Gold on green...observations

I am posting my observations from 'Gold on green'.

Correct me if I am wrong...

1. More exposure needs to be set for yellow lighting when compared to white-fluorescent lighting.
2. The gold gets more predominant in yellow lighting.
3. So, if we are taking portraits, it is better to maintain fluorescent lighting
4. And in case of jewelery advertisements, it is good to give a yellow lighting like in GRT's ad (Golden girl)

I kept the exposure at f/2.6, macro-mode throughout the exercise.

P.S. Thank you friends for pointing out that observations should also be shared...

Gold on green...an experiment with photography

I shot few frames last week: the subjects were few bangles and a ring that my mom usually wears.

I considered two set of lighting for the shots.First, I considered white lighting and switched on all the fluorescent tune lights in the hall. For the yellow lighting, I switched on the lamps in the hall.

Few shots are listed below:
Exposure was set for 8 seconds for the first shot, 2.5 seconds for the next 2 shots and 5 seconds for the last 4 shots.

I hold the camera, I am wrapped by joy and a paradox...

I have been playing and experimenting with my camera for quite sometime, more precisely a little over two years. Viewing the world through the lenses for the first time was a different experience, I started clicking on frames just because I was enthralled by the way nature has composed itself so mathematically organized. Nature's quality is innate, the only change is the way I am experiencing it. Some more experimentation drove me mad to shoot macros (close-up shots). Be it flowers, beetles, jewelery or be it whatever, I started seeing the miniature world in them.

The same camera lenses evoked the paradox in me when I shot a portrait of a girl whom I then knew for more than six months. With whatever lighting was at hand, I shot my first portrait and I learned that each and everyone of us express intricate gestures that go unnoticed amidst our other businesses. I also experienced that a concentrated eye behind those camera lenses will never miss those intricacies. I started exhibiting the prophecy of a stock broker as to what will be her gesture next and I fell in love for her expressions noticed behind the lenses. Did I love her? Certainly not...but I loved her expressions behind the lenses.

The way I entertain myself watching a cinema has also changed in the past two years. Sitting in the theater hall, I carefully observe the lighting, costumes, colors and the background music. I would say that camera taught me to adore nature. It also taught me the fact that people are so varied in themselves. Now whenever I hold the camera in my hand, I am wrapped with joy...so immense that can be only felt.

from Denmark Christmas seals TO color symbolism TO album cover designs TO philately...A letter

From Denmark Christmas seals to color symbolism to album covers to philately...what was thought to be a mail sharing some good links ended up as a letter to my sis :)

http://grainedit.com/2009/12/22/denmark-christmas-seals-1962
I found the English terms for many skilled jobs :)

• Milliner – maker of hats
• Chandler – maker of candles / specific products
• Glazier – fitter of glass panes
• Cooper – repairer of wood barrel
• Wainwright – maker of Wagons

http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2009/12/29/color-in-film-m-night-shyamalan/
This describes Color symbolism in films: Manoj.N.Shyamalan

http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2007/04/09/grammy-award-winning-album-colors-2007
I loved the third cover among the listed ones.

http://grainedit.com/2007/12/20/israel-electronic-computer-stamp-1964/
We have evolved in length and breadth since 1964. But taking the next foot forward, what have we left behind and what we are leaving behind us??

http://grainedit.com/2008/05/20/modern-design-and-the-stamp-iain-folletts-stamp-collection/
Stamps teach different things for different people...role of colors for the graphic designer, marks the events for the historian, evoke the relevant thoughts of those interested, value of relation for the heart writing the letter and much more...

God created our eyes to perceive, our soul to feel and the whole human to adapt and live the life to the fullest.
Let's live it to our creator's wish :)

With lots of colors still unexplored...in us!!!
...Ck

It rained...

A sudden drop in the temperature this morning, I woke up at 4.00 am to a mild breathlessness in me. I thought of those two people whom I knew only by their names. My friend also woke up around that time hearing to my wheeze. He had the same thought running in his mind too. Surrounded by a pod of grave silence, our minds were wide awake with a cacophony of thoughts.

Suddenly the clouds rained with a roar, drenching the dew damp roads…no thunder, no lightning, it just rained its soul onto the earth. It rained its way into the gravity of the silence, roaring into our thoughts, shattering them and created a void within.

The rain not only penetrated the soil, it penetrated into me and restructured my priorities, my view of life and my love for it. Like a tap closing, the rains stopped in twenty minutes. An hour later the sun rays pierced and made itself felt through the fog. I know for sure that the Sun will shine…shine for me, my friend, and those two never met acquaintances.

Love...

You do not love someone...you share the love of YOUR life with them...

