Conundrums

Nature has always riddled the humans with his own ways in many more ways than one. As someone who likes to imagine and think loud, there are myriad ways to see ,think, record and portray those as vignettes. Nature has always had its own ways of surprising us with its displays , just that we should appreciate its beauty with a rather different eye.

As Ansel Adams says "The only things in my life that compatibly exist with this grand universe are the creative works of the human spirit." it always implies portraying things the way they are not.Or we can say ,expressing them eccentrically.

Some of the pictures below are just my loud imaginations......

A stream flowing in the western ghats along the pebbles and wild grass created a view that if viewed from the top seemed like a portrait of a very old man. The hair and beard turned white due to slow shutter speed and a little blur gave it some unreal lifer. I just made it black n white so it looked more like dumbledore.

Streams and pebbles form amazing contraptions that can be given any shape as desired.Just that we should appreciate things differently.

 

There are some pictures where horror looks beautiful.The rock in above picture looked like a skull to me. Just seemed as if I saw some pillar outside a haunted castle. Again thinking loud , but why not try something different....

 This is a dew drop perched on the tip of a twig.The flash fired left reflection at spots that, to me ,looked like a caricature of a cartoon. With eyes, as reflection of flash, green line between eyes as nose and faint little smile. Well I hope you all don't doubt my rationality , but there are times I just love to think loud.

This is a spider web, that I colored with a flash. The greens of the leaves near the web glowed in a very unconventional way due to the flash and so did the part of the web. I viewed a shape of a person in the left side lighting up the strings or say tinkling the strings.....

Nature always has a way of expressing itself. In a subtle different manner. The contraption of a twig and a creeper in a garden made itself look like a signature of nature.The shapes of 'A' and 'S' that is...

Also there are exclamation marks too....just check out drops of rain sometimes.....here is one...

Wrath can be one more form of nature that can be expressed. The dry trees, leafless branches ,and clouds can be a perfect recipe for such a picture. 

I saw an arm coming out of the earth , showing the mankind the finger, an expression of wrath for all our misdoings. 

This is kind of stuff that everyone perceives with his own unique visions, and everyone has a difference. Every art imitates the natural forms, this is greatness of nature. Just as art and its form vary, so do the expressions and the visions. We just have to know one thing , There are no fixed sermons in stones, we can read and imagine the way we want it to be.........

Signing of for now, in search of more such visions.....

Elephas Maximus

It had always been my desire to photograph wild elephants in jungle since a long time. Though elephants sighting are reported to be comparatively scarce in month of october in yala,yet I had a wonderful rendezvous with a family of elephants and also some solitary bull elephants. The experience of witnessing the behavior of these elephants was truly enchanting and unforgettable.

 

 This bull elephant came to quench his thirst in water body and showed some amazingly slow movements.It would take one feet forward, stop abruptly, again its other foot forward , cling to tree trunk nearby and wait. In between he would dust itself to protect its skin from extreme heat.

 This elephant waited at the same spot for almost forty five minutes before it ventured into the forest shadows. Having observed this elephant's sluggish movements made me feel that this particular bull elephant was extra lazy, but totally carefree as if it had no deadlines to maintain and no stress to encounter.......

In the late afternoon we sighted a family of elephant who were fiddling, eating and may be shaping their young one for the future....

As we moved into other part of the forests in a hope to sight leopards, we lost the track of this particular family. Since elephants normally keep moving ,we again had a sighting of an elephant family may be the same as above or a different set, but as usual it was totally overwhelming to make pictures out of them in diffused evening light and against backdrop of famous elephant rock in yala.....

The camaraderie that the elephant family shows and the way they connect with their young ones just heart touching. Nature always has amazed human beings and taught it some lessons, this one is surely one of it. No other mammal that I've seen displays emotions so splendidly....

Its very interesting to observe how the elephant teaches its young one to relish food and how it has to be plucked and devoured. Elephant normally kicks its feet into grass, loosens the grass' grip in soil and plucks it.....

