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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 and around the world.
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.
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.
If you enjoy seeing the images or reading the posts, please subscribe and spread the word. You may also be interested in Tiffinbox, a blog I publish for photographers and artists worldwide.
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First Issue Of E-Newsletter Is Published Today! |
Today happens to be my birthday. One of my goals was to have an electronic newsletter published for my friends, family, clients and fellow wedding vendors. Well, MANTRA, as I call it, is out.
What you need to do to receive it in your inbox is to simply fill in the form you see in the left hand column that says "Free Newsletter" (there is truly nothing to buy). Confirm your email address in an email you will receive and you will be all set.
If you have any suggestions, opinions or topic ideas, please do not hesitate to contact me at mantra@seshu.net. So, I hope you will join me by subscribing to this e-newsletter and letting your friends and family know too! Thank you.
This time around, you can take a look at the entire issue here, without subscribing. |
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High Profile Websites Feature Seshu Photography |
Since January 2010, I have had a slew of interviews. You probably recall this blog post about my work being featured in Better Photography magazine. I may not have mentioned all of them before, so I wanted to list them here to make it easy for you to find them and learn a little bit more about me and my approach to wedding photography.
Each image below is preceded by a link that you may click to the original interview or feature. Please post your comments on this site after you've had a chance to go through some or all of them.
Given that the year isn't up yet, I will update this post as and when more opportunities present themselves (and yes, they are coming soon). So, please do come back and visit Saffron. Thank you!
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An Event Coordinator's Guide To Working With Visual Artists Who Document Your Event |
 This is a guest post by Richa Chandra Johari, Marketing Director for Indian Weddings Online. You can find her on Twitter as @RichaCJohari and @IndianWedOnline
Selecting the ideal photographer to capture the most celebrated occasion in the South Asian family's life is one of the most important decisions you will make. Whether you make four or seven pheras around the sacred fire, wear a Mangal Sutra, sign a Nikkah contract, or marry at the Gurudwara, you and your photographers must have the perfect chemistry. As an event coordinator and former Desi bride, I realize that this decision is more involved than may appear on the surface.
One of the questions you may face is whether you should choose an experienced or rookie photographer when it comes to Desi weddings. There are two sides to this dilemma. The experienced photographer will capture the emotional moment of the kanya daan (when the father gives away his daughter) or the kick off of your garba circle. On the other hand, the Desi wedding rookie will see beauty in the display of barfis and ladoos, the details of your chudis, and the height of the havan fire. You may feel an intangible sense of awe captured in their images. You will feel like you are looking through the eyes of a person who is attending a Desi wedding for the first time, which can be quite poetic! Regardless of the experience of the photographer, the most important criterion is that you like the style of your photographer's pictures and that their style matches your taste.
To ensure the photographer's style is complementary to your own, you should try to meet or talk to the photographers or have your wedding coordinator meet to explain your overall vision. Study their portfolios, ask for their creative input, and find out their shooting style. I recommend having an engagement and bridal portrait session with your photographer to also help establish chemistry. By the time of your wedding day, you will feel at ease with your photographers, and they will be more like friends. Some photographers have a natural tack at making you smile and laugh whereas others may be non-interactive. This is an important quality to consider in terms of whether you prefer candid shots or more posed shots. The type of photographer that works best for candid images is non-intrusive and will not need much guidance. The one who is great for posed shots will be interactive and skilled at directing and making everyone feel like a star.
One of the most cumbersome moments during your wedding day for you and your photographers will be the "organized" portrait sessions. Whether you have an event coordinator or not, this is often chaotic because family and friends are often unaware of all the little behind-the-scenes details. Plan your portrait sessions in advance. Make sure everyone who needs to stay for a portrait session after the ceremony is informed. Send out an email, or make a list to be distributed to your family and close friends.
Now, at your reception will you take pictures with all the guests? In my opinion, this always becomes a lose-lose situation. You may regret not having pictures with all your guests, but if you go through this strenuous undertaking, you may not have the energy to dance the night away. Consider the length of your wedding day and events and try to spread out pictures with family and friends over the nights of the mehendi, sangeet, and finally, ceremony and reception. This way you won't be overwhelmed with by "table shots" or "sweetheart table portraits" with groups.
On another practical note, go over your contract! Make sure the package you choose fits your needs. As our desi wedding events are numerous and long, you may have over a 1000 images from which to select, and it may take anywhere from two months to a year to choose pictures for your album and prints! Make sure you know what this process will be like with your photographers. You also need to make sure you know how many hours the photographer(s) will shoot and what their overtime charges are for your events.
Okay, so everything is clear as mud now, right? No worries, here is a summary for the overwhelmed dulha and dulhan-zilla:
a) Make sure the photography matches your taste.
b) Study their portfolios.
c) Establish chemistry with your photographers through bridal and/or engagement portrait sessions, and decide whether you prefer posed or candid shots.
d) Make a list of your needs: i.e. bridal session, engagement session, ceremony portrait session, all your events, number of prints, albums, and number of shooters needed.
e) Plan for portrait sessions!
f) Go over your contract to make sure it fits all your needs or hire an event coordinator to make sure you are covering everything.
