Seminar on Macro Photography!

Macro Photography is one aspect of photography that is really fascinating to me. It really makes a person super observant to his surroundings. Photographic Society on India, had a presentation on Macro Photography today. Luckily it was my morning shift today, so made it to the seminar on time.

The photographer named Yuvaraj Gurjar was at the centre stage. The seminar had already started, so i took the only available seat. The photographer stated off with a slide show of his collection of macro photographs. They were visually very appealing. He is basically into insect photogaphy specially butterfly. Also in the slideshow were photographs of snakes, some venomous, some not. He also gave us a brief story behind some of the photographs.

The part i liked the best about this seminar was the holistic approach which the photographer has taken towards nurturing this art. Specialising in Macro Photography, he stated that most of his Sundays are spent in some forest or the other. He has done immense research on the insect species as well as reptiles, which is very paramount, if one really wants to capture some mind blowing shots. Equipment used by him is top of its class. But its person behind the camera that really matters.

Some of his photographs like the life cycle of a butterfly from the egg stage -> to the larvae stage -> to the caterpillar stage and finally emerging outta the coccoon to the full-winged butterfly state, were sheer brilliance at work. His knowledge on the various species of butterflies and their locations, their lifestyles was very exhaustive. Came to learn that there are around 4000 species of butterflies of which around 1000 or so can be found in India. North Eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh have a very dense population of variety of butterflies.

Macro photography is one thing i havent really explored sans some random shots. It is fascinating for the simple reason that it magnifies miniscule details of objects which one would never give a second glance to. After hearing the photographer on the research to be done if one really wants to excel in this kinda photography ie. Macro Wildlife Photography, my respect towards the art has just increased. One gets to see Nature in a completely different light. Plus Macro Photography is a great excercise for the body as one can definitely not hope to take photographs at just the eye level. So kneeling, sleeping on ones stomach and the likes are very much the positions one needs to get in to get the perfect shot. And since DSLRs hardly come with a swivel screen, so one has to do all of the above to see his/her result on the LCD:d

All in all an hour and a half well spent. Photography is so VAST, each aspect of photography is an entire subject in itself. That is good in a way cos it keeps the mind at its active best. At its creative best. It never lets those grey cells rest

Take Care

Ciao

You’re Beautiful!

I was heading to office today, late as usual. My ears were tuned to the radio station, but mind was concentrating more on reaching the station on time. Music was as good as noise at that moment. Just then i heard, after a very very long time, that familiar guitar chord. Lips widened into a smile. The radio guys did remember such gem of songs. The song as you’ll must have guessed by now, “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt.

This song i feel has a connect with everyone, as i believe every normal guy has gone through his “..And i dont know what to do, ‘Cus I’ll never be with you” moment at some point of his life! I am no different. I dont think i have heard any other song, which describes this experience.

“I saw your face, in a crowded place..”, there are a million times when I have seen some face but it ended at that. Its irritating at times, that we are so helpless. All we can do is just stop look, relook and move on, cos theres nothing one can really do.

“She smiled me on the subway, she was with another man..”, chances are 9/10 times all the beautiful faces I see around are alongwith another man Another observation expressed lyrically in the song. I had experienced this moment once on a flight. Oh the lady was really hot and she did smile,in the place, but at the baggage counter, she was indeed with another man. I was singing that song outta pure jest even then.

“And I don’t think that I’ll see her again, But we shared a moment that will last till the end.” This line just transfers me back to my FYJC years. I had this crush on a girl. We held the eye contact many a times, but that was that. Now its been around five years since those days, but yeaa ‘…we shared a moment that will last till the end’, atleast for me.

“But it’s time to face the truth, I will never be with you”, so true indeed! Oh yeah, i have accepted the truth, I will never be with you!

Just got a smile on my face, this song. I tend to associate many lines from this song with my experiences. So for those who want the lyrics, read on.

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I’m sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won’t lose no sleep on that,
‘Cause I’ve got a plan.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high,
And I don’t think that I’ll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it’s time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

Take Care

Ciao

Techno Un-Savvy?!?

Offlate I have been totally engrossed in the concept of Pro-Blogging. Been doing a lot of reading up on the topic. But Pro-Blogging can only be effective if i really have great traffic on my blog. As can be seen from the stats of this blog, i hardly have any. Infact none.

