Monday, August 11, 2014

Brand New Eyes

It's the start of the week and i will want to start with the letter A.
A stands for APPRECIATION.


i guess once you become a shutter bug you learn to appreciate better. And in this i would be a fake if i don't give due credits to my tutor Mr Jyotirmoy Das of Delhi School of Photography for bringing it on me not with full force but rather as a matter of fact ly . When i had no idea about the gadget or anything and when i was a point and shoot cybershot woman he was the one who patiently taught an ignoramus like me not to be afraid to shoot manually apart from teaching me the three most important cornerstones of photography for beginners and everybody else. Yeah basically , The Aperture, The Shutter Speed  and The ISO.

Telling the truth is not only painful and but quite embarrassing too but i will speak it. Fact is that i am almost six months old now when i was in my beginner's class for two weeks but still grappling with those three corner stones and they feel like major issues to me each time i pick up my DSLR and thus i improvise each and every time. i have decided to carry on with the rest of the learning on my own not getting flabbergasted with that chart half of which i never seem to remember correctly and it makes me so nervous that i start steaming so much that the viewfinder becomes foggy with my breath. So just like everybody else does it i too am now doing it all by the time tested trial and error method. Those three and all those lectures in that 2 weeks of theory class, can't say i remember them all but some of it has stayed and they sure do help yet some are like etched into the brain.
i hear him speaking...i see him...tall, elegant, gym worked out slender frame standing in front of the class , his muffler carelessly wrapped around his neck, and from behind his spectacles his eyes looking straight into my eyes telling me, '' You have to show what the eyes would've missed seeing... "

i think i am crazy about photographers...for their eyes see what we normal non photographer mortals don't. A bird as common as crow then becomes novel, original, fresh, firsthand, contemporary, unfamiliar, additional, just starting out...
Sometimes words won't suffice and other times you have one specific word for the picture.
But the best aspect that i love about photographers and the art of photography is how they teach you to appreciate the mundane and then go for it. Keep trying for that, ' Out of the box' shot, a picture which is worth a thousand words.
Thus photography as a passion/ career/ hobby is great because it not only teaches the art of seeing things in a new perspective but also to appreciate what is.
i must admit though that it was the desire to use my own pictures for blogging that i took up photography. Seriously, because neither did i have it as a hobby earlier nor do i remember of me having any passion for it. i am at the moment just learning to focus then and focus well and clear...as clear as what i am seeing or how and what i am seeing and thus through my pictures what i would love to make others see as well .



Thus it happened with me.
Although i love nature i had not fully appreciated the beauty of this particular plant because i was seeing it in plenty around me. Just like plain common grass. It could be that maybe excess of anything for that matter does not bring worthiness nor honor.  Well the adage was used for love but it can be applied to anything and everything. However in Economics we have a great principle which puts this across with the help of figures and diagrams. The Law Of Diminishing Returns. Well, Whatever...

Not until i came upon this picture. It was posted by someone and i hope that someone would not mind me using it as a reference here. i have forgotten the URL from where i had copied and saved it. And although i can search it which i will later and post it as giving due credits to the master of this brilliant shot i was in a hurry to do my Monday post because i did not want my thought to become a memory of words that i can't retrieve. It happens, you know when you are in the mood to do it, you just do it that way right then. Next time the same sincerity of words might elude you and even your own thought process may be roaming elsewhere. It might've hitched itself to another star. Today my star is my Sir and his teaching. He gave me my brand new eyes !!
And with that i see everything as new...novel...firsthand...unfamiliar...original...
That...about the sight ...about appreciating the mundane and the most common ...
Definitely this picture was like a catalyst to all of Sir's teaching to me. As i looked into into it Sir's words made real sense. " OMG...the flower is so beautiful...so pretty! ",  i said to myself ," How could i not notice it before???"
Had it not been for this picture i would've never stopped to look at the tiny blooms that appear occasionally in this rambling ground cover bush called Purple Hearts. Yesterday as i went for my walk i was taking in the beauty of all that the season had in store for me. The skies looks overwhelmingly beautiful with the profuse blooms of Crepe Myrtles both pink and white against the azure/ blue/  background. The intermediate earth of that between the ground and the skies lush in their greenery with clusters of scarlet and vermilion blooms of Peregrina ( Jatropha integerimma) and the Firebush the name of which says it all of Hamelia patens, the Oleanders pink ,white and yellow, the Hibiscus scarlet, white and hybrid blooms of breathtaking colors... . Then as the eyes gradually move below in rhythm and harmony what do i see apart from the usual striking green and yellow foliage of the Duranta hedges ...
Purple Hearts here, Purple Hearts there and yes they were in bloom everywhere.
Had it not been for this particular picture i would not have halted my walk, bent down rather squatted on the ground to admire the pure pristine beauty of the tiny blooms. Noticed the three petaled lilac flower the tips of which had the purest white like a fairy had left her speck of fairy dust carefully on each one of them choosing just the right median tip spot.
http://www.pinterest.com/fleurduluxe/natural-landscapes-plants-and-flowers/

