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Solitude in Mashobra

Anil Advani — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:12:37 +0000

A few days of solitude, setting-up and living at our cottage at Sidhora near Baldian [Mashobra]. Watching the mist and the lovely sunset colors…. Our cottage ~ A Gurudwara at Pinjore ~ The mist at Mashobra ~ The temple at Fagu [2] ~ The temple at Narkanda ~ Plant and rocks on the Narkanda road ~ Pahari [...]

A dram or two or three….

Anil Advani — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:51:35 +0000

Badda as seen from Gulshan at that special time of day… and some Laphroaig to mellow the evening even more. Ahhh! Nice friends to make it even more special……life is sweet. Except for the dust on the sensor… which I just noticed.

2 points of view [or, what does one do after SoFoBoMo is done?]

Anil Advani — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:26:39 +0000

SoFoBoMo is done. Completed on 7th June. The excitement and fun of doing the project have been savoured and enjoyed. So, what does one do now? I re-look at the book critically and want to change a bunch of things. Remove some images, switch a few, add a few, change the layout and book design…. I [...]

In a B&W mood

Anil Advani — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:07:24 +0000

Ok. B&W it is for today. Low light. A small splash of light from an off-camera flash unit….

Blog-hits, surprising stats

Anil Advani — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:48:03 +0000

Looking at the hits stats at my SoFoBoMo blog – the most hits are for the posts that contain phrases like “failure”, “quits”, “SoFoBoMo no-go”, “halt”, “nada” and not for “completed”, “hurray” etc… People look at things differently hmmm…. I guess.

SoFoBoMo book – online

Anil Advani — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:55:52 +0000

SoFoBoMo 2009: A Slice of Life. Its done. You can view it Here at Issuu Or here at sofobomo.org A quick preview of the book is the bottom of this page. Or download the PDF fileand view it at leisure…[right click the link at left, and "save to" your PC] Suggested settings in the PDF viewer are: View->Page Display->Two Up. View->Page Display->Show Cover Page During Two-up. A [...]

The easy part is done [SoFoBoMo]

Anil Advani — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:09:26 +0000

The fun part is over – making images. Processing was a minimal job – converted the RAW files to TIFF in PhotoShop with a slight adjustment of contrast and levels, a bit of sharpening or softening depending on the image, resizing them. Making the final selections and stringing them together with the help of a few [...]

SoFoBoMo Day 4 – Jatrabari bridge

Anil Advani — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 07:44:34 +0000

Day 4: The Jatrabari bridge across the Buriganga river. Drove out to try locate an aea where, apparently, the local Sarees in brightly dyed colors are hung out to dry. I’ve seen these before too and the image in my minds-eye was clear. I was expecting to come across brilliant fabrics in all colors and was excited [...]

SoFoBoMo – day 3 [at the abandoned Rail Yard]

Anil Advani — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:26:49 +0000

Day 3 [at the abandoned Rail Yard]: A commonly used “by-pass” or short-cut to the airport from the city, passes along the rail tracks where many old rusting rail wagons have been used as temporary housing by the homeless… and small “bastis” or make-shift homes made from bamboo, plastic sheeting and thatch had sprung up years [...]

SoFoBoMo [restart] – day 2

Anil Advani — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:39:41 +0000

Day 2: The chicken market in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar area. This market is wholesale veggies, fruit, chicken, goats…. and probably some spices… not sure. Vendors crushing fresh sugarcane for thirsty workers, the sherbet-sellers doing brisk business, “paan” and cigarette vendors carrying trays of their wares slung from straps around their necks. A busy place. And smelly. [...]

SoFoBoMo – Restart day-1

Anil Advani — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:25:22 +0000

Switched my theme. Came back to taking street photos and enjoyed SoFoBoMo day-one to the hilt. The Fish Market at Karwan Bazar opens early morning everyday. A but slushy and smelly but the activity and atmosphere were just great for a early morning photo outing… The fish traders, buyers, helpers, hanger-ons, innocent bystanders, trucks, rickshaws, three-wheelers and [...]

Lucky one

Anil Advani — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:01:45 +0000

A kite outside my window today. Easy one. It just sat on a branch and watched me. Un-bothered by the camera or my presence…. Juvenile Brahminy Kite

nothing nada ziltch

Anil Advani — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:57:03 +0000

Looking at a blank wall as far as SoFoBoMo goes. No ideas. Tried. Did not work. Stuck in a rut again.

