The Memory Maker Article on Diva Atelier

8 years of hard work, fun, burning the midnight oil, thousands of miles of travel across both the Atlantic and the Pacific, countless hours on Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, an amazing set of colleagues and vendors I have had the pleasure of working and collaborating with and support from wonderful brides and grooms, has resulted in this wonderful exclusive feature on Atelier Diva Magazine
www.atelierdiva.in May 2013 Issue

Gloss & Glitter, Saif & Tarnim's Shaadi

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An early morning phone conversation, while I was on my way to shoot a wedding in Playa Del Carmen, with Saif and Rimjhim Bhagchandani (the wedding planner – Rimjhim Events), began our journey to Dubai to photograph Saif and Tarnim’s wedding.  A long Swiss Air flight, connecting in Zurich, to Dubai and a ridiculously long wait at the immigration (thanks to Dubai Shopping Festival) drained every ounce of energy out of me but a delicious Indian dinner awaiting us at our hotel rooftop helped me recharge and be all ready for the mehndi next day.  Woke up early and started location scouting at the venues for the events. Back to the hotel for lunch and last minute checks on batteries, CF cards and flash. 

A fun night of performances awaited us at the mehndi function held in Sheraton Creek Diera. Bright and fun colors all around the ballroom, a stunning Sabyasachi outfit worn by Tarnim and loads of adrenaline pumping performances by both sides of the families – a perfect mehndi evening.

Next day started early for us as we needed to pick up couple of LED light panels for wedding portrait shoot, with a long cab ride to a studio near the Mall of Emirates and back.  After lunch, we proceeded to the wedding venue – Madinat Jumeirah on Jumeirah beach.  The stunning ethnic architecture takes you back a few centuries, especially when you walk through the souk. I immediately went shutter happy.  Tarnim’s bridal suite overlooked the Burj-Al-Arab and details of her Sabyasachi outfit, shoes, jewellery were all photographed in the balcony overlooking the beach and Burj-Al-Arab. We took Saif and Tarnim, who looked stunning in her outfit and some intricate hair and make up, around the resort to click their glamour portraits. We had a long arduous walk to the beach to click magic hour portraits with Madinat Jumeirah and Burj-Al-Arab in the backdrop.  The pier, which was about 300 yards, was tempting but I could not muster up the courage to torture Saif and Tarnim with a long walk.  We got a golf cart to give all of us a ride to the pier. The magic hour lighting in the sky and the LED light panels gave us some stunning imagery. Following the shoot at the pier, we made our way to the Joharah ballroom where the wedding was being held. The stage, one of the largest I have seen, was over 50ft wide and was very well put together and decorated.  A smaller draped stage to one side of the  main stage was used for the nikkah ceremony.  After the nikkah ceremony, Saif and Tarnim entered together lead by an entourage of Dabka dancers. After the evening concluded, rukhsati happened at the pier where the couple boarded a small boat and bid goodbye to the guests.

The last day of the event I started with Tarnim, getting some glamour portraits at Saif’s house before we proceeded to the venue, The Symphony Ballroom at the Address hotel (downtown Dubai).  Tarnim looked stunning in her bright red Manish Malhotra anarkali and the images and her classic look took me back to the 50s bollywood. She looked stunning!! The Tanoora dancer and the “drums of the world” group entertained guests throughout the walima evening.  The long swirling colorful skirts that the Tanoura performer wore made spectacular patterns as he twirled around in circles. "Drums of the World" percussion ensemble is a uniquely dynamic musical collective. It takes the form of a facilitated "jazz/fusion ensemble" -using duns duns, djembes, tablas, doumbeks, clay pots, mouth harp, shekeres, bongos, and other world percussion instruments, that provide exciting vibes. Drums of the World offered melodic and rhythmic improvisations, unique percussive power and precision. The ensemble consisted of members that come from Ghana, India, Morrocco, England, South Africa, Senegal, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Philippines and Malaysia. The evening concluded with a very fun and interactive drumming lesson session between the guests and the performers.

