Desicritics Category: Media: Photography

Photo Essay: St. Barts in London

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Tue, 3 Feb 2009 07:43:05 EST

Last year, I had to lecture on offshoring at the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. But typically, Muppet BD arrived a few minutes early, so I took the opportunity to wander around this part of London as I have not been spending much time there. (you can click on the photos to get a bigger image). Here's the location. View Larger Map

This is the Worshipful company's hall. And a lovely little hall it is too.

If you are blessed with a bit of an active imagination, you can just imagine how this place used to be, just outside the old London wall, dim, narrow and dingy streets and the old curiosity shop at the far end.

This area is surrounded with other company halls. You can see the sign which leads to the Founders Hall, belonging to the Worshipful Company of Founders. (hint: foundries? geddit?) There's the Founder's Hall on the right hand side picture. See the hall with the flag?

Another couple of views of the St. Barts Church.

Lovely pink flowers on the way.

A sign on the side of the church, talking about Damien Hirst.

The letter box for the church on the left. It's a very old church, established in 1123 AD. Here's the history of this lovely old building. It is venerable, look at the flagstones, sunken and broken, now has a warning traffic cone sitting on top!

The stone work is impressive and quite detailed. On the right is another view of the stone windows. Notice the iron bars? Bloody hell, that would have taken some casting. And you bet it will be safe, but looking at the size of the bars, I wonder if they are not only for security, but also for scaffolding or structural support? Looks like it, no? Interesting ironmongery.

The walls were coated by these flint like rocks which are mortared in. From a distance, they do not look impressive, but on a close up one can see they have a strange unique beauty. On the right, we see a checkerboard design on the walls, between those flint like stones and actual stones (Albion stones?)

The transept side of the church. Lovely statue up there but too high up for me to make out who it is. You again see the two windows with the interesting ironmongery. On the right are the solid oak doors. There is a specific word for these doors which escapes me at this moment. (Is it called transept door?, or facade door? can anybody please confirm?)

Here is the north eastern side of the church and as we move to the right, the fence shows the entrance from the side to the churchyard. You can see how venerable and ancient the walls are. No wonder this church has been used in so many films.

A lovely bed of flowers adding a nice and colourful touch to the weather-beaten walls.

The fence. I like the buttressing ironwork. Pretty heavy duty stuff. Moving a couple of feet inside, you can see that it is actually not such a big yard, just a few little bits and bobs. Notice the plaque at the bottom of the tree next to the path?

The bloody pigeons have *shat* all over it, but you can still make it out. It says, "Taxus Baccata (English Yew) Planted by the Revd. Dr. N. E. Wallbank Rector and Rev. Brooon Elowre, Treasurer of the Hospital to commemorate the 650th anniversary of the foundation of the Priority and Hospital of St. Bartholomew in SmithField".

Did you catch the name of the tree? English Yew? This tree has an ancient lineage and has a fascinating history, read the wiki article in here. This tree has connections with Caesar, Avicenna and what I knew before, the use of the wood to construct the famous English Longbow, the feared weapon. Fascinating history about this tree and its use in the longbow, but I am digressing.

I noticed this grill on the ground. Seems like a cover for a passageway which has now been made defunct. Can you see the erosion on the foot of this buttress wall on the right? Looks extremely old to me. I guess the church keepers kept on increasing the height of the ground slowly over the centuries and now you end up with the church base far below the ground level.

Usually a churchyard contains numerous graves, and for a millennium old church, this yard would be expected to have absolutely huge numbers of them. But no, not many graves at all, and whatever was left, was too decrepit and worn away (yes, from the pigeon droppings as well, bloody things are feathered rats, disgusting acidic droppings create havoc with stonework). Apparently they moved all the gravestones to the sides, see the picture on the right and the next one. The gravestones are cemented into the wall. Obviously, they no longer relate to the actual burial place. Something strange here, I need to do some more research about why this happened.

The angle of the corner of the building which encloses the Radiating Chapel (I think, I did not get a chance to get inside the building). But this church has been torn down, set fire to, bombed and what all, so it has a very eclectic collection of architectural styles)

Well, you have been told off (but more on this later), no drinking in the churchyard, but the right hand sign shows that the garden is maintained by the Worshipful Company of Gardeners.

There was a very narrow passageway at the bottom. With a tiny gate, that couldn't be more than 50 cms wide. If you follow the passageway, you can see that it ends at a tiny door. Looking down on it, I felt like Alice in Wonderland like the picture below:

See what I mean about the bloody pigeons? I can identify with this song "Poisoning pigeons in the park" by Tom Lehrer. Mind you, the people living around the church yard are no better, poxy chaps were dropping, erm, the rubber receptacles which are discarded as an integral part of post coital activities. Philistines, I tell you. In a church yard, of all places!

