varun mehta: photography

Amit Weds Gayatri: Part 2

2012-02-23T14:17:00.000-05:00

Finally finished the whole set and got it on Flickr. Here are some of the memorable moments...

The High Line: #nycflickrmeetup

2012-02-20T10:52:00.001-05:00

Visited the high line, after a long time, on the pretext of meeting the local nyc flickr meetup group. Here are some of the shots. http://www.meetup.com/flickr/New-York-NY/595432/

Roomba: fuzzy logic photography

2012-02-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Since Roomba works on fuzzy logic, attached 4 led "horns" (lights) to the top of Roomba and asked it to clean a corner, and then go around in circles (spot cleaning). Here are the results.

Year of the Dragon: Chinese new year in New York

2012-02-05T18:43:00.002-05:00

Skiing Adventure

2012-01-15T01:35:00.000-05:00

Blow some snow...

you okay ?

Experience Snowboarding

...return the rentals

Amit Weds Gayatri

2012-01-04T15:53:00.001-05:00

It was wedding season in India! This was the second wedding I attended in Pune.

The pandit reading the mantaras for the pooja to the elders of the family before the wedding;

Chuddi (Bangles) are distributed among the women before the marriage;

Mehendi (Henna) on the hands of 82 year old grandmother, with her husband on the left corner in the background

The pheras

The couple

Bademiyas: The king of street carts

2011-12-31T11:50:00.000-05:00

This year for Shilpa's birthday we decided to go to Bademiyas for dinner. This is one joint that'll remain open even after all the restaurants have closed and people are half way thru their sleep. Rumor says the municipal commissioner of Bombay was such a big fan of this place, that he gave the street cart a 99 years license to operate all night long

The butter chicken is good too with rumali roti.

...and goat bheja (brain) fry equally awesome.

Their chicken and botti kebab are the best on the list.

Punjabi Wedding: Dhruv Weds Riddhi

2011-12-28T14:51:00.000-05:00

I was over in Amritsar, India for my cousin's wedding. Not being the official photographer, I moved around the places taking some vanity shots.

There was the traditional Dhol and Sangeet;

Followed the by the main wedding of Pheras;

I'm still working on the shots, more to come soon.

Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) - Amritsar

2011-12-06T02:28:00.001-05:00

The whole set at Flickr

This was my second trip to the Golden Temple after 2007. A trip I had been eagerly looking forward to. During my 3 day stay at Amritsar, I made 2 trips to the temple. One on the day of arrival, afternoon enjoying the cool weather.

My brother and his daughter, waiting in line to get into the temple for some "darshan".

A senior Sikh devotee, taking a dip in the holy pond that surrounds the temple.

The trip the next day was even more interesting; I was just done with my cousin's marriage at 4:00AM (Yes! punjabi weddings are held at odd times), when I reached the hotel, my wife suggested. "The sun is not out yet, and you'll not get the dark sky again for night shots, if you still have the energy go now!". This was an opportunity I was not going to get let go. I was not sure when I'll be back to Amritsar, and whether I'll get this opportunity again!

The temple at 5:00AM in the morning, before sunrise;

I was using my tripod and clicking shots, when one of the "kar sevaks" (helpers) came up to me and warned me to disassemble the tripod, as shooting without a written permission is not permitted. I moved around the square to get a different view and hit upon this amazing corner, which has the view of the temple and the approach pathway. With the battery pack, the proportion of the lens and camera is a bit distorted. I needed something to balance the camera and placed my wallet and mom's cell phone (I had loaned it from her) under it. Some time around these shots, the cell phone slipped into the pond.

I was about to leave with the night shots, when reviewing one of the photos displayed the ambient sky. This shot was just about the time the sun was rising;

Ranbir Singhji a senior photographer, whom I met at the same corner, passed on some amazing tips for the shots.

After the whole shooting ordeal, I visited the security center of Golden Temple, to see if there was any way I can could retrieve my cell phone and was amazed to see the security at the temple. 7 sets of 52" LCD TVs, with each split into 24 channels, 5 kar sevaks monitoring the whole premise helped me review the tapes. That's where I saw my self dropping the phone in the pond :( I was not allowed to click the picture for security reasons.

Next time I plan to visit the Langar ("Community Kitchen") and get some shots there, and also eat the awesome food there.

