studio aside » night

Akanksha & Aman : Wedding

Naina — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 21:21:37 +0000

These are photographs from the first wedding I shot on my Nikon D90 – the camera was new and the photographs are now old – from February 2008. Wedding of Akanksha and Aman. Got around to editing the photographs over the weekend. First attempt at a sort-of story-telling style – with diptychs and triptychs.

The mehendi right before the start of all the ceremonies.

The bride dressed-up at the day of the engagement and more details photographs from the mehendi.

A game of cards at the groom’s home – just before all the formalities begin. Relaxing on the rooftop.

Much dancing ensued to welcome the bride and her family – the day and night of the Sangeet at the groom’s place.

the bride with brothers and best friend at the pre-wedding party.

All dressed-up for the engagement ceremony.

The groom waiting patiently for the engagement ceremony to begin.

The bride’s turn to wait patiently while the groom completes the customary “horse-ride” – an Indian wedding isn’t quite complete without a “ghodi”.

Some more dancing right before the engagement ceremony and a huge deal being made out of the horse-ride.

Even on-the-cheek kisses are a little risque at Indian weddings – but just after the engagement, it’s easy to get away with.

The just-engaged couple. I had to be present in the capacity of elder-sister during the actual ring exchange, hence no photographs of the actual engagement in process.

Jewelery being gifted and a lovely smile from the bride-to-be.

The newly-engaged couple.

The “official” photographer had put a small backdrop and light setup in the hall and the couple was whisked inside for some quick portrait shots. I got to shoot some too.

More posing at the behest of the official photographer. The couple is now starting to tire. But just when you think they’re done…

…he picks her up and…

…they exchange some more kisses!

The wedding ceremony, puja and havan – alongwith the seven rounds of the holy-fire – the “saat-pheras”.

Offerings being made to the fire and the ritual of taking the first step together after the seven rounds around the fire are complete.

A wider view of the wedding mandap.

More offerings to the fire, the mantras being recited and smiling bride.

And it’s almost done – some running around to find more offerings for the fire.

Somre more mantras and exchange of sweets.

The bride in a hip mood after being married : throwing the rice up and behind her to signify the “vidaai” or departure and the walkway decorated on her way out.

There are a lot of lovely little things in an Indian wedding – but if I knew the details of all of them, I’d be a wedding pundit, not a wedding photographer! Always a good thing to get details of all ceremonies before actually planning to shoot a wedding. The other wedding I’ve shot was for Bharat and Priyanka if you haven’t seen it already. There’s been a huge improvement in my photography and I’m looking forward to another wedding to cover!

Levi’s Curve ID Launch, New Delhi

Naina — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:11:22 +0000

Levi’s is launching their new brand of jeans called the Curve ID – the launch date in stores nation-wide is the 2nd of September this year. This event was held at the Taj Mansingh Hotel in New Delhi with a fashion-show choreographed by the very handsome Marc Robinson. The bevy of beauties that represent the Levi’s Curve ID brand are all in the photographs below! [ And please give it some time to load - there are 80 photographs from the event that I just HAD to share! ]

That’s @akanksharedhu’s new Levi’s Curve ID Demi!

The stunningly beautiful table arrangements by art director Shani Himanshu [ the link will take you to his Facebook page ].

That’s me in my new Levi’s Curve ID jeans!

@akanksharedhu with her new pair of Levi’s Curve ID jeans – thanks to Tusharika’s adept measuring and expertise on the Curve ID!

The bar was well-equipped and the service was great at the Taj Mansingh.

Didn’t get many food pictures because quite frankly, I was too engrossed in the event itself! The people were just fabulous!

Can you tell that I was absolutely mesmerized by the wonderful art direction by Shani Himanshu?! Of course both @akanksharedhu and I were enraptured by his hair as well – didn’t get a picture

That is Shani Himanshu – speaking with @missmalini [ also did not get a picture and this was the best shot I could manage - the light was really low. ]

A sneak peek of John Anderson, President & CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.

Shumone Chatterjee, Vice President, Marketing, the Levi’s brand – Asia Pacific.

John Anderson, President & CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. in conversation with a couple of reporters.

Tusharika Rao, Business Head, Levi’s Women & Shumone Chatterjee.

John Anderson, President & CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., Mary Alderete, Vice President, Global Women’s Marketing, the Levi’s brand

The lovely ladies start showing up on the ramp!

An introduction to the international brand ambassadors and the three denim styles : Slight, Demi and Bold. Miss Nine, Lykke Li and Violet.

John Anderson, President & CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., Mary Alderete, Vice President, Global Women’s Marketing, the Levi’s brand

What a bevy of beauties and some really funky and stylish denims on them!

And the Indian Levi’s Curve ID Brand Ambassadors not hitting the ramp starting with Jacqueline Fernandez @Jackie_alien

Chitrangada Singh

Ileana D’Cruz @Ileana_Dcruz

And I also spent quite a bit of time trying to capture Jacqueline Fernandez @Jackie_alien’s braid!

I quite loved the hairstyle on Ileana D’Cruz @Ileana_Dcruz

Question and answer time with Shumone!

The Levi’s Curve ID Bold style on Ileana.

Marc Robinson, Ileana D’Cruz and Chitrangada Singh.

Many thank to @udaibir for the invite; to Chitrangada Singh, @ileana_dcruz and @jackie_alien for being super-patient and granting us “pose please” requests; to Tusharika for helping us pick the right jeans; to John Anderson for being so gracious with the “may we take a picture please” and to Levi’s for organizing a wonderfully cute event. Oh and thank to Levi’s once again for pushing the boundaries against waist-size obsession so we don’t have to think about inches anymore – but only styles and shapes!

Light Streak

Naina — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:33:09 +0000

The light streak from a couple of cars and motorcycles was more chance than plan. The plan was to try the camera remote with long exposure so as to get starry lights. After minor but many post-processing steps in Photoshop this was derived. The original image is below.

There is an upcoming photo shoot for a client who needs to take photographs of the interiors of their service apartments. I am going to be using only ambient light for the shoot and will try some photorealistic HDR instead of the usual blown out edges and halos. Similar to the effect on the above edited image. Long exposures on a tripod, with a remote – maybe I can get some starry lights in the service apartments.

I’m not sure where I’m getting the spots from at the top of the image. It could be a dirty UV Haze Filter, a ditry lens or dirt on the mirror in the camera. I hope it is the first. The full resolution image can be seen on Flickr.

Night lights : April

Naina — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:57:22 +0000

These were shot in a moving car at night. The light streaks are from traffic lights, moving vehicles, lamp posts and other artificial light sources.

Bhayank Maut Concert

Naina — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:45:11 +0000

Some of the photographs that I shot – as shown below, got published in the Rock Street Journal‘s April – May 2009 Magazine Issue. No credit provided in the issue but apparently they’re going to mention it in the next issue.

A big thanks to Archit who traced the RSJ Magazine issues and bought all three he could lay his hands on.

The band members are Vinay Venkatesh, Sunneith Revankar, Venkat Raman, Vinit Bharucha, Rahul Hariharan and Aditya Gopinathan Nair.

Bhayanak Maut is a Mumbai based hardcore / deathcore band.
You can find them on Twitter too. This concert was held at NSIT, Dwarka, New Delhi, India.

The complete album can be viewed on Facebook [ with about 60 photographs ].