UPDATE: DUE TO A RELIGIOUS HOLIDAY HERE IN CHENNAI, THIS WORKSHOP HAD TO BE CANCELED. I REGRET ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED TO YOU.

With a forthcoming trip to India, I figured I would rope in some friends to conduct a photography workshop in Chennai. I have “virtually” met so many people through this blog that I figured it was time to see some of them face-to-face.

Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan of Selective Amnesia and Mahesh Shantaram of The Contrarian readily accepted my idea and will now be leading the first Chennai Photo Workshop with me.

Mahesh Shantaram is a documentary photographer based in Bangalore. For his personal work and art, his interest lies in urban reality and vestiges of life in the city. For commercial work, he applies the aesthetics of documentary photography to weddings.

Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan is a writer and photographer (and goofball) from Chennai, India. Who, when not talking about himself in the third person, organizes a monthly Photowalk in his hometown.

Seshu Badrinath is a documentary wedding photographer and blogger based in the US. He spent 12 years in Chennai and called it “Madras” back then.

Who Should Attend:

20 of you photo-enthusiasts who want to advance your exploration and experiences of the visual world

Where:

Chennai, India. Venue: TBD

When:

October 8, 2008, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please be on time as a professional courtesy to other participants and to the workshop leaders. [Anyone who is late will have to recite the inverse square law of light to us ]

What:

Each of us will have a presentation and then open it up to a round of questions and answers. We believe that this will be a collaborative forum, where we are likely to learn some new things from you as well.

How Much:

Rs. 3,500, includes lunch and a tea-break (gotta have one of those, right?) and potentially some other goodies. Payment at the door and only in cash. Indicate your interest to Chandru, who will keep a running tally on who is coming and how many will be in attendance.

What To Bring: You may choose to bring a camera, if you wish. Also, select 20 of your best images and have them critiqued by Seshu. Most of all, bring an open mind.

Here is what Mahesh will be discussing with you:

Soul Searching / seeking new inspiration into personal photography –

Photography courses are dousing nascent talent with an overdose of technical crap and rigid rules. This is a crisis, as I see it. Where do we look for inspiration and encouragement? The answer may surprise you. This session is for anyone who has even a fleeting interest in photography. It will be driven by a selection of audio-visuals that will leave you with more questions than answers.

Soul Selling / the pulls and pressures of commercial photography –

I keep getting asked whether photography as a full-time career pays well. What are the creative ways to answer this? How much soul-selling happens as we go from hobbyist to professional? This session is for those who have aspirations of getting into photography as a career. I'll share my experience, bust some myths, and say it like it is.

Chandru will tackle street photography and give us an overview of The Chennai Photowalk. Expect tips, techniques and funny anecdotes about walking the streets of Madras with a camera.

Seshu will address editing your images for presentation and may delve into off-camera lighting if time permits. He will also be available for individual 1/2 hour portfolio reviews. So, bring your portfolios!

After expenses are taken into account, the remaining amount will be donated to Sankara Nethralaya, the premier eye institution in India. We all think it is appropriate that a workshop about vision and photography benefits a organization that does so much to eliminate blindness in India.

Please note that there are only 20 spots open so that the workshop leaders and the participants have a fair chance of soaking up all that we have to offer each other. The kicker is that this workshop involves three people, who have never met each other, presenting their slant on photography and speaking from their hearts.

It's gonna be good. Perhaps, even great. We hope you can join us for the day to celebrate photography.

Bloggers: We could use your help to spread the word about this photography workshop. Could you please: 1) blog about this workshop on your site, 2) comment below or set a trackback from your site and 3) Do 1 & 2. Thank you!

Go figure. Life is still kicking around! I just read this article about how Time, Inc. and Getty Images are coming together to launch Life.com.

Life must be a cat with nine lives, or something!

No surprise here, but I am a huge fan of Atlanta-based photographer and teacher, Zack Arias. Go to his OneLight Workshop, anywhere before they sell out. They have opened so many doors for other photographers because their skill set has improved to such a great extent. The fact is the information he imparts isn't rocket-science, but his approach to problem solving in the field is

I also highly recommend his new 2-DVD set, which is instructional but not pedantic. I have mentioned the OneLight DVDs before so check that post out as well.

Anyway, as a Zack Arias blog-stalker, I came across two interviews with Zack that you should check out:

Here is the one on LightSource (podcast) and here is the one on F-Stop Beyond. [I have taken the liberty of embedding the audio player here below for the second interview].

Ok, it's not as insidious as my post title indicates, because like any deal, there will be winners and losers. Which one would you rather be? As always, please read the fine print to anything you sign up for.

If you have a Flickr account and want to get noticed by Getty read this interview off of Photo District News.

My brother-in-law, Vinod, was in India recently visiting his folks, including his grand parents. Newly initiated into the world of digital photography, he had asked me what camera to buy. I get question a lot, as you can imagine. Fair enough. For someone starting out I think one of the best dSLRs out there is the Nikon D80. It performs fairly well using high ISO (ie. you can shoot in lower light than you think) and handles reasonably well given its data transfer is to a SD card.

So, Vinod bought a D80 and then wondered what lens to buy with it. It took me a nanosecond to recommend the Nikon 35mm f/2.0 lens. It's small, fast (uses a large aperture, again negating the need to bring out a flash) and best of all not very expensive. I eschew zoom lenses for beginners and in fact I am heading back to the land of prime lenses myself, because it greatly disciplines one in the art of composition. The zooming done in fixed focal length lenses is your feet. Move from one position to the next, to capture a different perspective of what you are seeing. Soon, moving into a scene and working a situation that is developing in front of you does become intuitive unless you are just tired or plain lazy.

Anyway, I am glad Vinod took my advice. He eventually bought a Nikon SB-600 flash unit as well, but check the image below that he created using available light. Do not doubt for a second that this was a fluke. It came from weeks of practice and persistence. And you can bet he has other amazing images like this one in his archive now. The kids (he has twins) will be so thrilled one day when they see what their parents have created for them. I can't stress enough the importance of documenting your family life in new and interesting ways. It ain't easy, but it sure ain't rocket science either.

Here Vinod's grand father cradles his great-grand daughter, Vera.