The photographic material of South Asian wedding ceremonies is diverse, and visually appealing with colors, jewels, and poignant moments galore. To ensure that your pictures transcend beyond the innate beauty of our wedding traditions, make sure you select your ideal photographer carefully. Unlike many of your wedding gifts, this will be the gift to yourself that keeps on giving. Get ready for the fun and exciting road of planning your big fat Indian wedding, and congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! |
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Better Photography, a magazine based in Mumbai |
I mentioned in earlier post about judging a wedding photographer of the year contest how Better Photography in India had also chosen to feature me in their April 2010 issue. What a treat!
I waited with bated breath to see what the final layout and copy was going to look like. Neha Mutreja, the writer who interviewed me did a fabulous job as did the design folks at that fine magazine.
As I quipped to Madhavan Pillai, Better Photography's editor-in-chief, the magazine he produces clearly rivals those I have found in the newsstands right here in America. No joke. Everything from the copy, to the design and even the printing and paper quality – all top class. I am truly honored to be included in this first Weddings Issue of Better Photography magazine.
Below is the opening sequence to a 6-page profile of my work and approach to wedding photography. |
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The WPPI Experience in Las Vegas |
I have some good news – couple of weeks back, Nikon USA (via their PR agency MWW) tapped me to go to WPPI, the world's best known and perhaps largest wedding and portrait photographer convention, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Now for some great news - Nikon has generously offered up some of their gear for me to check out and use and report back to you here. I am so honored!
In the LowePro Pro Runner 300 AW they gifted me, I carried the following lenses to test out: Nikon 24mm f/1.4 (my dream lens is here in my hands!), Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8. And of course, I asked for the Nikon D700 to go with it all.
While I don't get to keep all that Nikon camera gear (bummer, I know), Nikon snuck in a SanDisk 16gb Extreme PRO CF Card and a lightning fast SanDisk Extreme Firewire Card Reader that I can take back home. How cool is that!
You'll see a more fleshed out blog post providing you with mini reviews of everything I used in Las Vegas in the next day or so.
Now the bonus to all of this was of course randomly running into photographers who I am following on Twitter or who are following me.
Got questions about the Nikon gear I am testing out? Let me know in the comments and I will respond to them as soon as possible. Thank you!
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Better Photography | Mumbai, India |
Better Photography, one of India's leading magazines for photo enthusiasts asked me to be one of their judges for their first Wedding Photography Of The Year competition.
I was honored to look at a collection of "behind the scene" images and pick 12 of the best among them. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony sponsored by Kodak, on March 19, 2010.
The invitation you see below was sent to me and I am incredibly tempted to hop on a plane and head out to Mumbai for the event. |
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The winning images will be published in the April 2010 issue. A special thanks to Suchit Nanda, a Mumbai-based photographer, who introduced me to Madhavan Pillai, the magazine's editor-in-chief. After a brief meeting, which included a show-n-tell of my documentary wedding photography, Madhavan had Neha Mutreja, a writer for the magazine, contact me to be interviewed!
So, in the April issue you should see a profile of my multicultural wedding photography. As soon as I receive the high-resolution layout, I'll post it here.
From the looks of it, there is a renewed interest in elevating the quality of images amongst wedding photographers. That Better Photography recognizes this trend is a real boon. I expect the role or stats of a wedding photographer to improve greatly because this fine magazine has set its sights on the genre and will publish the work of other inspirational photographers both in India and outside of it. |
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Honored To Be Selected Alongside Some Great Ones |
I noticed Mary Hanson's website, "blogs of photographers" some two years back. She highlights and reviews blogs that photographers publish. And clearly there are a lot of them to go through.
"There is a long list, and it takes a tremendous amount of time to visit, read, and review so many great (or not-so-great) photography blogs."
So, it came as a pleasant surprise and a genuine honor when I heard from her today through Twitter that my wedding photography blog had been chosen to be featured.
Check out the screenshot below, but please visit her site to dig around and check out a slew of other awesome photographers. |
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For Indian Expatriates or Non-Indians, India Has Plenty To Offer |
I am in India at the moment. I arrived here on January 23rd and will be here through February 10. Being back in Chennai has been a blast. Seeing my parents enjoy their grand children, a real blessing. The weather has been perfect (i.e. warm and sunny, mid-to-high 80's) and the food, phenomenal.
The trip hasn't been all vacation, though. I've been reaching out and trying to build bridges with those in the wedding industry in India. It's been more listening and learning than talking. With the wedding season in the US winding down by the end of October, it makes perfect sense to serve clients in India where the wedding season begins in November and runs through March.
Non-resident Indians, NRI's as they are called here, are coming back home in greater numbers. I don't have exact numbers in front of me, but I do know that many multinational companies are hiring and the country is booming. Everyone and I mean every one has a cell phone. Television commercials and magazine publications are slick and thick. While the US may have experienced a recession, my cousin in Mumbai looked at me quizzically and said, "What recession? Looks like the downturn bypassed India." And yes, she should know. She owns three apartments in Mumbai. Whoa!
