Pallikaranai Marsh, Chennai

Pheasant tailed Jacana and egret at the Pallikaranai marsh. Picture taken earlier this year. Lumix FZ35.

Cormorant takes off

A vedanthangal scene

Pallikaranai - Coots and a Grebe

A flock of coots seem to be eyeing a grebe. Picture taken a few weeks back at Pallikaranai Marsh to the south of Chennai. I used a Lumix FZ35 to take this shot.

Shovellers

A pair shovellers at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary.

Rollei 35

The Rollei 35 -- a gem and a classic from the makers of the more popularly known Rolleiflex TLRs. It was first made in the mid-1960s first in Germany and then in Singapore. This particularly piece was `Made by Rollei' in Singapore. At the time it was designed and to this day according to experts the Rollei 35 is the smallest full-frame, mechanical, 35 mm camera ever made. But the prints made from its negatives can be really blown up to match that of any 35mm professional cameras. A novel feature is the `collapsible' lens which can be retracted into the body of the camera to make in more compact.

I suppose the compact design called for a radical change in the layout as compared with the cameras of its day. The frame forwarding lever is to the left of the camera (from the photographer's point of view), the film rewind lever is to the bottom right, and the two dials in front are for setting the aperture and shutter speeds and the flash bracket is at the bottom of the camera!.

The back of the camera can be drawn out fully to gain access to the film chamber. When you get the negatives you realise that the figures are `upside down' relative to the film makers' markings like frame number and film brands.

But for its smallness, the camera feels really sturdy and you know it is built to last. This piece is still continues to work except for the light meter. Even if this was one of the pieces made in mid-1970s it is now about 35 years old.

Purple Moorhen

A random post. Been away for quite sometime.
Pics taken with a Lumix FZ35.
A purple moorhen at the Pallikaranai marsh in Chennai. Managed to catch something interesting. This time I saw a lot more purple moorhens than I have on the few occasions I have been there earlier. Here is one in the evening light.



I saw a group of purple moorhens when suddenly two of them faced off. I realised something was going to happen, released the shutter and in a fraction of a second...

it was over.

Voigtlander Perkeo

A vintage folding camera - a Voigtlander Perkeo from the 1950s. An example from a type commonly described as a `folder/folding' camera. With a simple push of the buttons on the inside of the door the lens recedes into the body of the camera making for a compact, pocket-sized pack. These are bare-basic photo takers. None of the auto or program settings that you find on modern cameras - you take one of these out, you do everything - set the aperture, shutter speed -- no metering, gauge/guess the lighting -- wind frame, focus, cock the shutter, compose and... yes, click to take pic. You really need to concentrate.
... And they are great conversation starters. Take one of these out of your pocket at any place... surely a bunch of people will want to know about these beauties or occasionally someone will recall with nostalgia the fun they themselves have had using these gems.
This one takes a 6cm/6cm pic on a 120 mm film.
Nothing like one of these fully manual cameras to help you unwind.

VEDANTHANGAL OFF SEASON

A few days back I landed up at the Vedanthangal bird sanctuary - not really the season to visit the place. But without the usual weekend crowds it is quite except for the sound of birds calling, the rustle of wings fluttering...

Here a flock of painted stork chicks seem to be taking their flying lessons...

A couple relax...A spotted owl - I think we disturbed this guys sleep

Bylakuppe and Dubare

Some more pictures from the trip to Nagarahole, Coorg and Talacauvery...
Here is the meditation hall at the Namdroling Monastery at Bylakuppe, a settlement of several thousand Tibetans.
The next pic gives some details about the hall...

A picture worth a thousand words...
A distracted monk in a prayer hall at the monastery...
...distracted

These pics were taken on an earlier trip. At the Dubare Elephant camp, where tourists get a hands-on experience of bathing and feeding the elephants. Gopi, the tusker. No one was allowed near this guy.

Crows

The common crow -- that is the name of this variety of butterfly. I think I took this pick at the Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary earlier this year.

WERRA

The Werra -- a 35mm viewfinder from the 1950s/60s. I believe this is one camera that must be among the top of a list that includes novelty in design for any period and at the very top for a deceptively simple look.