The early morning trip to the Golden Temple, has been one of my most memorable trips ever.

Manasi & Ritesh: Engagement Shoot

2011-11-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to shoot Manasi & Ritesh a beautiful couple, who will soon be man and wife.

This was one of the most difficult & fun shoots to arrange, because of the tight schedules, they have. They had arranged for the shoot over 2 months ago, but for unavoidable circumstances, it was always pushed to the future. Eventually, we found a date, which matched everyone's schedule, and was also the last weekend before they are heading off to India for their marriage.

We were at the best time in Central Park, when the fall colours were at peak, and the weather was simply amazing and supporting.

Coincidentally I also discovered Ritesh and I attended the same school back in India! It's indeed a small world.

Manasi & Ritesh

Hipster Tanvi!

2011-11-16T09:08:00.001-05:00

Simple Guide to Photography: A quick & good read for those who want to start off...

2011-11-14T12:53:00.001-05:00

Borrowed this from reddit. A very useful read for anyone who wants to jump into photography.

The Royal Diwali

2011-11-13T13:38:00.001-05:00

The highlight of the event was an amazing dance performance by the kids;

& the kids listening to the story of Diwali;

There was awesome dhol by Nikhil & dancing...

Photo Booth @ Operative

2011-11-02T08:29:00.002-04:00

The software hacker in me could not resist, trying to automate and add more weird stuff to the regular point and shoot camera. It wasn't long before I discovered CHDK, and then the world went crazy. I got a Canon A495 off Amazon.

Using CHDK, ptpcam, gphoto2, python & chdkphotobooth, I churned out a photobooth software. This is what it looks like;

We had the photobooth at Operative for Halloween, and had some amazing shots. Here is the whole set

Captain America fighting, Mustard...

Welcome party for Shlok

2011-10-24T09:30:00.000-04:00

Swati & Pankaj had organized a traditional themed dinner party to welcome the newest member of their family, Shlok.

Swati, Pankaj & Shlok

Shlok, with his grandmothers

The DJ got everyone to perform the Napkin dance! Keep folding, till it grows small, and only one foot on the napkin!

Swati with all her friends

Fall Colours Train Ride, Phoenicia, NY

2011-10-19T10:43:00.000-04:00

Took a train ride at the catskills to enjoy the fall colours, http://catskillmtrailroad.com/. Along the route,we stopped at a farmers market to click the pumpkins

Tanvi with the pumpkins, who is taller!

Leena & Shekar

Dussera

2011-10-10T09:17:00.000-04:00

Ram ready to fire the last arrow at Ravan...

Ravan Dahan

Fun with Light...

2011-10-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

We had the Bagawde's over for dinner, and with all creative minds in the room, one thing lead to another... here are some awesome shots.

Shravani, and her evil twin...

The rise and fall of a snow boarder

2011-10-04T10:16:00.000-04:00

I shot this picture around Jan of 2011, found it in my archives yesterday. With the winter soon approaching, reminding ourselves of the awesome stuff we can do this winter...

We are on Google Maps!

2011-09-15T09:21:00.000-04:00

We are now listed on Google Maps, go and search for "Photographers near Jersey City" and you'll find us there!

Don't forget to post your reviews.

Season's Greeting Sessions

2011-09-12T10:30:00.000-04:00

This holiday season we bring to you..

An extra special way of sharing

Life's joyous celebrations with families & friends

onto a personal family photograph "greetings".

Put together in very glamourous way

wrapped with love 'n dipped with wishes

To be sent to grandparent across seas

or to the other coast for cousins, nephews 'n niece..

Just bring upon your self dressed in the best;

add a little smile, and leave on us the rest...

Season's Greetings

Family portraits for "Seasons Greetings" postcard or greeting cards. Schedule a quick 20 minute photo session, be prepared, we'll come and have a quick session. You get to choose one photo from the whole session to be converted into a greeting card.

