New website is up and running

I'm proud to announce that my new website is finally up and running! Check it out at www.tarakfoto.com.



My goal with this website is to really highlight my architectural and interior design photographs and my travel work, as well as weddings, events, and my personal work in documentary. I hope you enjoy it.

Buy a t-shirt to support polaroid's comeback

Start celebrating the 2010 comeback of the new and improved Polaroid film. The Impossible Project's 12-man team was this week commissioned by the Polaroid company to develop a contemporary - and affordable - version of film by end of 2009 and manufacture by mid-2010. The team is based in The Netherlands in the former site of Polaroid's Integral Instant producing factory.

Want to help the cause? Buy one of these t-shirts. All proceeds go to factory operations.

Pho & Asian Groceries

I can't think anything better on rainy day than a massive bowl of pho bo, Vietnamese noodle soup with beef. It's been pouring non-stop the past 4 days here in Washington DC. No fun. Noodles are my comfort food and I inevitably seek them out when it's raining, I'm hungover, or in need of some food love. My friend, fellow foodie and Asian, Michelle (check out her blog, Lavender & Cocoa) trekked out to Eden Center in Seven Corners, VA to eat pho and hit up the Vietnamese grocery store, and below are some iPhone photos (using my fave app, Toy Camera) from today's adventure.

celebrity outtakes

I covered the First Annual Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN) Awards last Friday for a local publication, and this one happened to be a little more exciting than usual since bonafide celebrities would be at this event, and we all know how much I heart celebrity stuff.

Amongst the high profile attendees were Vivica A. Fox (loved her in Kill Bill, and her performance in Booty Call was totally underrated) who is super duper tall, and Harper Hill from CSI: New York, whom I observed to be very good at small talk (which takes mad skills). There were a few other big names there, but I don't feel like name-dropping so you can check them out at www.weenonline.org

It was my first time witnessing and shooting on the red carpet, and luckily enough the magazine I was representing doesn't use a lot of these images so I spent just enough time to look and learn. It gets crowded quickly and you've got to be either tall or pushy to make it into the front. Props to those photogs who shoot a lot of red carpet events.

I did meet a few photographers which was great because I'm all about community building. One was a photog who was the first female photographer to shoot for Capitol Records and DeathRow Records (no mean feat), and a couple of guys who made career switches into photography. Super inspirational.

Here are a couple of outtakes:

iPhone photos

I love making photos on my iPhone. The quality of the images, for what they are, are actually pretty nice.

From my experience, iPhone shoots landscapes better than portraits, for example:





My fave new thing, though, is the ToyCamera application. My sister gave me a Diana camera as a gift a couple of years ago and after only 4 rolls it broke =( So now I'm settling for the digital version. It's the only application I've paid for and it's really cheap at just $1.99. It gives you the option of setting it on random mode or selecting a specific treatment for your photograph. Here are some images from just playing around with the different modes:

random (vintage warm?)



random (hicon b&w?)



vintage yellow



low saturation

fake photo essay wins french newspaper contest

this is crazy - two french photo students submitted their photo essay to a french newspaper contest and won. when they went to collect the prize, they announced that the whole thing was staged, and they had completely fooled the judges. the photographers said, "they had wanted to make a 'powerful artistic gesture' attacking the 'voyeurism' and gullibility of parts of the press."

check it out.

the images are beautiful - the texture and emotion combined make a great photo, but as my good friend and fellow photog marisa just pointed out to me, "the only way you know any image is not staged is if the artist tells you so the only point they're making is artists lie... people make staged essays that convey emotions too."

if the purpose was to fool the audience, they should've just taken the prize. what do you think?

Tennis pro portraits

I really enjoyed these portraits of tennis pros in Life's online magazine. Technically speaking, they aren't the best - I'm not a fan of the lighting and it comes off as slightly student-ish rather than pro photos I would expect to see in Life. However, I do like the energy and goofy behaviour of the subjects. Courtside, we see them as very focused and strong and professional and it's fun to see a lighter side of them off-court. It also goes to show how important the relationship is between the photographer and subject - in these images, the viewer can see the sense of comradery and collaboration - and trust - through the playful demeanor of the subject.