AnRb Photography

Eastern Washington – A photo Excursion

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:36:52 +0000

I had an opportunity to visit Palouse one last time before I leave US and move back home. If you had been following my photographic journey, you might very well know that Palouse is one of my favorite places to visit to take pictures. Pictures from both of my previous trips have been very well received by a lot of viewers. So I would not want to let go of this chance to photograph the harvest season. The initial plan was for me was to drive alone. When I was talking about this to fellow photographers Siddharth and Vinayak, they showed immediate interest to go with me. I’m always excited to be with photo enthusiasts. Vin later put a FB message and asked for models to join our trip. We managed to find a model(Morgan) who was interested in joining us. Sid’s friend Lily also joined us and volunteered to be a model. So there we were, 3 photogs and 2 models, set out to capture the beauty of the rolling hills and wheat farms.

My pictures from the first two trips were very different and this time I wanted them to be a lot different compared to the previous two trips. I have been thinking about how I can make them unique. So I got some props like umbrella, hats and other stuffs ready. Also I was envisioning a shot with a very long fabric and got a 10 yard fabric cloth. Although the shot I was thinking about did not turn out exactly the same, I still managed to make some good pictures. We also carried lights and soft boxes which we ended up using very little than what we thought.

Here’s the first installment of pictures. I have also posted some behind the scenes shot. Have a look at them and provide your comments.

Come back for more pictures.

Skip’s Summer School – Why I Want to Go.

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:55:29 +0000

Antelope canyons. I have been waiting for this moment for months. Checking my bag a seventh time to make sure I have all I want; 1 wide angle lens, 1 tripod, my camera, lens cleaner and other lenses. Its 11:00am and the light is perfect. Flowing down the narrow shafts and slowly moving across the cave. I see the shot. I Carefully set the tripod, adjust the lens, tilt the camera just a little, open up the aperture a little more, take a deep breath and wait for the right moment as the sand cascades through the stream of light. Click. This is me now.

Two years ago, I couldn’t have told you what a DLSR is, much less an aperture or shutter speed. Since then I have read hundreds of books, subscribed to RSS feed of photography centric blogs, attended local meet-ups, found myself a mentor, and begun my own experimentation with smoke and light photography. My passion and drive for the art of photography has grown unabated and more importantly, has helped me express my point of view though my pictures.

I love strobe works, landscapes, portraits, macro work, experimental techniques, playing with light, architecture, documentary work and city scapes. Through my portrait & wedding works, articles I have written, my photography blog, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter I have developed a following and been able to share my work and educational journey with other young and eager photographers who hungry to learn more. While I was able to fast track the art of photography through my passion and hard work, little did I realize that the art of selling is just as important as the art of photography itself, if photography for a living is your aspiration. I have done my bit in marketing myself through all the available social media tools. But at the end of the day, my reach has been limited, my following is in its infancy, and my business is more smoke than reality. Although I do know where I’m headed to, I don’t know how to get there. My goal is to:

. Share my perspective of every day things with the world through my photography,
. Teach others like me what I’ve learned,
. Find a niche market for myself
. Embrace my passion and love of photography as my life’s work, and
. Transform my passion into my business.

I want to attend Skip’s summer photography school because of all the above said reasons. I feel I am ready to start the next phase of this wonderful journey, and I need the education, mentor-ship, guidance, and experience, something that Skip’s summer school promises to be a one-stop shop for.

Here’s a complete collection of my portfolio. (http://anrb.zenfolio.com/anrbportfolio)

Single tree obsession

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:36:21 +0000

A single tree in the frame is one of my favorite subjects. They almost always make for a wonderful composition. Here are some of my single tree frames. This is not everything that I have. One of these days I’ll come up with a sequel for this post.

Find the hidden creatures

admin — Sat, 15 May 2010 01:01:56 +0000

A pilgrimage to Antelope Canyon is a must for photographers. The natural beauty, challenging lighting, bold yet subtle colors, texture, movement, and organic flow of the stone makes choosing which shot to take the hardest part of your experience there. Every turn presents a new shot to delight you and begs to be taken. How can your pictures be anything but great at such an amazing location?