Session Time: 20 minutes.
Prints: 25 Postcards or 25 Greeting Cards (printed on cover only)
Charges: $79.99

You can schedule a 20 minute session between these time slots;
Mon-Fri: 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Sat-Sun: 8:00am - 9:00 pm

Fill in the form to register:
<p>Loading...</p>

The power of shooting in RAW

2011-09-03T05:30:00.000-04:00

During my Learn2Click sessions, I always stress on the importance of shooting the photos in RAW format. Some of the users think of "post processing" as a chore, which is not a 100% true. I always shoot in RAW, and spend on an average 4-5 minutes per photograph. That also gives me an insight on how I could have further improved the shot in the field, and correct basics like the angle, crop the image etc.

A few days back while playing around with Tanvi, I entered her play tent and bounced the flash off the the roof of the tent (which is red in colour). The resulted photo ended up having the shade of the tent.

I tried correcting the white balance on the exported JPEG using the "Neutral Color Selector/White Balance Selector", and what I got was this washed out image.

Once an image is converted from RAW to JPEG in the camera, over 80% of the information about the photograph is discard, after being processed. Since I had the images in RAW, I colour corrected the RAW (using the same tool as the JPEG), and the results were a class apart.

Here is a comparison image of the untouched RAW and white balance fixed RAW.

So if you have an SLR, stop trying to save that extra space on your card and always, ALWAYS shoot in RAW.

Carousel @ Central Park

2011-08-31T09:07:00.001-04:00

Carousel@Central Park coming to a slow halt after the last ride of the evening...

Peek-a-Boo: Tanvi "hunting" for toys.

2011-08-17T09:40:00.000-04:00

Naming Ceremony and Welcome party for Rayan

2011-08-09T06:45:00.001-04:00

A welcome party for Rayan in a more traditional, Indian fashion. Naming ceremony rituals along with a friends and family meetup. With cake cutting for the kids.

The highlight of the party was Arnav reading out a poem for Rayan, which he had written himself!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Indian Gods from 12 century

2011-08-01T10:11:00.002-04:00

During our trip to MET, in the Asian section, there were multiple idols from 8-12 century made out of cast iron and other materials available at that time. This lead shot of Buddha is from the "Japanese section". Check the flickr link for Ganesh, Vishnu and Hanuman.

These were shot hand-held at ISO6400 (3200 x -2.0EV). The spotlights in the museum is amazing on these idols.

Photoshoot with the Beriwalla Family

2011-07-29T21:05:00.001-04:00

I had an amazing opportunity to have a photo session with the Beriwalla family at the Liberty State Park, NJ.

Thanks Rishi & Manisha, I had an amazing time, esp with lovely Ivanka.

Tanvi in the water cooler...

2011-06-29T11:37:00.002-04:00

Vihan...

2011-06-14T14:17:00.000-04:00

Elder brother to Tanvi, he's just started walking and loves climbing stairs, which is a nightmare for him mom.

Yash & Yug

2011-04-16T07:37:00.001-04:00

Introducing Yug; the younger sibling to Yash.

And Yash after a 16 months;

Cricket World Cup 2011 Celebrations in Jersey City

2011-04-03T22:11:00.002-04:00

India won the cricket world cup in 2011 after 28 years (last in 1983). All the Indians in Jersey City, NJ were out at Town Square screaming and celebrating the victory. Over 5-6 vehicles of cops had arrived the scene. The cops were confused on how to handle the scenario.

An event to experience... and celebrate

View the complete set

The paint was coming on the faces...

The crowd.

The spirit

You've got mail!

2011-02-13T20:50:00.000-05:00

One of the best props to use with babies, when they grow up and ask "where did they come from ?" You'll always have a back story.

We are in for some mischief!!

2011-02-12T17:00:00.001-05:00

Shravni & Zara are in for some mischief...

Tanvi on her morning massage routine...

2011-01-08T13:35:00.002-05:00

Tanvi getting her morning massage done by her grandmother. She enjoys every moment of it!!

Blizzard of 2010

2010-12-27T20:25:00.004-05:00

The day after Christmas, the whole US northwest was engulfed in a blizzard, with winds starting from 40mph. We experienced over 12" of snow.

View the entire collection.

Tanvi

2010-11-21T17:52:00.000-05:00

Took us over 2 hours to get her prepared for these pictures.

Happy Feet!

2010-11-13T19:42:00.000-05:00

I know this picture is a cliche for newborn shots, but is always priceless...

It is just gas...

I wanna hold your hand...

