Desicritics Category: Media: Photography

The Auschwitz Album

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:39:32 EST

This old photo album really got me going. The power of a photograph reaches out despite decades having had passed since it was taken at Auschwitz. This album shows the people arriving at the concentration camp, getting processed into those who would be workers and those who would be gassed immediately. The black and white photographs throw a seriously blunt light on this truly horrible time.

Here’s one example of the arrivals. The faces are numb. Look at the faces of the children, innocent and uncomprehending.

Once they arrived, they were then selected according to what the SS officers felt as to their working capability, old men, women and children were more than likely to be sent straight into the gas chambers. The piles of clothing in the right back were reprocessed. In the top far left is a line which has already been processed and are heading towards the gas chambers (see air picture below).

These are 2 boys. Notice the Star of David on the greatcoat of the boy on the right, the Jews were identified that way.

Old men being led to the gas chambers, again notice the Star of David.

The same fate awaited old women and children.

Women and men who were fit for forced labour were deloused, had their heads shaven and were then moved to the labour part of the camp.

A photograph of a line of prisoners being lead to the gas chambers. These reconnaissance photographs were taken by the allied forces. In many cases, they did not even know what this was, or rather what the camps really were used for (or at least that's what was being claimed then).

and how the Germans then tried to hide the evidence.

it is all bloody painful…
The above related to the victims, but what about the Germans? Here’s another photo album from the other side.

There are more photographs of how the SS officers enjoyed their lives, as if they were on holidays, eating blue berries with cream and singing along with accordions. I get into frequent arguments with TBS about why the Holocaust is considered so extra special. Well, it's the efficiency with which this large scale killing happened, the scale and scope, the rabid ideology, and and and, which all lead us to hope that it will not happen again. And despite this, we have seen Bangladesh, Rwanda, Cambodia, etc. Some said, we need to educate people more. In one of the next posts, I will be exploring why its the educated lot who actually drive or commit these monstrous crimes against humanity.

Travel: Hike on Eastern Simatai, Great Wall of China

Sumanth — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:28:46 EST

The Great Wall of China has many sections located in the mountains north of Beijing.

The most popular sections are the ones at Jongyuquan near Badaling Pass, where most foreign tourists and even local Chinese head to. One can reach this section of the wall by taking the Badaling Express way exactly in the north of Beijing. One can find a huge colourful crowd almost every day in tourist season and the Great Wall is so much renovated here, that you will find feel as it it was built only 10 years back. Badaling Pass was a strategic pass in history because, conquering this mountain pass is a must, if one wishes to capture Beijing while attacking from North.

In April 09, I and my friend Doc headed to Beijing on a tourist trip and we wanted skip Badaling section of Wall initially and were enthusiastic to go to less crowed Jinshanling-Simatai section, located at about 80 miles north east of Beijing towards Changde City. This section of Great Wall is not at all renovated and scenery is much more beautiful than the section at Badaling.

We booked a 280 Yuan tour at a Travel Agency near Qian Men Hutong area. The hike of 11km of Jinshanling section starts at Gubeikou mountain pass proceeding east and ends at Simatai. Gubeikou mountain pass is a strategic pass and many historic wars were fought at this mountain pass. From research in Internet, I could gather information that this 11km trek will take about 4 to 5 hours and one need to carry enough water as there are no places in the middle where you can get any food or water. There are 32 towers en-route and some sections can get steep and dangerous to climb. The tour operator generally drops the hikers at Gubeikou Pass, climbs down, proceeds east and waits for them at Simatai to pick them up after 4 to 5 hours. The Great Wall at Simatai has western and eastern sections separated by a small lake called "Mandarin Duck Lake" in the middle. Another alternative to this 11km hike is, to hike couple of kilometres of steep Great Wall at eastern section of Simatai.

