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October 29th, 2009
03:48 pm - Musician of the western ghats
The call of the Malabar Whistling Trush, is one of the most melodious pieces of music I've ever heard in nature. I've always wanted to photograph this bird for a long time. Photographing them can be quite challenging given that they make their homes in the deep forests of western ghats and that they are shy. Valparai is one of the best places to photograph them, as they are all around the town.
Click the play button to hear the call of the Whistling Trush
[audio:whistling_trush.mp3]
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October 20th, 2009
12:21 pm - Picsean
The last few years after I moved to full-time photography, life has been a roller-coaster ride: exciting and enchanting. Having worked with some really well known institutions including govt. establishments, I've come to realize the potential for photography as a profession is growing. But one thing I've always felt is that photographer's don't have a platform. Like most photographers, I spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out projects, do paperwork and other mundane work (Its not all field work!). There's also the issue of people treating photographers badly.
I've always felt the need for a platform which enables photographers to focus on their photography while there's an open platform which'll monetize their work minus all the muckwork. So when a chance to work with a company that's about to do the same came, I readily agreed. Picsean Media is started by another fellow photographer Arjun. The idea of Picsean is to source images from photographers all over the world online and come out with publications featuring the same.
The website will go live soon, I'll really appreciate your Ideas, feedback and any pointers you have for the same. There is a photography contest starting this week, hope you'll participate and spread the word around. There's also a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/picsean you can join to get updates and be in the loop.
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September 8th, 2009
11:15 pm - Photography and ethics
Recently I came across an article on 10 famous doctored photos. If you read that, you'll see one of the images in that has won an award. Now my question is how's anyone to judge this photograph which may be photoshoped/orchestrated/setup? This is one reason I usually refrain from photography contests. Here's a set of images photographed at a zoo. I know this is an age old debate but when I read today that a possibly doctored image had won an award I couldn't resist.
For the first time I've submitted some photographs to a competition. I hope they take into consideration all the above mentioned factors and have the right people from the field to judge. I guess I shouldn't turn too cynical without even giving it a shot :)
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September 4th, 2009
03:09 pm - A rainy day afternoon
Was taking a stroll in front of my house talking on the phone and on the pole wire saw this pair mating. Goes only to say "keep your eyes wide open!" there's a lot of urban wildlife around.
Here's another nice photo-article by Karthik, again its urban wildlifing!
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August 29th, 2009
03:04 am - Across the universe - Sheer brilliance!
I've watched the musical "Across the universe" a few times over now and it keeps getting better each time. The artistic exploration that the director goes on is just brilliant. If you are a Beatles fan and love experimentation, then you must watch it. Its also very revolutionary in the way the original music has been played around with. A well directed movie and very theatre like.
The lead actors sing most songs in the movie themselves and how about 80% of the songs in the musical being sung and recorded live on the shoot with ambient noise! A very new approach to un-can traditional studio recording and add elements of reality. Try and catch the director's commentary on the DVD, where she talks about how each song renders more character and meaning to the movie.
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August 25th, 2009
12:41 am - What's their future?
Its been a lucky season. I've been fortunate in seeing and photographing young ones of a few key species found in India. The Joy of seeing a new generation of these animals in times which are hard for their survival has been an overwhelmingly emotional experience.
After a really long wait, I finally managed to be there at the right place at the right time to photograph the Baby King Cobras which had just hatched in a nest close to Agumbe.
I also made a short trip to Nagarhole where 2 leopard cubs abandoned in a sugarcane field close to the Nagarhole forest by the mother and have been rescued by the forest department.
The one question that came across my mind each time I saw them was "What's their future?"
King Cobra babies are about 30cms when born and do have venom glands from birth. They are usually born during the monsoon months of august/september in the wild western ghats. The forests of Agumbe are one among the last habitats left for them.
