fun » Raji Barbir Photography

John. Amy. Wedding.

May 192010

Trying to be a bit creative with the title variations for weddings

It’s already been a month since this awesome couple was married in beautiful Las Vegas. How time flies!

Like I mentioned before, this wedding was so amazing it made it my first ever truly positive trip to Vegas. And what made it so? Essentially, this awesome couple, that’s what.

The New York New York hotel (I was right next to the roller coaster listening to people scream! hahaha!), the Loews hotel with crickets chirping at night as I overlooked Lake Las Vegas, the awesome guests, the touching ceremony, all the fun everyone had, the partying; everything stemmed from just these two.

John, Amy, if you guys are reading this, I can’t thank you enough for taking such great care of me during my stay, and more than anything, for allowing me to be part of the truly beautiful celebration of your union.

Some random stuff

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May 162010

I had a roll of undeveloped film from back when I was in NYC, so I finished it on Wil & Ashley and my boys.

First, the really touching picture of Wil & Ashley:

The gorgeously simple Guggenheim museum:

A bridge in Central Park:

Back home, my oldest, Gabe:

And a little something different to finish off.

I hardly have any pictures of myself. I think that’s true of most photographers actually, and although I can’t speak for all of them, I know my share, myself included, who don’t like their appearance. Maybe that’s why we prefer to stay behind the camera. I know it’s the main reason for me.

Anyway… Enjoy a rare little glimpse of myself in pictures.

Mason took a shot of me with my Holga:

And yesterday evening at a wedding, a guest took my camera and decided I should be in this group picture. I wasn’t about to object to being surrounded by six beautiful women! What I wasn’t expecting however, was the girls deciding they’d pick me up!! Why OH WHY didn’t I just smile?!?!?!

This wedding was such a blast! I’ll be posting more of it soon (I still need to post the pictures from the Vegas wedding). At the end of the evening when the party stopped, the bride just said “You’re off the clock! You can go home if you want, but we’d love to have you stay and hang out with everyone.”

So I did

I ended up mingling with a whole bunch of cool people, playing a few exciting games of foosball and then finally calling it a night after being invited to take one of these beautiful stones home with me:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

I LOVE my job.

Actors

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May 142010

This is Alisha.

Actress, model and long-time friend of mine, she came to me with a request to shoot pictures of her acting crew. They’re all headed on a cruise to perform a play! How cool is that?!

I do have a question though… If the ship tilts significantly to one side or the other, is it customary to shift the performance in the opposite direction to keep people from getting motion sick?

Hmm…

Anyway, onto the headshots of all the beautiful/handsome people. Everyone except Alisha was getting the star treatment, because… Uh…

Because all the actors are playing actors in the play.

Most. Redundant. Sentence. EVAR!!

But so, all the actors needed headshots to print out and actually use during the play, so what it means is that they needed to be in character for their headshots.

Jeremy plays Hugh Lockwood, Veronica Vicious’s lackey husband.

Mary plays Glo Star, the desperately untalented actress trying to reach the top of the food chain.

Tony plays Brent, director and host of the awards show.

Tonia plays Ravishing B. Yuety, the up-and-coming ingenue.

Heidi plays Veronica Vicious, the talented but mean actress.

And Alisha plays Sally White, Veronica’s stalker…

And here’s a few of Sally White’s stalking exploits involving the highly irritable Veronica Vicious:

(Wil + Ashley) x Love - ⅘ (Carrot) = ⅞ π ⁴ ™©

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Apr 212010

Just look at that mathematical equation up there in the title!! Can you tell that it means Wil and Ashley are engaged?

Have you noticed this lately? Every photographer posting pictures of couples feels compelled to write some basic equation, like “Wil + Ashley = Engaged”.

Well, I decided it was time I took this to the max! So the equation goes like this:

The sum of Wil and Ashley multiplied by love minus four fifths of a carrot equals seven eights of pi to the power of four.

YEAH!!!!!!

And just for good measure I added in a Trademark and a Copyright symbol. Why?! ‘Cause I can, that’s why!! Although I’m sure this is the least likely title anyone will ever steal. In fact, go ahead and take it. Heck, I dare ya to expand on my bogus mathematical equations!

Anyway… So the point is, Wil and Ashley’s engagement session was awesome. Can’t wait to shoot their wedding!

Play!

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Apr 132010

We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing. – Charles Schaefer

I was standing steady in the corner of my son’s bedroom, NERF gun in hand, cocked and ready to fire, silently waiting for my two boys to fall into my trap and come to me. My oldest, Gabe, took the lead. “Ok Mason, you take this room, I’ll take that one.” I didn’t know which of the rooms he meant.

