making day.....

05 September 2011
Rajshahi, Bangladesh

the first day at Rajshahi.... its been almost a year since the last tour of Rajshahi..... the day was quite eventful as we had already explored the bank of the Padma and some other nice places on the outskirts of the City.... now it was time to do something different in the evening.... with the sun down, we had to adapt.... I had brought minimal equipment on this tour, so I needed to improvise for everything.... and as I'm virtually without any editing platform, most of the posts here are to done with minimal PP work... anyway, lets get to the shoot.....

Proma's well-decorated room brought the idea of some environmental portraits.... the show-pieces on the wall, tables and floor caught my eyes and gave me thought that I must have some photos here.... the room is supposed to look best in early morning daylight conditions..... but it was evening; no sunlight.... and the room doesn't  really receive direct sun..... so, I had to tweak something to make it look like a day shoot.... I put an SB-900 with a warm gel filter in the hands of an assistant (Shoma) outside the window and used a 24" Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe softbox as a fill light from the right with another SB-900 inside (on Manfrotto monopod, held by my wife).... both the flashes were triggered by Elinchrom Skyport radio triggers....

the result was some kind of a moody picture with lots elements and warmth.... my subject was also full of expressions and ideas, which made my work easier.... the space inside the room and outside the window were causing a bit of inconvenience, but thats something expected on different locations.... the walls need to be corrected a bit in PP.... it would've been nice if I could set the softbox on the left of the frame, making it look more natural.... but that would've meant changing the whole frame.... didn't wanna do that though.... anyway, the shoot went on smoothly, more or less....

more to come from the tour.....

do you think you can make a preschooler pose for you??

01 August 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

I had been shooting Lamisa long enough to learn some basics of photographing a baby, especially a really unstable one.... that told me that photographing a preschooler is one of the hardest things to do... they have a mind of their own and would like to stick to it, whether it goes for you or against... they're mobile, so you may have to wait for a long time before they come back to your preferred location.... but there are some ways you can make progress.... sharing some of my experiences....

1. find her interests.... the faster you can figure this one out, the quicker it would be for you to accomplish this.... you may try to use your setup to get to know the baby.... you can build your relationship with the baby while you do this..... babies do love photographic equipment.... they're just too different from their boring toys!!





2. involve her.... make her feel that she is engaged in the whole process and doing some hard work.... Lamisa has interest in new attires... I try to use that to my advantage... every time I want her to pose in front of the camera, I tell her to get ready.... and she jumps into it!





3. have patience; lots of patience.... babies are restless.... they're very unpredictable and would change mind anytime.... but don't give up.... usually they do lose interest in one thing pretty quick.... and thats a good thing when you want her to come back.... you can never say that you can keep her in front of the lens for an indefinite amount of time.... this simply isn't going to happen....



4. be trigger happy!!...... you'll never get enough time to photograph a baby.... so, make the best use of time..... a frame takes a fraction of a second, so, take as many frames as you can when the baby is in the right place and in the right mood.... mind you, she can change her mind in a fraction of a second!



5. take help..... if you can have someone with you who can keep interest in the baby, do to advantage of that..... there's nothing more frustrating than sitting idle with the camera while the baby pursues something else!



setup for this shoot....


there are many other tips that other photographers have shared online.... but these are my findings regarding making a preschooler pose... I would also like to share some more learning regarding doing an actual shoot after you get the baby to pose in front of the camera....

the pics here are from a long backlog, which I started clearing almost a month back... and I'm glad that I'm almost at the end of it....

more to come soon.....

an evening of portraiture....

19 August 2011
Bailey Road, Dhaka, Bangladesh

the Paraboyz are some sticky dudes... they don't know how to forget memories.... they know whats important in their lives..... they also know what comes around and what doesn't.... so, when the proposition of a get-together, along with a photowalk came up, it was always a "go"..... the only factor that still remained was when.....

big thanks to the guys for showing up and displaying the affection for that friendship.... a friendship that never had a boundary of age..... this is one multi-age unique group..... the boyz have become men, and busy.... but the effort to keep that friendship alive has never become old.... I am proud to be part of it....

after that short photowalk at Chawkbazar Iftar Market, we had our Iftar at Royal Restaurant of Lalbagh.... but it was just too late for us to sit there and order something good.... but we had enough to call it an 'Iftar'..... anyway, we also wanted to have a guys' evening.... our families (well, those who have!) could wait....

the guys of Paraboyz who had been interested in photography, they were the main participants for this venture.... others were invited too.... ultimately we ended up with just 6 of us.... Omi left right after the photowalk at Chawkbazar.... while the five of us ventured in the evening for something different.... and it was different....

we hung out at Bailey Road; had a lot of yummy fruit juice, and before leaving, we decided to do something that we could remember..... we did some portraiture of ours.... I had a hunch that we might end up doing something like this.... so, I toiled to bring some strobist stuff.... a Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe softbox, along with a YN-560 flash, Elinchrom Skyport radio triggers and a Manfrotto monopod, to be used as a boom....





