it was another strobist meet..... a meet that we learned to call Studiowalk.... it got that sort of name because we not just shoot with strobes, but shoot with anything that we can put our hands on...... anyway, this short, but nice Studiowalk was organised by Zaim..... actually we couldn't even think of something like this without Zaim's proposal....... his proposal was unanimously greeted with excitement and the enthusiasm actually skyrocketed once we saw the samples of the graffiti over there... Zaim and his friends created these arts and gave a new horizon to think about.... at least, I haven't seen such graffiti in our country so far..... we simply didn't want to miss such a unique opportunity..... so, there we went.... it was a preparation of almost a week, yet we felt a little under-prepared once we reached there....
the building has been abandoned for more than four years...... and gives an eerie feeling inside..... there are marks of human activity, but not a single soul to be found..... the floors have acquired so much dust that one can create a graffiti using the dust!....... all the floors were empty and dusty.... we climbed to the top floor, the 10th floor..... and things began to clear up in front of us..... this floor contained offices, and there were plenty of files and other office stuff to corroborate the fact..... the floor was once fully air-conditioned; so, now it contains to air outlet..... we opened the door to the balcony and let some air and light in.... this made us survive there for around two hours.... the month of April was felt inside down to our bones..... it was sultry and exhausting.....
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| From High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010 |
model: biju
Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 50mm f1.4D
f8, 1/250, ISO 200
Strobist info:
3 x SB-900 with warm gel filter outside filtered window glass on stand; TTL mode; triggered with SU-800+ extension cord
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| From High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010 |
model: biju
Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 50mm f1.4D
f5.6, 1/250, ISO 200
Strobist info:
3 x SB-900 with warm gel filter outside filtered window glass; 1 x SB-600 with honeycomb grid on left on stand; TTL mode; triggered with SU-800+ extension cord
anyway, we started off with the main graffiti..... the sun was exactly to the opposite side and there were huge windows with filtered glasses prohibiting light from coming inside.... the graffiti was pretty much in the dark, so, we needed to set up some flashes to light things up..... we set up three SB-900 flashes outside the window with warm gel filters to create late afternoon sunlight..... but it proved difficult to trigger the lights with the SU-800 from inside the dark glasses.... it took some effort to get an acceptable exposure.... we weren't absolutely happy about it, but accepted it..... needed to set up another SB-600 with honey-comb grid as fill light..... the samurai replica from Hameem gave us the opportunity create some drama.... the whole thing proved tough because of the extreme contrast created by the graffiti colours.... we couldn't find a satisfactory solution to it.....
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| From High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010 |
model: dipa
Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 50mm f1.4D
f3.5, 1/200, ISO 200
natural afternoon light coming through large filtered glass window
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| From High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010 |
model: zaim
Nikon D700 + Sigma APO 150mm f2.8 EX DG HSM Macro
f3, 1/250, ISO 1400
natural afternoon light coming through large filtered glass window
anyway, shooting continued with strobes..... there were quite a few strobists there shooting away.... I gave a hand to some and helped create some great images..... I, on the other hand, found my frames with available light.... the huge filtered glass was holding enough of the afternoon sun to get some cool portraits.....
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| From High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010 |
model: zaim
Nikon D700 + Sigma APO 150mm f2.8 EX DG HSM Macro
f3, 1/500, ISO 200
natural afternoon light coming through door
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| From High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010 |
model: zaim and kamal
Nikon D700 + Sigma APO 150mm f2.8 EX DG HSM Macro
f3, 1/320, ISO 200
natural afternoon light coming through door
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| From High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010 |
model: kamal + hameem's samurai
Nikon D700 + Sigma APO 150mm f2.8 EX DG HSM Macro
f3, 1/2,500, ISO 200
natural afternoon light
Hameem's samurai had seen some action, though mostly without its original owner... while I was shooting Zaim with the samurai and thinking of creating a scene where a samurai silhouette would be attacking someone else's silhouette, Zaim came up with a cool idea of creating a Japanese beheading ritual...... Zaim and Kamal created the scene, though there were not enough space to do this properly.... we also went outside and shot the samurai with the setting sun......
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| From High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010 |
The Koba Squad!!
Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 50mm f1.4D
f10, 1/500, ISO 200
Strobist info:
6 x SB-900, SB-800, SB-600 on stand (4) and on ground (2); TTL mode; triggered with SU-800
the last act of the day was a group shot..... the big graffiti was the obvious choice for a background..... it was real challenge to light everyone with strobes, since we had space constraints on one side, which left us with one side to setup the strobes..... we used a total of 6 speedlites to do the job...... killed the ambient light with a high shutter speed and set up two flashes behind the people in front to that we had enough light for the people in the far corner.... it wasn't the most ideal of group shots, but was enough for us start packing.... it was already quite dark and we had to go all the way down the dark stairs.... there was no electricity in the whole building.....
it was a cool outing.... though tough from the conditions point, it surely helped us learn quite a few things..... lighting and other conditions were quite different from what we had encountered in other places.... the challenge was great and we thought we came through..... lessons were learned, for another day..... we have to come back.....
for more shots from same venture, please visit the following link:
High-rise Graffiti Shoot, Dhaka, April 23 2010
