[{"content":"After a couple of years on Squarespace, I\u0026rsquo;ve moved this blog to Hugo hosted on GitHub Pages. Faster, cheaper (free), and I own the content in plain Markdown files rather than locked inside someone else\u0026rsquo;s platform.\nThe migration took an afternoon. Everything that was on the Squarespace blog is being moved over gradually.\nA few things coming soon:\nNotes from recent shoots Behind-the-scenes from client sessions The Dark Sky Guide — a comprehensive astrophotography location guide for the USA I\u0026rsquo;ve been building Stay tuned.\n","permalink":"https://somik.photography/posts/hello-world/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter a couple of years on Squarespace, I\u0026rsquo;ve moved this blog to \u003ca href=\"https://gohugo.io\"\u003eHugo\u003c/a\u003e hosted on GitHub Pages. Faster, cheaper (free), and I own the content in plain Markdown files rather than locked inside someone else\u0026rsquo;s platform.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe migration took an afternoon. Everything that was on the Squarespace blog is being moved over gradually.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few things coming soon:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNotes from recent shoots\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBehind-the-scenes from client sessions\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"https://darksky.somik.photography\"\u003eDark Sky Guide\u003c/a\u003e — a comprehensive astrophotography location guide for the USA I\u0026rsquo;ve been building\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStay tuned.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hello, new blog"},{"content":"Had a recent shoot for a 50th Birthday event. Every shoot I learn something, there is always a takeaway - like a retrospective!\nThe following were the two that stood out -\nAll party venues don’t have enough AC outlets.. better carry Extension chords Murphy’s law is irritatingly consistent! I was carrying two cameras for this shoot on a double camera strap. My D810 with a wide angle Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 with the Nikon SB-900 speedlight, and my Mirrorless Nikon Z7 Rii with my lovely 70-200mm f/2.8. Now for cake cutting, I was planning on using the wide angle. The cake cutting begins and D810 with the wide angle lens, shows “Card error”.. Removing the card, the battery, putting it back does not work. The camera is stuck. Just a few minutes back I had removed a full card when the camera was On.. This probably caused the error? Who knows..\nI just stepped back, made sure nobody was blocking my view and framed a wide shot with my Z7 and 70-200mm, now set at 70mm. Thankfully it worked and the light was enough.\nThose few moments in an Event Photographer’s life send chills down your spine. I have had many such incidents - either the card stopped working (it’s nice that there are 2 cards in most modern professional cameras and I have one of them set as a “Backup” so every photo gets saved on both cards), or the camera had too many clicks and just wanted to take a nap, or a battery dies at the most crucial moment, or a card goes Full, or the camera simply refuses to focus..\nEach such moment teaches one to have a backup plan!\n","permalink":"https://somik.photography/posts/birthday-event-shoot/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHad a recent shoot for a 50th Birthday event. Every shoot I learn something, there is always a takeaway - like a retrospective!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe following were the two that stood out -\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAll party venues don’t have enough AC outlets.. better carry Extension chords\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMurphy’s law is irritatingly consistent! I was carrying two cameras for this shoot on a double camera strap. My D810 with a wide angle Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 with the Nikon SB-900 speedlight, and my Mirrorless Nikon Z7 Rii with my lovely 70-200mm f/2.8. Now for cake cutting, I was planning on using the wide angle.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cake cutting begins and D810 with the wide angle lens, shows “Card error”.. Removing the card, the battery, putting it back does not work. The camera is stuck. Just a few minutes back I had removed a full card when the camera was On.. This probably caused the error? Who knows..\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Birthday Event Shoot"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m a photographer based in the USA, passionate about landscape, astrophotography, and documentary work.\nThis blog is where I share thoughts on photography, travel notes, and the occasional technical deep-dive. My portfolio and client galleries live at somikphotography.com.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re interested in astrophotography and dark sky locations across the USA, check out my Dark Sky Guide.\nAll images on this site are © Somik. Please don\u0026rsquo;t use them without permission.\n","permalink":"https://somik.photography/about/","summary":"About Somik","title":"About"},{"content":"Date: Apr 8, 2024 * Start Time: 1:55pm * Totality: @3:15pm for 3 mins 45 sec * Place: Radisson Hotel, Akron, Ohio After carefully considering different places for shooting the eclipse, I chose Akron near Cleveland, OH which was in the band of totality. And after experimenting with various options, I settled on the following gear as the most workable solution -\nNikon Z7 Rii Mirrorless Camera Sigma 150-600mm with a 2x Teleconverter (effective focal length 1100mm) Orion 5.25\u0026quot; ID Safety Film Solar Filter K\u0026amp;F Concept 3-Way Geared Tripod Head Induro Carbon Fiber Tripod All packed in the trunk of our car, my friend and I drove to Akron, OH.. a 7hr drive. The day of the Eclipse arrived - Breakfast, followed by a quick lunch as we started seeing 1pm on the clock. An open space, just outside the hotel and very few people gathered there to see the Eclipse, I think it was perfect. But, the weather predictions were not good.. It-was-cloudy!\nContemplating driving to another nearby city till 1pm, and finally just trusting our gut feeling that the clouds might disperse, we stayed on.