SepiaSet

Photos: Visit to the Battersea Zoo #photography #zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Sat, 15 May 2010 08:47:00 +0000

This is my offering to the photography gods. You have to realise that I took 300 pics, so have had to cull brutally :). Here is the slideshow with bigger resolutions and more photographs.

Directions to the zoo and the entrance.

The no entry sign was propped up on the cycle path sign. I wasn't sure if the sign was for no biking or the left or right path.

A tale of two sides to one road. Rows of lovely tall trees. Rows of ugly ass plastic warning cones.

Battersea Park, a lovely woodland scene.

Papa tree and baby tree?

Curiously shaped trunk.

Oh! I dont know!

Butterfly banquet but no butterflies I am afraid.

The bear family Robinson.

Goats have en evil look, i think its because of their strange eyes and horns.

But then you have these lovely potbellied Vietnamese pigs. Strangely human like faces even if a bit hirsute.

This was one of the cutest horses that I have seen, tiny.

Big balls of fluff, although those big red eyes are a bit dodgy..

What a job!, the lady has to go around picking up donkey, pig and horse poo. Well, I suppose it pays the bills and improves character..

This hare like creature was seriously disturbing. This fellow sat there very still and looked at me with a basilisk stare for over 5 minutes. OK OK.

How about these emu’s? I caught one blinking. Now that’s a scary looking picture. Zombie emu’s in London. Sounds like a D grade horror movie from the 50’s. Those eyes remind me of eagle eyes as well, lol.

No animal/zoo post can be without the proverbial feathered flying rats.

These are love birds, very sweet :) The two in the middle are called as Dolly and Bert :).

Lovely flowers.

I just love Meer cats :) Their inquisitive curious faces are just brilliant. Wotcha doing there?

That’s mine, bugger off, its very tasty indeed.

New and old ivy growth.

Self grooming.

Then we have a fight between two donkeys. No prizes for guessing who is the male.

Giant Land Snails. The damn things were longer than my forearm. But should be quite tasty lightly cooked with some Tabasco :)

The creature from the red lagoon.

I didn't manage to capture what Bob or Luca did, but i got eating, drinking and sniffing shots.

They look so miserable. Well, so would I be if I was to be left out in the cold, wet, dingy place and given a mange tout for lunch.

Hello there!

The Sepia Set hardcore lot.

A croaking turtle

The birthday bricks.

A Buddha Pavilion outside the zoo, extraordinary.

Lovely lamp posts on the Chelsea Bridge Street Lights. What’s with the ship? And the winged bull on the shield?

This is a military memorial to the officers and men of the VI Dragoon Guards who died during the South African War of 1899-1902. Most wars are frankly stupid, but this war was particularly stupid, not one of our finest hours I am afraid. Particularly ironic to see this memorial here.

I am not sure that I will use that estate agent.

There be dragons in Battersea, sitting on top of houses.

We had lunch at a pub which as Bob mentioned, is a Japanese landmark. Women wearing formal kimono’s, a whole bunch of Japanese women, all frantically clicking photographs of the pub. Extraordinary.

Having lunch in the pub.

Fair few bottles there.

A whole load of elephants

Chocolate cake called as Assisted Suicide. Brilliant. lol

Interesting statues.

Butterflies on the wall.

Visit to Hamptons Court Palace

noreply@blogger.com (shashank) — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:46:00 +0000

Folks,

Am attaching some snaps taken during a visit to the Hampton's Court Palace, one of the royal palaces of England. Thankfully this was a bright sunny day before we were unleashed with the current chilly spell.

Unfortunately this is my first attempt at uploading snaps on this blog and must admit I am still technologically not savvy and took some time to get used to this.

Do give your comments.

Cheers,

Shashank

Battersea Park Childrens zoo, in the Rain and in the cold

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:44:00 +0000

Finally after a couple of months on inactivity the Sepia Set go out for another day of photography. Let's just check the weather- Overcast......Wet.........Cold ......... Yep same as usual.

This time we had some friends with us from Delhi so this was a new experience for them as Delhi is not Overcast, wet or cold.

So we set off...straight for the coffee shop – did I mention the weather? Then fully caffeined up we go in search of BD – we eventually found him in the cage with the bears – see earlier blog. We then realised that we had forgotten something we were going to a children’s zoo with no children! Too late now and as we are a bunch of big kids did it matter anyway. So in we went.

