Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Sunday, November 06, 2016
The Blue Tractor
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Imperfections....
This flower is not perfect. If I wanted to capture a beautiful lotus flower, I probably would not have chosen this flower...
It's petals were drying and dropping off, it had spots on the newer petals and even the leaf looked old, aged, wizened by veins...
Yet, this flower drew me to it. Faced with a pond full of flowers, it was only after returning from my trip did I realise that I had photos of only this flower...
It was then I realised that it's very
imperfections had captivated me...
We humans are marred by imperfections.
Maybe that is why the ancient Vedic verse talks about ......
असतोमा सद्गमय ।
तमसोमा ज्योतिर् गमय ।
मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय ॥
asato mā sadgamaya
tamasomā jyotir gamaya
mrityormāamritam gamaya
From ignorance, lead me to truth;
From darkness, lead me to light;
From death, lead me to immortality
The verse is almost saying lead me from imperfection to a perfect self....
However, is being imperfect such a bad
thing, don't our scars and wounds define us, and make us who we are...
Yes, striving towards perfection is a
beautiful goal, but until that utopia is reached, we should understand and
accept our imperfections...
Monday, May 23, 2016
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Life imitates Art...
Flowers placed randomly at the feet of the Lord, what can be more beautiful than this...
Offerings at the Kaliamma Temple, Singapore
Life Imitates Art
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Lotus of countless petals...
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals.
Khalil Gibran
Grave injustice..
ashes to ashes,
dust to dust,
earth to earth�..
while one hears these lines in a lot of movies, especially in scenes involving a burial, it was interesting to see a perverse example of the same at Lodhi Garden. Situated in a hidden alcove, were these long forgotten graves. This tree was growing out of a forgotten grave / tomb in the park. Gives a whole new meaning to the term "pushing up daisies".
Why are humans fascinated with death? After clicking these photographs this morning, I did a short internet study on the subject ... and found this link of 10 bizarre death rituals...
Why have we invented rituals to deal with this inevitable fact of life. As someone once said, "Life is a terminal illness".
One of the ways humans deal with death is by burying the dead, be it in simple earthen graves, or something as elaborate as the Taj Mahal although, as someone aptly said" tombs are for the living, the dead do not care about them"... or "do we really need stone markers, when we leave so many memories behind".....
In response to The Daily Post's weekly photo challenge: "Creepy."Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Sunday, August 02, 2015
Lime Butterfly @ Bannerghatta
It was a beautiful March morning and a few friends and me set out to visit the Butterfly Park at Bannerghatta, in the outskirts of Bangalore.
Being rather early, we were able to get the butterflies before they become too active. We saw lots of Lime Butterflies (Papilio demoleus) They were busy feeding on Ixora coccinea flowers (also known as jungle geranium, flame of the woods or jungle flame).
In response to The Daily Post's weekly photo challenge: "Close Up."
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Crazy Choppers at Air Show 2015, Bangalore � 2
Are these guys nuts!!!
That�s the first thought that comes to mind when one sees these guys push their chopper ( a HAL Light Combat Helicopter) through a series of crazy manoeuvres� here are some of the photos of that mad flight at the Air Show 2015 at Bangalore
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Plane speaking at Air Show 2015, Bangalore - 1
The Bangalore Air Show 2015 got off to a spectacular start and went on for 5 days at the Yelahanka Air Force Station, Bangalore.
Located about 20-25 kilometres ourside Bangalore, the Air Force Station is a sprawling campus on either side of NH7
Held once every 2 years, this Air Show is a aeroplane lovers delight�
Apart from a static display of aircraft, and exhibition halls for various industries, the highlight of the Air Show is an aerial display be some of the best fliers from around the world�
including some death defying action
The show was too great to share everything in just one post� I�ll be sharing more images in subsequent posts, however, since I�m travelling, there may be some delays 
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
winter mornings at Lodi – 3 - Calendula
Another flowery treat at the Lodi Gardens are the flower beds brimming with Calendula (pot Marigold) in a variety of colours….
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Indian Bushlark @ Sultanpur….
The Indian Bushlark (Mirafra erythroptera) is a small bird that is quite abundant in arid areas. 
Friday, December 23, 2011
Painted Stork @ Sultanpur
The Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala) is a large wading bird in the stork family.
They are found in the wetlands of the plains of India and other countries of South Asia. Their distinctive pink tertial feathers give them their name. They forage in flocks in shallow waters along rivers or lakes. They immerse their half open beaks in water and sweep them from side to side and snap up their prey of small fish that are sensed by touch. As they wade along they also stir the water with their feet to flush hiding fish.
