Sunday, October 21, 2007

Of fish fry and a nice evening

Saturday came by and with nothing to do, was wondering which place to head to for a shoot.

Had spoken to Sunil earlier in the week about heading out towards TG Halli and Ramanagaram for a shoot. Sunil called up and said he'd pick me up and we'd head off by 2PM.

A little while later Sunil told me that Danny would be joining us.
Met them at the NICE road intersection. Had got my bike, so parked it at a petrol bunk and hopped into Sunil's car.
With rainy clouds glooming large, it would be a dicey trip. And this being solely for photography, light means everything.
We discussed TG Halli, Danny said they wouldnt allow us anywhere near the dam, so dropped it. Then Danny suggested a lovely place which both Sunil and I nodded to. (will not disclose the location :D)

Drove past lovely lush greeb fields with little hillocks dotting the landscape.
Reached the location with just enough light (with the setting sun and loads of clouds) to get a few shots.
Maize fields
DSC00078-mod1



Truly captivating, with the gushing water, the little alleys formed by the water, the green surrounding. Really cant describe it in words.

Stayed back beyond sunset, caught up with some photography talk.
Dark dark clouds


There was a nice stall frying some fresh fish. With fish fry and omlettes, Danny got an idea for some long exposure fire tricks. Sunil got some lovely shots of the same.

With the clouds threatening to open up any moment, headed back towards bangalore. Got a drop to the Petrol bunk, took my bike in the rain. Reached home drenched to the bone.

All in all, a nice little trip. Will definitely go back with more time on my hands.
Adios till the next trip.

Cheers,
Hayath

Monday, October 15, 2007

Biking in the Bannerghatta area

With Eid being pushed by a day and aving woken up at 5 AM, had the leisure to get out early enough.

Decided on a lone ride towards Bannerghatta. Left home @ 5:45 AM with the daylight just breaking.

Zoomed out on Bannerghatta road with the first stop being a small lake with the sun just beginning to rise.



Took a few shots here, moved on and reached the bannerghatta circle. Had always taken the route towards Anekal, this time wanted to explore the other side, so took a turn to the right. Roads were pathetic right from the start, but the views were quite nice too.

Watched the red fiery ball rise into the sky filling in light.




There was a small stretch of road which showed some semblance of a road


With some light in now, the birdies started showing up, trying to soak in the early morning light


Now came the best or shall I say the worst roads (???) I've ever rode on


Being all alone with no one around, the thought of a puncture here did cross my mind, but I rode my luck :)
Was greeted by some lovely sights and smell of fresh misty morning smells

Got on to a good vantage point, could spot wild elephants in the distance and their droppings huge dropping on the road



Further on, reached a remote lake still lingering with the early morning mist




From here, reached a small village called "Hosakerehalli" with some nice lush fields


A small little flowing streamlet



The awesome ROADS I encountered on the way :D


With some good early morning light, got some neat shots of some birds.

The Female red-ringed parrot



A couple of brown owls on the branch of the same tree



Also spotted two green bee eaters on the powerlines, these dudes always give some interesting shots, highly energetic. Took a LOT of shots of these in different positions






With some decent shots taken, wanted to get back home before the sun starts burning down. Needless to say with many many stops on the way :)



Saw this little cutie running down the road crying with her elder sister trying to console her








This little house in the midst of a farm caught my eye, laid back and so very beautiful :)


Adios till the next weekend ;-)

Cheers,
Hayath

Birding !!

Well I mean it in the "wild" sense and not the "urban" sense ;-)

With photography and bike trips, came a lot of seeing colorful birds on trees. Always used to watch these little winged beauties, but never had the equipment to capture them on film :(
Watching their preening, beahviour and hunting skills, I would always imagine myself capturing crucial moments on camera.
And when it was time to upgrade from my 3.3MP 3x optical zoom cybershot, I looked at a lot of options. Settled in with the Sony H2, with it's 12x optical zoom, 6.2 MP.