2010-11-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

Tanvi wearing her Dad's first dress (30 years ago you only knew the gender after the baby was born!!), and holding her mom's hand

Kayla Rose, The Purple Fairy: Halloween @ Hamilton Park

2010-11-10T22:45:00.000-05:00

Kayla Rose was dressed up as the purple fairy for the Halloween parade at Hamilton Park.

Click here for more halloween shots.

Introducing Tanvi Varun Mehta

2010-11-07T11:41:00.002-05:00

Our first baby, Tanvi Mehta has arrived...

Hunter becomes the hunted...

2010-10-13T06:49:00.002-04:00

During the tail ends of the photoshoot, Shreyans got his hands on his parent's camera, and started clicking pictures. The picture on the right is what he clicked of me... when I was clicking him. His mom kept a copy of the picture and was kind enough to pass it on.

Manvick

2010-10-05T08:49:00.000-04:00

Manvick is just 21 days in this picture.

Resting on his sister's lap

Manvick on Flickr

Riya & Aanya

2010-09-29T09:12:00.002-04:00

Riya and Aanya two sisters were all excited for their photo session. Riya (the elder one) was all prepared with her lipsticks (chapsticks) to get her photo clicked.

Aanya on the other hand, was very cute and innocent, giving me one of the most innocent poses I've captured in a long time.

At one point their father was under attack (not literally) and was pounded upon :)

I enjoyed clicking them as much as they enjoyed getting clicked.

Riya & Aanya on Flickr

Raj

2010-09-28T10:09:00.003-04:00

Raj is a total Diego fanboy! A few minutes into the shoot his mom said Diego and we were on an expedition across the park catching squirrels and climbing trees. He missed the Diego rope, but eventually monkeyed on the trees.

Raj on Flickr

Naisha

2010-09-27T11:05:00.003-04:00

Naisha is a perfect drama queen, very camera friendly and ready to pose with any expression or reaction you ask from her!

I treated this picture with a classical look for a change.

Naisha on Flickr

Learn2Click: Hands on sessions.

2010-09-27T06:14:00.004-04:00

After several weeks of pondering, I've finally decided to teach photography to those who are interested. A special page Learn2Click has been introduced, with the syllabus and other details of the class.

If time permits, I'll also start posting tips and tricks on the blog to try with your camera.

Happy clicking!

New York City at Night

2010-09-21T22:55:00.002-04:00

On a different note, let's enjoy the view..

Mumbai: The lifeline of India

2010-09-21T13:03:00.000-04:00

I had been to India a few months back (almost an year now!). Scurrying through the archives I had created on my machine, I ran into some of the these pics, working with some new techniques and post-processing ideas, republished some of my old work for Flickr.

A stream of all those pictures;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/varunmehta/sets/72157624884094429

Stuti

2010-09-13T22:21:00.000-04:00

Stuti was THE last minute entry to the photo shoot and also one of the most adorable kids. There is a picture of her dad, catching her in mid air after a jump, should be uploading that one soon.

Stuti on Flickr

Shreyans

2010-09-13T22:17:00.000-04:00

Shreyans, the director, he was fully loaded with a video and photo camera. He looks like a movie director all set for his next shot!

Shreyans on Flickr

Rayaan

2010-09-11T16:01:00.004-04:00

This is his James Bond pose. I loved his imagination, after chasing the squirrel, we were with Alice in wonderland!

Rayaan on Flickr

Kanchi

2010-09-11T15:59:00.000-04:00

We were on the slides, we were on the swing, we were chasing squirrels, but nothing caught her attention more than the "water fountain". She was not even ready to wait for getting a swim wear!

Kanchi on Flickr

Nandika

2010-09-11T15:57:00.002-04:00

Nandika was my toughest shoot for the whole series, generally kids took not more than 5-7 minutes before they get comfortable, but she took longer than 20 minutes, and still did not break into a smile easily...

Nandika on Flickr

Arihan

2010-09-08T11:54:00.001-04:00

Arihan, he is one of the most naughtiest and easy going kids among all. Every kid loves to climb trees, and ride horses. This was a double attempt at it, sitting on the branch, he was pretending to ride the horse. Kids and their imagination... Mindblowing!