I spent some time talking with the guides that lead you through the canyons and learned the canyons are a spiritual place for the Navajo people. They talk about the forms and shapes carved into the rock by water that flows through the canyons. I instantly knew these spiritual shapes and forms were exactly what I wanted to capture. One of my greatest pleasures has been to see what is not seen, find what is hidden, and put center stage what is overshadowed and show it with photography.
Excited for the opportunity to see these forms and shapes through the eyes of my guide, I asked for his help finding and shooting the shapes in the rock. Agreeing, he led me through the canyon and shared with me the forms and shapes he sees every day walking through those canyons.

I have shared some of those shots with you here. Can you find the hidden forms? Can you see what the guide showed me? Look at the pictures below, find the shapes, and leave me a note telling me what you see. If you are having trouble, click on the picture to see the shape highlighted. There are many other shapes, forms, and visions in the rocks so be sure to share what else you see with me and others viewing the page. I hope you enjoy this perspective of Antelope Canyon as much as I did.

Slot Canyon

admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 02:45:35 +0000

This is one of the naturally amazing places I have seen in my life. I have seen and heard a lot about this place for a long time and every time longed about photographing it. Finally I got a chance to do it and boy was I excited? We got there at the right time and the guides who helped us were wonderful. Here are some of the shots I made on the upper canyons. More details about the canyons and how to shoot the canyons will follow in a couple of days. Keep checking back.

Light Flare at the Bar

admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:03:12 +0000

Ever since I saw the “Light Fare at the Bar” post from Strobist website, I wanted to try this. So I mailed my mentor Marv Heston and asked him if he will be interested in trying this. He was immediately ready for some experimentation and we set out to reproduce a similar effect. I should tell you how much fun we had doing this. It was like working on a high school project with so many tiny little things to worry about and we finally came out with some great pictures. Special thanks to Marv. This is actually a test shoot before the shoot with an expensive bottle in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for the steps to create these pictures with setup shot and more.

Meanwhile please leave your comments and thoughts about the pictures.

Caring the withered beauties – II

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:43:14 +0000

This is a continuation to my fallen series. Whenever I think about shooting a tulipfest, one thing that comes to my mind instantly is that there are thousands of pictures out there online because it is the most visited event every year. If you think about a composition its highly likely that you have seen it before.

With that pretext in mind I wanted to shoot something that will be ignored mostly and one of the things that instantly struck the cord was the fallen tulips because no one really cared about it. Keep coming back for more because there is going to be more coming up in the next few days.

Seeing the unseen – II

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:42:54 +0000

This is another shot in the series of delightful pictures that I got out of Tulip gardens, Skagit Valley WA. Take pictures in a tulip festival is very challenging because there are 1000s of pictures already taken and you have to make sure that you are not adding to the already existing pool of pictures. So I took only pictures that I thought were not commonly seen in a tulip festival set. Enjoy and let me know your comments. See the entire series here.

The god in monochrome !!

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 03:18:37 +0000

I’m in no way exaggerating when I use the word god. For me, this mozart from Madras has been giving some scintillating musical experience for almost 18 years now and he still continues to do so. I still remember the days when walkman was the only source of music when I’m at home and I would play his tracks on repeat mode and eagerly wait for sundays to watch the superhit muqabla so I can have a glimpse of Oorvasi Oorvasi !! His songs continuously being in number one position is also another reason to wait for those sundays. I grew up listening to his songs.

I had been to Rahman’s concert during both his 2003 and 2007 US tours. I was so fortunate to take some pictures during his 2007 tour although I have to admit that I knew nothing about photography then which I fret even today. Only if I were more fortunate, I would have at least known to take the pictures in RAW. But thats fine. I don’t have any complaints!! Who knows he might see this post and give me a chance to photograph him in this year’s Jai Ho tour.

Caring the fallen ones

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 03:21:56 +0000

This is first of the series of images that I’m going to come up with Tulip pictures. Whenever I think about shooting a tulipfest, one thing that comes to my mind instantly is that there are thousands of pictures out there online because it is the most visited event every year. If you think about a composition its highly likely that you have seen it before.