Enjoy your work

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I clicked this picture some days ago in Marina. Since I go to this place often, I learned how fishermen live their life. First, they assemble the boat's engine in the shore. The weight of the engine requires atleast two people to carry it. Then they load the boat with fishing nets and necessary tools. After the boat is ready, everybody except two guys climb the boat. The two down, pushes the boat towards the water. Once the boat starts to float, the two guys runs fast to climb before the boat goes farther into the sea. They reach their fishing spot, spread their nets wide and wait patiently for hours. After collecting the required quantity, they return back to the shore, disassemble the engine and then sort the fish according to their variety. And then they are ready for sale either directly or through re-sellers. However 'team-work' is essential to make a successful job.

Chamber of secrets

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I always wonder about the presence of arches in most of the historical buildings here in INDIA. This picture was taken at the King's fort. Even though the buildings have become pale and broken, the essence of the fort is still there. Myself and my friends were wondering why they have built so many large chambers with a small entrance. Only after enquiring the local people, we came to know that the chambers were built for accomodating the horses. One chamber for every horse, wow. You can spot the small entrances on the right side in this picture. Imagining hundreds of knights running out from these chambers brings me a collosal feeling. I wish I could go back to the past to see this king's rule.

Silent yet violent

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The power of nature could never be under-estimated. This place is located somewhere in the north madras. The rock stones are brought together to make this artificial path through the sea. I felt like as if I am standing inside the sea when I turned back to look the shore. And many sea inhabitants rests on the rocks. The scene was beautiful whenever the water splashed against the rocks. Sometimes they rose to a height of more than 5 metres. I chose the monochrome version because it emphasizes the splashing water more than the rocks or the sea.

The mystery look: part 2

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I hope that you might have enjoyed my " The mystery look" picture which I had posted earlier. This is the same girl and in every frame of mine, she had that mystery look. Although, I am not aware of the reason for it. Like many said, sometimes eyes speak a lot than words. I have one more picture of her in the series and I hope to post it sometime later. I wish to see this cute little girl once again in my life. For part 1, click here.

King's fort, once upon a time.

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The room was very dark and the ceiling was about 25 metres high. The smell of the atmosphere stinked because only the bats lived there these days. Somewhere in the middle of the ceiling, there was a small circular hole through which light rays flowed at an angle. The place is identified as a granary where the vijayanagar kings stored the grains. A path took me to the corner of the room where I found the broken steps. I climbed them without knowing where they lead me. After sometime I saw the blue skies, I smelled fresh air and of course my body felt the heat. And this is the view that mesmerized me from there and I sat down despite the thermal disturbances. You can spot two of my friends whom I met there for the first time.

Curve iD

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
As usual, one morning I went to the marina beach for capturing the sunrise. Before I reached the beach, there was one particular vehicle- some kind of a tractor which kept blocking my way. Everytime When I tried to overtake it, something came in between and prevented me to do it. Finally after reaching the beach, I kept exploring with objects in the sand like footprints, coconut with big husk, patterns left by the sea water and so on. After some time, the same tractor passed near me making an u-turn. This time, I looked the driver and gave a smile at him. He nodded back. The patterns on the sand looked wonderful and somehow I decided to make a picture with it. I was looking for high angle. While thinking of how to achieve the high angle, a boat came in and the fishermans pulled it towards the shore. Wow, after the fishermans got settle, I climbed the boat and composed this picture. Fortunately, my friend was standing there at one end of the curve which made the picture more meaningful.

Pattern unknown

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
As the title suggests, I personally feel that randomness doesn't exist in this world. When we cannot crack the pattern behind it we simply call them as random. But there is always a pattern. since I made this image, I realized the pattern as soon as I took a glimpse at it. Still, this is not a difficult pattern at all. The lights were from various sources on the road. The degree of randomness is what makes the complication of the pattern.

When art blends with culture.

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Indian women are famous for this flour art. We call it as "kolam". On this particular day, there was a kolam competition for the people of Mylapore. Around hundred people participated in the contest and to my surprise, there was also a man. Later, I heard that he was the winner of the previous year's contest. This particular woman in the picture was very much dedicated in her work that she never get disturbed when I was hanging with my gear around her. Definitely, Mylapore is a place where people portrays our original culture.

Arc of architecture

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This is a shot almost from the floor and yes, it's a blind shot. This is an awesome place. I underwent a lot of pain and difficulties to make up to this place. I did climb about 1000 steps in the burning sun to reach this place. Its in the top of a fort. I realized the worthiness of water that day. I drank the stagnated rain water between the rocks where tadpoles and fishes swam. To my surprise, the water was very good than the corporation water we get in the city. At the end of the day, not only I had an awesome experience but also I got 2 new friends there. I am longing to go to this place sometime soon.

