This shoot had the elements of an adventure.
Shashank and Varsha got acquainted through his cousin sister. And before long, they fell in love. When I first met them back in March 2016, the first thing they told me was how disappointed they were with their engagement pictures and the poor lighting in the wedding hall. I liked the way they were concerned about lighting; something I dont get to hear often. Probably because Shashank himself loves photography. They wanted a couple session somewhere offbeat and since they both love travel, distance wasnt much of a concern. I proposed a few places and one of them fit our description of a “good” location. Since it was the rains, and the location on river banks, I suggested a location scout to Shashank who was more than willing for it. Traveler after all 🙂 I too offered to join in. It was probably the best thing we did as we first ended up in a no-camera zone and had to take a detour 45 minutes away to reach our actual location. That would have been such a waste of time on the actual day of the shoot.
A week later, we planned for the travel, schedules, props, dresses, food, backup for rain etc and set out. We reached quite on time and scouted the place again a bit looking for backdrops and light and ways to avoid the crowd, both of people and monkeys. Shashank I am sure you remember the monkey that thought the car’s radio antenna was edible and started nibbling on it :).
Varsha changed into her peach colored dress and we were off to shooting the day session. I started slow to get Shashank warm up to the camera as he mentioned how camera conscious he was. But I soon realized he wasnt that shy at all 🙂 We shot for the next 3 hours, walking from one place to another and trying different poses. By 2:00 pm it got quite hot and we were tired and hungry. Though my original plan was to shoot here right through the day and after sundown, I suggested if we can go to another location and cover the sunset. Varsha agreed instantly. And so we started for our next one. We parked the car under the shade of a tree and had our lunch of idli waada which we packed from the restaurant where we had our breakfast that morning. We were outside the car as Varsha was changing into her evening gown, and it started to pour like crazy. A few minutes later it stopped just as suddenly as it started. Pretty interesting day.
Having underestimated the traffic situation on the roads leading into the city, we were actually quite late for our second location. And to make it worse, the clouds had begun to thicken and it was sure looking ominous for a photoshoot. I and Ravi climbed up the slopes. I asked the couple to come slow and take their time as it about 10 mins to the top of the hill. The previous rains had washed away the paths that I had seen back in March and the place was lush green with a thick bush and shrubs. With no time to spare, we rushed up and scouted for the rock which I had climbed on my first visit. But it was nowhere to be seen. I had lost my way and it was getting darker by the minute. Our couple reached up and to my shock I saw Varsha walking barefoot. She was carrying only her heels and forgotten her walking shoes in the car. My fault, I should have told them about the terrain beforehand. We unpacked quickly and setup the cameras and lights, took a few pics of them with their favorite props which were so meticulously decorated and polished by Shashank’s father. The wine bottle was opened and a few more clicks with glasses and toast. I knew we had little time as I saw this enormous rain cloud pouring rain over the city below and moving fast over us. And as expected, it started to drizzle. Looking at the way the cloud was spreading, I was almost sure, it will rain on our right and left but we would be largely spared by its wrath. The cameras and lights were quickly hid under my Wetscott lighting umbrella 🙂 while we took shelter under a boulder. Leaving the three there, I decided to scout for a location where I can see the sunset as the backdrop. I was also sure the sun will come out of the clouds. 🙂 I spotted a large flat rock right over the edge of a cliff just a couple of minutes away, which was perfect and there was fair enough room to shoot. The clouds passed over us and the rain stopped a few minutes later; just as I had predicted. I returned and escorted the couple to my new found spot. Within a couple of minutes we were shooting again. And boy, what a shoot it was. We were rewarded with the sun coming out from behind the clouds and we shot for next 20 minutes with the sky going from blue to orange and deep red. Perfect complement to Varsha’s evening gown. We continued for another 10 minutes till we were shooting in near total darkness. With just a hint of the evening light in the sky, I decided to end the shoot with some interesting light painting. We were almost getting 5 second exposures and it was a bit difficult for the couple to hold steady over the rock in the wind. But they did it and we pulled it off 🙂
We packed up and started to walk back with Ravi leading the pack. He was confident where he was going and we believed in it. Mistake…! Half an hour later we realized we are going exactly in the opposite direction. I stopped him and taking reference of a building on the other side, we went back all the way and finally found a path that led down to the main road. Sitting in the car felt like heaven. And after a couple of glasses of wine, it indeed was…! What a fantastic way to end the day. Couldnt have been better 🙂
When I meet couples who want to do an outdoor couple session, I always try to tell them that it takes way more planning than just showing up on the morning and shooting loosely and going home. I really appreciate Varsha and Shashank who took the time to scout the location, planned so meticulously and even walked barefoot in the night 🙂 to get their memories recorded forever. Thanks guys, you are truly one of a kind.
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