Even more awe inspiring thing is to observe the herd move, as depicted in one of the pics above, most elephants have the same formation having young ones walking in middle with their baby feet alongside mammoth elephants. Also Elephants are very aggressive in herd specially those who have young ones. It would not be a surprise if elephant charges towards your vehicle or trumpets loudly as elephants get very temperamental since they are protective towards young ones....

one more behavioral habits that elephants shows is the dust bathing. There are many reasons to why they do it viz to create a protective layer on body for protection from insects or cooling their skins etc, but it certainly is a sight to capture.

Amongst the best things to observe in elephants is to watch them run. Its a fact that elephants can run quite fast with respect to their size. There is only one way to describe the running of elephant - Cute. of course if you are not standing in their way. Mammoth guys running parallel to your eyesight , trumpeting and wobbling around is a sight to watch for....

Elephants, are certainly one of those species who have fascinated the mankind since ages, both due to their size and intelligence. I was lucky enough in yala to observe a chunk of their behavior right from the morning to late evenings. I observed them stranded besides a tree trunk and also running around.I observed them solitary and in herds.Certainly a trip to remember and moments to cherish for a long long time.........

Excursion to Siddeshwar

Everyday while traveling to my workplace from home, I used to see a  sprawling waterfall from an appreciable height just outside the outskirts of my town (Alibag). Monsoons bought the life again in the falls and it began to flow in full swing. I had been planing to take a detour towards its base since a long time,but it took a power shutdown of 4 hrs to finally execute it. One should really thank the electricity boards, they have really taken a step to transform the young generations to change them from being couch potatoes.

Siddeshwar is basically a miniature western ghats landscape coupled with a Shiv temple and a fort.It has pristine green covers all over ,with hills beyond and a stream that converts into a huge falls in monsoons. So it can be summarized into what we see in paintings- hills,green scapes ,waterfalls,occasional hut to fill in the puzzle.The place is kind of crowded on shravan somvars (mondays of august) as there is a shiv temple. But mostly people flock here on weekends to the falls for all the kinds of reasons they have.To have a glimpse of the waterfalls from a distance is kind of tough here as the way to approach it is tricky.To reach at its very base ,even difficult.

 

 The base is where the stream from above lands and divided itself vertically to continue its flow deep down. Since there is not a road or a easy path, its tread by only a handful of people.The way towards it is through a small gorge besides the hill on one side and valley towards other. Moss on stones adds up to the difficulty to walk up at the base.

Walking through the dense covers of small trees and perches,climbing from stone to stones, it may certainly be not a arduous trek but still the satisfaction to reach there is immense. To welcome you there is a gentle stream and sprays of water jets reflected from the falls. It really is worth a small trek.

The view from the spot is spectacular and has good scope for photography too. But certainly to carry tripods and dslrs is too tiring here. Glad I was having my mobile to take some snaps.

The winds sway the falling waters in there directions and that creates a different shape altogether,much different from the conventional one.

The dense cover of vegetation around the place has plethora of flora and fauna. Its home to amazing birds like crested serpent eagles, owls,thrushes , shama, oriole, paradise flycatchers ,drongos ,munia you name it. Its also a place where oriental dwarf kingfisher visits every monsoon to breed. But to sight it in this dense cover is another question and photographing it, well you need luck for it.

Wildflowers as in above pic, orchids, mushrooms etc are in plenty here. Also myriad of other flowers and trees which I don't know anything about.I just see ,watch , get surprised and return.

Vegetation is so dense that the light is really low on the ground.The stream flowing nearby, the chirping and incessant calls of the birds around, the croaking of the frogs, create an ambiance that is mystic and certainly one of a kind that will always induce thoughts in your mind to go back in the open. Same happened with me and huge shaking of the nearby tree by some mammal ,still wondering what that was, made sure I went back soon.Not before I clicked a stream flowing nearby and tasting some fresh and cool river water.