Admiring the sunrise

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I am back to blogging after a long time since I was outside my place for a month. As I told earlier, Marina beach is my learning pit. This picture was shot in an early morning. I watched these guys enjoying the sunrise without any photographic equipments. Very few people are left like them who really admire and enjoy nature. I wish, I could have left my gears at home. Still, I enjoy nature through my viewfinder. The power of scale can be realized in this picture. The sun's rays were beautifully penetrating through the clouds and I could not remove my eyes from the viewfinder.

Signature lap

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This is one of my favourite moment at the race track, that day. As I told earlier, Lewis Hamilton was driving so casually even at the speed of 200 km/hr. The moment in this picture is captured right after he finished a right curve. Fifty percent of the car was on the muddy grasslands and the remaining 50% on the asphalt road. For viewers, it looked like as if he was about to roll. But Lewis managed the situation brilliantly and within a few microseconds, he was back on the track. Not only, he returned back to the track but also he made donuts instantly creating smoke clouds in the ground. Every moment was so much thrilling and wonderful for the viewers. Refer the previous posts for more of my pictures captured at the same venue.

Stream-line to turbulence

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I am sure that the mechanical engineers could understand the story behind this picture right after reading the caption. This was taken during my one night shoot with the smoke. My dad was watching some cricket match late night that day. So, I had to close my door for avoiding some fishy reactions from him. Damn, I am not smoking yet my room was full of smoke and filled with pungent odour. If he had knocked my door, I would have emerged out from the clouds of smoke. I planned everything before the shoot since the subject was a little dangerous to handle in a small
room. Definitely, the Reynold's number would have been less than 2000 during the initial stage and might have raised above 10,000 in the final stage. All these transitions happened within just 5 seconds.

Either way - It's right

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The place is in a church near St.Thomas mount. I could not guess where the steps lead down to. I personally feel that this picture has an awesome message. It tells me that whatever the path we choose from our heart will always be right and fruitful. This picture inspires me to move on through my own path in my life. Though one path may seem bigger and attractive than other, both leads to the same destination in life. The path chosen should be made right instead of choosing the right path. As captioned choosing either way is always right.

Finger-hand relationship

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It was an amazing moment that day and also it was my first shooting experience in a wedding. I was packing up my camera when this cute little girl walked in with her mom. I knew I am left with a very little time. I quickly opened up my bag and took my camera out. She noticed me and got excited. she called her mom and pointed me. They did wait for me with pleasure. I just set the basic parameters and then pointed and shot this picture. Although I didn't have much time to control my picture parameters, this moment was truly wonderful. Somehow, I managed to take 3 shots with this kid. When I realized that I have got a pretty descent picture with this girl, I waved my hand to her. She replied me with her hand and walked away with a cute smile.

Pillars of strength

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
This picture was taken during one of the most difficult trip I faced for photography. Yes, I did climb around 500 steps in the mid-day. It was summer and the sun was striking at it's best. Alas, I made it up to the tower. The place was beautiful and fortunately, I was in the shade. While making this picture, I was lying flat on the floor against the gravity because I could not bring the pillars in my frame while standing on my legs. I wished I could take some sleep there but it was not just the right time and place. The best thing about this trip is that I got 3 new friends just like that and 2 of them become so close to me. Never expected this day to happen so.

Moon's night out

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
FYI, this picture was not taken on the day when the moon came closer to our earth. I found the moon beautiful, 2 days after the super moon day. Earlier, I have posted a sun rise picture which was taken from the same place. When I took a walk in my terrace that day, I felt more coldness in my feet. I started wondering why it was so cold that day. The clouds drifted faster and the cool breeze brought a pleasant feeling in me. I realized that i need to make a picture with the same feeling. The picture definitely describes the drifting clouds. I never feel lonely, whenever the moon is visible on the sky. To me, moon-love-companionship all these are mutually related to each other.

Wake up - smile.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
This shot was taken at the marina beach, one fine morning. I didn't own a DSLR camera that time. I was practising with my friend's D90. This kid along with 3 of his friends came around me. Knowing that I am set with a large aperture, I composed this picture standing high on my legs. The high vantage point helped to soften the picture towards his legs. The kids were very happy to be photographed and also they gave us some stunning poses. From his eyes, you could realize that he had just woken up. Relating it, I captioned this picture as "Wake up - smile".

