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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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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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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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The Little Gym in Avon, Connecticut |
Rohan turned 4 last week. We celebrated at The Little Gym in Avon, Connecticut.
We arrived a little early to set up. The folks at The Little Gym helped put the balloons up and had the place ready for our guests. The cake, made by the Big Y bakery, was of Lightning McQueen, a character from the Pixar & Disney movie, Cars. Rohan is NUTS about the movie and knows some of the dialogue by-heart. The part where Tow Mater asks Lightning McQueen if his name is "Mater" too cracks us both up. I don't know if it is the Southern-drawl or just the fact that Rohan likes Tow Mater's sense of surprise. If you haven't seen it, well you are missing a fine movie that also includes the voice of the late Paul Newman, as Doc Hudson.
To our relatives who drove for miles and for Rohan's friends and their parents who dragged themselves out of bed on a Sunday to be with us, our sincere thanks. Sangeetha and I were happy with such a terrific turn out. We missed a few of Rohan's buddies but as I told one of them, there is always next year, right?
A special thank you to Nick and Sabrina O'Connell. Nick's ability to quickly create animals and objects out of balloons is something to beholld. His warm and friendly personality was greatly appreciated by kids and parents alike. His wife, Sabrina's brief puppet presentation had the kids in enthralled. It was great to see their kids Maya and Thatcher, too.
Here are a few images I managed to capture. I was happy to have carried some of my gear (one camera body, one lens, one light triggered by Pocket Wizards). Post your comments below! |
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Remembering Sangeetha's Grandmother |
This post was authored by my wife who lost her grandmother in January. I had the honor of photographing Ammapati on a trip back to Bangalore, India, in 2006.
I coined the name "Ammapati" – "Amma" meaning Mother and "Pati" meaning Grandmother. Though she came to be known as "Ammapati," her real name was Shakunthala.
She was an incredible person. I can never forget the love she had for everyone around her. She was full of grace and dignity. She was a fantastic cook and some of her delicate flavors are still embedded in my taste buds. I have some of her recipes now and when cooking those, I remember how her original dish tasted.
She loved children and had a knack for being able to calm down the most cranky baby. She raised us with hope and love and a positive spirit. She may not have finished formal schooling, but she was a self-taught soul and read the Bhagwad Gita, Bible and Quran in three different languages (Kannada, Tamil, Telugu).
Her smile will forever be remembered and so will her voice. Even in her last days when she could barely sit up, she would always muster the strength to say a few words to me and my sister when we called. The first words out of her mouth even the very last time I talked to her were: "How are the children?"
Need I say more?
It's hard to explain the special place I have for my late grandmother in my heart. I was her first grandchild and I believe she had a very special place in her heart for me as well. I know she will always be around to guide me and bring a smile on my face even on the gloomiest days. I know I will see her again.
She suffered for the last four months of her life and lost a short but painful battle to cancer.
Ammapati is gone, but she will always be there for me. |
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| I captured Ammapati right next to her favorite puja room. While she read voraciously about other religions, she was a devout Hindu. |
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Using Photography To Explore And Experience The World |
My nearly four-year old son, Rohan, is quite intent on following me around with his own camera. When my brother-in-law gifted an older Kodak (I have no idea what model or how many megapixels and that kind of information hardly matters to me anyway), Rohan took to it like a fish does to water. He naturally liked the idea of the flash going off and he was soon exhausting the poor rechargeable batteries. Then when he had completely filled the 64mb (yeah, tiny) compact flash card, he came running to me to download it. I have gone through about three cycles with him and while he still walks around the house, points at the wall and shoots, in anticipation of that flash, I think he is starting to develop a knack for making some decent images.
As a parent, I absolutely want to encourage his creative spirit and I was so happy that he is into photography like I am. No telling how long this will last, but I am hoping to memorialize some of his images here. Nurturing a child's need for exploration is so paramount. As a young parent, I am still learning the ropes – what to yield to because it makes sense for the long term and what does not. I also think children have an incredible way of looking at their world. Sure they are shorter than adults, so right away their perspective is so different. But their sense of timing and composition is also something to marvel.
The camera Rohan is using has its limitations. No doubt about that. But a child has no such hangups. It's the very act of doing that brings him joy. I am just amazed that in some respect that's how I am when I am photographing a portrait or documenting a multicultural wedding. It's serious business and one must get THE shot, but without the freedom to play, experiment and flex those creative muscles like children do, you would rarely see an image that is unique to you or your event.
Enough chatter, let's move on to those images Rohan has been making. Your comments here will mean the world to him when he has the capacity to read, understand and appreciate what he had embarked on. So, step right up! |
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| Rohan's attempt at getting a closeup picture of his brother, Ketan. The latter doesn't look too thrilled does he? |
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It's that time of the year. We are in the thick of the holiday season. And so, I am hoping that each of you is having a real vacation, enjoying the company of your family or friends and thinking back a little while planning on what is also ahead of you in 2009.
On the personal front, 2008 has been a very challenging year. Despite the illnesses at home (including a minor surgery and a hairy trip to Connecticut Children's Medical Center's Emergency Room), we managed to create a holiday greeting card. Things are back to normal, for now. But truth to be told, we are plenty sleep-deprived and would love a real break. If I have been reticent, please excuse me. I am doing all that I can to catch up with editing images from some of my most recent weddings, updating this blog and creating album designs and submitting print orders. To my clients, a heart-felt thank you for being so patient. Each one of you is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. and I am eternally grateful to you for placing your trust in me.
Wishing you and your families the very best in 2009. I look forward to reconnecting with many of you in the near future. Thank you for bookmarking this site and referring it to your friends for documentary-style wedding and portrait photography. |
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Curls All Gone After A Trip To Cuts For Peanuts |
Ketan, our 1-year old (yeah, it's been that long), had to get a haircut. There is some long-held belief from my wife's family that we must wait an entire year before clipping off the kid's curls.
Well, with that one-year marker passing us by, we quickly called Cuts For Peanuts and asked especially for Karen. She, by all measure is THE best person to cut a child's hair. She is fast and funny and the kid doesn't even flinch once through the whole process. Fact is, I have an appointment to see her for my own haircut on Tuesday. A good part of what makes us (yes, my wife got her haircut by Karen, too) fans of Karen is that she is so good at what she does and always has a radiant smile when she meets you at the door.
So here are a couple of images of Ketan getting his hair lopped off. Can you tell he is having fun? |
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And, this one below is right after it was all done. He sort of just stood up there looking proud.
Want to see more? Here is the Big Show, giving you a glimpse of our little trip yesterday to see "Aunty Karen." Feel free to leave a comment. |
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It's been a while since I posted any personal images, though I must say all the photographs I create for clients, friends or relatives are all personal to me.
Here is one of Ketan. Those eyes of his herald what is to come; pure mayhem. I set my strobe, off-camera and with a grid spot about four feet from Ketan and about as many feet high. Hence the harsh, high-contrast light which may not really be such a great thing to show off a baby or child, but its use could produce some dramatic images in the field when adults are my subjects.
More on my new gear and what I hope to achieve from it in a future post. For now enjoy Mr. Mischief. |
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I stumbled across a couple of quotes by some incredible photographers and I thought I should share them here with you. As the headline of this post reads, these two quotes really resonated with me and mirror my approach to producing meaningful images for my clients.
Tell me what you think in the comments section.
Some of the great pictures, you just look at them and you marvel at them, for the subject matter and somehow they struck a chord in you. But it’s rarely about the technique. It’s not about the lens, or the film, or the light necessarily. It’s really just some story in that picture. Some emotional element which you connect with. – Steve McCurry
Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.– Don McCullin |
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