PhotoMitra : Your wedding story

Hey Guys,

We are back with what we do best , getting best photographers to this place. Now that I am also getting married I can really feel the need to have a good photographer and urge to find them. Now lets dive in to meet our new Mitr from PhotoMitra “Soham Sabnis”

For the starters Soham says : “The moments are yours, I just click the correct button at right time! Through practice and different experiments, I have learnt a whole new game of pixel play. I am a photographer who loves shooting weddings, food and products. Digital Marketer and a cycling enthusiast, shuffling between shoots and pedals!”

When did it all started: “2 years back when I quit my IT Job” (who would want to continue with boring IT job when you have such a talent )

Experience to shoot the first wedding: “STILL  is the same! Before every shoot I feel that feeling of ‘incompleteness’, I am nervous, I am worried and I am excited! I guess that’s the reason I still enjoy shooting”

Your Ninjas: ‘For candid wedding shoots, I am the only one. Team for traditional photography and videography is around 4”

Interested in traditional photography: “I personally don’t do it. Never enjoyed it”

Easy or difficult to work with studio guys: “Fortunately I have found nice bunch of people who cover traditional and video for me. I have stopped experimenting with other photographers, now my team is fixed.” (that is soooo cool , imagine you wont have to juggle between soo many vendors)

Common Myths about Candid Photography: “they feel that I don’t click! Hahaha… the reason is because I never speak with anyone for poses. Hence I am silent shooter. People sadly feel, the work is less compared to the money charged, but it is not true. Hard work is written on all the photos”  (I feel its better that those guys who screams idahr dekho udar dekho)

Price Range : “Really depends on which type of wedding it is, and for how many days. Services are charged from 10000 to 90000 – which may or may not include printed album. I believe in offering a very customized package, which suits both and we all wear smiles on the ceremony day!”  (awwwww)

Tips and tricks : ” SMILE! Enjoy the day and yes, sleep well! All of this shows in the pictures, more happy are you more lively the pictures will be. Do not DO NOT compromise on the look “

Here is some of his work. I feel he captures the story of the wedding beautifully and that is what we are gonna remember even after 10 years of wedding.

You can see more his work : http://photomitra.com/

Wedding Planning : 101

Hi Guys,

I know i have been away for soo long now 😦 but finally the good news is here .. I am getting MARRIED … whoooooowhooo… i am actually panicking to the core regarding the preparations. The wedding will be in Bhubneswar in October.

Its is a whole new destination for me ,, i have no clue how i am going to plan every thing , we have just started scouting the hotels for venue for marriage and reception. Please let me know that which is the most imp and urgent thing to start with.

I will keep you guys updated on my every move . also if anyone have any idea on planning a wedding in bhubneshwar, please contact me .. will be huge help.

Thanks

🙂

Candid Tales: Navin Varma Photography: From Cricket to Weddings :)

Every other person today owns a DSLR. If only photography was that simple!! It is art and capturing emotions is makes rocket science look easy. But god has been really generous and so we do have a lot of really good photographers around.

Intoducing Navin Varma, Some people just have the gift of a talent, and Navin is one of those ‘some people’ when it comes to photography.

Lets get to him a little and then some of his work…

Please tell us something about yourself.    

I believe capturing emotions on a camera can be simple. Re-creating emotions by simply looking at the pictures afterwards is photography.

When did you decide to make it big in wedding photography? Tell us about the first time you shot a wedding.

Before I went into wedding photography, I was working as a Photo Journalist for the Press Trust of India. One of my shoots was for the India vs. Australia Cricket match. That day, the match was delayed because it began to rain, and all the agency photographers and I were mingling and one of my friend photographers asked me point blank “DO YOU THINK THIS IS WHAT PHOTOGRAPHY IS ALL ABOUT?” I was confused. He then said “NO, THIS IS NOT PHOTOGRAPHY!”  After thinking to myself for a few days, I understood what he was saying.  True photography requires more than just shooting images, it requires thought and creativity. It’s an art, not a job, and what best place to capture art, then at weddings. Weddings showcase rich colors, emotions, culture, and beauty.

The first two weddings I captured were my friends’. I received a tremendous positive response and that is where I had a chage of heart in to Wedding photography from journalism.

