Semmozhi Poonga, Chennai

It was a cold December Sunday afternoon when I took my Son and Wife to the newly opened SEMMOZHI POONGA. This is the place where the famous Woodlands Drive-Inn was located which is now being taken off.

The Garden is relatively small and not much of entertainment for Children. However as a Photo enthusiast, the place is another spectacle to capture. The greenery, Water fall, Pond, Bright colored flowers, Wooden Bridge, Stone Pillars are some which caught my Lens attention.

It’s an all new botanical garden established by the Horticulture Department of the Government of Tamilnadu, on 24th November 2010. The location of Semmozhi Poonga Chennai is near the Anna flyover, in the Cathedral Road-Anna Salai junction, just opposite to the American Consulate, on the erstwhile Drive-in Woodlands Hotel.

The total area of the botanical garden is more or less 20 acres, while the cost to set up this park was more than 80 million rupees. There are lots of biological specimens in the garden. More than 500 species of plants and 80 trees were already there while this park was being developed, and some of them are as aged as 100 years.

A very nice place for any Photo enthusiast to experiment long exposure, wide angle, Macro and many more.

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My dear Chennai

The week after Independence day was celebrated as "Madras Week" throughout Chennai. Never seen before levels of activities were happening all around. One such was a Photo competition organized by PSM to all the people of Chennai. The theme was "Beautiful Chennai".

I did enter in the contest and submitted by photograph. It was judged by Mr. Krishnan, the chief editor of The Hindu and my photograph was adjuded as the best one. My happiness had no boundaries. It was like a dream coming true. I remember last year when I was reading continuously the Internet for photo tips and other information regarding SLR and it's parts.

My prize winning photograph!!!

It's true that dedication will always pay you back!!!

Regardign the photograph, it was taken on a very early morning at Marina beach. I saw a perspective in the stones especially the way it was curving and at the end of it was leading to the light house. It was a challenging photograph due to the fact I lied flat on my stomach and had to slow down my speed to very minimum since the light was too low and also my maximum aperture was just f/3.5 only. I had to hold the camera very steady since the exposure involves lots of light sparkles.

At the post processing, I gave the photograph yellow filter to give the sepia effect in order to show the early morning effect. I am very happy for the appriciation received for the photograph.

Way to go!!!

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at MRF Race (Pace) track

Through PSM, I got an opportunity to enter in to the race track.
Hold on!!! Not for driving, but to shoot the cars and bikes while on track. It was a terrific experience to shoot the bikes and cars running at a speed of 150-180 kmph.

I got the all zone entry pass through PSM to enter in to MRF Race held at Irungaatukottai between 30th Jan to 14 Feb (three weekends). I actually went on 13th Feb.
There I met two PSMities and got introduced with them (Ponnams and Aditya). I was pleasantly surprised to know that Ponnams was an ex student and tutor in Ambitions4. We all had very nice time on the side of the tracks. We went around the track areas and shoot at from various angles.

"LIFE IN THE SPEED LANE"

The above picture is my pick of the lot. There was a hump on the road covering a bridge and the bikers whenever pass this place, try to make a wheeling to show cause their ability. And this one was captured at one of the finest moment.

There were many challenges in taking these kinds of photos. First the panning has to be just right. The shutter speed should help in showing the subject clear also indicate the viewers the speed of the bike. In addition to these, the exposure is very critical. Since the backdrop was bright and the road/subject were dark (coupled with speed), it was a challenging one to take. I went for shutter priority mode with one stop over exposure to compensate the BG brightness. The speed chosen was tricky as I wanted to show the speed of the bike a little more – hence I chose 1/80, a lower speed.

All in all, the shot came to my satisfaction after some trials.
Thanks again to PSM.

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Photo award from PSM

It was one of the greatest weekends for me.

PSM had conducted a competition among its members on the following topics: Street, Festival, Nature and Sky. It was mentioned that 50 best photos will be displayed and three out of them will be given a prize. Being a member of PSM, I decided to participate and started taking pictures. During the past 2-3 weekends, I took many photos to cover these topics.

Finally I compied 4 photos covering all the topics and handed over them to PSM. When I visited the display Gallary on 23rd of January, to my pleasant surprise, three of my photographs were displayed . My immediate reaction was pure ecstacy.

The feather in the cap came on Monday – 25th Jan. I got a mail from PSM mentioning that one of my picture has won the JUDGE’S SPECIAL MENTION AWARD. It was truly a great moment in my life. I never expected this so soon, but still I take this with a bow to my godly Mother.

Surprisingly the picture selected was my least favorite among the three displayed. It was an eye openiner for me. “What you think as best may not go same way with others”. This is espcially applicable for Photography.

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my award winning photo

"FINDING THE WAY"

About the Photo:-

It was taken in the early morning hours on Triplicane street. I used Radial Blur technique. I started with 30mm Focal and finished at 55mm in 1/15th of second. Since it was a little dark I used ISO 1600 and f/5.6.

Opening shot

Sriramajayam!!!!

This is my FIRST blog....It feels great to have a Blog. Atlast I made it happen.

I wish I would post a lot of my Photographs and articles in this.

I introduce myself as a Serious Photo Hobbyist and wish to become a hardcore professional soon. many times I used to feel that I should've started this at least a decade before. But I console myself saying "It's better late than never!"

With tremedous support from my wife and my darling son, I am able to dedicate my time (alloted for them actually) in this field. I am really greatful to both of them.

Very soon I will start posting many blogs and I assure everyone reading this will have wonderful time.

About the Photo:-

It was taken at Marina at 6.30 a.m. on a Sunday. I would've liked this picture very much had there been a human element in the picture. But it was not to be. Since it was a bright capture I used ISO 200. I used a wide angle of 18 mm and shot at f/22 and 1/50 speed. I set the exposure to the zone above the sea water.

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