Old habits

Old habits, originally uploaded by Digital Monk.

He gave me a curious look as I pointed the camera towards him.

Clicked during Indra Jatra festival in Kathmandu.

Hey! You!!

Hey! You!!, originally uploaded by Digital Monk.

She was happily playing with her friend before she noticed me pointing (the rather long) 70-300mm lens at her. I wasn't expecting her to point a finger at me or something. It was spontaneous, and that's what I'm liking about clicking photos on the streets.

I've been doing a bit of street photography lately. So far I've learned that, people can give you unpredictable looks when they notice you pointing the camera towards them. And there is that moment - that moment when they look at the lens for the first time. Blink and you miss it!

Where the mind is at peace

Where the mind is at peace, originally uploaded by Digital Monk.

Few days back my friend Suzon took me to this place near the locality of Khokana(I'm not able to find the exact name of the place, even on Google maps). There are fields, endless rice fields everywhere you look around the place.

I was surprised to find such a place so close to Kathmandu. It took us just about 30 mins from the city to reach here. I'd give anything to get away from the hustle and bustle of the busy streets of Kathmandu. And this was the perfect place to be.

I will be coming to place in the years to come. It is just a matter of time when this place will be turned into a concrete jungle. And that day this image will no longer be labeled Green day.

Note: Was able to track down this location on Google maps. Here it is.

BCAM

BCAM, originally uploaded by Digital Monk.

Excerpt from the Picnik blog:

For every pink pic added to the group, their parent company Yahoo! will donate one Euro to Breast Cancer charities across Europe! So send your pink pic to Pink 2008

This photo doesn not qualify for the group as it's not completely pink, but that don't matter - this is to spread the awareness. You can learn more about the whole thing here.

5 photos I've submitted to the group

Lonely days

Lonely days, originally uploaded by Digital Monk.

An elderly lady leaning on the corridor wall inside a house in the village of Khokana, Kathmandu. This is a crop of a much bigger image.

I am not dead.

Dead?! Not at all. In fact I've been rocking! So much so that I did not invest any time into writing a post in a long time.

As life passes by, you come to realize many things - about yourself and the world around you. I've come to a realization that that I am not a good blogger. I do not get a kick out of writing paragraphs after paragraps just to discuss about things or to express my feelings. Yes, once in a while that urge kicks in, but it never lasts long.

On the other hand, I've also realized that I prefer other means for expression - pictures, videos, IM and such things that do not require for you to read or write too much stuff. Thus you may not find new things in this blog that frequently but you will notice that my Flickr page is updated very regularly(almost on a daily basis at times).

So yes, the past couple of month this blog has been almost dead. I struggle hard to write new blog entries... and what's fun in doing something if you have to force yourself into doing it :-) But I'm glad to say that I will be updating my Flickr page so so often. I PhotoBlog very frequently, and that is something I love to do.

My Flickr photostream is also accessible directly from : www.prakaz.com

the Iphone, Unpacking

It's been about a month since I got an iPhone. It's absolutely lovable. No doubt, it's the coolest portable gadget(and phone) I ever owned yet.

When I decided to get one, It wasn't out in the UK, so I had to order it from the US through ebay(paying ridiculous customs charge). Nevertheless, no regrets.
The phone, iPod, youtube, internet, cool applications... and what not, all in one device, is worth every penny.

The iPhone came locked to AT&T sim card and could be used only in the US. Any iPhone has to be *unlocked* first to be used with GSM sim cards around the world. Since I got the phone, I've learned a thing or two about hacking the iPhone (and even helped a friend get his phone unlocked). It's no big deal really. The *real* iPhone hackers have done all the hard work and written applications to unlock the phone. One just has to follow the instructions(carefully).

It may be a while when the iPhone is out for sale in India and other Asian countries. So if you want to use it in any other country other than where the iPhone is officially out(US and UK as of this writing) unlocking it is the only way to go.

