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SAFFRON - SESHU'S DOCUMENTARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY & PORTRAITS BLOG
Contemporary Photography For Discerning Cosmopolitan People |
Looking for a photographer who understands multiple cultures? Well, step right in. My name is Seshu and I am a wedding and portrait photographer based in the heart of Connecticut, with easy access to clients across the nation. This is my new blog: Saffron. Feel free to explore this site using the categories listed above. If you enjoy seeing the images or reading the posts, please subscribe and tell a friend or two.
I feel truly blessed and fortunate to experience the most important moments in my client's lives. Saffron will be as much about you as it will be about me. It's a diary, a repository and an open canvas all wrapped into one. It will give me an opportunity to display some of the images I have produced and share thoughts and ideas about my metiér, or life in general. This blog will further enable you to get to know me, my style and my approach to photography and people.
For those of you have come here from my old blog, Bliss, welcome again. I also actively maintain Tiffinbox, a blog for photographers and artists worldwide. Here are my profiles on Facebook, Friendster and Flickr. I would
love to connect with you. I recently became a member of WedFog - The Wedding Photographers Directory, Photographik – The Elite Photographer's Network and Wedding Party, a wedding planning website. So, if you are visiting from any of these websites, welcome!
I greatly value your comments. If you would rather email me your thoughts, you are more than welcome to do so at saffron [at] seshu [dot] net. If you are checking to see if I am available for your event or want to commission me for a portrait session, please use the contact form on this site.
Lastly, this website was custom built for me by the incredibly talented Brock Martin of Infinet Design. Brock, you rock!
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Thursday, July 2, 2009 News |
A Connecticut Community Newspaper Profiles Seshu Photography |
Back in April 2009, I was interviewed by Avon Life's Natalie Pollock for an article she was writing about my wedding photography business in Avon, Connecticut. I had a great time chatting with Natalie about the genesis of my passion for photography, where I was trained, what I currently do and the community project I have launched. The business profile story published in May.
When it first appeared, I quickly snagged six copies of the paper from the local library. I just received a PDF of the article and wanted to share it with you. See below the low resolution version. For the high resolution version, please click this link.
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Thursday, July 2, 2009 News |
Industry Leaders Sponsor Connecticut Children's Portrait Book Project |
I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to Jeffrey & Caitlin Lazo of ProDPIand Andrew Funderburg of Fundy SOS for stepping up to support Phases + Faces: The Kids of Connecticut.
ProDPI is the nation's leading custom lab that professional photographers like myself come to depend upon for their exacting printing needs. Both Jeffrey and Caitlin are so generous with their time, very involved in the community that they serve and without a moment's hesitation offered to help me print any promotional materials for the portrait book project. ProDPI is where I send all my print orders because their work is professional, have a terrific selection of products, their colors are spot on and their turn around time is terrific. Thank you!
Andrew Funderburg, aka. The Fundy, is a photographer and an entrepreneur. We met on the Digital Wedding Forum. As he was wrapping up his stay in Japan, he and I connected via Skype. He often bounced ideas off of me for his incredible album design and album proofing scripts. I am so proud of what he has been able to achieve in such a short span of time. Whenever he has an upgrade he usually pings me with the words, "Yo, check this out" and usually attached is the full script for me to use in whatever way I please. So, in full disclosure, I have been gifted these scripts but if you were to strip the bias aside, I would still say that hands down these are the best way to build and preview your wedding or portrait albums. I promise to have a more balanced review in a future blog post. Meanwhile, please visit his site: Fundy SOS – poke around the video tutorials and check out the array of solutions he has to offer you. |
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Sunday, June 28, 2009 News |
One Day Lighting Workshop In Dobbs Ferry, New York |
Last week, I had the honor of meeting David duChemin, the author of a fantastic book called Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision . Yesterday, I attended a workshop by Joe McNally, a frequent contributor to National Geographic and also the author of two books that I constantly refer to – The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes and The Moment It Clicks .
