Abstract, the word may be defined in a number of ways, with one being close to imaginary.
Here, I have cobwebs, imagine them as life lines for the spiders, or death traps for the insects, its all valid.
Author: SenK
Engineer, Photographer, Cook and a Foodie.
I try out different ideas and concepts of photography and regularly sort out questions on Quora.
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Welcome to the blog :)
Dinnertime
This is a post from the good old days when life was easy and time was a luxury I could afford. Me and my sister wanted to try out sushi, so we headed to a Japanese restaurant in Kolkata. This was our dinner for the night!
It was new, different. Ticked one off the bucket list.
Cheers!!
TTL: Velas
This post is special.
Special because it is about an event which has so much of risk, uncertainty and struggle that you must marvel the outcomes.
This post is about the tiny Olive Ridley turtles of Velas, Maharashtra.
Every year, thousands of female turtles swim their way from across the world to this little known beach in Maharashtra. They make nests, lay their eggs and wade back into the sea towards an uncertain future. Over time, the eggs hatch and baby turtles make their way into the sea on their own. The interesting thing is, all the females which would be born at Velas, would come back to the same beach to lay their eggs.
We made an overnight trip from Pune. About 200 kms to Velas, took us about 5 hours through the hilly,twisty turny roads of the western ghats. We made occasional stops and then we reached the spot, early morning.
Since the hatching of the eggs is a natural phenomenon, we missed it. The day we went, the turtles didn’t hatch and we couldn’t see them. We were a bit sad about it, and with some heavy heart, we made our way to Hariharishwar beach, spent some time there and then we came back to the Velas beach once more to have a look at the rock formations and the landscapes that are there.
Our trip ended the following night as we drove back home.
A few days later, one of my friends went, and she was luckier than we were and got some amazing shots of the turtles as they made their way from the sands to the sea.
Special thanks to Medha for letting me use the photos. Am happy that you got to see them babies and you shot them.
The turtles can be seen during the months of October to December as they come to lay the eggs and from end February to mid April as the babies hatch out. The months are based on general observations and they do vary. So does the hatching. It may be so that you make a trip today and see no hatching while your friend who went a day earlier saw a basket full of them. Most people spend the weekend over there, which generally guarantees some sightings.
To the travelers out there who have not yet been to this place, go on, make a trip. The route, the location, the beach, they are worth the distance. Its a tiny village, about 50-70 homes, some offer homestay facilities too. Have a look at the MTDC website for further information.
Have fun all. Next trip, next outing, should be interesting. See you all later.
Cheers!!
When Creativity Strikes…
With a little more than 20 years of experience in appearing for academic exams, there is one thing I can infer, with certain authority, creativity strikes precisely at the moment when you know you must study and not be distracted. Then again, not always do we take the sensible path, do we?
So, I happened upon a page from an amazing DIY page, The Bored Panda, and was going through the things you can do with a bottle of soft drink. The one that seemed readily possible to be made, was done, and here is the result.
This can be used as a vase to keep some fresh flowers on the table or the workstation, or you can use this to stuff your pens, pencils and general office stationery too. This was more of a proof of concept kind of experiment and am happy with the result. Some rough edges, no doubts, but I know how to make one of these, so, next time, it shall be much better.
Check out this page, i found it very useful 🙂 : Plastic Bottle Recycling Ideas
Gotta get back to studies! Cheers!!
Light Trails
Photography is all about how you play with light. Whatever be the kind of photography you do, light is the essential common denominator, be it portrait, landscape, macro, or any other thing you can think of.
Light trails are a mix of use of depth of field, controlled shutter speed and ISO. Along with the basic trinity, you also bring in creativity, and different props. The understanding of how a shot is being taken, or how it should be taken, is paramount while doing light trails, light paintings and such.
Its not always that a slow shutter is all you need. Sometimes, varying the light source also helps.
In the end, all that matters is, that you must have a lot of fun.
Have fun experimenting with different light sources. Understand this, when your shutter is open during an exposure, any and every movement of the light source pointing towards the camera, shall be captured by it. Use this to make shapes, letters, drawings .. the possibilities are limitless.
Good luck.
Cheers!!
Dance Away
Dance, by me, is one of the best and ultimate forms of self expression and it keeps you active and healthy too, besides keeping you happy. I dont dance, and with the kind of figure I have, in the interest of the public, I should stay away from the dance floor too. But, what I can do, is capture wonderful dancers mid pose and pay a tribute to them.
This post, this photo goes out to some of the best dancers I have met till date. Guys, you are amazing.
Cheers to Shaggy, Karan, Fayaadh and all the wonderful dancers 🙂 You guys rock!!
What type of photog am I?
A question has been often posed at me, what kind of photographer am I? Today, I ll try to answer it.
I am in pursuit of photography with some seriousness, for the past two and a half years now. My peers, who had started along at the similar time, have become specialized. Some shoot only portraits, some are landscape guys while some are wildlife fellows. They have expanded their arsenal with better bodies and lens…and then there is me.
I have not managed to settle down to just one genre yet.
I like shooting portraits.
Also enjoy shooting landscapes.
I am not averse to shooting macro
And even the streets appeal to me just fine.
And sometimes, I do shoot purely technical shots too.
I guess, I am just not cut for the strict regime of just one type of photography. Some might say that I am straying and that I must stick to a certain genre, but I’d rather shoot things that appeal to me,even if they belong for different genre. It brings out the me in the photos. This my calling, whats yours?
