BRASHLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

This week’s Five at Five Intro features Photographer Hammad Rais. Hammad says in his About Page of Blog of Hammad Rais.

A great listener, an obedient son, a loving father, a movie buff, a nature lover, a vivid thinker and most importantly, a simple guy.

Mix up all above mentioned qualities and you get Hammad Rais, the man behind this blog.

Five at Five Questions

•  When and how did you start on your photographic journey? 

My photographic journey started in 2001, during my last year at college, when a family owned Minolta 460T camera was handed over to me. My Uncle purchased it back in the early 80’s, along with a Nikon 35mm camera. He used both cameras extensively throughout the 80’s and 90’s but only for the family events, in which I was normally standing in front of the lens, not behind it. Back then, kids weren’t allowed to play with costly photographic equipment, especially when they were bought from some foreign country.

Fast forward to 2001, when the world was starting to pace up with digital photography, I took a few steps back when I finally received that decades old camera. But for a teenager like me, who wasn’t allowed to take pictures before, even a 110 film format camera at the start of the 21st century was more than welcome. I used my “brand new” camera without having any knowledge about photography back then, so those earliest pictures had issues of blurring, not properly framed, bad lighting, etc. But they are very close to my heart, despite althea photographic flaws.

As I switched over to digital photography in the mid 2000’s, using early cell phones with cameras, I started to learn the tips and tricks. Back then, I mostly captured family photos but also started an interest in nature photography, which eventually grew in 2009, when my brother bought a Sony DSC-W290 point-and-shoot camera. This elevated my photographic passion to new heights and I was all hooked up.

• What subject do you like photographing the most? 

Apart from taking photos of family events and gatherings, I’m just a guy who admires nature the most.

Flowers, clouds, sunrise, sunset, oceanic waves, landscapes, the list can go on and on. Capturing random objects from my everyday life is now a norm for me, thanks to all the smartphones I have used since 2015.

Back in 2020, when a massive monsoon season hit my city of Karachi, I developed a keen interest in cloud photography. This eventually gave me the idea of having my own photographic challenge on my blog. And so, Weekend Sky arrived on the WordPress horizon.

 

• Have you been influenced by other photographers, if so by whom and why? If not, who is your favourite photographer? 

Before joining WordPress in 2015, I had no idea that there are so many people who are just sharing their photography on their blogs. After a year or so on my blog, I started to participate in photographic challenges by fellow bloggers, especially of Cee Neuner. Challenges like FOTD, CFFC and CBW really opened up another level of photography for me. Through Cee’s challenges, I learned so much about photography and I also started to follow many other photographers in the WordPress community. It is really hard for me to name just a few, so I’m skipping that part 🙂

• What is the go-to camera equipment that you use regularly and what software do you use to process your images? 

Before switching over to smartphones, the Sony DSC-W290 was my go-to camera. Easy portability, along with basic photographic functions, allowed me to capture day to day images with ease. Many of my favorite photos were taken by that camera. Nowadays, I’m using the Huawei Y7 Prime only for my photography.

Interestingly, I don’t process my images that often. Except when I’m participating in a photographic challenge of a specific theme like black & white or square. I normally use Pixlr’s online editing service because it is free and easy for me to quickly process my image.

• What is your favourite method of processing an image? (i.e., colour, monochrome, saturated, dreamy look etc) 

It depends upon the theme of the photographic challenge I like to participate in. I keep the actual colors of my images as they are but may sharpen them over just a little. I had also tried saturation in several images of mine but only at a minimum level.

For my Weekend Sky challenge, I normally process my sky captures a little, using my smartphone’s built-in effect of Weather. This effect sharpens up the colors a little and also adds a nice tone into the clouds, which is something I’m a big fan of.

Photographs

Links

Blog: https://hammadrais.blog/

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Thank you, Hammad, for participating in the Five at Five Introduction Series.

Next Week’s Intro is Paul Anderson of The Life in My Years Blog