Pavithra's Photography

Feb 14, 2010

Happy VDay!

Hope you guys are having a blast with your loved ones! I am spending my time with my three loves: mom, puppy and photography. So here is a shot from today. Enjoy! and Happy Valentine's Day!

Jan 31, 2010

Self Portrait - Month January

Watching the World pass by
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/60
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/1.8

From my post on 10 goals for 2010, you would have read that I wanted to do some self portraits as a goal for this year. I set a simple goal of attempting 12 self portraits -one for each month so its easy to stick to and get some good results. It definitely isn't as big as the 365/ 52 pics goals that people usually set, but I feel that if i set that big of a goal I would be redundant with ideas and go crazy.
The idea for this picture had been going through my head for a while but I finally got the guts and motivation to take it. I took this at my lovely house with my lovely dogs- Place I Love. I interpret this photo as looking out at the world and watching time pass by- just the phase I'm going through. So enjoy and look forward to your interpretation! :)

Jan 15, 2010

10 Goals for the Year 2010

After doing a Year highlight of 2009 for the first post of this year I have kept wanting to do this post- A post of Goals for this year. here are the top 10 i came up with and its all related to photography!

1. First, Learn Better Photography. I want to awe you guys with each picture I upload, just like the ones I get awed! Check out my favs on my flickr.

2. Learn Photoshop. Although I'm not a big fan of manipulating photos and haven't used it in any of my pictures so far, I really would like to learn it well. The last time I really used it was when I was a photojournalist for my school newspaper.

3. Build a good Portfolio. Right now I have a very small portfolio and its very basic but this next few months, I would like to schedule some models and photograph some ideas. So if your around SoCal (southern California, USA) area and would like to be my model so you can build your portfolio and I can build mine, email me so we can schedule a date: meerasphotography@gmail.com.

4. Launch a Website! This one is actually a biggie! I want to start a website so you don't have to come to my blog and scroll to see the pictures everytime. A better presentation of my work. :)

5. Create self-portraits- This is just a year goal in general. I don't think I have the patience to do the 365 or 52 project so just going to do 12 for each month. So decided to this simple version so its easier for me to stick to the goal! :)

6. Work with studio equipments. Its definitely something I really want to get my hands on- Studio lighting with Umbrellas and Soft boxes.

7. Do more Darkroom. I love film photography and with the recent vintage collection I would really like to develop and print my own film. Ive lost touch...so need to get back to it!

8. Get Clients. This basically means that I'm looking for a job. :)

9. Travel more. I love to see new places and explore. This year Im going to jump on all the opportunities to travel. yeah...cant wait!

10. Reach out to more people. I'm really thankful for the few that stop by and comment. It really does keep me going. So now the goal is to reach out to more people! If your one of those who stop by please leave comments. Thanks in advance! :)

Jan 12, 2010

A Vintage Love

I have had a recent love for Vintage Cameras. Call me crazy for going backwards in time but the old dust on the camera is something I find sweet and intriguing. Its fun to see what people worked with back then and see how all they had to work with was light and shutter speed based on the winding lever/crank camera. No Batteries, No Presets, and No AUTOMATIC MODE! Crazies!

Rolleiflex TLR Automat Model 3

Focal length: 75mm
Shutter speed: 1 - 1/500 sec
Aperture: f/22- f/3.5

So I have been using 120 medium format film (color and b&w), but still have to get it developed which is a process on its own since there aren't much film developers around. And even if they are around, its too expensive. But it has been a fun way to explore and actually learn the basic concepts of Photography, which is lost in these days cameras!

Yasica A TLR
Focal length: 80mm
Shutter speed: 1 - 1/500 sec & Bulb
Aperture: f/22- f/3.5

A Little about the cameras:
The Rolleiflex Automat TLR Camera was made sometime between October 1945 to September 1949. The Focal length is set at 75mm, but a person can move closer or further from the subject as they like. The Shutter speed moves from 1 to 1/500 secs and the Aperture range is f/22- f/3.5. The camera has Franke & Heidecke - compur-rapid controls with Zeiss Jena Tessar taking lens.
The Yashica A TLR medium format camera was made from 1958 until 1969. It has Yashikor lens. It has limited shutter speed and the film has to be advanced manually. As stated below the picture: Focal length is set at 80mm, Shutter speed: 1 - 1/500 sec with a bulb mode setting, and the Aperture moves from f/22 to f/3.5.

Carnation <3

Jan 4, 2010

This Holiday

This holiday- Winter 09-10, my fam, the dogs and I headed to the famous national park: Yosemite! We love this place because its close by to our town and the views are spectacular. Its definitely a winter wonderland with all the snow on the beautiful mountains. Being in SoCal we don't get snowed in like the east coast. Instead we have to head for highlands like Yosemite Mountains to get the snow action. This place is also dog-friendly, which is rare to find among the national parks. So our dogs, Lotus(Maltese) and Amigo(Beagle), go on all hikes with us and love to jump in the snow. Its definitely a fun family trip for us.
So enuf said...here are some pictures from this trip. There was definitely less snow than last year (less rain this year) and so you can see lot of difference in my pictures from last December and I def did not own a Canon classic 5D back then :P - Yosemite Winter 08-09.