(Felt and penned during my recent holiday vacation in Penang)

The dragon fruit venture @ Penang

Never seen color and never seen shape, I and my mom were drawn by the colorful fruit at the entrance of Penang’s market complex. Curiously my mom turned to our friend’s daughter and asked how the fruit tasted… the answer was that she had never tasted one! We were surprised by her answer as she was born and brought up in Malaysia. Now I and my mom were determined in exploring the pinkish red fruit. Our friend’s daughter helped us as translator between Tamil and Malay language as Malay accented English was difficult to comprehend. It was priced 8RM per kilo and the fruit was weighing close to 650 gms…


Suddenly our friend called…and we set aside this venture and proceeded to the left side row of shops… Fishes with exotic colors, half alive squiggling in the plate were splashing the water in all directions. Next there were silent squids a dozen in a plate, moving in a very slight jerky fashion…next were 3-4 baskets of shellfish, prawns, crabs and some other creatures all snailing their way to the top of the basket. Leaving this there were the normal pomfrets and other sea fishes as well. Our friend ordered the fish and we were out. Next row of shops were all selling eggs…normal chicken eggs were brown in color! Till then I have seen only white eggs. There were smaller light blue colored eggs, even smaller dotted eggs…I gathered from the Chinese vendor that the eggs were of a bird called ‘kaadai’ in tamil, he tried explaining to us in English, later Chinese accented Tamil.


Way back, again the pink dragon tailed fruit caught our attention. This time we enquired the next shop where it was priced less by 2RM and immediately we paid and shoved the fruit into our bags. The shopkeeper lady action was very hasty in selling the fruit… maybe that was her usual way. Though our friend assured that the fruit tastes good we were a little bit cautious and bought only one fruit. The fruit was called as the dragon fruit.


Back home we relished on the tasteless? Less-sweet? fruit along with ice…even then, our friend’s daughter did not want to explore this fruit. The reddish pink flesh with embedded black seeds was so good to see that you would want to relish the entire fruit. It stained our tongue pink and the feeling was so divine and wholesome. I would recommend tasting this fruit given an opportunity.

Googling throws light on the innumerable benefits of this fruit (also called Pitaya) and I was surprised knowing that this fruit belongs to the same family as that of ‘Queen of the bight’ bloom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya

The golden girl...

Recently this ad caught my attention in one of the Tamil magazines. I liked this photo for its composition, lighting, mood and the dark colors. The deep crimson red amidst a yellow lighting, and the dark oily green blouse, all give emphasis to the subject. I liked the model's pose flaunting an immense joy in her smile.

The only better thing that could have been done is the position of the hand bangles...the current position makes her wrist look thinner.

Coffee cravings...

A sudden craving for coffee erupted in me yesterday…the craving happened to be so deep that I could feel the black bitter taste of coffee decoction spreading down my throat. I barged into the office pantry and filled myself a cup of coffee. I felt like a kid satisfied holding a lolly pop. But that satisfaction turned into rage when the coffee tasted insipid: it was mere caffeine washed hot water. The anger turned into a sort of unfulfilled wish. The effect of bad coffee had actually created a void in me.

Post lunch and a project meeting, the craving digging deep inside urged me to walk out of the building. Engulfed in a blanket of moist and warm air post a lash of torrential drizzle, I strolled to the nearby food court. Sipping the coffee, I felt the sugary bitterness spreading down the throat, filling my senses. A gush of fullness shot from the stomach and I could feel goose flesh! Finishing the exciting cup of coffee, with the bitterness still clinging on to the palate, I stood up enthusiastically. Walking down to my office, I remembered my favorite verses from Pablo Neruda’s love sonnet XVII “I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul”

PS:

The moment I blurted out saying that I am not happy with the coffee, rudeness crept in the voices of the pantry manager as he was defending his premises: the ‘I am OK’ sort of behavior. I felt like laughing loud...and suddenly remembered a saying that you cannot wake someone who is pretending to be asleep!

Pomelo pomelo...

Driving back from Lepakshi to Bangalore, fruit carts with huge canon sized lemon caught our attention at Devanahalli... We stopped...sorry the fruits stopped us :) and bought one for tasting it. The lady who was selling them named them as Chakota. We relished on one and bought two more of that fruit.

The fruit's rind was more than 1/2 inch thick and was spongy spongy pink. The fruit was similiar to orange but it was very dry... some exotic fruit we thought and continued our journey.

After lots of googling I found out the name of the fruit as Pomelo, and is called as Chakotra in Pakistan/Afghanistan. It was excellent one to read about the fruit as well. It has lots of nutritive and medicinal properties as well

A grand fruit in the citrus family with a divine taste perhaps...

With some more googling, my mom found out a recipe: She boiled and blanched the rind and made some sweet candy out of it... a bittery-citrus-sweet candy and that is the way real life is...isn't it?