5 Important things to note for Professional photographers !

It's long since I updated this blog. But have been constantly going through a lot of blog posts that talk about tips on photography for beginners. Many of them are really useful and unfortunately there are some of them which are really sickening. Just wanted to add some of my thoughts on them, especially in a reverse way - notes to professional photographers.

1. Please don't say "A Camera doesn't matter".

This is the most misguiding comment from people who call themselves professionals. Off late I'm able to read a lot of blogs by professionals who keep saying "The equipment I use doesn't matter. My eye is the best camera." I do accept that human eyes are the best optical systems in the world. But that's not sufficient to produce a photograph. In one of the interviews director Balu Mahendra said, "Did anyone of you ask Kannadasan what pen did he use for his poems? Then why are you asking me what camera I use?". If you want to debate in that manner, I would firmly answer his question, "Kannadasan don't need a pen or any other equipment to pour out his thoughts. He can simply say it and it can reach other people (at least one who stands near by). The quality is going to be the same whether he writes it or not. Can you produce a photograph without any equipment?". I do accept that a good photographer can come out with something creative even with a 2 MP phone camera. But that's definitely not sufficient for someone to learn photography. At a very minium you need a camera which supports manual settings. Accept that the quality of your photograph depends "also" on your equipment and please educate others that each camera/lens has its own purpose, which you would've learnt from all your great experiences.

2. Please don't say "Everyone with a DSLR call themselves a photographer".

What's wrong in that? Photography can be a hobby, passion or profession. It all depends on the person who does that. Who are you to comment on them? None is born as a professional. People can learn only as much as they get used to it and expose it. I read in one of the blogs where the writer has mentioned, "Just because the technology has improved so much and the equipments have become cheaper and you can buy a DSLR, if you call yourself a photographer, what are we who spend so much money, time and learning ?". This shows absolute egocentrism and resentment that is a result of not being ready to accept the reality. I spent around 15000 Rupees to buy a 5 MP 3x Zoom point-and-shoot camera 10 years before. Now a camera with that configuration might cost you just 2500 or 3000 Rupees. For that I cannot keep criticizing people today who have got a better camera for the same cost. You have all the rights to comment on someone's photograph (that's what every budding photographer expects) but not on someone's photography.

3. Please don't say "Zoom or mega pixels is not important".

This is again very much misguiding. If zoom is not important, why should the wildlife photographers use these ultra-expensive lenses for their coverage? As I said earlier, each equipment has its own purpose. May be the zoom is not very much important for a closeup or portrait shot, but your ability to zoom increases your chances of getting a wonderful wildlife/bird photograph which could be very much difficult otherwise. Some examples includes a close-up of a tiger or the plumage details of a sunbird. Zoom is really fascinating and I'm experiencing it for quite sometime now. I accept to a certain extent that a large resolution (may be more than a 12MP) is not very much necessary for just desktop or computer viewing or small prints. But if you want to take photography seriously, you need a camera that supports larger resolutions and again that depends on the requirement. So a general statement that a photographer shouldn't worry about the zoom or resolution is not true.

4. Please don't say "Uploading pictures in flickr, facebook or other free portals is a cheap thing".

This is more disgusting. There are a lot of professionals and popular photo enthusiasists who keep uploading pictures in their pages/photostreams in facebook, twitter, flickr, 500px and other portals. Not everyone is interested in spending money in setting up their own website to expose their pictures. It might happen when they start earning out of the same. Until then they need these portals, both to explore and expose photographs. More than that, it is definitely good to have accounts in one of them so that you get a chance to browse through different photographs from all around the world and develop your understanding on photographing different objects. Because, you can become a good musician only if you are a good listener and in the same way you can become a good photographer only if you are able to appreciate the work of others and learn from them.

5. Please don't say "Adding a watermark is absolute non-sense. No one is going to steal your 'master' piece".

Watermark may have been introduced to protect image piracy but it also silently serves another purpose. Watermarks are nowadays used as signatures (similar to an artist signing on his painting). Every photographer has a right to sign his photograph irrespective of that being a master piece or damaged piece. So please don't place a general comment on that; tips on adding watermarks that don't affect the picture's subject is always welcome.

Disclaimer: This is not meant for all professional photographers. But these apply to most of them who in the name of giving tips show their hatred on the beginners. Sorry if you think my approach is rude. Also it is really unfortunate that my first post on photogtraphy is this one. :) Even I would like to learn how others think about this. So feel free to add your comments, be it negative or positive. Thanks.

Raja Rani - In my view..