Arihan on Flickr

Zara & Zoya

2010-09-08T11:19:00.002-04:00

Zoya and her elder sister Zara, Zoya was my youngest model for the "Labor Day shooting frenzy". She is close to 8 months now. I wish I had more time with her, but like all infants she too has a small attention span, and with so many kids in line.. whew!

Zara on the other hand was a helping elder sister, calm and composed, dressed as a ballerina butterfly.

Zara & Zoya on Flickr

Purvika

2010-09-08T02:51:00.004-04:00

A very special thanks to Surendar (her father) for getting out the best of her. He knew exactly the things his daughter likes and makes her laugh. The whole shoot was much easier because of him.

Purvika on Flickr

Charvisri

2010-09-07T23:00:00.001-04:00

Charvisri was with her mother most of the time, but the moment Leena offered her an Oreo, she was all happy and running around the park. Interestingly she was wearing the perfect back and white combination, which helped a lot in auto-white balancing..

Charvisri on Flickr

Shravani

2010-09-07T16:06:00.001-04:00

She's not any ordinary kid, she's Shravani, our 70's Bollywood starlet.

Shravani on Flickr

Madhu & Nishant

2010-09-07T00:16:00.006-04:00

The labour day weekend was the start of a longest running photo session I've ever had. Over 16 kids were shot across 3 days. The location was fixed as "Hamilton Park, Jersey City". Each kid was allocated a 30 minutes time slot, with a layover with their best friend in the next slot.

Madhu & Nishant, were my first models for the evening, After a few trial shots, I was able to capture this one.

Madhu had just finished taking my picture from her mom's iPhone and was laughing at the picture of me squatting and taking their picture.

Madhu & Nishant on Flickr

Rishi

2010-09-06T11:06:00.001-04:00

Rishi was my second model of the day, he was easy to break into a smile. All you had to do was make a noise, or clap out loud and he would give you a smile.

Along the photo shoot I had asked parents to grab things that kids love to play with and keep them happy (esp. toddlers). He incidentally loves phones (every kid does!), but when I offered my iPhone, he gladly upgraded :)

Rishi on Flickr

Rhea

2010-09-06T10:42:00.002-04:00

She is the very first toddler I shot on long weekend frenzy. A little shy, and a lot cute. Of all the kids who were photographed, she has the most clicks! She just loves sunglasses and phones.

Rhea on Flickr

Labor day shooting frenzy!

2010-08-30T16:07:00.001-04:00

This labor day weekend we've arranged an out door photo shoot at the Hamilton Park. Most of our models are kids, ranging from 6+ months to 5 years. So far I've received over 15 registrations and more of them are pouring in as we are closing the date.

People hate filling in excel forms, be it in office or at home. Google came up a nice solution for it, but helping us creating forms. You fill in this form and it makes an entry in the excel sheet. You can also turn on email notifications for it. The registration form is available here.

Here is a screenshot of what the form looked like;

People filled in these forms with great enthusiasm. Time to charge the batteries...

Photographer's Life

2010-08-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

This slide has been borrowed from John Greengo's "Fundamentals in Photography" class on Creative Live. I just loved the graph and could so much relate to it, that could not resist posting it on the blog.

Yashmi

2010-08-20T18:34:00.000-04:00

Yashmi was born a preme at 27 weeks, but has turned into a beautiful toddler, with skills and intelligence more advanced than kids her age. She is one of my second most clicked model.

Yashmi on Flickr

Suvinay

2010-08-16T14:50:00.002-04:00

Suvinay, is our dear friend "Shekhar & Leena's" son in Arizona. They had a 16 hours stop over between two flights at JFK so decided to stop over at our place. It was an amazing opportunity to bond with Suvinay.

When ever you complement a parent "your kid is very shy". The most common response I've received is, "wait a few minutes..." and that was truly applicable with him. This is his initial innocent phase. For the full stream, check Suvinay on Flickr.

Suvinay on Flickr

Yash: The happy baby

2010-08-01T11:45:00.001-04:00

Today we were in the backyard of "Narnolias" taking pictures of the happy baby, Yash. He is by far the most composed toddlers I've ever come across. One of the ideal models to shoot. I wish toddlers were as quite and "easy laughing" like him.

Yash on Flickr

Welcome...

2010-07-30T16:00:00.000-04:00

I've shut down my old blog and moved to my new blog here. That blog is not functional anymore.