~ M A H A B A L I P U R A M ~ Under the silent storm!

Tamil Nadu is getting completely soaked by the recent series of deep depressions in the Bay of Bengal. The satellite images showing the swirl of cloud are painting a really horrifying picture of very heavy rains in the east coast of India. As I am writing this blog there is another warning standing in the parts of southern coast of Tamil Nadu for tomorrow and day after!

Me and my family has seen the beginning of these pouring times in Chennai and we missed the fury of the cyclone by a whisker! All hell started to break loose the day after we left Chennai. On the last day of our stay (Nov 8th, 2015) it had given us a hint about the days to come! Oct - Nov being a regular rainy season in Tamil Nadu (due to reverse monsoon) we thought that it would be a regular rain with a bit more duration and slightly heavy clouds! But the story was different! A dangerous storm was silently brewing in the sky above us and we were happily enjoying our city sight-seeing and visits to popular tourist destinations thinking that they are regular cloud movements!

Mahabalipuram was one of the places where we spent our Saturday (Nov 7th, 2015) morning. The sky was cloudy and it was drizzling intermittently at times. The low moving, rain bearing clouds are always a treat for the photographer, which fills the sky nicely with shades while shooting the temple architecture! I was happy because the clouds were hiding the harsh sun behind them and the light was pretty even. It drizzled a bit while we were watching the main shore temple complex and then again a bit of drizzle while we were at the place of "Pancha Ratha" (complex of five chariots). Though the intensity was a bit high we thought that it is just a momentarily shower and did not take it seriously. But when we head back to the car to proceed to Arjuna's Penance then the fury started! It went on to about 20 odd minutes and at the end we had to abandon the idea of going inside the complex of Arjuna's Penance and started to head back to Chennai. What we saw there was a pre-cursor for the days to come!

Here are some of the images which I made that morning at Mahabalipuram.
(Click on the images to see them bigger - recommended!)

While I pray for the safety of all in Tamil Nadu during these tough times you enjoy these images.

Cheers,

Ash

Melukote - A timeless beauty!

If I need to pick a handful of places around Bangalore that I feel worth visiting then this place - Melukote would be among the top three!

It was indeed sheer pleasure that I experienced when I visited this place few months back for the first time! But I dont know why I felt very much connected to the place as I entered and walked into its old small path ways of the small town. The whole place - its temples, kalyani (pond), houses, shops and almost everything is old structured and at one point or the other you feel that you are walking around the place  which is still in 1960s or before! I was really amazed by the way the city was still having the traditional charm to it.

 

(Click on the image to view bigger)

I thoroughly enjoyed my time and here are few images that made from my short visit.

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers,
Ash

Faces half done!

They are all budding artists in the art form - Yakshagana.

Some are very new and some are well versed.

I went to their green room couple of times in order to document the process of them getting ready. It is a fascinating place to be in. Both from observation point of view and from image making point of view.

Often the green rooms does not consist of large area. One has to work in small space under loads of constraints to capture the process of an artist undergoing the transformation from his earthly identity to the on stage avatar. 

The make up forms a huge part in this form of art and it takes quite a huge time to make one person ready to go on stage. All looks like a movie in the fast forward many a times inside the green room, yet everything has to be accurate and elegant. One thing I noticed was that they all look composed and calm during the complete duration of their make up. They try to take the character inside them which they are going to play on stage. Unlike any other play you almost never have a prescribed set of dialogues in Yakshagana. All the dialogues of all the characters have to be spontaneous and that is a challenge in itself. They have to have their presence of mind all the time along the course of the performance....and I need not mention that there is no room for any errors!

All the faces you see in this blog post were in the process of one such transformation. They were all on their way to completion. Of course for their performance that day and may be in their journey of mastering this wonderful form of art as well.

.... .... .... ....

And how did they look when they went on stage? You may have to wait for my next blog! :)



Cheers,
Ash 

Some faces which didn't quite make it!

