Amoghavarsha's Blog

Musician of the western ghats

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:18:34 GMT

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]

Picsean

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:51:05 GMT

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.

Photography and ethics

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:45:52 GMT

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 :)

A rainy day afternoon

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:39:19 GMT

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!

Across the universe - Sheer brilliance!

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:34:43 GMT

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.

What's their future?

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:11:50 GMT

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.

Leopard tales

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 07:25:00 GMT

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...

A new journal

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:01:55 GMT

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.

Life update

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:35:37 GMT

A lots been happening. For starters I'm no longer with asklaila. It has been a very hard decision to quit a company where I started from day 1 of the company. Well I've moved on to fulltime photography and filmmaking. I'm working part time with felis. Its a new exciting phase of life I'm moving on to, where most things are new.

My last few trips to the jungles have been mostly to the western ghats, and to Agumbe. Was with the filming crew of the Nat-geo King Cobra documentary with sandesh, also got to see the hatching of king cobra babies!!! Will post a pic or 2 on that later. A photo-expedition to Agumbe went really well. I couldn't post the details as the seats were filled even before I sent out a mailer. I'm planning to do another one soon, and will keep you guys posted.

Haven't had time to process photos but here is the Bush frog and the Beddome's cat snake I photographed at Agumbe.

2 recently discovered goodies...

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:10:04 GMT

1. If you like music, and more so if you like the lesser known songs, http://grooveshark.com is a treat. Listen to any song for free and what's more its got a kickass UI! I've found songs that I've not seen on iTunes store and others.

2. I usually don't write about restaurants as I'm eating out most of the times. But then Cafe Masala is worth a big mention. Superb food, very refined taste, very good service. What's more you can see the UB City and city in a non AC place. They have a kebab buffet for the next 9 days, 399+tax. Very nice kebabs, they even have 5 varieties for veggies, overwhelming variety. Overall a great place!

The Band theory

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:47:14 GMT

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:

"I was serving in Kargil as my first posting, and that was when the kargil war broke. The times were hard and everything was a struggle, there were times when we had so much ammunition to carry that we had no space to carry water and we used to use the gunpowder box to heat some ice in it and wait till the ammunition particles settle down and then drink. I lost many friends in the war, I've seen death just next to me several times and when you see death so close, you lose fear of death. Losing fear of death also means losing emotions and after the war I wouldn't emote for the next 6 years. Then came a time in life where I had to get married. And the girl was a friend for a long time and I wasn't too sure if I'd do justice. But then since she understood me too well, we decided to get married and she over time helped me get back all those emotions. We are expecting a baby in a week and now I'm all excited about it, I've learnt the joy of life, family and now everything else is secondary. There's a very beautiful theory called the "Band theory", which I apply to my life all the time and live by. It goes something like this - Everyone is born in a certain band, a certain band in economic conditions, social conditions, emotional, career etc. We as individuals should take every aspect of our life to the next band and then you can say your life is successful. Let me explain what a band is, let's say your father earns just enough to feed the house, that's your economic band and to take it to the next level means to be able to do more than just feed. And this applies to everything, be it social, emotional, cultural or personality bands. Some people get too involved in one band and take it quite far and neglect the rest, like someone who's very career focused will probably excel and increase a few bands in career while actually dropping a few bands in other aspects, may be cultural, social etc."

What he told me then, about 3 years back is suddenly making a lot of sense. In the last 4 years of my life I've focused quite a bit on my career and my development as a successful individual. All through overlooking some finer aspects of life, and self-development is one of them. When I say self-development I mean development as a personality, giving importance to growing as a human, understanding the importance of being a better human being. The last few weeks of my life has been a path to many self-discoveries, as I went low on my career for a bit and focussed on other aspects of life and it has helped me to a great extent as I realize what is that I've missed so far. And each time I look at people who are really happy, I realize it's this balance between all the bands of life that's making them happy, not just career or not just personality. Well I am on this path, are you?

Welcome Maximus

Wed, 13 May 2009 03:12:45 GMT

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 :)

Decisions easily made...

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:03:04 GMT

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

Blue winged leaf bird

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:50:58 GMT

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

Made a small clip with some pelican photographs I shot recently

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:06:28 GMT

What's been keeping me busy?

