Turning the tables.

One of the most difficult things when traveling is to ask perfect strangers whom you can only communicate with a smile to allow you to take their photograph.  This is one I struggle with and I admire those that can do it with such confidence and ease.  Still I make the effort where I can and have been able to create a few nice portraits.

Today though the tables where turned on me as I and my family visited Chavakkad beach close to our place in Thrissur.  While we were walking the young man standing in the boat decided we would make interesting subjects for his camera and started to snap away.  Me and the boy's just smiled and obliged them then I raised my camera and pointed that I wanted to take there's which they kindly agreed.

Once we reached water side a group of young boy's playing in the surf of the Arabian Sea saw me and singled for me to take their photo.  I caught this one just before they were bowled over by a wave.  Though we good barely communicate they were friendly and played with Cool for a while as he got use to the water.

Now this beach is normally a fisherman's beach yet on the weekends it can be popular.  We generally visit it once while we are here and today was the busiest I have ever seen it.  We arrived late in the day as the sun was starting to set and I saw this wonderful composition of the sun, the fishermen's boat and some young men playing in the waves.

 Before going to the beach we also visited one of the local attractions, The Elephant Fort.  Here there are some 70 + elephants who make their home and are cared for by the mo-huts and sanctuary staff.  These elephants are used in a variety of festivals through out the year and kept in this safe environment when not needed.  The one thing that they warn the visitors of is that even though one can get quite close you must be careful as some are in mustah (or rut) and thus can be unpredictable.  The fellow in the photo below was very popular with those walking by as you can guess why.

Being that it was late in the day we were able to catch a glimpse of some of the grooming and care as they were bathing a number of elephants.  These magnificent animals seemed to be at peace as they laid in the water while they were scrubbed and rubbed down.

While all the other photo's were taken with my Canon 7D I did want to try a shot once again with the iPhone and the Hipstamatic Tintype pak.  I love the retro feel that the last image has.