The Singer

Pond Heron

Red Vented Bulbul

Grooming time

One of my favourites from the recent trip to Ranganthitu.

Devarayandurga

A few photos from our latest Devnarayandurga trip.

Manchinbele Dam

These photos are taken from my second trip to Manchinbele, which was long back last month.

Hebbal Lake

A few photos from my trip to Hebbal Lake:

Purple Heron:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm + Sigma 1.4x teleconverter handheld.

Grey Egret:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm + Sigma 1.4x teleconverter handheld.

Parakeet:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm + Sigma 1.4x teleconverter handheld.

Egret:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm + Sigma 1.4x teleconverter handheld.

Butterfly:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm handheld.

Red Wattled Lapling: (name courtsey: Rohini)

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm + Sigma 1.4x teleconverter handheld.

Wagtail:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm + Sigma 1.4x teleconverter handheld.

Egret:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm + Sigma 1.4x teleconverter handheld.

Egret Again:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm + Sigma 1.4x teleconverter handheld.

Common Mynah:

Taken with Sigma 80-400 mm handheld.

Pathway:

Full Moon

I had read in newspaper today that the moon will be closest to the earth tonight, and it will be the brightest full moon.

Sadly, I could not reach home early enough to capture it at twilight. I tried taking a few at around 7 pm and most of them came as a bright white disc. Only these two are worth presenting.

Rambling again.

I have never had a concrete hobby and being the restless creature I'm, I never stuck to anything for long. A few things caught my fancy in past as well, but I would always end up in being impatient to follow up and finally would give up. But photography has been different.

It has been around 10 months now that I first got interested in it and to my surprise with every passing day my interest in it continues to grow. There has been nothing else that I enjoyed so genuinely - ever! It was during my Goa trip last Christmas that it caught my attention seriously when I got to play with my friend's point and shoot Canon camera. I was so excited by the experience that I got my first camera almost immediately. I had been contemplating buying a point and shoot camera for a long time anyways. But I decided (and I don't repent it a bit) to shell a little more than I could possibly afford then and asked my friend to get me a Canon Powershot S3 IS from China.

It was perhaps the best camera I could have got. I played with it endlessly for a long time learning various features it offered. After a while my impatience crept in again and I decided I had learnt enough (and this time totally wrong) to graduate to a DSLR. I bought myself a Canon EOS 350D with kit lens (18-55 mm) and a Sigma lens ( 70-300 mm). It is an exceptional camera and I feel I do gross injustice to its capabilities. I still am an amateur who got a bit too excited with the few initial photos he made and ended up upgrading a little too early. It is not that I cannot handle the equipment, I can take reasonably good photos with it for my level of expertise. But I feel I needed to utilize my old camera for a bit longer learning all the intricacies of photography.

I think I got carried away a bit too much. In my initial excitement I devoted majority of my time learning the jargon of photographic lingo. I mistook good photos with good cameras which I discovered is incorrect.

I still am an amateur in his infancy and there is a long way to go. I thoroughly enjoy my hobby and am determined to keep it going forever. All I want for myself is to learn the art well and enjoy the photos I make. With Rohini's keen interest in birds I get a lot many more chances to try my hands at my hobby. It is bird photography that made me realize my limitations. It is a very difficult art and I'm certainly not up to it yet. But I'm sure with time I will. :-)

This article by Ganesh Shankar is perhaps what I wanted to convey with my blog. I hope I have realized what he conveyed well in time.