The tie in is this - Joe wrote the foreword to David's book and both are magnanimous photographers. They have a fully resolved sense of their photographic vision and are able to express it in such vivid detail. So, the last two weekends have given me one heckuva a legal high.
Joe (and just about everybody calls him that) began the day introducing his friendly staff then had us introduce ourselves. We saw a very quick retrospective of his work and then dove right into several studio lighting setups. There were five studio bays, full stocked with every studio lighting equipment imaginable. We worked with studio strobes and Nikon speedlights. Joe explained how Nkon's wireless lighting system, CLS, works and then went through and showed us several scenarios using that set up. I made a mental note to upgrade to the newer Nikon SB-900 flash units. They seem easier to use and a lot more versatile than their older counterparts the Nikon SB800's.
Canon users were gently guided by the very able Syl Arena who was visiting from Paso Robles (more about him below). Given that I do not use Canon equipment, I do not know what he discussed. We did go over the contraption Syl made famous - The LongArm - for off-camera lighting. I am placing my order for two of these through Amazon in about five minutes. I just need to find a dedicated assistant to hold my light stick. If you are in Connecticut, reading this and interested, contact me. I am serious about taking my lighting to the next level and showing. |
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After Joe set up the shot, we each took turns shooting the same model using the same settings that Joe had already dialed in. You may or may not find value in doing that. After lunch, we split up into groups and spent almost an hour and a half photographing one model who was assigned to the group. See below images of Aaron, our model for that portion of the shoot. He was extremely patient and clearly knew what he was doing. Experience in just about any field counts.
I think the workshop is a terrific gateway into studio lighting. I had hoped that Joe would take us out and show us some of his on-location type lighting techniques. The shortage of time and uncooperative weather (it was pouring outside for part of the day) may have caused Joe to think otherwise. I hear he is teaching a 5-day workshop at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.
If you are interested in other lighting workshops, I would highly recommend the ones Syl Arena has started hosting called the Paso Robles Workshops. Folks like Joe, David Hobby, Drew Gardner, David Honl and David X. Tejada are expected to teach there. Think of Paso Robles as the lighting mecca. Shoot, I gotta make it out there sometime. Going back to California would be awesome. |
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An Impromptu Senior Session In Avon, Connecticut |
I photographed Jay before for his high-school yearbook's senior portraits. He and his parents visited us recently and being family (he is my wife's brother!), I gently nudged him outdoors for a quick photo session. I wanted to photograph him with my new toy – a beauty dish.
The set up took all of 5 minutes. Can you beat that Mr. Umbrella or Mr. Softbox? No way!
The Equipment I Used
AlienBees B800
AlienBees 22-inch Pan Reflector (aka. the beauty dish)
Vagabond II Portable Power System
Calumet 10' Light Stand
2 Pocket Wizard Transceivers
Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor Lens
Setting Up The Beauty Dish
Alien Bees' beauty dish was clearly designed to work seamlessly with the B800 strobe. Simply compress the prongs that would usually hold a small reflector and engage it with the beauty dish. That's about 10 seconds of work. The fit is snug and the beauty dish does not rotate or slip off at all. Win!
Powering It Up
I love the Vagabond II made by the Paul C. Buff Company power my Alien Bees light. I can hook up another Alien Bees if I wanted to and split the power output. Yes, the unit has to be constantly charging when not in use, but with the wedding season here, I expect to be taking this out quite a bit for my formal wedding portraits. For this photo shoot, I simply connected the included power cord, from the power unit to the light and was ready to go.
Positioning The Light
This is where one has to experiment a bit. The position of the light and its relative distance to the subject can make all the difference in what you get in the end. There is really no right or wrong way to do this. I chose to hoist the light and beauty dish well above Jay and to camera left. I also slightly angled the light source down.
