Learning to see

Once I got the basic hang of my camera,  how to set exposure and composition I thought I was ready to shoot pictures. And so I did, a few shots that I had in my head of my favourite lake side, the Upvan lake.

But i dried up quickly and I realised that I really didn't know what to make photos of. So my immediate assignment was to learn to see. And I wanted exercises that would help me see.

Bryan Peterson's Learning to See Creatively is a great book - lucid and interestingly written. Here's his blog.
Also artofphotography.tv has a series of podcasts - Master Class Live  which is another great approach to opening up your vision as a photographer.

Here are some blogs that I have read and bookmarked, hope they help you:

• Karen Walrond's simple post with 7 exercises
• Lon Britton's tips on Developing the Creative Eye

Since a photograph is basically two-dimensional art the design principles must apply. Hence I ordered Betty Edwards workbook so I am going to dabble in drawing till I learn to 'see'. Hmmm... let's see I may just post a pair of before/after drawings if and only if they don't embarass me too much!

First shots

Here are a couple of photos that I took a few days after I got my camera. I love light. I specially love the lights of the night. I have tweaked the second photo in Photoshop using something close to the HDR technique - stacking 3 layers of photos taken with different exposures (20, 25 and 30 seconds).

Log of my journey in learning photography

I am starting this log for the selfish purpose of tracking my progress in learning photography. But as I write this I guess that there are many out there who are starting out like I am and I'd be delighted if my experience could help them in any way. I intend to post as regularly as I can, with my photos and thoughts.

Equipment:

So far I have bought some equipment to start me off - a Nikon DSLR camera that came with a 18-105mm kit lens, a 50mm standard lens, a second hand tripod (rather heavy :-( ), ball head and UV filters for each lens (for dust and fingerprint protection).

First lessons:

I ran through plenty of videos on YouTube to get a hang of stuff like Focusing, principles of exposure, even how to change lenses on your camera! I admit I have not done full justice and kinda have skimmed through most but that's my style of learning. I skim first and dig deeper later. Here's also my chance to say a big thanks to all those who have taken so much effort to share their knowledge and experience on YT, Blogs etc..

Listing a few of my favourites:

• Understanding Digital Photography with Bob Krist - I got a neat overview in this video. youtu.be/RsoV4odOPgo
  
• All about Nikon equipment on the Nikon Help Hotline - youtube.com/user/Lilkiwiguy87
   
• User jonvideo's videos are so thorough! I need to watch each multiple times to grasp the many things covered. A few of them are:
  White Balance - youtu.be/1MQTO9tiXb0
  Understanding the shooting info screen on Nikon D90  - youtu.be/lDT7jAXmHPE
• Inspiring: Bob Holmes on using natural light - youtu.be/ygeixGd8ZMw 
• A blog that I avidly follow: digital-photography-school.com/
• A big thank you to Ted Forbes because he was exactly what I was looking for online. I know photography is an art and must be studied like one, along with the all the technical aspects of the tools (read camera and stuff). I am not singling  out any lesson because I found each very valuable yet I believe it works best collectively. Check out:
  tedforbes.com/
  theartofphotography.tv/
  youtube.com/user/theartofphotography
• My first eggsercise! Thanks Joe. - youtu.be/qM7CcUrUD2g

So much for my first post of what I hope will be a faithful series...

Dev D movie reactions

Well this one's not a movie review aimed at those who'd like to read what others say about a movie before risking their movie ticket or DVD money. It is more my personal reaction to watching the movie. I warn you there may be spoilers for those who haven't watched Dev D yet.

Anurag Kashyap's (AK) interpretation of the classic Devdas, a novel by Saratchandra, reflects the zeitgeist.

To Indians who have either been brought up on the novel or various movies based on this novel, the story and characters need no introduction, hence I will skip that part. What is refreshing is how true Dev D remains to the spirit of the original story while ensuring a wholly new experience.

In its individual adaptation the deviation is in how the movie brings to surface the question 'What's your trip in life?'. Something I suspect that Saratchandra wanted his readers to ponder over and conclude on their own. The other deviation is the alternate ending of the story which is particularly why I say that the movie reflects our life and time today. The ending is interesting to me because it seems to mark the end of AK's depression and angst! But though I like the new one I think the movie is weaker for it, in the sense that this version is not the one that will stay with you forever and become a part of your emotional and social psyche which the original succeeding in doing. [My mind lingers to another movie and I wonder if AK and Vikramaditya Motwane the screen writers had to struggle as did Emma Thompson's character in ' Stranger than fiction', but i digress :-) ]

Overall the film is raw and realistic and yet lacks cynicism and the story telling is crisp (finally a movie that seems to know the audience has intelligence!).