Just look at it... except for the shutter release on the top plate - that too, placed flush and very unobtrusive -- there is nothing of the usual lever for film winding, a window for the frame counter or a any of the usual controls that we would expect to see.





The back too -- nothing except for the viewfinder window...
Carl Zeiss, Jena, the legendary lens makers for cameras of that era decided to make a camera of their own and this is what they achieved.

You reverse the front cover and thread it on to the front of the lens to get a hood... and all is revealed. The shutter and aperture settings and the control for the advancing the frames. At the base of the lens, the ring with the ridges turns about a third of a circle to advance the film... no lever.
The rest of the stuff is tucked away neatly a the bottom -- the frame counter and the film rewind.

That is one Werra different camera.

Irpu Falls Coorg

The Rameshwara Temple, a shrine with a sivalinga believed to have been installed by Rama. This temple is at the base of the hill that has the Irpu Falls, a cascade also known as the Lakshman Tirtha, a major tourist attraction at Coorg, Karnataka.

A section of the track leading to Irpu Falls.
The Irpu Falls as it cascades over 150 ft down the hillock.

The falls further downstream of the main cascade.

At Nagarahole

A couple of weeks back I visited the Wynad and Nagarahole forests - both are contiguous forests and part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Wynad is in Kerala and Nagarahole in Karnataka.
December is actually not a very good time for wildlife sighting. Immediately after the monsoons the greenery is thick, water is available in plenty for the animals and they stick to the deep jungle. People do not often get to see the large animals. But we were lucky - here are some pics...
They are a random mix from Wynad and Nagarahole taken at dawn and late evening.

The forest trail in Wynad. It is about 7.30 in the morning and mist is yet to lift...

An Indian Gaur in the mist - at Nagarahole
A view from a boat at Kabini. Young darters, also called Snake Birds sit on the branches
More darters
A rare sight... at Nagarahole, it must have been about 6.30 pm, I have to thank the ultra zoom and the image stabilisation features on the FZ18 I used to take these pics. It was at full extension of the zoom at 23X (more than 750mm equivalent on film camera) and shutter speed was less than 1/50. The real life sight was actually not as clear as this... managed to catch this guy napping
the leopard in the glow of the setting sun...


fully awake



and glares at the intruding tourists

Lost in admiration

A red vented bulbul - is it just admiring itself or wondering how to free the one trapped in the glass cage... Picture taken at Coorg last week. This guy would turn up in the mornings and peck away at its reflection in the car window or just sit and stare for minutes together before getting tired and fluttering away.

Talacauvery

At Talacauvery, the source of the River Cauvery in Karnataka.
Devotees seek the Cauvery's blessings

Mamallapuram

Pelican again

Flamingoes at Pulicat

After days of going through the FZ18's manual, I thought it was time to try it out in the field -- last Sunday my friends and I landed up at the Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, near Sullurpeta.
Before getting into the sanctuary we had decided to check out the Shar Road (the road leading to Shriharikota) because the best time to sight flamingoes here is early in the morning before the traffic starts.
That was not to be -- we planned to leave Chennai by about 5.30 in the morning to be on Shar Road, about a 100 km from here by about 7.00. We were about an hour behind schedule even before we started. By the time we reached Sullurpeta the flamingoes had retreated and were a distant white patch on the horizon. We noticed a group of fishermen with their fishing boats by the roadside. Pretty lucky for us and quite unusual -- I have never seen boats by the roadside in this place. It just took us a moment to decide to go out on the boat. We asked the fisherman, and for four hundred rupees, he agreed to take us out to the birds or at least as near as they will allow us to come.
The sun was pretty high in the sky and there was quite a glare, the water vapour lifting off the surface of the backwaters added to the haze. But the Lumix FZ18 with its 504 mm reach -- with extended zoom I think it goes up to 700mm (not sure) -- was great. The images needed a bit of tweaking on photoshop to bring out the contrast and colour. Here are the results.

These birds just would not let us anywhere within a couple of hundred metres. They would just stride away from us as the boat neared them and moments later they would take off in a flurry of wings. There must of been a few thousands of these flamingoes and it was a sight none of us will ever forget.
All these pics were shot at the full extension of the FZ18's reach.

This was the closest we came, I thing these three guys below were about 100 metres

A pelican at the Nelapattu bird sanctuary.