I press my finger on the trigger more tightly. Gabe walks in.

I fire. Direct hit!

He screams, laughs and runs back out. Mason in the other bedroom is screaming and running to his brother’s aid. All out war! I reload, fire again, chasing them now.

Oh man that was a fun afternoon. Thought it might be worth sharing

Back to my work, here’s a headshot I did recently for a terrific actor and all-around great guy called Matt Mascaro. He was in NURF Wars, which I’m afraid is still in the works. Anyway, here you go.

Wedding, engagement session and model shoots coming up next, either today or tomorrow.

Premiere!

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Feb 252010

It’s midnight, I just came home from the premiere showing for the premiere showing for Every Day the Same and it was an absolute JOY!! A huge thanks to all who came, it was a blast hanging out again

I’ll be posting the movie online soon…ish…

Me and my Holga

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Feb 032010

I’ve been excited to show you these for some time and now, I finally get to!

The images below are photographs taken with a Holga camera.

The Holga is a film camera. Medium format, which is larger than the 35mm film cameras most people remember. And it’s also listed under “toy camera” anywhere you look to buy it.

Why?

Because it sucks, that’s why. You laugh, but it’s true.

It sucks.

A lot.

It’s manufactured in China with exactly zero quality control, so if you and a friend each bought your own, you’d still end up with two completely different cameras, it’s made entirely of plastic (yes, even the lens) and it’s incredibly primitive in the control it offers.

Oh and don’t lick it either, there’s the slight possibility you might get lead poisoning. Remember; it was made in China! On the other hand, what the hell are you doing licking cameras?!

Anyway, but that’s also why boatloads of photographers love it so much. It’s primitive and unpredictable.

I can’t speak for other photographers, but my experience with the Holga has been liberating. That’s what I love about mine. The freedom. I go into any new shoot with two things on my mind.

1. Film is expensive and I only have 12 shots per roll. I better get this right.
2. This camera sucks. It doesn’t matter what I do, it’ll come out interesting. Still though… Get it right…

Whenever I get started on a shoot with my current digital camera, I have about 1,200 images worth of space. With a Holga, I have almost exactly ONE HUNDRED TIMES fewer shots at my disposal.

So I friggin’ pay attention.

So yes, it focuses me like digital cameras can’t. To me, that is liberating, because instead of focusing my energy on telling similar images apart, I get to pay closer attention to what I want to do NOW, with the camera in hand. But there’s the added bonus of not knowing what you’re gonna get, especially with a Holga, until you get your roll back from the lab.

Here’s why.

With professional cameras, your view is bounced around through a series of mirrors so you can see exactly what your lens is seeing. You see how far you’re zoomed in or out, what your focus looks like, there’s even an indicator to tell you what your exposure is gonna look like before you take the shot.

With a Holga, forget about mirrors; you look through a hole. You don’t have a clue what your lens is seeing. You have to literally guess what your focus is gonna be like based on some stupidly vague icons at the front of the lens. And you have two aperture settings. Sunny and cloudy.

And that’s it. Go take a picture.

And when you do go take a roll full of pictures and get them developed, you find that your Holga did a number of things you didn’t know it was doing. It leaked light onto the film in this frame but not on that one because the construction of the casing sucks so much, it missed focus because you can’t tell exactly where your focus is anyway and even where focus magically falls in your lap, the camera’s construction may be such that the bottom right corner of your images are out of focus regardless. I say “may be” because remember, no two Holgas are alike. I just know it does that on mine, with some frames where the issue is more pronounced than others. Oh and of course the thing Holgas are most famous for: vignetting. The corners of your images are darkened, not by choice like we do now digitally, but because that’s how your Holga came out of the factory.

The sheer unpredictability of the thing makes the results all the more exhilarating.

So I hope you enjoy my little collection so far. These have been shot between around November when I got it and during my trip to Europe, which by the way means that I had three cameras to juggle; the iPhone, the Canon and the Holga. And I had a 4-year-old. And it was cold. And the French have nukes.

What?! It’s more exciting when I put it like that!

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Liar liar, pants on fire

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Jan 132010

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Oh I’m sorry… Did I hint towards a trip to New York City a couple of posts down? Woopsie! I meant to say EUROPE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

A few days in Paris, a few days in London, a few days in Belgium, a few days with my brother in Cardiff and a few days in Rome.

I should mention however, that I went with my little Mason, who is just under four years old right now, so although I really wanted to pull out my camera more often, go in more places and get a lot more artsy-fartsy… Well I just couldn’t. He wanted to be everywhere I was, all the time, doing everything I was doing, including taking pictures when I did.

And I’m going to begin with that.