Despite the presence of the sign forbidding any consumption of alcohol in the church yard, you still have this wino who was there.

Looking back at the church, see the sunken door on the right? The entrance to the church is down a ramp. Just shows how the surrounding land has gone up over the centuries due to soil accumulation and and and.

Here is the walled off garden. I wasn't sure if this was church property or some body else's garden, but what the heck, here you go.

Another sign for St. Bart's and then a shot of a tree, with a nest. I think its a magpie nest but I am not sure.

If I turn around, I see this absolutely wonderful tiny doll like ancient gatehouse.

Made in 1242 and restored in 1932, see the smaller picture on the right? Just look at it, the beams of wood are hundreds of years old, the window panes are held together by lead casings. Absolutely brilliant.

As you step outside the gate, just to the left you find this rather hidden war memorial with a beautiful black Christ on a crucifix. The gate stonework is beautiful, and the brick wall on the right is obviously a much later addition, which has hidden a now bricked up side archway. A poppy wreath is delicately kept below the war memorial. The whole thing is rather sad, with some boxes of potato crisps and stuff just lying around (suspect it's from the convenience store), with plastic bags and a discarded newspapers. How soon you forget. The inscription is particularly poignant:

"Hallowed in Christ, Be the memory of all the gallant men and women who fell in the Great War for the Freedom of the World, they shall yet stand before the throne an exceeding great army and in that last muster shall be found these our own beloved".

followed by a list of names of those who have fallen from various regiments, arranged by rank. It is a bit curious about why this was placed here, and the collection of names and regiments. Hmmm, another mystery. The road is called as Little Britain. Curious name, no? The gatehouse looks so strange, juxtapositioned between two totally different styles of buildings.

But moving on as I was running short of time now.

This is the corner of St. Bartholomew Hospital. A plaque is setup, which was erected in 1870 by the protestant alliance. A few chaps were burnt to death near this spot way back in 1555 -1557 (John Rogers, John Bradford, John Philpot, etc.) It has something to do with the fight between Catholics and Protestants.

We come to the plaque on top of the entrance to St. Barts Hospital. I am going to quote this from here.

Founded by Rahere, formerly a courtier of Henry I. It was founded, with the Priory of St Bartholomew, in 1123 by Rahere, formerly a courtier of Henry I. A vow made while sick on a pilgrimage to Rome, and a vision of St Bartholomew, inspired Rahere to found a priory and a hospital for the sick poor at Smithfield in London. In the early medieval period the sick were cared for by the brethren and sisters of the Priory, but gradually the Hospital became independent. It was using a distinctive seal from about 1200, and by 1300 had its own Master. By 1420 the two institutions had become entirely separate

Finally you have the memorial to WIlliam Wallace, who lead a fight for Scottish Independence, who was captured and put to death near this site in 1305 AD. The death was pretty gruesome, and I quote:

Following the trial, on 23 August 1305, Wallace was taken from the hall, stripped naked and dragged through the city at the heels of a horse to the Elms at Smithfield. He was hanged, drawn and quartered — strangled by hanging but released while still alive, emasculated, eviscerated and his bowels burnt before him, beheaded, then cut into four parts. His preserved head was placed on a pike atop London Bridge. It was later joined by the heads of the brothers, John and Simon Fraser. His limbs were displayed, separately, in Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stirling, and Aberdeen.

They REALLY did not like him, did they? There are couple of additional plaque's on the wall below the memorial.

Full slide show here.

Technorati Tags: London,History

Photo Essay: Smell of an Indian Bazaar

Tanay Behera — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:34:46 EST

It was long since I had been out to shoot with my shutterbug friends. When I got an invite, if I could join them for a weekend shot at Russel Market, one of the prominent landmarks for the native Bangaloreans, I thought why not. The reply was prompt because I have always preferred colder climes and at present winter is in full flourish. Also, wintertime mornings are usually marked with less activity and lots of freshness rules the air.

So all set and done and I reach the market place at 6:30AM. The market place was a melange of action, buying, selling, trading, chaffering, transporting, cleaning and lots more.

Russel Market is one of the oldest markets in Bangalore and it was built in 1927. The freshly painted minaret that stands across the road is a testimony that this place which was once the frequented by the memsahibs driven in their carriages is now replaced by the Marutis, the Fords and the Toyotas.

Even though the city today offers plenty of departmental stores from Sunday-to-Monday to Food World, from Reliance Fresh to Nilgiris, from Spencers to Spar but still there is a sizeable population that visits this bazaar for its weekly stock of fruits and vegetables and other requirements. The building that accommodates close to 100 vegetable shops and mandis today looks a bit jaded.

