Author: Tarique Sani

Yellow Planet Monster

Yellow planet monster

As Spaceman Spiff crash lands on the dreaded Yellow planet a monster arrives … Aasim’s response on seeing the picture 🙂

Yesterday was a bright winter afternoon ideal for lazing in the sun, however I did no such thing but I did discover that Nikon 5700 will give decent DoF in a brightly lit scene. Here is another shot of the monster bee which proves that.

I spent a large part of last Friday and Saturday at Vivek’s studio – he was trying to take pictures of flowers and Yellow / Red Capsicums, the idea was to have the subject submerged in a water tank with bubbles from the bottom as well as top, at the same time the flowers should not appear bent like having just been thrust forcefully but rather appear to be growing out of the water surface when the picture was flipped vertically… Thats the best I can describe it. The whole experience was a mixture of lots of experimentation, fun, frustration and education. After about 500+ shots there were enough perfect ones to satisfy Vivek.

Work has started on converting our aangan in a studio, It will not be big, about 10’x15’, but will serve well for whatever I do now.

Low-key photography.

For most photographers the term “low-key” is usually defined by photos that are

* Saturated colors at the bottom end of the tonal value scale,
* Deep shadows, and
* Few, but very high contrasts.

Also “low-key” usually conveys a mood of

* Serenity,
* Melancholy or
* Pathos.

However I somehow got the idea somewhere early on that “low-key” really meant that the entire tonal range in a low key photograph should be between 100% to 80% black with negligent or no high contrast points.

Since then I have countless times discovered that taking a photograph which is entirely in 100% to 80% black and at the same time not sad is a very very tough task.

Day before I once again revisited the theme – with some amount of success I would like to believe….

I was once again painfully reminded that my Nikon5700 is pathetic for the job 🙁

Pictures tell a story….

We were recently discussing if I should narrow down the scope of my photography and very quickly concluded that I have not yet learnt enough to do so. I will continue to do photography as and how the opportunities are served to me…

Have recently added an album on Street Photography on my site. These I plan will have pictures which I feel tell a story, honestly most of the pictures I have not really been taken with a premeditated story in mind but it is something which evolves on retrospection.

Would like to hear what does the picture on the left say to you…. does it ? or it is a complete waste of time?

Have been doing some outdoor shoots with Vivek, unfortunately due to model release and commercial usage hassles I cannot as yet publish any of those pictures.

Back from LB2004

Back from the miracle called Linux-Bangalore 2004. Atul and Co (well, really it should be we) know why I am calling this event a miracle!!

Since most of you have already blogged about it I won’t go into the technical/non-personal details of the that except a special mention about the things that we were made to put up with in Herald Harald Welte’s blog. Hopefully all that would be just history as we take lessons from Andrew Cowie who was as enamoured with Swati’s apparel as I was with this notebook + camera carry case. It was indeed a pleasure to talk to him over an informal paper cup of coffee…

Another highlight of the stay in Bangalore was dinner at Shiok with Khader and Mona (thanks 🙂 )

I have uploaded 111 pictures of the event at my site, most of these pictures have been taken by Aasim and thus represent his perceptions and his, at times funny, view point of interest.

We spent an enjoyable weekend in the suburbs of Mumbai catching up with Swati’s long time friend Nandani and Swati’s younger sister.

Lastly it was a relief to come back to the office and find that the sky had not fallen when I was away

Not a baby!

“I am NOT a baby – I am 7 which is closer to 8 9 and 10”

Aasim – when Swati denied him a Wrist-watch

CompactDrive PD7X

Does anyone know where to buy one of these in India – https://shop.store.yahoo.com/insidecomputer/20copd8ipost.html

Surely beats lugging a notebook around to do Image transfers

We will be at LB2004 – will you be?

Things are really at a maddening pace now – Barely 10 days left!!!

[update]
To get an idea how many have agreed to be there – click here
[/update]

This Is Where I Belong

It is barely 7am as I open the door – a light winter rain has just stopped and the farsh is drying off. Everything is deceptively silent. Silent till you realise the what is really missing is just the sound of the traffic and household which drowns the more subtle of the sounds. As soon as I open the door a squirrel greets me with an anticipatory “chuukk”, I walk out and pour water into the bird bath and put some of the favourite stuff for the wildlife around and settle down on the steps to wait for our non homo sapien neighbours to descend.

The Coppersmith is already at his nest building on a nearby tree, with a steady “thuk thuk thuk – thuk thuk thuk” rhythm chipping away small slivers of wood – I once again wonder don’t they get a headache…

First to arrive is my favourite male Magpie Robin and I am greeted with a long “tweeet”, he cocks his head to the side and looks critically at what has been served. He wants to be fussy today – so I toss a cheeseling near my foot, he promptly flies over and grabs it. By now the Muttering Mynas (actually a pair of Bhramini Myna) have arrived and started their customary chattering / muttering punctuated with “trii” and “traa” they will come down only after they finish their commentary. Their muttering is like a call for everyone – soon there is a crowd of 4 Squirrels, a pair of Red Vented Bulbuls, a Little brown dove with her two newly out of the nest babies, the Indian Robin siblings, varying number of common sparrows.

As the competition grows the bolder among them come right up to my feet to beg and are adequately rewarded. In between Swati has quietly joined me. She has with her cups of warm coffee, she is soothingly talking to the birds she knows (yes, unlike me she knows them personally)

The day has begun…

“Under the starry skies – where eagles have flown
This place is paradise – it’s the place I call home”
From: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Here is the mandatory mediocre Diwali picture, Was a single shot 2 second hand held exposure with flash to avoid too much motion blur.

Hope all of you enjoyed (are enjoying) your Diwali

Kid speak – Speechless

Aasim: (bored look) My life is so empty…
We: (eyes wide jaws dropping) Huh, why betaa?
Aasim: I want a brother!
Swati: But you don’t want to share anything with any younger child and if you have a younger sibling you cannot sleep with Mamma when you want…
Aasim: (walking out) Ouf ho, you don’t understand, I want an elder brother!!!