Pottery town- A monochrome presentation

I visited pottery town, in the last week of september, with expectation of clicking some durga puja idol making. There was no action happening around it, but i was happy clicking making of diyas and lamps for the diwali approaching. Here is a small presentation of those images. do share your comments. This time, i would let the images do the talking.

Ready to go pots waiting to be picked. I always love to shoot these, for to the play of light they offer.

Glimpses of Durga Puja

So, today, i get some time to put together the images which i clicked over 3 days during durga puja. Where in our punjabi culture, we celebrate navratras in different way, it has always been very special to be part of this cultural extravaganza, celebrated by bengali community.
Here is my view of some time which i spent seeing activities as part of the celebrations. Do tell me what you feel about these.

An idol of Maa durga, at pandal @ Bengali association, Palace grounds, bangalore.

The pandals had a great amount of seating arrangement, with a very comfortable setup. I loved the fact that no one was in hurry. There were some people, who were seated and waiting for the aarti, and there were few who were queued up for the darshans. I loved the arrangement of such a grand event.

The pandal, was not only well managed, but beautifully lit as well. The way the lightening arrangement was done, was adding to the feel of the place. extensive usage of chandeliers was really beautiful.

A family while darshans, snaps away the blessings.

Musicians beat drums as the aarti commenced.

One of the crew members, a musician on the stage, amidst the crowd.

there was no limit to the prasadam, and devotees.

The holy & divine light

aarti of the goddess

A bengali event, would not be complete if you didnt have a bengali -kolkatta pan. a vendor specializing in kolkatta and banarsi pans.

Aarti at its most beautiful point. A musician looks on, while beating the drums.

Devotees, taking the aarti.

The journey begins. at the association at Indiranagar, devotees load up the idols and get ready to take the idols for immersions.

The crew, who helps in immersions, with the police deployed, wait for the idols.

Idols being carried for their journey.

A bengali lady, looks on, while they arrive at ulsoor lake after sindoor khela.

Waving good bye

While the immersions are carried along, a lady looks at the process.

Another bengali lady, in typical dress and after the sindoor khela.

Durga maa arrives at the venue, among the devotees.

Another face, in the crowd,turned up for the immersions.

Durga maa looks on, while the divers crew, shares the money among themselves.

Happy for having celebrated the puja, and hoping to welcome the goddess the same way for years to come.

A happy set of bengali women, while immersions conclude.

Close up of the idol. do pay attention to the craftsmanship and especially, the way the eyes are done.

Bidding adieu.

NOTE: 
1. Please note, where i have clicked pictures of individuals posted here, those are to depict the personalities and the cultural celebrations.
2. None of the photos posted here should be copied, since all the photos are copyrighted, hence permission and written consent should be seeked before any of the photos here can be made use of.

5 tips for taking abstract shots

Welcome to Saurabh Mittal Photography. I am trying to get regular on writing and sharing some of things what i have learnt in photography.
Today, i am going to talk about taking abstracts. As the name implies, anything which can interpreted or be seen at in many different ways, or in a way which is different that usual, qualifies as abstract for me. For ex:- you see images of leaves, flowers etc, but sometimes, the artists, shoots them in abstract format and brings out a different feel from the same subject.
Here are 5 tips on shooting and making abstract photos, as i have been doing.

 1. Shooting from unusual angles:- Angles can play a huge role in the way an image comes out. you can try to shoot the same objects from varied angles, and you would be amazed to see, that some of the angles, actually abstract the view of the object, but reflect on a certain aspect of it.

2. Finding unusual subjects:- you would be surprised, that some of the very unsual subjects make for some of the best abstract images. Try shooting a grungy metal object, or dead leaves floating on water. you may be in for a great surprise.

 3. Shooting at different focal lengths and using depth of field: Filling up the frame sometimes, can bring out a whole new perspective of a subject. Using a macro lens to fill up the frame with the pollen of the flower, can make for a very strong abstract. Also experiment with depth of field, to isolate certain aspects of the subject.

 

4. Find patterns: Patterns, make some of the best abstract shots. shooting for a stair case from the top, or certain patterns on the leaves are amazing contenders for abstract photography.

