Headshots for Shashi

I've been fortunate enough this year to have a pretty steady stream of work.  I received an email not too long ago to do some portraits for Shashi that ultimately she wanted to be able to send to her family in India.

When I arrived, I asked if she had any pictures of herself either in her place or online and she didn't - hence, the request for headshots :-)

Shashi was a self proclaimed introvert and seemed a little uneasy in front of the camera so we took a little time getting to know each other.  It didn't take long to discover that she is a writer in her off time in addition to her daytime work.  Throughout her life, she's interview some interesting people and talking about these interviews, is what I discovered, made her comfortable in front of the camera and allowed us to get some genuine smiles from her.  Shashi, it was nice working with you and I hope your family enjoys the images we were able to create.

A Great Designer

I worked with Prerak for about 9 months and he was one of those few (for me, anyway) that I really connected with.  He's a great designer and we got to know each other  through a mutual interest in gadgets, great design, and photography.  

Prerak has helped me with a couple projects now that were beyond my Photoshop knowledge and I look forward to future collaboration.

A few days before his last day, I had my camera in the office and we went out for about 30 minutes to grab some shots for him personally and for his website.  We went out to a place in midtown that I've shot at before and here are some of my favorites...

Deepa’s Pre-Wedding Party

This was the second event I shot for Deepa and Anuj.  Something that comes across so strong with this couple is the importance of family and friends.  Yes, we all say it’s important but, when you see the genuine nature of the love expressed at events like these, I consider it a real honor to be able to capture it.

This event was just before their wedding (August 11), and many of the same faces from the bridal shower were here as well.  There were fewer people but no less emphasis on quality.  Food was catered, a live band was in place for music, a bartender for drinks and yours truly to capture it all.

Deepa had the henna done earlier in the day, which took hours to complete.  The artistry that goes into this work is really impressive!  If you look closely, you can see their names written on the palm of each of her hands.

By the time they’re reading this, they are already married, so congratulations to Deepa and Anuj. I can’t wait to be a part of the next event in your lives.

Hetal & Divyang's Wedding in Maryland

During the Memorial Day weekend I took a trip down to Maryland to second shoot a wedding with Sunny, a photographer I met at Suman & Rishi's wedding two years ago.

I knew it was going to be a long day 8am to midnight plus a 3+ hour drive so I made arrangements to arrive the night before. It was an easy drive and it was a particularly hot weekend.

I made it to the first location which was a hotel with a nice open space where they started with some pre-event pictures. Well, pre-event for that day. This was day two of the wedding which is often true for Indian weddings.

Here are a few I captured along side Sunny in the morning.

 

With a Hindu wedding procession, a baraat is when the bridegroom enters on a horse and rides up to the venue with lots of dancing and general celebration along the way.  Here are a couple images I captured during these celebrations and the ceremony.

 

I tend to gravitate toward the cute kids at any event I'm covering. Here are a few images from the kids at this wedding. I love it when I can capture a special moment that they'll look back on someday. 

 

Let us not forget some dancing and singing...

 

Finally, a fun, stylized shot we did with a car they were using for the day.  We setup some off-camera lighting and came up with this one...

Congratulations guys!  What a fun event!

Suman & Rishi's Wedding, part 1

Back in the fall of 2009, I asked a good friend that was getting married if they would be open to me shooting their engagement pictures.  She (Suman) checked with her husband to be and he was interested so we picked a date and found a really nice place in Central Park to shoot.  It was a really nice day to shoot because the weather was cool but not cold and the colors of the fall were in full bloom.  I've posted a few of the images from the engagement session here but for more of them, check out the set on flickr.

So onto the video.  The wedding itself was 3 days long with multiple events.  The first was the Mehndi ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.  During this session, I shot both stills and video.  It was a great way to kick things off.  Next was Sangeet at the groom's parents house.  So many colors and creativity from the children to the grandparents.  Everyone got involved in the singing, dancing, and just general celebrating of life.  Last was the day of the wedding.  In the morning, we started with a Chuda and Haldi ceremony.  Then comes a break and final preparation for the wedding and reception.  Actually, its probably best if I stop describing it with words and show you the images.

The video linked here are bits from all of the events described above that took place over the 3 days.  I was inspired quite some time ago by what a company in Canada is doing with wedding video.  They're called StillMotion (choose Cinema to see the movies) and they have some really amazing videos.  They suck you in immediately and feel like a movie trailer!  That's what I was going for here in the wedding highlights but keep in mind this is my first attempt :-)

Suman & Rishi's wedding highlights from Darrin Estep on Vimeo.

There's so much more to talk about with this wedding (which is why I named this part 1).  Stay tuned for more behind the scenes in putting this together and a shout out to all the great people I had the pleasure of meeting and working with.