A wonderful love story in Tamil Cinema after quite sometime. Although, it is an age old genre, the debutant director Atlee has proved that love stories are always fresh and can hold the audience in seat for whole 3 hrs time. The cinematographer cannot claim himself as debutant in this movie. Every scene from the first frame of the movie, until the last frame, the cinematographer proves his maturity in capturing the light perfectly through his lens. Locations, colour tones and characters makes the movie even more fresher and richer. Every dialogue adds value to the movie, be it comedy or serious. And almost every one of them injected into the right place of the movie.

Especially, "Namakku pudichavanga nammala vittu poaittaa, naamalum poaganum-nu avasiyam illa. Orunaal vaazhkai namakku pudicha maadhiri maarum",

"Love pannunavan daily kudichutu vandhaa, adhu Love failure. Kalayaanam aanavan kudichuttu vandha, avan Lifey failure"

"Figure-kaaga dhaan sandappoada koodaadhu; life-kaaga poadalaam"

get good response from audience in the theatre.

Portraying the cold war between a married couple, without a lot of shouting (and tearing the ear drums of audience like in "Anbe Aaruyire"), is an art in itself and director gets a distinction at it. Arya, Nayanthaara, Jai, Nasriya, Santhanam, Sathyaraj and every character in the movie has done their job properly. It is a very good come back for Nayanthara. Santhanam keeps us engaged in every scene he appears. I really wonder where he catches his dialogues and timing to expose those. Director has taken enough care in giving Jai and Nasriya, right importance, without giving them overwhelming roles that could divert the purpose of the movie. But couldn't stop getting the feel of "Engeyum Eppodhum" very lightly, may be because of Jai's character in the movie.

Background music scores great. I felt this is a nice one from GV Prakash Kumar in the recent past after "Dheiva Thirumagal". But he fails miserably in the songs arena. None of them stand in our mind. Apart from that if you search keenly for any minus points, Arya's parents  are not at all shown in the movie, even in climax. But it is the director's talent that he doesn't let us even think of these when we are watching the movie. Extra applause for that..

Altogether, Raja Rani is another director's movie, definitely a very good entertainer and worth watching in a theatre.. :)

With Time and Tide - 4

The People

I was a little worried about the waiting time in the airports between the transits when looked at the itinerary first. It was around 28 hrs of total journey time, in which 10 hrs eaten by the transit waiting time. But I realized that was for good, after announcements in the airports about arrival delays of various other flights.

That whole time I had nothing to do really. There were free Wi-Fi connectivity everywhere, but didn't feel interested in using them most of the time, since I felt a lot sleepy because of the previous travel. Sitting in the steel chairs that were available in the lounge were not sufficient for a good sleep for me. But again Hongkong airport taught me another important. No matter whether you are in a bus stand, railway station or airport, people are just people. Extreme physical conditions can push you to do something you can never imagine.

I remember seeing a lot of drunken people lying on the roads and near signals of Bangalore besides the hot sun and the fast moving traffic. Also there were instances where I have seen them near the drainage. But not that bad; airport is a lot better place. I noticed a lot of them lying on the floor here and there near the lounge having their bags as pillows. Some of them covered up four to five chairs together and made them their seat. No matter which country they were from; almost I noticed people from all of the continents (except Antartica.. :P ). Not to mistake that they were drunken; they were all actually tired like me.

Even I felt doing so. But my stupid inner self which keeps me warned about the meaningless decency aspects never let me do that. Apart from that, my over enthusiastic photographic interest (even though I was not possessing a professional camera), never let me sleep when there was a good lighting and everything there looked like a photographic subject (deleted almost 50% of the pics taken after reviewing them is a different story).

When I landed in Calgary and went just out of the airport to catch a Taxi, a man waiting there voluntarily called me to his taxi and took my luggage into the boot space of his sedan. It was -1º C and full cold. I wanted to rush and enter the front seat; and to my surprise both of us went to the same side (left side) of the car. I thought he is going to open the door for me. But he took the seat and locked the door. Oh God.. it is left hand drive in Canada :) . I know that, but couldn't recall at that point of time until I noticed the steering wheel. Then I managed to take the other seat and the taxi started to my hotel.

On the way, we had an interesting conversation.
Driver: "Are you from India or Pakistan ?"
Me: "Yes. I'm from India"
Driver: "Where in India ?"
Me: "Bangalore". He looked like an Indian as well. So I asked, "Are you from India ?"
Driver: "No. I'm from actually from Sri Lanka. But got settled down here before 20 years"
Me: "So you speak Singhalese. Is it ?"
Driver: "I know Singhalese. But I actually speak Tamil"

That was a great surprise for me and felt a lot excited to know that the first person I met there has the same mother tongue as mine. I replied without waiting, "Seriyaa poachu poanga. Naan Thamizh dhaanga. Enakku sondha ooru Thanjavuru. Bangalore-la work panraen." (Even I speak Tamil only. My Native is Thanjavur. Working in Bangalore).