5. Play with light:- last but not the least, play with light to create different moods. Shadows, light falling through some source, or creating different arrangements in the frame can give different dimension to an abstract image.

Do write back, what do you do you, when you take abstracts.

Nameless

Finally, not been clicking much these days, but picked some shots taken over sometime and put them up together. Where each one of them has a different feel to it, i put them together, sighting that all these shots couldnt speak up a name to me, hence i decided to call them "Nameless".

Ganesha Immersion 2011-Photo essay

 

An organic ganesha, kept by a family, for its worship, before it is handed over to the immersion ground crew for its final journey. Organic ganeshas have been catching up, with lot of awareness of toxic waste and the impact these ganesha's immersed in our lakes make. Organic ganeshas are environmental friendly, so you can be rest assured that your celebration, is doing no harm to anyone down the line.

Name etching!

This morning, while i went out for a brief shoot, never did i know that my destination, Hebbal lake would turn out to be a spoiler. We resorted back to a company park, in the vicinity of Ramamurthy nagar, a nice locale on the outer ring road. 

Where the park, was very nice and was located at a beautiful location, something peculiar was at the heart of it. A magnanimous, and quite old banyan tree. Normally, if people make fuss about a banyan tree, it has to be for its huge size, like the biggest one on the globe, gracing Bangalore. This looked so peculiar, for all the love Graffitti, etched into it. I dont know if there is any such competition or record already in place, but if there shall there be one, India would top it. From public toilet doors, to our national heritage monuments to local bus seats to our walls, and some specially chosen trees like this, one first chance, we love to leave remembrances there. Surveys suggest that Indian men are much conservative when it comes to expressions, but i am not sure if the people who reported that, did consider these symbols of our expressions. Not only does people leave their names and their love interests names, etched into the surface, some even go a step further and make absurd diagrammatic representations of their unison. 

I guess these people derive pleasure out of this, or possibly that's the only thing they could achieve after failing in love. I am not going to bother much about unraveling the secrets behind such foolishness, but just bringing out an observation. As Our natural environment gets contaminated by throwing chemical wastes or non-biodegradable around, similarly such social contamination also maligns our social environment and leaves a bad examples in the society and for the kids to follow. 

Let the trees be alone, they already are loosing their majority!

At a construction site-A photo collective

Today morning, i shot for a while at a nearby construction site. A four story apartment, where construction has been in full swing, was my capture. The contractor, with a team of atleast 20 daily wagers was at the site, propelling them to this day job. On such constructions, which are primarily contracted jobs, the onus lies on the contractor to finish a certain job in certain time, who which he has committed and billed for. Hence, he ensures that he minimizes the cost, by ensuring that the labourers dont waste time talking, and that the rented machinery be kept for least time as possible.

The laborers, a mixed set of men and women assemble for this job. Women, normally do the job of bringing piles of sand, stone and cement to the mixer, wherease men are manning the position which eaither require even harder physical effort or where they are just contractors and keeping a vigil. There are kids of these laborers who come along, and spend a day at the construction site, playing with anything that catches their attention. as soon as the mixer is started, the contractor shouts and all the labourers hurl up with their jobs to fill the mixer.with a run to the mixer and making a full load, when the mixer is stopped, thats when the labourers catch a breath and talk within themselves. a very labourious task, of a daily wager, on the construction site.

5 points to buying your camera

Often, people while buying their cameras, are bogged down by analysis and confusion about what to buy. Truely so! I felt the photograph above is quite related to this topic. There are so many options in the market and they all look and claim to be the same. Wish it was as easy as peeling a banana off and moving on!
The market is loaded with options of all sorts.Where the SLR industry has been growing and touching new heights with technological advancements, the point and shoot,semi pro cameras segment have been overwhelmed. Not only the resolutions are getting better and better, but the features on-board are tempting. Ranging from complete photo editing onboard to making panorama photos with a pan can make taking photos a breeze. Full HD video recording with optical zoom could itself be the biggest game changer when you come across two choices.