The Agumbe Rainforest Research Station headed by Gowrishankar has been key in protecting and safeguarding the nests of the King Cobra. Gowri's team has been monitoring nests and making sure no human activity disturbs them. In this photograph you can see the barricade they've built to make sure the nest is safe. You can see Gowri removing the hatchlings from the nest so that they are safely released. The King Cobra is the only snake in the world to build a nest and she abandons the nest before the eggs hatch.
Survival rate of the hatchlings is quite low given factors such as natural predators and availability of food, adding an element of human disturbance and intrusion will only make their survival so much more difficult.
The leopard cubs which were rescued from the sugarcane field have another story to tell. The villagers say the mother leopard had 4 cubs and while escaping on seeing the villagers, it abandoned 2 cubs in the field (probably in a state of confusion). Animals don't like to get out of the forest, but we are not leaving them much of a choice by encroaching what little forests they have. The mother of the cubs might have wandered into the fields in search of food or in search of space and territory. The mother and the cubs are lucky to have escaped unharmed, but that's not the case always. You can read Kalyan's blog about other incidences involving leopard-human conflict here and here
The Leopard cubs have been fortunately saved, but the question that poses a bigger problem is whether to release them in the wild or raise them in captivity. The answer is not simple. Since the cubs haven't learnt the way of the wild from their mother and survival on their own might be difficult, releasing them in the wild might not be a feasible option and raising them in captivity might be the only option.
While as uncertain as their futures might look, there are still green warriors protecting them, be it Gowri's team or the forest department. While its not possible for everyone to go out into the field and save them, being aware of the situation and making others around aware is certainly a big step.
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August 8th, 2009
12:54 pm - Leopard tales
Not many times in life does one come across opportunities like this. Wildlife is full of surprises, and one rewarded and when least expected. Having spent almost 2 weeks in the summer in Kabini and having had no luck with photographing any cats though sighted a few, I didn't expect I'd get to shoot much in the monsoons. But I was in for a pleasant surprise. I was to see two leopards!
It was the morning safari and after a good session with a pack of 12 wild dogs marching along the safari jeeps for a good 3kms on the main road, we entered the forest track. We stopped when we heard loud alarm calls, we knew we were really close to the cat. We went ahead a little more and took a left cut on the track. When we were all looking into the thicket, Jeevan the naturalist pointed at the leopard running in front of us on the track and only few of us saw it. Then we went further and then we saw the guy hiding in the bushes on the left, given the undergrowth is high after the rains, it was hard to spot anything.
Then the driver said "another leopard!" and I didn't see it then because I was busy shooting. But when I came and saw the pictures, yes there was another leopard lurking in the back!
After that we did see the second leopard trailing the first one through out but in the thicket. We also figured that the one in the front was male and the other female. Then the male decided to dash on to the road
Then he waited on the road for a while, hoping that the female would join
When she didn't turn up, he gave up and sat posing on the slight open patch next to the road and that's when I got the portrait shots
Then we saw the female walk behind him and ofcourse he faithfully followed and we lost track of both
Light was low because the sun wasn't around and photography was hard, but I enjoyed every bit of it! Also this time I got very close shots of wild dogs, will post soon...
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July 17th, 2009
01:31 pm - A new journal
So I did try be lazy and pushed the unavoidable but anyway here it is my new journal http://amoghavarsha.com/journal
I will still cross post to LJ until it works.
Also I haven't put up any images lately though I've shot a ton. Here's one for starters
In the summers, elephants spend a lot of time close to water. When we came to a waterhole expecting a tiger, we saw this guy playing without a care in the world. He was no farther than 200ft.
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June 18th, 2009
08:41 am - The Band theory
It was a cold august night in 2006 at the army base in Leh, and after biking for more than 4 days I was spending that time resting in my room. I was sharing my room with an army officer and every evening we would discuss quite a few things and he'd tell me quite a few tales. And this is one of the most important things he told me that night:
( its preachy, beware! )
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May 13th, 2009
08:35 am - Welcome Maximus
My new ride, a 4X4 Safari dicor EX - mountain green. Been wanting this for a longtime for all my jungle travels, with 4 wheel drive and green color its just perfect for the forests. With 140bhp under the hood and a refined 2.2 ltr engine, its powerful and more fuel efficient. And ofcourse I'm not selling the zen :)
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April 16th, 2009
09:13 am - Decisions easily made...
