Posts Tagged ‘portrait’
The Tea Cup September 1st, 2010
This is a shot from my archives, taken on the plane on the way to Bangalore, India for a wedding in October of last year.
I was setting up to make the portrait of an elderly gentleman and realised that I had packed my speedlights in my suitcase, which was *cough* conveniently in the plane’s hold.
So, I had to work with available light. Must say, not much light on a plane. I ended up switching on every reading light I could find and directing it, so far as possible, in the direction of my subject (which is why there are so many spots of light reflecting in the kind old man’s eyes).
I made a number of test shots, with the kind assistance of my frs. This was one of them. I loved how it turned out.
More coming soon!
Tags: aircraft, airplane, available light, bangalore, cup, elderly gentleman, flash, india, light, man, people, plane, portrait, reading light, speedlight, tea, tea cup, wedding
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A Portrait of Defeat August 20th, 2010
In case you were wondering what defeat looked like.
My 10-year-old cousin, dejected and exhausted, after being beaten at ping-pong by another cousin (who happens to be a champion of the sport, with medals and cups and stuff).
More coming soon!
Tags: cousin, defeat, exhaustion, france, normandy, ping pong, portrait
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The Various States of Marriage August 7th, 2010
Earlier this year, one of my dearest and best friends asked me to hop over to London to make some pictures of him and his lovely fiancée. He was hoping to use them for the purpose of putting together some shots for the wedding website they were creating.
So that’s how I happened to find myself spending a grand total of some 6 hours in London, 5 of which I spent shadowing the bride and groom.
Before we started I was a little worried as I was unable to obtain any of the lighting equipment I was hoping to use. All I had were two small flash guns which had trouble cycling at the speeds I wanted and as a result had inconsistent output levels.
But I worked with the limitations of my gear. I needn’t have worried. I was quite lucky as shooting them was made so much easier by the fact that they were quite relaxed with me behind the lens – even with my madly running around them with a flash fitted with a mini softbox.
It was indescribably rewarding to spend time with them both. For the most part they behaved as though I wasn’t even there, which gave me the chance to see how truly mad about each other they are.
We explored the hotel ballroom where they held their wedding (on the 23rd of July), we tore apart (what is now) their house together, and wandered around Regent’s Park. We talked, laughed, made fools of ourselves and generally had a riot of a time.
I eventually came away with some 106 shots I was happy with, and some truly amazing memories.
During the short time I was with them, the couple randomly moved through pretty much every state of marriage. Below are a selection of pictures illustrating what I mean (in no particular order).
The Romance.
The Rage and Violence.
The Power Struggle.
The Sharing.
The Fun.
And below, what is possibly my favourite picture of the day:
The Occasional Smothering.
More coming soon!
Tags: best friend, bride, caring, groom, joy, marriage, portrait, power struggle, rage, romance, sharing, smothering, stage, stages of marriage, state, states of marriage, violence
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Girl by the Window July 28th, 2010
I came across this picture in my archives. It was taken late last year in Lebanon when I was exploring abandoned houses in Batroun, Lebanon.
I lit my friend with an SB900 set up on the floor to camera right, and a distance away, with a hint of backlighting from the light bouncing off the cieling and wall beyond the window.
The picture would have perhaps benefited from a little softer lighting, but I still very much enjoyed the play of light.
More coming soon!
Tags: abandoned house, batroun, derelict house, girl, house, lebanon, portrait, ruin, window
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Colour & Lights July 20th, 2010
I’d had this idea for a photo project for some time now where I wanted to shoot portraits of someone wrapped up in Christmas lights. But I had only this vague notion of the type of shots I would like to see. The idea appealed to me though.
At one point, I resolved to try it.
I bought a roll of party lights and twisted a friend of mine’s rubber arm until I convinced him to be my subject. So that day, I pulled out my SB900 flash unit, set up and wrapped all 180 lights around him. And that’s where things got a little complicated. All because I didn’t know what type of image I wanted.
I love that I always end up learning something new through photography. I think I was initially thinking to get a shot or two of my friend lit only by the party lights, and maybe with only his face lit by a warm light. It quickly became clear that that wasn’t the look that “spoke” to me creatively.
Experimentation time!
So I moved towards a shallower depth of field and different lighting, and got shots that fit in exactly with what I had been hoping to achieve from a creative and learning standpoint.
Below are some of the results.
For the above shot, I set the camera to tungsten white balance and backlit my friend with the SB900 flash bouncing off the wall in the background. I also used a hand-held torch which I aimed at my friend’s eye. I near blinded the poor guy.
Hope you enjoyed the results of this photo shoot as much I did.
More coming soon!
Tags: christmas lights, depth of field, dof, experiment, flash, lights, party lights, portrait, shallow depth of field, xmas lights
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Portraits on the Champs July 18th, 2010
Early this year, I found myself wandering down the Champs Elysee in Paris in the company of a very good friend.
We decided to stop random strangers on the street and take their portraits. We figured it would be a great way to meet interesting people. It’s one of the things I love about photography – how it helps break down barriers between people.
