My First Travelogue Film :-)

Title: My Travel Diary...pages: Mahabalipuram to Kanyakumari

(This approximately 10 minutes edit is more of a trailer of my upcoming one hour travelogue film)

My Photography: Elliot's Beach

"Each morning we are born again.." - Gautama Buddha

Weavers Bird

A short presentation on the bird species called as Weavers.

Place: Khammam, Andhra Pradesh

Photography: MMPrabhu :-)

These pictures of Weavers bird were taken at my brother Ravindhar Reddy's home. This was the same place, where for the first time I photographed a bird with my DSLR camera. It was a Sunbird. 

I could confidently say that my interest towards bird photography initiated here. Thanks Brother :-) 

Please note: Watch the below presentation on a computer/laptop screen with audio for better resolution

A brother's gift became a great boon for John Isaac

October 31, 2015 - Anna University, Chennai

I had the privilege of meeting John Isaac, a renowned photojournalist at a seminar. He was born in Trichy and completed his education at Madras Christian College, and New College in Chennai. 

He traveled with one-way ticket to New York for pursuing a career in music. He began by busking on sidewalks and later started singing in clubs. When he was singing at Bohemian Greenwich, he got noticed and was approached by a United Nations (UN) executive. He was asked to audition for UN chorus, and later he was also offered a job as a messenger in UN, which he immediately accepted.

In couple of years, he became a dark room technician where he got a good exposure in photography. Winning a photography competition promoted him to become an apprentice at UN's photography department. Major part of his life, he worked with UN. He has more than four decades of experience in photography. He has covered Israel-Lebanon conflict, crisis in Ethiopia, Bosnia, Rwanda and others. 

His profession gave him numerous opportunities to work with, and get to know great personalities. He happened to closely work with Audrey Hepburn, Mother Teresa and many other philanthropists. Michael Jackson requested him to be his personal photographer, and accompany him on the "History" tour. 

His work assignments enabled him to travel to 100+ countries.

Post his service at UN, he shifted his gear towards wildlife and other genres of photography. He is currently in the pursuit of doing a book on the tribes of India. His seminar, "Art of Seeing" was truly inspiring to me and other budding photographers present at the seminar. Thanks to Photographic Society of Madras (PSM) for organizing such a beautiful and mesmerizing event.

When I told my Chennai-Pondicherry friends about this seminar, I was surprised. Because one of the group of friends who I look upto, Anna told me that she is aware of John Isaac. It turned out that she and her family are good friends with John Isaac's brother. 

Conversing with Anna, an interesting fact came up: In 1972 John Isaac's brother presented a Pentax camera to him. John started to learn and practice the art of photography with that Pentax camera. The rest is a picturesque history.

A brother's gift paved a beautiful path for John Isaac's great-photographic-journey :)

Source and additional reading: 

i) The camera as conscience, an article by Deepa Alexander in The Hindu dated November 02, 2015

ii) John Issac's brilliant photographs link: Popular Photography

iii) Shutterbug

The Parkour - A Short Video

Me, Satish Venkatraman, Jagadeesan and Ajith; did cinematography for a short video on Parkour training which includes running, jumping, climbing, rolling, etc. Edited by Kaamesh. Editing supervised by Lenin Sir.

Nature has Deep Roots

"The earth has its music for those who will listen" - George Santayana

My Favorite Click - Asian Koel, Female

My Travel Notes - Coorg, a rejuvenating trip, November 7 & 8th 2015

Banglore to Coorg. A night drive and this was my first time. We were four of us. Red i10 car.

After attending my friend's daughter birthday party, we started from Banglore at 12:30 am (midnight) and reached Coorg at 7:30 am. Bravo!!! Middle of the night on a highway we had a selfie. He..he..:)

The coffee-estate-staying area was really peaceful and relaxing. Beautiful place surrounded by absolute nature. I really wanted to stay there all day to cherish its luxury. But its a trip and you should not restrain yourself inside four walls. Right!

Had a hot and refreshing bath. I was starving. Few minutes later we were served with breakfast. Menu - Dosas with chutnies. The food was home prepared and it was ultimate, we relished it completely.

Later consumed coffee. Consuming coffee in middle of a coffee estate, superb experience!

First time visit always has its uncertainty elements. That's what makes it more interesting and exciting. Puts you in exploration mode!

Here is the snapshot of the two day Coorg trip.

Day - I

(i) Tala Cauvery - the birth place of cauvery river: its an auspicious place for me. I have never been at a place where the river starts. Its so cool. The climbing up the hill, oh! God. The whole energy got drained. It took us some time to regain ourselves even after reaching the top. But after struggle there is always a happiness. The clouds gave us shade and cool air refreshened us. It seems Agasthyaa munivar (one of saptha rishies) mediated here. Wow. Super.

(ii) Bhagamandala Temple and Triveni sangamam. The vegetable oil painting on the walls of the temple amazed me. Near by was Triveni. The three rivers meeting at one place. We all sat there with our legs till knees inside the river for a pedicure treatment by fishes. Fish therapy.

(iii) Abbay Falls - excellent. The view from the hanging/suspended bridge was very nice. I heard that when you go in perfect season (probably June - July, need to check), due to the drizzle from the water fall one might get drenched completely if he/she would stand for couple of minutes on this bridge.

(iv) Raja's Seat - spectacular sun setting. I rushed a little to capture the sun set. When we reached there I was little disappointed thinking that we had missed the sunset. Only when some people started to stare, we too came to know that it was happening at that moment. Clicked couple of snaps. A peaceful evening atmosphere.

(v) Omkareshwar Temple: The temple premises had a small man made pond. There were ducks taking evening patrol in that pond. Nice setting.

But that day's trip did not end there. We still were figuring out how to reach the coffee estate bungalow. It was a thrill to drive inside thick woods. Finally we reached.

I was really expecting a big chit chat while having dinner and there after. But the day's roaming made us all exhausted and we all dozed off. I even forgot to cover myself with a blanket. Had a good night sleep.

Day - II

Chilki Reservoir Dam
Dubare Elephant Camp + Rafting
Nisargadama Island + horse riding
Tibetian Golden Temple :-)

On the way back to Banglore we stopped at Maddura Tiffany. Great evening time snack, Vada + Tea - yummy!

Then we drove and reached Banglore. I bid good byes to my friends. Boarded the Chennai train.

A memorable trip :)

Photography: M Manikanda Prabhu