Blogs

Spotlight #19 - High in Hampi /  by Aman Sridhar

Life has taken a bit of a breather these last two weeks. 

I was away travelling through the South for a bit, hoping to rekindle the fire that rock climbing had once sparked. 

I had planned this trip for way too long, and it felt great to finally be on the road. Suddenly, time began to slow down and an air of contentment settled over my life. 

Worry lines began to get erased and I began to feel that flow I once had, but lost. 

This photo is the perfect symbol for what Hampi is - beautiful sunsets, surreal landscapes, dry terrain and demented humans getting their kicks from climbing rocks. 

I took this my first evening in. I was sleep deprived and my brain was saturated, and despite telling myself I would take it easy that evening and start fresh, I found myself meeting folks and climbing rocks with them that evening. 
 

It was great feeling that adrenaline fueled high that only adventure sports can give you. I ended up taking this picture after sending a route that I had first thought was beyond my capability. 

The timing of the shot with the dude standing on top of the boulder, and the streak of white in the air blend well together. In a way it's the most accurate representation of that first evening.  

 

 

Boxout Launch Party /  by Aman Sridhar

This week's event was a little different. Boxout FM recently launched their record label, and I was on deck to cover that event.

Check out the highlights below:

 

Boxout Wednesdays 031 /  by Aman Sridhar

Check out the week 31's highlights below!

 

Spotlight #18 - Chemistry /  by Aman Sridhar

This picture is a perfect example of what my last few months journey into the world of photography has brought about for me.

Needless to say, it means a lot. 

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This picture is sharp and colourful, but also full of contrast. It was also shot in manual focus with a flash in an extreme low-light situation. 

All of these things are skills I've picked up over the last few months. Ironically, it's also what I swore that I would never do when I first started out in photography. I wanted to be different. I didn't want to be the guy blinding people in the club. I didn't want to use Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop to their full extent. I wanted to keep things simple and minimal - nothing more, nothing less. 

Yet, this picture is the exact opposite of all those beliefs. 

Seeing it manifest in this form is extremely pleasing. 

I've been able to embrace technology for what it is and am happy with the results. 

 

Spotlight #17 - Shadows /  by Aman Sridhar

I go through phases between colour based editing and then straight up high contrast black and white. 

I don't have a real preference because I believe each has massive merit, and I really respect photographers who choose one and stick by it. 

I find it too hard to choose between the two, because often times I just go with what suits the picture best and it's hard to get myself to say that I'm a 'black and white photographer,' thus make everything black and white. 

Having said that though, there are sometimes when a picture just works so fucking well when it's made black and white. 

Here's one of them

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The original is filled with a mix of orange, red, green and yellow light, and is decent enough. But I knew almost immediately that I had to make this one black and white because there's just so much potential with it. 

I generally love bumping the contrast and the blacks up a lot, and it's easy to get carried away doing that. Sometimes the beauty of black and white pictures, is in the grey. 

This isn't one of those pictures. 

The highlights and the blacks adds so much to the feel of this image. I also love how one of the guy's caps covers a part of his face. This just amplifies the shadows in the image and really just edited itself. 

 

Check out last week's spotlight here - https://www.amansridhar.com/blog/2017/9/23/spotlight-16