Then we started speaking in Tamil itself. He said there are a lot of Tamilians, especially Sri Lankan tamilians in Calgary and all parts of Canada. We were talking about the snow and the climate and mentioned that the lowest recorded climate in Calgary was -63º C years before. He asked whether Ooty and Kodaikanal will have this low climate and snow. I just laughed and said that I don't remember any instance of snow there; but only heavy mist, fog and moderately lower temperatures when compared to the plains. He said he had never been to India, but have seen these places in movies.

Most significant thing I noticed about people in Calgary was their traffic sense and their sympathy for pedestrians. During my stay there, the climate jumped upto -8º C with a snow storm, which was completely abnormal for me. But besides the freezing cold, I managed to walk down the road to capture some real cool  pics with my Nikon Coolpix :)

Almost I was the only person who was walking on the road. Everyone else was on a four wheeler. Rare to see two-wheelers (including bicycles). But when crossing roads where there were no signals, I was surprised to see every vehicle that came by, stopped for me and let me cross the road. There were even instances where I never noticed or realized that those cars were waiting for me and then they waved their hands and asked me cross the road. Kudos to them all... !! I don't know what it takes for something like that to happen in India. But my tries to change myself on this aspect itself is not helping out. If I stop my car on the road for letting the pedestrians cross the road, where there are no signals, I would either be heavily buzzed by the following vehicles or scolded by the overtaking vehicles who never care about the intention.

Other thing that surprised me was, even people who are completely new to you, will greet you casually if you are the first person to meet on that day or you are travelling in the same elevator etc., Apart from that, I don't remember seeing many compound walls, security/watchman for any building, cops/cop vehicles on the road. I felt they feel a lot safer than us. Yes, the Delhi gang rape news has reached every corner of the world and we should ask ourselves how safe are we here.

Every person roams around with a smartphone in their hand and those devices have almost every detail; starting from a local grocery shop to the bus/train route details to reach any place in the city. The Calgary Transit operates both buses and trains for intra-city transport. You buy a ticket in either bus or train for 3$ and you can travel anywhere within the city up to 90 minutes with the same ticket. And there is a ticket free zone within the core down-town area, for which you don't need a ticket in both in train and bus. That's wonderful !!!

Even though Canada is governed by a parliamentary democracy (a prime minister ruling the federal government), it is a constitutional  monarchy headed by the Royal Family of Great Britain (currently Queen Elizabeth II) with a Governer General as their representative. Even many of them speak French there. I remember sometimes I was puzzled to understand those questions from hotel waiters, who initially thought I knew French and then got back to English.

Calgary is again a mixture of people from a lot of other countries including a lot of Indians (especially Punjabis) and Pakistanis. The person who dropped me back to airport was a Pakistani. The statement that he made stands out in my mind.

"I know how you and me are very different way back home in our places. But for these people, we both are one and the same. Desis.............!"

So why not here then ? Hope time will wipe out the issues and differences.

(Don't worry. This useless series will end with the next post.....)

With Time and Tide - 3

Flights and Clouds continued..

Before the transfer, the security checks in Hongkong Airport were completely new for me like liquids more than 100ml should not be carried in flights (including water bottles or juices); milk powders for infants also had limitations. My journey from Hongkong to Vancouver started with the Cathay Pacific flight. Somehow this gave me a feel of travelling in a flight. With touch screen LCDs, new movies and a little better leg room, I felt a lot comfortable with this one when compared to my travel from Bangalore to Hongkong.

My window seat was a blessing. I was not able to control myself from clicking through the window during take off, even though the air crew wanted everyone to switch of all the electronics devices until advised to turn on again. After the take off, entering into the clouds created very different feelings in me.

Clouds captured from Side view

We have all seen passing clouds. But passing through the clouds is an enchanting experience. For someone who has a love for the nature, the thirst to explore more will be triggered at that moment. The Pacific sky, floating clouds and myself floating above all the clouds between the sky and the ocean in a giant man-made machine.. At the same time I wondered the ability of humans to invent something like a plane, I started searching out of the window for the architect who has created this miracle called universe, a search that would never end; no words other than to exclaim, "Oh God !"

The Blue shade of the Rockies in Ariel view

Travelling through different time zones is another new experience. I may be exaggerating a lot of things, which are so simple or meaningless to others. But the thoughts that were scrolling around my mind at that time are definitely priceless. Even though we all know, nature was/is/will be simply fantastic and time zones are all defined by humans, there are a lot of things to be considered very special when you notice it happening before your eyes; something similar to fast-forward of a blooming flower or a slow-motion of a gun shot bullet.

Travelling to the past in future (when the international date line is crossed, you go to the previous day !! Wow..!!!), time machine is no more a dream. But is that what time is all about ? Just not the rotation of the earth decides the time; it is the events that are recorded as history. When there are no events or happenings, history has no meaning except a huge arithmetic number even after trillions and trillions of rotations and revolutions.