"Light-works" down the sky.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE

This artificial light tree was installed in the middle of a small park that was set-up temporarily for an exhibition. It was on a sunday and so the place was heavily crowded. wherever I turned, I saw only a bunch of people hanging together. I got bored shooting people and was looking for some kind of isolated subjects. This light tree was just about 5 and half feet in height. So, it doesn't looked like an interesting subject to me at first. Still, I went near it and tried this angle. I was completely lying down resting my head against the floor. People started looking weird at me. When I took my first picture here, it was actually an evening around 5.30 pm and so the dumb sky was visible. Fortunately, I stayed there till 9 pm, that day. While returning, I composed the same shot but at that time, the sky was completely dark which suited perfectly. The light tree looked as if it was a splashing fireworks. That's what made me to caption this picture as Light-works down the sky. Guess what?, I used my point and shoot camera for getting this picture.

Where was the car, Lewis?

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
Earlier, I have posted a similar picture taken at the same place. Yes. It's Lewis Hamilton on the wheels. He is the craziest driver I have ever seen in this world. Every now and then, he used to get into the grasslands, splattering the wet mud away. At one point, Lewis emerged admist of the clouds of smoke which looked like as if he was piercing through the sky. This picture is taken while he was making a donut with the mercedez AMG. Still, the real experience could not be described here in words. All that I could see in this moment was the clouds of smoke, for more than 10 seconds. If I had the chance, I would have asked Lewis "Where was the car man, for those 10 seconds". He is a very simple and humorous guy. I had a very good time with my lens there. All my thanks to Rajini and Jayi.

Re-capturing the real admirer.

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I don't do a lot of portraits. Somehow, this man interested me that day. I was there in thiruporur area for getting some good street photographs. It was my second visit to the same place. This man came out from the temple and he was rushing towards me. I realized that I have got a very small time to click him. But I din't get my shot. This man crossed me but he noticed me a bit. I started chimping on my LCD. After a few steps, this man came back to me, smiling. He told me that he din't realize that I was actually photographing him. Then he posed for me and gave me ample amount of time. I took this shot and showed him the picture. He viewed it and tapped my shoulder. We had a small chat and then, he left. I am waving a big salute for this man. There are really some awesome people in this world who enjoy being photographed by strangers. Definitely, he is one among them. Thank you!

The moment of pride.

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This is the day when I felt proud of myself. I took this picture in a small orphanage cum school. I went there with my fellow photography friends. It was our Republic day and so, the school committee had organised a small cultural function. Soon after we entered the school campus, one of the student came near us and pinned the flags in our shirts. The kids were very happy to see a bunch of photographers around them. This girl also seemed very proud of pinning her flag and she never got disturb when I was photographing her. The founder of this school Mr Power Singam is a very kind and a jovial person. He expressed his sincere gratitude by wishing us for our presence. My club has donated around 5000 rupees out of which I have contributed 200 bucks from my savings. Mr Power Singam assured us that they will utilize the amount for building bathrooms and other sanitary facilities in the school.

Left-indicated.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
Earlier, I have posted a similar picture "Night life", taken at the same place. This is also one of the long exposures I made that day. But this picture is pretty interesting. Can you see the orange blips in one of the red trails near the left corner?. Yes, It is the indicator light. The driver has used it to indicate his diversion as he was not ascending the fly-over. But I never noticed it in my LCD screen that day. Only after downloading the pictures to my system, I saw it. The use of the left indicator has been left indicated in my picture. Thats how my caption formed.

Master-stroke.

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The birth of this leaf is simply amazing. I took this leaf from a small plant that had grown on one of the walls in my terrace. Yes, you got me right. The plant is growing on its own, neither in the sand nor in a nutritious environment. I am sure that it gets ample amount of sunlight as it is in open space and sufficient water from the overhead storage tank. It is a very small plant though. The roots were also strong. I wonder, how it will look after some years. While making this picture, I had the feeling as if some artist has just finished his master-stroke with his tool. Hope, you can feel the same here.

Bell the horse.

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On my occasional visit with my friend to one of the Lord Shiva's temple in mylapore, I took this shot. The hanging bells were my first point of attraction. Actually, there were hanging on the chariot's floor. Somehow, I thought to include this horse too, in the frame. Suddenly a funny thought came into my mind. why is that, the cats are always being belled? why not bell the horse? Thats how the caption of this picture formed. Later, I tried a few attempts with the bells exclusively and moved on.

