Fr. Donal

There are many who influence us in life and leave a lasting impression. I had a few of those people in high school. Some of them have passed on, but recently I connected with someone who wasn't my teacher, but a priest who was one of the "guys". Back then, we'd consider him - cool.

Fast-forward many years and I found Fr. Donal retired, yet quite active. I was glad to again enjoy his sense of humor and his great intelligence. The feeling of finding long, lost friend was there. Inevitably, it lead to the futile efforts of trying to catch up after this long period of time in one afternoon, which prompted the next step of setting up another time to meet.

A couple of months later, Fr. Donal sat for me to create his portrait...

Never Judge a Book By It's Cover

It's been awhile since my last post, but this post is worth writing about:

One of my on-going personal projects is with the Bridgewater Gurudwara where I go once a month looking for a new face (or faces) to capture. Some of these musicians (Ragi) have an amazing character that so easily extends itself to the visual medium of photography - and others - not.

This ragi being younger than most and not having that "character" visibly on the surface, I was already passing a judgement. I got him in front of the lens and he just took off! Animated and FULL of character. This was a shoot that was well worth struggling with my limited speaking skills in Punjabi. Sat Sri Akal Ji!

Studio Lights vs Speedlights

Spent some more studio time with Chris Knapp from Nikon and Brittany again last week to experiment a little with some "big lights" and "small lights". The portrait of Chris was taken with three Elinchrom studio lights and Brittany was lit with two Nikon Speedlights.

This was a great opportunity to work with the new SB-900 along with an SB- 800 and an SU-800 Commander. The accuracy and the versatility of these lights made for some beautiful results.

A Mixed Bag In One Weekend

It may be obvious to some why I'm calling this post "A Mixed Bag". Shooting some of Claudio's guests and one of mine yielded some interesting faces in different lighting scenarios.

1) First image of the famous fine art photographer Robert Farber. A chance to shoot a portrait of a talent as Robert was a wonderful opportunity.

2) Harbajan Singh came all the way to NY from PA as our guest. We thank him very much for his participation and patience.

Sat Sri Akal, Harbajan Ji.

3) Two looks from the same lady in different lighting. 

Also, being able to shoot with Claudio again always makes for an interesting afternoon!

Flashes Of Hope

Flashes Of Hope is an organization that provides charitable photographic services to children with cancer at certain hospitals. I was approached by Nat Clymer, the local representative and NJ-based photographer, to participate in this program, along with other members of the ASMP NJ chapter.

Over the course of the year, I  do a lot of work for non-profits and charitable organizations, including the Lymphoma Research Foundation, but this shoot put quite a bit of my life in a different perspective. Gave me almost the same feeling I get when I return from India - be grateful what what you have Verdini!

The kids are allowed to pose by themselves, family members and certain hospital staff, if they wish. I would watch some of them smile, especially the little ones who really don't know what's going on other than they're not feeling well.

If any ASMP photographers are asked to participate, please consider the offer. The ASMP-NJ chapter will be hosting Nat on Jan 14th to speak about the organization and to have a few photographers show their work and briefly comment from their sessions.

The Many Voices Of EBC Radio

Kul RaaJ Anand: EBC Radio Program Director, Voice-Over Artist and a man of many other talents, truly an amazing personality. Witnessing his many talents and voices, he is a chameleon of sorts. I've seen other radio personalities on the air performing, but Kul Raaj takes to creating his 

many moods and voices through physical animations. It's amazing how he can go from one voice, instantly to another that doesn't even sound like him.

With all these different personalities, there was no specific lighting setup that would've captured his many voices and moods, so I chose three. All were shot with Elinchrom lights using either grid spots, softboxes or the 53" Octa.

Br. Prabodh Chaitanya of San Jose, Ca., visited NJ this past week and I had the privilege of creating his portrait. His presence and teaching left me with a different perspective towards life that will remain with me forever. 

Hari Aum Prabodh Ji

Verdini's Portrait By Claudio Basso

My portrait done by Claudio Basso at the Power of Light workshop.

Claudio Basso - The Power Of Light

Attended Claudio Basso's "The Power Of Light" two-day class in NY this past weekend and what an eye-opener that was. I left with a tremendous amount of lighting knowledge from the Master. Relatively simple lighting sets that yield amazing results.

I had the extreme honor to photograph Claudio's good friend and artist, Santo Bruno (www.santobruno.net), using a high-key approach; the result was beautiful.

Towards the end of the second day, the "Image Award Winners" were announced and one of my submissions (upper right) was chosen as first-place winner for "Extraordinary Image" by Claudio. 

Thanks to Keith Rinearson for the above image of Claudio and me.