a shot from the hip

i was up at parry's corner, an old and very crowded part of chennai, in a search for good images to include in a photo exhibition that i'm participating in next month. in the end, i got a good shot for the exhibition, but as i was leaving i placed my camera at hip level and fired off a few, just to see what would happen.

generally speaking, i'm really falling behind in sorting out my pictures. i still have three mornings' worth of shooting to sort through.

25 july 2011

murugan devotees during the adi kirthigai festival

as we were driving home tonight at 6.00 pm along one of the main thoroughfares of the city, we came across a procession of devotees of the god murugan (ganesh) who were celebrating the festival of adi kirthigai. adi kirthigai is a hindu festival of lord murugan; as part of the observance, devotees pierce their cheeks to make it impossible to talk, thus enabling themselves to concentrate on their worship; and other devotees pierce their bodies and wear a harness to signify they have taken a vow of abstinence in order to make pilgrimage to the temple.

this can be an amazing place.

13 july 2011

a roasted corncob that had been dropped in the sand

the sunlight was good this past wednesday morning - hazy, not too strong - so i went to the beach with my camera instead of going to yoga. for all the shooting i did, my favorite shot was this one, which i took with a faux macro lens.  there hasn't been much else going on here - i'm volunteering as an esl teacher for a private company, teaching adults, and that's been a lot more fun than i'd expected it would be. the news elsewhere has not been so good, and the mumbai explosions earlier this week were a shock, but fortunately abby (who is working up there on temporary assignment) was nowhere near the neighborhoods where the bombs went off. so i'm photographing corncobs and looking for my next inspiration.