This place has narrow streets, filled with people unloading mini-trucks ladened with fresh vegetables and fruits. At one corner an old woman is selling a handful of vegetables, while at the other corner there is a middle-aged lady making a garland with different kinds of flowers, sipping hot tea from a glass. Even found a man who was so bitten by Bipasha Basu's 'Beedi Jalai le', that early in the morning he was puffing his jigar maan bari aag in a foolhardy way.

At this early hour of the day, there is action all around as vegetable vendors were busy sorting the vegetables into gunny bags which would be sent to various restaurants and hotels across the city. This place is a trading center for flowers, and florists can be seen exchanging their supply for cash. The topsy-turvyness here is more complex than what one would find in any stock exchange when in action.

As I was walked a little ahead, I saw the central courtyard, where there were neatly arranged rows of meat shops. Strung up were fresh cuts of mutton with hooks. Adjacent to the dark alleys of meat shops, dimly lit with bulbs is the street, which is a must visit place for any sea-food lover.

Variety of fish, prawn, crab, squid, etc of all sizes were available and the best part is it was all fresh stock unlike the refrigerated and preserved ones sold in department stores. This place is a beehive of activity and chances are high that a visitor would soil his/her clothes while purchasing sea-food here.

It was 8:30AM by now and people returning from the early hours mass at the nearby church were indicative of city life about to get started in a while. I along with my friend, proceeded to a nearby shop, which offers chai 24/7 and while having the chai, a person rushed hurriedly towards me. Seeing, a camera in my hand he told, 'Saab ek photo aap jaldi se lea lo, abhi thodi deear maain guard ke naukri ke liye, ek interview hai' [Can you take a pic immediately because I have an interview for the post of a guard to attend]. I had to politely decline to his request as my camera, doesn't have the instant printing capabilities.

Don't be surprised when I saw, you can click and publish pictures instantly, infact you can do this something similar to the Polaroid cameras of the 70's. This year PoGo, an Instant Digital Camera unveiled at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, allows one with a push of a button to take pictures, edit those and then print those on full-colour, 2x3-inch prints. Can someone gift me one of those :)

You can see the rest of the pics here.

Mumbai Limps Back To Life

IdeaSmith — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:51:14 EST

I traveled into town today, in the aftermath of the terror that Mumbai has lived in the past week. The reason was a Tweet-up/Peace walk/gathering at Colaba Causeway. Honestly? I stand in deep respect of the police force, the fire-fighters and the NSG who delivered us from the terror. And I'm going to wear white tomorrow to symbolize our mourning as well as a plea for peace. Yes, I will also light a candle and thank every police-person I see for the bravery of their comrades. But mostly I went out today for myself. To reassure myself that I still could. I needed to. If as a Mumbaikar, this city's spirit resides in me, then I speak for the city when I say I'm battered, I'm crawling, I am gasping for breath.

Traffic was light as it has been since Wednesday night, even for a Sunday afternoon/evening. Even so, the journey took us a half and hour either way. We passed shops that were open, people out for a stroll with their families, cars driving down...but there was an air of barely concealed tension. I had my camera out for the better part of the journey and I know I drew some curious (and not necessarily friendly) glances from the other cars. In case you're wondering what an atmosphere of terror looks like, come to Mumbai right now.

Here's the media jumping onto the sympathy-brand visibility bandwagon, over the Western Express flyover. DNA asks...

Spirit of Mumbai
FOR HOW LONG?

Siddhivinayak looks quite empty by its usual standards. To my god-fearing friend I asked,

So much security for bhagwan. What happens to the bhagwan ke bhakt who're getting blasted?

As we pulled into town, the Marine drive, a view I usually wait for since its so breath-taking and which causes me immediately to wince since its packed with people - the Marine drive was empty save for a few stragglers. On our way back though we did see a number of people carrying placards and signs of the 'Stand up and speak, Mumbai' variety. No photographs of that, I'm afraid. The light gave out and so did my spirit.

A number of places we passed had signboards and hoardings recalling the bravery of those who fell. Not Just Jazz By the Bay had a very simple white cloth banner with just their names. Nothing more required. Every Mumbaiker's heart speaks the same story right now. May our brave heroes rest in peace.

The Oberoi Trident, beamed into all our households as a backdrop to Barkha Dutt ("Oh, there goes another blast! I just heard more gunfire!") loomed in sight. It was strange how normal it felt. Just like any other day on the road, just another high-rise building to pass in town. It is indeed strange how quickly the mind wants to forget what it is horrified by. But I force myself to remember the hostages, the firing, the massacre, the blasts and the final shots of the survivors exiting. Mumbai must not forget this horror, this indignity.

