After weighing in all my options for many months, I finally decided on upgrading my lens. I decided to buy an expensive telephoto lens. (One of the top end Nikon lens which costs about $5000) My friend Sanath agreed to carry the lens for me from the US back to Bangalore. He gave me his relative’s address in San Diago where I was suppose to ship the lens. Since I live in India and my Credit card has a $2000 limit, I asked Bharath to buy it for me and I said I’ll wire transfer the money once the delivery…

Jeffrey Friedl has written an excellent overview on the Digital camera white balance. Most of the photographers I know (even professional ones) do not understand what White balance is and they just leave it in auto most of the time, without touching it again in post-processing. I spend few min on each of my photograph to get the right balance and right temperature in post-processing as it makes a BIG difference in how your photograph will look finally.

These lovely lily’s were in bloom in my garden this week. So got out my macro lens and did a small photo shoot of this flower. This photograph is my favorite of the lot. I’ve made a 1400×1050 wallpaper version since I get so many mails for them.

The holiday rocked even though the weather was very hot and sweaty. After spending a lot of time in Bangalore and in the forests, it was amazing to see a place which has the best of both the worlds. Goa has lovely roads, amazing thick vegetation all around. We rented out bikes and drove around the city. I cannot even remember the last time I’ve had so much pleasure time riding a bike without all the pollution, bad road and the traffic. But I don’t think I can ever live long term there.. the weather is just way too humid…

After many years, I’m finally going on a “non-wildlife” holiday. As in just pack and go without cameras etc 🙂 Goa here I come…

noelladsa‘s Nikon D70 has been acting weird and I had given it to the Nikon service center for repair. I just got a call back from them and it seems some ants have entered the D70 and have shorted some circuits. In his own words .. “We just disinfected your D70 using pesticides”. Ironic considering my D70 became famous for photographing ants.

Got up from sleep because of the cold breeze rattling my windows. The Great Indian Monsoon has finally hit Bangalore and this year it has arrived quite early.. Because of early arrival and some unavoidable circumstances, I had to stay put in the city. Like the last two years, I wanted to spend this year at some peak at western ghats when the monsoon hits and then try to chase it up the ranges. Anyway goodbye ticks. Leeches, here I come.

Got back yesterday from a short weekend trip to BR hills and things sure are changing over there. Remember the monkey that always greets me by jumping on my shoulder as soon as I go there ? This time it did the same as usual. However, a funny incident happened. I usually feed bread crumbs or pieces of banana to these monkeys. This chap was very pissed that I was giving him small piece by piece and not the whole thing at once. So he holds my hair and pulls it. After giving him a small bit, he was not…

Praying Mantis at Kabini I’ve finally managed to process all my Kabini trip photographs. I’ve spent about 4 days there few weeks ago and have had one of the best elephant sightings of my life. I also used my studio flash equipment to shoot some macro after a long time. My favorite shot is the praying mantis above. They are masters at giving out those lovely expressions

I just love to mix work and pleasure trips. I had work last night in Mumbai and I have work again in Delhi mid next week. So I decided I’ll use this opportunity to explore some central india jungle. I’m currently camped in Nagpur thanks to the lovely hospitality of swatisani and tariquesani. I’m off to Pench National Park this afternoon and will surface back after 3 days. Pench is not infested with tigers like Kanha and Bandhavgarh, but will try my luck at it anyway 🙂