Candid Wedding Gallery

 

Re-launching…. Wedding photography services

Ambitions 4 Photography Academy redefined the ‘mute and monotonous’ wedding photography services in 2005 with new concepts and ideas. Using studio flashes in wedding, using high end DSLR cameras, lenses and flashes, using high ISOs, shooting wedding in the most candid and photojournalistic style, using five photographers and four video persons, wearing decent dress and uniforms, behaving professionally with the clients, presenting the client the conceptual wedding photography book, post and pre- wedding couple portraits… are some of the contemporary thoughts and actions introduced by Mr.KL.Raja Ponsing.

Now, with a fresh team, Mr.KL.Raja Ponsing is re-launching wedding photography with lot more ideas in a wedding on 11^th June 2015. The first panel of photography artists and video artists are finalized to get in to action. The second panel is in the process of selection. Photographers, videographers, album designers, video editors (both men and women) are most welcome to send their work and meet Mr.KL.Raja to work in his team.

Let us get out of shots using multicolor umbrellas, guitar, auto-rickshaws, bubbles, jumping actions, walking on the railway tract holding the hand and so on. It is boring and everyone is into that.

Let our wedding images be everlasting and the couple be proud to see and share it with their children without any embarrassment even after long years of wedding.

Let us learn to think originally and be unique in our actions and delivery. Work with the pioneer in photography and the legendary mentor KL.Raja Ponsing

Contact details:

2/1079, Bhavani Street,Kakhithapuram,S.Kolathur, Pallikaranai Chennai – 600 117

Nearest Landmark : 1 km from Kamakshi Memorial Hospital and CTS Junction at Pallikaranai on the Thoraipakkam – Pallavaram Link Road

Mobile: +91 9444441190

Email: admin.ambitions4@gmail.com

Candid Wedding Photography Launch

Wedding photography has become phenomenally different in the recent years. Ambitions4 Photography Academy is launching again candid wedding photography business. The alumni students of Ambitions4 Photography Academy are invited to work as a freelancer and learn under the guidance of Mr. KL.Raja Ponsing. This real time work experience will speak for your skills in candid wedding photography/video.

The panel of photographers, video shooters and wedding album designers will be selected based on their portfolio and personnel interview. Please bring your wedding related photography/short clips of wedding video/sample pages of wedding photo-book. Act quickly and grab this opportunity.

For appointment  call +91 9444441190

email your resume, links to the portfolio of your works to chennaiweddingphotography@gmail.com

Shift Focus

What is the state of mind of a creative photojournalistic wedding photographer when he is asked to do a wedding where a VVIP is the chief guest to conduct the marriage?

It was rather a very different experience for every one of our team when the Chief Minister of a state was invited to solemnize the wedding recently in a five star hotel. Apart from the elaborate security check (every bit of our equipment was put into task by the personnel who suspect everything in our equipment carrying case), we could feel the entire focus on the wedding was shifted from the couple, family, relatives and friends to the VVIPs of the evening.

The host of the wedding, hotel authorities, photographers, decorators, wedding co-ordinators and every other person involved in the wedding services were expected to dance to the tunes of the security officials. All these were for the very brief presence of the VVIP. The evening looked as if it is yet another official function of CM.

The couple was lost in the attention given to herd of VVIPs. Despite of the huge money spent on the event, there is no celebration, no joy, no natural emotions, and no free interactions among the guests. In a nut shell, the event was remembered as a VVIPs meet and not as a wedding.

For the close relatives, it was an event where they could not really participate (most of them came from abroad and the other part of India)

For the couple, it was not an occasion where they can enjoy the togetherness and exchange the secret sign of love.

For the hosts, it was something they did to satisfy the VVIPs and not to their own kith and kins.

For the guests, it was a very long wait (guests where expected to come atleast an hour earlier to avoid last minute rush in security formalities) to see a very brief activity which lasted just little more than ten minutes. There where disparities in the seating and dinning arrangements as well.

For the photographers, it was just an aim and shoot game. Nothing creative worked out (how can you give creativity when your movement is restricted by security officials of many departments and the shooting angle is decided by people who are not photographers?).

Everything looked rich and posh. But it was the real happiness and cheers that was missing. It looked like an event to show off the contacts and influence the host had with the VVIPs.

As the parents of the couple, why cannot we make the events like weddings very personnel and make it unforgettable by our mutual joy and happiness. May be couple can visit the VVIPs after the wedding, if they are very close to the family.

Above all, the VVIPs and celebrities could politely say no to such invitations to keep the ‘life of wedding celebrations’ alive.

 

It’s for you

 How can you expect to get great shots in your weddings when some one in your own family is constantly restricting the movements of the photographers and instructing to shoot from a particular position.This happened in one of our recent weddings. The father of the groom was angrily directing the photographers to stay away from most of the events and shouting at them constantly.When a person like him restricts our movements, we only get mediocre shots. Some clients forget that the photos are shot for them and not for us. It is for them that we work hard and try something different. When our clients can direct us on our jobs, then it is not our output. When the professional freedom is not given to any artist, he performs very average. He loses on his job and his creativity is killed.

Great photography happens only when professional freedom is given. For me photography is not a job, but passion. When I am not allowed to do my work with passion and dedication, I prefer to stay away than to shoot some insensible

pictures. Great photography happens not with expensive cameras, but with lot other accomplishments. A cheerful mood and professional freedom is most important in it.However, I wish all clients co-operate in our assignments for their own benefit. After all, all the effort invested is for them.

Mask or Make-up

 Good wedding photography has to be complemented by sensible makeup and styling. Well, make-up for social purpose or parties may not be suitable for photography.