However, next day morning we were disappointed. The girl in the travel agency told us, “no trip today. I am sorry” and returned the money. We headed to a local tourist office and there was not much help there as well. A group of 3 foreign students (two American and one Korean) joined us and they were also looking for a hike on Great Wall. We all decided to drop the plan to hike 11km Jinshanling section and instead decided to just travel to Simatai on our own to hike a couple of kilometers there. We referred maps and found that we have to travel to a small city of Miyun on north eastern side of Beijing. We took Metro (link) to Dongzhimen Bus terminus and took a bus towards Miyun. The buses going towards Chengde city pass through Miyun. The Ticket was 15 yuans. In about an hour’s time, we were at Miyun. Near the Bus stop, the Korean guy, who knew a bit of Chinese negotiated with a Cab driver for a 5 hour trip to Simatai. We got the cab for about 220 yuan for 5 guys and headed to Simatai in the mountains.

It took about an hour to reach to Simatai. The eastern and western section of Simatai mountain is divided by a lake called Mandarin Duck Lake, which gets water from two small rivers.

From the ticket counter, we had to walk about a mile to reach to the entrance of the Great Wall at eastern section. This section of the wall is steepest and the distance between the towers is also shorter (about 250m average) compared to other sections of Great Wall.

The map of a portion of Great Wall at Simatai. One can take a cable car to directly reach at tower 8 or using cable car one can climb down from tower 8.

Slow climb on the hill for about a mile to reach to the entrance in second tower of Great Wall at eastern section of Simatai.

First steps after the entrance (at second tower) and you can see the tower 3.

West Section of Simatai leading to Gubeikou pass in Jinshanling. You can see about 13 towers out of 32 towers of that 12km section.

This picture shows the Simatai west and also the lake in the valley in the middle.

This picture shows second tower in ruins in eastern section of Simatai Great Wall.

This picture is taken from 4th tower. The wall to 5th tower is in complete ruins and one has to climb a scary narrow passage of two feet width with a sharp drop in the hill on the right to the chain (not in this picture).

This is the 5th tower with other towers in the background.

The climb gets steeper. You can see the 6th tower and the 7th tower in the background. We could see couple of children having a lot of fun climbing. You can also see outlines of couple of people standing on 7th tower.

You can see 7th and 8th towers in this pictures. The tourists are standing on 7th tower, the only tower, which one can reach easily though one has to be careful once you are up there. The 8th tower is also known as "White Cloud Tower" and it has a big hole in it, due to Japanese bombing during world war II.

The climb to 9th tower is steep.

This place is at location of 13th tower in ruins out of about 17 towers in total in this section. This is the farthest one can go in eastern section of Simatai.The remaining towers are Fairy Tower and Watching Beijing Tower with the steep passages called Heavenly Ladder and Sky Bridge. These are closed to tourists for safety reasons (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simatai">link</a>.

There is a warning to tourists not to cross a barrier here and two guards make sure that no one ventures beyond this point. Looks like someone translated it directly from Chinese.

“Stop! Dangerous Ahead. Climbing the front Great Wall is Prohibited. Those who violated will be fined 200 Yuan”

This is a recent video of eastern Simatai Great Wall in snow during winter. One can also directly climb up to eighth tower of this section of wall via a cable car.

A better way to explore the great wall at Simatai is to stay couple of days at the youth hostel near the Mandarin Duck lake in the valley. You can also read this blog, if you wish to hike from Gubeikou(Jinshanling) to Simatai. It also contains some very nice pictures. Also, have a look at this blog, which I referred before deciding about this hike.

Photo Essay: Marble Arch, London

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:05:33 EST

I was a bit early for my meeting at Green Park, so I decided to nip over to Marble Arch and take a closer look around. It was bitterly cold, but the sun was slowly coming in from Hyde Park. The arch is not very imposing when observed from the other side of the street, mind you. Crossroads had geographical significance in ancient history. The history of this site goes way back to the early Roman times, where this place was the cross roads of two great Roman roads, one to Colchester in the West and St. Albans to the North. Plus you have to realise that the land where it stands was a place for public hanging for centuries called as Tyburn - blood soaked land from an estimated 50,000 executions from 1300 to 1783AD. Strange why so many executions happened on crossroads, eh? Better publicity I guess.

