Flowers and Light - Tulips

I took these still life photos when we first moved into our place. I was testing the light in different rooms and I was pleasantly surprised when I found my dining room to have the kind of light I needed. It's a giant soft box really with three (THREE!) walls that are completely bare to bounce off light coming in from the windows. 

It's now turned into my studio where I take on product & food photography projects. However, to have to take down the studio and shift the dining table back into its place becomes a daily ordeal. So if I have two shoots in a row, my husband and I opt to dinner on the living room floor. It's not that bad...it's kind of like having a picnic on the regular! :P

So I'm curious to know, what does your photo set up look like?

Rosy Instaxes

Is it silly that I'm just now posting these images that were taken in February? Okay maybe a little bit but I finally organized and streamlined my process for editing photos. Teaching myself Lightroom a couple of years ago seemed okay at the time but quite disastrous once I found out how to actually organize files using catalogs! Gone are the days of using one catalog for every single shoot. LOL.

I almost always use Lightroom now and Photoshop only if there's something extra I need to photoshop out of an image. Why? Because...

• you can edit photos in batches
• you can use a  preset for one photos and use the same edits for other images
• you can export images in batches with a numerical order (for example: if I wanted to save these two photos, I simply export them and LR automatically numbers them in order of export)

What about you? What editing software do you use and how do you organize your files?

Cabo Snapshots

I had the pleasure of traveling with my mum to Cabo this past February. Most of it was work related but I did have a few hours to lounge around the beach and most importantly take pictures. I didn't bring very many cameras with me-just my instax and diana. I wanted to travel light and take pictures using different mediums--since I usually wouldn't otherwise.

For starters, there is THIS (^^) gorgeous view. I mean, seriously right? How much more blue can the water get? See more proof here and here. Though, to be honest, I quite prefer the soft California sand. Cabo is beautiful and all but there were so many scratches (re: exfoliation) on my legs after a dip in this side of the ocean.

And then of course, there are some double exposures. I got lucky the last few times because I definitely struggled to get these shots (lots of wasted film you don't see here). I think the sky needs to be a little overcast and not blue to get that perfect exposure. Still really digging these ethereal ones though.

One of the two afternoons while I was walking around, I got to meet Anne-Sophie, a yoga instructor from San Francisco. I asked if I could take a photo of her doing yoga and she was kind enough to let me snap a few. We eventually got to talking about traveling and immediately struck up a friendship. Don't you love when that happens?

Well, that was fun! In an ideal world, I would have loved to explore more of Cabo. Definitely hope to next time. :) Now your turn! What cameras do you like to take on a trip? Instant? Film? Digital?

Instax Mini 90

When I first heard about the Instax Mini 90, I immediately shared the link with all my photo buddies. One of my friends, Jolie, mentioned that she would be in Japan at the exact time that the camera came out!! (it would take a few months for it to come out in the U.S). A huge thanks to Jolie for picking this up on your trip to Japan earlier this year! 

A few features that are new and exciting about this camera:

First// The Macro feature allows you to get close-up detail shots of say something like these flowers below. You can get crisp shots straight from the setting. Previously, you'd have to use this small attachment thing that was easy to lose and it was all sorts of unpredictable. Not so much anymore! This feature is great for stills and will definitely be using this the most.

Second// The double exposure feature allows you to layer two images on top of each other to get an effect like this. *Tip: If you want to take photos like this, (First) shoot the silhouette you want against something that's back-lit like a clear sky and (Second) take a photo of whatever pattern you want to fill within the silhouette.* Also do you see that black dot in the third photo? It's the sun! So don't shoot with the sun in background. :)



Third// Manual settings give more flexibility for exposure. You have control over taking lighter or darker photos and if you want the flash off or not. Previously you could only do the former and the flash was just hit or miss. As you can see with the beach pictures, I overexposed on one of them, then I did a normal photo and then I did a dark photo.

Anyone else use Instax cameras? Isn't it so much fun? Have any questions? Hope you have a great week ahead!

More instax shots here. Follow me on Instagram to see more instax adventures.

Dahlia Instaxes

Do you call the film used in Instax cameras "instaxes" or "polaroids"? I'm not sure which one to call them but for the past year I've referred to them as the former. Recently, I've acquired a lot of photo props that I'm just too excited about. Pictured above is a tiny porcelain vase. I wasn't expecting it to be so tiny but it's been quite the object of my affection.

I used the macro attachment on top of the camera to get some close shots of the dahlia. They worked extraordinarily well for the calla lilies but I've been having trouble focusing on them with these. I think I need to continue practicing and shooting in better light maybe?

Rainbow Instaxes

During my trip to San Diego a couple of months ago, I brought along my Instax but realized I only had 1 more film left! Luckily there was a UO closeby that had these rainbow instaxes in stock.