Few days back we were called for a dinner to celebrate the launch of the coffee table book - "Daroji - An ecological destination", authored by Vijay Mohan Raj, Ganesh HS and Samad Kottur. We were called to hand over our contributor's copy of the book. I was excited to see the book.

It was in last year May that myself and my friend Shivakumar L made a trip to Daroji to make some images of the people around Daroji for this coffee table book. I had written some first hand account of my experience in my blog - "Faces from the land of mines". It was a wonderful on the field experience for both of us and the trip had yielded some nice images.

The book has come out nicely with some stunning images from authors. Some perspectives are brilliant and some are from rare angles. Though many of our images didn't make it to the final version of the book, I am quite happy about the overall experience that I had with respect to the approach towards people portraits.

The images shared in this blog post are the ones which were made during the trip and are unpublished.


Cheers,
Ash

Saffron,God and Ganga!

We were in Haridwar. The city where the sacred river is revered with utmost devotion. The city that holds the world famous aarti for the river Ganga, the river which is much more than just a river for the Hindus!  I was seeing her for the first time! I was excited and why not!

Though we didn't see much of the city, we had a glimpse of what is is like to live there.  I was attracted by the sheer life in it. You will see loads of Sadhus walking past on the roads. Some staying there from long time and some would be on their transit. We had a glimpse of few aghori sadhu's as well.

We went to the bank of Ganga in the early morning, but we missed the aarti in just a few minutes. The river had swelled, thanks to the heavy rains in the mountains. The water was brownish and the flow was full. The bank was occupied by men in saffron and normal devotees equally. Both were taking a dip in the cold water. I took the water in my hand and it was indeed very cold. We spent some time roaming on the banks.

   

There is something in that place which touched me. I saw some kind of a commonality in all the people who came there that morning irrespective of their ages and practice. But I could not clearly explain what that is. I felt it but couldn't express it. But I enjoyed it.

By the way, why we were at Haridwar?  We were on our way to Valley of Flowers!

Click on the images to view them bigger.


Cheers,
Ash

Let there be light....even when there is no flash!!

We often face the problem of having not enough light when we are shooting in the late evenings and during the night. I am not talking particularly about Nature Photography here but about general photography. But by applying little bit of thinking we can get some very good results which otherwise is not possible just by bumping up the ISO setting of the camera.

(Click on the image to see it bigger)

On my last trip to Kodai I was staying in a nice resort which was having a nice garden space with some very interesting lighting. When I shared my idea of making some images in that light my wife Sahana happily agreed to pose :). I had nothing but a camera fitted with 18-200mm lens. No external flash, no tripod and the max aperture rating of the lens is also poor for the low light. But I wanted to make some images under that light by some or the other means. I hate to use built-in flash as it makes images flat. I use it very very very rarely...almost never!

My cellphone Nokia E-63 came for my rescue! It has an LED torch on its back.Though the torch is not that great, it looked like it was quite ok if I use it properly to get some of the images that I had in mind. 

(Click on the image to see it bigger)

The series of images in this blog are shot using the torch light of my E-63 to lit the face and by keeping the camera on either a table or on the compound wall. All the images are made using very low shutter speed. The key here is to place the torch in such a way that it should lit the face properly and expose the frame for the light on the face so that everything else is rendered just like it is, the mood of night.

So the next time when you are out on any vacation or trip and want to make some images under the evening light then remember this trick. You dont have to have a DSLR to make these kinds of images. Any point and shoot would also give almost the same result if you apply this method. Just use your brain! :)

Without my mobile, in the below image, I could not have got both moon and Sahana in the same frame with this lighting.

No need to say that it is my image of the trip! An image in which I have both the moons
- one ruling my Sun-Sign (Cancer) and the other ruling my heart! :)


My first post after marriage! It took quite long to get back here.
Feeling good to be back!

