*** NEW PHOTO BLOG ***

I have installed a new blog on my photography website. Please update your bookmarks since I will not be updating this blog going forward. All my old entries have been moved over to the new blog and the new blog will have all the new entries going forward.

The new blog is much better with larger format photos, so go over there right now and check it out!

Here is the new blog URL – http://photographybysuman.com/blog/

Martha’s Vineyard – 5 Year Anniversary Celebration

Our 5 year anniversary is coming up in a week and since we can’t travel the weekend of our anniversary, we decided to take a trip before the date of our actual anniversary. We had planned to go to Spain, but when that didn’t look like it was going to happen, we decided to go to Martha’s Vineyard (MV). We had both heard a lot of great things about MV and it seemed like a quaint, romantic place to go celebrate our 5th year of marriage.

We were staying at the Winnetu resort, a beach side resort in Edgartown. After driving for 5 hours and taking the ferry in to Vineyard Haven, we took the shuttle to the resort, had dinner at the resort restaurant and planned out the activities for our stay.

I am usually not an early morning person, but since the resort was on the south east side of MV, I decided to wake up early the next morning and go to the beach behind the resort to try and watch the sunrise. I have to say that even though I had to wake up at 6am after traveling for the most part of the previous day and I was very tired, the whole experience was so worth it! I have tried to capture the beauty of the sunrise in my photos as best as I could, but my photography skills do not do full justice to the stunning scenery.

Click on each pic to see a larger version.

Here is a pic of of the path that I had to cross behind the resort to get to the beach. The sun was not out yet, but the clouds were starting to turn orange and purple.

I went and sat down by the ocean and looked up at the skies. The sun was just starting to rise,  but it was cloudy, so the sun’s rays were breaking through the clouds and it looked fantastic. A friend of mine said that when the sun’s rays break through the clouds like this, it’s called “God’s Fingers”.

Here is a closer shot of the sun’s rays breaking through the clouds. The clouds started turning golden orange.

This is my favorite capture from the trip. The sun started to come of the clouds and lit up the sand. It was great to just sit there and watch the scenery change slowly as the sun started rising.

As the sun kept rising, the blue sky turned golden orange color.

As I was taking pics, a seagull flew over my head and stood in front of me, almost as if it was watching the sunrise with me. I like this shot and the colors in it and how the rays shine through the clouds on to the ocean, making the water glisten.

After taking some pics and sitting on the beach absorbing it all in, I headed back to the room to wake Sharmila up. We ate breakfast, got ready and decided to head out to visit Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven. There was a wedding going on at the resort and I saw this car parked outside. The bride and groom probably used to it arrive at the resort. Love these kinds of old 60’s automobiles.

We rented a car (never rent a  car from Budget Rental in MV – bad service, cobwebs in the car!) and drove out to Edgartown. Here is a pic of the Edgartown lighthouse. I like the way this pic turned out, especially the reflection in the lake.

After walking around in Edgartown, we drove to Oak Bluffs, which is known for its Gingerbread houses. Some of these homes were built in the 1700’s! They were really small on the outside and very very colorful. Here is a pic of Sharmila standing on the porch of one of these tiny houses.

Here is one of me sitting next to a bright purple one!

After walking around Oak Bluffs, we drove west to Menemsha, which is a fishing villiage known for its spectacular sunsets. I took this shot of the fishing villiage with it’s rustic buildings and boats that I really like.

We then drove to Gay Head and I got another shot of the lighthouse there. We also met a group of 3 ladies who were super friendly and chatted with us for 20 minutes and one of the ladies from Vermont even gave us her number and asked us to call her when we decide to go visit! Super nice people and it was fun meeting them.

Ok, so I did not take this next picture, but I found it on Google images and decided to include it in my post for a reason. As we left the lighthouse to go to dinner, we saw a skunk right in front of us and had to change our course so as not to get sprayed. On our walk to our restaurant, we saw another skunk lurking by the roadside and saw yet another skunk  later on that night. Was it the same skunk following us around? It was just funny and I wish I had taken a picture of the actual skunk, but I wanted to put up this pic just to remind us of the skunk that would not leave us alone

The next day it poured all day due to a storm that hit the east coast, so we didn’t do much except have a relaxing breakfast, go back to our room and relax some more, pack and then head back home. It was a fun trip and a nice way to spend our 5 years of togetherness.