I took this short video when unpacking an iPhone(the 2nd one I unpacked). Thought it might be of interest to some people(I watch unpacking of gadget's video on youtube myself!). Here it is... a cheesy video :-)

I got me a Macbook Pro

I've been wanting to get a laptop for a long time now. I had set my mind on getting a Sony Vaio some time back and I had even told my friends that I'm 99% sure to buy it. Well that was before I visited the Apple store at Regent street in London.

Apple stores have always attracted me. The gadgets they showcase are just too cool to miss. Aha! Yes, the word "cool" and Apple go hand in hand. Even people who have never used/ owned an Apple call apple products "cool".Sure enough that coolness comes with a price tag. I have always been a huge fan of Apple products but never really owned any of their gadgets other than an iPod Shuffle( which was gifted by a friend )..... Well until now! I finally put my money where my mouth is and got myself Apple's Macbook Pro.

It wasn't an easy decision at all. I had a hard time choosing between the Sony Vaio, Macbook and the Macbook Pro. But finally went for the best one. A fine work of art - the Macbook Pro. And, oh I love it already! I was always a little concerned about not being able to use Windows and many of it's softwares. But it turns out I won't have to. OS X(Mac's operating system) is much much more simpler to use than I had imagined. I've never used OS X before and learning everything from scratch. Everything is so simple, actually. The cool graphics & UI makes Windows look like a granpa :-)

The config:
2.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
2GB RAM
120GB HDD (5400-rpm)
15.4 inch TFT widescreen display
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB of GDDR3 SDRAM
etc :-)

I will definitely be spending lots of time on my Mac. I have missed out doing lots of stuffs cause at home I have a crappy desktop and never felt like doing much. Lots of catching up to do and so much to learn.



Now I say my official hi to the Mac world while my bank account recovers :-)

Photography terms

Around 8 months back, when I just started photography, I was pretty clueless about many photography terms. Since then I've learned a thing or two about photography from books, friends, Flickr community and from many photography web sites. I have compiled a list of terms, knowing which, will give a better understanding of photography in general.

Well, I'm no photography expert and I have compiled this list after going through different websites (kodak.com, wikipedia.org et al). During my early days I used to be excited to find out and learn about different terms like Aperture, silhouette etc. So I thought of listing out the very basic terms in photography that anyone interested(or not) ought to know.

Hope you find this useful. Have fun photographing!

Aperture
Lens opening. The opening in a camera lens through which light passes to expose the film. The size of aperture is either fixed or adjustable. Aperture size is usually calibrated in f-numbers-the larger the number, the smaller the lens opening. The aperture value is responsible for the depth of field in an image. The image below was taken with an aperture of f4.


Bokeh
A term derived from the Japanese word for "fool" which when applied to a lens refers to the pleasing quality of the out of focus areas of an image produced by the lens. Below is an image with a pleasant bokeh.


Composition
The pleasing arrangement of the elements within a scene-the main subject, the foreground and background, and supporting subjects. When composed properly, the interestingness of an image drastically inclines.


Cropping
Cropping is the process of selecting and removing a portion of an image to create focus or strengthen its composition. May also refer to the framing of the scene in the viewfinder. Below is an example of how cropping can make a photo more pleasing.


Depth of Field (DOF)
The amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. DOF depends on the lens opening, the focal length of the lens, and the distance from the lens to the subject. (photo: wikipedia.org)


Focal Length
The distance between the film and the optical center of the lens when the lens is focused on infinity. The focal length of the lens on most adjustable cameras is marked in millimetres on the lens mount.

ISO Speed
The emulsion speed (sensitivity) of the film as determined by the standards of the International Standards Organization. In these standards, both arithmetic (ASA) and logarithmic (DIN) speed values are expressed in a single ISO term. For example, a film with a speed of ISO 100/21° would have a speed of ASA 100 or 21 DIN.

