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.

Photographing an Indian Catholic wedding.

We came to India to attend my wife's niece's wedding next Thursday.  So it was a bit of a surprise when we were told yesterday that her 2nd cousin was getting married today just down the road.  The big difference between the two are today's is a traditional Catholic ceremony while next weeks is a Hindu one.

Now while people might be surprised that there are Catholics here in India, one only has to remember that St. Thomas came a shore here in Kerala (in fact we will be visiting a 2000+ year old church tomorrow).  Thus this region had a strong Christian faith with a couple of denominations.  So it was interesting that even though the ceremony was carried out in Malayalam I was able to follow along pretty easily as the ritual for weddings are pretty much the same here as in North America.  Other than a few small added cultural aspects I found that I was able to position myself well to get some pretty nice photo's.  Here are a selection from the day, all where shot with the Canon 7D except the last one which I used to iPhone with the tintype pak on the Hipstamatic app.

Update on the rain chains.

The other day I posted an image of the rain chains and drain.  A few people commented to what they wanted to know how they worked.  Well today the water tank on the roof started to overflow and so the water started to come through the down spout.  Since I had shared the bottom portion the other day, I felt it was best to show the top.  As you can see, the chains work quite well in containing and directing the water.  I also posted a video to my Tumbler that you can find at http://patricksk.tumblr.com/post/40235659054/wondering-how-the-rain-chains-worked-water-tank  I hope you find it interesting.

As we walked between houses I again found some new flowers as well as some berries.  These were shot with the Canon 7D and the 24-70 f2,8.  No extension tubes were used this time.

A little break yesterday, back today.

One of the things we take for granted living in Canada is the abundant supply of energy.  When we lose power it is generally due to some sever weather related incident.  However her in India it is an everyday affair.  With more than one billion citizens the demand is far greater then supply.  So twice a day there is a schedule black out for 1/2 an hour.  This generally helps to prevent bigger, longer outages and allows one to schedule around these events.

Yesterday though was one of those where the power was out for an extended time.  It was not a big deal for me as I can get by without the internet and other electrical devices for a day.  My boy's though had a little rougher time as though they were able to entertain themselves the heat was more of a problem.  Now while we don't have AC there are a number of ceiling fans that do the job nicely.  Without them though and temperatures above 34C it was a challenge.  Needless to say when the power came on late in the afternoon none of us had much energy to do much of anything.  I did share yesterday's photo's on the different social media sites, but I took a break from writing here.

So I share photo's from yesterday and today in this post.  The first two here are of my wife's niece Divya who is also here for the wedding.  She bought a new skirt today and was so thrilled to show it off.  She looked cute and I decided to take some photo's for here.  The light coming through the windows was  wonderful and she had taken this pose as she was going to demonstrate a dance for us.  I had her hold the pose and made some minor adjustments to capture this wonderful photo.

I combined two more photo's of her using Frametastic on the iPhone.  I had shot the original photo's with the Canon 7D and uploaded them to my computer.  After some minor adjustments I downloaded them to the iPhone and combined one portrait photo and one of her dancing in to this diptych. 

These three images where shot yesterday just around the exterior of the house.  My wife had taken her parents and friend in to town and I was home during the power outage taking care of Cool and Luke.  All of the photo's were taken with the 7D, however the first one I did manipulate in Snapseed after I brought it back into the iPhone.  It is of the chains that hang from the down spouts on the house to direct the rain in to the drains.  I had positioned the camera near to the chains and used narrow depth of field to give a perspective I liked.  In Snapseed I know one of the grunge styles would enhance and help with the interest, giving it a more pleasing tone that I really liked for the photo.

Today I was able to get away from the house myself for the first time as I went into Thrissur with my brother-in-law and a couple of other relatives so they could do some shopping.  So while the girls shopped, Wilson and I walked around the centre grounds where the annual Thrissurporam festival takes place each spring.  At this time some 60 - 80 elephants converge on the plaza an a ritual that dates back centuries.  No while this event is a long ways off, they do still have some elephants on the temple grounds.  Here I captured one shot as well as a photo of one of the trucks used to transport the elephants to various festivals.

This photo is a semi-panoramic of State Highway 22 on our way in to town.  This is actually one of the quieter stretches but gives you a bit of the perspective of the roads here.

On our way in we had to make a short stop and while I was waiting I noticed this gentleman cutting iron rods at a metal works business.  What struck me is how he would be doing this with no safety equipment of any kind.  I know this is common over here, but would not be tolerated in Canada.

The final shot here is an iPhone image of one of the bigger shopping complexes in Thrissur.  There are five levels but only two elevators in the building.  This one in the centre court was decorated as was the walls on the side.  I like the perspective and look I was able to achieve and enhance using Snapseed.

A bit of a shift in style.

I have noticed a tiny shift in style as I move forward in the New Year.  In 2012 I did most of my shooting with the iPhone and then post processed using Snapseed.  In doing so I found that I would use filters more freely as they seemed to suit the subject mater, style and the iPhone look.

