unforgettable path, kolar

pavilion, kolar

kolar

red filter

Red Filter And Blue Skies...

i would like to add the following in addition to all
the information that lavannya has already given you:
1. first of all you should remember that the black and
white film is VERY sensitive to the colour BLUE than
the colour film is. therefore most photographers
starting out with the B&W complain that they aren't
able to capture the mood of the sky just the way they
saw them when they clicked it. this is simply because
the blue sky is over exposed with respect to the film
and it appears plain white. now this is where your
filter system helps.
2. the red filter blocks the blue light from the sky
(and also cyan and green, opposite colours on the
colour wheel), makes it look darker and thereby
increase its contrast with the white clouds. so now
you have the skies look like you want them to. some
feel it obviously exaggerates the situation and
therefore they would prefer yellow, which is more
closer to reality.
3. different manufacturers have different numbers for
the filters they manufacture. one of the more popular
ones, COKIN, have the number for red as 003, yellow as
001..
4. cost of the filter would be roughly around 800, but
you would have to buy the adapter ring and the mount
too if this is the first filter. i think thats another
800.
5. the filter always takes away something from the
picture.. never adds. and when you are including
greenery too through your red filter remember that
they would appear darker too. i would suggest that you
get comfortable without a filter first and then plan
on investing on one.
6. you can get your filters from here:
fotocircle (mr.Jayesh) no. 2, KV temple street, SSK
Sangha Building, Near Balepet Circle, Next to New
Chickpet Police Station.
22874356.
regards,
vivek m

guitar

magical music...

my head threatens to split apart
in silent discord and monotony
my heart breathes slow and tired
a feeling of drained soul
my rescue in a green jacket
with four eyes staring at me
i open my mind to broken silence
a few notes later i depart
to distant fields of pretty memories
i walk through slippery cobblestones
looking around at welcome thoughts
i bounce back to life and tears
looking at a shabby myself in a mirror
a glow appears on dull eyes...

i am listening to 'tere bina' by fuzon... and the music and the voice is so close to divinity... i feel like standing on my balcony on a windy night and spreading my arms wide, taking in a deep breath... i love this song...

Din of the Cicadas

kanoor

a small write-up about one of my treks... but couldn't go on to complete it.

A Monsoon trek through the Sharavathy Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
(few pictures)
Our circadian rhythms seemed to awaken our senses as we got restless with the smell of the approaching Indian monsoons. We knew it was time to go on that trek. Days of putting together of information of benevolent trekkers who shared their escapades over the internet was of very little help. Not many people could even sketch out a rough route to the abandoned fort of Kanoor, presumably deep in the jungles of the Sharavathy valley. Nevertheless we were ready to go, fuelled by the promise of walks through verdant foliage, of sweet rain mingling with our sweat and of making the pretty tiled roofs in Malnad our home for a few days.
So armed with only the names of a few places and a concocted route we landed at Sagara bus stop at 6 am on a misty morning. I had been here in this town more than a few times but watching the dark hours of a morning chugging slowly into a busy day is such a fascination. The newspaper guys are the first to claim the bus stand. Newspapers brought from Shimoga in carefully labeled bundles are unpacked for their final destination. The supplements are tucked into the main papers and so is the occasional pamphlet announcing a new restaurant in this little town. The baker arrives a little later with his young daughter and an umbrella. While he mechanically goes about prodding the show-case a little into the open, sprucing up the unsold cakes and exchanging pleasantries with his neighbors, his daughter gets busy sweeping their part of the bus stand. The woman selling strings of wild jasmines and champa takes her customary corner. The Udupi restaurateur finally gives orders to open the half pulled down shutter. As the light of the sodium finally goes off, the cacophony of the neatly dressed bus conductors becomes prominent.
Our conductor arrives at 7 30 am. He promises to put us down at Hosagadde in another hour and a half. As soon as we reach Hosagadde, a little bus stop, rain drenched and red-oxide floored threw a dejavu as we reminisced about similar looking ones at the beginning of a lot other treks. It was a perfect place to rearrange baggage, get the cameras out, feel comfortable in a pair of shorts and generally prepare ourselves for a new and exciting journey that none of us had experienced before. A shop-keeper next to the bus stop confirmed that this indeed was the route to Dabbe falls, our destination for the first day.
A rough path took us peacefully for sometime before it got murkier. We stopped. A cowherd thankfully directed us back on track but it wasn’t easy. We passed through many a farm jumping over fences, crossing bridges of slippery areca trunks, navigating check-dams overflowing with water. Gowdru mane was finally in sight at around 2 in the afternoon. It had started to pour heavily as we struggled to establish our identity behind our suspicious looking rain coats. I was an absolute alien in my borrowed blue rain coat. Once the dogs were the silenced, the masters quickly engaged us in a Q&A session. They invited us inside, for warmth and a place to keep our rug sacks. An even warmer conversation over a straw mat put us completely at ease.
Dabbe falls was not even close to what we had imagined it to be. It looked like a long silvery thread cut in pieces bisecting the thick evergreens of the valley. Worst still, it was absolutely unapproachable being on the other side of the valley we were on. So all we could do was to precariously descend down for a little distance before we managed to get a satisfying view of the falls and some photographs. Getting down itself was an adventure since the descent was steep, no sign of a path and plenty of leeches. We finally ended our attempts in search of better views and made our way back to Gowdru mane.
The Gowdru, it seemed, was however apprehensive about our plan to spend the night at his place. He definitely wasn’t in favor of our stay under his roof. Our plan for the night obviously had to be altered. Disappointment and confusion set in as we pondered about our next move. We had lost considerable time already exploring around the water fall, taking Gowdru mane for granted as our halt for the night. A quick conversation with the people revealed our possible destination to be a school, Shaale mane.
After getting off track plenty of times, we finally reached the home of Neel Kumar just as the night was making its appearance. His home was perfect (like all the homes in Malnad are!). His genuine friendliness was contagious and we sat down in his verandah to talk about life in cities and the price of coffee.
‘How big is Bengaluru?’ he asked. I said quite big, it takes an hour to travel from one end to the other. His wife carried a small oil lamp to join our conversation. ‘You know, we are getting electricity to our village’, she gleefully said, ‘all the villagers are pitching in to help the workers in getting the lamp posts erected’. I looked at her. Her smile was no less innocent from a child’s and I loved the fact that she is so delighted with the idea of getting a lamp in her home. The verandah went silent for some time as I looked at the hills fading into darkness, the soft light reflecting from their wrinkled faces, listened to the sound of a nightjar, the trickle of rain from the tile above, caught the scent of wild jasmine and the felt the coolness of clear crisp air silently settling amidst us. My destination was reached, I thought. This is exactly why I wanted to be here, to be among things that let my senses feel a slice of pure bliss, to talk to people who believe happiness can only be a state of mind, to wonder like a child at matters that intrigue our innocent minds.

little sleep... some thinking...

sometimes its not good to have a sound sleep. i haven't been having for quite sometime now and i think thats because my mind is in a turmoil. its not particularly related to anything but these days are like seasons, we go through it because it is there, we don't ask why it is different. but i understand the necessity to go through them, i know it leads you to a deserving place for sure. my mind wanders more often now but i am glad it maintains good interest in molecular biology to keep me going strong in grasping the intricacies of genetic engineering. am getting to like biochemistry...
i spoke to lokesh for a long time. he seemed really happy about me getting both the prizes in the black and white category, first and third(here are the pictures that i shot for the competition including the winning entries). and what meant most was the fact that Perumal was the judge. he knows i will balance both medicine and photography well.. he thinks and knows i should... i will.
i have already started thinking about my entries for monuments. pictures from mandu is surely going because i don't think i can shoot fresh ones now. and i can't seem to think of a place i go to either. lepakshi was disappointing. i wasn't satisfied and i feel sad i couldn't click pictures like i wanted to. maybe i will go through the negatives once again.
mandu ruins will be good, i think, my favourite would the broken wall and the tree in the background picture. another would be of the corridor but i am not sure if they would appreciate my perspective in that particular picture. can't think of anything else that i could submit. oh yes! the ruins at mullaiyangiri... but the theme is monuments.. that particular picture doesn't somehow fit in.. i feel.
i should make time and travel one day to click some pictures for the 'monuments.' have been already visualizing few concepts, rough compositions... it helped a lot for the previous competition.
oh yes.. am so glad kishore won the first place for colour! i knew lavannya will win but kishore will get a such a boost with that recognition. he will be enthusiastic enough to keep shooting better pictures...

mmm... starting

i think i started this out of curiousity than a serious urge scribble haikus on an online journal. but the possiblity of getting to know interesting people by giving them a peephole into my life is good an excuse to start blogging! maybe because i also met an interesting blogger, anita at a photography exhibition.
i finally posted some of my pictures of the nilgiris trek for the rest of the trekker team to view. i posted most of the pictures from the one and a half rolls of film that i shot with. its strange... six days... nilgiris... only few rolls... but i successfully manage to surprise myself with such stuff. but i think i was just being myself, i couldn't somehow come to terms with the set of new friends who seemed to actually feel this was a nice way to get their noisy kids oriented towards nature. i think i expected a group more involved and interested in the wildflowers, mountains hidden by the mist, the noise of the cicadas. my mistake. in the process of getting used to the group i completely ignored photography and ended clicking only a couple of pictures on day one...
tonight's dinner was such a gastronomic delight! lavannya's ryze aquaintance runs an excellent far eastern cuisine restaurant called the 'shiok' in indiranagar. i met madhu himself and he suggested(and cooked) us the perfect meal! and as always painted platter offered us yet another sinful desert, Chocophile this time.