If you are a photographer who is into fashion, advertising or architecture, you've got to check out the Indian marketplace. On the SpiceJet flight back from Mumbai to Chennai, I read about Atul Kasbekar who has made a name for himself in a big way after studying at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California. And there is a rising tide of glamorous, high-end weddings as well. While breaking into that circle may be somewhat difficult without the right social connections, I can sense a new found respect for wedding photographers and what they do.
Take for example the magazine Better Photography. It's editors recently announced a joint print competition with Kodak to find the very best Indian wedding photographers. (Sorry the deadline was January 20, 2010). This was unheard of even two years ago when I visited and photographed Nidhi & Chirag's wedding in Devi Garh, Udaipur.
At a recent gathering of a small number of photographers in Mumbai, I heard of wedding photographers commanding as much as Rs. 25 lakhs (that's about $55,000). While that may be somewhat rare and the discussion mildly speculative, the feeling I left with was that the general attitude towards documenting weddings is changing here in India. It's not a sea change by any stretch of the imagination. Wedding photographers can still expect a lot of grip-n-grin sessions with families and friends, but a select number of couples living in India are starting to look for something different and original. They are not particularly going for the glamorous, fantasy-like or, gasp, "Bollywood" movie look-alike contest. How refreshing!
Parthip Thyagarajan of WeddingSutra.com suggests that many more expatriate and non-Indian couples are also looking at India as a potential venue for their destination weddings. Having lived in India in the past, being totally comfortable traveling within its borders and to a degree being able to speak a few of the languages, I am looking to serve those wedding clients from the United States, Canada, Europe or the Middle East, who plan to travel to India to get married.
So if you are an Indian planning your wedding or you live outside of India but are planning your destination wedding in India, please check out my work, see if it matches your expectations and then contact me as soon as you have set your date and venue, as I would love to help.
And if you have been hired to work in India and are seeking the assistance of experts to make your transition a smooth one, please consider the friendly and highly resourceful folks at Global Adjustments. On February 5, I am giving a short presentation of my work to a group of very enthusiastic photography hobbyists at their India Immersion Center. Check out the poster below. If you are in Chennai, please let me know so that I can arrange for you to join us.
I look forward to meeting you someday soon and hearing from you if you have any questions about what I have to offer you. |
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A Hindu Ceremony In One Of India's Historic Luxury Hotels |
As I start packing for another trip to India, I am reminded of my last visit there when I photographed Nidhi and Chriag's wedding in Devi Garh.
Devi Garh, an 18th century fort palace, is just outside of Udaipur, a city in Rajasthan and part of a chain called Preferred Hotels & Resorts. As a luxury hotel with all the amenities your imagination can conjure up, Devi Garh is a popular destination resort for weddings.
When Nidhi read about my wish to photograph at a heritage hotel in Rajasthan, she contacted me about her Hindu wedding. We must have spoken on the phone at least a half-a-dozen times before we finally met in New York City for a quick cup of coffee. Chirag was out of the country on business and I didn't get to meet him really until I got to Udaipur!
I flew into Chennai, spent some time with my family (my parents have lived there since 1970) and then flew to Udaipur, through Mumbai. I used Jet Airways and loved their courteous, professional service. My equipment – two Nikon D300 bodies, a slew of lenses and two SB-800 flash units – all fit neatly into my ThinkTank International equipment bag. It was full and heavy but the gate agents passed me through without any trouble at all. When I landed in Udaipur, I took a taxi out to my hotel (no, I didn't get to stay at Devi Garh). The hour-long ride was quiet, save for the ringing cell phone in the taxi driver's pocket. I was quite amazed that he had such amazing reception where I could see no cell phone towers for miles.
The evening before their big day, Nidhi and Chirag spent some quality time with their family and friends at a Sangeet. "Sangeet," in Hindi means music. The event was filled with laughter, dancing, splashes of color, simply the very best food I have ever tasted and of course lots of music. The folks at Devi Garh coordinated quite a show and I had a great time making images thanks to their efforts to make me feel very comfortable.
The following day, Nidhi and Chirag got ready in their respective rooms. The "bharaath," or procession for the bridegroom was something I had never seen before. Chirag rode on top of an elephant! While camels and horses led the way, the wedding band trumpeted Chirag's arrival into the fort palace. The wedding ceremony was conducted after the sun slipped below the horizon. From this South Indian's perspective, it was a short ceremony. Nidhi and Chirag took charge of the dance floor and slowly their family and guests joined them. The food, as I mentioned earlier, was phenomenal! The festivities in the desert continued on through the wee-hours of the night.
Here are a few of my favorites from the two-day event. To see them all as a slideshow, click on the link below that says "Big Show." As always, I welcome your comments.
By the way, if you know of couples planning their destination weddings in South Asia, please let me know. Whether it is now – from January 23 through February 10 when I will be in India – or sometime in the future, my goal is to photograph at every heritage luxury hotel in Rajasthan. Having lived in India, Japan and now the US, I am extremely fond of traveling!
Nidhi and Chirag, it was an honor to photograph your spectacular wedding. Thank you both for the opportunity to be a part of this very important family event.
Big Show at Devi Garh, Rajasthan. |
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