And for those who have been reading this and have not yet watched the movie... Watch it, your money will be well spent!

Joys

The roller coaster the mind is
does a G-4 dip following the sun
The world turns its head over heels

Or so it seems
Perception is reality they tell me

The chasing of the sun is complete
as I awaken to a new reality
A bountiful high
The brightest bright

Oh! The joys of the roller coaster the mind is!

Attempt at poetry

It was a breezy day and the sun was merely peeping from behind the clouds.... I ignore my hair expressing its freedom and pencil down thoughts triggered by the pigeons flying in the sky... And here they are:

Is the bird free?
Is the bird free?
Or does it crave the freedom to swim?
Or the freedom to walk the earth?
How bound are we by the concept of freedom?
How bound is this poem in its wish to be free?

An unkown journey into the known

This is hilarious... And I thought I was a Ghalib fan... Humbility hath struck!

Am not much of a fan of Hindi movie music but one did reach that spot inside. Beautifully crafted blend of the traditional mujra and quwwali... If you haven't guessed it already, I am talking of the song 'Kajrare' from Bunty aur Bubli. My cousin was amazed when she heard me sing along nearly the entire song. Jaw dropped she looked at me and said MB (that's what she calls me) - You? Humming a recent Hindi song? And know the lyrics?

The key to this post is the word -'nearly' the entire song... There was one line of the song that I couldn't quite catch, let alone know what it meant. I had put it down to Gulzar's bizzare use of Persianised Urdu like a drop of cinnamon in your cuppa cappuccino. But then one evening when the party bopping cousins left my home all silent and lonely I hit the video of the song and played it over and over to figure out what Gulzar miyan was trying to say....

Let me first give you the line of the song preceding the intriguing one:
Tujhse milna purani dilli mein, cchod aaye nishaani dilli mein
Balli mara....... [something something]
Teri meri kahani dilli mein

First impression was - Balli mara se dari betalak
First hunt - an online urdu dictionary. So word by word I tried to decipher. Balli - means lock; Dari means door, Betalak means without doors (?)
First attempt at translation - From locked doors to the doorless ones..... the story of you and me is around.
Jumping with joy I call said cousin up and say I have found it. this is what it means.... I could hear her puzzled face and eyebrows raised over the phone and I said to myself. Uhuh, maybe I haven't cracked it as yet. Wanted to give it yet another shot...

Second hunt - Googled the lyrics of the song. I said why trust my ears. Some website or the other must have got it from the horse's mouth....
Website's translation - pal nimaana darii betallak (translated - a tapestry woven of random moments)

Well that made such beautiful sense given the translated meaning. But what was niggling in my ears? Well the fact that my auditory nerves said it sounded like Balli mara!

Last hunt - Downloaded high bit rate mp3 of the song and played it on my Winamp with equalisers adjusted. Bingo now i had the words of the line -
Balli maran se daribe talak

I hooked on the word 'se' and 'talak' meaning "from --- to". That gave me the clue that this was from one area of delhi to another. And i had another thought niggling me that I had heard of "Balli Maran" before. But i ignored the intuition while i searched the maps of delhi, pincode searches, tourist info whatever to get an idea of the areas of Delhi. No luck.

Intuition strong, the thought of a Ghalib's ghazal sung by Jagjit romped the memory lanes. Next destination - www.urdupoetry.com And God bless them. There I found my "Balli Maran". It was the mohalla where Ghalib lived!!!!!! Me kicked myself a few hundred times and sat my sore ass down on the chair while I continued my hunt for Dariba. One google hit and I got it - Dariba Galan is an area of Delhi which is known for its jewellery market.

Oh Gulzar n Ghalib how I love you!!!!! What beautiful meaning came out of this -

Tujhse milna purani dilli mein, cchod aaye nishaani dilli mein
Balli maran se Daribe talak
Teri meri kahani dilli mein

Now translated means -
After I met you in Old Delhi,
I left a momento behind there in Delhi,
From Balli Maran to Dariba,
of our story

I love the paradox of the statement - Balli Maran: signifying the epitome of the finesse of Urdu literature, a mohalla where Ghalib lived - Dariba Galan: the glamour and glitter of a superficial world

And that was the unknown journey into the known...........

Till next time......