I would like to thank Saif and Tarnim and their families for extending their warm hospitality. A special thanks to Aziz Khan for coming out and shooting with us. It is always fun to shoot with Aziz – its more fun than work. Last but not the least, a big thank you and hug to Rimjhim Aunty (Rimjhim Events) for making this happen and for precision planning and some stunning décor that makes it so easy for me to do my job. I have always loved Dubai and I hope to be back for more!

"Sadakchapp" The Indian Bohemian Inspired Shoot

I'm in love with everything 'Sadakchapp' a refined term would be Kitsch! My whole inspiration for this shoot came from Indian kitch. The Boho shoot idea started over a cup of hot chocolate at Caribou Coffee on a sunny saturday morning. Pranav and I were always trying to do something out of the box with Sheekha. The first thing that came to our mind was something bohemian. It was past noon and we started location scouting. We drove around in west loop and bridgeport for a couple of hours and finally spotted a secluded spot with lot of run down warehouses in the vicinity - a perfect starting point for our boho shoot. It so happens that the spot we picked was right behind our favorite prop rental house in Chicago - Zap Props. The second and third locations were already decided - yellow metal doors by another of our Chicago favorite - Calumet Photography, and North Avenue beach. The fourth and final location would be our loft in University Village.

With the location scouting out of the way, late afternoon began with visit to home depot and vintage stores in Pilsen to get some hardware for the shoot. By early evening we had all the props ready and it was time to call it a day and prepare for the shoot. I was up by 5:30am [ does not happen - I am very nocturnal ] and all pumped up for the shoot. We spent a few hours in the morning getting Sheekha ready and styled. By 11:00am, we were on location in bridgeport and what followed for the next 12 hours was nothing short of visual awesomeoness with some stunning imagery and concept stills. Be it run down brick walls and alleys in bridgeport or the bright metal loading dock doors in west town, Sheekha made it so easy for us to shoot stunning stills. The day ended with Sheekha stepping into a lamp shade and getting wrapped in rope for the final concept of the day. 15 hours of non stop hard work, missed meals, 100 lbs of equipment [ Octabanks and batteries ], 4 different locations and some extraordinary talent [ Pranav - Styling, Naleena - make up, Sheekha - Model ] led to one of the most exciting and fulfilling shoots I have done.

More coming soon on the blog.

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A wedding at Medinat Jumeirah, Dubai Coming Soon

A Sneak from Saif & Tarnim's wedding in Dubai at the Medinat Jumeriah.

Saif and Tarnim's wedding festivities at various upscale locales in Dubai was a grand affair. Belly dancers, Sufi dancers and the dubai drum company made for some exquisite entertainment during the mehndi, wedding and walima. For the mehndi, held at the Sheraton, Tarnim wore a Sabyasachi creation.The wedding was held at the Medinat Jumeirah- a photographer's paradise. Arabic architecture combined with a pier overlooking Burj Al-Arab was tempting enough to walk over a quarter of a mile all over Medinat Jumeirah clicking stills of Saif and Tarnim. A golf buggy was helpful towards the end though.  For the walima, held at the 'Address'  she wore a gorgeous red Manisha Malhotra anarkali that took me back to the vintage 50s and her glamour stills reminded me of Meena Kumari or Madhubala. Come back to see the full post. Would like to thank Rimjhim Events for co-ordination and great hospitality.

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Tejash & Kaya - Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Destination Playa Del Carmen - The wedding festivities of Tejash and Kaya's wedding started with a fun garba/mehndi at the luxurious Paradisus La Perla. The poolside garba featured professional singers and exquisite belly dancers. The beachside wedding at sunset was stunning and was followed by fire dancers at the resort. The last day started with Kaya and Tejash ending up shooting a trash the dress session with us..lot of water splash and jet skiing. The pool party in the afternoon brought out the kid in everyone with the DJ spinning some groovy numbers in the booth. The evening started with aerial bar tenders serving champagne to guests during the cocktail hours followed by the reception featuring mayan dancers. It was a party not to be missed by anyone. We had a lot of fun filming the wedding with long trans-resort walks to get from one point to another. Thanks to Tejash and Kaya for being such good hosts and being so sporty!