So, here are my top five points for you while you decide to make a pick. Consider them as filters to apply on whatever set have you been considering:

1. Cost: The most important factor here would be cost. If i were to make a choice, i would set aside a budget first. You can not go shopping for a camera without anchoring around a certain budget else, you are entering a dark maze. So, first point to look at would be to formalize a budget. This would not only make your job easier when in market, but also ensure that you do not compare apple of oranges. Many folks would talk about comparing the features on-board on the likes of a canon 5d and a 40d when the price difference could be more than double. By most case, the companies too strategically position their products in pricing brackets and thats when comparisons would make the most sense.

2. SLR/Non-SLR: Well, this considering could even be done before costing aspect of it. Also for most of the folks, the point of inflexion between SLR and Non-SLR doesnt come during buying the camera. It happens after landing onto either side. In maximum cases, after you land into a SLR zone, seldom does one go back to the P&Ss, though there are exceptions. Think about this early if this a consideration for you. Comparisons should be much easier after you have chosen on this arena.

3. Usage/Application: This is where i believe most of the thinking needs to come into. What kind of photography does one want to get into. Ofcourse you can tackle that with the kind of lenses you would use later for an SLR, but if decided earlier, investing in a better body should go a long way. If you do a lot of night time photography, investing in a better body will provide much better light sensitivity. If you are into sports or bird photography, you should be looking at a body which has a better frames per second. Some might counter saying that they bought faster lenses to achieve similar results, but nothing can beat a combo when the body itself supports your goals. So, think about it!
4.Features: For lot of people, this does matter. For lot of situations, this does matter too. Where a simple requirement could be to get a camera to take some good photographs, having a small feature of doing basic edits to your photos on-board, can make you smile. Better ergonomics could come in handy during long shoots. advanced metering options to different photography modes to panorama builds...list is endless.Often while comparison cameras, you would land into this features battle. P&S cameras as loaded on that front. So, dont get bogged by whats on offer. First make a list of what requirements you have and then target the appropriate segment. See, what brands fulfill your needs and then get down to the bonuses you might be offered on top of those requirements. after your need is met, finding the best fit with lot of other features would be handy.
5. Future: Finally, as a word of advice, do buy your camera with a little bit of futuristic view. Though technology is changing on daily basis and there are better gadgets coming out everyday, you can beat that by buying something that should meet your needs for sometime to come. There would be no point buying something today and selling it for much lower price in 3 months period. the advancement of technology has made the resale value fall down drastically for lot of electronics, since there are better ones coming with similar or lower price tags. I would always recommend that if you can, choose a better body, buy extra memory cards or that camera bag with couple of extra spaces. These are good investments and if wisely made, should make the future and the present, a nicely captured time of your life.

Happy buying! do share what you thought about the article.

5 reasons why you might not want to sell your Point & Shoot

I have been quite often, asked about this, from many of my colleagues and friends. Not that I am a tech guru or the most known photographer in town, but maybe I happen to be the one around the corner, when the thought bubbles to them. Seeing someone holding an SLR suddenly makes lot of people think that they might be making excellent images and chain of thoughts from there. Lot of people also feel that buying an SLR is a step which is going to change their photography for good. They see this as a natural succession and hence their trusted P&S camera feels like a mediocre gadget, a blocker in their way to stunning pictures.

Here are top 5 points on why I think you should not give up your P&S and jump into SLR world:

(One of my award winning photo titled "Faith & reality", shot with H50)

Understanding art: This has been said many times in different ways, but cameras don’t make good pictures. The eyes do! The photographers do! Buying a Ferrari doesn’t mean the having the best driving skills, a professional knife doesn’t mean the best food. If this point is understood by an individual, the other aspects are relatively easier to understand. The perspective lies in your eyes, in the way you see things. Camera and other gear is just a medium. So, preserve your P&S and experiment with it. Work and try new things. You would understand its qualities and limits. Get to know it better. You would surprise yourself.

Motive & quality comparisons: Majority of the times, we use the images and share them only on the internet. Very few times, we go out and print 4*6 or max out at 8*10. Rarely does someone print photos in larger sizes. Where latest P&S are not handicapped in printing sizes (thx to 14MPXL cams everywhere in market), only when used for professional purposes, the difference might be felt or visible. So, why get into the rat race for SLR! See the motive behind it. Enjoy your creativity rather than sulking on gear.