However since I have been in India and using my Canon 7D as the camera of choice I have found that I have had a shift in my thought process.  Maybe it is due to the sharpness of the images from the DSLR that I have elected to do minimal post processing on images shot with it.  This is not due to a difference between computer and apps, in fact quite the opposite.  My work flow generally sees me bring the files in to the computer where I might make some minor adjustments to exposure, contrast and saturation.  I then resize my chosen images so they can easily be uploaded to my iPhone.  From there I do open them with Snapseed but this is to add a frame as I feel this does finish the image.

Another factor in completing this process is that it makes it easier to share to Instagram, Tadaa, Streamzoo, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Google+; Pheed and a few other sites I share with.  If I had stuck just uploading from the computer this process would be a long one.

This does not mean I am abandoning my iPhone as a tool.  It is just an adjustment to how the different cameras give me different looks and allow me to have a wide variety of creative options.  I used the Hipstamatic app for the first and third images as the tintype look was something I wanted for both shots.  You can see a different feel between the photo's of the Auto Rickshaw drivers in the two photo's below.

However for this photo of the Che Guevara poster I did choose to use a filter native to the Instagram app as it gave me a grittier look that I felt suited the photo.  It is interesting when one sees such an iconic image portrayed over here especially when you come from North America where he is less revered then he is here in Kerala.

All the final photographs here were taken with the 7D with only minor enhancement having been done.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog post I do these changes because of aesthetics.  To me it just helps to make a stronger photo.  It was when I was looking at these and my photo's from the past week that I noticed this subtle shift in style.

A second look.

Sometimes when you are around a place for a while one has to take another look at what is around them.  We have been home in India for a week now and I have walked the same paths many times.  The first number of days things just jumped out at me and I was able to snap at leisure.  Now as I see the same thins I need to look a little deeper, a second look so to speak.

As I walked around our house on the hill I spotted a couple of flowers I had not seen earlier.  The first was easily recognized as a type of Bird of Paradise.  The challenge here was to isolate it from a busy background as well as the side of the house.  I like the way this composition turned out.

I then found this flower around the front of the building and was attracted to it's unique look.  One of the challenges is identifying the species of all the flowers here.  Unfortunately my relatives can't seem to help with this so I will have to work on this when I return home.  What caught my eye here was the bloom and the bud right next to it that will more likely be in flower tomorrow.  Both of these were shot with the Canon 7D, downloaded and re-sized to upload on to the iPhone for the framing in Snapseed and then shared online.

Looking back at the house I saw this wonderful reflectionin the window that shows what our view is like.  This photo was done with the with the iPhone and post processed using some of Streamzoo's features.

As I was walking down the hill form our house I noticed this sign for the electrical system.  It allowed me to record the actual name of the district where we are located as well as show the only protection from the danger above. One of those distinct differences between Canada and India.

Colourful India.

One of the nice things I can do through my blog is not only share photographs but experiences as well. Although I don't share every detail of my life here I do let you get to know me, my environment and my family.  Now we are in India where my wife is from visiting family and to attend a wedding.  We also have a house here that we built on her land where she grew up.

Now one thing about this country is that it is very colourful. From the clothes to the buildings to the insects.  I found this interesting little fellow just outside our door and was taken by the colour and the design on it's back.  For these two shots I put one of the extension tubes on the 24-70 f2.8 with the Canon 7D.  I had the lens resting on the ground just inches from this bug and had the settings at f11, 1/200 sec and 1250 ISO.  I had to manually focus and move in and out until I achieved critical focus.  Fortunately it was not bothered by me and remained fairly motionless.  I was very happy with the results.

I then hovered above him, moving my lens in and out until I got focus.  This was hard to do hand holding and why I had chosen the faster shutter speed. I guess the design on it's back resembling a face is used to ward of predators.

We attended Sunday mass this morning at one of the local parishes named Little Flower Church.  This colourful church was posted in an earlier blog and today I was able to capture a few details.  Now for those who are unfamiliar with the Southern state of Kerala, there is a large christian population here.  St. Thomas visited the region before he was killed near Goa 2000 years ago.  Unlike the churches in North America they are generally brightly painted and Little Flower Church is Purple and Pink.  While listening to the mass in Malayallam (the state native language) I noticed this little figure on the wall for the Holy water.  When services were over I moved in for this close up using the iPhone.

Something new to the compound that was not here when we visited 18 months ago was this statue in the courtyard.  Adorned with flowers and shaded by an umbrella I angled the iPhone to make this capture.

Up at our house on the hill I also made a couple of photo's  This one here were of some leaves that I really liked the pattern of.  This time I did not want the colour to over power the design so I chose the Hipstamatic app with the BlacKeys film that I am very familiar with.  Again it achieved the look I was going for.

These final two images where some photo's of some of the large variety of fruit that we have on the family property.  Above are a bunch of young bananas looking up at them just a few feet above my head.  Then I went to the roof and found these papaya.  Add to this mangoes, coconuts, black pepper, rubber and a number of other plants we have a nice variety of produce on the land.