The zoo had the usual victims waiting to be terrorised by over- enthusiastic youngsters – Pigs, donkeys, goats –it all made Jitesh quite homesick – rabbits, guinea pigs etc. Plus the standard empty cages which seem to exist in every zoo. The ferrets were nowhere to be seen – probably because it was cold.

Then on to the more exotic animals and more photo opportunities. BD seemed worried that the glass plates in his DSLR might be over exposed (by the overcast sky).

So what did we see...

Emus – with Dennis Healey’s eyebrows

Sensible Meerkats – keeping warm under a lamp......Simple!

Nosey Meerkat wondering where the other boot was

Inquisitive Meerkat (Alexander) searching for the other boot

Nosey Coatis

A Ring Tailed Lemur

And finally a mouse hiding warm and cosey in the other boot hoping that the meerkats don’t find him. FYI - the other photos of mice were censored, they were also busy keeping warm.

On one side of the zoo was this birthday brick wall making a colourful montage.

After the zoo we walked up to Sloane square for lunch in the Queens Head – full of Japanese tourists as it had appeared on National TV in Japan. Then for a short walk when we saw a number of Elephants – there are apparently 260 of the across London for the next month raising money for Charity.

So that was it...........another day in the life of the Sepia Set. Enjoy the photos below, they are in a random order.

Team visit to Battersea Childrens Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (jiteshkv) — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:50:00 +0000

It was a cold rainy Saturday morning...but the kids seem very happy!

We were wondering and were not very sure if we should go and see the childrens zoo, considering all of us considered ourselves adults! After doing lot of deliberations, we decided to go ahead. The sight welcoming us was wonderful with some really good bears on display.

And some black sheeps too....

These sheeps looked really concerned and were pondering over serious issues like climate change and stuff.

Came across a very happy looking monkey cum bear that appeared to be excited about a red tractor!

Suddenly an angry pork charged at me shouting choicest of abuses...it appears this pork found out that I have developed a fondness for roast pork belly and I have it almost everyday for lunch. It was a now or never matter for this pork to save it's kind from me!

Then we met this strange looking pony...appeared to be a cross between a donkey and unicorn! But had beautiful eyes.

Shveta checking out the age of the animal...
And a very old rabbit...or so it seems. It was not very keen on meeting people and was enjoying a nice warm cuddle in the cold.

The Lindt bunny was also on display!

Had never thought in my wildest of dreams that I'll go and see a donkey at a zoo...these animals (including cows, pigs, sheeps etc.) are a part of general road traffic in India. I remember last December when FMB was meeting at GFC, the admin team took great pains to ensure no pigs and cows are found visiting the primises...but here you'd need to go to a zoo to get a glimpse of these endangered species! Wonder of wonders...should I envy the donkey!

And a beautiful ostrich with shining eyes (could give volunteers on HSBC marketing posters a competition).

Some meerkats from comparethemeerkat.com (pls excuse the funny colors...these meerkats were standing in a red 'limelite' and thanks to my camera for the yellow on red)

Some serious strategising and contemplation happening!!

And I missed the shot of a running 'big foot'...just when I thought I had the million dollar pic, the creature simply ran away...but you can see the foot prints...

Check out the lady's expression...and the kids too...seems like 'big foot' doesn't come here too often...might be one of those rarest of rare visits...

And this monkey couldn't stop himself from similing all the while...giving a new meaning to 'say cheese'...

It was time to go and all these bears were very happy to see us leave...waved us good bye and hoped we never come back!

And we called it a day at the pub!

Photos of Squirrels in the Serpentine

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 07:44:00 +0000

There were grey squirrels running around the entire park, they just look so cute. Here’s the full slideshow with higher resolutions.

Photos of Serpentine Lake Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 09:13:00 +0000

I am not an ornithologist by any stretch of imagination. I usually look at birds from the perspective of how they will look on my plate or how should I cook them. But still, saw several different types of birds at the Serpentine. Here’s the full slide show with bigger resolutions. Some of the expressions were truly humanlike.

Those beady eyes were eyeing me inquiringly like. Well? are you excited to see me or is that bread in your pocket? Dig it out, dude.

Such a shady character, just look at that sly expression.

