All I wanted was a party, but the Loom turned out to be so much more. Saturday night marked the opening of a month long art exhibition at Brooklyn’s Loom. The event was filled with free drinks, multiple rooms dedicated to art galleries and presentations, live musical performances, and a full dance floor.

In the hallway at St. John’s University waiting for my next class. You’ll often find students sitting on the floor by the door on their laptops waiting for their classes to begin.

Barish and his guitar at The Crazy Donkey. This was my first time watching his band, Our Own Ghosts perform.

Here’s a shot of Catherine in my room after the Our Own Ghosts concert. The tattoo on her back reads “Love For You Jimi Hendrix”. I asked her who she loves more, Franny or Hendrix and she had trouble making a choice. I guess that means you’ll be seeing my name on the other side of her back in the near future!

Me and Sage went to go show our support for Ashley who was modeling an Aztec hair style/costume for a hair stylist competition. The tattoo on her back was done courtesy of Sage.

The first snow fall for January 2010.

Paper planes at my feet, to keep me off the ground. The paper planes are actually part of a Valentine’s Day present I’m putting together. There’s currently 100 handmade paper planes in my bedroom!

Cherrelle at TGIF’s for Sonya’s 18th birthday. I absolutely LOVE her eyes in this photo!

So here’s a collection of questions I’ve collected over the course of some time. All of these questions were accumulated through Facebook, Formspring, email, and in person (yes I know it’s surprising, but some people still communicate in real life).

What are you studying in school?
I’m currently majoring in secondary education with a focus in mathematics. To keep it short, I usually just tell people I’m a math major. The added bonus of this is that most people get shocked and suddenly think of me as some sort minor genius. Telling someone I major in secondary education doesn’t really reproduce the same “wow” factor, now does it?

How come you’re not studying photography in school?
I believe all the technical aspects of photography can be self taught by anyone enthusiastic enough to learn it. As for everything else, it’s a matter of experience, experimentation, and discussing trade and techniques with other professionals and knowledgeable people. Sure you can get all of this in a classroom from a knowledgeable professor, but you can also get it for free, and I for one enjoy getting things for free.

What is the 365 Project?
One picture, every day, for an entire year. The pictures are all shot at 50mm without flash in order to help add authenticity to each picture. For those wondering – 50mm is considered the standard field of view in a camera because it reproduces the field of view of a human eye. I post pictures from the 365 Project on my blog once a week every Thursday.

Why is your camera so heavy?!
My camera doubles as a theft prevention device. On the off chance someone tries to steal it from me, I can chuck my 5lbs lens at their head and make a run for it.

Why do you carry your camera with you every day?
My new years resolution for 2010 is to carry my camera with me everywhere and take at least one picture a day. I’m assembling the pictures into the 365 Project.

What are your typical rates? How much do you charge for headshots, and how many photos will I receive?
I don’t have special prices for select services. I offer one hour sessions for $100. If you want to do self portraits for an hour, be my guest. Interested in splitting the hour with a friend? Go right ahead. The one hour session is pretty much an anything goes session. I’m not anal enough to care about specifics that other professionals worry about. You’ll receive as many photos as I take. I don’t put a limit on it. It’s really a matter of the chemistry between me and the client that determines how many photos will get done in a single session.

What equipment did you start off with when you first started shooting?
My first camera was a Canon EOS 350D (Rebel XT). I started off with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 and later expanded my lens collection to include a Canon 35mm f/2, Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5, and a Canon 24-105mm f/4. This was my set up for pretty much my first year of shooting.

What equipment do you use now?
I’m currently shooting with a Canon EOS 5D (this was always my dream camera) with a Canon 50mm f/1.4, Canon 24-70 f/2.8, and Canon 17-40mm f/4. I pretty much consider my equipment collection complete at this point. I may upgrade to the 5D Mark II sometime during the summer if anything.

What advice would you give to someone interested in photography?
Go out and do it. A lot of people seem intimidated by the cost of equipment, don’t let that hold you back. You don’t need a fancy camera with five million different lenses and flashes (I know I’m being ridiculous with this number, but bear with me here) to take pictures. Take what you have, and just have fun.