Simulating evening light [lack of better things to do]

Anil Advani — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:05:29 +0000

Experimenting with a cool white-balance and warm light source to simulate evening sunlight at a really slow shutter speed to help blur and burn-in the background ambient light. Worked pretty well. Would like to do some portraits [real people] with a similar lighting setup and even move and shake the camera a bit more than I did [...]

Day 7 – struggling

Anil Advani — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:08:55 +0000

Day 7: Sitting out on the balcony enjoying a late afternoon espresso and a ciggy, dozing a bit from indulgence at lunch [after-glow of the Stoli really] this Black-hooded Oriole comes and perches for a bit of evening sun….

SoFoBoMo screeches to a halt

Anil Advani — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:54:08 +0000

Not such a good idea it turned out to be after all….On some days there can be flurry of activity but generally the happenings on the Mango Tree are limited and often nothing exciting happens for days. There is still time to do an about-turn and start another SoFoBoMo project. What will it be? No idea! Need [...]

Diary of a Mango Tree – day 6

Anil Advani — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:05:03 +0000

Day 6: The mangoes survived! And life beyond the mango tree goes on, as usual

Long time no flowers….again.

Anil Advani — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:00:35 +0000

Diary of a Mango Tree – day 5

Anil Advani — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:09:01 +0000

Day 5: Got him! A quick one. Leaves masking him partly but that’s ok. Woke from an afternoon nap to a violent storm raging – horizontal rain and winds probably over 80 Kmph bending the trees half-way over. The storm was over in half an hour though. It almost blew out the bathroom window, which we secured with [...]

Diary of a Mango Tree – day 4

Anil Advani — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:09:33 +0000

Day 4: Pair of Sparrows this morning. The guy was all over the place but this little lady sat still and posed for her portrait.

Diary of a Mango Tree – day 3

Anil Advani — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:27:01 +0000

SoFoBoMo – Diary of a Mango Tree. Day 3: Nothing much really happened on the Mango Tree this morning and there are no visiting birds today either. I take a few photos of the unripe mangoes and call it quits…. Then, at around 8:30am I hear the squirrel. It is back today for a late breakfast! Hmmm, discovered that it [...]

Diary of a Mango Tree – day 2

Anil Advani — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:14:15 +0000

[SoFoBoMo] Day 2 at 5:38 AM I wake early. Draw the curtains and wonder which birds will be visiting the mango tree this morning. The light is low and I see a movement in the branches… a bird? No. It turns out to be a tiny little furry creature who has come looking for breakfast. A little [...]

Possible SoFoBoMo project

Anil Advani — Sun, 10 May 2009 04:52:05 +0000

Time constraint forces me to either abandon SoFoBoMo 2009 or to fit in a fixed small time every morning to be able shoot a few frames and complete the project. The mango tree behind the window gets a few Sunbirds and Sparrows each morning. Sometime a Sunbird chick being trained and fed by its parents…. sometime [...]

NoGo-SoFoBoMo

Anil Advani — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:01:45 +0000

Window of opportunity missed…. Looks like SoFoBoMo drop-out for me.

BALU River trip 1st May

Anil Advani — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:33:13 +0000

A farewell to friends, boat trip down the Balu River at sunset…..

Friday’s birds

Anil Advani — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:41:06 +0000

This Friday’s lazy arm-chair birding…. Sunbirds ~ a Bulbul ~ and a Starling. Made my day!

Over Dhaka

Anil Advani — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:33:46 +0000

Quick ones from the air, coming into land at Dhaka from Chittagong. The city looked pretty nice from up there!

পহেলা বৈশাখ Pohela Boishakh 2009 [1416]

Anil Advani — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:18:35 +0000

SHUVO NOBO BORSHO! It is the 1st day of the first month Baishak year 1416 as per the Bengali calendar. A Happy New Year! Spent the early part of the morning with a group of local photographers hanging-out at Dhaka University and the Institute of Fine Arts [Charukala]. Great festivities and literally millions of people all dressed in [...]

Partly edible partly poisonous – at the crossroad [yet] again

Anil Advani — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:34:56 +0000

SoFoBoMo 2009 Unable to pin down a theme for it….why do I have to go look at the Kari Patta plant each time for inspiration?! Kari Patta [curry leaves] – the leaves are delicious and the fruit is poisonous. Strange!

Inkblue, coffee, four wives and a bit of sun

Anil Advani — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:48:31 +0000

Quick get-away. Perfect.