(Street shot, using sony h50)

Mobility: While you enjoy using your P&S today, with a SLR, mobility becomes an issue. You would eventually be carrying a camera and set of lenses which take quite a bit of space, handling and care. Now imagine, all of this compared to a small bag tied to your waist with a 14 mpxl P&S. Mobility is definitely a point you need to consider when you are thinking of moving away from your P&S. carrying 6 kg bag with camera, lenses all day around could be an hassle when your purpose of moving to SLR might just be for fun.

(Bird Photography @ Hebbal lake, Shot with H50)

Ease of shooting: The ease of shooting is what I have enjoyed the most with P&S. While shooting birds, I have made lot of photos with patience and using my p&S effectively. Where my older h50 camera would give me 465mm optical zoom in a jiffy, my fellow friends would be either changing lenses or just be contented with a 200mm lens. The detachable live view in some cameras makes taking macros and shots in awkward position a breeze. 

(Street shot, Shot using h50)

Moollah: The last and may be the most important part is the cost aspect. I am not trying to say that costs can deter you, but just adding a perspective. A P&S, say Sony h50 costs me around 20k. It gives you a crisp macro of 1:2 ratio (Sure!) and a length of 465mm optical zoom. Now consider a simple comparison with a SLR. The body with a basic kit lens should start from 20k. Now, add a macro lens, not a top notch but just a basic macro which can give you 1:2 ratio and length (ex:canon 55-250), that should cost you 11k.And this is just one lens which suffices length and basic macro. The whole point is, that you would be buying different lenses to suffice your needs and that’s an arena which gets really cash hungry.

In the end, the whole point is to bring a perspective on the table. Are you buying it for a specific reason, or is it just that everyone is getting it and so are you! This is still your personal decision, but if I can fire up some thinking with the perspective and shots shown here, I would be happy.

© SAURABH MITTAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If you would like to buy this photograph for commercial use or would like to buy rights to this photography, contact me at quitefar@gmail.com for further details.

Use without permission is illegal

5 things that motivates me to photography!

I have written a lot of articles and some of them have been huge. I am now shifting this towards writing smaller pieces and write them more often. Hope that turns out to be interesting and useful to my readers.
My family has been very supportive but often is amazed by the commitment I have towards photography. I am often asked as to what motivates me towards photography. I have made statements that if I am going to quit my job, this time it’s going to be for photography as a full-time thing, I am asked, what makes you think so! 

My 5 Reasons

Hence here are the 5 reasons which motivate me, and hopeful top reasons why people are motivated towards photography:

1. Express yourself: It’s an old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. Photography gives you a creative medium to express. It could be capturing the beauty of nature or capturing peoples on the street or using it for journalism. For me, it’s always been about capturing something I see it and being able to express it in my photos. I love to shoot people, their emotions, and expressions. I love to narrate their stories via my pictures.
2. Get creative: Photography is an artistic medium and there are no boundaries. You can delve deeper into any category, any form, any discipline to realize the depth is infinite. Every day millions of photographers push those infinite limits by being creative. It could be learning light painting or HDRs, using a zoom lens to make panoramas! It could be using the same technique and implement in a different form! It’s always fun and there is no end to it.
3. See places, enjoy moments: Photography, in its vast form, makes you move around. You travel, you get to visit a lot of new places and see a lot of things which you otherwise might not be doing. For a lot of people, travel is their job so photography gets added as a result, but it happens the other way for most of the rest. I love the opportunity my camera provides me, with which I always am in search of new places to shoot. It could be the busy market in the city heart or a distant tourist spot, a photographer always finds a new place.
4. Make a difference: Photography does provide you a chance to make a difference in someone's life. One could do photo stories and spread awareness about the nearby school in bad shape or old age homes and the lonely life elderly spend there. There have been many photographers who have involved their art for community purposes. In a very simple way, while we have shot a couple of local markets, we have gone back with the printed photos, tracked back those people, and given them their photos. I can’t explain how it feels when they see their photo and thank you! For lots of them, maybe their first photo printed after the one on their ration cards or driving licenses.
5. Make money: Photography again, if pursed seriously can turn out as a career option as well. If not for a career, you still can make money as you win contests, sell photos as Stock galleries or do local exhibits. I involve in all of them and can say for sure, that it’s not bad at all if done properly.