Busy busy busy, places to go, seeds to peck

Get a move on!

They look so regal and majestic, no?

No respect from these damn seagulls for the Royal Parks Constabulary!

Nor do the Horse Guards get any respect from these feathered rats.

Peck Peck Peck, they seem to be doing synchronised pecking.

Flock of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull?

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:38:00 +0000

Flying birds at the Serpentine. I dont think it requires any comments. Here’s the full slideshow in larger resolution.

Photo Essay: The surroundings of the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:06:00 +0000

There’s this fascinating touristy event happening in London called as the Changing of the Guard. The Queen’s house is the Buckingham Palace and she needs a fair few soldiers to guard her. But a soldier cannot live by guarding alone, so you need to rotate them regularly. Hence Changing of the Guard. You can click on the link to see good photographs and a bit of a background to this fascinating exercise, but i wanted to see people taking in this event. So I took some photos and down to the Serpentine. Mainly trying to figure out what the hell does “making a difference” mean in terms of a photography competition which the firm is running. Here’s the full slideshow.

Chasing the ladies

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:21:00 +0000

It's official. I am a technology retard.

You would not believe the amount of time it has taken me to simply upload a couple of pictures to this flaming blog and comment on them...Facebook it ain't.

Let's start with chasing little old ladies. Doesn't everyone?

I was hiding behind trees and all sorts trying to get just one decent shot of these two together. And this isn't it.

Loving editing my photos afterwards by the way. So what if you don't believe the grass was actually this green (clearly, it wasn't)...Changing the hue is crap whenever you have a face in the frame because everyone goes bright pink, but when their backs are turned, I say it is fair game. Take that, purists!

The next fella, well, all I can say is he was HUGE. My photo doesn't really do him justice (no pun intended). In colour, he's wearing the standard-issue neon yellow jacket which was clashing with Buckingham Palace in the background and the gold of the gates - what do you think of the pic in B&W?

And then we have annoying, albeit cute, children hailing bread down upon unsuspecting ducks and pigeons. Not so much "Making a difference" (as was the photography theme of the day) rather "Causing an avian hemorrhage".

Calm now you may say, but poised for attack...

And a fat duck. Not from Bray.

Highlight of the day was the Baileys the waiter put in my hot chocolate at Henry's near Green Park. Awesome. Still more work to do on better photos. I keep showing up to our gatherings so watch this space for improvements.

Photo Essay: Patisserie Valerie: A Place where the Gods enjoy pastries

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:49:00 +0000

Patisserie Valerie is a wonderful pastry shop and cafe in London. It makes the most amazing pastries and cakes. Great weddings have great wedding cakes from here.

Even the statue on top of the building looks like its been made out of chocolate!

We went in there twice and both times, the queue to get a table was soooooo long. So took some pics and i am still drooling at them. Here is the full slide show. Here are some of the nice pics of this Mecca of effervescent desserts.

Watch and drool…

Photo: Champagne

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:27:00 +0000

I know this is slightly blurred and out of focus but figured that the juxtaposition of slight blur and 3 bottles of magnum champagne was appropriate :)

The Godfather making an offer I cannot refuse

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:50:00 +0000

Photos of Tower Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:52:00 +0000

This set of photo’s belong to the old favourite, Tower Bridge. Slide Show here.

The bridge itself from the south bank of the Thames

The top of the south end of the bridge, warders would stay here.

the north end of the bridge

the main north tower. The two top blue passageways are used for parties. Pretty interesting place to have a glass of wine and look up and down river, specially during the night.

the shield of the UK

top of the tower.

entering the main tower.

this, believe it or not, is one of the tributaries of the Thames. its not a sewer.

The London Thames river police and traffic control post.

An ugly ass gargoyle peeking out.

The underside of the bridge

The south main tower. People frequently dont realise that this is a suspension bridge, these blue giant steel bits are actually cables which are hung on the main towers and support the bridge by pulling it up. So more weight you put on the bridge, it becomes stronger..sortta.

Two other intrepid members of the SepiaSet.

Photo Essay: Hays Galleria

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:41:00 +0000

We decided to meet up at the Hays Galleria as we thought (ha!) that it would be a nice covered place, out of the cold, and we can have the cup of coffee and have a chat. Bad mistake, damn place was freezing. Here is the slide show.

