The Kindness of a Stranger

I bought my very first android phone last week and the story of how I got is what I want to share with you today because it involves a complete stranger.

If you're on the internet and are into gadgets you would have heard of the name OnePlus. They make good phones for a low price. Much lower than big companies like Samsung or LG or Apple. However, getting their latest phone is no easy task because of their controversial invite system. For someone like me who didn't buy their first phone getting an invite so soon is nigh impossible.

On their forums I came across a user named Cool Droid. He had a cool Whatsapp mod that I commented on and we got talking. He commented on my introductory post (which had some of my work) and somewhere along the line he said he would give me an invite if he got one to share. Fast forward a few weeks and a few random messages later he sends me a message and tells me to come online ASAP. I do go online and he gives me an invite code for the phone.

I don't know who he is. I don't even know his name but here's a stranger who kept his word. He made a promise and fulfilled it. You don't come across such people very often. So this picture is for you Cool Droid. I really appreciate the gesture and I can't thank you enough :)

Reticence

Here's a quick portrait of my friend at a ceremony in college.

I thought the light through the door made for a nice frame especially as the colour balloons added some sort of interest to the frame. I asked "Does anyone want a new profile picture?" and then proceeded to take this picture.

It's nothing special but I did promise to edit it and hand it over to her so here it is.

I didn't have my camera with me so I had to use my friend's Canon 6D which is a really amazing piece of equipment. Way better than the 650D I usually shoot with.

Ardent

Man! Oh! Man! It's been crazy busy with classes and a few photoshoots too. It's amazing but so very tiring. Been working late nights on pictures.

Things were starting to get a little monotonous with editing so I decided to work on a portrait I had put off for far too long. This one is of a friend who shares the same name with me haha

He's pretty awesome and I really wanted to take a good portrait for him. He hasn't seen it yet but I do hope he likes it.

I took a more artistic approach to this one and decided to go with a kind of gritty look. This was taken using light that was streaming through a window in my room.

Shooting with people has been a challenge but has also been incredibly fun at the same time. It's amazing!

Blissful Elegance

It's been crazy busy these past few months and I've found very little time to actually update my blog and other social media profiles regularly and for that I apologise. I doubt anyone actually reads this blog so that might not matter a whole lot but if you do I can't thank you enough. It really means a lot to me :)

Now for today's picture and one of my favourite portraits. This was not planned or posed for at all. I was shooting for an online saree store called Jhumoor and while waiting for the other model to get ready I quickly got this image of my good friend and model. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

Now I hadn't shot any ethnic fashion before but I figured it wouldn't be too different from other fashion shoots. That turned out to be partly true but not completely. The weather was horrible and we shot for four straight hours. Needless to say the models and I were exhausted at the end of the day but my clients were happy with the results so it was worth it.

I showed this picture to a few of our mutual friends and they went absolutely crazy over it. They loved it so much that I kinda wish I had kept it as a surprise hahaha

Anyway, for technical details. I was shooting with a Canon 650D and a 50mm 1.4. It was wide open as I was testing a few things but I really really love the light and the overall shot. That fact that she looks beautiful just adds to it.

BTW if you're looking for a good 50mm for a Canon body I would most definitely recommend the 50mm 1.4 if you can't afford the 50mm 1.2L lens. This lens is amazing. The unit I have has a few focusing issues but that's not a big deal once you get used to it which, I'll admit, might take a long time. I wouldn't use it for quick shots but for shots when you have a moment or to focus and compose it's just great.

Happy Independence Day

It's India's 69th Independence day which means everywhere you look you're going to see at least one national flag flying high - whether it's lowly beggar begging on the street with a flag in his hand or a posh car with a flag flying beside its windshield.

I wanted to do something creative with photography for the Independence day this year. I've used eight different ingredients to create the flag in today's photograph. Can you guess what they are?

Here's a hint - I've used things that are common where I live but might not be readily available in other parts of the world and they're all edible. Ok so that's technically two hints but there you go ;)

Some of these should be incredibly easy. If I get enough queries I will share it here first and then maybe I'll even make a BTS video of the making of this photograph if people are interested.

Wistful

This is part two of last week's post about the animals I saw in the zoo. This monkey (different from the one in last week's post) look incredibly sad and distraught.

He just seemed to stare into the distance without blinking as if reminiscing of good times past or perhaps imagining what it would be like on the other side of the fence.

It didn't even flinch when this group of local boys were being really rude and trying to tease it. I'm not saying zoos are a bad thing - definitely not! I've learnt so much about animals from my visits to zoos. Granted there haven't been many visits but I have learnt a lot.

Sometimes animals are mistreated because they're lesser beings or so we think. Honestly, the only reason I think we are still alive is because God wants us to be. Think about it - we aren't the strongest, nor are we the fastest or even the most agile of creatures and yet we're still thriving on this planet. All because God have given us amazing intelligence and is with us.

Don't ignore animals. Listen to them. Animals have a lot to say. They have a lot to teach us if we only just take a moment to listen and learn.

Control

These past few weeks have been intense! I don't just mean in terms of how busy it's been but also the emotional and physical stress. We were able to spend some time in Nepal and that really taught me so much. I'm working on a series that should be out by the end of the month.

I'm photographing products for a start-up that's launching their own app to sell groceries online. I think it's a great initiative. That's what's keeping me busy along with driving lessons. I can't say I like those pesky animals and some humans that just run wild.

Anyway, now for the image. I've been to zoos numerous times in the past but this last visit to the zoo in Kathmandu, Nepal really made me think about the animals there. Until this visit I'd never actually seen animals in zoos so emotionally active. This time I decided I would capture emotions. It's not easy capturing emotions in humans so doing that with animals was incredibly difficult. We also had a very tight schedule which added to the challenge.

One of the first animals that caught my attention was a langur. He kept baring his teeth and screaming. I don't know who or what he was screaming at but he seemed genuinely angry. Then he stopped and just raised his left hand and held the fence with his head hanging low as if he just wanted to get out but knew that any attempt to do so was futile. This is his hand. If it was a human I'm sure that person just wanted to be held and loved, which I'm guessing holds true for the langur too.