Overshadowed by the buildings behind it, it looks fairly ordinary. And I am not surprised, this wasn't supposed to be the final original location. It was supposed to form the major entry into Buckingham Palace. John Nash, the designer and architect, made this in 1827, to commemorate the Napoleonic Wars victory at Trafalgar and Waterloo. Nash based his design on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. A very poor copy, I have to admit, but as I understand, he was planning to knock the socks off Constantine’s Arch, but he ran out of money. The monument has many flag posts around it specially the flags of the Commonwealth nations. who have contributed soldiers at various times to the assorted British Wars in the past 3 centuries. But not very impressive, when you compare it to Nelson’s Column or the other Napoleonic War memorials dotted around the country. Not impressive at all.

Anyway, the Arch was moved as Buckingham Palace was extended and then placed here, opposite of the Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. According to British law, this is the place for free speech, where you can say what you want - anything ay all - at the Speaker’s Corner. Can you see the area in the centre? That’s the Speaker’s Corner. It's a very nice place in the summer. Free Speech requires good temperatures, you really cannot speak that much when your jaws are chattering away with cold. Not that you will have anybody to listen to you.

On closer inspection, it doesn't change much either. The structure is made out of white Carrara marble. The same material which has been used by Michelangelo to carve his David. The Pantheon and Trajan’s Column in Rome were also carved out of this marble. Its pretty rich (although the building has been through a relatively recent £75,000 restoration and cleaning. As you can appreciate, the monument is surrounded with heavy traffic and all those horrible exhaust fumes, not to forget the droppings of the flying rat, didn't do this monument any good.

This sculpture represents a winged Peace (on the left) holding a long flower and Plenty (on the right) holding a sheaf of food grains in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other hand.

A Roman/Greek Naval (See the link with Trafalgar? Some say this is connected to Nelson) warrior/officer on the left and a figure of Justice on the right, holding a rolled up bunch of presumably legal documents.

An allegorical group standing for Peace and Plenty. It has 2 faintly chubby cherubs (one holding roses and apples) gambolling around this lady who is holding a branch in her hand, and is standing on top of a whole bunch of armour pieces, battle axes, helmets, spears.

These 3 figures stand for England, Scotland and Ireland. One lady holds a harp (Ireland), another holds a shield behind her (Scotland) and then the lady in the middle has a pretty imposing head dress (England).

The two gates on the sides are meant for hoi polloi and peasants.

But the centre gate is meant only for royalty and if you wanted to break the law, you can walk through it to show your rebellion.

The gates are substantial bits, made out of bronze. The gates show the Lion of England, the Cypher of George IV, and the figure of St. George and the dragon. Its surrounded by chrysanthemums (I think…) around the sides.

The central keystone on the left and right arches has this bearded fellow carved on the end. And the way it has been discoloured sort of shows that he has a bad runny nose. He does look very miserable, doesnt he? Well, so would I be if my head was hung up on the keystone for centuries breathing in damn traffic fumes.

There are pretty imposing lanterns on top.

Lovely long columns of marble. See the door on the right hand side photo? It's the entrance to 3 rooms on top of the arch. Of all the things, these 3 rooms were used as police stations!.

The windows on the top were used by the policemen to peek out over the landscape..

It was frightfully cold, but that didn't stop these pigeons from sunbathing! Can you see how they are all fluffed up and sitting in a line?

They were also all over the benches. Looked very cute, but damned the feathered rats.

But what am I blaming the pigeons for? This lady was sitting on a bench, in front of a whole pile of ice and snow and slush. She was sitting there on her own, with her bag reading for at least 20 minutes in this freezing cold. She must be MAD! You get all kinds..

Full slide show here.

Photo Essay: A Flight to Bhopal

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Tue, 5 May 2009 08:41:18 EDT

I had to take a flight from Raipur to Bhopal some weeks back. It was seriously a tiny plane, powered by rubber bands, hope, faith and charity but the advantage of flying a small plane is that you dont really fly that high compared to the other bigger planes, so took the opportunity to fire up some pictures.