If things go according to plan, as they rarely do, next week, I shall be travelling to Velas, Maharashtra, to visit the tiny turtles hatch and make their maiden journey to the sea. Stay tuned.
Cheers!!
A Bulb’s story
This is a standard bulb.
Nothing remarkable about it. It does its daily job of getting shocked and lighting up in awe. Simple, standard bulb. So what was so remarkable done to it, and what led to the doing, that it received wide fame? If you are curious, about the bulb and the photographs contained within, read on.
It all began on a winter morning when I was bored at home. Without much of chores to attend to, and college being some time away, I had ample time to utilize it in persuing random thoughts. The outcome of one such thought trail were these, the shell and the filament.
While I was shooting them, couple of my friends were certain that i had gone nuts. Cmon, honestly, how many people in your knowledge buy bulbs to open them up and shoot the filament burn? In my part of the world, the number is very limited. Anyway, I was too bored to even bother about his judgements and went ahead. Post the shots, i was in total awe with the burning filament shots ( in case you didnt see the posts, go see them, they do have good shots). I put them up for some competitions too, didnt yeild much results though. Anyway, forgot about them and they were filed away.
Skip forward couple of months. There comes along a contest of sorts where I had to write about letting go of the past and rising up. That was the first time, the rest of the bulb, the shell came into view and consideration. I liked the idea of rising up, depicted by the photo, and hence, that is what it got called since then. Fast forward, a few more months, IIT Chennai hosts an annual fest, Saarang in January. Rise up, was my entry for the online photo competition. And, it was a winner.
I ended up with a 500px upgrade code and one more piece of serious enviable stuff. But, before that, a few glimpses of chennai.
And now, here is the original photo and a sketch of the same, my prize, the thing in which the original photo is visible… Apple Ipad Mini4.
Am I happy? Yup. Am i grinning and bragging? Hell yes!!
So, as a thank you note, I am thankful to the ones who made fun of the effort I had put in for the shots and the ones who made me think in a creative representation of the photo.
Assignments and exams have me buried under a pile of homeworks, new posts shall be coming up soon.
Cheers.
5 directions for the Streets!
Street photography is always recognized as a challenging and equally rewarding venture. Its an adventure and often requires a certain skill to get the shots right. It is difficult to put into words what shall make you a successful photographer on the streets, but practice and patience are a couple of sure shot ways to learn.
My experience in street photography has taught me a few things, which I would like to share here, which, I hope shall be of use to you , my dear reader.
- Be ready-
It may sound very obvious, but is the first rule, nonetheless. Keep the lens cap off, the camera set in a probable setting, or be in a position to adjust on the fly and fire away. The opportunities present themselves at unexpected times, you must be ready.
- Keep an eye out-
Look out for frames, people, settings which can be used to tell a story. Often, a nicely composed shot, can speak more than a thousand words.
- Blend in-
Try to blend in the crowd. Have a lens that is inconspicuous and is not cumbersome. I mean, yes, a 150-600 is an amazing lens, and can be used to isolate your subject effectively, but imagine using it right in the middle of a bazaar. People will actually be wondering if you are shooting them. The local police might be interested too. So, be realistic. Have a small, versatile lens on you. One that makes you comfortable, and doesn’t scare your subject away.
- Be discreet-
There will be instances where you are better off not letting your subject know that they are being shot. Be at a distance, be camouflaged and shoot. You ll get the best shots if your subjects are in their natural environment.
- Be friendly-
Have a smile on your face, and be ready to show the shots to your subjects. Do not creep your subjects out. Some may want to look at how they appeared, oblige them. Some might want not to be shot, heed them. If possible, ask for their permission if you really want the shot, and once you are done, show it to them. Often, they ll be ready to give you another shot, if the first one was not good enough.
There shall be many missed shots, composition fails and angry glares too, but you ll have to skim them off and cope with the constraints, and once you manage to adjust, you ll see a whole world of opportunities opening up. Good luck.
Cheers!!
The Season Now
We can often categorize our life’s phases into seasons. Sometimes its all hale and hearty, just like your favourite season, while sometimes, things are violent and stormy and grey.
As of today, I believe, my life has a bit of early morning mist.
The sunrise is on, and the clouds are dissipating, slowly!
And with time, sunrise shall kiss the leaves and things shall be better.
I feel, I am feeling the end of autumn and the beginning of spring right now. Its still chilly in the mornings and if care is not taken, one might catch cold, which stays on for quite sometime. The winds of change are blowing, all I ll need to do, is let the sails unfurl and take me to new destinations.
Cheers to looking forward, cheers to you 🙂
TTL: Mumbai
A couple of weekends earlier, with an amazing group of photographers from Pune, under the banner of Pune Photo Lovers, we went to Mumbai for a photowalk for a day.
The route was simple, from the CST to Gateway of India and back via the Leopold Cafe.
The 50 mm prime being the only lens with me, it was an amazing experience to restrict myself and work. Here are how the things looked once I came back and processed the photos.
The thing about street photography is that you need to keep the eyes wide open and be able to handle the camera fast enough. Missing a shot because the camera was not set right, is honestly a shame.
Keep shooting and keep practicing.
Cheers!!
Timeless!
Times, they are a changing!!
TRAVELOGUES AND TREASURES 