India 2009

Following up my Beas post I thought I might as well finish up the India pics with my short trip to Delhi. Although these pictures were taken before I went to Beas they required a little more processing. My stay in Delhi this year was a little more short lived than usual, spending no more than possibly 24 hours on the way in and 72 on the way out. Now one would think that I would have shot more on the way out, however due to safety reasons I had my camera packed away in my suitcase providing me little access to it :(. However on the way out I was more than happy to string it along on my neck. Most of the shots were in fact from the car as we drove from my uncles estate to the airport. Whilst I'm not a big fan of shooting from a moving vehicle some of these pictures were irresistible and had to be attempted. The remaining few were taken the night before leaving, with my cousins playing ping pong, so I thought to have some fun with my SB 900, blinding them in the process, and the morning before leaving when I encountered some rose bushes. Enjoy


the scariest cow I have ever seen


Kingfisher Airlines...did you know apparently its illegal to shoot pictures in airplanes in india...Whoopsie!o:)



A family friend of mine shot this image, and although its blurry I love it! I dont usually photograph well and it dismays me in its lack of sharpness :(. However as a tiny display pic it isn't very noticeable :D


quick self portrait of me and my new nikon


this temple is absolutely gorgeous! whilst I could only shoot it from the car this time, it will deff be a stop on my next trip to Delhi


I don't get to do very much flower photography and having a zoom macro lens with me I couldn't resist the opportunity


blinding my cousins at ping pong

Beas 2009

As usual, the family X-Mas trip constituted a trip to India, composed of us visiting Delhi and Beas. I was quite excited to go this year as I missed out last years trip (which was apparently amazing) due to the frantic antics of Directing and D.O.P-ing two short films with a lot of problems (one more so than the other), preventing me from making the trip. I was particularly excited at the prospect of shooting, something I didn't do as much as I would have liked, mostly due to the lack of cars and my cousins getting me hooked on Command and Conquer Generals which ate away the hours. That and simply catching up and seeing a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while. All in all quite a fun trip. Although an incredibly annoying cold didn't help much in me getting out either.

The day I did get out, since photography is not allowed within the walls of the Dera, I made my way to Beas station and started my little photographic walk from there. Although I have done this before I am quite happy to say that my eye has certainly improved. I saw Image opportunities jumping out at me more than ever, and I was happy clicking away picture, after picture after picture. I had only brought one memory card remembering previous years escapades thinking that no way would I fill it up. I was wrong. I reached a point where I was deleting on the go, a habit I am not particularly fond of as it keeps the lens away from my eye creating a sense of panic that I might be missing a shot somewhere!












One of the highlights of the day was finding this little lake, where I had the opportunity to juice out some bird photography! Especially moving birds! Despite being a third party lens and not a top of the range tier Lens, it continues to impress me with its sharpness and focusing ability. Albeit its a little slower than I'd like but pinpoint nonetheless!





I did also want to get some nice portraits of the local folk, and whilst I did shoot some naturals I did want to get my little flash involved. After having watched the OneLight DVD I felt that in my head my lighting fundamentals were in a much better place. Before I wouldn't think about things so much but rather just put my head on autopilot and flew by ear not really understanding what I was doing but getting results nonetheless. After having watched the DVD I tried to go for specific effects, such as messing about with my sync speed and aperture to get a good blend of ambient light and lit subjects. Although I did manage to get half way there when you're working quickly things have a tendency to fumble or not work out as they please. Such as I kept forgetting the inverse square law, one that I need to quickly familiarize myself with, as I have reached a point where I can pretty much gauge what aperture and shutter speed I will need for a certain look. The next problem is telling the flash how to react in those circumstances. Very often I'm amazed when i see the results one can get with a bare flash, but am unable to reproduce it under pressure because of my lack of familiarity with the device. I've had it hammered into me in the past that bare bulb = bad harsh light, but in my explorations of images and photography I've discovered that, that is not necessarily the case and am more open to experimenting what this little light can do. However I am still a whiles away from the level of mastery I would desire to have.

Bringing 2009 to a close

Well its been a couple of days since my last post, it seems that living in a Salon/Tv room with family coming out ones ears is apparently not the most blog-inspiring situation...at least not for me anywais. Whilst I love my family dearly theres only so much chaos one can take. Finally they have left, heading back to Europe :(. I am able to return to my daily routine and most importantly my room.

As I'm sure most if not all (I'd be worried if it wasnt all) of you have realised we have only just recently entered not only a new year but a new decade! This brings about a lot of change in the way people are viewing the new year, as everything we do for a first time particularly as a trendsetter has the potential to mark the outcome of not just our year but the next ten years! I find it particularly interesting that it was at the begining of this last decade that I found myself first coming to the Philippines to study...and yet here I am once again ten years later. One can only marvel at the co-incidences of the world. I wonder where I'll be when we hit 2020.

Anywho my close to 2009 was rather less glamorous than I would have liked. It involved a small family Dinner and then a sitting (or in my case frantically running around with a tripod to shoot the fireworks) and viewing of the fireworks, and then a return home, where my newly gifted xbox ruled my hours until the wee morning. Fun I know, but the option of partying the night away was rather difficult at this point. Something I hope will result differently next year.

Over the next few days I will be posting up the few remaining sets and posts of 2009 before I close it up with an annual review post & video so keep your eyes peeled folks!