Anonto is a great guy.... handsome, good-looking, and creative.... he was a pace sensation in our para cricket team.... but since then he has accomplished a lot more than just playing for his para, though those have nothing to do with his skills as a cricketer..... a young architect in his own right and making his mark in the industry with his creative stuff.... have seen him after a while actually.... his bearded look was something of a surprise for all of us.... he has lived up to his family, which is full of creative people.....








Aurnab is one my favourite subjects because of his expressive nature.... he has been as casual as he has ever been..... great guy to hang around with.... and loveable friend.... would love to see him restart his photography, as he has the eye for it, I believe.....



Shihab has always been a great friend.... one of the earliest enthusiasts among us in photography, he has found his firm footing in mass communication.... and thats where he's discovering his passion for photography once more.... he's been the main instigator behind a photowalk with our click-buddies.... big thanks!!..... and being involved with conservation of Nature, it was just more appropriate to click him in front of that backdrop!!




Anik is one of the funniest guys I know..... I can still remember that trip of ours at Bandarban and Cox's Bazaar five years ago, where we had a great amount of fun having him around..... and as he has found his newly-found passion in photography, it was on me to figure out something unique for him.... I decided to create something that would portray his new desire...... I had only one light... so, I shot two images separately with that single softbox and stitched them together in Photoshop..... never done such kinda stuff in my life.... but it turned out to be pretty good!! :)



the main aim of the photowalk and the photoshoot were to bind ourselves in sort of an activity that would remain in memory for a much longer period..... it wasn't just another adda, or another Iftar or another dinner.... it was a memory.... thanks guys!!

through rain, mud and sweat..... all of that, for friends...

07 August 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

it was Friendship Day.... and my good friend Ayon gave me a wonderful idea in the morning... to involve the family members in an intimate friendship day shoot.... I got determined, even though it was a hard day at office in Ramadan.... we were supposed to spend the evening at my in-laws anyway, so, I thought this was a day that should not be wasted, no matter what....

my determination faced the first hurdle even before I had reached there..... I had little time to pack up after coming back from office.... and I was thinking of packing the most necessary gears for a strobist evening..... tested the new Lowepro Rezo 190 bag and my old soft bag that I got from office years ago.... it was a new assignment for both the bags.... but more appropriately, it was a test for me to utilise the space as efficiently as possible, as the bags didn't really allow a mountain to go in them.... I reached there everything packed alright... but through the hurry, I forgot to pack the most important small item.... a PC sync cable, without which the Elinchrom Skyport radio triggers won't work with the YN-560 flashes....

so, right after Iftar, me and my wife went out to accomplish some things that could help us remember the day better.... we went to a gift shop to buy some wrist-bands, specially made for friendship.... we reached home from the shop through drenching rain.... and while I was leaving the just-purchased merchandise from the store, I also left the wrist-bands at home..... so, once we reached my in-laws, I realised that I got the PC-sync cables, but left the wrist-bands!!..... we decided to make do.... and somehow, my wife was able to manage something out of nothing.... she extracted some laces from some toys that had the exact messages that we wanted.... and thats it.... we didn't need another splash of rain to get it done!!












folks down there were happy.... happy to have their grand-child with them for an occasion.... its not that they don't have Lamisa regularly... but you know emotions.... and a bit more of that went into this shoot.... we haven't had a shoot of Lamisa with her grand-parents for some time.... so, it was just more than appropriate to have this shoot on this day.... people here are really vowing to keep this friendship for life.... and friendships like this do last a lifetime.....











technically speaking, I used a Lastolite 24" Ezybox Hotshoe Softbox on a Manfrotto monopod as a boom, held by my wife and Riad (my brother-in-law)..... to eliminate shadows, I posted a flash on the ground with a grid spot on it.... but unfortunately, the flash didn't work most of the times as the battery was somehow at its lowest end... too bad that I didn't notice this earlier.... anyway, the shots looked nice enough.... more than the technical quality of the shots, it was more of the moment that made it important.... Lamisa was already searching for bed, so, it was hard to keep her attention.... Riad wanted to feature in an arm-wrestling kind of encounter with Lamisa.... but that didn't really work great..... its difficult make a preschooler understand what you intend to see in a photograph!!

anyway, much much more to come.... the backlogs are still backlogged!!