\nIndeed, the clouds slowly moved away making way for the Sun and Moon to put on this spectacular show.\nPeople were quite amused by the gear I had and started taking pictures of the eclipse on the Camera screen using their Mobile Phones. I was clicking with a Remote Shutter Release every few seconds and adjusting for the Earth’s rotation using the 3-way geared tripod head to keep “the actors” in the center of the screen.\nWas prepared for totality - or at least I thought I was.. 3:15pm - TOTALITY! And everything just went B-L-A-N-K for me in the camera!!! PANIC! After all the tutorials videos and articles leading up to this event, I had forgotten to do the one step I was supposed to do at Totality - which was to REMOVE THE DAMN SOLAR FILTER! One full minute of frantic debugging, bumping up ISO, slowing down shutter speed, open Aperture.. nothing. I was seeing a spectacular view with my eyes, but nothing in the camera! Removed the camera from the Tripod, tried searching for the Sun as if it had gone out of the frame.. still, nothing.\nAnd suddenly it dawned on me!!! I quickly removed the solar filter and threw it in the trunk of our car, and started shooting just handheld.. the camera and the crazy 150-600mm lens with the Teleconverter were together quite a weight, but I just had a minute of totality left.. My exposure was off by a bit.. got overexposed corona in most of those shots.. And just as it had started 3 mins back the spectacle started to end….\nWith the hope that I will have at least one or two shots of totality with me, I shot the remaining stages of Eclipse.. It was exhausting.. both mentally and physically. And that’s when it bit me….\nTHE ECLIPSE BUG ! Looking forward to the next one in 2026 from Iceland.. if my stars align!\n","permalink":"https://somik.photography/posts/my-2024-solar-eclipse-story/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"date-apr-8-2024--start-time-155pm--totality-315pm-for-3-mins-45-sec-\"\u003eDate: Apr 8, 2024 * Start Time: 1:55pm * Totality: @3:15pm for 3 mins 45 sec *\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"place-radisson-hotel-akron-ohio\"\u003ePlace: Radisson Hotel, Akron, Ohio\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter carefully considering different places for shooting the eclipse, I chose Akron near Cleveland, OH which was in the band of totality. And after experimenting with various options, I settled on the following gear as the most workable solution -\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNikon Z7 Rii Mirrorless Camera\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSigma 150-600mm with a 2x Teleconverter (effective focal length 1100mm)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOrion 5.25\u0026quot; ID Safety Film Solar Filter\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eK\u0026amp;F Concept 3-Way Geared Tripod Head\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInduro Carbon Fiber Tripod\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll packed in the trunk of our car, my friend and I drove to Akron, OH.. a 7hr drive. The day of the Eclipse arrived - Breakfast, followed by a quick lunch as we started seeing 1pm on the clock. An open space, just outside the hotel and very few people gathered there to see the Eclipse, I think it was perfect. But, the weather predictions were not good.. It-was-cloudy!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My 2024 Solar Eclipse Story"},{"content":"White Sands in New Mexico is world’s largest - 275 sq miles of rare Gypsum sand dunefield. During the day, there is a lot of play with light-n-shadow, contours, lines, .. It’s all about discovering these artforms in this vast area nature created over the last 10,000+ years. It is humanly impossible to reach/capture all of them, but here is a glimpse of a few.\nOnce you enter the dunes, it is easy to get ‘greedy’, or get lost - both in space and time.. so make sure to pay attention, keep a GPS device with you, and most importantly Water!\nSunsets Sunsets and Sunrises are simply Magical here.. with the backdrop of dark-rocked San Andres (West) and Sacramanto Mountains (East) lining the bed of these white Gypsum sand dunes.. It’s all about being there, finding the right dunes, that have not been walked on.. and nature unfolds the magic right in front of your eyes! As the sun sinks behind the mountains basking the sky in that glorious golden glow, the blue hour follows, turning the dunes purple! And you just keep clicking\u0026hellip;\nAgain, caution + gps + water. I didn\u0026rsquo;t realize how far I went inside the dunefield to find a good spot.. It\u0026rsquo;s only when I started walking back, I realized how many dunes I had to cross while it was getting darker by the minute!\nNight with Bortle 3 skies If you apply for a Special permit to be in the park at night / if you are camping, you are all set to get a different type of experience!\nThe darkness here, is \u0026lsquo;Blinding\u0026rsquo;! You better know where you are going, so plan ahead when there is light, pay attention, and be safe.. An app like Stellarium or Photopills can help plan your shot. The reward is up there for grabs.. the glorious starry sky! You can see the Milky way with your naked eye, and your camera sensor kept open for 20-30 seconds can see it even better! From here on, it is your imagination as to how you compose your foreground and the Milky Way..\nAs the dawn tiptoes in, the sunlight breaks through, birds start chirping, and the cycle repeats.\n","permalink":"https://somik.photography/posts/trip-to-white-sands-nm/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhite Sands in New Mexico is world’s largest - 275 sq miles of rare Gypsum sand dunefield. During the day, there is a lot of play with light-n-shadow, contours, lines, .. It’s all about discovering these artforms in this vast area nature created over the last 10,000+ years. It is humanly impossible to reach/capture all of them, but here is a glimpse of a few.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce you enter the dunes, it is easy to get ‘greedy’, or get lost - both in space and time.. so make sure to pay attention, keep a GPS device with you, and most importantly Water!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Trip to White Sands, NM"}]