If theres anyone responsible for this, then c’est moi! I have been a blogger since 2004 but i have never quite stuck onto one blog. That was mistake no.1. But then have learnt from many mistakes in moi life, and this is an addition to that. Blogging was is and will always remain one of my highly pursued hobbies. But, if money can be made doing this, then why shouldnt i give it a try??

Over the last couple of weeks, a realization has dawned upon me. Inspite of being an Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer, i have become very Techno -Un Savvy offlate. This is one thing i am so not proud about, but its truth undeniable. I want to change the look of my blog, but i am not able to make out heads or tails about the code. There are so many widgets around, i dont have a clue as to what half of those do. Increasing Traffic on my blog is gonna be one tough task!

I had read an article on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) but i am yet clueless as to how to bring about the numbers on this page. The fact that this is a very very recent blog is a concession, but still i have to start going for the kill and quickly at that. Stuff like Google Adsense, Google Page Rankings, Technorati page rankings etc have just about started to make sense to me now, after four years of being in the blogworld! But then again i had never given Pro-Blogging that much of a thought before.

Money is not the prime objective behind my present dilemma. I am not a Pro-Blogger but i do want to explore the revenue model based on which many bloggers have made blogging their full time job. This in turn is making me get back to my roots. Going through the code, trying to make sense of utter rubbish, understanding certain niche nuances of blogging. Apart from that its making me work that extra bit on the look of my blog. I have always relied on ready made templates. But now i explore the code, and do a bit of playing around with it.

All in all this pro-blogging bug is fortunately helping me to remove the ‘Un’ part of the title, from my lexicon. Damn it I am an engineer and a techno freak at that. Let the world know!

Take Care

Ciao

A Lone Bicycle!

Kolkata has many narrow alleys (aka gullies), formed because of the gaps between two very closely spaced buildings. I was photographing one such narrow road when i noticed this bicycle left unattended outside a house. The bicycle seemed ready to take off any time. So thought of capturing before it decided to do so

I had thought of keeping this in the B/W mode, but the green door and highlighted wood on the upper part convinced me that it would look good in color. The green metal balcony fence remind one of an era gone by. I also liked the shadow formed due to the wood in the upper half.

Take Care

Ciao

The Mumbai Skyline!

Today’s Maharashtra Day. So thought of putting up a relevant picture. Of all the pictures I picked this cos it just represents to me the greatest place on the planet!
This picture was clicked sometime back. It was a cloudy day as can be seen. I dunno why I’m putting this up so late, but i somehow love this picture. Its so Mumbai! Clicked off Marine Drive, the picture showcases the southern end of the Queens Necklace, winding around the Girgaum Chowpatty Beach with Walkeshwar in the background. I know none of the places mentioned are clearly visible here as i wanted to focus on the sky more than the places. To enhance it I used a cooler tone, and kept the ratio in favour of the sky.

Take Care

Ciao

The IndiBlogger Meet!

I had registered my site on the site named IndiBlogger.in just for the heck of it. Actually i had found their IndiBlogger badge quite cool, and wouldnt mind having it on my page. But when i registered on the site, i got an even cooler IndiClicker badge, which kinda gels with this blog of mine. Apart from being a blog directory, the guys at IndiBlogger.in also organised meets.

The date was initially fixed at 20th April, and somehow for reasons unknown, it got postponed. I was like, damn this meet is never gonna happen. But a few days later i got a mail in my inbox, informing me of a new date along with the venue and the time. So far so good!

The D day arrived. I was ready for the meet. The only catch was that i had absolutely no clue of any of the bloggers who were gonna attend the meet. I hadnt even gone thru any blogs of the people expected at the meet. Apprehension was building up by the moment!

The meet started according to Indian Standard Time (adding 30-40mins to the scheduled time). First of all the Indiblogger team started off with the “About Us”. Then each one of the team member gave us a brief bio on their blogs. Then we had the “One Minute of Fame” thing. This was basically an “Advertise your Blog” session. Was a nervous wreck by the time i came on to advertise my blog. Trust me, nothings more difficult than campaigning for your blog, when you have over 50 eyeballs staring at you. Public speaking is definately not my forte

It was quite refreshing to see the variety amongst the bloggers. I dont think any 2 bloggers blogged on the same theme/topics. It was a potpourri of themes. Some of the bloggers talked bout some techie stuff which I had no clue about. (I know i should feel ashamed bout that after all im an engg.)

