Spiti

Forget Mugshots, 10 Steps to Better Portraits – @CraftandVision eBook Review

Photograph of a farmer from Rajasthan

The folks over at Craft & Vision have just launched a new addition to their fantastic ebook compilations in the form of “Forget Mugshots – 10 steps to better portraits” authored by David Duchemin. This book offers very handy insights into capturing the best travel portraits with some very easy and intutive tips. Everything from waiting for the right moment before tripping the trigger, to using the available light to the best possible extent or even the significance of eye contact. David goes on to point out some really key things which can make or break an image or make it look like a typical mugshot. When David gives the examples, he speaks words which are backed by his numerous years of experience working and shooting portraits for various organisations and clients. The ebook spanning across 35 pages and 10 chapters not only talks about the gear headed stuff but also points you to some creative exercises which can help grasp the concept faster and help the photographer in long run.

Personally i was never a people/portrait photographer especially with regard to travel photography arena, but over the year and more my liking for the portraits to document the people whom i can associate with the place which i visited has got me addicted to this genre of photography. What i have learnt and also what has been very boldly emphasized in the ebook is the apsect of photographer-subject relation before going for such an image. What is the kind of image you end up making and also how the image ends up eventually on your memory card mainly relies on how good is the aspect of photographer-subject relation and intimacy.

I highly recommend this book from Craft & Vision not for the fact that its very affordable or smaller run size – but for the sheer quality of the content which is so well packed in those 10 chapters which makes you understand the concept very easily.


Click here to view more details

Special Offer on PDFs
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code MUGSHOTS4 when you checkout, then you can have the PDF version of Forget Mugshots: 10 Steps to Better Portraits for only $4 OR you can use the code MUGSHOTS20 to get 20% off when you buy 5+ PDF eBooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm (PST) March 17, 2012.

PS: The link to the ebook purchase above and in the special offer text  are affiliate links, request you to use them in case you are planning to purchase this or any other books from Craft & Vision store.

Some more images after the jump …

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Challenges In Life

Himalayan IbexEvery morning when an Ibex wakes up in the Spiti valley, it has just one thing to worry about – to spend its life amidst the challenging and the most difficult terrain of the valley in an attempt to keep itself and its family safe from the predator in form of the Snowleopard.

Every morning when a Snowleopard wakes up in the Spiti valley, it has just one thing to worry about – how to strategise its life amidst the challenging and the most difficult terrain of the valley in an attempt to kill a Ibex and feed itself and its family.

This is exactly the same case with all of us also. We are like the ibex which wake up in morning and we race against time doing all that we can to be happy for self and also ensure our family and near and dear ones are safe and win over Life. But life on other hand has a different story defined for us everyday and we dont know when we see the good or bad side of it each day. Each of these is defined by what we all term as “Destiny”.  Everyone knows we cant win against life and all that we manage to do is to survive yet another day in a challenge against life.  The difficulties we face can be in form of personal life, professional life, and anything and everything but its we who have to wake up to a new morning and decide how we tackle it. Some of us are crippled against it and some of us well prepared for the battle. Eventually its just the “survival of fittest”.

Just hoping that the almighty or supreme power gives us all that we need to face the challenges offered by life and get us going.

Few more images after the break . . .

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2010 – A YEAR IN THE JOURNEY

PS: Firstly let me warn you that this will be a slightly longer post comprising of more number of images and words than what I usually post on my blog.

To begin with 2010 was a year of surprises for me both with regard to the number of last minute travels i did and the type of photography portfolio i built up. The year started with a small addition to my JTN website in form of “People & Places” gallery but i hardly got time to update the gallery with images on a frequent basis. This year was a mixture of dedicated Landscape, Travel, Wildlife photography and i attended couple of (non-nature/non-travel related) workshops which i really wanted to attend as i wanted to extend my portfolio there as well.  JTN website faced a serious web attack during mid 2010 after which it had to go under axe for some of its front end features which it is still not able to recover. But i promise all your JTN viewers a brand new and replenished JTN portal coming your way in 2011 – with more images, tutorials, photoessays, stories and the usual rants and cribs here and there about the state affairs of photography and photobusiness in our country.

So without further delay let me take you through the year 2010 and some images that i made during those month.

(Click on the more button to load the images . . . )

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