Are you accompanied with musketeers as a team or are you a one-man-army?

I have a fixed group I take with me for each wedding. Sometimes, I do like to hire extra local talent from whichever city I am shooting in.

Do you also cover traditional photography and videography.

Yes, we cover both traditional and videography.

How easy or difficult you find it to work with the studio guys.

Working with studio guys is fun some times.. like when they say “bhabhiji thoda haske muskuraiye” lol 😛 .. sometime they make you go nuts by coming in between while shooting candid pictures.

What are most common myths that people have about candid photography.

Biggest myth is when clients believe that one team cannot cover the entire wedding and hence they end up hiring two different studios.  With a great team and unique ideas, we do it all!

What kind of packages do you offer? We would like to know the details – inclusions and prices.

Currently I charge 90k per/day for candid photography.  Sometimes, I even shoot complimentary pre-weddings and post-weddings shoots.. I am flexible depending on different situations and the negotiated agreement.

Any special tips for the brides.

Try to get as much rest the day before the shoot/wedding, so that you shine even brighter on your big day! Moreover, hire the best makeup Artist.

Well said Navin! Now lets see if the work is as amazing as the man himself..

 

Bandra- Worli Sea Link – Romantic Place … Awesome picture 🙂

 

OMG .. This is soooo funny 😀

 

Amazing Save d date Concept 😀 …On my list 😀

 

 

We enjoyed browsing through his pictures, infact had a hard time shortlisting them. His pictures scream fun, romance and happiness and we can see that that how comfortable he makes the couple to get the perfect shot :). We are in love with all his pictures

Reach out for Navin Varma on his Facebook here. We are sure you will all love his work and spend 2-3 hours or more browsing through his work as we did 😀

We’d like to know what all all you readers out there thought about this. Do leave your comments here.

L’oreal Paris Color Riche Moist matte Lipsticks – Raspberry Syrup and Maple Mocha: Review and Swatches

 

Thanks to the blog research and my own interest in lipsticks, I have graduated from owning just a lip gloss to a range of lip color. Lip color now is my favorite part of make-up, so much that if I had to choose only one thing in make-up for the rest of my life,  it would be lip color.

Cannes just happened and the bollywood news was all talks about the make-up Aishwarya Rai and Sonam Kapoor had sported. They looked pretty amazing. L’oreal grabbed this opportunity and launched their moist matte lipstick range – Color Riche Moisture Matte Lipstick – with the pretty divas.

I got my hands on 2 colors from this new range, both sported by Sanam Kapoor during the festival – Raspberry Syrup and Maple Mocha

L’oreal’s note on this range: “A lipstick that delivers intense moisture while providing a velvet matte finish. Colour Riche Moisture Matte’s unique formula contains jojoba oil for unrivalled moisture and comfort along with matte gel technology to create an intense matte look”

Our Expert Analysis 😀 :-

The packaging of this range is very classy! Each piece has a click-clock sort of a lock mechanism which earns this one a point. The lock ensures the lipstick is untouched even if it is dumped in the ‘has-it-all’ bag of today’s girl. Another plus point that the packaging earned is the color coin cases – so you don’t have to open them each time if you have many.

This one is Priced as a premium category product and is available in the stores for INR 899 for 3.6g of color. For me, personally that is a bit too much for something I’d use on a daily basis and so I am not at all happy with the pricing. But thanks to Myntra’s (my favorite online retail) discounts, I got my lipsticks for INR 550 only. Minus one on pricing!

The initial texture is very smooth and creamy, which makes it very easy to apply and has no visible undertones. Within a few minutes it sets into a matte finish which is just lovely. It looks as if that is the original color of the lips. Definitely a plus one for the texture.

Shade: Maple Mocha

As the name suggests, this is a shade of brown – just like mocha. This is one of those ‘safe and trustworthy’ shades which look good on everybody and are suitable for every occasion. When you can’t decide which color to put on for the day, go for this one – it won’t let you down.

Shade: Rasberry Syrub

Don’t let the name confuse you, this one is a bold shade of pink. Sonam Kapoor looked stunning with this shade on, but I am personally not very confident and comfortable with this particular shade. I think, this shade will suit the fair and lovelies more the dusky beauties.