The chap seriously looked like a wasp. With that segmented body and colours.

Damn feathered flying rats were also feeling the cold. Just look at the beady eye of the chap on the right.

Framed by the umbrella and the barrier.

Some weird ass sculpture which is supposed to signify an ocean going galleon. Very confusing. Doesnt speak to me. Anyway…

Photo Essay: Cold People and Animals

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:35:00 +0000

This set relates to the bunch of cold people and animals around London Bridge. Here is the slide show.

It was piled up THAT high

Windy city

All in a twirl, and in the far distance, you see a photograph of a polar bear. The bear would not have felt out of place in this cold area.

Leaping about

Black and white

A rather miserable looking snowman

Pointer with hair blowing down wind.

I still cannot understand how their jeans stay up when the damn waistband is at the bottom of their buttocks. Its called as a waistband for a reason, you twits.

Ouch, that would have hurt

Mommy!!!, look!

I love you SOOOOOO much…

It has started snowing…people looking miserable but some people and their tastes….heh

Photo Essay: Borough Market

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:57:00 +0000

After damn near freezing to death, we needed something nice and warm, so headed off to the Borough Market. This is a lovely market with a cornucopia of food, wine and great delicatessen. And tourists love it. Quite a bohemian and hopping look to it. Here is the full slide show.

First comes the bread shots, they just look so gorgeous.

Then comes the cheese, they look just brilliant and tasted great as well.

Then comes the pies.

And then the meat:

The pig’s head looks curiously very happy and contented. I am sure I would not have the same expression if I was gazing on my various body parts and legs arrayed in front of me.

Then this was funny. I looked up to see a damn red cow peeking through the window!

Some advertising thingiemabob. Pretty eye catching..

Photo Essay: London Bridge Buildings & their architecture

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:48:00 +0000

This was a seriously bad decision, to go about taking photographs when it was bitterly cold, windy and next to the river. We were frozen solid, but still went ahead taking pics. As usual, I have divided up the whole load into sets. This one relates to photos of the buildings. Here’s the slide show.

The First Post

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:03:00 +0000

The "Arrival"

As a blog virgin this is a new experience - a whole new world, with new horizons and opportunities opening up before me. So here goes……..

We collected outside the underground station with bated breath as each of us steadily arrived. Bd with his brand new lens and Katie with her new camera, collected from the post office 3 hours earlier a fully charged battery and no SD card – Bd to the rescue from somewhere in the depths of his back pack a spare SD card magically appears.

Like Bd this was only my second outing with my new camera the Canon S90. However unlike Bd I am hanging onto the view that “size doesn’t matter – it is what you do with it that counts”, and have found that the S90 is “Compact but beautifully formed”. Not for me the prospect of lugging around multiple kilos of Camera bodies, lenses, flashes, tripods……. Etc. the S90 fits neatly in my pocket enabling me to achieve the first rule of photography “have your camera with you”. For me this is key and whilst with a 200mm lens on a DSLR you can covertly photograph the nasal hair of the man across the street innocently minding his own business – this is far, far, outweighed by the benefits of being able to slip the camera away into the folds of a jacket.

To the main event – a Saturday morning in Covent Garden three weeks before Christmas. A sobering event to any grown man, BUT we are not shopping and this made all the difference.

We finished our drinks, resolved to meet up in an hour and scattered to the four corners of the garden each setting off purposefully with the aim of capturing the perfect moment………..

So…. what to capture?

The "Artistes"

The Invisible Man - Clever but not attracting the crowds

Gold staue however was a continuous draw - especially to the young and the young ladies. This girl's expression says it all.

Is this any job for a grown man - to sit in a box with face make up, pretending to be a dog ?

Whatever your views the children enjoyed it. I especially liked the way I caught the flash on the lady's camera.

Mont Martre comes to Covent Garden.

This was my favourite artist. The eyes especially came to life as he sculpted from the photo in the background.

The "Atmosphere"

A small attempt to capture the atmosphere....

The tourist

The People

The Food & the Colour

The Reindeer

The "Arty"

I did cheat here - I saw these on my way to the underground so they are not strictly "Covent Garden" - but they are very close!