And finally, the centerstage of the terror. Colaba Causeway was shut to incoming traffic so we walked in, passing Cafe Mondegar (an equally popular cafe as Leopold's) on the way. Now on any normal day, this photograph would not have been possible since there'd be traffic zooming right through where I stood. What's more, that shot wouldn't have appeared either, clogged as it usually is with the pub regulars.

Today though, whatever crowd there was, was concentrated up ahead. Leopold's Cafe, its owners said would open very quickly even if its customers took some time to start feeling safe enough to visit again. It turns out they did open this morning but had to shut shop because there was too much crowd. Mumbai, I'd say you amaze me, if I did have any emotion left to feel.

The TV crews were still parked outside and around Leopold's though mercifully we didn't see scores of reporters jostling for soundbytes. I guess even media-hounds need their rest and thank heaves for that.

And last of all, the Taj Mahal hotel. We couldn't get too close as it was cordoned off. Here's the closest I could get to it, relying on my camera's zoom. This was shot from Colaba Causeway, in the lane next to Leopold's.

Since we couldn't congregate at Leopold's as per the original plan, we went into Cafe Mondegar. Slowly, bitterly, unwilling as it may be, Mumbai limps back to life.

On our way back, we saw the Peace March begin, people walking with candles.

Book Review: The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers

Rajen Nair — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:01:55 EST

Umpteen numbers of books gets flooded in the market on the wizardly Adobe Photoshop software, highlighting its unique features for enhancing your images. The latest book launched by O’Reilly, the publishers of The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers and authored by Derrick Story has all the ingredients a typical Adobe Photoshop would offer.

What stands out is the unique feature of Photo download and Adobe Camera Raw application incorporated in it. Unlike other books on Adobe Photoshop which primarily focus on software tools for improving one image, this book dwells more on the advantage of using Photo downloading and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). The author makes an impressive presentation in its simpler and elaborate narration of applying CS4 to its optimum utilization. It goes on to explain right from importing images from the camera by using Photo download to defining pictures in A C R and then giving final touches in Photoshop.

Photo downloader helps the pictures open in Adobe Bridge, which I suppose most professional photographers might be familiar with for organizing and editing images. In CS4 the automatic Photo downloader can create two copies of each picture during the download process and one set of copies can be stored in an external drive attached to your computer, which works as additional backup, all in one go. Adobe Bridge acts as a sophisticated image browser and an effective photo management tool offering innumerable features such as collections, filters, thumbnails, a filmstrip, file properties, a keyword pane and much more. After organizing the first batch of images, one can review the shots in the overview, Photo-edit by sorting pictures and finally give rating to the pictures. Bridge CS4 has added features like smart collection that let you group images across folders and main advantage is that you can create folders according to the your rating assigned besides choosing your favorite images .

In the images editing section we have another important application that is ACR. It is a plug in that is bundled with Photoshop CS4. This is the most amazing software for image processing as it allows you to fine tune your pictures using adjustments tools such as Exposures, Fill lights, Brightness, and Saturation. ACR is not just to process RAW file but also to process JPEGs and TIFFs. ACR is non-destructive as the image that opens in this application saves all its meta- edit, thus protecting your images.

In advance ACR, if you shoot series of images under similar conditions you can use batch processing to adjust multiple pictures simultaneously. ACR tools have other features like Black and white conversation, spot removal, cloning and tonal and color adjustment with graduated filter tool. There some chapters giving some useful Photoshop recipes for Photographers and about using Photoshop to control printing. Photographers already using CS4 and for those who intends to use, this book would turn out to be a useful companion.

Photo Essay: Kabini

Tanay Behera — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:52:04 EDT

There are times in life when there are lots of tasks to be attended and in the heart of hearts one feels, that one needs a break to get perked up again. This is exactly what happened to me, when in the midst of lot of activities, I had the opportunity to visit Kabini and spend a day there in the Jungle Lodges and Resort.

Kabini is a river in Karnataka that passes through a picturesque terrain before joining the Kaveri near Mysore. The Kabini Jungle Lodges and Resort (KJLR) has been rated among the top five wildlife resorts in the world by Tatler's way back in 1995 but I am not sure if it still retains that ranking today.

Situated at a distance of 220 kilometers from Bangalore, a drive to reach this place in five to six hours by road is the most preferred option for most of the visitors. More so this place is close to the Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuary, Wayanadu Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur National Park and the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, parts of which are visible during the river ride inside the jungle.

We reached KJLR by 2:00 in the afternoon. At the reception we were apprised about the rules and regulations of the resort and some simple guidelines to follow during our stay for a day there. The KJLR has colonial style architecture and can accommodate around 50 people, so advance booking for this place during the peak season is must. There are around 14 colonial style double rooms with modern amenities, 10 twin-bedded cottages and 6 tented cottages.

