VOGUE it!

Summer's Play

Model: Kayla Cashman (my precious :P)

Make up: Lauren

Hair: Katherine

Photography: Pavithra (me)

About a year ago - April 22nd of 2011 - I photographed Kayla Cashman. I always think of her as my lucky charm because she was the first girl I shot an editorial with and we got it published: Heritage of Feathers in Racing Minds Magazine. It really feels like I have grown this past year. It is the first shot that got published in Vogue. Now I can say I got VOGUE-d! :] Here is the pictures and with the Vogue water mark (love!). 

Warrior Princess

So today was a scary day for me. Not only was this my first shoot with a horse it was also the first time someone got hurt at the photoshoot. Everything was going great. The makeup and hair was coming along wonderfully, the designer brought some gorgeous dresses for the gorgeous model to wear and the horse was getting brushed ready for the shoot. As we move to the grass area we hear wind picking up, still everything was fine. And we get to this perfect location - trees all around, the greenest grass you could ever find, everything looking gorgeous. The model gets ready to go on the horse and all of a sudden the wind picks up as she is climbing on the horse and the horse decides to throw her over. She flips over the front of the horse and lands on the grass. I think one of the bravest models I have ever seen. I learned a lot today - nothing is predictable and even if everything is perfect you have to take small steps. And people's safety is first and foremost! Super glad to share that the model is doing great and she only suffered a sprain on her hand. Thank you chauntelle for being so brave! Models like you really show what this Industry is all about - strength and beauty! 

Chicago

Push - Chicago
Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

This month my bro and I made a trip to Chicago and I must say I love Chicago! Its one of those places that have their things straight...other than the traffic. The downtown was beautiful with a gorgeous view from Sears tower or Willis as its called now. And it took my bro and I a while to realize that it was Lake Michigan not the Ocean. Coming from California we were so use to thinking a large body of water = ocean so we were pretty shocked with enormity of this lake! Anyways, I realized after I returned back to Cali that most of the shots from this trip was Street photography (which is basically trying to find the interaction of humans shot in a candid method or trying to show the "city" aspect). I found myself either looking for children enjoying the city just as much as the adults (like the shot above) or finding metal-jungle-feel of the city. Tell me what you think! :)

Chicago Downtown View
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/2500
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/2.5

Canal View - Chicago
Focal length: 35mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8.0

Silhouette of a viewer- Chicago
Focal length: 32mm
Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.0

The Train Station - Chicago
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 320
Aperture: f/11.0

Windows - Chicago
Focal length: 32mm
Shutter speed: 1/13
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/16

Jungle - Chicago
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/3200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/1.8

Green Pathway - Chicago
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/1.4

Lensbaby Composer

I just got the Lensbaby Composer from the $ i won for the Snapixel blur competition. I have to say Im in love with this lens.

Over the Hill

The Burning Sky

Part 2 was shot in the next couple days at Lake Hodges in Poway-San Diego. Its a serene lake with dry trees. I hope to shoot more there soon but here is the Lensbaby Composer tries. Enjoy!

Lake Hodges- August

Standing Still

Flooded

Grand Canyon North Rim

After visiting the Vermilion Cliffs-Cliff dwellers for a few hours, we headed towards the Grand Canyon North Rim. The North Rim is 100 feet higher than the South Rim. It was a breath taking view, especially since there were some passing thunderclouds that gave the place some beautiful colors. Personally, I am not a big fan of the Grand Canyon since we had seen the South Rim a few too many times. But I definitely enjoyed visiting the North Rim because of the wonderful Forest we go through to get to Grand Canyon, called the Kaibab National Forest. Because of this Forest and the fog surrounding the lush green trees, the place got a beautiful spring/summer look. Even the road looked beautiful with the different varieties of greens on either side. There were Deer roaming and Birds tweeting away at peace. The place looked like a Disney princess's Forest -just perfect. So here are some of the scenery's i was able to capture:

Kaibab National Forest

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 0.5secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

The grazing land

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

Road to Grand Canyon

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/9

Deer lookout

Focal length: 210mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

Deer grazing

Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

North Rim Close-up

Focal length: 65mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/7.1

Grand Canyon storm

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/1600
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

Enjoy! :)

Cliff Dwellers

Cliff Dwellers

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

Located at Navajo Tribal land is a White settlement based on the barren land. These structures provided a cool shelter with the help of unique shaped boulders at the foot of the Vermillion Cliffs. According to the Arizona travel website, these unique White settlers used such rocks to adjust to the harsh weather and barren land. Here are some pictures of the quick stop i made at this location:

Native at the house

Focal length: 24
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

Boulder Balance

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/1000
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

Unusual Rock

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/1000
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

Cliff side

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/1000
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/20

Monument Valley

Monument Valley

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 0.5secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

A scene seen in many Wild West movies, Monument valley lies in the Navajo Indian reservation on the Utah and Arizona border. We visited Monument Valley around four o'clock, after seeing Antelope Valley. Its about a 3 hour drive and goes through flat desert where all u have is the road in front of you and nothing else on either side. And then when you get to the Monument Valley you see these huge rock formations on either side. These buttes each have different formations and during sunset plays with light and shadow. This place is a definite must see and best for sunrise or sunset. Monument Valley pics:

Hand in Hand

Focal length: 45mm
Shutter speed: 1/3
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

After Sunset

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 0.8secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

Dusk at the Valley

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 30.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

Antelope Canyon at Navajo Nation

Upper Antelope Canyon Colors

Focal length: 47mm
Shutter speed: 3.2secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

The narrow canyon slots in Antelope Canyon, near Page Arizona, offers to the travelers and photographers the unique opportunity to enter the Navajo Land and experience an incredible view of the colorful sand formations with its swirls and waves. Antelope Canyon is a breathtaking place to see in summer when the beams of light pierces the darkness of the canyon slots at noon. This canyon, I have noticed recently, is crowded with tourists and photographers all trying to capture scenes of the canyon. Maybe its the digital world and the use of Internet that these remote locations have become famous for people to travel to. With digital cameras to share pictures with family and friends and Internet photo sharing websites like Flickr or Picasa, these destinations have become popular for tourists to travel too and share the same vision as the initial discoverers. Due to the timing on the sun, there is only a short amount of time in which there is light into the canyons and this is the time when you find the most crowd in these areas. This is my second visit to this canyon but first time with my Canon 5D. Its great to visit over and over because the canyon never has the same lighting or the shapes due to weather conditions being different from the day before or past. I traveled to Antelope Canyon for the Memorial day weekend 2009, having enough time to cover Zion National Park, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Monument Park, Vermilion Cliffs- Cliff Dwellers, and North Rim Grand Canyon. It was a big trip for a three day weekend but since some where time based we prepared ourselves for the next right away. I definitely recommend all these places to be visited if you ever travel to Antelope Canyon. Everything is close by so its best to set aside couple of days for it. So here are some shots from Antelope and I will post the rest according to each post.

Canyon Welcome beam

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/4
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Canyon Main

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 2.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Subtle Colors

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 0.5secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

George Washington in the Canyon

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 4.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Monument Sunset on the Sandstone

Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/3
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Sunlight beam

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 3.2secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Sun spotlight

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 4.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

Looking up in the Canyon

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 2.5secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4

HDR trial of the Canyons

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 3 different for HDR
ISO: 100
Aperture: 3 different for HDR

Pockets in the Canyon

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 6.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

Candle light Pathway

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 4.0secs
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/20

Enjoy! and PEACE not WAR!

Horseshoe Bend

The Horseshoe Bend
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/10

Located in the outskirts of Page, Arizona, Horseshoe Bend has become a popular hike for tourists. I myself have been there twice already and this time with my Canon 5D. Horseshoe Bend is called such because of its river pathway following a bend like an impression left by a horse's shoe. The river that runs this path is the Colorado river. There are no rails or barricades at the viewpoint so its definitely a scary place for those who fear height. Of course it takes brave photographers ;) to take a picture of this overlook. Anyway, I love this spot for its beautiful rock formation as well as the colors of the river traveling this path. These pictures are taken on my last trip to Antelope Canyon Navajo Preservation during spring, where the sun is at its best and there are no storms in the path. I tried my first few trials with HDR photography, High dynamic range imaging. HDR with tone mapping is a form of photography to create different dynamic ranges with my camera's AEB setting to bring out all the ranges of exposures. I used different tools, like photomatix (which puts a watermark) and Jaspers DRIMaker aligning tool (which aligns the images with out tone mapping) to create my amateur HDR trials. HDR is a hard technique to master. I hope my next few tries are better. Check out my trials and comment! thanks! :)

Relaxed Feet
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Campsite at the bottom
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/6.3

Rugged Rock

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/80
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Horseshoe Overlook
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Overcast Bend
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/25
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/18

Photomatix HDR trial
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 3 different
ISO: 100
Aperture: 3 different

Jaspers DRIMaker aligning tool HDR trial
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 3 different
ISO: 100
Aperture: 3 different

takecarez!