Coney Island

We started off the day by going over to Fatema’s parent’s place for Eid. It was really nice of them to invite us over to their place and we got to see her family, hang out with the kids and spend Eid with them. After that, we decided to head out to Brooklyn. Neither of us had ever been to Coney Island before and since it is such a popular Brooklyn landmark, we decided to drive there this afternoon. It was very chilly by the time we got there, but nonetheless, we walked on the boardwalk for some time and had Nathan’s famous hot dogs and did some people watching. A few pictures from the boardwalk:

Later on, we stopped by Rohi and Gitesh’s place near Prospect Park in Brooklyn and hung out at their place before driving back home. It has been a really busy weekend between going to South Street Seaport to driving out to the Hamptons yesterday and spending all day there and driving back the same day to going out to Coney Island and spending all day in Brooklyn today, but it was fun, we got to hang out and see some good friends and take some pictures while we were at it.

The Hamptons

Sharmila and I drove out to the Hamptons yesterday. Since it was a Saturday, there was hardly any traffic and we got there in plenty of time to drive through West Hampton, South Hampton, Bridge Hampton and East Hampton. South Hampton has “old money” and the mansions along the beach were AMAZING! Here is a picture of one of the mansions (the beach is behind this massive house):

After driving around these mansions in South Hampton, we drove to East Hampton and walked around the beach there. It was not crowded at all and it was really peaceful and nice for the two of us to leisurely stroll along the beach and we took a bunch of pictures:

Saw this little guy washed up on the sand and trying to crawl back in:

We took a long walk on the beach. It was perfect – the sun was setting, it was not too hot and not crowded at all. Along the way, Sharmila picked up all sorts of pebbles and shells that she wanted to bring home and kept stuffing them in to my jeans pockets. I love this shot of her walking on the sand:

After the beach, we went to downtown East Hampton to walk around the quaint streets lined with shops. Along the way, we saw this windmill and had to stop to take a picture of it:

We finally drove back home from the Hamptons to NJ around 11:30pm. It was a long day, but it was fun driving out to the Hamptons and spending a day looking at mansions and walking on the beach.

South Street Seaport

We drove in to the city to South Street Seaport and walked around the pier. Took this shot of the pier – the sky had an orange hue from all the lights:

Had dinner at a restaurant called the Pacific Grill and the manager of the restaurant happened to be the manager of Ragini, an Indian restaurant I used to frequent in NJ many years ago. Small world

Twin Tower Lights In Memory Of 9/11 Victims and Survivors

Sharmila and I walked to the boardwalk by our condo in Jersey City to view the Twin Tower lights that they had put up in memory of 9/11. A few pics from our walk:

Our prayers go out to the victims and their families.

Ami’s Family Photoshoot

Ami wanted us to do a family portrait session with her kids Dilan and Devan. Ami and I spent a lot of time discussing clothes and we decided to dress up the little guys in suits, but with a casual, relaxed look, hat and all. Kudos to Ami who spent hours looking for hats and finally found them. I’m glad she did because it completed the overall look that I was envisioning, which was sort of like a 70’s look of men in suits with hats mixed with a vintage feel. Here are some pics from the shoot:

We started the shoot in Hines Park. I LOVE this shot of Devan – we spent some time posing the little guy, but I love the way the shot turned out:

A pic of the 2 brothers:

Love this pic of mom with the kids:

Decided to use their height difference to create this pic of the younger one (Devan) standing on his brother’s back and reaching up to kiss his mom – got a candid shot of the 3 laughing while Devan was trying to balance on Dilan:

As evening approached, there were too many mosquitoes out, so we headed back to Ami’s place and completed the shoot there. The sun was setting and the clouds were amazing…took out my flashes and starting snapping away – got this shot of Dilan:

A playful shot of father and son:

By now the sun was setting and the clouds turned moody – took this shot towards the end of the shoot of Ami with little Devan – love the look of this image:

After the shoot, we all went out to dinner and hung out at Ami’s place for a while. Ami, your kids are really adorable and they are troopers for going through the entire photo shoot and not complaining much at all. Sharmila and I had a lot of fun hanging out with you guys and we hope you like the images.

This Thanksgiving, Let Us Give Pictures, Not Take Them

I love photographing people. I love being able to meet new people, see their lovely families, laugh and play with little kids, see a bride all dressed up on her special day, be amazed when I see a newborn baby all curled up in front of me…and it brings me joy to capture it all in my camera so that a family or a couple can have those special memories that will last them a lifetime.