The accommodation is very comforting and satisfying but for those people who are used to TV and air conditioners, sorry, one won't get either of the two at KJLR. Personally I too feel that its incongruous and such luxuries shouldn’t find place in a jungle resort. It's a complete eco-friendly resort and noise of any form be it load music or partying late night is strictly prohibited here.

Food during lunch, breakfast and dinner is served in buffet style in the common dining area called the Ghol Ghar that overlooks River Kabini. I really enjoyed the food, that I had here, which mainly comprised of Indian dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Even breakfast was filling and there was a rich variety such as bread, omelette, fruit juice, dosa, idli, vaada, upma, etc along with the regular entremetses.

Leave the food part, let's get into the real action now. The first day after lunch, we took some rest in the hammocks before we started for our wildlife safari at 4:00 P.M. in the evening. The initial half an hour drive of our safari was through a small village, which is situated on the periphery of the forest. Once we entered the heart of the forest, our guide, a naturalist instructed us to be as silent as possible. So all that one could hear was the sound of engine and the tyres ruckling down the jungle road. The undefiled smell of the forest was all around us. As we drove in the open jeep, we could feel the crisp evening wind on our faces, something similar to the cool effect one gets on having a mouth freshener.

Since that day was cloudy and there were early signs of rain, spotting elephants was out of question. Suddenly our vehicle came to a jerky stop because our guide had spotted a leopard camouflaged in the branches of a tree about 200 meters from the road.

We saw lots of wild dogs, bisons, sambhars, crested hawk eagles and herds of spotted deers. Our guide told us that a pack of seven or eight wild dogs can shoot down a tiger in few seconds, even though these creatures appear to be so harmless.

The best part of the safari was when we were about to return, it started raining cats and dogs. The rain drops were striking us like tiny boulders with great force. We were in the middle of the jungle, and it was twilight by now, and because of the rain, there was practically no visibility. Since I was in an open jeep, I wanted to enjoy the rain, but before doing so made sure that my camera was safe in my kitbag.

That night, had a wholesome dinner and spent some time with my friends before hitting the bed. Early morning, I woke up by 5:00 A.M. and was able to capture the nature in its true colors. I didn’t use any filters or any post-processing for this photograph. It was taken just like any other snap, and the end result was this.

At 8:00 A.M. we started for our 3 hour boat ride and it offered to me the perfect setting for taking some landscape shots while on the boat.

I spotted some birds in the middle of the river, right in the bowels of the jungle.

Our guide gave us tons of information anytime we spotted a new bird. We had even spotted a crocodile very near to this congregation of tree trunks egressing from the surface of the water like forks. But probably, it was the sound of the motor engine, that disturbed the crocodile and it disappeared inside the colored water like a shot.

The journey was refreshing and all, I could see around was water, lush greenery and some birds chirping in the air. At that moment our boat rider, diverted our vessel and paved our way towards a bamboo jungle adjacent to the river bed, where tigers come to have water at night. We even saw the carcass of a spotted deer that was killed by a tiger, the previous night.

I didn't realize how time passed and we were back to the resort after an unforgettable river ride.

For those of you who want to pamper themselves with a traditional massage, the KJLR has facilities for an Ayurvedic massage center, run by a family from Kerala. I went there and checked the prices and those were very decent. By this time, it was 12:00 P.M. in the noon and the custodians of the resort informed us that it was time to check out because the cleaning has to be done before another gang of visitors come by 2:00 P.M. in the afternoon.

If someone asks me, Kabini is a good weekend getaway for nature lovers and KJLR is a perfect place to stay in cottages in sylvan surroundings. The rates are not very high too, considering that it includes food, stay, jungle safari and river ride.

Complete album is here.

Warning: The carcass pic may be disturbing for few readers.

Book Review: The Art of Black and White Photography

BangaloreGuy — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:17:50 EDT

The Art of Black and White Photography is the first serious book I have read on photography. As an amateur photographer with relatively less experience with the SLR camera (a little over a year), it was a booster in a lot of ways - and it really is a book one shouldn't judge by its cover (which, doesn't look too er, artistic)

Having long been fascinated by the visual landscape around me, and being persuaded to buy an SLR, my photography ability seemed to be finding its limitations in that from a passion it seemed to be turning into a boring hobby. The trouble with finding good guidance on photography is that most websites and people talk more about the technical details of the camera, and less about how a shot can be approached, planned for, anticipated - and then taken - and also on how post-processing is to be done.

That is where this book is so handy - and where it actually justifies the title's Artistic reference. Torsten Andreas Hoffmann is still new to me - he's still a fantastic teacher, decent author and superlative photographer. But most importantly, he's someone who helped me appreciate the art of photography even more than before, and to broaden my way of looking at images.