Powering It Down
I set the ISO to 200. My initial aperture setting was f/4 and my shutter speed was 1/60. These are starting numbers and as my friend Zack Arias would say, "you've gotta start somewhere." Well, what I saw on the back of my camera didn't really please me. The strobe units own setting was at full-power and the resulting image was a blow out. Yuck! So, I dropped the output of the flash to 1/4 (Alien Bees units have a cool slider), and dropped my ISO to 100 and opened my aperture to f/2.8. I wanted the bokeh in the final image.
Post Processing
I brought the entire shoot into PhotoMechanic and chose five images out of the 40 or so that I shot. (Yeah, I am pretty critical of what qualifies as "good") Since I shoot all my images in the RAW format, I imported the .NEF files (the proprietary Nikon RAW files) into Adobe Lightroom. I quickly adjusted the white balance (not as off as I had thought so my D300s are pretty much on the money). The exposures were dead-on. Since Lightroom uses Presets and I have a slew of Photoshop Actions to play with, I exported the images into Photoshop. My favorite, keepin'-it-real Photoshop Actions are by Randy Kepple. I also use Doug Boutwell's Totally Rad Actions to an extent. Check them both out!
Resources For Learning To Light
In a previous blog post, I mentioned the 20 Giants of Off-Camera Lighting. That might be well-worth your while to check out and bookmark. In that same post, down in the bottom, I have mentioned some terrific books that will help you learn. But there is really nothing better than getting a small group of photographers in your community to go out and test these lighting scenarios. These gatherings can also be a terrific way to network among your peers and may lead to real paying jobs for you.
Will you be using a beauty dish on your next photo shoot? If you do, come back here and post a link to your images. I would love to see how you go about using one and other readers of this blog may be intrigued as well.
I am definitely looking to share the how and why of the things I do. If you have any burning photography topics you want me to cover, please let me know. If you liked this post or have a comment, please post one down below. I also welcome you sharing this post with your friends. |
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Exactly four months after Sangeetha's grandmother passed away, we got word that "Thaatha" (or grandfather in Kannada/Tamil) suffered a massive heart attack and passed away at his home.
This time I asked Sree, Sangeetha's sister to pen a few words about him here:
It is with great sadness that I am writing a few words about "Bhupe," the name I used to refer to my late grandfather. It is hard to believe that the patriarch of our family has passed on. He was a bearing figure in all our lives and it is sad to see that his legacy is over.
Despite the fact that he had dementia the last few years of his life, he refused to give up control of the house finances and running the household in general. This was often the topic of friendly banter between my mom and thaatha as he would add or subtract zeros when dealing with money and then claim that my mom did her bookkeeping incorrectly. This of course was amusing to me. Irrespective of how he was feeling physically each day he was always properly dressed by 8 am every morning and took his post by the front gate on a chair watching the flow of people and haggling with the constant stream of vendors. I had the pleasure of spending 6 months in 2006 and 3 months in 2008 with both my grandparents and I'm ever grateful for having had this opportunity. Both of them spent time with their great grand children – memories that I will cherish forever.
While Sangeetha, my sister, or "Changanna" as he used to call her was his favorite grandchild, my fondest memories of thaatha were his stories. He was a master of voices and loved talking in different languages. We often conversed in Jatkawala Urdu or pure Ashtagrama languages. I remember him taking Sangeetha to the nearby "Popular" store every day after he returned from work for some chocolates.
I can go on for pages with my fondest memories and some not so fond memories – but I will suffice to say - D.V.R. (D. V. Ramachandran) lived a fulfilling life. My grandmother was a devoted wife. My mom, aunt and uncle were devoted kids and he had many friends and family that were equally devoted to him. He never turned his back to a friend in need and that is something that I will remember about him forever.