They nest colonially in trees, often along with other waterbirds.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Winter mornings at Sultanpur…. part 1
Come winters and enthusiastic bird-watchers flock to lakes and marshes around Delhi to view and photograph migratory birds that come here to breed in large numbers.
Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary is situated 40 kilometres from Delhi and is a delight to everyone who visits. Since the numbers of birds are numerous, this post will be split into several posts to share all the photographs.
The morning started off with us taking the past least taken :-) which was in a clockwise direction around the lake, as most visitors (non-birdwatchers usually) take the anti-clockwise path.
The air was still a bit hazy although it was around 10 in the morning, but the nip in the air was really enjoyable. One of the first birds we saw was a Large Egret (Cosmerodius albus) (shown above) wading through the shallow waters while a Hoopoe (Upupa epops) was flitting in and out of the trees, and searching for insects on the ground. (shown below)
But the most fun was when we spotted a (female?) Black-winged Stilt or Common Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) which usually feeds on insects and small crustaceans trying to swallow a fish. We spent about 10 minutes seeing its attempts at trying to swallow the fish before moving on :-)
The next set of pics will be posted tomorrow
Sunday, September 11, 2011
butterfly pea….
The butterfly pea is a common wildflower seen all over the country. The flowers of this vine have the shape of human female pudenda, hence the Latin name of the genus "Clitoria", from "clitoris". This plant is scientifically called Clitoria ternatea. The flowers have a vivid vivid cobalt blue colour with a white throat and are locally used in Asian cuisine as a food colouring.
The roots of the butterfly pea are used for curing whooping cough in children. The blue flowers are used as a food dye. The extract from plant is known to have anti oxidant properties.
The flowers are used in Ayurveda to enhance memory and sharpen intelligence.
The flower is also called Shankha Pushpa in Sanskrit and is the favourite flower of Ganesha, the elephant headed God.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Sunday, September 04, 2011
‘Grave’ injustice…..
ashes to ashes,
dust to dust,
earth to earth…..
while one hears these lines in a lot of movies, especially in scenes involving a burial, it was interesting to see a perverse example of the same at Lodhi Garden. This tree was growing out of a forgotten tomb in the park. Gives a whole new meaning to the term “pushing up daisies”.
Why are humans fascinated with death? After clicking these photographs this morning, I did a short internet study on the subject …… and found this link of 10 bizarre death rituals…..
One of the ways humans deal with death is by burying the dead, be it in simple earthen graves, or something as elaborate as the ‘Taj Mahal’ although, as someone aptly said…. tombs are for the living, the dead do not care about them…… or as a fellow photographer, blogger and friend Pratibha says “do we really need stone markers anyways, when we leave so many memories behind…..”
Friday, September 02, 2011
shivoham, shivoham…..
I am not the mind, intellect, thought, ego, or some form of the supreme being;
I neither have ears, nor tongue and I neither have nose, nor eyes;
I am not the sky, earth, light or the wind;
I am consciousness and bliss. I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Given below is a beautiful rendition of the same shloka.
Monday, August 29, 2011
how safe is facebook….
a friend of mine posted a message that if one is connected to facebook though a mobile phone, then facebook stores all the names and phone numbers you have on your phone in your facebook account. Weird but true. Now for me, the numbers in my phone book are not state secrets, but as a photographer, one always worries about the rights that one loses when one uploads images on the web.
there was conflicting information available from my fellow photography enthusiasts, so I decided to do some research on my own, and this was what I found. I have copied the relevant portion of the statement of rights and responsibilities of Facebook and have reproduced the same below for the benefit of fellow photographers.
Statement of Rights and Responsibilities
Sharing Your Content and Information
You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:
- For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
- When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).
One needs to read the fine print to realise that once you upload your photo(s) / video(s) on Facebook, they can be used in any manner without paying you, the photographer one penny. Not only that, the ‘privacy’ and ‘application settings’ that are hyperlinked above only allow you the option to share with friends, friends of friends, everyone or other. No where is there an option for restricting the use of the image/video by facebook. FB also indicates that even if you delete your IP content, if it has already been shared, then they cannot do anything about it.
This needs more study and I'm sure there are other blogs / websites that go into this into detail and that is going to be the focus of my attention over the next few days.
I am also aware that most of the people reading this are shaking their head and saying, ‘so what’, my pics are not that great anyway. But I would like to point out to my friends, that it is the principle that counts and for those who feel your photos / videos matter, BEWARE OF WHAT YOU UPLOAD.
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