As the preface notes, the art of digital photography is about seeing images, about composing them, etc., - not about technicality, even though it does deal with in bits and pieces. To drive a Ferrari well, I need to know how to shift gears, where the pedals are etc., and not a PhD in automobile technology!

The book starts off at a very easy pace - which is especially useful for an amateur. Among the first pieces discussed are the need for selecting a good camera, why RAW mode is best for the B&W photos - and the use of filters. It's been amongst the best things I have learnt from this book - and initially transformed the way I look at things, of course the book has also helped me immensely in the way I approach photos as well- in composing them in my mind before I actually take the shot, in looking for "visual tension" as Hoffman puts it. The various forms of photography are covered in depth - and illustrated to telling effect via Hoffman's lens - and some seem to make even the more difficult forms of photography very easy, when the shot has been thought through and executed well!

Hoffmann writes in a very easy approach - although not all lessons can be learnt in a day, and not all of them are immediately apparent - some of them actually took me a while to figure out. (and some I still haven't!) The best part is that each of the lessons are imparted as though one's taken through distinct phases of learning - a first basic shot, a second improved shot, a 3rd shot with most things in place - and then the best shot. It is this which would be of most use to any reader - and that is really the crux of this whole book - the approach to taking a photo - where taking a photo isn't just a point-and-click, or point-make a thousand camera adjustments-click.

It is instead more of looking at life, through different lenses, analyzing the mood which that lens shows - and even changing it, for a better, more interesting view.

Don't buy the book because I'm recommending it. Buy it because it will help you look at things more visually, because you'll notice art in everyday life - even help you fall in love with the black and white medium - almost like I have.

Photo Essay: Worldwide Photo Walk, Bangalore

Tanay Behera — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:47:06 EDT

Last Saturday morning offered perfect weather for going out and capturing a few moments of Bangalore city through camera clicks. I, along with other shutterbugs, made full use of this opportunity as we participated in the Bangalore leg of the Worldwide Photo Walk. The Photo Walk was held to mark the release of Adobe Lightroom, a photography software application developed by Adobe. Bangalore was the only city in India where this was talking place, apart from the other 192 cities across the world.

There was no planned agenda for the walk and it was quite informal. We all started the event at around 7:30 A.M. from Mayo Hall, one of the prominent landmarks in Bangalore. Then we clip-clopped on the Residency Road. On our journey we were free to capture anything and everything in our camera lenses.

I was in a mood to make some bio-scopic compositions, even though I was walking down a road heavily masked with glitz shopping malls. Bangalore's old memories are fading very fast, both in the physical environment and in the social atmosphere. That's a logical outcome of economic growth, so better capture those in pictures before they are reduced to dust.

Just a decade ago, anyone could walk down the narrow alleyways and sip a cup of coffee or tea for one rupee or so. But today rusted locks adorn the entrance doors of these neighborhood tea/coffee houses. The once sleepy get together places have given way to a cosmopolitan shopping juggernaut.

Something is definitely lost, for a few its for the better, while for the rest, its for the worse. The city's populace is no longer nostalgic about the remnants and with an urge to modernize fast, the Government and the builders have gutted the city's very soul.

Bangalore and traffic jams are synonymous. The intensity of the blockage varies with the time period of the day. Even though the day had just started, there were long queues of two-wheelers parked near the road.

Construction sites are a common sight but what really adheres to one's vision is the vibrant life visible on the streets. Like this one, a cobbler mending and polishing shoes, sitting on a tiled pathway by the side of the road, enjoying the cacophony of the traffic in front of him.

Today, the city that is bursting at the seams is home to people from so many different strata of life, each seemingly a different world of its own. Some enjoy food in the elegant and refined restaurants that have mushroomed in the cities and some are happy with the food that a make-shift stall owner provides.

Who cares as long as its food?

This way the walk continued and many eyes in the traffic were settled on me and few of my fellow shutterbugs. Since there were few foreigners in our group, the autowallas thought that we were tourists, exploring the city over the weekend and approached us with invites to take us on a paid tour of the city. It was around 11 A.M. that we finally decided to put an end to the walk. All of us gathered in the Mocha restaurant where many had late breakfast amidst passionate discussions about the snaps that each had taken.

All in all a refreshing way to spend four hours of a weekend, walking down the narrow streets and capturing life in pictures. By the way, were these snaps, Ok?

You can check the photos taken by all the participants in the event here.

Book Review - The Art of Black and White Photography By Torsten Andress Hoffman

AJ — Thu, 7 Aug 2008 11:56:34 EDT

In recent years, tremendous advancements and innovation in digital cameras have turned everyone into photographers. With the developments in the last few years digital cameras have become equal to and in some aspects surpassed analog (film) cameras in terms of image quality and features which aide in photography. Some high-end cameras have so many features that it is hard for many to even use all of them.