I know that as a father, I’m biased in saying this, but my son is a photographer. And a spectacular one at that.

Aside from a few not-so-good ones, and hey, he’s friggin’ FOUR, he captured three shots that I wouldn’t hesitate to put in my portfolio, HAD THEY BEEN MINE!!

What REALLY blows my mind though, is that whenever he would take pictures, I could see him searching for an image. He wouldn’t be content with snapping a picture of whatever, I could see him aiming the camera at his surroundings, actually searching for what he considered a good image, never taking a shot until he’d found it, then he would really pause and take the care to not shake while hitting the shutter button.

Dude…

And then the results speak for themselves. Just LOOK at the composition on those!! Are you friggin’ kidding me?!?!?!?!

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These were shot with my iPhone, and I think that had something to do with him finding an image because he could really see what he was doing as he was doing it.

Here’s the last one he took that I really love, although I think it was more of an accident. It was unbelievably cold in Paris, and that night was colder than that. This was an attempted shot at the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t have a tripod and in my shots remained as still as I possibly could and set the camera on as stable an object as I could, but I don’t think Mason realized the camera had been set to such a slow shutter speed, so after he felt the camera shutter open, he figured he’d taken the picture, and started bringing the camera down.

Accident or not, that’s cool:

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Ok, onto the rest. I’m not going to differentiate between my Canon shots and my iPhone shots and I’m going to split the trip in at least two parts.

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My trip to Belgium was long and turned bad by the end for me. By the time I landed, I wasn’t feeling well at all. By the time I got to my mom’s, roughly two hours later, I was about to throw up and in a cold sweat. Oh and United Airlines was kind enough to lose my luggage. Thanks.

A glass of water I sipped on and a slice of fresh bread was what helped me get through

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Oh and with time “moving faster” going so far east, I technically missed a day for pictures. I headed out on the 14th of December and got there on December 15th even though the trip was about 15 hours altogether… So I don’t know. I’m just gonna add another day to my 365 days.

Day 335/365

The next day, it was off to Paris! I know it’s winter, but I was surprised at how unbelievably cold it was out there…

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Oh how I loved the quaint little streets of Paris…

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Day 336/365

To my Utah readers, snow isn’t a big deal. In fact, to many here in the States, snow is normal.

In Paris though, and in Europe in general, snow was complete and utter chaos. This is primarily because most of the European countries that had been hit with snow, hadn’t had THAT kind of snow in about 20 years. So I was told at least.

That day, we couldn’t go up on the Eiffel Tower at all, so we went to the Louvres.

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Day 337/365

The Passages Couverts (Covered Hallways), the Centre George Pompidou, the Arc De Triomphe and finally, the Eiffel Tower again, illuminated.

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Day 338/365

The Eiffel Tower again. This time we were able to go up, but only to the first floor. The second and third floors were still completely frozen… Bummer.

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Notre Dame de Paris

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On the train back to Belgium for a couple of days.

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Upon our arrival back to Belgium, we went to see some friends for dinner. Mason got to play with their parrot, who apparently doesn’t take kindly to strangers. Not with Mason! Our friends were very surprised and Mason had a blast.

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Day 339/365

Mason watching the giant snowflakes coming down in my old home.

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Day 340/365

I missed the second day of being in Belgium. This was the last time I forgot to shoot for the 365 project. So I think the total ended up being four missed? Make it five just to be safe, so I’ll shoot every day until the 15th of this month, how’s that?

This was when we got to London

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Day 341/365

The London Eye.

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It takes 30 minutes to complete a full revolution on it and get this, you can get married on it! They said that it costs £2,000 which is just over $3200. I’m not sure exactly what they provide, if anything, besides the 15-minute ceremony which starts at the bottom when you get on, and ends when you seal your union with a kiss at the top! How cool is that?!

Any future brides on here wanna book me for that?

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Pigeons are tons of fun, especially when you can lure a ton of them to you. It’s not hard, just throw some crumbles of rotten food on the ground and you’re set.

Throw a four-year-old in the mix, and you have yourself a par-tay!!

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Day 343/365

We got to my brother Ramzi’s house the evening before and had dinner with his fiancée and her father. It was great.

And then we went to their impeccably kept house. Here’s their Christmas Tr –… Sorry… Holiday Tree. Commemorating… stars… and lights… and glass balls…

Oh I don’t know what to call it anymore…

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Day 344/365

The next day, we went shopping. Everything was half-off and this one looked like it was in good shape, so I thought what the hell, let’s get one of them!

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Day 345/365

I haven’t been in every part of the world, so I can’t be sure these really were the best fish and chips in the world, but they tasted good to me.