I headed back to my home after,happy to enjoy the falls and the ambiance of the untouched,unscathed jungles.It is only at these kind of places that we realize that what amazing places we have near our homes and it just takes a stroll near some hills,some jungles. It also makes us realize how respected and feared even small creatures like scorpions,snakes,crabs etc are. Every step you take induces that thought in you.Above all we realize how our planet before some years was and how it is now. It just takes a stroll into some rarely visited wilderness.......

Light

Says Sven Nykvist,
Light can be gentle, dangerous, dreamlike, bare, living, dead, misty, clear, hot, dark, violet, springlike, falling, straight, sensual, limited, poisonous, calm and soft.

This obviously was put forth for life but is apt for all genres of photography. Light is unarguably the most important element in photography and holds all aces about photography with it. How you play with light shows up in your picture and most important thing that can add that "WOW" factor.

A serene landscape of Tso moriri is an ideal place where the light changes its nature in a little spaces of intervals due to play of winds, clouds and sun. We can get different effects with the diffused light and direct sunlight falling on the lake and hills.

Nature offers plethora of colors as light changes and this change is most evident when we observe the changing colors between dawn and dusk.

There are ways to alter the light artificially but nature does its work best. The pictures show the way how nature has altered the light between sunset and sunrise. The mood and serenity of an image changes drastically with time and light.

Sea scape picture is one more of its kind that used ambient light changes in surroundings to create good pictures.

Similarly composed pictures taken in a span of half an hour shows how light creates visual treats for eyes.

photographing structures in different parts of the day is one more thing where we can portray different moods. This is where the night photography aspect comes into play and we can play around with the artificial lighting to create drama.

Above picture shows the magnetic laboratory in alibag, my hometown. I took this normal picture in evening and tried a kind of long exposure shot some time later to use effect of city lights in background of the structure.

photographing structures ,industries etc in form of silhouettes along with a dramatic background really a recipe for a good picture where the shadows add to the drama in a picture.

clicking the picture of the same industry in night ,creates a magical background of dark blue hues of the skies and the tungsten yellow. Playing more with the light and exposing it for a long time made a trail of the smoke through pillars and movement of the trees.

Better to light your candle than to curse the darkness is true but when it comes to photography,the only candle that we have is nature and we need to learn how to use it for our advantage. 

Here both the candle and the darkness have to be ours and we need to script our story with it........

Wet excursions...

There are some places on earth which are made up only for some specific seasons. Monsoon is a season that probably brings a limelight to places that are least visited during other seasons. One such place I visited a while ago is tamhini ghat.

A part of western ghats ,the place has a characteristic feel of the western ghats with fog,mist,wind and a plethora of combinations of cloud formations.
This is a mystical place in a sense that you are gazing into the vast expanse of the valley with a perfect whiteout for a little while and clear view of what lies beneath in other instant.

A certain reason why people flock here around on weekends is myriad of waterfalls and streams where people can chill out. With absolutely nothing that can stop the incessantly flowing water and rains this place really is mini heaven for nature lovers and is a real stress buster.
A picture showing people chilling out and how nature keeps an eye on us in its unique ways.

For some of us who love to photograph things ,there is a lot to experiment here with streams,stones and their wonderful combinations.A stream flowing ceaselessly amidst all the stones and rubbles always inspiring human nature to keep moving.......

For a change one can try out a hand at candid shots as there are many people wandering around the
vast expanses of the plains of this beautiful place.The mist creates a wonderful mood in the picture below where a couple keeps walking against strong winds......

Being close to metropolitan cities, tamhini ghats is not short of many unnatural structures like towers and electric poles. Creating silhouettes of these structures against the background of mists n clouds gives a wonderful ambience in the pictures. A transmisson tower in between two hills shows a contrast of natural powers and unnatural things.

