Canvera Visit

June, 2018 UPDATE : I no longer photograph weddings. I am no longer able or willing to recommend Canvera’s products or services. Since 2012, when this blog post was published, everything at the brand has deteriorated steadily. I currently order individual prints from ZoomIn. Use promo code NAINA2018 to get Rs. 100 waived off your first order. I haven’t ordered a print book in a while but if I did, I still recommend Blurb. If you’re aware of other suitable options ( quality over price ), please share in the comments or send me an email at n@naina.co

While I was in Bangalore, I had a chance to visit the office & production facility of one of my favorite companies in India currently : Canvera. Dhiraj & Peeyush gave me a tour of the place and while Canvera is strict with its customers’ privacy [ Dhiraj mentioned no images with photos from albums would be allowed ], they were gracious enough to let me make photographs of some of the processes. Of course, I showed each image to Dhiraj to get his approval. If he said, no, I deleted it. Very pleased to know they take privacy issues this seriously.

The color calibration machine on the left.

The Canvera value statement above.

The two printing machines.

Sometimes the prints have issues and there’s a section dedicated to that. Canvera requires it’s workers to wear hair caps to prevent the problem of hair or other material getting trapped in the lamination.

The machine with a face on the left is the one that makes my favorite flushmount albums! I’ve blogged about them earlier here : one for my wedding photography studio portfolio and one for my commercial photography studio portfolio. Excellent stuff. Love at first sight.

Above : The “guillotine” or the cutting machine that gives the album pages the final finish on the edges.

Canvera album boxes on the left and the scrap heap on the right. The scrap is from all the sheets of printed waste that are rejected at the quality inspection [ there are four stages of quality inspection ]. No printed sheet of paper is allowed to leave the Canvera offices as it would be a breach of privacy for the photographer and for the client who was photographed. Imagine celebrity weddings and you know what I’m talking about.

The leather section where leather-covered Canvera albums and boxes are hand-crafted.

Above : Dhiraj giving me a tour of their product called “Vivyo“, which enables photographers to set up their portfolio websites or client wedding album websites and even eCommerce websites to sell their prints. There are custom templates that are available and for a nominal amount you can also have the Canvera designers custom-build your website for you.

Dhiraj Kacker @dhirajkacker on the left and Peeyush Rai @peeyushrai on the right. They have lots of new things coming up for photographers in India and I am VERY EXCITEDLY looking forward to the launches. Although, now that I know about the plans, I just want them to hurry up!