So, good bye "Topi Thaatha" as Rohan called him and may your soul rest in peace. Hope you and Ammati are not arguing in heaven as you did on earth. |
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Saturday, May 16, 2009 News |
Enter To Win A Trip For Two And A Whole Lot More |
The German airlines, Lufthansa has asked Manish Malhotra, India’s designer to the stars to share his vision for the wedding wardrobe of your dreams.
The airline that has been bringing free Bollywood premieres to South Asians here has now introduced yet another signature event, where people can spend time together online, share love stories and enter to win a Manish Malhotra original, in addition to Lufthansa airfare for two to India, and other prizes.
Vote daily for your favorite design and you could win two Lufthansa round-trip tickets to India. Don’t miss our grand prize opportunity starting June 15, including the winning wardrobe and two Business Class tickets to India.
Lufthansa and Malhotra. That's what I call a marriage. |
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Opt For A Caricature Of You & Your Spouse |
Planning for a wedding can be nerve wracking. Way too many choices. Way too many voices ... telling you which way to turn for wedding planners, florists, caterers, decorators, videographers, DJ's, venues and of course wedding photographers.
Well, take a break from it all by injecting a little humor into it. I ran into Victor of MyCaricature.com at a recent Connecticut TweetUp (that's a MeetUp for Twitter users).
Checking out his website and portfolio, I came away very impressed. Think about how you could distinguish yourselves and bring some levity into your wedding day if your wedding invitations (sure you are going to have to convince your mom), save-the-date cards, thank-you cards or seating cards all had the same caricature of the two of you on them.
Right now and through the end of May, Victor is offering $20 off his regular price to create truly unique artwork that will keep your guests talking about it for years to come. After all, don't you want to do something different for your wedding? |
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A Day In The Life Of Rohan & Ketan |
The kids were playing in the bath tub ... together. What's so special about that, you ask? Well, we take turns giving them a bath and we usually start with one fellow, give him a bath and then go on to the next one. Makes sense to us to have such a routine down, right? If you are a parent you know all about structuring your day.
Sangeetha, however, decided to handle them both at the same time. It was an experiment that I think we were only willing to try over a quiet weekend. She signaled to me to bring my camera up for a rather rare moment in history. This probably won't happen again for some time or ever again.
Ketan, our younger one, is awfully independent and very particular about his space. Rohan, the more easy going one, would love to jump in and play around. So, it will all have to do with how Ketan feels about it, I guess.
I decided to send this in to be printed on Kodak's Endura Metallic Paper, a first for me. I am curious to see what it will look like. And yes, it will be a print for Sangeetha to hang in the house, wherever she feels it will be appropriate.
Documenting the life of my children is very important to me. While I can't always be in the frame with them, I think I found a rather interesting way of including myself.
What do you think? Would you value a documentary photographer visit your family on specific days and throughout the year to work on a day-in-the-life type coffee table book? If you are in Connecticut and reading this, please contact me if you are interested. I would love to work with you to create a piece of history for your family. |
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Photographing Children's Parties |
I think this has been the busiest birthday party season for Rohan. He has been invited to at least 8! Sure he celebrated his own a few weeks ago, but it's also fun to check out what the other kids and their parents have planned for their parties.
Last weekend we were up in Massachusetts for my wife's cousin's daughter, Adithi's 2-year birthday party. Jayanthi and Venki were awesome hosts, opening their home for us to stay the night. After running around a 4-year old and an almost 2-year old, we needed the sleep. But Ketan had other plans for us (an entirely different blog post in the future?) The party was held in Acton, Massachusetts.
Anyway, I downloaded and processed some of the images that I was able to shoot at the party. I picked just two for today and I will post a few others over the weekend.
Yes, I am available to photograph your child's birthday party. Contact me to find out more about why you can retire your own camera during your child's party, what I have to offer you and how I approach photographing children around the world.
Lastly, if you know of a child or a family with children in Connecticut, please let them know about my Phases + Faces: The Kids Of Connecticut, portrait book project to benefit Connecticut Children's Medical Center.
And please post your comments. Thank you! |
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