Ghosty fingers.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
A simple shot with a simple setup. I had this glass ball with some designs on it. I wanted to bring some horrific kind of feeling with it. It took me a lot of attempts as i felt hard to work it out all alone by myself holding my camera with one hand and the glass ball with the other. Since the ball was so soft, i had very little grip to hold it with my fingers. Most of the times, I dropped it on my bed. The missing finger, the off lying fore-finger, composition and the position of the other fingers in this particular shot satisfied me. Finally, I felt that the monochrome version of this picture would boost the effect.

Look, recognize and smile.

STORY BEHIND THE SCENE
I can never forget this cute girl in my life. She was one among the many other singers who came to mylapore festival event for delivering a rhythmic song. I shot this sequence when they were getting ready to perform on the stage. As i was standing near the left side of the stage, fortunately I got close to this girl. The time lag between these two shots is just a second. My title describes exactly what she did in 2 seconds. The most interesting moment happened only after they started with the song. Initially, this girl was singing so vibrantly and fluently. After some time, She started blinking a little. I guess, she did forget the lyrics. Somehow, she managed the situation beautifully and included some blah blah between them. As i was so near to her, I realized it. I put my camera down and started laughing. I cannot control my laughter for minutes. she was my favourite singer that day. This picture is also a special one because it is my first diptych here. Whenver I see this picture, I can relish the same moment from my desk. Thank you cute lady.

Over the pyramid.

STORY BEHIND THE SCENE
I took this shot in the streets of parrys market. This is one of the place which looks fresh everytime, whenever I visit there. This picture was a blind shot as I chose a high vantage point. Fortunately, I got the right picture in my third attempt. Finding a good angle is indeed the toughest part of street photography. I wished, the fruit seller might have arranged the top row too. I was not sure about the quality of the picture while seeing in the LCD screen, but I got satisfied after downloading them to my system. This was also a memorable walk with my photography club members in an early sunday morning.

The Night is so young.

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I went to this place one fine evening, with my friend and waited for the night to settle down. Napier's bridge is one of the famous bridges in chennai. You could have seen this bridge in the tamil movie "Ayutha Ezhuthu". Even though the foul smell irritated much, the koovum river looked beautiful because of the reflections. Unfortunately, it started raining but fortunately, we had a place to hide in. The rain was not heavy, still they showered continuously. After an hour, the showers became light enough to take out my gears. I had this frame in my mind and so it took only a few minutes to capture the scene. After every exposure, I wiped my lens and gear to remove the water droplets. We spent almost an hour there. Later, I heard that the government spent 2 crore rupees for setting the lights on this bridge.

Race with rays.

STORY BEHIND THE SCENE
Another sunrise shot in this month taken at the marina beach. After a very long time, I went to the beach early morning by 6 'O' clock. The clouds were just ok. When the rays pierced through the clouds, it was awesome. I was left with only around ten minutes to play with them. But those ten minutes were thrilling. I tried slow shutter speeds with the waves but missed my tripod very much that day. The title came to my mind only when i am typing this text. I hope that the title itself describes the entire shoot perfectly.

Chill out.

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I took this image 2 days ago. The freezing bottle attracted me when i opened my refrigerator for drinking something cool. I was not sure if my lens can get close to the droplets. Still, i decided to try with it. This time, i was given a time limit as the droplets would unfreeze and drop down soon. I acted as fast as i can. Hopefully, i got a good shot within an hour and before the droplets dropped down. Having the drink infront of me without tasting a drop was difficult though. It was indeed thrilling.

Grain(s)onic.

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A simple composition retouched with grains. I took this shot when i felt very bored one day. I was starring at the cordless thinking something else. Somehow, i decided to make a picture with it. I kept my bag besides it. The aperture was wide opened to bring out the softness in the background. I never thought of bringing the grain effect in this picture, but it striked me while reviewing them in my laptop. I realized that when a simple subject blends with a good idea, it makes a great picture.

Land of craters.

STORY BEHIND THE SCENE
I enjoyed every moment of this shoot, even though it took me about 4 hours with the subject. An UK based photographer inspired me to take this shot. The bumps and droops resembled me as if they were in some other planet. They were nothing but the droplets of water. This picture is one of my best with this subject. The warm tone as well the cool tone in the same shot makes it special for me. Fortunately, i got one more good shot with this subject which looks so different from this picture. I wish to play again with the same subject, someday in the future.

Rising in silence.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
A simple early morning shot, which i took from my terrace. The orange tone attracted me much as the sun peaked out above the buildings. I always felt that the tower seems to be so proud for its height till the sun rises above it. I have watched a lot of sunrise moments from this point and everytime the tower conveys the same message to me. I liked to express that in this picture. I am expecting another moment in the same frame but with the sun expressing its silence. Hope, i would get that one day, very soon.