That said, digital photography is not solely about technology alone; it is more about the images and their expressions. The content, formation of the elements and the mood of the images are much more important. The Art Of Black And White Photography has been written to help become familiar with digital photography, focusing on the images as art than the technology. The book covers the beginning - getting a camera, some accessories (like filters and polarizers) and then moves on to concepts in photography. This focuses heavily on the various genres and the mood the photographer tries to convey through photographs. This section includes advice on a gamut of photographic subjects like portraits, architecture, surreal etc. From there, the author Torsten Andress Hoffman moves on to an extensive section on composition of photographs and the various rules which should be adhered to in order to achieve a good image composition. Finally, once you have clicked one or several photographs, Hoffman details the use of Adobe Photoshop CS3 and some of the newer features in this software that helps you enhance your photographs and make them look even better.

The author, Torsten Andress Hoffman, is a renowned photographer from Germany with considerable experience. In this book, he shares experiences and knowledge of photography — specifically black and white photography. Over 100 black and white photographs are included in the book to illustrate the topic of discussion, and through which Hoffman explains how images are formed, the intention of the photographer behind the image and the expression contained within the image.

An interesting point made in the first few chapters is why shooting entirely in the raw mode is better and more preferable, and why, even though the latest cameras have features to shoot in B & W, the author recommends shooting images in color and then converting them to B & W in digital workflow by using the grayscale mode or the channel mixer in Adobe Photoshop.

The second chapter is a joy to read. The sheer range of genres of photography covered is a treat for most photographers. There are tips and advice for everyone no matter what genre of photography you specialize in. However, in this section, Hoffman's explicit references to the Canon 5D, makes the technique too manufacturer specific. I personally own a Canon so was able to follow the feature being detailed in those terms but photographers using cameras by other manufacturers (Nikon, Pentax, Sony etc) might not necessarily follow due to the differences in terminologies used by the manufacturers (for example, Image Stabilization by Canon vs. Vibration Reduction by Nikon). This is not a major concern because Hoffman has provided example images from many cameras including some film cameras too and I am only nitpicking on this fine book.

Of course, knowing what you want to photograph is not sufficient. It is very important to know how to shoot the subject right and how to enhance and bring out something more from your photographs. For this, knowing the rules of composition is very important. These rules help you draw the eyes of the viewer as you like them to follow the subjects in the photo and how balanced the image is. Some of the most important rules like maintaining the Golden Ratio, number of subjects in a photo perspective from which the photograph are dealt with in suitable detail. This section is very good and useful for photographers of almost all experience levels.

The last section teaches the reader on how to "develop" digital images using Adobe PhotoShop as a "dark room". As advised in the first chapter that it is better to shoot in color; and this section closes that loop by teaching how to use the channel mixer of Adobe PhotoShop. The section further details other features in PhotoShop to further improve and process your images to get the most visual appeal out of them. I do wish that Hoffman had intermingled references to Gimp as well or referenced equivalent functions since Gimp is the free software used by many photographers who cannot afford the high cost of Adobe PhotoShop. But that is a minor point since those well versed in Gimp will be able to understand the chapter equivalently.

While this book is intended primarily to take good black and white photographs. The concepts of photography and image composition explained in this book apply equally for color photographs. This book however is not meant for absolute amateurs but will be very useful to medium to high experience level photographers. For me, the best feature of the book is the large number of sample images, which are an absolute treat with some of them really beautiful. I recommend the book heartily for anyone interested in black and white photography or just photography in general.

Rating:

Content 5/5
Writing 4/5
Concepts 5/5

Book Review: Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers by Mark Richards and John Alderman

AJ — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:41:20 EDT

Remember your high school computer theory class? References to the "ancient" (in computer innovation time) machines which utilized vacuum tubes, drum memories, ferrite rings? Remember ENIAC, UNIVAC, EDVAC etc? If these terms bring back nostalgic memories of your high school computer course and the thoughts imagining what these machines looked like, then Core Memory is the book to refer.
Core Memory, named after the Ferrite Rings or Magnetic Core Memory, is a photographic journey by Mark Richards accompanied John Alderman's informational text. The coffee table sized book travels through the major developments in computer history via a series of high definition, glossy photographs. The photographs cover both the computer systems themselves and some of the more innovative (for that time) technologies used in those computers.Most of today's generation identify computers as the beige boxed PCs or the candy colored iMacs. But computers were not always the basic 4-piece combination of monitor, cabinet, keyboard and mouse. The computers of the beginning of mankind's trysts with electronic calculation and computation were as varied as they got. Room full of equipment, weighing tons apiece, most of the early computers cost millions of dollars to construct and provided computational power to perform a few hundred or thousand calculations per second.