Taking off from a dusty Raipur…

And flying over the Narbada river. The level of water was quite surprising, very low but that seems to be a feature all over India, low water levels across the board in so many rivers. Still, for those who might not know, this river is perhaps one of the best in India for fly fishing.

Then had an interesting encounter with some clouds, dipping in and out of it. The clouds look just brilliant from the top. Quite jealous of Superman, he can just have fun out here, eh? And then we started our descent to Bhopal, we were below the cloud cover and the setting sun’s rays were showing through the clouds.

Bhopal is called the city of lakes. You can see 3 of them here on the left shining in the distance like pools of mercury. On the right, that is New Bhopal. This part is a planned city, mostly built after the city was declared as the State Capital, so you can see the houses laid out in some shape and form.

The building on the right of the centre is the Secretariat, an older building where the bureaucrats and ministers had their offices. As usual, they grew out of space. The two Lego like buildings in the left of centre are two of the state government’s buildings were constructed later, named after the two mountain ranges in the state, Satpuda and Vindhyachal. My father used to work in the latter building. Bloody big huge buildings, clad in the local sandstone. One of the mason’s who worked on that also worked on our house. Its a very nice warm colour. But I am digressing.

The circular building on the bottom right hand side is the old central jail. If you see the road which runs diagonally down the bottom left, that’s called as the jail road which climbs up the side of a hill. When I was a baby in swaddling clothes, my parents were on a scooter and were involved in an accident and both Mum and I went tumble down the hill. She was scared even to unwrap me, but when she reached the hospital (she was quite badly injured), she unwrapped me and found that I was busy sleeping and snoring through the entire episode. Typical, eh? Anyway, since that time, that road has been a bit of a spooky one for me.

The demented cake like building in the middle of the left photograph is the new Parliament Building while you can barely make out the stadium in the distance in the right hand side photograph.

On the left photo, you can see the grounds of an old alma mater of mine, MVM, its grounds and buildings and the vaguely oval shaped old parliament building. Then you have the beginnings of the lower lake. Its foul, the green colour is algae. And the right hand side photograph, you can see a girls college, MLB. I once swam across the lake on a 10 rupees bet to get to the girls college and then get back to my side. Was stinking to high heaven afterwards.

Now you see the chicken neck end of the lower lake which leads into the upper lake, both separated by a narrow strip of land. The narrow strip of land has a small park on top, and that’s why its so nice and green. Dad used to tell me stories about it all. About how that strip of land is actually a palace and one drives on the top of the palace. There are 7 stories above water and 4 or 5 stories underwater. How its stuffed full of secret rooms filled with treasure. How on particular nights, one can see a silver hand in the water waving. Complete rot, but it was very exciting to remember the stories while peeking over the parapet in the park and looking down at the mysterious green still deep waters of the lower lake. On the other side, you see the bottom end of the upper lake or the bigger lake.

The water level was shockingly low. The region has had very low rainfall for the past 3-4 years and the reservoirs are very low. Usually the lake is brimming with water and sloshing around. But all this open space at the edges of the lake was absolutely gobsmacking. And the Government is now asking Bhopali citizens to come with their spades and buckets, give the gift of labour and dig the lake deeper. D’oh, if you dont have water, where on earth are you going to get it from? Just digging a bigger hole doesnt mean greater water will drop from the skies. Bringing in water from the Narbada or Kolar Dam is not really a solution. There is no supply of water for days on end. Makes for some difficult living conditions.

All the dark splotches on the right hand side photograph used to be underwater. The lake has really shrunk dramatically. Shocking, I tell you.

Coming in over the airport perimeter fence on the left and just a few feet above ground, just about to hit the tarmac.

And here’s me back on terra firma, welcome to Bhopal. Only a few photographs have been shown here, for the full slideshow, please click here.

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.