It was a cold but beautiful evening and as we walked down we were gradually losing the light. It meant that a flash became a necessity. Thankfully, my friend helped out with the lighting.
Here are some of the pictures I took that evening.
This friendly lady was sitting on a bench, waiting for a friend to join her before heading out to the theatre.
This young man was enjoying a break and chatting with a few of his friends. He has an interesting face and kind eyes.
This distinguished gentleman was friendly and open. Turns out he’s a prominent surgeon.
The last portraits below are of two Finnish ladies, fast friends.
More to come soon.
Tags: champs, champs elysees, elysee, france, paris, portrait, strangers
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Triumph & Fuzzy Slippers June 11th, 2010
I took this shot of my little cousin in her room at my uncle’s farm. I exposed for the scene outside her window, and lit the room with one SB900 flash to camera left.
I love the fuzzy slippers, her stance and the look of mischief and triumph on her face.
More coming soon!
Tags: france, normandy, portrait, sb900
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The Joker April 16th, 2010
I was fooling around with light and lighting at a friend’s place some weeks ago, making portraits of both him (and his cat).
At one point I aimed for a rather different look. Something … darker. So I lit him with strong, harsh light from two flash guns, one on either side of his head, and slightly behind him.
This rather sinister portrait is the result.
The funny thing is, this gent is quite possibly the kindest heart I know. And I’ve known him for what, 20 years now, or thereabouts. Who’d have thought he had it in him… 
More coming soon!
Tags: dark, joker, lighting, photo, photography, pic, picture, portrait, sinister
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Experiments in Light January 29th, 2010
I was at a house party a while back when one of my friends walked into the path of an overhead spotlight. The play of light sparked an idea. I whipped out the camera and gear, and ended up roping most everybody into a somewhat mad photo shoot. Here are two of the results.
The first image was taken with the available light from a small overhead spotlight.
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: experiment, flash, house party, light, overhead spot, photo, photography, pic, pictures, portrait, Portraits, sb900
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Bangalore Portraits – Part III December 16th, 2009
Carrying on from Part I and Part II, here are a few more portraits of the great people I met in Bangalore.
I met this family when I stood watching a Sikh procession in celebration of the birth of Guru Nanak (more on that later). I love the way this picture turned out. The son resembles the mum, and the daughter resembles the dad, and the son and mum were facing the same way, and the father and daughter a different way. And yes, they were all sat on one tiny motorbike. As is pretty much standard, only the father wore a helmet, cause that’s the minimum required by law – the driver of a bike must wear a helmet.
This man I met outside a fruit stall on Brigade Street. He’s a retired aircraft engineer who worked 35 years building and designing aircraft for an aircraft manufacturer with operations in India (the name escapes me). He stood proudly to attention while I took this shot. I understand from conversation with him that he’s dedicated his post-retirement life to his religion.
One of the ladies I met in Cubbon Park. She and her friends were collecting wood.
This is Mubashir. He’s a Muslim Indian from Kashmir who, along with his brothers, own and run a store called Asian Arts Emporium (located on 8 Cunningham Road). They sell some very fine silk (for saris and dresses), and all sorts of interesting arts and crafts. I visited their store twice with friends and made a goodly number of purchases.
We ended up having long and very interesting conversations with Mubashir. I particularly enjoyed our conversations about Islam. It’s a shame that Islam as it should be: one of peace, faith, humility, dignity in the face of adversity and enduring human kindness; does not seem to appeal to the popular media. That’s why the patience and warmth of people like Mubashir is important.
The conversations we had with Mubashir also brought the sheer breadth and variety of India to the fore – he doesn’t speak Kannada, the prevalent language in Bangalore, an requires a translator when dealing with Bangaloreans. The sheer number of languages and dialects spoken in India is staggering. You can find out more here.
This man encouraged the mapseller to stand for her portrait and then happily agreed to stand for his own.
This woman appeared silently while I stood at the gateway to a temple on a street off Commercial Street taking pictures of the temple grounds within. She allowed me to shoot the temple, even invited me in to do so. However, I didn’t wish to intrude and so remained at the gate to snap a few shots. I then asked her if I could take her portrait. She graciously acquiesced, but remained at distance. I was struck by the peace in her kind eyes.
This here is The Park Hotel‘s one and only Raja Gopal. I thought of rendering this picture in black & white. But I liked the colour of his dastaar (Sikh headdress).
Meet the Liftman. This fine chap took me on a few rides up and down in the elevator of a building off Brigade Street.
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: aircraft, arts, asian, asian arts emporium, bangalore, bike, brigade, brigade street, commercial, commercial street, cubbon park, elevator boy, emporium, engineer, gopal, guru, guru nanak, helmet, hotel, india, liftman, mapseller, motorbike, mubashir, nanak, park, park hotel, people, photo, photography, pics, pictures, portrait, Portraits, raja, raja gopal, sikh, street, temple, the park hotel
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