Who is Aakaash Bali?

Aakaash Bali is a cinematic narrative fine art photographer, based in Long Island, New York.

After pursuing a pre-med tract in college, he opted to go into political science and law, before fully embracing photography.

“I essentially gave up a law degree to chase my passion,” he said in a text message after the interview.

Speaking With Aaakaash Bali

What Does Cinematic Narrative Look Like?

The Shadow District

Initially, The Shadow District, “was born out of a need for peace, quiet, and time for myself,” says Bali.

After the interview I admited to the following:

In all your work (yours, Crewdson's, Woodman's and Hamilton's), there is a sort of sadness that lingers in each frame.

To that Bali responded with the following:

The sadness creates that heavy “substance” that I believe is something human nature craves. For the same reason we enjoy watching drama films, or tragic films. It isn't so much that we crave the sadness, but we crave the substance, the “weight”.

Please be sure to check out and buy Aakaash's amazing photographs!

Learn more about The Cinema Experience.

Follow Aakaash Bali on Instagram. You'll also find Shadow District on Instagram.

Photographers Mentioned

Gregory Crewdson

Nicky Hamilton

Kate Woodman

Movies Mentioned

The Grand Budapest Hotel [Aff]

The Shape of Water [Aff]

Gear Mentioned

Fujifilm GFX 100 [Aff]

Sony A7rIII [Aff]

Godox AD600 [Aff]

If you enjoyed this podcast, would you please give it a 5-star rating and write a short review on iTunes? I would greatly appreciate that. Thank you!

Tiffinbox Award Winner

Every year on this day, for the past six years, I've announced The Annual Tiffinbox Award winner. The headline makes no secret of who I have chosen to recognize this year; my dear friend and mentor, David Anthony Williams.

Congratulations, David!

I first encountered David through a wedding photography forum called DWF. His posts were informative, inspiring and often hilarious. His warm personality shone through those posts and when he announced he was offering a workshop in New England, I jumped at the chance to sign up.

I still remember that workshop in Rhode Island vividly. It was perfectly structured and thoroughly engaging. Everyone left the “Almost Alone” three-day workshop feeling like they had learned something truly useful and special. I know I had.

Speaking At Conferences

David then came back to the area and spoke at a Mystic Seminars event, in Groton, Connecticut. One of the things he expressed during that presentation left a lasting impression on me. He essentially distilled a successful photograph to two major elements: light and life. With example after example, and story after story, David deftly guided the audience through an emotional and memorable journey.

Most recently, I invited David to speak at the Connecticut Professional Photographer's Association annual convention. Not one to simply fly in and deliver a presentation he had done before, David chose to present something totally new and untested. Just as soon as he landed, we spirited off to Michael's and Joann's to buy props and fabrics for his presentation. Of course, none of it made sense to me at that time, but when it all came together, it was a huge hit for all those who were in attendance.

David is also generous with his time outside the confines of a stage or dais. Just as the CTPPA convention was wrapping up, I approached David and indicated I needed 10-15 minutes of his time to discuss my family portrait photography business. He gave me an hour without once looking at his watch.

David's Portfolio

David is an artist in the truest sense. He isn't afraid to try new things and pivot. He is a student of history – ask him about Richard Avedon or David Bailey, or even the masters from the Renaissance – he knows them all and refers to them like one would speak of good friends. I trust you will see their influences in this small sample of David's august portfolio.

Learning From David

There is nothing like learning from David Williams directly. Remember that workshop in Rhode Island I talked about above? Well, several years later, I attended his workshop again in Niantic, Connecticut. Then followed that up by listening to him speak at a few different conferences.

David is Australian, but lives in Toronto, Canada now and travels to different parts of the world to conduct those memorable workshops. I urge you to make the time, find the resources and drop all excuses to go and learn from David. You'll definitely be a much better photographer because of it. Once you learn to pay attention to light and expression, your photographs will make a far greater impact for your clients and ultimately for your photography business.

Past Tiffinbox Award Winners

Here are the links to the past winners of The Annual Tiffinbox Award:

David DuChemin

Spencer Lum

Jamie Swanson

Jenika McDavitt

Neil van Neikerk

Megan DiPiero

Who will it be next year?

Gavin Wade had an idea and he ran with it.

As a photographer, he wanted to quickly and painlessly deliver his client's photographs. He wanted to upload his images once and then be able to deliver different versions to different clients. His solution: Cloud Spot.

I trust you have affiliates or business partners who simply have different needs for your photographs and they don't all fit neatly into one standard dimension. Imgaine you are a wedding photographer who has just photographed a Jewish wedding and you have some photographs of the huppa. Some of your wedding vendor friends will only need a postage sized version of the images, while the wedding planner you are wooing might want the photographs with your watermark to display on her Facebook page.

Do you sit there scaling up and scaling down the same photographs as and when someone requests it? It wouldn't be very efficient use of your time, right? That's where Cloud Spot excels.

I spoke with Gavin Wade about Cloud Spot and how it has saved his wedding photography business tons of time. Give this interview a listen and see if Cloud Spot is something you want to consider using for your photography business as well:

Setting up your Cloud Spot account is super easy:

Ever wanted to send some of your special clients discount codes? Well, you can now with Cloud Spot:

Your online store's back end should look this easy to manage:

There are six pricing options, including one that is totally FREE (jpeg imaages only). The Entry option is only $4/month and allows you to store and share JPG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, PSD, AI and PDF files. Granted you only get 5gb of space, but if your photography business is just starting up, this should do really well for you for now. You can always scale up!

Gavin has generously offered all Tiffinbox readers a special discount code. Use: tiffin10 – good for any monthly or annual plan when you sign up here.

The number of social media tools appears to be growing each week, doesn't it? If you are just getting started in your photography business, you may be feeling totally overwhelmed like I do on some days. Where is the time to curate content and engage with prospective clients online? And is the ROI, or return on your investment (again, time), justified?

I guess what I am asking you is this: Are you booking paying clients through social media? If not, listen up.

The last time Colorado wedding photographer Jason Grubb stopped by at Tiffinbox we chatted about how photographers can use Instagram. Did you get a chance to take a look at that post? Did you register and listen to Jason's suggestions on using Instagram?

This time around, Jason and I talk about using Pinterest. If your target clients include women, sit up and listen to what Jason has to say about using Pinterest. While his perspective is from that of a wedding professional, as a family portrait photographer in Connecticut, I learned a few things too.

Jason is leading another free webinar, on using Pinterest, thanks to ShootDotEdit.com. Register here today. The webinar is on May 6th. If you have enjoyed the ShootDotEdit webinars, give my friends there a shout-out will ya?

[Tweet “Check out this new @shootdotedit webinar on Pinterest marketing for photographers …”]

So, what social media platforms are you on right now? Which ones appear to be working? Comment below!

Ned Jackson, a Boston-based wedding photographer repeatedly participates in the annual Inspire Photo Retreats event. This year, the photography conference will be held in Portland, Maine, from February 9th through the 11th.

I spoke with Ned about his repeat presence at the conference and also about his presentation this year. Learn again, from someone who keeps coming back, why Inspire Photo Retreats is a great regional conference. Here are the other Inspire Photo Retreats speakers.