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:03:50 GMT

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?

Some really old piece of literature or such

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:51:14 GMT

http://xcan.amoghavarsha.com/handbook.htm

Aliens of desperado

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 06:19:01 GMT

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.

It all begins at this coffee bar, where a couple of guys were having a nice cup of coffee discussing mundane details of how many times each person has got an email from the "increase your size" website and how he caught his neighbor stealing his wife's lingerie and such were mostly talking and having their coffee quite harmlessly. That's when the aliens landed at the place, well they being from planet desperado and not having tasted coffee, thought that coffee is what has affected planet earth so bad that it has turned all unethical, and also that coffee bars are places of disruption and coffee bars would eventually cause the earth to end. So the aliens resorted to what is known as "Burn the evil cigarette by smoking" syndrome and started ransacking the coffee bar and drinking all the coffee. Well this brings us to the question, did the aliens really think that coffee was unethical? or did they just want to have some coffee which they couldn't get on planet desperado and couldn't afford on earth? or were they simply desperate?

The planet desperado gets its name after a set of humans with a mutant gene migrated there. The common thing to all the mutant genes were that they were incapable of certain activities, like getting themselves a cup of coffee at the same time they were desperate for it. So they resorted violent methods like ransacking coffee bars on earth and such.

People on earth have a habit of celebrating things, which on the whole is mostly harmless. They celebrate days when they all suddenly (the whole world) feels like expressing friendship, and they also celebrate days when everyone suddenly dress themselves like jokers, ghosts and such. Since they love coffee so much that they dedicated a day to drinking coffee, which ofcourse was not appreciated by the aliens of desperado and since they still couldn't get any coffee they decided to disrupt this day.

What I forgot to mention is that these aliens are highly influenced by their leader Constipatus, his name ofcourse comes from the fact that his face looks more constipated than that of a monkey who's had no fiber all its life, that he naturally earned his name. Constipatus has to his credit among other titles, "most unreasonable biped of the century and another", "most frustrated mammal" and so on.

Coming back to the D-day. While most of you might be wondering where the law-enforcing authorities were while all this was happening, they were just there having their coffees. While the good news is the coffee drinking continues with some of the law enforcers giving up their coffees to protect humanity, peace and so on...

Freshwater Jellyfish - Craspedusta Sowerbii

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:25:37 GMT

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

Journalism takes a hit

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:43:46 GMT

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.

Yahoo small business and rightly called so...

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:38:39 GMT

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!

Citizen matters article

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:48:32 GMT

Here's the citizen matters article on me that deponti recently wrote.

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/688-amoghavarsha-wildlife-photography-photography

Ghost of darkness

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:30:58 GMT

A sudden trip to Hampi, made it one of the most memorable ones. We drove to Daroji Bear Sanctuary in the evening and as the light started fading, we got out of the sanctuary. Sanath was driving the car and after a while he spotted the leopard on the edge of the road! It was wading through the empty fields, and what followed later will need a 4 page essay. In short we photographed this guy for a long long time, enough to run out of battery and memory card. I have close to a 100 shots of him in all sorts of positions, but here's one for the start.

Have they lost it or have they yet not got it?

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:24:00 GMT

"May we live in interesting times" - The chinese curse I think has come true. The R-word has made its way across the board to everyones lives. So in these times when everyone's try hard to keep up business, even 5 star hotels are slashing prices by upto 40%, we have some geniuses who have either lost it or yet not got the news.

1. French loaf on church street is a small little bakery shop which charges an average of 900/- for a kilo of cake, really are you selling gold?

2. via prashanthks, the prices of movie tickets and DVDs are still crazily high, I've stopped watching movies on weekends

3. Airline prices are still high, if they cut down their costs atleast they can make up their losses in quantity than just flying 10 ppl per flight

4. Some folks in kerala also hasn't got any clue yet, the cgh group of hotels had a stall for food near volvo ocean race media center and a sandwich (sucky ones) costed 200/- plus tax

Can all these guys please go ahead and get a life before they shut shops?

The funniest show in history

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:23:03 GMT

http://www.hotklix.com/?ref=content/152704