BEAUTY - IT'S ALL IN THE MIND.

Ever since I took up photography as a hobby, in preparation for my retirement after a few years, I have started noticing many things that I never had the time to notice before. Mundane things also look beautiful, I realised, if only we looked for it, because it is rightly said that 'beauty is in the eyes of the beholder' or more aptly in one's own mind - the external world is but......just a trigger.

Here are some of my latest exploits with my camera.

(Click on the photographs to view in Large size)

A massive thunderstorm struck Bangalore uprooting many trees, hoardings, poles, and anything else that resisted the massive gale winds. This garage cum residence in our neighbourhood had a big hoarding in the premises - this snapped - it was a sight to see the huge tubular steel column bent, and torn apart. Miraculously no one in the building was injured and the building did not collapse. Two cranes worked overnight to lift the hoarding off the building. A view of the salvage operation captured on camera.

A Passion flower - it is different.....

Some other flowers - don't know the names, clicked them as they looked beautiful to me.


I never realised that a crow in flight could look this beautiful.

Some more flowers in full bloom.


Knock..knock..

A dripping hand towel and the colours refracting through the water-drop.

Full moon shining bright.

Comments

Smitha said…
All the pictures are breathtaking! You are really good at this!
Piper .. said…
Sir, this is post close to my heart, because I have developed a new interest in photography too! I loved all the flower close ups!! The one with the bee is great (I know how difficult it is to capture something like that! You have to be very alert!). I loved the depth of field in the dripping towel! The night shots are great too! Esp the one with the moon. I have tried so many times to capture the moon. Can you tell me the shutter speed and the aperture to use for night shots with the moon??
On the whole, I loved all the pictures! waiting for many more such posts!!:):)
J P Joshi said…
Smitha: Thank you - you are generous. I am learning, and have a long way to go. I realise this when I see the work at flickr.com.

Piper: Thank you. It is good to know that you have developed a new interest in photography. To me, it is kind of soothing...it gets me so focussed and 'in the present moment' - it is therapeutic, I believe. Thanks to IHM, I discovered flickr.com and am learning from the great masters who display their work there.

The moon shot is at 1 second/ F/2.8/ 250 iso. I believe, it would have been better if I had increased the shutter speed to about 4 seconds - people go up to about 15 seconds, but you need a tripod for all this.
Renu said…
Beautiful..the best ones are the crow and that towel..really awesome.
BK Chowla, said…
It is very essential to have a plan "B" ready before one retires.
The pictures are very nice.
Piper .. said…
I do have a tripod, Sir. I`m going to try this out. I tried a few night shots, with the city lights and it was just so difficult without a tripod! There is a lot of camera shake! Thank you for the figures, Sir! And yes, flickr has some amazing pictures. For amateurs like us, I think we can get a good idea about the angle / composition of shots etc. Please do post some more pictures, Sir. It is always such a pleasure to see!
J P Joshi said…
Renu: Thank you. The crow one was a shock for me too. I never thought that a crow could look this beautiful - the symmetry and the stark black colour stand out.

BK Chowla: You are so right about plan B - am working on it. Thank you for your comment.

Piper: Tripod is the only way to get night photographs. I have a small one purchased from a dollar store - this too helps.

The moon shot I had taken by resting my hands on the boundary wall (with broken glass and barbed wire) of our apartment complex. I wish I had had the tripod handy - I could have tried longer exposures. Anyway we have full moon once every 28 days - so next time. I am addicted to flickr, as per Poonam.
How do we know said…
wow.. these are some awesome pics! esp the passion flower and the towel! great! pleasure to c this post! I have to especially compliment the composition of the towel pic.
J P Joshi said…
HDWK: Thank you for the encouragement.
Piper .. said…
Sir, just wanted to inform you about a photo contest on blogadda. I thought of you because you have some great travel pictures. Do check it out in case you want to participate. The last date is June 1st.
sm said…
great shots
like the crow pic
J P Joshi said…
Piper: Thank you for this info. Sorry for the late response, we were in the process of relocating.

sm: Thank you for your comment.