Macro
Macro photography refers to close-up photography; the classical definition that the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject. A macro photograph:


Panning
Moving the camera so that the image of a moving object remains in the same relative position in the viewfinder as you take a picture. Example of a panning technique: (photo: wikipedia.org)


Saturation
An attribute of perceived color, or the percentage of hue in a color. Saturated colors are called vivid, strong, or deep. Desaturated colors are called dull, weak, or washed out. See cropping above for examples of saturated and desaturated images.

Silhouette
A silhouette is a view of some object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior. Silhouette is a form of art which can result in some very pleasing photographs. Below are silhouettes of temples in Kathmandu city on a lovely evening.


Time Exposure
A comparatively long exposure made in seconds or minutes. This is also known as long exposure. Long exposures can often create very dramatic effects in photography. Use a longer than normal exposure to create the impact of your image.


Wide-Angle Lens
A lens that has a shorter focal length and a wider field of view (includes more subject area) than a normal lens. A wide-angle lens takes in a greater angle of view than a normal lens. This image was made with an ultra-wide 16 mm fisheye lens. Notice the curved horizon.(photo: kodak.com)

Youtube playlist

Youtube is cool. Infact, it's very cool. There's no video that you can't find there. I visit Youtube almost on a daily basis. At work I can't install any P2P softwares to download songs and all. So, throughout the day I listen to songs from Youtube. I have a playlist in Youtube which has videos which I found really cool. Of course you can find millions of other cool videos there, but these are the ones I've come across... and here's the playlist. Hope you enjoy watching them.

A little bit (more) of Photography

Recently I've been spending a lot of time with my camera and I'm absolutely loving it!
Just came back from a 2 weeks vacation from my home town, and my 1GB camera memory is almost full. It was almost like a dream come true taking photographs in Kathmandu. It's such a beautiful place. Everywhere there is scope for photography. From the beautiful flowers in Mom's garden to Buddha's eyes in Swyambhunath templem there isn't any shortage of subjects for a good photo.

This was the first time I walked around the city with a fairly good camera hanging around my neck. I just could not stop clicking! During my stay for 2 weeks in Nepal, I shot around 1000 photos. 30% of those photos are in the trash, 40% are just OK (these will be up in my webpicasa page soon), 20% pretty good, and 10% will make it to my Flickr page - www.prakaz.com. But all of them aren't upload yet.. they will appear in Flickr slowly but certainly.

It would be a real shame if forget to mention my 2 days trip to Tato Paani (meaning hot-water) . It is a place in Nepal which shares border with China... I did step foot into China this time :-). It's a beautiful place. Full of streams, waterfalls and greenery everywhere you look. Really enjoyed taking photographs there too.

Photography has been more frequent since I got my Sony DSC-H2 around 5 months back. There has been lots of activities in my Flickr page too. Thanks to all who take time to view my photostream and post comments.

Here are some of my most interesting photos in Flickr.

My Flickr page can be directly accessed from: www.prakaz.com

Moments of bliss

As a dear friend likes to say - My blog is sleeping. Yes, again :-)

I've on vacation and have been spending some real quality time with my family in Nepal. It's been just great. Playing with my lil' niece keeps me busy all day. With her around, time just flies.

I've also been taking lots of photographs everywhere I go. I've just been going bonkers with my camera! This is the first time I'm taking photos in Nepal with a fairly good camera. So it's been good experimenting with different subjects and taking macro shots in mom's garden. Will be uploading them to my Flickr page in the coming days.

I've tried to keep myself away from the virtual world as much as possible since I know once i'm back in B'lore I will be spending most(almost all) of my time away from real people... So I'm off, getting ready to head to China tomorrow! :-)

Did I forget to mention how much I'm enjoying mom's food and roaming around in the city with friends... hehe

I became famous overnight!

These are snapshots I captured when driving down Fraizer town in Bangalore. But what's the big deal here? Well... how'd you feel if one day driving down the road you see a big hoarding by the road, and your picture was on it!!?? That's (almost) what happened to me. Strolling down Fraizer town I saw this hoarding with my picture on it. Yes, shocked i was! Who wouldn't be??
Now you might be wondering who took the photo in the first place... and why? when??
Let me explain...