The “Analysis”

We all had a good morning, Patrick Litchfield won’t lose any sleep but we all had a good go and achieved some pleasing if not earth shattering results. Luca had a couple of really nice compositions ready to show us, but I suspect that he spent his last 10 minutes photo-shopping on his laptop – and we had come out to get away from shopping! They were good shots none the less.

The morning was a great opportunity to stop and to step out of time with the express purpose of pitting yourself against, people, composition and light.

To top it all we finished with CPs – that can’t be bad.

Covent Garden - Part 2 IT IS ALL TICKETYBOO!

noreply@blogger.com (Funkycolors Production) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:53:00 +0000

..you would reasonably expect that as part of a group of 4 strongly willed (but not equally gifted) photographers unleashed in the side-streets of Covent Garden I would come out with lots of shots of unusual sights ..... and here you are .... a few of the very MOST usual sights of Covent Garden!

...and more coming.... but do not hold your breath

funkycolors

Photo Essay: Covent Garden, London, BD, Dec 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:40:00 +0000

So I finally took my new Canon-500 out for a test ride. The light was reasonably good and sunny from 1115 to noon but then it became the usual gloomy London self. Anyway, took about 100 pictures. And then thought of 5 themes and then deleted with a vengeance. So here are the photos.

#1. The Waiting Men

I noticed several men just hanging around. What was interesting was their totally blank faces, obviously waiting for their significant others to turn up after shopping. Except for one chap who was sitting and spotted me taking his photo. Just look at their expressions, bored, resigned, tired, in their own worlds.

Here’s the slide show.

#2. The Cornish Pasty

We were up in the 1st floor of the Cornish Pasty place and took some photographs of the wooden panels and nice areas. This time, i applied some grey scaling to some of the photos.

The first one was normal colour while the second one, of the same area but without the people, was grey scale. The shadows were interesting to me. Looked almost like one of the old Japanese style inns.

The grey scaling seems to have brought out the interplay of lights and shadows on the left. On the right hand side is a wood panelled window. Highly polished, reflecting the sunlight, the grain of the wood was shown a bit. Not one of the best efforts, as it seems.

The slide show here.

#3: The Photographers

Here’s some photo’s of us horsing around. As you can see, everybody is all nicely dressed up as a nerd except for Bob who looks like a photographer.

Luca explaining something complicated to Katie
Faffing around with the cameras

Me taking a pic of Luca who is taking a pic of me and then Bob is taking a pic of Luca while Katie is digging into her camera..

#4: Covent Garden Sights

Now some photographs of odd sod bits that caught my eye. Not sure

Nice pink cheeks, a smiling copper, sunshine.

Grey colours, the sandstone pink shades were not coming out at all, and this was at full zoom.

The NHS are with you, a car and 2 bikes. Nice splash of colour.

Looking up to a set of Christmas decorations and looking down at an opera singer singing for dosh. She had nice hair, but a regretfully empty donations bowl.

Collections of chocolate covered raisins, road dividers and race marshals.

Rows of empty chairs

All over the place

You will meet a tall, dark stranger…and the funny fat old moustachioed bloke next to you taking pictures is a very smart handsome man who is tall and dark….

The slide show in slightly bigger resolution.

#5 Colours

Despite the horrible weather and light, I got some very good pictures of colours. No need to describe them hopefully.

The slide show.

There is so much to learn, Luca and Bob are light years ahead of me. Its the composition which is important and as you can make out, we see the same subject and then come up with totally different views. Absolutely amazing.

Background to the formation of Sepia Set

noreply@blogger.com (Bhaskar Dasgupta) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:32:00 +0000

So we were sitting around in the office shooting the breeze and started talking photographs, cameras and the like. Personally speaking, I have been interested in photography before but it was more of the point and shoot type using the mobile. More enthusiasm rather than skill, if you know what I mean. Even explored joining a photography class but the timing wouldn’t work at all.

Suddenly the brainwave struck, we should get together, take pictures, have beers, learn from each other, have beers, comment/critique each other’s work, have beers, share tips on lenses, storage, photoshop, have beers, and generally have fun.

The first session was held yesterday at Covent Garden. So we sat at Cornish Pastries and insisted Katie name our group because our ideas were seriously suckalicious. So she came up with the name Sepia Set. Sepia = CP = Cornish Pasties, geddit? Ok ok, so sue us.

We will be uploading our pictures which we think are suitable and looking for comments.