Purple Hearts are succulents that grow vigorously and require very little maintenance. Although they look attractive because of their deep purple foliage they are not in bloom always. But even without the blooms they look attractive provided one is not bored of it's too many of it factor and has used it along with some contrasting foliage plants. Mostly because of it's vigorous growth people get fed up and start removing them not unless winter sets in for then the plant itself dies out. The blooms appear now and then but they are tiny.

tradescantia pallida, purple heart plant

Tradescantia pallida 

Also known as Setcreasea pallida
                                       http://www.guide-to-houseplants.com/tradescantia-pallida.html

There was no way i could match the talent of the master who made me stop and look to see the beauty of my favorite color tiny flower which also had white dots on the tips of the three petals but i tried my exercise in photography inspired by that master shot remembering what Jyotirmoy Sir was telling me to do. So here is my work...in that order...how i saw them...and then the shots i took...but before i leave i must say the one i found most alluring of them all was that one which i thought was reaching out to the world with it's loudest HELLLOOUW !!...behind a netted veil.
The netted plastic veil...one which was supposed to protect it from God alone knows what...and for a moment i had that desire to bring it's face out of that veil...but then i controlled myself. Lest my mere touch should damage the pure pristine skin of this tiny cutie, hearty, lilakie, beauty.






Before i quit i want to say a bit more. Much that i want my tutor to see this post of mine i am not sure if he is following my work for he all he would know and i have told him so that i will be sincere in my commitment towards my gadget and my learning and that i shall do my exercise on a regular basis. For this reason although i am much against all this postings on facebook where much is done mainly for self promotion and less for real learning i have been posting some of my nature pictures on facebook for him to see. He is there...and so is his Institute informing me of all the gala strides the students in the advanced course are making. i wish them well and feel amazed at all the work that i see. Feel proud too that i know the person behind all that work and in my heart i wish him more and more success.

As for me i am just too grateful to my tutor. He has no idea what he did for me...his golden words...right from the names that dropped like hail on my bald of photography knowledge head. Of Henry Cartier Bresson to Steve Mc Curry and his various anecdotes on photo shoots did to me. 
He, more than teaching me basics taught me to appreciate the mundane and see what i was not seeing before.
And for that too i am extremely grateful and highly indebted to him. i don't have better words to express but yes there was just another thing a hunch i have about photographers which i did not ask him although i wanted to. Do they ( Photographers) look right inside you...for when i see some pictures i am able to feel that, sense that.
Now that sometimes scares me because i wouldn't want anyone to look right inside me but just me and my own soul should know me that well. No one should be able to decipher me completely. Maybe a photographer can bring out the best aspect of my personality and i am okay with that...i guess i want to be like that enigma wrapped in a mystery kinda person. Point is can i be the one...hahahaha that is one aspect i need to work on. Till then...have a good purposeful week. Will be back with more and i hope Jyotirmoy Sir you are able to recieve my sincere gratitude...Thank You So Much.


famous-quotes-003

16 comments:

  1. We ignore so many little things. We have no time to stop, stare and appreciate.
    This was a lovely post.

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    1. You know what Red Handed, before thanking you...i checked out ur blogs...and i am floored at ur talent and more so have become an ardent admirer of ur straight forward talk. Will take time out now to see what all u have in ur kitty. :)
      i am imagining things now...silently u crept and just scribbled ur signature to tell me that now u too r there...listening to me...of all that i have to share.
      Thank you so much. Hope i can see a soul like you often on my blogs...i know that's greed and one should be satisfied with what one gets but i am always hungry for true souls...
      Stay Happy and Stay Blessed. :) :) :)

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  2. well shivani mam, now you need to teach me all about this Aperture-shutter speed and ISO.. I just cant get my mind around it and the pics i take sometimes are so bad ..