Pros

• Very smooth matte shades
• Sticks around for 4-5 hours straight, even with a little bit of snacks
• Does not accentuate lines
• Very light and comfortable
• Does not transfer

Cons

• The price …

Rating: 4.5/5 (-0.5 for the price)

Do I recommend this – Hell yeah!  Go get yourself one of these now

 

 

 

Candid Tales : Arpit Rastogi Photography

Hola!!

We are back with the next entry in our clique of photographers. Based out of a city filled with culture and history – Meerut, our man here not only understands how important weddings are to us Indians but also how important and intrinsic the photographs are in a wedding.

So, pretty ladies, meet Arpit Rastogi from Arpit Rastogi Photography.

I stumbled upon Arpit’s photographs when I was scrolling down my facebook news feed. He had covered my friend’s – sister’s wedding. His pictures seem to contain this energy, happiness.. they kind of brought the pictures alive. That is where my partner (-in-crime) and I decided, ‘boss, this guy is definitely getting some space in our wedding book!’ but don’t go by our words, take a look at his work yourself.

A few words from Arpit himself before that..

Tell us something about yourself, Arpit.. “I am an engineer-turned-photographer”

Since when are you capturing weddings.. “My first stint was in March, 2011”

Tell us more about it.. “It was my friend’s wedding. This was before I started photography professionally; I was still with my ‘engineering’ job. But my clicks got amazing response on fb and I got the the push I needed to take up photography as a profession.”

Do you have a team.. “Nope, I am a one man army”

Then, along with candid, do you cover traditional photography as well? If not, how do you manage the studio photographers.. “Nope, I don’t cover traditional photography. The studio guys are very supportive.. in most cases. Exceptions are always there.”

You are in Meerut, any travel preferences for covering weddings.. “Yes, it is easier for me to cover weddings in and around Delhi, NCR, Chandigarh and Jaipur”

Tell us about the package you offer.. “I work on per-day basis; I provide 100 processed photographs and charge Rs. 20,000 for it”

What are the common myths that people have about candid photography..  “That they think of it as traditional photography”

Any tips for our beautiful brides from your side.. “Hire a good make-up artist”

Here is a teaser of his work…

His pictures are expressive!!! We would love to tell our story through ’em, wouldn’t you?  Do check him out on his fb page here. And feel free to leave comments here 🙂

 

 

Mehendi Decor: DIY Ideas

I don’t know what’s not to love about ‘the Mehendi function’. They are the just amazing; especially at the bride’s end. It does not end with Vidaai, has awesome food and even the bride gets to dance! I am definitely gonna love mine. But, my buddy here doesn’t seem that excited about it, even after spamming my inbox with the Mehendi pictures from a friend’s wedding. Not being excited about Mehendi, I guess, will always be beyond me.

Well, by now y’all would have guessed that this post is on the Mehendi function. One weird thing about the Mehendi function is that though it is a part of every wedding on Indian soil, most people don’t spend enough to make it a big function. It mostly ends up as an internal affair with cousins playing DJ and the relatives grooving to their music. No extra effort is put, let alone monetary investment. But, the two of us here would still like all of you out there to have as glamorous a Mehendi function as possible.

Here are some DIY ideas that will help you make your Mehendi function possible and yet give the feel of a big function. These ideas will ensure that all your people and most importantly you have a lot of fun dancing and clicking pictures and celebrate with a personal touch. It is not rocket science, you know, these are fairly easy stuff.

• We all have those used and not yet discarded cushions stowed away in the attic or buried in the box-beds, it is time to pull them all out. Decorate them with either colorful cushion covers or get the younger sisters to decorate them with ribbons and set a bright colorful stage for yourself
•  If the function is outdoor, say in the backyard or the garden in front, get it covered by colorful shamiana to keep the sun at bay. You can further decorate it using LED lights
• Instead of lights, you can also have colored paper origami designs hanging from the canopy. This will bring a Mela kind of an atmosphere to your Mehendi function
• You can also use these props to decorate the space around you:

      

   

• Fill a big bowl, preferably earthen or glass, with water and leave some of your favourite flowers and scented candles floated in it. Your centre-piece is ready!! You can also use small crockery bowls and even wine glasses

           

• Hang umbrellas upside down along with some flowers and you will not believe all your unused umbrellas could create such a fun ceiling

