So it goes

Right now it's a war between cockroaches and me at my new place. There are only 2 insects I hate. Bedbugs and cockroaches.

Right now I have called for reinforcements, ie pest control company.

Lets see how it goes.

:-)

Such is ...

Moved to a new place in Koramangala.

In the hall, where there is supposed to be a window, there is a freakin door !

First time I ever changed/shifted house in last 6 years. Did all the mistakes that could possibly be done !

Yay !

Isn't it ?

For every story with a happy ending, there is another side of it where it's equally sad.

Just that nobody pays any attention to it.

Such is life...

*sigh*

hmm

I am taking next 3 weeks off from office work. Woo Hoo !

So these are things I hope I'll get done in those 3 weeks:

* Play chess with my lovely niece.

* Visit lots of places. Currently I have following places in mind:

* Chitradurga

* Hampi

* Bijapur

* Badami, Aihole, Pattadakallu

* Ajanta, Ellora

* Scuba diving

* Complete photography assignment (More about this after I complete the assignment)

* Take loads of good pictures

* Take pics of night sky (at least 2 hour of exposure)

* Super macro pics of tiny insects

* Pictures of birds, lots of birds

* Build a unicycle

* Paint / sketch a nice painting

* Write a short story

* Finish reading the Sandman series (I have 4 more books to read)

* Get back to being ultra fit

* Eat properly

Knowing me, I'll probably just sit at home; knowing me, I'll probably do all of the above !

:-)

Money Or ...

Sleep ?

You see, I've got to be at office by 7 in the morning. Yes, don't ask.

Every morning it's the same dilemma I go through.

Wake up at 5, take the bus OR get half an hour more sleep and take auto.

14 Rs Vs 90 Rs.

I hear auto fellas are making good business these days.

Sigh.

Once and for all

Peach and Pink are almost same color .

No, really. They are. Almost.

weekend Trip to Agumbe

It was a surprisingly refreshing trip to Agumbe last weekend !

From Agumbe November 2010

Sunrise at Kundadri

From Agumbe November 2010

View of the Onake Abbi falls from top !

From Agumbe November 2010

From Agumbe November 2010

More trips like this would probably keep me sane :-)

Goa trance track for the day

The Infinity Project - Telepathy

I wonder

where do you get these things people speak of? You know, 'Motivation','Ambition','Goal' etc.

I need couple of Kgs. of those.

:(

Psytrance track of the day :

From Younger Brother

Published !

:-) he he

Udayavani ( www.udayavani.com/Kannada ) Kannada Daily news paper, used one of my pictures for their Sunday supplement !

I didn't know about it, only when my cousin called up to ask about it, I ran and bought a copy :D

They happily photoshopped it though.

Original pic here :

Now, am I getting paid for it or what ?

Currently reading ...

A Rainy Affair with a Snake ...

So, whenever I visit my hometown, my dream is to bump into a snake and take pictures of it. Preferably a Cobra, but any snake would do for as a starter.

I couldn't believe my luck when I ran into a small snake this time I went home. But few problems.

I didn't have my camera at hand.

It was raining cats and dogs.

I was at least 5 minutes walk away from home where I have my camera.

But I can't let go of this chance to take pics of a snake, how can I ?

I know that this snake is non-venomous, tiny (around 1-1.5 feet in length), and wouldn't kill me if it bites me.

So, I gathered all my courage and grabbed the snake by it's tail (?). And brought it home while few people were giving me those funny looks.

Now, reached home, grabbed my camera, put on my only decent lens. I kept the snake on a small plant, waited till it got comfortable. Then got into business.

While I was getting drenched in rain along with my camera, I managed to shoot few good pics.

After around 100 pics, rain got heavier, time to let the snake go on it's way. I left it back where I found it. I couldn't find courage to kiss it good-bye.

I am still trying to figure out an 'English' name for this snake. I'll update once I do.

Most probably it's Buff Striped Keel back.

Dear God ...

Grant me the...

Serenity to accept things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can, and the

Wisdom to know the difference

Patience for the things that take time

Appreciation for all that I have, and

Tolerance for those with different struggles

Freedom to live beyond the limitations of my past ways, the

Ability to feel your love for us and my love for each other and the

Strength to get up and try again even when I feel it is hopeless.

lifted from here

hmm ...