Monochrome images showing combinations of trees and the ambience of monsoon always has been something different to capture.Monotone is instrumental in giving an enigmatic feel to the images,which this place deserves for sure.Western ghat terrains have always been a delight to visit in monsoons and to photograph them in monotones is really a treat.

Standing trees on cliffs always reminds of some strong men who always stood tall amidst difficult conditions. Nature in itself provides us with innumberable things to get inspiration from. I hope we all oblidge that some day or the other........

Tiger Food

There are things that are analogous between our world and the world of wilderness. Conventional and abundant things are never sought after.Well this is the way the world goes ,and theres nothing one can do about it. The denizen of the wilderness I want to mention here is another such common one.
Its such a satire that this hunted denizen is more of a talk of town and the pictures as well than a living one.What can be more ironic than the fact that I used the name of this blog as tiger food ,but this is the world, you got to have your associations with the stronger ones however good or bad to be in the limelight. Sad but the truth. Anyways introducing you to this common denizen, one of the first that you see inside the park gates is our beloved 'cheetal'.They are so common that they have being listed by IUCN as  least Concern "because it occurs over a very wide range within which there are many large populations".


Entering the gates of a forest reserve in central India viz kanha or bandhavgarh you can find cheetals in herds. Most of them who are near the track just run helter skelter on finding a gypsy running through the tracks. Most are happy amidst the shrubs ,behind foliage chomping wild stuffs.

  Looking at cheetal by a photography perspective can give you some amazing frames and some moments too. Being ubiquitous is actually an advantage from our POV as we can experiment a lot on them and get some good ones. This can actually be fruitful while we are waiting for the elusive things of the wilderness.

 

Most of the times ,cheetals occur in herds of ten to fifty individuals of both sexes. Their pinkish brown coat and the backgrounds of the forests is an awesome sight to the eyes.

I find the meadows in kanha a very good place to photograph cheetals,reason simply being the fact that the wide expanse if meadows keep them away from the vehicles and still they are sighted in clear and without foliage.Its a sight to see these creatures calm and in peace here enjoying among themselves,carefree yet vigilant enough to keep an eye on the predators.

A resting fawn, cheetals percieve it as a sign of safety ,we look at it as dismay since there is no on around :)

A little call from a langoor or by their own primate is enough to make them run around. These meek creatures show a graceful run mixed with strides and gallops running around the meadows.



And here is why we see such a large number of these denizens around in forests.

I really hope the world outside and world of wilderness are never analogous to each other. We all should always be sympathetic towards all in the jungles. That will be by essence ,the true love for wildlife........

Drizzles..

On a dull rainy day,while am just sitting on my couch and suddenly the DTH  loses its reception there is nothing but sulking that comes to my mind.Thinking of what to do I just grab my cam and go out in my yard to find if there is anything eyecatching.
Of all the natural phenomenons rains are something that bring a change in the ambience much drastically. :) Even simple drops on leaves and flowers, the incessant chirps n hums of birds n bees just create an ambience that is unmatched and create a good opportunity for pics.
Frankly speaking rain is something that can put off all your plans of getting out for some action,but for some kind of shots you would actually prefer to be inside your comforts.
Here are two of those I got from my window.

 As longfellow says, "The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain." we just need to be calm and let it be.We just need to use our resources to the full and go on. Sometimes this is the most amazing part about rain.That you dont need to move out actually can be at your advantage.:)

who says only humans are eligible to enjoy rains!!!!. Even the smallest of the creatures take the chance to dance and celebrate. This is a picture of small insects that look like mosquitos humming over a perch amidst rains.

You pray for rain, you got to deal with the mud too. That's a part of it. isnt it? Denzel washington says it just right. After the rains pour out and take a breather we must really be ready to get out feet dirty to go in.

A petal fell on its plant's leaf ,drops on it just ready to wither away and fade. Guess this is just the way life goes.Some people walk in the rain. Some just get wet. petal chose an easy way it seemed.
we all have out options open.
Its just a thing like this......If you want a rainbow you should be amidst rains...............