Some time with these leaves...

After many days today morning went to the balcony with a cup of tea. The breeze was cool. Suddenly my eyes fell on one of the plants that we have placed in our balcony. Such a beautiful arrangement of light and dark green flowers ! I was still halfway with my tea, but then it could wait ! I had to take capture the foliage in its element, in the morning light....

After this first capture, i started looking for other interesting arrangements. Did find some, but felt something was missing. Sprinkled the leaves with some water and found this set of leaves...It seemed as if the leaves were smiling with this splash of water...!



Another arrangement which caught my fancy ~ Liked the way the leaves were hanging in this one...



Wanted to make use of some depth of field in this one, blur the rest of the leaves and make the leaf carrying the water droplets stand out. But my lens allowed no more effect than this. Still like the way this came out ~



Taking these pictures, dowloading them, resizing them and sending them to my official id so that i could upload them in the day, ensured that i had to rush madly to avoid being little late for work.... but felt good that i began the day well....

and yeah, the remaining tea also tasted much better after that........ :-)

Street vendor in the evening glow

It was the evening of our second and last day at Jodhpur. It had rained in the afternoon for around an hour and again in the evening the sun had come out with it's beautiful golden light. We were passing through the market near the clock tower where we spotted this turbaned street vendor. The golden light on his face and the quality of his eyes caught my attention. Took a couple of his photographs from different angles, but liked this the most.

Rajasthani women

Bright coloured clothing, smooth tanned skin, ornaments in every possible place and an earthy charm ~ these are the images that come to our eyes when we think of rustic rajasthani women. This trip to Jodhpur, ressured that reality is indeed very close to the imagery. Took a lot of photographs of the locals around the Mehrangardh fort, but somehow found myself clicking the females more, no marks for guessing why.

Saw this lady on our way up towards the fort. She was walking down in a group of people. Probably with her in-laws. That explains the pallu that she had covered her face with. But did mange to catch her in my cam the moment she raised her pallu to look around. Loved her bright yellow and orange attire.

As we walked further up and reached the fort, there was a horde of locals sitting there. Spotted this lady on one side. Her flawless complextion and a bright green dress with the white bangles attracted me to take her photograph.




We had gone into one of the local's houses and this graceful woman of the house gladly posed for me on her staircase. Red saree, red bindi, red bangles and compassionate eyes...

Another beauty from around the Mehrangardh fort. She was sitting under a tree with her husband and two kids. She was singing some folk song and her husband was playing some musical instrument along with it. I was impressed by her subtly beauty and sharp features. Also liked the effect that came about with the pallu on her head and a nose stud. This candid photograph of hers remains one of my favourite portraits from the trip.

Jodhpur-The Blue City

Returned from a trip to Jodhpur ~ The Blue City, a couple of days back, but the visions and experiences of that place are still fresh on my mind...

With its blue houses and colourful people, the trip was a visual extravaganza. It was a treat to the eye to see the locals with their sun-kissed skin and chiseled sharp features, moving about in amazingly bright coloured clothes. Their attire also went very well with their warm and hospitable nature.

We had specifically gone there to see the unadulterated lifestyle of the people of old jodhpur in their houses and capture it in our cameras, but we were quite skepticle about what would be their reaction when a bunch of stangers like us would want to get inside their houses, disturb their peaceful lives and on top of it take their pictures too. But to our pleasant surprise, in each house that we went to, we were welcomed with such warmth and enthusiasm, that we were touched. In every house that we entered, we were taken on a tour inside the whole house, up to the terrace and the people gladly posed for us too. There wasnt one house that we left without having water or tea or some snacks.

The hospitality of those people to compelete strangers liked us won our hearts. They also brought us closer to our Indian values where a guest is valued like god "Atithi devo bhava". Where else in the world do you find people who show so much of warmth even to unknown people? This trip to this colourful city with its even more colourful and warm people gave me one more reason to feel proud to be an Indian.