I would know who I am, only when I move out of my comfort zone.

Colors ...

World without colors is boring. Eh?

Few colorful pics here, shot at San Francisco Pride Parade...

:)

Huh

Ever heard of a game called Roller Derby ?

Me neither.

But, am going to watch that game, live, today !!

:-)

Update:

WTF !

New Blog !

Well, I've been writing about personal stuff for more than three years now! It's about time I started rambling about my professional work as well. No?

New blog is here ( http://findingbugs.blogspot.com/ ), it's about how to find bugs :-)

That's my new blogs, it's about software testing. So, if you aren't into that kinda stuff, don't even bother going there :-)

:-)

Sad day ..

It'a great loss for the world of photography :-(

My 18-55 mm lens's autofocus stopped working.

Sad day indeed.

Me thinks...

There is something inherently wrong about being right. No?

What's in a name ?

Here in SF, often I go to a Starbucks coffee shop near my apartment. While they take your order, they also ask for your name and write it down on the coffee cup. Once coffee is ready, they call your name.

"Your name, please"

"Harsha ..."

"Okay", scribbles something on the coffee cup.

2-3 minutes later ...

"...sha, your coffee !"

"Thanks!"

Harsha then checks the coffee cup, and starts laughing !

Okay, here are the variants of my name that ended up on the coffee cup:

"Arshad"

"Arsha"

"Asha"

"Shasha"

"Sha"

"Hasha"

...

Next time, I'll say my name is Harry or something ...

Lens Review: Tamron AF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di LD Macro

Or in simple terms, Tamron 70-300 with macro for Canon DSLRs.

It's been an year since I've been using this lens. So, time for a review :-) or in other words, time to show off my pics taken by this lens :D

Facts:

How long I've been using this lens? - One year.

How much did I pay for this? - 8500 Rs ( ~ 170 USD)

Using it as a telephoto lens:

If you are out in a bright day light, and your subject is relatively near by and still, then you can take some good pics.

If you intend to use this lens mostly for bird photography, here are the things you need to know:

Problem:

Autofocus is painfully slow.

Work around:

I usually can guess the distance between me and the birds. So I switch to Manual focus, get the bird in focus, switch back to auto focus, take shots. For some reason, I haven't still perfected my manual focussing skills. I blame this on my short sight !

If you want to take pics of birds flying, then the slow auto focus is definitely a huge problem. Here is a trick I use. Start focussing on the bird while it is still far, and keep pressing the shutter button half way (auto focus) until the bird is in the frame you want. Then click :-)

Below is an example of that:

Not the best of the shots, but hey !

Problem:

Autofocus is very noisy !

Work around:

Pretty much same as mentioned above. But, boy, can it get any louder !!

Problem:

Pictures are not sharp:

Work around:

Well, use GIMP or Photoshop or whatever floats your boat :-) It actually takes sharp enough pics if you are close enough, I can't really tell the workable distance between birds and me, my guess is 10-12 feet. I know that it's ridiculous, 'cause in bird photography, it's way too hard to get close to birds. But some time I do get a chance when birds feel brave not fly off :-)

Case in point:

Problem:

Short focus ! What I mean is that, you took a picture, focussing on bird, but after you click, and see pic in laptop, you realize that focus is offset by a small value and actual focus is somewhere else near by the bird. ( Pardon my sentence :D )

Case in point:

You see, instead of Bulbul, the focus in on the leaf !! It was taken using autofocus, and I was quite close to the bird as well.

Another one:

Lens totally missed the Kingfisher !

Work around:

I don't know!! manual focussing, may be. I recently started noticing it. I'm yet to figure out the pattern ...

Using it in the Macro Mode:

This lens comes with a pseudo macro capacity, from 180-300 mm, you can switch to macro mode and get closer to the subject (~ 1 meter).

Problem:

Autofocus, noisy and slow.

Honestly, I am impressed with the macro shots this lens can take. Some of them came out really nice. (I guess).

You ought to have lots of patience with this lens, if you want to take a good macro. Not every macro subject stands still, like this lady bug on creeper ... Creeper moves for slightest wind, lady bug was in a hurry to get away from me :-)

But once in a while, there are subjects which stand still until you force them to move !