• Take a lot of colorful dupattas and hang them around for a fun and colorful décor
• Use led lights as much as possible with the dupattas , to make it more jazzy
• If it is a destination wedding, then you and your guests may welcome a little more entertainment. Put up some stalls for your women guests, like bangles, bindi, jaljeera etc

• Kalire when hung from the ceiling give a very wedding-y feel

• The old fashioned table fans can also be trendy enough. Tie colorful ribbons to its rims and watch the ribbons salsa in the air.
• To bring some more life in the event, rent an auto-rickshaw! Decorate it with color and glitter and flowers and have a fancy photo-booth

A little bit of science before we end. Not only does Mehendi look good, it also has medicinal value. Mehendi is a powerful herb. As the wedding day approaches, the excitement mixed with nervous anticipation can take its toll on the bride and groom. Application of Mehendi prevents too much stress as it cools the body and keeps the nerves from becoming tense. Science aside, it is a common belief that the darker the color of the Mehendi on the bride’s hands, the more will she be loved by her husband and mother-in-law. Doesn’t this give us all the more reason to have a grand celebration for this charming tradition?

 

Candid Tales: Passionate Delhi Photographers: Weddingrams by Kreatrix

Sooooo… here we are.. with the first candid wedding photographer profile 🙂

They are based out of Delhi (I hate Delhi .. they have all the good things :P), I have seen their work in one of my colleagues wedding. She looked gorgeous in her wedding pics. We did a short interview with them so that y’all get to know them better too. Let me know if you need any more information , that will help us to create other profiles.

Let us introduce you

“We are a team of passionate photographers based out of Lajpat Nagar, Delhi. One thing that we love about what we do is showcasing different emotions that usually go unseen in a wedding.”

When did you decide to make it big in wedding photography

“After doing candid photography for some of our friends at their wedding, we gained a liking towards the concept of clicking photos rich in emotions and decided to direct our goal fully towards wedding photography and follow the footsteps of some of the big names in this industry who are an inspiration for us”

How was your experience to shoot the first wedding

“The first wedding we covered was in the beautiful city of Lucknow and will always remain special, as it was the first chance for us in gaining first hand experience in the field. The might of such an Indian wedding overwhelmed us and remained one of the most wonderful experiences for us”

How many people are there in you team

“Currently, we are a team of 4 people, specializing in different areas such as candid, videography, cocktail events and editing”

Do you also cover traditional photography

“We do not provide traditional coverage of events as it’s a very different task in its own good, but we do provide sources to people for such services”

If not, how easy or difficult you find it to work with the studio guys.

“Working with studio guys who are also in our field is always helpful as they are available to us for a variety of technical help and second opinion”

What are the range of your package and what are the inclusions

“Our range varies between 60k to 1 lac as per the demands of the client. It includes covering from both the bride and groom side , tradition photography and video graphy, Pre wedding shoot and video (our trademark) , Candid photography of all the events”

Any tips you would like to give to the brides

“One tip we would like to give to the brides-to-be out there is that just be yourself and don’t hesitate on expressing yourself at each stage as we are there to click just that”

Do you also cover Videography

Yes, an important portion of our package is giving a crisp 15 minute Bollywood style video that includes every event in a wedding from the Mehndi to the Vidaai.

 

beautiful concept — I love the idea 😀

Awwww I love this one 🙂 🙂

Aren’t they just amazing! Well, we had fun interviewing them and looking through their work – a furore of emotions.

PS: All the images are copyrights of Kreatrix team , Please dont use them.

Wedding Photographers: Profiles

Hiii,

We are starting with something new, I hope you all like it .

I just had a thought, that along with blogging about all the different things that go into a wedding, why not feature profiles too. While maintaining my own wedding book , what I wanted to do was to make a list of all the good vendors for all requirements , take a picture of their work and neatly paste it in my book 😀 (yea, that cheesy!). While maintaining my own wedding book , what I do is was make a list of all good vendors for all requirements , take the picture of their work , neatly paste in a book 😀 (ya that much cheesy). You can say that I got tired of pasting stuff that’s why I started this blog :D.

In this section, You will find profiles of candid photographers who will help you create memories for last lifetime :).

These profiles will contain all their information , their side of story , pricing details and also lots and lots of pictures.