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By the way, fish is pretty self-explanatory, but chips are fries. What do they call chips? Crisps… So to recap, fries are chips and chips are crisps. Cool? Cool. Try saying that fast by the way. Not possible.

The UK is known for its drizzly, grey, depressing weather. So is much of northern Europe actually. But what I’d forgotten is how cool their clouds are when the sun does break through a bit. Clear skies forever here in Utah does get boring after a while.

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I love the architecture there.

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Day 346/365

Another day of shopping. This time, outdoors. There was a Merry-Go-Round. And I had a four-year-old. What did you think was gonna happen?

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Shopping for food. Well, us adults were. Mason was busy.

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Day 348/365

I bought a pair of Reeboks on that outing…

Made in Vietnam… Yes. As evidenced by the BRITISH FLAG SHOWN BEHIND IT!!!!!!!

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And that gets me wondering, did anyone at Reebok get fired?

A rainy country means lots of fun in puddles.

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Running through the backyard.

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Taking a walk through the neighborhood.

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Happy New Year!!!

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And the next day, it was off to Rome!

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No joke, this was the entrance to the building of our hotel.

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Best pizza I’ve ever had and one of the best I had in Rome.

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Rome has some cool, colorful architecture and lots of churches.

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Ok, see these stairs? I went down every single one of those while pushing a stroller that Mason didn’t want to get off of. Oh yeah. Highlight of my vacation!

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Mason and I took a break, then a walk along a river where the water had receded enough that we could. My brother, his fiancée and my mom chose the road above us. Psh.

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The road leading up to the Vatican was PACKED with people who were going to see the Pope.

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Find the Pope.

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Give up? There he is! In the window!

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The ledge to the river and Mason sitting on it.

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Day 353/365

The Colosseum is the epitome of Italy’s past architectural grandeur. You get there and like many other places, you can’t believe how grand everything feels. Everything feels like it was built with excess and more importantly, luxury in mind.

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But if there’s one image that I shot in Rome that I would use to represent it, it would have to be this one:

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Chaos. Total chaos. I didn’t get that feeling from Paris or London. Only from Italy. Can anyone back me up on this?

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At the airport on the way home to Belgium. Yes, wood flooring in an airport. The Italian police also manage to justify Lamborghinis for some of its officers. Not making this up.

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Part 2 along with the last images of the 365 project coming up soon!

One more...

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Dec 132009

Ok, last one before I go on vacation!

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Snowman! That’s my little Mason, grinning next to our accomplishment! (iPhone photo)
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About a week's worth

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Nov 172009

Ok, here’s some of what you’ve missed out on.

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If it weren’t for this shot, I would have forgotten to take anything that day. I thought it interesting that a chair was just out there (iPhone photo)

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Day 294/365

Family shoot.

DISCLAIMER: Both my good friend Heidi and I were shooting with my camera that day. On the same memory card. For those who have been following my blog, her gear was stolen recently, so she needed loaners as she worked to get back on her feet – which she is now; she bought all the new gear she needed! Yay!! Anyway, what this means is that I’m not completely sure these are all my shots. I’m pretty sure most of them are, but I’m not 100%

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Day 295/365

I can’t post pictures of Kenzie’s bridal shoot until after her wedding on December 16th… But I have a good deal of cool stuff to show you when I’m allowed. Put it on my tab!

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Scouting for new locations. Best day of my life.

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I absolutely LOVE being on movie sets!!

This was from a goofy short film a friend of mine wrote and directed called “Takito: The Quest to Save Rivendork”. It was, believe it or not, a prequel to another short film he wrote and directed called “Takito: The Revenge of Dreyfus”.

Yes, it’s a spoof. It’s a joke film. I mean… “Takito”. We’re alluding to taquitos.

It was a spoof on a largely unknown feature film called Shikito, by Utah Wolf Productions. Now, I’m not one to talk smack about other artists, but these people make some truly, TRULY atrocious films… As if that wasn’t enough, they’ve willfully infringed on an unbelievable number of copyright laws while insisting that you don’t infringe on theirs.

Andrew (the writer/director for Takito) and I found this incredibly funny. Particularly because Utah Wolf Productions seem to take themselves so damn seriously. So Andy decided he wanted to make a short film out of it last year. The original Takito film. I found this to be dangerous, not just because he’s stealing the movie from Utah Wolf Productions, who are stealing things from giant corporations like Sony, who probably stole their ideas from some schmuck in Arkansas, but also because… Well, how do you spoof a film that sucks? Make it suck MORE?… Andy decided to make it more obviously silly (ie. make it a comedy) while making the cool stuff cooler (ie. better production values).

Regardless, it was enormous fun shooting on set. I shot on days 2 and 3. On day 1 I wasn’t available.

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