சென்னையில் ஒர் மழைக்காலம்

சென்னையிலும் ஒரு மழைக்காலம் !!

Camerathons

This year has been a year of marathons for me-before you start to wonder what kind of devil has gotten into me, its not always the running type, but other types of marathons too. Surprised ?

Canon conducted what they call a photo marathon a while ago, which was well attended by a trigger happy battalion consisting of 600+ SLR-toting photographers with fancy L-series pro lens to serious amateurs with the newest prosumer cameras. The task was simple - one theme to shoot for every three hours, and four themes for the day. But the transport, locations, scope and means were left to the imagination of the photographers, and so were the ways to counter the pain in the limbs and lower back at the end of the day !

The first topic was the toughest one for me - 'Faces'
In a city of 4 million people, there were faces all around me. But somehow I'm yet to crack the code of successful portraits of complete strangers, especially the candid variety. So I resorted to my best resort - allegory and abstract.


Flight to the end of the tunnel



Unity


MAD about ONE



The second theme was outrageously simple ! 'Power - simply RED'.
For a moment, I considered buying some kinda cheap red filter and shoot the same things that I always shoot. But then I managed to put a special filter to my eye, which would only look at and respond only to red coloured subjects.

Fuzzy Red Holes


A little red corner


Melonious dunes


Strumming in Maroon


Simply Red




6 hours of photographing was already draining, especially on a warm, humid, hazy Singaporean day. The third topic demanded more of such outdoorsy photo-taking - 'A Slice of History'.
We started a trek along the oldest parts of Singapore's 200 or so years of history, shooting the last remnants of old preserved buildings, and the reminders of Singaporean history.


Suspended Animation

Eternal wait

A colourful lesson in history


Raffles Realms



The day was coming to a close, and so was my energy and enthusiasm to continue with the fourth topic which is quite an obvious one- 'Darkness'.
Fortunately I was shooting some extra unrelated shots throughout the day and picked up a few for this topic, and just spent a relaxed evening doing a peaceful activity - shopping :).

Can cause other darknesses


No Flash please

The Biography of a Flower

The beginnings as a bud



Time to blossom



In full bloom



Arranged in a Bouquet



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The photos were taken in a dance programme called "People get connected" on 17 Sept 2006, at the colonial-age Victoria theatre in Singapore.

Being a part of the audience and shooting moving subjects at higher shutter speed, shot hand-held with a telephoto zoom without image stabilisation, in an ambience of choreographed indoor lighting simply meant one setting- exclusive use of ISO1600. The biggest surprise to me, was the low noise in the images than what was expected.

All the photos went thru Photoshop Elements, basic fixes lke crop, levels, contrast and saturation. But the 'Time to bloom' had a bit of shake due to the subjects' rythmic graceful motion(also called dance!), and I amplified it with use of radial blur in photoshop.

Monochromatic Dreams

I was talking to a friend recently about black-n-white photography, and started to give some examples on how they could be interesting. While searching for pics from my own collection, i took my older colour images and desaturated them to present them again. And voila ! I start to see a different world..













Thanks Ajay, I learnt to see my own photos in a new colour.. :)

The Sungei Buloh trail

"Why would I wake early on a Sunday morning, and trudge to Sungei Buloh wetland reserve, walking all alone with my camera and stuff ? What kinda adventure do I expect in a lazy mangrove forest anyway ??" - So I mused standing on the bridge at the parks entrance.



Watching a lazy winding river on a low tide, reflecting on the ways of life, isnt exactly the coolest thing to do on a hot & humid weekend morning.



A casual glance on the banks, and I see these weird footsteps of..of..of..what was that ? A slithery wicked reptile? A croc? A snake with legs ? Im was beginning to feel like the Crocodile hunter - Steve Irwin.




Back on the move, I was looking for tell-tale signs and directions from the other petrified creatures of the forest - crawling, webbing, hopping, fluttering, flying and tree-jumping - All their gazes transfixed towards the Master of the Mangrove.







Not one to leave any subtle clue undiscovered, I even found the dried flowers unambiguously pointing to 'its' direction. (Maybe I am imagining things here, but never mind the build-up)



There he was (or she?), the 2-metre long giant version of what we commonly call a lizard ! The Monitor Lizard is a passive reptile, but with sure and steady movements. It likes to stare intently at photographers, and when fully stretched can fully block the jungle track. For those who are not sure of reptilian behavior like me, it can cause litres of adrenalin tingling thru the arteries, with every move it makes. More so if you are mad enough to try taking close-ups of this jurassic dude !





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Less than a week since I posted this one, one of inspiring lovers of nature, the exciting and adventurous God of Reptilian world- Steve Irwin died in a freak accident, attacked by a stingray, during an underwater shoot.
His death uniquely affects the likes of the animal world for his conservation efforts, and the human world for his efforts to educate his own species about the rest on earth.
Hindu belief says advancement in species in rebirth is a sign of good karma. But I imagine the Crocodile hunter would be happier to de-evolve into a majestic King Cobra- to be one with his understanding friends on the planet.

Static Dynamism

Is this what people might refer to as kick-ass photography ??
Having taken a lot of architecture, streets, buildings photos, it was just about time to have some fun.

Navarasa- the nine emotions

I had shared these images by email quite a while ago, but just forgot to put it online somewhere. So here it is! To whom so ever it may concern, I dont look like this anymore :) It all started as a home tutorial and experiments in portrait photography, and ended up as a trial to shoot some themed portraits for fun.

The images are the result of an attempt to bring out the Navarasas – the facial expressions of Nine different moods, emotions or sentiments. Learning to display these appropriately are important steps in learning the classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, and acting in general.

Online references :
http://www.cyberkerala.com/kathakali/navarasam.htm
http://www.nilacharal.com/picture/navarasam/index.html

Cycling past history

I was waiting patiently at a street corner , camera in hand, for some attractive car to appear in front of the oldish orange buildings. But then, the unambitious person in me just settled for a bicycle :)

Staircase hues

  

Just a walk down Waterloo street ,and this building cannot be missed by anybody who is not fully colour-blind. There are some really colourful minds in Singapore !

Soft targets

 

Just a nice shop with cute things. It looked like 'girlie stuff' written all over it, but that doesnt prevent me from capturing it.

1906 @ 2006

  

A few streets in Bugis converted into a modern shopping mall. The best part was the old-fashioned buildings covered by a modern glass structure, and the whole street air-conditioned. I didnt purchase a thing there, but bought a lot of ideas.

Bleu Royale

  

A tinted glass painting inside the former church at Chijmes, City hall. The brilliant blue colour of the robes backlit by the evening sun , looked even better but the poor camera wasnt good enough to capture it well enough. (or maybe it was the photographer who botched up)