Carnival 08' - Sigh...Highs and lows

Ayinde Just sent this one over so I thought I'd just include it in this post. Boy do I look unkempt, but that's Photography for you. That's the D80 with the 1.8 85mm in my hand, one of the rare times I mounted that lens for the day. I used the D80 for the most part, the D200 was just heavier and in that sun an ounce of weight can make a big difference.

Well I may have told some people that I'm not really involved in Carnival and that's quite true, but I still ventured to take some pics this Carnival Monday and Tuesday...only reason being that i didn't want to dissapoint Abigail (my apprentice) after saying that I was going and that she could come along. Plus my good Paparazzi friend Ayinde was in on the action as well.

Jouvert was good as usual mud, body paint, steel pan, the whole shabang and a wealth of creative photographic opportunities.

Tuesday however... was Tuesday.

Most Carnival bands can be summed up into an experience I had on Tuesday while doing some light photography in Port of Spain.

Ayinde, Abby and myself were looking for some friends of Ayinde's and while walking through the band that we knew they were in, we could not find them so we kept on walking through all the sections of the band.
I somehow ended up leading the march (even though I had no idea who we were looking for) and at some point I heard Ayinde calling out to me so I turned around. He then pointed to the security in the band...and i noticed that their t-shirt colour had changed...so I was like "is this some type of exclusive section or something?" Then Ayinde signalled and pointed to the print on the security's t-shirt...it was not that the band security t-shirt colour had changed but this was a completely different band!
It all just looked the same, the costumes were all just bikini's with a splash of colour and you couldn't tell where one band ended and another began.

There was no creative signature that made the costumes distinct. As usual.

There was however one band that DID stand out and it stood out so greatly I wondered whether there should just be two bands this Carnival...one massively big bikini band, with a splash of colour, called the "Splash of Colour Bikini Band" which would mostly be all the bands combined competing against Brian Mac Falane's 2008 presentation "EARTH" for band of the year.

I was captivated buy the elaborate detail and care put into creating the Brian Mac Farlane costumes. They were in a word "outstanding".

So thumbs up to Brian Mac Farlane and his creative team for bringing some sanity to an otherwise parade of half naked people.

I can't decide which photos I want to put up what so in the mean time, I'll just put up my favorite pics from Jouvert and Carnival Tuesday and a couple of the crew.

My Favorite 08 Jouvert Photo.

I'm sure people will ask why this is my favorite pic...no mud, no steel pan but this photo has character and some thing I just...well I dunno, the more I look at it the more I love it...the grey stubble on his face, the squinting eyes, the fact that he is chipping like this unwaveringly...just a nice pic.

A nail-biting-ly close second

I like this photo because you can see the detail of the bottle cap on the top of his head, the photo is cut in two and he's right in front of one half almost like if he is just about to cross the border , I love all the feet framing the top of the photo and the only pair of feet at the at the bottom, oddly but wondrously so is facing in the opposite direction almost like a perimeter is being formed around him while he's doing his Jouvert ritual. I also love the colour and texture of the mud on his skin.


My Favorite 08 Carnival Photo (arguably)

I love the perspective on this and the fact that he's just about to move out of the frame. It gives him a feel like a tall tree and the sky is lovely and of course this is Brian Mac Farlane's band.

A fighting second

I love this because It does not necessarily have anything to do with Carnival, the only thing that is connecting this photo to Carnival is the reflection of the masquerader in her sunglasses.

As things become clearer I'll post more.

Ayinde and Abigail...keeping a sharp eye out for photo ops.

My, what big knees you have Grandma...this is me checking my mail @ Ayinde's, Abby took this photo.

Nadine and Naren x 2! UPDATED

Nadine and Naren left today and it was a bitter sweet parting. Not wanting to put up an additional post, I'm just updating this one to include this pic...

This is us in the airport, ahhh lovely,my wide angle lens is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Oh...I'm just adding a little drama to the pic with my facial expression there lol

Now on to the original story...

Now Nadine and Naren knew that they wouldn't have time to do any major wedding pictures on the day so before they came we arranged to do a couple shoot...strange thing is they didn't have the time to do the shoot before the wedding and actually got pics on their wedding day lol!

At any rate, we still had to do the couples thing, which I was so looking forward to because I had some stuff that I was dying to try for a while that didn't necessarily fit into the pace of a wedding. (Besides I forgot my equipment to do it on their wedding day ^_^ )

But as usual they lived up to their crazy selves and we had a time doing the shoot. I only have two pics for you...final installment for the TW crew.

Naren and his Superman pose...in mid air no less

Light painting is easier when you've actually done fine art, this was my favorite part of the shoot. Image is straight out of camera i.e. no photoshopping, just in case anyone asks.

Nadine and Naren..one of the best EVER!