The increased focal range gave me an opportunity to capture birds too, along with my usual landscape and macro shots.

Living close to Kanakapura road, I most of the time head on towards Kanakapura riding. Lots of shrubby little jungles, lone roads... all perfectly set for watching birds in action.
Had seen a lot of bird shots from Sudhir Shivaram and Kalyan Varma
they provided me with lots of inspiration and techniques to shoot birds (with the camera :D )

Here are a few shots from my "birding" trips lately :)

Called a "laughing dove"(Streptopelia chinensis), one of the most beautiful plumages with the loads of pink
Laughing Dove

The "Green bee eater" (Merops orientalis), a sparrow sized highly energetic insect hunter, hangs out in groups on fences and lines.
Bee eater landing

Green bee eater

The "purple moorhen"(Porphyrio porphyrio) can be seen in most water bodies, nests in the reeds.
Purple moorhen

Watery take-off

"Indian pond heron"(Ardeola grayii) stays still in one position for a long time, waiting for the right time to strike at unsuspecting fish
A Walk on Water!

Flying with wings wide open

Posing for it

"Blue throat kingfisher"(Alcedo atthis), as the name suggests a wonderful hunter of fish, flies low on the water surface and snaps them. This one's a juvenile, hasnt got the very vibrant colors of an adult.
Juvenile Kingfisher

"The common coot" (Fulica atra)
Indian common Coot

Kites n eagles, still havent found out how to differentiate between them :(
Soaring high

Gliding on air

"Indian robin"
Indian Robin

"Little egret"(Egretta garzetta)
Fishing Egret

Some unknown type of swan, shot in Boston's frozen rivers :)
Strike a pose

More posts to come soon :-)

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Photography and how it's changed me

Being a software engineer by profession, the week goes pretty much monotone with a hectic schedule to keep up at office.
Office politics, inefficient project management, long hours of toil and many many more things do push you sometimes to the brink of insanity.

You do need to break out of it sometimes, and for me every weekend provides me with just that opportunity to keep my sanity intact for a week more :D

About a year back, my uncle who was visiting me from the states, gifted me a point&shoot sony cybershot DSC-S75 3.3MP
That was as they say "the license (to shoot)". Digital gave me to the license to shoot anything and everything that I saw. That gave me a whole new perspective of looking at things, looking at details, looking for finer things. Have always had an artistic inclination, but never looked at a canvas to put it onto.

Started of initially with photographing fish (my other passion)
What Clowns do best...


Butterfly

My office-mates call me very very "fast-paced" and highly energetic. Someone who likes living life very fast, and to an extent they are correct. I love riding fast (on roads which permit me to), design-develop and test software very fast, impatient in some aspects... so on and so forth.

With photography, began to take my camera on my weekend bike rides. Helped me capture the sights n feel of the ride. Started to focus a bit more on the finer details of photography (which is basically all of optical physics and their governing laws). This somehow instilled a very important quality in me PATIENCE.

FullBloom

PollenSticks

It also helped me look at things in a whole new light, how the same "eye" can look at things so differently. If an "eye" could be so different, imagine "opinions" and "views" :)

Hairy back

Began to appreciate people's views more (not that I didnt earlier, but a lot more now). The shots that I would get back from the ride would serve as a "pseudo-sanctuary" for me as in it would help me go back to that place just by looking at them. Reliving the solitude of the place, the feel.

Some of the macro shots would involve a lot of effort in terms of patience and the number of clicks to get that "right one", but when they come off I feel GREAT !
My colleagues and friends would always utter "you and having so much patience to get these kind of shots, 'impossible' and I would smile to myself and tell myself 'exactly :)'"

The flying machine

I still ride fast, still develop fast, believe in living life to the fullest...

Speed !!!!!!!!!!

........but now also switch into reverse gear on the weekends, letting life pass me by, stopping to smell the rose, watch the dragonflies fly, watching the birds play out their daily rituals on a tree branch.

Green bee eater

You can watch many many more shots on my flickr photostream here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/hayath/