*bliss – Seshu's Wedding Photography [www.seshu.net]

Could You Please Help Vinay?

It's 4.45 in the morning and I can't sleep much. It's not the humidity or the persistent noise of the air-conditioner. It's random thoughts that I figure I should simply post here.

This is supposed to be a blog about my wedding photography, but I can't limit it to that anymore. You see I believe all people are connected together, in various degrees. So what happens to your cousin's father-in-law's second brother does trickle down and affect me and you in some impercitible way. I am not sure where I got that from, but perhaps I am a sentimentalist. I gety misty-eyed when I watch the ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where families with just about nothing left to their name are given a second chance in a new home. I am going out on a limb here to say that I have never been for the war in Iraq, but I have always been for the warriors, our soldiers. So, when I read about a dad or mom who after their long tour-of-duty surprises their kid at school, I am a sap; I bawl. But what gets me most is when I hear about a 20-year old soldier with full of promise, is no more because of where she or he was. How can one not be filled with sadness when you are told something like that?

Closer to home, there is my cousin Vinay. A doctor at 27 and about to start a grueling residency program in Orthopedics, Vinay was recently diagnosed with leukemia. To my mind, it simply doesn't compute. Vinay, even till about last week, and well past four rounds of chemotherapy, was hitting the gym on a regular basis. He is athletic, playing baseball and basketball with the kind of vigor and enthusiasm that often astounded me. He also recently married Rashmi, a So-Cal gal also on the rise as a medical doctor. I had a part in introducing the two of them several years ago and I was thrilled that Vinay had asked Rashmi to marry him. When you look at them in person or pictures, you just know that they are meant to be together.

Well, despite the chemo sessions which are none too pleasant with a slew of side effects, Vinay's leukemia has returned. His only option now is a bone marrow transplant. I posted about this on my other blog, Tiffinbox, but I would like to urge you here (especially if you are South Asian) to register to be a volunteer bone marrow donor so that you can save a life.

There is some urgency to the matter. We need to find a donor within the next six weeks. Could you please help me?

To find out more please visit Help Vinay, a blog being published by Vinay's immediate family. If there is an upcoming donor drive near a city you live in, could you please take the time to go and register yourself? It's a painless procedure of filling in some forms and using a swab to take a sample of your saliva from the inside of your mouth.

Other blogs that have addressed this are SAJAForum, Sepia Mutiny and UberDesi.

Please step up!

Like Changes? Change Is Good!

I do like change, especially if it is going to make it easier on my clients. Lots of cool changes are afoot. First off, if you aren't viewing this blog via a RSS reader, you will notice that the layout of the blog has changed. This is so that you get to the content of the site quickly. Let me know what you think of it.

The fabulous Anne Ruthmann (whom I haven't met yet, but hope to soon) pointed out to me that one couldn't easily leave a comment here. So, starting now all you will have to do is to enter your email address and configure a pseudo-scrambled set of letters that tells the system this blog runs on that you are a real human being, before your comment should appear on the site. I value your feedback and look forward to hearing from you ... often!

Next up is something very dear to my heart. For the past six months almost, I have been working with a terrific designer to help me brand my business around my name. I'll go into why I am making the business name change in another post, but Brock Martin has patiently listened to my ideas and come up with a logo treatment that I think says a lot about the kind of clients I have had the pleasure serving in the past and hope to connect with in the future. Brock is also beginning to work on the new website that will live here - http://www.seshu.net. So, yeah, bookmark it and keep visiting. I promise to update you when things start to roll.

So, you are saying, "where is this new logo?" Well here it is:

Remember, you can now more easily leave your comments. So please feel free to do so!

Anjali + Eric, An E-Session

Anjali and Eric are getting married in July and I am honored that they have chosen me to photograph their wedding. When we met several months back Anjali confided in me that she didn't like being photographed and that she felt a little self-conscious. I said, "no problem - let's set a date to meet where you will see how easy I am to work with and you and Eric will soon just be yourselves."

So, Saturday morning, I drove up to Boston for an appointment with a prospective client and then in the afternoon I met up with Anjali and Eric and their two bubbly dogs, Lucky and Scooter Lucas.

Anjali and Eric are simply a lot of fun to be around. I had to do very little in terms of giving them any directions. I prefer watching, waiting and capturing moments as they evolve in front me anyway, so it all worked out beautifully. They laughed and kidded each other around so much. And I could tell that they were into the photo session, even braving the incessant misty rain that came down all day. I can't wait to photograph their wedding!

And so here are the images from that quick shoot. Please feel free to post your comments below!

(Soon to be) Published In People Magazine

I entered the WPJA 2006 Winter photo contest and didn't hear from anyone about it. Just as soon as I had uploaded the images, I too forgot about tracking it.

Then two days ago, out of the blue, a writer for People magazine called me up and said that the magazine was interested in licensing an image of mine she had seen on the WPJA site. I sat there in disbelief, wondering if this was one of my friends playing a gag on me. But I checked with some other photographers and sure enough they too had been approached to submit their images for publication in a special Weddings Issue to be released in June.

Well, the image she was interested in placed 19th in the contest. And thanks to David Roberts, who runs WPJA, the image you see below will appear in People magazine. I'll update this post with a specific date, when I find out.

Am I excited? Ooooooh, yeah! :~) I have to say this as well – I captured this moment when shooting with Jane Shauck, a terrific wedding photographer also based in Connecticut. Jane had me second-shoot and I want to publicly thank her for the opportunity.

"How Many Photographs Do You Take?"

Last week I met with a beautiful couple who are still considering my services. One of the questions the father of the bride asked me was, "How many photographs do you take?"