I don't know where to start with this one...I mean this has got to be one of the best weddings I ever did and its definitely in the top 5.

What makes its the best? Two words...the people.

I mean Nadine has an incredible family and really cool dad and mom and the rest of people treat you like...well...family. This is also true for Nadine who had a "no worries" approach to the day...although she was adamant about getting her good champagne :-) and Naren is just a good fella.

Everything in the wedding flowed and I was so glad we were able to run away to take some pics before the sun said bye-bye.

Did I also mention that Nadine and Naren are also crazy? LOL. They had a spontaneously creative attitude and they were just being themselves, which made it easier for me to be me and thats when I'm at my best. Yup...they rock.

I had a hard time choosing a few pics without actually giving away too much but here are a few...again this is for the TW crew because Nadine is not going to see this till later on.

Enjoy!

Nadine waiting to get her makeup done, framed by bob and sis in law kesha

Bride and groom waiting in two different rooms, Nadine was nervous before Naren got there...but when he did he grabbed the nervousness baton and ran.

This pic looks pretty normal...till you notice what Nadine is doing LOL! The bite victim is her brother Nare (Hope I spelt that right)

You know me and the feet, those toe rings were put on during the ceremony.

I'm so glad that they didn't go crazy with the cake, I didn't take couple portraits as yet and didnt want anyones nice wedding attire to be "icened" although there was slight cake to face action.

Ahhhhh...lovin the portraits, thank goodness for the 10 minutes of remaining sun.

The tassa rolled and frenetic dancing ensued...kewl frenetic dancing

Nadine and Naren are here!

^^^^
Yes they are...and in full effect too, my wife and I took the scenic drive to south to finally see them in person after meeting the parents, phone calls and facebook interactions. Whew!

When I asked her if she was excited she replied "Duh!" then burst out laughing, I guess I deserved that one :-)

So they are cool and everything is in order. "The days seen longer" they said. Its really great they are getting things done...well I guess things are easier in person.

Aye! Nadine's Mehindi rocks! The artist (not from Trinidad unfortunately) is really intricate and even integrated Naren's name into the art...talk about creative.

This post wouldnt be complete if I didn't have a couple pics, I was like "lemme take a pic of you" Nadine's like "Like This?!" and proceeds to run her hands through her hair in a kind of frenetic way to give it volume, (LOL)then she and Naren strike a pose like they are in a wedding magazine.

Unfortunately, Nadine can't get online and she won't be seeing these till later on but she did mention her TW peeps, so these pics are for them!

Nadine and Naren...posing practice!

The ROCK...and boy does it rock, right in the coloured rice (can some one comment and tell me what do you call it again?)

Holding hands...

It Nice! Great Mehindi work.

Look at the detail...

Glennis & Chris and me in action :-)

Photographed Glennis and Chris's wedding on December 30th last year (just to make it sound like it was a long time ago when it was only ten days ago) had a great time, meet some kewl people including Glennis's best friend Marcia who told her about me in the first place (I'm doing her wedding next year) and Uncle Cobo or to us who aren't into sobriquets...Steven/Stephen.

Much props to them both because they were all over the video and additional photography and Steven happened to catch a pic of me on the warpath.

Here are some pics from the wedding.

Absolute excitement...:-)

Just Wed, now off to the portraits

Now that's what I call love

This is the shot (Frame 1)

Frame 2 - This is me taking the shot Courtesy Steven/Stephen AKA uncle Cobo. LOL, looks like Im thrashing around on the ground. Now my wife will know why my shirts are that colour all the time.

Somebody say Heyyyyyyyyy!

Young Creative Bannister Talent

My sister just completed her stint at YTEPP (Youth Training & Entrepreneurship Partnership Programme) in Graphic Design.

WAY TO GO SIS!!!!

Most of what they did is basic design stuff, all in a hands on fine art fashion (No pixels here!) I went to their open day and saw much interesting pieces including, a choice few by my super sibling!

This is how I started off in design right out of school and I didn't turn out so bad :-) so I know the value of the experience, even though I now snicker when I see their poster designs (snick, snick). Its all good that Nessy (Janessa) and the rest of the class can express raw, budding creative talent.

I'd love to see what happens in a few years

Nessy and her favorite project - Hope she has the cash to pay copyright royalties ;-)

Nessy and her teacher Mr. Huggins, hopefully this was not her attitude during the course. (A genuine moment captured)

Shine Ruby Shine

Ok folks,

Just have enough time to post some of the Tobago shoot family pics. Couple gallery coming soon. Hey Debbie, Mick and Lee Ann and not to mention the Rubster! Ruby was without a doubt the star of this shoot as you will see from some of the sample pics below (Sorry Debs and Mick!)

She's just beyond cute!

There she is.

Ruby making a break for it.

A little family fun.