    I would love to take a course but they are so expensive here , the cheapest i can find is almost 150 pounds A DAY..

    those are some beautiful pics, and i do want to buy a dslr , i had one but it got lost on my journey to OZ almong with my luggage ..

    Bikram's

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    1. Dear Dear Bikram...first of all no mamming pls. i suppose we were frnds.
      Now coming to ur request...u r asking a nausikhiyaa ( new learner) to teach...that is not a good idea. Well i suggest i can give u hands on experience details as to how i deal with my problems...specific ones when u ask me. At the moment chill when u get the Dslr i shall copy paste some simple notes for you to follow...but then u'll have to ask me specific questions relating to a particular shot...if i know i promise i shall tell you. My dear friend we will together cross the river when we reach it...okay.
      Too bad to know u lost one Dslr. It's okay when the time is appropriate i know u will have one...for me too it was not easy getting one but i did eventually. Now convincing myself to graduate on buying some specific lenses...which i have been safely denying myself into buying. Simply because i want to get best with what i have first...than jumping over to a higher one.
      Keep visiting my posts because here u will get to see how better i am getting. See Saru has just said that hasn't she in my last post i suppose.
      God bless and grab this opportunity in wishing you Happy India Day to you :) although i know staying abroad u must be very close to home yet 15th Aug is Our Independence Day :) :) :)

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    2. yes please do send some notes :)

      and happy independence day to you toooo .. it is actually my mothers b'day too today :)

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    3. Dear Bikram i am soo amazed and thrilled to know that it was ur Mom's b'day. My God u r blessed. We know of no such thing...never happened. Although much that i love and respect my parents i wish i knew the special day they came upon this earth...cause they gave us the best of everything. Love, attention, sacrifice, care...everything that Parenthood means. In fact sometimes i feel mera apna kya hai...shakal surat seerat...sab kuch unka diya hua hai...My God u r blessed and fortunate and pls pls pls do extend my Pairi Pauna to HER too. i want her blessings too...pls pls pls...i an very greedy for that...blessings of elders...and ur Mom is special...i see her in you too. You r such a nice person...i feel that niceness in you. Happy Birthday to one great Mom. :)

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  3. The pics are revealing yr sincerity and comittment towards any work u put yr hands on.

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    1. Thank you Dearest for taking time out...commitment well don't know all i know that i am doing my exercises and i see the difference from the first day till now...
      But like they say...miles to go dear sis...miles to go...
      Hugzz and lots of love. :) :) :)

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  4. Get the pics enlarged and framed.they are just brilliant.

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    1. Not yet not yet...but thanks that u thought them worth that much...hugzzz

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  5. Yeah but had it not been for the work that you do...i wouldn't have noticed it at all. So thank you many times. Not only for stopping by but also for giving me my brand new eyes Mr Super Photographer :)

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  6. Beautiful shots and great to know that you are learning. Even I want to pursue but not finding any affordable schools here. Last shot is simply superb. And I agree with your teacher, capture what eyes have missed.

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    1. Dear Saru yeah i took a two weeks class with a good teacher and now remembering what he told me to i am following my instincts too. He was a very creative man who was always urging me to 'think out of the box'. Wonder when that would happen. Right now i am just aiming at clarity in picture, good focus, texture...and maybe a gud composition. Photography has no boundaries...it's endless. So this fact what he told me is the best to follow.
      Thank you for the appreciation. Continue to visit me and thus motivate me. :) :) :)

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  7. So lovely, Shivani.
    We all love appreciation! Love all the quotes you have shared here.
    It does take special eyes & creativity to see & focus & click what others have missed.
    I often wondered how you take such refreshing pics. A bit of training & lots of talent :)
    Even I want notes :)
    Even I want to click pics like you!

    Planning to buy a DSLR, but would you suggest it?
    Easier to just go for an advanced camera & point & shoot?
    Better pic-quality with DSLR for those who know its tricks, right?

    At present I am just using my phone's camera & my pics are just average :)
    Just great quality pics can brighten any Blog post :)

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