I enjoyed the element of surprise of not knowing which color would start and/or come next. It was nice to see all the pool photos come out with the blue border, though a contrasted color would have also looked awesome too. Not pictured is a yellow-->green instax which I gave to my friend before I took these photos. It essentially sums up a beautiful sun-filled summer. I'm content with all the Vitamin D these past few months had to offer. :)

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Big Sur Instaxes

SO, as simple as the Instax can get, it's still possible to use the wrong settings! AH! It's really my misunderstanding really. I've read the manual a long time ago and foolishly I thought the "L" meant landscape. Once I saw the results, I totally remembered that "L" meant make the image lighter not on landscape mode. I redid the portrait instaxes with the mountain symbol and was finally happy with the results and my camera settings.

During our road trip, we were so excited to stop at Big Sur coast but later realized that in all this excitement, we forgot to pack snacks and a lunch!! Restaurants were scarce and our appetite was huge. After a couple of hours, we finally saw a restaurant with a live band singing to Johnny Cash as we sat eating (veggie) burgers overlooking these beautiful landscapes.

After experiencing this road trip, it's funny to think that we were almost considering flying instead. I'm SO glad we drove because it gave us the bonding time that I very much appreciated. Props to Leena for driving the ENTIRE freaking time. 

Instaxes From A Boat Ride

A couple of weekends ago, we went on a boat ride to celebrate one of our friend's birthday. It was a such a great way to celebrate, albeit it was a little overcast. I wasn't prepared for the cold and ended up picking up a light pink-ish scarf prior to getting on the boat. I'm so glad I did because (a)it kept me warm and (b) it serves as a great contrasted backdrop for these instaxes ;)






In hindsight, I noticed that once the sun was setting, the colors on the Instax were getting bluer and bluer. I'm not digging the blue THAT much so I'll keep a note to take photos with this camera only during the day.

Related: More instax adventures.

The Family Of Collections

Aren't collections awesome? Whether they're physical or digital sets, having recurring ideas through  photos is one of the best ways of identifying which themes to play with and which themes are more resonant than others. Currently, I have 3 recurring themes that I'd like to explore more often:

All photos taken through Instagram - @tanagandhi

1// Balloons - These photographs were actually all taken in front of the same parking lot on different weekends. It's in front of a furniture store that seemed endlessly had "Closing Sales" I guess one of the most optimistic things you can do is bring a balloon into this world, right?

2// Flowers gathered in small vases when the light is just too good (part of my ongoing Flowers and Light series) - Flowers just do it for me. One of the many reasons I picked up my camera from the very beginning was to collect memories of these simple pick-me-ups.



3// Adventures and Afternoons with Instaxes and Photo Prints - Isn't this the height of what meta means? I'd love to experiment more on how to creatively display photographs in photographs. Here's a glance at my inspiration board.



What about you? What is in your family of collections?

18/52 - White

Hello! How was your weekend?

Mine was packed and I think I need a weekend to rest from my weekend!

 

Don't you love the spontaneous photo sessions that arise from last minute weekly photo assignments? I've been collecting Photos in Photos images on Pinterest and am excited to contribute to the board with this image.

Perks of being married are when the husband holds a camera and involuntarily subjects his arm to be my subject. O:-)

Instax: Lost & Found

There's a certain joy only reserved for finding long lost scanned images from the digital abyss.


I kind of liked the haphazard collage made while I stacked all of them into one scanner...

Same flowers seen in this post. 

There's a lingering feeling of catching up with all my correspondences recently. I had a few letters that came in early March that keep getting pushed back and I still have to write thank you letters! ahhh! I'm looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel (aka setting up my home studio with a workspace that will allow me to: take photos, blog more often, write letters, practice calligraphy, craft things etc. etc. (in no particular order!)

Icelandic Grams

It's been almost a month since we've been back from Iceland. I often look back and can't help but smile. A few Icelandic grams until I finally have a chance to sit down and edit my dslr ones!

All photos from @tanagandhi

From left to right, top to bottom:
1// Passing over a rare but typical bridge
2// En route to see a glacier, we see this dramatic curved landscape
3// Pingvellir National Park
4// Strokkir at Geysir
5// Sulfoss and a rainbow sighting
6// The water is so still!

From left to right, top to bottom:
7// Made friends with an Icelandic horse
8// Godafoss Waterfall
9// Beautiful lobby view in Hotel Hellnar
10// Blue Lagoon
11// Instax adventures in the Snaefellnus peninsula
12// Following Neel in Arnarstapi

Calla Lilies: Flowers and Light

I picked these up because, oh man, the colors together were so gorgeous.

Despite their short "shelf" life, and the kombucha looking stems in water, they're still a top choice for TWO days.



I'm glad I did this session the day before they started looking not so fresh...

5/52: Yellow

Color themed challenges are so exciting! You can do so much and with so little! This week I used it as another excuse to play with flowers.

Regained my close to never activity on Pinterest  by creating an inspiration board for flower shots that ultimately helped me come up with the ones below:



And then this:

Instaxes for this week: