How I Took this Mumbai Sea Link Shot (Rs.18,000 shot)

Note: This was an email sent to our subscribers (buyers of our online courses) on Monday, 29th August 2022

Hi

How are you doing this Monday morning?

After a LONG time I took some days off but I got bored very fast so I am back to work, shooting and guzzling coffee. I have just accepted my workaholic nature.

But today I want to keep things light so I will share something interesting with you.

I will tell you a secret which I haven’t told anyone, not even my course buyers.

Here is a shot of the Mumbai Sea Link that you must have often seen in my courses:

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If you have done my online courses, you would know that this was taken using a slow shutter speed (30 seconds).

But today I am going to reveal something I have never revealed – which is the location for this shot.

It is very difficult to take this shot because this vantage point is very tough to get from anywhere in Mumbai.

I made two separate trips from Pune to Mumbai just to find a good vantage point for this shot.

Finally, I realized that the best option was Taj Lands End hotel located at Bandstand, Bandra.

I tried my best to negotiate with them for a free shoot but they did not approve so I had to book a room.

It cost me Rs.18,000 to get a room there for the night to take this shot.

And even then it wasn’t easy because I entered the hotel at around 6:15 in the evening without a booking and the Blue Hour was starting at 7:10 P.M and finishing at 7:35 PM. So I had to quickly take this shot.

To make matters worse, the Taj people gave me a room which did not have the desired view.

So I had to quickly get the room changed.

I managed to just take this before the Blue Hour ended so I got a nice blue hue in the sky which was very important.

Another thing about this shot which a lot of people don’t know is that this was shot though a glass window since the room did not have a balcony.

Usually reflections are not a problem if you have a Polarizing filter but I did not have one that time.

I had to make sure all lights in the room were off so as to not get any reflections. I even remember having to switch off the little light on the Set top box to make sure the room was pitch black. It was truly exhausting.

This was how my room looked in the morning.

The Result – This shot now makes me regular passive income because it sells a lot on Shutterstock.com where I uploaded it as a stock photo. In fact it’s one of the first results on Google when someone types in Mumbai Sea Link.

For me this is what Photography is about.

Having a shot in mind and then doing whatever it takes to accomplish it.

One shot like that is worth more than 1000 unplanned shots.

What do you think?

Let me know your opinion.