The first profile will be up soon , so stay tuned 😀

 

How to get Heatless Curls :)

Who doesn’t love hair like this

If you ask me , I love curly-wavy hair 😀

Whenever I go for a haircut, I always dream to be coming out of the salon with the world’s best hair, those curls at the end bouncing as I dance my way out. But instead, what I get is “Curls to rukega nahi aapke baalo pe” (The curls wont stay on your hair) :(. I try giving the salon guys the puppy face look but nothing changes. The thing is my hair is super, super-straight , temporary curling and  inexpensive waves never stay on them.

Though I really dream of having curly hair, I dread the heating method. I think it damages my hair. I tend to loose more hair as well. So when I came across this method of curling , I was super super happy.

Basically there are two methods to curl your hair, both involve socks (Clean ones :P) and one night.

Hair curling using Sock bun.

This method involves making a sock bun or a doughnut bun and keeping it over night. By morning, you will have awesome, beautiful curls. It stays for about 4 hours on my hair, post which they are just wavy. (I got so exited about this that I opened my bun after every hour or so :D)

You can also have a look at this link which will clear any doubts you have on this technique:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FV-YO46E8Y

Its super easy and you can also learn to make a perfect bun 🙂

 

Hair curling using socks

This method is more for those who want really tight curls and you need 8-12 socks.

This link will take you to the video which explains this technique:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly1WAbHmIps

Its gives very natural curls and it stays 6-7 hours on my hair, which is pretty great. The only drawback is that you cant leave your room after having so many socks during the process of curling :D.

Tip: Do it with semi wet hair and let it dry either on its own or blow dry as you open the curls.

And tada! Your curls are ready, Maam 😀

Do leave your comments and views on these techniques 🙂

Floral Jewellery: The New Trend

I absolutely love the braid decorated with flowers, and they set the bride apart from the rest of the crowd :D. My friend, in her wedding, not only used flowers in her hair, but used it to accessorize over-all, instead of the main-stream jewelelry. I was quite amazed, but now this is common. This is the new trend which has taken the wedding market by storm,The floral jewellery. Almost every bride now wants to adorn floral jewellery on her Mehendi/Haldi functions. This brings a lot of freshness to the functions, a bridal glow and the biggest plus point is that these functions are mostly during daytime, which makes the floral jewellery even better option. All the brides who are apprehensive of going floral, don’t be! Especially on Haldi Function, when there is a huge chance of usual jewellery getting ruined or lost, floral is a much safer, and easy to carry option.

There is this thing about floral jewellery , I think every girl has her own type of floral jewellery depending on the shape of your face.

Also it is very important to choose the right flowers for yourself, the most common flowers used are roses, orchids and jasmine. Combining small flowers like jasmine and marigold with big ones like roses, orchids also looks good.

 

Though this pic is from a TV serial, the jewellery just sets her apart, its so elegant and I think anyone can carry it off. I especially like her maang tika and earings. The floral jewellery just imparts the fact that this girl is the bride, so easily.

This is a floral jewellery set, it contains: a maang tika, earing , garland, ring, hathphool. I think the one on the yop left is what worn on the forehead on the side, specially by muslims. I remember watching the queens from the Mughal empire wearing similar stuff.

OK Enough Gyaan :P.. Where you can get it?

There are many vendors who sell floral jewelley , one of the very famous ones being Ferns n Petals, Floral Art (Mumbai).

Floral Creations and Wedmegood has some really nice ideas designs on Floral jewellery, do have a look 🙂

How long do the flowers stay and how much time it takes to make one set?

Don’t Worry about the flowers wilting, these flowers stay good for 3 days with proper refrigeration and also it takes about 2 days to make a full set of floral jewellery, so you can order your set almost a week prior to the function and recieve the a day or two before the ceremony.

Artificial flowers combined with pearls also make a pretty set.

These are the flowers we all learnt to make during school, out of satin ribbons, remember?! Who knew they could be transformed like this 🙂

In the end it all depends on you, how comfortable confidant you are to wear and carry these. Don’t go by the trend, trend comes and goes but your wedding is and will be one of the biggest things in your life.

Personally, I prefer little floral jewellery as it looks very fresh, new and different.

 

PS: All pictures are taken from Internet.