During our firs meeting almost 8 months before their wedding, Apoorva had told me that she loves being photographed but Krishna is very camera conscious. I assured them that wont be an issue.
Apoorva spent her early years in Mandya, about 100 kilometers south west of Bangalore, living with her grand parents. They have a beautiful farm just a few minutes from the town and she wanted to have couple pictures taken at their farm.
Though we started early, the pathetic Mysore road traffic slowed us down quite a bit. We made a pit-stop for breakfast at Janapadaloka and back on the road in 20 minutes after some refreshing idlys, dosas and filter coffee. When we reached, it was almost mid day. The sun was harsh and directly overhead shooting had to be done in open shade. Mandya is a sugarcane growing region and it was the harvest season. Most of the farms had been cleared off the crop and we couldnt get an opportunity to shoot using the canes as an element. But a farm is a pretty big place for a couple shoot and there were plenty of places we shot and got some amazing pictures of our lovely couple. I do direct couples to get in a ‘pose’ and sometimes I just let them be themselves. I just give them their time after I have got them in position I want. This works very well and gets me the expressions which a ‘perfectly posed’ shot may not be able to.
We went on shooting and was so much fun, we almost lost sense of time. Hunger though doesnt give you much leeway. Since there was no arrangement of food, we drove all the way to Mandya for lunch and back in an hour. It was close to 4:00 when we reached the farm. The light was golden and most beautiful. I quickly got the couple in positions with a bubble maker they got along. Another couple of hours of fun filled shoot and it was time to head back to Bangalore.
Apoorva wanted a few pics of theirs in a cafe/restaurant kind of ambiance. There wasnt anything suitable except Cafe Coffee Day by the highway. But sadly do dont allow photography inside. But nevertheless, we did drop in a CCD as normal tourists and snapped a few pics of them with just the camera – no extra lights, flashes etc.
It was almost midnight by the time I reached home. I was tired but that was nothing compared to the super exciting shoot we pulled off.
Apoorva, Krishna – You guys are wonderful.. 🙂 And yes, Krishna I dont think you are camera-conscious at all.. infact you did awesome 🙂
Entrance to Apoorva’s farm in rural Mandya. About 100 kilometers from bangalore
Krishna against new growths of sugarcane. Krishna’s face had almost no light as he was in the shade. A silver reflector from camera left did the trick. Thogh he did have a hard time keeping his eyes open.
I saw these spikey shadows of these coconut leaves fall on the ground and got Apoorva to give me this pose.
Another one this time the couple and the shadows on them. Flash from left added the catch-light in their eyes
I got them in this spot and pose and then just left them alone for a while. Best way to get some amazing candids
While in the same pose, I just asked Apoorva to look straight at the camera.
This was mid day with the sun overhead. A good time for a perspective shot
Apooorva had this bubble maker she wanted to use as a fun prop.
It was almost 4:00 when we returned after lunch. The light was perfect gold and I quickly snapped this and a good number of other pics at this simple location. This is the poster for the shoot
They wanted one where they are dancing.
There was this streak of sunlight through trees. I used that as backlight and bounced some ambient light with a reflector
We had a few seconds of daylight left when we snapped this pic.
Apoorva + Krishna from The Picturist on Vimeo.
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