Do share as to what motivates or pushes you towards photography! Would be really interested to hear from people.




© SAURABH MITTAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If you would like to buy this photograph for commercial use or would like to buy rights to this photography, contact me at quitefar@gmail.com for further details.
Use without permission is illegal

Tablets of 2011- Apples & androids

Market has been revolutinized by many factors and my products. as they say, if you could meet consumers unmet needs, you have innovated. So, does smart phones qualify to be a major innovation and market transformers.
 today, Social media is the buzz word. there is no successful business, without getting itself established as an identity over the internet. your friends become patrons of marketing and they share what they appreciate with their friends. this ultimately becomes a chain reaction, which could benifit organizations in no time. Can that be called an innovation! certainly.
 The article i sat to write about was to define or understand another similar innovation.
Ipad2 is a cool gadget. The fury in the market for the new ipad2 has been so that till now it isnt available in stores. you just cant walk into an apple store and buy one. The 3G ones are available though but most people are not buying that. On my personal experience, when i made up my mind to pick an Ipad,
when i walk into an apple store on Friday, the store executive told me that i should come on Tuesday at 8 am. the store opensat 9ambut people line up at 8am since every morning theyrecieve their shipments and those get sold like "hot n fresh pancakes". While i was driven out by this mad fury, I started reviewing other options in the market Its better than acer iconic, asus transformer,motorola xoomsince its an apple product and just that only:

1. Its doesnt have good cameras- it has VGA cams.
2. It doesnt have usb ports.
3. It doesnt have HDMI out.
4. It doesnt have support for additional memory.
5. It doesnt have support for flash at all.
6. It doesnt have better screen resolution. it isat 1024*800.
7. It doesnt let you organize stuff by anything else otherthan itunes. Major dependency.
8. It doesnt have support for 4G except i believe verizon's contracted Ipad2.

Ipad2 is so better :) Market dynamics have changed so fast.

A thought-Being yourself

Came across this beautiful quote
"“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

So apt. Most of the time, we just tend to do things in life to keep everyone around us pleased. More than self, opinions of others starts to take precedence. But does, in a man life, everyone ever will agree to the same point.
 Everyone has their opinions and different perspectives, making it even harder for you to please everyone. Opinions, tastes can never be booleans.  Had it been any easier, Starbucks would just be selling Cups of tea like Ramu Kaka outside Delhi university or Strong filter Coffee outside Spencers in Chennai. So why even try.
           The key is, to be yourself! Find your own style and take it from there! You cant convert yourself into something who you are not. Slowly you would start to understand your flair. Work on that! Enrich your style. Gain more knowledge. Read more, if possible try and share! Do some sessions, write some tutorials or may be do some video tuts. That will take you much farther, than what bothering about opinions would. As someone said, the most important part of taking advices and opinions is from whom they come. So, listen to everyone! but use your own mind!
Be yourself. Power to you!

© SAURABH MITTAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If you would like to buy this photograph for commercial use or would like to buy rights to this photography, contact me at quitefar@gmail.com for further details.

Use without permission is illegal

Glimpse in local history-Jupiter lighthouse, Florida

It was Saturday and i was wondering if i could plan an outing. It has been a month in Palm beach garden and couple of top sites near around, were still lingering on my TO-DO list. Decided to start knocking off further from the list by visiting Jupiter Lighthouse. Read about the place and found quite interesting stuff on the website and promised to be a beautiful place to spend a day and learn some stuff about local culture.

Location: Located just off Alternate A1 highway, took me 15 mins to reach from RCA Blvd with a distance of 8 miles. The lighthouse stands tall and as you approach the "Jupiter Island" area, a beautiful, Cherry red guy housing light top against the blue sky is something hard to be missed. the coast and the property are now under the control of US Coast gaurd and hence most of the area is secured and people are not allowed to move around the lighthouse without the officials, but the coast side is open for general public to soak in sun.

This place is divided into three parts.The ticketing center and a museum, the lighthouse and the trail where all the old living style of Hobe Indians, and especially the house of Washington Tindall is preserved and the third is a small park for children on the theme.