Karjat - the photo failures

Getting out of the city can be a bit of a pain in the nethers but it's worth it to put the smog and smells behind you for a bit.

I went on my annual trip to Karjat to help build houses for a Habitat for Humanity project - I can call it annual because it's the second year I've done it. Here's the proof from last year. To be absolutely honest the students did the building and I did the wandering around with the camera capturing them mixing concrete and slapping on paint.

I broke off from the arduous task of taking pictures of students to take a few pictures of other things.  I've recently been reading various "how to be an awesome photographer" articles and sites and thought it would be a good chance to put some of the lessons into practice.

"Look for colour contrasts and textural interest to create stunning abstracts"

I interpreted this as "watch paint dry". This didn't really work but the paint dried very quickly so I wandered off to see other things.

  Every "guide to great photography" will tell you that you should always try to frame your subjects.

 A good piece of advice but also try to keep them in focus, above and below look ok in this small format but if  you saw the originals in full size  - not so good.  Really not so good at all! 

The "guide to being a kickass photographer"  tells you to look for textural interest and repeating patterns to create interesting images.

    So long as you think a sack with a hole in it covering a window counts as an "interesting image".

Always crop off the head of the bullock to create an interesting shot and don't forget to include a great big white arrow pointing at the bullock in case anyone missed it. Or as "how to click better clicks" says. Pay attention to the background!

Despite the bodged photographs it was a good day and I learned a lot about picture taking, mostly that I have to do a lot more of it.  



 

Diwali Break

I'm a big fan of cultural tourism.  At least I used to be, these days it's getting more and more obvious that I am just a big fan of sitting on my bum reading.

I packed the camera, an extra lens, a laptop a pile of books and a overly ambitious list of things to do on the Diwali break and settled myself into a beach hut with a pretty little sit-out area.  The camera got one half hearted outing.  The laptop remained in the case and the books got devoured.

I spent quite a lot of time watching a shell on a string sway in the gentle breeze and the most energetic thing I did was walk the beach early in the morning choosing somewhere for lunch later in the day.

It was bloody brilliant.

Brand Banditry

  I delight in the misappropriation of brand names and really like pedicures.  I got to indulge in both in one go recently.  I was tickled from the tips of my toes all the way up to my business teacher head. 

Ganesh Immersion the aftermath

Each year thousands of idols are immersed in bodies of water all over the city.  I had read about the pollution caused by this but this year I went with a group of students on a beach cleanup to Aksa beach.

 

 Reading about the aftermath is absolutely no substitute for seeing it for real.  The idols look amazing on their way to the immersion, the workmanship and artistry that go into them is stunning but it's really  tragic to see them the next morning.

 

At least we now have a group of committed students who are going to campaign for more eco friendly idols to be used in their celebrations next year.

R City Mall

I am not a huge fan of Malls although I do appreciate the air conditioning and convenience of them but they do tend to bring out the worst in some people.  It looks like the developers of this one in Ghatkopar, Mumbai have recognised this and named it accordingly.

Fingerbobs

It's been pretty quiet on the blog front of late, I took on new responsibilities at work and things have been hectic.  I'm taking advantage of a lull to do a few serial posts.

Two colleagues took part in a competition held at one of their son's schools.  A nail painting competition.  Who knew such things existed?  It helps of course that she's an art teacher and that her model had been growing her fingernails especially for the competion.

A Snow White and the Seven Dwarves theme including the Evil Stepmother and the Handsome Prince to bring the characters up to one per fingernail.

Snow White and her Handsome Prince looking strangely like Trinny and Suzanne

They won third prize.  Apparently competition was FIERCE! 

Desperation Juice

Now if I opened a booze shop I'd probably call it City's Liquors, or Good Libations or Hit and Rum or any terrible punning name I could come up with. However I would not call it St. Jude. Especially if I lived in Goa where a large portion of the population being Christian would get the reference.

St Jude is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. Mind you, I'm not adverse to a drop of the desperation juice myself and they did have a good selection.

The party's over; bring on the rains

"That'll be the holidays done then" as we Scots say. I start back to work next week and will be in India until at least Christmas. There's no hardship in that except that this year most of the national holidays fall midweek and there's only one long weekend between now and Diwali so travel will have to take a back seat. There's still plenty to do and see though, I live in Mumbai after all and I've barely started to scrape the surface.

Back in India the monsoon is well underway and it feels and looks good:

No moaning about grey skies this year, mind you, I say that every wet season.

Moving portraits

Standing at the side of the road pointing a camera at people on motorbikes results in some interesting reactions. It's something I'm definitely going to do again now that I'm back in India until Christmas. Meanwhile here are some Vietnamese moving portraits:

Not best pleased



I'm ignoring you


Front seat passenger

Vietnamese Wedding Photographer

In Vietnam wedding pictures are taken before the wedding. It's a fairly lengthy process usually requiring at least three costume and related hairstyle and make-up changes. What adds to the overall hard work of the day is that the pictures are taken on location, usually several locations.

There are some tried and tested favourites,the central Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral irrespective of what your religious persuasion is, on the steps of the Opera House are all popular. More prosaic choices might be on a busy traffic bridge or posing inside giant rusting pipes or buying fruit at a market in full bridal regalia. There are props to handle too, violins, basketballs, teddy bears, and stepladders, I've seen them all employed to various effects.

The average wedding photographer has a team of helpers to variously wrangle the cameras, the props, the costumes and the makeup touch ups but ultimately it's down to him to snap the pictures. It's his, and the photoshop editor's job, to capture the glamour and it's not always easy.

If you fancy giving it a go, here is some advice from a Vietnamese wedding photographer "Wear Crocs; easy off, happy in water, solid floor, no smell"