Monday, October 18, 2010

The "macro" weekend

The weekend was a nice one with most roads empty with people thronging temples and busy with the festivities of Dussehra.
Made me think about my shots and thought I would get some of them printed out. Somehow prints capture your attention a LOT more than just digital frames. In order to maximize the number of frames I was gonna print, I went about clicking a few "macros" which could be print worthy

And that brought about a whole lotta ops and photos from the weekend. Some here -

Lotsa critters

Water striders (taken with the Tamron 90, qualifies as a macro? ;) )


Damselfly


Love those eye spots on this beautiful one. Pretty awesome strategy confusin the predators on the attack!




Tiny grasshopper


Ants




Some unconventional perches ;)

Jewel bug




Flowers, no matter how cliched; retain their beauty and capturing that has always been a challenge all photogs strive for :)
Attempted some








And the parting shot


Intend to get some large prints done this weekend, and hopefully enthuse more!

Cheers,
Hayath

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The sunday shoot with BTP

Bangalore travel photographers...this was a group which I used to to shoot with. This had been pushed to the backburner with most of us being bogged down by work, though we had been shooting but not as a group.
A gtalk pings and a post on the group's page got some of us interested back again!

The plan was to head towards Kanakapura and explore the surrounding areas/villages. We caught up at Metro with the usual meet and greets - many new faces :)

First stop was a smallish lake to get everyone's feet wet :D



With the insect life around everyone got shooting quick

This Picture wing dragonfly


We were provided some action by the ever entertaining monkeys


The caterpillar who just shot to fame with a dozen photogs taking pictures from all possible angles ;) Poor thing must have started feeling like a celebrity


The slanting light of the morning made for some nice lighting




With Rajnish's lovely kid - Rashi, it was fun explaining the insects and the plant life. (who took some very nice shots with her own camera)

Moved on to Kanakapura's famous "Vasu hotel" for some tasty Masala dosa along with nice coffee to get people warmed up for the day. With bellies full we headed to a small lake which had a saw mill nearby.
Sunday being a holiday the machines and the whole feel of the mill was nice to shoot. Tried out some portraits and strobes.









An abstract take on the Spider web


Anand's wife being a sport volunteering for some poses


Anand just had to follow :P


And then caught Pramod :D


And Akshay


Lots of these Calotes in the piles of wood


The rings making some interesting patterns




Out the mill and into a paddy field


Shot some at the lake


The territorial Common coots


Lily leaves


Further on we met these group of villagers who culture silkworms and were very warm and welcoming. To me, this is the best part of being outdoors - meeting new people and getting to talk

The old women who work there


To me, this was THE takeaway shot from the day




Filling in the worms


The worms have a super appetite which needs constant attention in order to gain best growth




Getting ready to pupate


We then headed towards Muthathi (a plan which did not really go well), but then writeoffs are part of any plan.

Stopping to shoot the paddy field workers


They were all giggles having so many of us "city dwellers" shooting at them








Reached Muthathi with loads of people, most of them using the open area to cook their lunch


And also dry out clothes


Did I mention lots of monkeys too ?



And this one holding on and warning Sunil when he tried getting close for a shot


We decided to head back via different route and stopped a couple of times to shoot some birds and other interesting subjects that we saw









Stopped back for late evening lunch at Domino's






Was a very nice trip with fantastic company to go along with!

A group shot at Domino's


Looking forward to the next one ;)

Cheers,
Hayath

PS: The link to the group is http://www.flickr.com/groups/bangaloretravelphotographers/ and we're on Facebook too
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=141445719231726