It's a difficult question to answer because there are so many factors involved – how many events, how many guests, how many locations but perhaps most importantly, how much access will I have to document the entire wedding. I'll be honest with you; I want it all. I want to be there from the beginning till the time my clients start to pack up after the reception. I feel there are images to be made at all moments.

Then I saw this on What the Duck, my favorite online comic strip:

Want to know more about my services, what I provide and how I provide it? Send me an email or call me. I am happy to talk to you.

Dialogue: The First Step To Photographing Ethnic Weddings

WedPix magazine, a publication of the Wedding Photojournalists Association (or WPJA) of which I am a member, recently published an article about photographing ethnic weddings. As a specialist in documenting ethnic weddings, especially Indian weddings, I was interviewed for the article. Read it here.

Having an open, two-way dialogue from the moment a client calls me to book their wedding date till the moment an album is pressed into their hands, is crucial. I understand that there is quite a bit of jargon associated with the wedding industry and in wedding photography in particular. There are varying print sizes, a plethora of album manufacturers and then there are the actual details of the wedding that are so different from one family to the next.

When two people communicate – with one person expressing their expectations and the other assuring them that those expectations will be met with the highest of quality standards in mind – beautiful things happen. Here is how it works with me; potential client emails me, I call her back within 24 hours, we talk about the wedding day, she or her fiancé then emails me back with more details, I email a guide to my portfolios and information about any a la carté items they may wish to order, the clients then come back to me with a list of their expectations and product options, I then craft a custom package for them, the client approves it and sends me a retainer check to hold their day. Between emails, of course, I readily use the phone to answer questions, make changes to their contract or simply listen to what is going on in the client's life as they plan their wedding.

My goal from the very beginning is to make things simple to understand and appreciate. I do that by asking questions and then listening to what my clients have to say. Some are eager to volunteer a lot of information (which is great) and some others are reserved and wish to meet me in person before giving me a better idea of their wedding plans. I keep in mind the comfort level of my clients first and foremost. From my perspective, the more information I have earlier in the process, the easier it becomes for me to create more meaningful images for my clients.

So, dialogue isn't always talking, it's also listening and responding to what one hears. And it's the quality of that response that makes or breaks a professional photography studio.

Posting Personal Pictures

I admit I have been a little shy about posting personal, that is family, photographs here. They are a greater part of my life than I could ever imagine and I love photographing them. My wife, Sangeetha and my son, Rohan are now so used to seeing me work at home that they don't bat an eye lid when the flash goes off (I almost always bounce the flash, and never point it directly at people – I'll explain why in a future post).

So, from time to time, I'll post images here that are very close to my heart. They may have little or nothing to do with wedding photography, but will for the most part be still unposed (which everyone loves). It'll give you a glimpse into my life and let you know a little bit more about me!

Are Wedding Photographers Overpaid? (Pssst ... No!)

In one of the professional wedding photographer forums I belong to I noticed a particular thread that begged the question if wedding photography was an overpaid job. In fact one other photographer in that thread cited an article written by Chris Pummer for CBS MarketWatch that pegged wedding photography as the 10th most overpaid job, after airline pilots. [Granted the article is nearly four years old now]

I'll let airline pilots fend for themselves, but I am quite sure Mr. Pummer hasn't the foggiest idea about what goes on at a wedding. And I am willing to bet he hasn't spent any time with a wedding photographer.

I was more than a bit apalled and a wee bit surprised to see wedding photography in that list at all. Fact is, while it is a joy and real blessing to be photographing a wedding, the work isn't even remotely complete when the guests go home. That's when the second half of the job I have committed myself to really begins; the post-production of all the images from the wedding into an album.

A typical wedding for me begins at about 8 in the morning and the reception ends at about 12.30 a.m. The first thing I do when I get back is to transfer all the images off of my memory cards and into my computer. The editing process is next. I take a quick look-through all of the images. Then I choose to leave in the images that work. Those that don't include moments when people's eyes are either closed or crossed. Out of focus images [yes, even the best have those in the bag] get pitched. The next phase is enhancing those images that will presented to my clients. A set of these are uploaded to a website for their preview and a second set gets burned to a DVD archive for safe-keeping.

When the print orders or the image choices for the album starts coming in, there is more time spent on a second round of color tweaks and converting some to black & white. But the bulk of the time in this third phase is designing the layout of the final album. After several revisions, in collaboration with my clients, the album is sent to print and bind. After it is received from the album manufacturer, the album is checked for quality and then shipped to my clients via FedEx.

From the looks of it, Mr. Pummer's job may be the most overpaid job of all.

Amie + Jim

Several weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Amie and Jim in my back yard. Quite literally. They were such good sports about getting outdoors despite the frigid conditions. And the slideshow below will leave you with little doubt that they are both madly in love with each other.

I had met Amie before since she works with my wife. Jim and I had traded phone calls until I suggested they just drive down for a quick meet-n-greet and, of course, a photo session. How could I resist, right? They came home and we hit it off right away. They aren't getting married till October 2009, but they still wanted to see what kind of work I produce and who I was as a person. I really enjoyed their visit and hope to be photographing their wedding.

Well, here it is. Check it out. The slideshow.

777: Is This A Plane Or Your Date With Destiny?

No, it's not the newest Boeing jumbo jet. That's July 7th, 2007 alright. And, it's all the buzz because it falls on a Saturday. How many of you are getting married on that day? Com'on fess up. It's a day made for guys who can't remember dates right? Well, apparently both men and women are really vying to get married on that date. A New York Times article suggests that there are so many tying the knot on 7/7/7 that there is a shortage of vendors such as make up artists and, gosh, photographers.

Well, if you are still working on your plans for that day, give me a call. As of today, I am available but that may not be the case for too long.