Any shopping advice for someone on a low budget looking for a DSLR?
The best advice I can give to someone interested in purchasing a DSLR with a low budget is to shop used. The prices of camera bodies fluctuate so frequently that It’s a waste to purchase a camera brand new. The biggest factor for determining the image quality of a photo is the lens. You shouldn’t underestimate a used, low-budget DSLR combined with a high quality lens. Also, take a look at prime (non zoom) lenses. Prime lenses are easier to manufacture then zoom lenses so they typically produce higher image quality at a cheaper price. If you don’t have the money to invest in a professional level zoom lens, then definitely consider a consumer level prime lens.

I’m not quite sure what this was, but when I got a call from Ashley (the make up artist for about 85% of my photo shoots) saying she wanted me to come over to Huntington’s Hilton Hotel because she was modeling for a friend, I couldn’t say no! Me, Sage, and Kai dropped by to show our support. From what I could tell, the students enrolled in beauty school were given fantasy themes, and had to create hair and costume designs appropriate for their theme. Ashley was modeling an Aztec theme for her friend and contestant, Sarah.

I thought the mime girl was actually pretty damn hot, so here’s a public shout out. If you happen to be reading this, don’t hesitate to give me a call or text. I was the one running around the room with a camera, a red beanie and jeans tight enough to stop a pulse. My number’s on my website. Find it.

I went to go see my friend Barish and his band, Our Own Ghosts perform at Farmingdale’s The Crazy Donkey this weekend. You can check them out at their MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/ourownghosts

They’re also available on iTunes and Amazon.com if you’re interested in their music.

So after my recent Red Ribbon Army shoot and the addition of my 365 Project to my blog, my site has been seen a huge increase in traffic. So much so that it attracted the attention of bloggers Aj Rutledge and Scarlett Spade. After talking for about a week or so, they both requested to do a piece about me on their sites. Surprisingly enough, they actually pushed out their work on the same day, and told me about it at the same time. Haha what are the odds?

You can check them out here.

Francis Mitra on La Vie en Rose | 365 Project Piece by Aj Rutledge

365 Mitra: Captured on CocainePretti | Interview by Scarlett Spade

This one is actually pretty old, but I figured since it’s still related to this entry I’ll bring it back anyway. So if you missed my interview from Fall 2009, check it out here at Read Convention

Francis Mitra on Read Convention | Interview by Read Convention

I almost hit a car door while stepping out of car at the St. John’s parking lot, luckily, I caught it just in time, about a centimeter before contact. I think I deserve a couple of accolades for those lighting quick reflexes!

How many girls do you know have a tribute to Zelda tattooed on their body? Probably none. How many girls do you know who’s real name is Elektra? That’s probably none too! Here she is at a Saturday night loft party, shot in the dark right when a red strobe light illuminated her fingers.

We went out ice skating as a late celebration for Jean’s birthday. Just in time too, since it was the last day before the ice skating rink closed for the season. Jean was one of my co-captains back on my high school track team, and while I’m no longer running competitively, he still runs for the QCC track team. I got to meet the majority of the team that night. I’m actually thinking about going back to the sport and training with the team in the upcoming month.

Meet Narfunky the monkey. He belongs to my friend Trisha from St. John’s. Believe it or not, I’ve been talking to Trisha for about half a year online and through text messaging and still never met her. Well Trisha finally made some time for me out of her busy schedule of playing hide and seek and decided to show her face for the first time in half a year. Looks like we’re no longer strangers.

Had the day off from class and spent the afternoon driving around town with Kai and Ashley looking for a good sushi restaurant. Can you believe there are no sushi spots in Long Island open at 4pm? That’s ridiculous! We ended up settling down at a diner/bar in Floral Park.

This shot was influenced by a picture I saw of Kid Cudi standing next to a stream of lights caused by oncoming traffic. I wanted to imitate the photo but didn’t have enough time or preparation so I settled on photographing the Southern State Parkway highway instead.

My friend and make up artist Ashley just got a whole new kit for hair and make up for Christmas. Hell, she even has a salon chair in her basement now. She spent the afternoon working on Kai’s hair, so here she is now, admiring herself in the mirror.

Here are the pics from the last photo shoot I did for my winter break. Samantha (the girl with the tattoos) is also featured as Day 18 for my 365 Project.