hairy ride..... and before I left, we also had another adda with Rafi and family, who were, incidentally, visiting Malaysia at the same time.... it was a lot of walking; in very warm, and sometimes wet weather.... but that walking saved time on a lot of occasions, especially on the day of my leaving.... the adda with Rafi took some toll of our time.... anyway, no damage was done... I was home and dry....

some cool hang-around with Avik Bhai took me to several landmark places of KL.... he was always complaining about the extremely short nature of my visit, but I wish I could... so, the sight-seeing was sort of a compromise....




will miss him over there until it happens again.... it was such a great time, but so transient.... he surely misses us more living in that foreign land.... he's the person who misses that road-side beef chaap, a rickshaw ride, that dusty path leading to a photo-heaven.... its hard to find replacements for him there.... perhaps the only thing we can wish for him is that he gets to see his motherland more often....

wishes....

midnight madness!!

18-19 March 2011
Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh

we did this for the third time in three years now..... we call it the TTL Posterwalk..... its more like experiencing it, rather than just overseeing postering...... BIF-III is (March 25-29) very near now..... so, publicity is now a top priority..... this year, the Posterwalk had been the biggest in three years, with more and more dedicated members willing to experience the extreme.... you gotta call this extreme.... going out, camera in hand, with a bunch of crazy folks, right in the middle of the night isn't something called normal behaviour..... and that too, to watch posters being pasted!!

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

well, whats in this world without a bit of madness??..... this event had been one of our unique calls ever since we devised the idea.... there's no way of hating this, once someone puts his/her name in there..... some say, photographers are crazy..... and its difficult to go against that statement after someone witnesses this craziness.....

experiencing Dhaka at the dead of night is something unique..... we are used to seeing the same places busy like hell.... all day long.... an empty place is gives a unique view and sort of an eerie feel.... but an experience that stays in memory for long.....

I was presented with the opportunity to do something that I had been trying to accomplish for some time..... that is to do some portraiture of some interesting people that I know.... and I got really lucky to a bit of that..... this goes along my new year's resolution on making 2011 a year of people photography....

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

this shot of Hameem was in available light; high ISO..... I just grabbed my camera finding him in the most unusual of poses.... he's one of the most important members of TTL, with great knowledge in photography, especially in his own area of slow-shutter...... thats now my area of expertise, which is why I went the easy way......

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

Avik Bhai (AKA) has always been one of most interesting subjects to shoot for any photographer...... not that I've not shot him before, but this is probably the first time I've done a portrait of him with at least some set menu...... one of the most creative guys I've known, he's a great friend and an important member of TTL......
D700 + 20mm f2.8 + Elinchrom Skyport
f2.8, 1/30sec. ISO 1600
Strobist info: one SB-900, camera right, shooting through a white umbrella, triggered by Elinchrom Skyport; held up by Kamal (Shadow of Dark)

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

then it was time for a smallish group shot with Vashkar Bhai, Avik Bhai and Kamal.....
same setup..... assisted by Rezwan (I believe)

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

then I switched my eyes to Tinku Bhai.... what a great subject he is..... his physical stature alone makes him a unique subject..... a very creative guy and it can be seen while trying to shoot him... he comes up with his own ideas and the photographer has to to just click..... well, clicking wasn't so easy though, as finding the focus in that tricky light was no small problem.... even a torch wasn't enough when there were car headlights as backlight.....
the setup was the same as above..... then I switched lenses and tried to get at least a different perspective....

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

From TTL Posterwalk, March 2011

we had our group photo session some time around 1:00AM...... its a pity that with some things to catch up in the morning, I had to avoid the night-long event..... I knew I was gonna miss some rare moments along that time..... but I didn't have that luxury for some reason..... just a participation in an event like this is a privilege.... such a walk in the street doesn't happen that often..... lucky to be a part of such a crazy bunch!! :)

TTL Group Shoot....... a Making of....

17 March 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

It was 20:00hrs on Wednesday (16^th March 2011) when AKA came to my place with Kamal (Shadow of Dark) to plan this. Shudipto called me up earlier in the evening and told me to plan a group shoot with AKA, who just arrived from KL several days back. We knew that it would be a challenge, not just to execute this, but to make it unique. Unique is a word we’ve learned to love over the last few years with TTL. We’ve made all our effort to make our work stand out; to be used by others as reference; something of a trendsetter. Last year's group shoot before "Bangladesh in Frames II" (BIF-II) exhibition was a marvel. BIF-III had to set a new trend! With less than a day to go, this was more than a small challenge. We didn’t even finalise our ideas or place. It had to be executed within Thursday, which was a holiday.

We rejected a couple of venues because of some obvious complicacies. Martyred Intellectuals Monument at Rayerbazar came up top as the most feasible and relevant venue. When AKA proposed this place, it took us some short calculations before we communicated this to Shudipto, Faisal Bhai and Kamrul as the final one. They handled the organizing part very well indeed! It was a hard ask for them to gather 50-plus shooters with one night’s notice.

