26 march 2011

ceiling detail, nayak palace in thanjavur

i went to thanjavur, south of chennai, with the photographic society of madras this past weekend. thanjavur is noted for the brahadiswara temple, a chola dynasty temple begun in the 11th century, which is now a unesco world heritage site; the nearby airavateswara temple in darasuram, also built by the cholas; and also a 16th century nayak dynasty palace.  

this photo is a high definition resolution blend of different exposures - not something i normally do, but i thought it'd be fun to capture the detail that otherwise would be lost in the shadows that way.


i'll put together an album of temple shots in the next few days.

my last post about varanasi, i promise

click on this link to see the complete photo gallery.

18 march 2011

fortune teller, eliot's beach

today, a group of us from the consulate toured the u.s.s. decatur, a destroyer-class ship that had stopped in chennai on its way back to the u.s.  the crew were all very nice, and it was fascinating to see how much equipment they can pack into such narrow spaces. we met a groups of officers and sailors for dinner that night, including the commanding officer who is a woman of indian descent. her background her a minor celebrity in chennai, and i can only imagine it also must have blown the minds of the indian navy officers who met her.  after dinner, i broke off from the crowd and wandered down to the beach to try some night photography.

12 march 2011

it's sea turtle hatching season!

a group of us visited a sea turtle hatchery and watched a few baby turtles dig their way out of the sand and head to sea. they only emerge at night, to avoid predators.

16-21 january 2011 again

the example below is a better illustration of what i was writing about in my previous post. to me, in color, this photo lacks focus.

in black and white, the face and posture become more prominent.

anyway, i've finished the album of the photos from varanasi. you can see it here.