It was a regular mid April weekend. I was hanging out with my friends in Kalyan Nagar as usual. All of us had gone to my friends' college to play basketball. As the day passed by all were busy doing their own thing, some playing basketball while some were just watching. Some busy gossiping while some posing for a photo.

In the late afternoon one of my friends got a call from a friend (from another college) asking some of us to come to Indo Asian college cause there was some photo session happening. She did not give much details but just asked around 10 of us to come to the college (which is not that far from where we were). After having mixed thoughts about if we all should go, finally some of us decided to visit the college (we were not doing much anyways). And did we know where the college was and why we were going there?... not really, and that's what made it more interesting. Living in that area for 4 years I never heard of any college called Indo Asia college. So i thought it was worth checking out.

After hunting for sometime, we found the college... finally. And who'd have thought the college would be right in the middle of a large residential area?! We didn't. Sheepishly we all (around 8 of us) entered the college gate. Upon seeing the college buildings we all looked at each other, surprised that the college was still under construction. Only about 40% of it was complete. We still didn't know why we were there.

Our friend (who had called us there) took us to a class room... o yes, this one was a real classroom. It was well furnished, painted and looked very much like how a neat classroom should look like. There were students there too!! We realized were not the only ones invited. But we still wondered.. why?

We were asked to be seated, and we did. Few minutes later a professional photographer entered the classroom(with his heavy camera equipment) and then it was all clear... We looked at each other and smiled. The college wanted to print out brochures and posters. And they wanted to include photographs of students who looked like... how Asians look. Since their buildings weren't even half constructed there was no question of anyone getting admitted. So we were to pose as students of the college. It was indeed a photo shoot!

After having a nice photography session there for around an hour, and joking about how the whole thing was really funny (since I am not even a student, and all others study in some other college) we left the place in the evening. I had taken my camera with me so we had a photo session of our own (Some photos at the end of this page). There was nothing much to remember from our time in the college. We all had nothing to do so it was like we just killed an hour or so of our weekend. All of us returned back... got on with the weekend.
.
.
.
.
After few weeks, when driving down Fraizer town, I see a photo (taken in Indo Asian college) up on a (pretty) big hoarding. My friends did tell me about it before, but only when I saw it, I believed it! I still wonder out of dozens and dozens of photos taken that day, why this one was selected :-)

Well there it is. A little story of mine. Something which doesn't happen everyday... By the way a smaller version of this hoarding has been put up in many streets in Kalyan Nagar!

Here are few points Iwanna mention:

- I am not a student and I am not related to Indo Asian College in any way what so ever.
- The college's image above has been digitally created.
- I got a call from my ex-gf when she saw my photo on one of the news papers ads! She was shocked! :-)
- Someone's thinking right now that this post is way way way too long for my standards (finally I mentioned you in my blog... happy?) ;-)
- I never gave them permission to print my photo ( LOL! )

:-)

Software quotes

Going through the bundle of forward mails in my inbox, stumbled upon one which had some pretty cool quotes - software quotes that is. The geek side of me just couldn't help posting it here. Here they are... you might enjoy them as well:

Before software can be reusable, it first has to be usable. -Ralph Johnson

Fifty years of programming language research and we end up with C++? -Richard A. O'Keefe

C programmers never die. They are just cast into void.

There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third works. -Alan J. Perlis

Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves. -Alan Kay

Programmers are in a race with the Universe to create bigger and better idiot-proof programs, while the Universe is trying to create bigger and better idiots. So far the Universe is winning. -Anon

As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging had to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I realized that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in finding mistakes in my own programs. -Maurice Wilkes discovers debugging, 1949

I did say something along the lines of "C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows your whole leg off." -Bjarne Stroustrup

Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. -Pablo Picasso

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. -Will Rogers

Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight. -Bill Gates

A day in the corporate world

A classic example of miscommunication... we're all human afterall ;-)