Westjet taking a turn after take-off

My return trip again was fabulous, when flying over the Rocky Mountains. When flying above the clouds, Rockies look in a blue shade covered with white snow and clouds. The 3000 miles mountain range was visible for almost half of my travel from Vancouver to Hongkong. Again, crossing the international date line towards west takes you to the next day. It is confusing.. Isn't it ? :D :D

Above the Rocky Mountains in Canada

Rockies covered with Snow and Clouds

 But whatsoever, when great things start to look very small, smaller things show their real face. They are no more smaller..

Joinggggggggggggggggggg.......................

(Still two steps ahead..)

With Time and Tide - 2

Flights & Clouds

Aeroplane is one of the beautiful inventions of the modern science. I remember those days during my childhood, when me or my friends hear the sound of a plane, we used to rush to the terrace to see it flying. Many a times have wondered how this tiny (seen from the ground) flying object can carry human beings. Today, flight travel has become a normal mode of transport; but still away for many because of the money.

When I had my first plane travel to Singapore in 2008, I flew with the Singapore Airlines. Even though it was an Economic Class travel, it was just for 4 hours and it was very comfortable. Unfortunately, I didn't get a window seat that time; may be I was not intelligent enough to throw my towel to the seat through the window, to reserve one !! :D But this time I made sure I get a window seat for whole of my travel during reservation and checking in. Since I boarded early in the day around 2 AM, there wasn't much I could capture. Even I was feeling very sleepy, since I didn't sleep properly from the previous night.

It was Dragon Air in which I traveled from Bangalore to Hongkong. But this time it looked like I boarded the SETC bus wrongly instead of my plane. There was a box below the seat before me (also all of those window seats in that column), which made it difficult for me to stretch my legs. When I asked the flight attendants if that  can be removed for which they said they cannot and didn't care enough to explain what it is. The push back was not that great and the flight attendants never turned up when I wanted them to.Then my mind spoke up, "Fool ! Travelling in flight itself is so rare for you. Can't you adjust with this ? Remember you are travelling in economic class. This is 'Chinese variant of SETC' !!" ...zoooooooooooooooommmmmmmmm...

While landing in Hongkong

A Singapore Airlines filght taking-off from Hongkong

Above all the clouds and ocean

Towards the dawn

The dawn was too early.. Yes, I was travelling to the future i.e., towards east.. ;) Hongkong Airport is one of the largest in the world. The first place I visited there was the most wanted by all the passengers. The * TOILET *.... Yes, I didn't manage to overtake the queue which was waiting outside the washroom  in the flight.

Toilets taught me two important lessons:
1. Patience is larger than Pacific Ocean.
2. Not only western toilets, even those in east, will not have water, mug or bidet showers. Papers are our only saviors.

The truth is always hard to digest. But what to do, if my stomach digests faster than my mind, then I would be in trouble.

I attained wisdom :)

DO AS ROMANS DO, WHEN YOU ARE IN ROME !!!!!!!!!

(Will fly more.. )

With Time and Tide - 1

Most of the time the world we live is relatively smaller than what actually it is. A closed group of people, who follow a similar kind of practices, a lot of variety of foods but most of them falling under a very small no. of categories, synonymous ways of entertainment and interest. But we are all a lot happy with that. The truth is, it has taken a really long time for the human race to settle down with something like this, an identification for individual in someway rather than just one among the billions who roam around the world. So we should accept, the smaller our world is, the happier we are.

But I believe there is another side of it, which should be given some thought about. At the same time when you are walking in the daylight, someone else is facing the darkness of night. Even though everyone is on the same earth, someone is ahead of you in time and someone is lagging behind. When your day is too hot and you are waiting for a cool breeze, someone is getting frozen in the cold and eagerly looking for the warmth of the Sun. When you think something is a junk food for you, it is already the major meal for someone else. And et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... It is a long list that continues like the Hanuman's tail. Is it not worth while to see and experience some of them for atleast a short period of time? After all, our life is made up of events and experiences.

A travel is always fascinating, be it local, domestic or international. Visiting places and meeting new people makes it even more interesting. But the word International does have a special catch which mostly includes an experience of exploring a new geographical location or culture or langugage or all of them at a time. Being in India, the country with the most geographically diverse places and culturally diverse inmates, a domestic travel in itself is a combination of all those mentioned above. For a guy like me from the deep south of India, a trip to the north or north east is very different in those aspects. So, how does it feel to a guy like me to travel to a different continent altogether crossing different timezones as well ?
When many of us have the aspirations for that, quite a few get an opportunity for that. And today, I have become lucky enough to be one of them. And henceforth going to share some of those so called "experiences"..

(Will continue to bore you..)