Light sword.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
This image is taken in my room at pitch dark. The long exposure technique that has given shape to my light source. I used my uncle's samsung mobile torch as the source and of course, my hands to create this shape. The blue light and the black background contrasted me otherwise i would have taken it in the black & white picture mode. When i saw the picture on my LCD, i decided to use the word "sword" in this picture. Obviously, this picture is not my first attempt. I tried a few times playing with it. Somehow, i finished the shoot in an hour and went to bed right after.

Light floods too.

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I was wandering in the beach road looking for some subject. This flood light attracted me and i decided to make a picture with it. I circled around the light and finally ended up with this composition. Fortunately, the lights were off. The moon was also there in the sky but it couldn't be spotted easily in the picture. Somehow, i moved on immediately after taking this shot. I wish i could have spent more time there that day.

The other side of me.

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I took this shot on the way to the thirukazhukundram temple. The village was so beautiful and greenish. These ducks were crossing the road and so, caused our attention. The ducks were playing and enjoying their bath in the water. However their quackings were jarring though. The sun was straight ahead of me and so, the ducks were backlit. I realized that this duck is gonna stretch out its wings but never expected this much light on it. It was just the right moment.

A blast.

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After my "Icon of an eye", this picture satisfies me the most. Because this image was also formed out of nothing. I saw some crazy ad postures lying on the table. Took it and punched it in random. When i removed the tray, those round bubbles flew away. Wow. Thats it. I did set up the background easily but spent a whole night on the lighting and the focus. Only the next night, I took this shot. I love this image a lot.

End to end.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
Long back, I used to go to the marina beach often, about 5 am with my friend. The clouds hid the sunrise that day, but still they were beautiful. We tried many jump shots and running shots. I positioned the subject to the extreme end to describe his long run, during my post processing. Definitely, this picture is one of my favourites.

The mystery look

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The crowd was watching the splendid kolam competition in mylapore. I saw this girl, very cheerful and excited. I bent on my knees and waited for the right moment. I took a serious of shots with this girl and i moved on. Wherever I went that day, i saw this girl near me. When i downloaded the pictures to my system, i was surprised that this shot came very well. Another favourite candid moment added to my collections. Thanks to the girl.

Night life.

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I shot this picture during my first night walk in the streets of chennai. It was around 9 pm and i was there on the overhead subway with my tripod. I waited for the traffic density to increase and when i guessed the situation right, i pressed the shutter button. And it was awesome after half a minute exposure. Luckily, i didn't notice any big movements in the streets as most of the people were standing far away from me. I took 25 shots there spending almost an hour. Thanks to Jayi for the beautiful vantage point.

Icon of an eye.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
I shot this picture for one of my assignment on the theme "Lights and shadows". I would consider this shot as one of my best pictures I have taken ever. I started with a light bulb, then added elements to it one after another. I spent 2 days with this subject. Alas, a simple setup worked out. I never knew i would end with a picture like this. I have shot a series of around 100 photographs with this subject. I found it very difficult to choose one best shot from the 100. Finally, this picture satisfied me the most. At first, i captioned this picture as "Icon of light" but later changed to "Icon of an eye". I feel that my life is also lying on the same frequency similar to how this picture was formed.

Self-Sillhouette.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
Thats me in the picture, in my room. During my early days, I didn't consider my window as an interesting subject to play with. When I realized its value, i thought it would be nice to make a sillhouette with it. I had set my camera on the tripod and this picture is self-taken. I struggled a little to freeze my tripod over the bed. I did as many as 30 attempts. It took me more time as I was looking for the right posture. Finally, I got satisfied with this shot at my 26th attempt. And this picture is one of my favourites in my sillhouettes collection.

Burnout paradise.

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
I never expected that i would go to this event "Hot laps with Lewis Hamilton" in Irungattukottai race track, sriperumbudur. The 2008 formula one champion Lewis entered the track in a helicopter waving hands out. He drove a mercedez AMG saloon car and a mercedez SLK convertible. Lewis took the winners of the vodafone contest for a couple of laps. He did many burnouts and donuts. Fortunately we were inside the "press-only" area and so I had a nice vantage point. Lewis was so simple, smiling, talkative and crazy too. He never looked straight on the road even while driving at 200 km/hr, but he is called as the safest driver on the earth. At one point, he made the entire crowd cough aloud. I saw nothing on the ground except white smoke. The torn pieces of tires were everywhere on the track. Thanks to Rajini and Jayi for the memorable day.