AKA wanted it to be a first timer in Bangladesh. And he thought it may be great if we could use artificial light to illuminate the whole group! Well, that may be a unique idea, but to execute that, you really have to know what you are doing, let alone having the equipment on location to execute this. AKA wanted the shoot to be done in the blue hours. In addition to this, I was thinking whether it would be possible to get the sun in the window on the structure. I got the sun there once couple of years back, and knew that was one of the most unique features of that monument. That was the month of April back then, so, it was pretty feasible to try that in March. The thing that we were concerned about was the placement of the group. There are some interesting patterns on the pavement there that can act as friend or foe. We needed to reconnoitre the place before making the final decision on the placement of the group. We also planned to take some ‘safe’ shots first up, just in case the unique shot didn’t work out.

The structure is huge! So, it had to be a wide angle lens to execute this. I thought about my 20mm on D700, but also thought about backups with 11-16mm on crop bodies or 16-35mm on FF, just in case 20mm doesn’t work out. Lighting was a bigger challenge. I was thinking of using the Elinchrom Ranger with A-head as the main light, and possibly using some SB-900/SB-800 or 580EX-ii or YN-560s as fill lights. I also thought about creating one huge light source with a 12’x8’ white seamless with all the lights. I kept all the options on the cards. Called up several other photogs to keep their flashes as backup. To get the proper vantage point, a ladder was a necessity. We called Farhan Bhai organise a highest possible ladder. Getting the light high enough was also a potential challenge, as we needed to illuminate the faces to 50-plus people without overlapping shadows.

Failed to join in an early morning reconnaissance mission there because of too much sleep. So, in the afternoon, had to show up as early as I could. Gazi Bhai helped me out with the equipment. It was just past 16:00hrs. My first intention was to look at the unique angle that I had been thinking of from the day before. The sun was yet to reach the structure, but it surely looked possible, albeit with some challenge.

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

16:19hrs..... I was looking for the feasibility of the unique shot.......

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

16:41hrs...... the 'safe' shot was already being planned.....

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

16:44hrs....... AKA organising the group........

By around 16:40, the ‘safe’ shot was being organised. The sun was still high. We decided to take a place almost at 90-degree angle to the structure. Its not the most creative, but its ‘safe’. AKA started to organise people in his usual manner. It was hard for anyone to ignore his words! Kamal and TM joined him in the effort. Raian was also there doing some policing jobs! A public place like this was supposed have a lotta people, and to clear the whole place was a virtual impossibility. We tried to clear up the foreground, as that would be the cause for distractions. People way back near the structure were not real issues, as I was basically underexposing the scene. Started at f16, ending up with f18!! Sensor-dust apertures!! Needed that depth and also needed to control the exposure with the sun so high. And how well the Ranger unit stood there! Wow! We started with just the Ranger unit with a 9” reflector; bare light! And that actually was enough! Didn’t even have to use full power! This was the first time I have used this much power on the Ranger. And it blew my mind, including all others’!

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

17:04hrs...... the safe shot was done!

By around 17:04hrs, the ‘safe’ shot was done, and I started to look for that unique one. AKA and me decided to use a round pattern on the pavement to keep everyone confined. That would automatically create a pattern in group that we had been looking for. Our group had been wearing red and green dress mostly. We wanted it to look more like the national flag, or at least create a notion like that.

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

17:10hrs...... New angle under consideration..... the sun was yet to come down.....

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

17:14hrs..... AKA feverishly organises the group...... race against the sun....

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

17:23hrs..... a lotta policing had to be done to keep the frame clean..... TM is doing it here.....

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

17:35hrs...... an exclusive portrait session with AKA, TM and Shadow of Dark..... special feature: a full-powered beauty light solution....

It was surely a lot more challenging with the sun coming into the window from a specific angle. That angle created problems with the circle that we had been planning use as a pattern. The circle went more to the sides. But it was still bearable. In fact, when the sun actually started to move into the window by around 17:38, the placement of the round pattern was in perfect position. We kept the same one-light solution, but this time the light needed more height. The round pattern required the light to create a sort of a spotlight with the minimum spill outside the pattern. Tahmid Munaz and Kamal did their best to hold the A-head up there. They held the light with the lightstand up into the air for some time to make this possible. The 8-ft lightstand needed that boost to make it happen. It wasn’t possible to use any other higher ground.

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

whats in a picture if everyone's sleeping??

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

whats in a picture when you can't even see a face??...... this is what it looked like without the Ranger blazing.....

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011

17:43hrs...... its a wrap!!

We were done by 17:43. It took just 5 minutes’ real shooting to give this much pain to everyone for such a long time. It just had to be done. An on top of that, they had to bear with AKA’s brutal directions, without which we could never accomplish this! Around 71 faces ultimately came up in the frame, and looking at that final output, we really thought we achieved something!

the madness.......

From TTL Group Shoot, 17 March 2011