Case in point:

My biggest complaint:

As of now, with this lens, in aperture priority mode, I can not shoot with f value lesser than f5.6 ! Bummer ! If I try to shoot with f8 or lower, camera throws an error on LCD. I have to switch it off and on to get rid of it :( It's called 'Sticky Aperture' I guess.

My Conclusion:

I bought this lens as a cheap experimental lens to try bird photography. I had read about these problems before, but wasn't worried much.

For money it costs for this lens, it did give me quite a few good shots. But it also let me down lot of time. I've been using it for long time now, I pretty much know how to work with this lens!

If you are looking for a cheap, experimental lens for entering in to bird photography / telephoto arena, and won't mind risking some money, I would say, go for it :-)

Here [Flickr] are the few pics I've taken with this lens.

Let me know what you think !

Book stores

There is something about going to a random book store and looking at all the books on display. Time starts to flow smoothly and slowly. It's a nice experience.

I just walked in to a random book store. It was different in it's own way. I wish I had my camera to take some pictures of all the books on shelves.

I love book stores. Especially when they allow you to grab book, take a chair, sit and read.

Are you depressed?

No?

Well, listen to this song then. Read the lyrics. I bet you will be depressed by the time song finishes ...

For a fallen angel by My Dying Bride

As I draw up my breath,

And silver fills my eyes.

I kiss her still,

For she will never rise.

On my weak body,

Lays her dying hand.

Through those meadows of Heaven,

Where we ran.

Like a thief in the night,

The wind blows so light.

It wars with my tears,

That won't dry for many years.

"Love's golden arrow

At her should have fled,

And not Death's ebon dart

To strike her dead."

-

On an unrelated note, here is a picture I took ...

It's a dying Dandelion.

Sour Grapes ...

Well, It's been 3 weeks here in San Francisco, and yet I haven't managed to get my bums on a saddle :-(

I've been thinking. It must be so boring to cycle here in SF. No autos, no BMTC buses to cut you off, no potholes, no crazy pedestrians, no cows. They've got cycle lanes for FSM's sake !!

Well, the cycle I've been lusting after costs me $2100 (~1,00,000 Rs) ...

Should I ? Should I not?

Red Pill? Blue Pill?

Can I see your credit card?

"Hi, I would like to rent a cycle for this week ..."

"Okay, Can I see your credit card and an ID please ?"

"Umm, I don't have a credit card ..."

"Sorry, no bike then ..."

"Huh ..."

:(

Being apologetic ...

One thing I observed ... Whenever I am in a foreign country, I tend to become very apologetic. I'll start using 'Sorry', 'Excuse me' a lot. Also a lot of 'Thank you' thrown in.

I wonder why.

May be, because I feel like a guest, and hence the behavior.

As it is, I am apologetic for no reason. Imagine my state now !

Also, the word 'apologetic' sounds very weird. No?

San Francisco !

That's where I am right now!

Too cold, can't feel the sunshine because I work from morning 8 to evening 7, struggling to find food, too lazy to take my camera out and lungs full of cough are killing me!

But looks like I'll like this city, different from New York and London.

On a completely different note, words of appreciation make me feel happy ! very happy...

Simple math

( Me in my current status ) - ( The Mask I wear) - ( Photography ) - ( Cycling ) == Empty

It's that time of the year ...

where I show off my photography ...

I spent the last week at my hometown, and well mostly clicked lots of pics.

This time around I didn't go after the big birds or the landscapes, but was looking for tiny creatures to take good macro shots.

I started with this lady bug, which I think had a tough day:

I had dreamt of taking a pic similar to the one below for a long long time, finally I did!!

Here it is:

Then, I got hold of this grass hopper. A brave one in that...

Finally the cute frog fella !!

Tell me what you think of these pics !

like a bubble on water ....

"blip"

That's my life, your life on some scale in the grand scheme of things ...

Just a "blip"

Some stay longer, some for shorter time. In between, we cry, we laugh, we wish for a better lens :(

How to take picture of the Moon?

Got a DSLR? Have a telephoto lens? Still can't take a good pic of the Moon?

It's all explained in my other blog here

:-)