Next on the agenda was a “How well do you know your readers?” session, where in the Indiblogger team had collected random comments from the blogs of the people present. Luckily they had a comment from my blog too which was quite easy to guess as i dont have many comments on my blog anyways:d I had to do the Indiblogger jig.

Next : Tea Session. I found this session the best. Ok that was not just because of the food which was quite good (being a Taurean, cant prevent myself from complimenting good food), but, it was during the tea session that i got to interact with maximum number of bloggers. Also interacted with the Indiblogger team. It was surprising to learn that these 4 guys had formed the site and didnt have any revenue model so to speak. Inspite of that going ahead and organising meets in different cities, was an effort worth appreciating. Finished off the session with a dollop of vanilla covered with chocolate sauce

Next in line was a session on Microsoft LiveWriter. By the way, forgot to mention, the event was sponsored by Microsoft. Apart from that, two bloggers talked on pro-blogging and micro-blogging. I’m sorry i cant recall who was who, so im not takin any names. In the end we were asked to fill up a feedback form and were promised Tshirts This was followed by the Indiblogger Skit!

There were many shutterbugs in the meet, clicking their way to glory. The Nikon DSLRs in action were looking fabulous. Hey Indiblogger team, when and where can i expect to see the meet photographs?

My Thoughts on the meet
It was an excellent platform for like minded individuals to network. Blogging has been a part of my life since the last three years, and interacting with other bloggers, discussing on various aspects of blogging, was a Sunday well spent! The rapport amongst all the participating bloggers was quite good. Also came to know more about the concept of Pro-Blogging. Networking in action was the thing i liked the best. Also, i hope to get more hits on my blog from now on Will add the links of the Indiblogger Junta to the right ASAP.

Take Care

Ciao

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Bombay Stock Exchange!

The Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (formerly, The Stock Exchange, Mumbai; popularly called The Bombay Stock Exchange, or BSE) is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. It is located at Dalal Street, Mumbai, India. It was constructed by LnT.

The building is synonymous with Mumbai and the area where its located has an energy that is matched by no other place i have ever been to. It had been rocked by a bomb blast in 1992, but the structure stood still!

I went down on my knees to get the complete building. Right now the stock markets are going thru a tough period, courtesy Inflation. wanted to capture that aspect, so composed the image along with the branches barging into the frame.

Gandhi Room!

Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, was the place where Gandhiji resided before he entered into the Indian Political Scene. Its located along the river Sabarmati. It was here that Mahatma Gandhi spent his years before entering fulltime into Indian Politics.

Simplicity is the theme throughout the Sabarmati Ashram. This picture depicts the room of Mahatma Gandhi. As can be seen, the Mahatma was as simple as anyone could get. It comprises of his symbolic Charkha, and his wooden stick and his writing desk.

It was under such simple conditions that Mahatma Gandhi laid the foundation for a type of protest that was going to change the face of the world. Satyagraha and Ahimsa. Two philosophies that are to date followed not only in India, but many other countries as well.
It was in whilst his stay in Sabarmati Ashram that Gandhiji went on the famous Dandi March, 1930, protesting against the British Salt Tax.

Sabarmati Ashram presently houses a Gandhi Museum, and has a library based on Gandhian Philosophy.

Regarding the picture : i wanted to capture the old world mood, so i did it in BW and added noise to give it that old worn out look. The vignetting was done to add more frame to the the elements in the room.

Take Care

Ciao

Banana Leaf!

I have never quite been an observer of the things around me. That was till i started being obsessed with Photography. Now i can safely say that my perspective of looking at things has changed. Initially, i would always try to see the big picture and never gave any importance to small details. This attitude changed over time, as i experimented with my lens.

Seen in the above picture is a simple banana leaf, with a few drops of water on it. It was clicked when id been trekking near this place called Peb, near Matheran (more on that later:P). Banana trees are in abundance, under normal circumstances i wouldnt have bothered even looking at the trees, but with my camera around, i am a different person, observation wise The slight drizzle had created a pattern on the already patterned banana leaf. As the size of the leaf is huge, so clicking it wasnt a big deal. The crests and troughs create a kind of light-shadow effect, and the drops of water add drama to the otherwise boring leaf.

Take care
Ciao