There are few good professional make-up artists who can make you look good both in person and in front of the camera. But unfortunately most of the brides settle for some one who does their regular hair cut, pedicure, bleaching, etc for their bridal make-up because they are familiar to them.In one of my recent wedding receptions, the make-up person was trying something for the bride that looked good on some popular movie star. But unfortunately at the end of the day the bride looked like a ‘clown’ (she was other wise really beautiful..!). We really had a very tough time to get our shots good. Most of the paid employees of parlors have no obligation to do a sensible make-up. Remember, all the expensive make-up materials applied randomly on the face do not make it look great. It is the aesthetic sense of the true artist that makes the difference.

A good make-up is not something that makes you look fair or evenly painted. Remember, ‘make-up is an art’. A good professional make-up artist knows to handle the make-up to suit a particular person. Make-up has to be always customized.

There are a lot of things that complement a good wedding photography. Professional make-up is the most important part of it.

The colours

‘Colour’ in photography is an important information. But to me, colours in photography are not just information but elements that communicate something more . This is because colours an really change your mood. They have few interesting inherent feelings connected to our heart and soul.

The bride and her sister

Will you not experience the feel of freshness when you enter in to a virgin land of greens? Won’t the calm blue ocean and the huge sky wrapped in blue give us peace of mind? Even from birth, humans are connected to colours knowingly or unknowingly. Like tastes, colours are so personal and everyone likes different colours.

Infact colours have very strong cultural and moral values in our lives. In one of my recent south Indian wedding assignments in India, the bride and family were from Vietnam, and ‘white’ was totally avoided in every aspect of the auspicious events, decorations, dresses and so on. In the above picture, you could see the sister of the Bride expressing unhappiness about a bit of white flowers forming the part of a garland!

I always wondered from my childhood about how beautifully colours are blend with nature. Look at flowers, plants, animals, birds, flies, insects for example, I really get to envy the way natures get the combination of colours. Sometimes nature camouflages colours and some other times it makes them standout. Well, there is a strong purpose behind the choice of these colours in nature. We also try to imitate nature in our choice of colour themes.

If you start observing the world around us, then, colours could teach you beautiful lessons. When our science teacher in the school told us that some animals cannot see colours, I understood the blessings of our vision in colour! Imagine our world in Black & White..you will understand the power of colour vision!

As a photographer, learn to first love colours and observe them in everyday life.Let us try to find the meaning and purpose of colours and use them in our photographs.

Photography is an immediate action; drawing a meditation For me photography is to place head heart and eye along the same line of sight. It is a way of life. – Henri Cartier-Bresson

An ultimate reward

The ultimate purpose of a good wedding photo book is to recall the emotions of a wedding like it has happened just now!

I had handled an emotional wedding recently. It was wonderful to shoot a Vietnamese bride and a south Indian bridegroom uniting in marriage. The couple were from different countries and cultural backgrounds. What I found common in them were the emotions and values of human relationships.

During the reception, I was asked to screen few of the childhood images of the couple, along with glimpses of the wedding that happened a few days ago. The brief slide show with mild music contained few of the wedding pictures with the emotions neatly captured. As the pictures rolled on the screen, it brought back to them memories of their wedding.

The couple and their relatives became emotional with tears. At the end of the slide show, the couple couldn’t control their emotions. With the tears in their eyes, they called me onto the stage, congratulated and hugged me and said that the pictures were wonderful. I become emotional too; as I thanked them for the given opportunity.

It was a great moment in my life and wedding photography career. It was a priceless appreciation and an ultimate reward for my work. I shared this moment immediately with my associate photographers present over there.

What else can make my life as a wedding photographer more meaningful than moments like these? I am proud of being a photographer, who can make remarkable difference to people through my pictures. These moments really prove the power of the great art – ‘Photography’. Let our cameras make pictures that touch the heart of people, because it is the ultimate reward a photographer must aim at.

Are they not expressive enough?

Most of us are generally very conscious in front of a camera. We underplay our expressions, try to be modest and look very artificial while facing a camera! This is especially true with most of they Indian brides, who are otherwise so expressive and lively as ‘girls’ in real life. As ‘brides’, they are very conscious about themselves – keeping their body and look very stiff and unnatural! This becomes even bad, when a photographer calls their attention or just aims his/her camera in front of them.

But in one of my very recent wedding assignments, I found this young bride coming out with millions of expressions every second all through the events! I could observe her fantastic moods through her changing body language, responsive eyes and expressions. Her eyes, the smile, her hands, her hair and everything that changed quickly were communicating her joy and involvement in the wedding. She was natural and unmindful about our cameras which focused on her.S

When you identify such a lively subjects, you end up with lots of lovely pictures. It was really a feast for all our cameras. We caught her in various moods and expressions and the wedding book was designed on the theme of the ‘Bride’s Expressions’.

In the general scene of south Indian weddings, the brides are mostly stiff, timid and concerned about everything in and around them. Most of them react so artificially in all situations. This restricted pattern of behavior unfortunately brings out the not so real ‘bride of the girl’.

Why can’t our brides come out of the conventional timid expressions to make photography true to life!

This is not manipulated…!

Well, sometimes you surprisingly get what you never planned for…!. This picture, shot in a traditional South Indian wedding in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is very peculiar and it shows the oneness of the couple in a unique form!

While trying something with a long focal length lens and to get a very shallow depth of field, during the ‘Oonjal ceremony, the face of the groom except one of his eyes was almost hidden behind the face of the bride and looked as though it is a single face, with a strange appearance..! The level of the camera was carefully aligned to get the shape of the face as one, made this picture look different..!

As I always tell my students and fellow photographers in the photography workshops, “Professional Photography is never boring; if you try to find something unique and different in all photography situations”.

– KL.Raja