Thanksgiving will be upon us soon and this Thanksgiving, I decided to use my photography skills to give back to the community in my own little way. Here is what I plan to do – I want to photograph someone who has never dreamed of having their portraits made. It could be:

• a child (or kids) without a family
• kids at a children’s hospital
• single moms who can’t afford to take a family portrait
• a poor couple who can’t afford an engagement session
• people with terminally ill family members
• a poor  elderly couple
• someone homeless

I will photograph this person (or people) for free and give them a set of high quality prints in an album that they can keep.

In addition, depending on who gets photographed, I will also involve local make up artists, hair dressers, clothing stores, etc to try and pitch in and provide their products or services for free for the shoot. So we will have the local community getting together to help someone from their community get photographs that they could otherwise never afford.

The only caveat is that the people being photographed should reside in Michigan or NYC/NJ area.

Why am I doing this? Because a photograph is timeless and it can bring happiness to someone. Imagine a single mom getting all made up for a day for a photo shoot with her kids. Or an elderly couple that can have a memento to pass on to their grandkids to remember them by. Or a terminally ill person who can live on through these pictures and bring solace to his or her family.

This is not about me or my photography. This is not about building my portfolio or about fancy lighting. It is about giving pictures, not taking them. It is about laughing and connecting with someone and serving for the pure sake of serving. It is about helping people see the beauty within and to help them appreciate what they have, even if they don’t have much at all.

But I can’t do all this without your help. Rather than pick people at random myself, I thought it would be nice to photograph people I get to know indirectly through my network of friends and family. I need you to nominate someone that you know. It could be someone you work with, it could be your neighbor or someone you go to church with. If you know someone that fits the bill, then please use the comments section below to contact me and tell me about them – who they are, how you know them and why I should photograph that person. If you don’t know anyone, then pass this on to someone that might know someone. I will read every comment and pick 2 entries that I connect with the most and co-ordinate with you to take their pictures a few weeks before Thanksgiving so that I can give them their free prints right around Thanksgiving.

Please help me spread the word by passing on this post to your family, friends and colleagues and requesting them to pass it on to others that they might know. You can copy and paste this link in an email to others or even make it your Facebook status or Twitter update for 24 hours:

http://wp.me/pkl1C-n6

Lastly, if you are reading this and you don’t know who I am, please visit my website to learn a little about myself and to see the kind of pictures we can help create for people in need:

www.photographybysuman.com

I hope to hear from you and with your help, I hope to connect with someone special this Thanksgiving.

Suman

The Many Faces Of Little Anish

We met up with Ajay and Shilpi in NJ yesterday to see their son Anish. He is such a cutie! He has the most amazing, large beautiful eyes. Here are a few random pics that I shot while we were walking around on the boardwalk.

Here’s one of him sulking:

I love this shot of him making a funny face:

His pensive face:

Look at those big eyes!

A shot of father and son:

Me chillin’ with the little man:

Yet another funny face:

He’s gonna be a heart breaker – watch out Ajay!

A Wedding At The Grosse Pointe War Memorial

Sharmila and I shot Patrick and Charisse’s engagement at the Book Cadillac in Feb of ‘09. They got married today at the GPWM and I was photographing their wedding, so here are some shots from the day.

The weather was a mix of sun and clouds throughout the day. They got really lucky as the clouds cleared and the sun came out right before the wedding was about to start:

Patrick getting ready – I like the moody lighting in the shot:

A shot of the bride’s wedding gown:

A fun shot of Patrick with his groomsmen:

A few fun shots of Charisse with her bridesmaids:

Love this shot of Clarisse by the garden:

Another bridal shot:

This little guy was running around all over the place and I had to get a shot of him – such a cute little kid:

It got really cloudy once the wedding ceremony was over, allowing me to play with some flash photography and create some romantic shots with a bit of dramatic flair – I love this veil shot:

Another fun shot, this time the groomsmen with the bride:

After the wedding, Sharmila and I met them at the MGM Grand for their afterparty. Took this shot in one of the lounges in the casino – love the blue lights:

Terrence Howard  (actor and singer  – he starred in Crash, Hustle and Flow, Iron Man) was staying at the MGM and we bumped in to him while doing the shoot. He was such a laid back guy and he was really nice enough to pose with Sharmila for a quick pic:

I was exhausted by the end of the night, but Patrick, Charisse and the bridal party were a really fun crowd and up for anything, which made it fun. Hope the 2 have an awesome time in Paris for their honeymoon.