Yesterday we were at a protest to save lalbagh, whose walls have been illegally demolished and trees illegally cut.
The only election candidate to make a presence there was Capt. Gopinath, where were the others? Busy in coffee day?
Some decisions are easily made. Capt Gopinath atleast has served the country, has had a vision to make air travel affordable and showed up for a cause which south bangalore is fighting for. For me having a "cool image" + "foreign education" + "cool dressing" doesn't just cut, ofcourse lets not even talk about BJP
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April 14th, 2009
12:19 pm - Blue winged leaf bird
Leaf birds are one of the most difficult birds to photograph because of the green foliage it roosts in and its own color which blends with the background. Lucky to have it sitting like this.
See here if you can spot the same bird
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April 8th, 2009
April 6th, 2009
05:16 pm - What's been keeping me busy?
Quite a bit of travel, Was shooting for JLR, traveling through all there properties, loads of photographs to process. Hopefully sometime soon I should put up new pics. Some more travel ahead. You can catch more updates on my twitter
Also do any of you know of a good 3d/2d freelance animator?
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February 24th, 2009
February 14th, 2009
10:40 am - Aliens of desperado
So its Valentine's day and there's love in the air. Well there are atleast more signs of love in the air than a regular day. This is not about the valentine's day but about a bunch of aliens from desperado. Most of these aliens look like us, dress like us, sometimes (rarely) even talk like us. Initially I found it hard to believe we had aliens living with us though Ford prefect has been with us for a while, but after a small bit of thinking I ended up believing the alien story.
( Read more... )
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February 9th, 2009
09:41 am - Freshwater Jellyfish - Craspedusta Sowerbii
Last few weeks have been really lucky in terms of photography. Found freshwater jellyfish in the cauvery river. This is only the third sighting of the species in India, and these are I think the only good photographs of this species in India. More about this here in today's Deccan Chronicle
More photographs here, here and here
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January 31st, 2009
10:13 am - Journalism takes a hit
http://furobike.blogspot.com/2009/01/barkha-dutt-vs-ckunte.html
[update]
and the original post that has been removed is here
[/update]
Silencing public opinion! Uff, I can't believe it.
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December 26th, 2008
03:47 pm - Yahoo small business and rightly called so...
While there are a megazillion number of domain registrars, how does one registrar stand out?
1. Give one year free subscription to a porn website ***
2. Show some coolness in the name: do-daddy! go-mommy!
3. Have lucky draw contests where one can win a chinese ipod or a electric hair spiker
OR
You could get further creative and charge 35$ for a 10$ domain. Well it works in 5-star hotels to charge ten times for the same burger or pizza, but then again our folks have just forgotten one small thing, a higher price means added service. "Oh Yeah! Everytime you register your domain, we all scream Yahoo!", well thats some relief, some added service. Well I screamed as well when I saw the 35$ invoice, not Yahoo! but something else and yes you guessed it right.
What's more, their creativity has no bounds! They will do anything to get profits to the company and that new coffee machine into their office pantries. How does one find out he's about to pay a higher price for his domains? He gets an intimation saying he has to pay higher and which point allowing the customer to have an option to cancel. "No sir, not here sir, we don't believe in choices. We decide and you pay" - sounds as poetic as a web nazi can get.
But Yahoo is been kind in quiet a few ways I must agree
1. They don't make you do that extra click, as they've made sure you are auto-charged on your card
2. They don't make you go through the headache of canceling the service by renewing much in advance without warning
Well I have now new found respect for Yahoo, and its small business rightly called so
*** - definitely works!
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