Some photography talk with fujifilm ...



Today I would talk about how the food reaches the audience through a blog like this one. Of course the written word but the visual appeal comes through the pictures and that is the reason I decided to attend this bloggers meet hosted by fujifilm.

Honestly speaking, I started writing this blog and the others that I do, without thinking of pictures. I have no pictures in my initial posts and then I graduated to cellphone pictures. But that was the time I never thought of having an audience like you all. I was just sharing my recipes with friends and family on something called a blog and never imagined at that time that a blog can have a wider reach.

I lot has changed since then. I found all of you who read my blog, communicate with me, and find my food doable. My pictures definitely communicate as much as my words here, more in the recent times. And if someone is talking about cameras and photography, I must lend my ear to it. And that's what I did last Wednesday. I want my food pictures to be unpretentious and yet communicative. Any help with improving on this aspect will be taken up with gratitude. And yes, I got to hear an Ace photographer who reassured my thoughts on this.

The meet was to start from 3 PM but somehow, fujifilm and their team looked a tad laid back.  An announcement was done around 3.30 to start the meet but it actually started at 4 PM. The introduction to the brand, the X series of cameras, the fujinano lenses and how fujifilm has been in the market since very long ago was not boring as I learned a lot of trivia. Like the world's first digital camera was launched by fujifilm way back in 1988 and was called Fujix DS1-P. The camera was a hefty one, almost like a desktop computer, no wonder.

And yes, I remembered a lot of this trivia and when they quizzed us about all this, I answered a won a couple of T shirts. Winning something is always a nice feeling.

Rajneesh Kapoor, the stand up comedian was invited to entertain bloggers and I liked the idea as he kept us in splits as long as he performed. He aptly chose to poke fun on how people comment of Twitter and how they change topic to something else and finally someone comes with a spam message leading you to a porn site. Bloggers so relate to it, spam mails and messages were no more annoying that day. I know I will remember his performance when ever I clean my spam folder.

The real attraction for me, in this meet was the talk by celebrity photographer Hemant Sud. I loved it when he told us to master all manual modes of your camera and then forget it, come back to auto, as the cameras of today make you hassle free. There would be a few situations where you need to operate your camera in manual mode but most of the daylight conditions are quite good for using auto mode as well.

Hemant Sud reviewed one of the fujifilm point and shoot camera (fujifilm X-10) with all of us, showed us the results and talked about how the equipment is important, and so is light. While most photographers are pretentious about the 'eye' and the 'viewpoint', he nonchalantly said the camera, the lenses and the 'eye' behind the lens are all equally important.

He talked about aesthetics and requested us bloggers to communicate it to the world that aesthetics in photography is above all. The technical stuff can be taken care of when the aesthetics are in place. The picture would draw your attention only when it is aesthetically appealing. So right. Then he said there are no rules in photography, you can always experiment with new things, a creative freedom can be enjoyed while sticking to aesthetics. I was reminded of an article by Amitav Ghosh when he talks of aesthetics in literature. One should definitely be drawn towards a creation, as visually obvious as a photograph to understand what it communicates.

Did I forget to tell you all a film actress was invited to add glamour to the meet? Minisha Lamba, who is the face of fujifilm, arrived and talked (read blabbered) about forgettable things.

Fujifilm had displayed the X range of cameras there, these were all open to be tried. A photography zone was set up with props and lighting and a few people tried their mirror less cameras and the others. They have a good range of DSLR cameras with fixed lenses (up to 600 mm) and that is interesting with it's portability.

So hopefully my pictures will be more communicative and aesthetically appealing for you all. My aim always is to make the healthy eating look doable and pleasurable. I am glad you all try my recipes and find them good, my faith in healthy food being tasty traverses to you through this blog. May be my pictures in future would do it more efficiently.

Cheers.

Comments

  1. thats a very good post sangeeta... somewhere i can say that when we start our blogs we don't keep the pics in mind... it is more of sharing the recipes, than clicking really good & appealing pics. when i started, i would also take pics by mobile and some of posts even today have these pics... some posts do not have pics at all. later i started realizing how much photography is important and people eat through their eyes first, more so in a medium like the internet which is not three dimensional. i click all my pics in manual modes... have got so much hang of it by now and it gives me a lot of control which is not possible with auto mode. still i keep on learning something or the other about photography and this learning phase never ends.

    and winning anything always is good :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dassana.
      I understand what you mean by having control over the instrument and it's results when you click on manual mode, I also do that sometimes when the light is adverse or there is problem in focusing due to many objects in a layered field. But Auto gives me more hassle free clicking as I have not yet tried styling and well laid out photography. I just take my plate or serving bowl to a well lit area in my house when the food is served for eating and click a few shots. That's it.
      Having said that, I want to graduate to styling and proper photography one day :-)

      Delete
  2. Thank you for the wrap on the event Sangeeta. I feel so much better learning from you as my Fujifilm experience is quite forgettable! You know this is all stuff that I connect with ... the auto mode, modern day SLRs and aesthetics. I could talk about this till the cows come home ... and still have more to say! The session played through my mind like a film, the humour, the 'gyaan' ... and the blabbering!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I missed you there Deeba. I would love to hear you talking on the same subject some day. Hopefully :-)
      You know that you are inspiring for a lot of people like me...

      Delete
  3. I love anything and everything that has to do with photography!

    ps: Truly hate it whenever celebrities are brought in to endorse products that are so not remotely related to what they do for a living.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What an interesting reading experience my friend :D
    Thank you!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment