Gratitude List #7

I’m spending the day at a hotel in Kottayam! The sky is gorgeous blue with big white fluffy clouds, I had appams and stew for breakfast, a most delicious fish curry thali meal for lunch, I have watched two movies and I have NO household responsibilities to take care of today. Life is good ;)

// So grateful that my photography allows me to travel. Even if I don’t always have time to look around much and I don’t particularly like doing that alone, it’s always nice to have a change of scene.

// Grateful for second-shooters. Their support is so valuable and I think I’m pretty lucky to have worked with some super talented and super sweet fellow photographers in my two years of TNP

// Happy email responses from clients on seeing their wedding galleries! Especially notes from parents. I know it’s sometimes hard convincing parents of the value of candid photography so when I hear from them, it’s extra special.

// Long weekends. We had one last week and spent it mostly relaxing and catching up with each other and friends. We also went on a long trek which was so.much.fun. I have to write more about that! Three more long weekends coming up over the next two months. YAY!

// One year of officially being Mrs. Stephens. It’s a lesser known fact about our story but we were legally hitched about 6 months before our wedding! It didn’t feel much different because we didn’t actually start doing LIFE together until after our wedding in December but still, it’s kind of momentous. I thought of myself being Mrs. Stephens like from the day after we started dating because he was just so darn awesome and where had he been all my life!?! I love that man so. He brings out the very best and very secret parts of me. The person that I am and that I am becoming that I never really knew I was or could become.

Purnima + Sam (Mehendi and Haldi) : Patiala Candid Wedding Photography

Purnima and I went to the same college, although she was a year ahead of me and I don’t think we’d ever interacted in college! A couple of years later, she saw some images I’d taken at one of my besties’ wedding with my Canon T3i and then newly purchased and 50mm 1.8 lens! And then her turn to get married came around and she contacted me and I was ecstatic at the idea of shooting a wedding in Patiala, Punjab – a part of the country I’d never been to before so we just made it happen. And how glad I am that we did!

My second-shooter, Gen had her birthday the day that we arrived in Patiala and somehow the bride and her family got to know (I might have had something to do with that) and they went totally out of their way and bought the most delicious chocolate cake and other birthday paraphernalia so we could celebrate. It was the sweetest thing.

Thanks Purnima and Sam and all of your amazing family and friends for giving us a time to remember in Patiala!

Here is part 1 of Purnima + Sam’s Gujarati-Rajasthani Wedding in Patiala!

…and one last .gif image for Gen ;)

The Gratitude List # 6

I meant to post this on Saturday night and then somehow, Monday morning creeped up on us…

// For four whole days of non stop running water. We’ve gotten used to storing up and getting things done at specific times of the day depending on when the water will be available but it’s good to not have to be militant about it anymore. I am grateful for running water and I think having had it rationed was a good reminder of the importance of preservation. Water is precious and we ought to use it mindfully all the time, not just when it’s rationed.

// For the co-working space that I joined this last week. I’m not naturally extroverted so I know it will take me a while to make friends with my fellow co-working space folks but I really love the comfort of having people working away around me. And I am just so much more focused and productive in that space!

// For this wonderful group of ladies that I meet with every Wednesday. Again, it’s taken me a while to be comfortable and open up (and I’m still not a 100% there) but I am so grateful for how accepting they are of me anyway. And I am humbled and growing because of that.

// For a slew of new inquiries! I’m so humbled by your support. And no matter what happens, I am always happy to hear of couples getting married! Marriage is awesome.

// For the joy of seeing my work in print!

// For coconut water. On Sunday afternoon while we were walking home from a brunch/lunch, we met a couple of lungi-clad men who had just plucked a bunch of coconuts from some trees in Bandra and were selling them very affordably so of course, we filled up our arms with as many as we could carry home! Those beasts are heavy and so much harder to crack open to get to the water than they make it look! Every bit worth the effort carrying them home and hammering open though!

// For Sunday night Chinese dinner, ice-cream and the most delicious paan ever for my parents’ last night in Mumbai!

// For this little note left for me on the mirror this morning.