Ganpati bappa morya!

Ganesh Chaturthi (IAST: Gaṇeśa Chaturṭhī, sanskrit: गणेश चतुर्थी) (Ganesh Festival) is a day on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees. It is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. The festival is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period). Typically the day falls sometime between August 20 and September 15. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Ananta Chaturdashi.

At the end of the ten days of celebration, the idol of Lord Ganesha is immersed into water bodies - rivers, lakes etc. This picture was clicked on the bank of the Mulla Mutha. A group of people who had finished their puja handed over the idol to be immersed in the water. The boy walked in slowly, carefully holding the idol whilst trying not to lose his balance. I love the way the water rippled around him. As if he was surrounded by some form of energy. Another interesting effect this photo has is that the boy's body is silhouetted whereas the idol remains brightly lit.

This photo was clicked from a slightly different angle, just before the idol was immersed. The boy submerged himself completely once and came back up with the idol. The second time he submerged himself the idol was gone. Traditionally, the Ganesh idol was sculpted out of earth taken from nearby one’s home. After worshipping the divinity in this earth idol, it was returned back to the Earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. This cycle represented the cycle of creation and dissolution in Nature.

This is a picture of my friends dad who was there for the immersion as well. I clicked this picture in a hurry just before he started the puja and the final immersion of the idol. Good amount of sunlight bouncing off the idol highlights its intricate design. Most of these are made by hand.

On the other side of the bank was this kid who was throwing stones into the river, unperturbed by the events that were happening nearby. There was this kid and then there was this other kid below - He was really engrossed by what was going on. The photo below shows him watch the whole immersion process carefully. Concentration at maximum along with curiosity. The expression on his face speaks volumes.


Image 1 - ISO800 | 55mm | f/5.6 | 1/1500sec
Image 2 - ISO800 | 55mm | f/5.6 | 1/1000sec
Image 3 - ISO800 | 28mm | f/5.6 | 1/3000sec
Image 4 - ISO400 | 55mm | f/22 | 1/125sec
Image 5 - ISO800 | 55mm | f/5.6 | 1/350sec

A river runs through it

It had been a while since I had clicked some decent photos so I decided to crash at my cousins house with the impression that he would accompany me and we'd both click some photos. It's that time of the year when Ganesh Chaturthi (a festival of Indian origin) is celebrated here in India. My initial plan was to go click some Ganesh idols and people enjoying the festive occasion. But my cousin and I ended up near the Mulla Mutha river which runs by his house. I thought I would catch a few birds here (if I was lucky) because birds are tough to click. We noticed there were a lot of dragon flies around. Macro time :-)

These guys look like little mean flying machines hovering about. As a kid I always called them 'helicopters' because thats how the other kids referred to them. If you think about it they do resemble helicopters a lot. This guy was on a twig perpendicular to me and the focus got him as well as a part of the twig. This picture has him with his wings flexed out as compared to the one above where his wings seem to droop down a little with a touch of relaxation.

This is a vertical profile of the same guy. This time with the sunlight bouncing off the twig and his upper body. Notice the reddish tinge in his wings kicking in because of the sunlight. If you look at the picture more closely you will also see another dragonfly in the upper portion of the photo. He's out of focus and insignificant but somehow completes the picture.

This is another dragonfly. He was a lot colorful than the others (somehow the picture doesn't do him justice) I had to climb down on a couple of rocks to click him as he was hard to reach. He sat there merrily on a piece of wood above the water unmoved by the fact that he was being photographed.

Moving on from the dragonflies - My cousin and I sat by the river enjoying the gentle breeze when we saw these semi naked kids playing on the river bank. The kid above was unaware that he was being clicked. That explains his almost ballet-like ready stance. The couple in the background adds another dimension to this snap. They were arguing/talking seriously about something while this kid watched them and danced about at the same time. I really like this photograph, it shows two very contrasting emotions : of stress-filled adulthood and care-free childhood.

This is the posterior of my cousin. We were walking along the river side hoping to stealthily snap some birds. I was walking behind him when I clicked this. We didn't manage to click any birds though. They just don't stay put.

This was a regular flower that was by the river. I liked the way the sunlight fell on its petals and made them glow. I've clicked flowers many times but each one is different in some way. And almost anyone likes flower pictures because they have so much of color density and life.

Finally! A bird. This eagle was swooping really low when we were on the pavement by the river. Almost like it wanted to get clicked. And clicked it did get. The blur at the tips of its wings gives this photo a sense of speed. The clear blue sky in the background gives the picture a calm feel.

Image 1 - ISO800 | 55mm | f/8 | 1/250sec
Image 2 - ISO800 | 55mm | f/8 | 1/350sec
Image 3 - ISO800 | 55mm | f/8 | 1/250sec
Image 4 - ISO800 | 55mm | f/8 | 1/250sec
Image 5 - ISO400 | 55mm | f/27 | 1/90sec
Image 6 - ISO800 | 38mm | f/9.5 | 1/250sec
Image 7 - ISO800 | 26mm | f/8 | 1/350sec
Image 8 - ISO800 | 55mm | f/38 | 1/60sec

Leaning tower of Magarpatta

This is a tower under construction by the garden at Magarpatta city. I clicked this one at an angle unintentionally. It kind of reminds me of the leaning tower of Pisa. Not that I've seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person. The picture seriously gives the impression that the tower is warped but its pretty straight. I touched up the image in Photoshop to give it that 'old photo' look.

Pentax K110D
ISO400 | 33mm | f/27 | 1/45sec