Cheers,

Ash

Silent bells

It is a small village near Yellapur, a small town where I spent all my childhood. There is a temple of Ganapathi, which is popular among the people around Yellapur and Sirsi. The place is Chandguli. A serene and calm place amidst forest and it is one of the places which is closer to my heart. I had felt an unexplainable feeling when I had been there for the first time!

It was a feeling that I was there before. A feeling that I belong to that place! Never ever it happened to me till today in any other place! No, it was not a deja-vu (which I often experience on many occasions!). I had felt a connection. My faint memory says that I was in my 11th or 12th standard then.

The temple has several thousands of bells which devotees offer to the Lord when their wishes come true! A ritual which we see in several temples across India, in various other forms of offerings. The complete temple is completely surrounded and stuffed with bells. If they all make sound together then I bet many people from nearby villages also would go deaf! Yet they are all hanging there silently, without making any sound.

They just remind me of Buddhist monks or a Hindu saints who practice silence. These saints, though belong to the same kind - humans, who are making loud noise all over the world, they have realized that the inner peace is attained only in silence. These silent bells resemble those elegant people so much.

They are all celebrating silence at that place.

Please note that photography is prohibited at the place and I have made these images with prior permission from the staff there.

**********      **********       **********      **********       **********      **********


Results of BBC Wildlife Photographer Of the Year are out. My dear friend Adithya Biloor has won the runner up award in the Nature in Black and White category for his wonderful image of an ant on the leaf. You can visit his site - Lens and Tales to view many of his wonderful images.

Another good friend of mine - Nilanjan, who had won the same title last year has another of his wonderful image winning a Highly Commended in the Behaviour-Birds category.

Feels great to see some Indian names in the winners list.

Heartily congratulations to Adithya and Nilanjan!


Cheers,
Ash

Faces from the land of mines!

It was a hot summer month of May. I was in the district of Bellary, which is known for its super hot summers and as a land which is badly hit by the mining or rather over mining, to be specific!

I was there at Hospet, along with my friend Shivakumar L to shoot some of the people portraits and culture images of the people around Hospet, Hampi and Sandur. We were there on an assignment. It was almost a first of its kind for us. We both were excited. We both were used to shoot for the whole day when it is Nature or WIldlife Photography. But people photography was something which I had not done much for so long hours.

We were going around Hospet and Sandur along with our friend Samad Kottur who was helping us with talking to the people and convincing them to allow us to shoot. It was because of his immense energy and knowledge about the place and people which made the trip a success.

We visited the Lambani settlement around Sandur. Lambanis are known for their vibrant colored clothes and they make those clothes by hand, mostly at home itself. We had the privilege to visit a Lambani village and make some images of women making the clothes at their homes.

We met two young guys who were working in a nearby mining refinery. One of the guy's head was nicely bathed with the fine dust of the ore. They seemed kind of unknown about the cause of the over mining and what they were concerned about was their daily wage which was barely enough to live their life and ofcourse to recharge their mobile!!

People we met were interesting! It was a nice learning for me. Both photographically and personally.

Approach to this genre of photography demands a very different skill set.

I am happy that I am learning it!

Cheers,
Ash

Ah! Taj!

What else can be given as a testimony for true love other than the Taj!

This is one monument in India which doesn't require any introduction across the world.

People pour in from around the world just to have a glimpse of this architectural wonder! 

Not only for the architecture marvel but mainly for the emotion behind it. 

People have smiled with deep content after seeing this...

People have screamed with utter joy after seeing this...

People have literally wept for hours after seeing this...

This is Taj...

 

One has to see it to believe it... It is truly magical... 

I was lucky to get a nice colorful sunset and a vibrant sunrise on a winter day when I was there in Agra.

Internet carries tonnes and tonnes of images of Taj. I was moved very much by McCurrys images from this place. 

My only intention was to be back with at least few different images of this Mecca of love.

 

I hope I have succeeded at least a little.

Cheers,

Ash