One of the first was the Alpha Z3, constructed by Germany prior to World War 2. The computer was unfortunately destroyed during the Allied bombing of Berlin. Around the same time, the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was being constructed to compute the trajectory for missiles and other airborne weaponry. Though it was not completed in time to be used in the war, ENIAC, along with its successors EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) and UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) started the revolution of electronic computing machines. Core Memory traces the humble beginnings of our tryst with computers and leads up to the modern, ultra powerful computers we use today, the most basic of which are more capable than the costliest systems of that time.
The high quality photographs of this book show the history of computers in a different light and the text provided by John Alderman enhances the value of the book. The text usually described the manufacturer, the purpose, cost and basic architecture of each of the computers to provide context to the computers against the others. That said, none of the images have an informational blurb. So when an ultra close-up of a component is shown, the reader only can guess what it might be. This sometimes is quite frustrating and would have greatly enhanced the value of the photographs since the readers would be able to connect to the images in the book to a more intimate level.

The information contained within the book is quite basic and not a comprehensive history of computer systems. In fact it does not cover all the systems that have changed computing landscape over the course of history but only those which are on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Also, while the images are quite detailed, there is no sense of scale. Shots of computer systems are placed along with full-page images of Vacuum Tubes. Also there is no consistency in the types of shots. While showing detailed component level images are good, at least one shot of the full system should have been included for each of the computers to give a better idea to the readers. Obviously, the images have not been chosen to give a overall view of the system but more for their artistic value.Don't get me wrong. This book is good. Very good and evokes a strong sense of nostalgia. The images are of a very high quality and give great detail. But it is not very comprehensive. So approach this as an photography and art book, not as a descriptive manual or a tome of history. But for the sheer pleasure of its contents, I highly recommend this book, both for your personal library and as a gift to your "geekier" friends.

Travel Review: Camel Market at Birqash, Egypt

Kim — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:40:17 EDT

Egypt's Largest Camel Market, the Birqash Camel Market is 35 km away from Cairo. The best day to visit is supposed to be Friday, when the market is most lively in the earlier parts of the morning 7am-9am.

This market used to earlier take place in Imbaba, but as the city expanded, the camel market was moved to the suburb of Birqash which is at the edge of the Western Desert.

Hundreds of Camels are sold here everyday. But this is definitely not a market for the Animal lover. The animals aren't in pitiable condition, but they could be treated much, much better than they currently are.

Camels from Sudan are brought into Egypt on the 40 day road via Abu Simbel to the market in Daraw. The unsold camels are then loaded into trucks and brought to Birqash after a 24 hour drive. Camels also arrive from the rest of Egypt and sometimes from Somalia. These camels are traded for other livestock or cash and are mostly bought for farm work or consumption.

Photo opportunities abound, if you can get the angles right since the camels are almost monochromatic in color. The traders have wonderfully charactered faces and I would have loved to be able to take close up portraits and talk to them and listen to their stories. Unfortunately as a woman, taking close up pictures of men is not the sanest thing to do. And my Arabic is too limited to have had a proper conversation with them.

As an obvious foreigner, you will be charged entry to the market. (it has a gated entry) 20 Egyptian Pound per person. Then they may try to charge you an additional 10LE per camera. Once you enter, you will not face any obvious resentment. The traders are pretty welcoming of foreigners and try to make a buck or so by posing for pictures with them. There were at least 10 other foreigners the day we visited. The only thing to be aware of is to not behave like an Animal Rights Activist and they will pretty much maintain their distance for the most part.

The market extends inside for a distance with sections cordoned off by walls for certain traders. Small single level constructions provide basic housing for traders. The roofs of which are covered with bales of hay. There are basic ramps built for loading and unloading camels from the trucks.

Obviously not all the camels are sold and some of them may not be worth carrying back. Some don't even survive the truck ride to Birqash. Their corpses are carelessly strewn about the desert as you approach the market. There are a few pictures of that at the bottom. Please don't scroll to the end, if you are squeamish.

The Drive through the Nile Delta makes you forget that you are surrounded by the largest desert in the world and is very reminiscent of the UP and Punjab fields.
The River Nile in the background is of course, unique to Egypt .

Some of the camels have one of their legs tied to prevent them from running away.

Quality check of camels like horses is done by inspecting the teeth. This one showed us his teeth voluntarily.

Unloading of Camels

Sold camels being taken away in a pick-up

Some of the character-filled faces

Warning: The pictures below are quite gory. Please do not scroll down if you are easily upset.

Death is inevitable, but I wish they could at least dispose the bodies in a less conspicuous and more humane fashion, rather than just leaving it out to the elements.

Some of the facts, come from the Lonely Planet guide for Egypt