Romancing Birds

This is another photo I shot around the sea-side of the Jaffna islands. Now I am realizing that it is the great place for bird photography. Every time I visit there especially during the rainy season, I have seen a bird that never seen in my life previously. I saw these birds when I was going through the road that connects the islands and Jaffna peninsula. Both side of the road was filled with the raised sea water because of recent rain. I was shocked to see those gatherings of birds in the water.  I have never seen previously in this area,  they were a lot. I had a doubt in my mind they may be the migrating birds, might be landed here recently. I stopped there immediately and started to take photograph of them. The shots might be very ordinary without these couple of birds kissing in the middle of the water.  

After posting the images here, With the help of my friend Google and Wiki i found the name of these birds”Greater flamingo”

Have they come here to fishing or enjoy the honeymoon..?

Romancing Birds, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

May be birds more than fish here !

Together

Love is being stupid Together

Love is being stupid together, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

Kings of the streets

Have you ever had a walk like this?
Yes I had a lot!

A walk with the friends on the streets after school will be mixed with sense of freedom, fun and Joy. There was no control on us what so ever until we reach home. We are the Kings of the streets at those moments.

If somebody asks you, what is the best part of your life so far I will say “childhood life’’ is the golden era of my life. 2pm ,the time to finish the school is one of the most cheerful moment of every child in the country. We will be waiting for the final bell even before 2pm, after the bell, we will stand for a few minutes until the school anthem finish. we will be released in to the world of joy through the school gates. Usually someone will come to pick me from the school until that, just me and my friends ,no teachers no parents, no one to control us. If nobody came there I will start to walk with my friends. A walk with recalling funny moments at the classroom, kicking and passing the small stones, and rarely even small street fights. Sometimes our stomach will be full with the stolen mango fruits, if we found any mango trees on the way. Our legs never got fatigue. Whenever I see some kids walking on the street, I remember those days of walk with my friends. This time I had my camera and didn’t hesitate to capture these Kids.

A visit to a Village

First time in my life I went to Mandaitivu A rural village situated in one of the islands of Srilanka. After losing the liveliness to the civil war which lasted for more than two decades, the village is currently under resettlement. Only Peoples who don’t have any other places to live in the country and who couldn’t escape the country have come again to their native place with some hopes to rebuild the village.

I had some of my relatives here and they left the island long ago because of the war [around early 90s] and they never returned here. Until now I never had a chance to visit here as the most of the island was under the control of security forces and normal civilians were not allowed to visit the island. Few weeks back when I was in the home for a holiday, I decide to go there as it is just 30 minutes ride from my home.

When I was going there, road was almost empty and only few vehicle passed me on my way. After entering to the village what I saw there at first was a surprising scene. Yes! Peoples may not have been on the street but they were on the fields. They have already started ploughing the fields even after a small shower of 2 days. Here the peoples are known for working hard and they are physically very strong. That’s why violence was very cheap here and peoples from other area had fear of these Mandaitivu people. There are lots of famous stories I have heard from my mom, about the violent activities of these people. Time has changed now! The people of the Mandaitivu village are showing me their mental fitness too.

Went up to the village’s fishing port. That was still under the control of navy. I had a few chat with them and get the permission to take some pictures. On that time fishermen had returned after fishing and they were processing the fishes and getting ready to transport the fishes to the nearest market.

On the way back i saw this bird may be a kind of egret, a quick snap while it was started to fly.

Circle of live

Some to bud..
Some open already..
One almost gone!
It is the circle of live somehow..
A comment for this image in Facebook by Andreas Minge

Yellowish beauty, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

Jaffna Fishermen

The poor condition of fishermen, which I can’t even dream of being, had always kept me wondering. They fight against all the powers of nature to fulfill at least the basic requirements of life that even fail to do so. On a usual dry dusty Sunday in Jaffna, having nothing to do at home due to power failure, I had decided to go out with my camera to the nearest seaside of the Jaffna peninsula. All at home were so surprised seeing my passion.

Then that was my turn to get surprised, while seeing this elderly fisherman, who was working in the sea water. The temperature shooting more than 38 degree, sunlight is directly on to his eyes and the hot salty wind is blazing on to his face, He was working in the condition more than his capability. Here are the few shots of those fishermen working hard.

Mating Munia

Most of the days, I live in rain here, the area is always ruled by the dark clouds. Sun is a rare visitor only seen in the absence of those giant clouds.A few times only I have been surprised by the sun with the clear blue sky. Those bright days will make me very delighted like these tiny munia bird couples. They come out only in the presence of sun. One day I heard their sound again and they were playing together and enjoying the sunny day. They were flying here and there in the bushes and suddenly flew off to the branch of the mango tree and started to romance. I was thrilled by seeing these tiny munia birds exchanging kisses in the shade of the mango tree, then.. did I close the eyes? But I didn’t forget to release the shutter!

Winged Wonders

This image also taken at the same location and same day as the other Egrets shots. OMG..The original image was in the shelves for some reason and Thank god ! While i was  playing with the Light room, fortunately i found this beautiful crop out of that. The moment i have press the shutter button most of the birds had thought of flying and one was already started to fly . These big egrets are looks really amazing with those big wings they have.

Big egrets on action, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

Welcoming flowers

It might be too small or too big the only thing never ever fail to impress my eyes are the flowers. I love those tiny flowers very much and the gorgeous details in their body always asking my eyes to do a research. One great example is this purple flower tree is in front of my boarding place, every morning while I go to the work I was welcomed by this bunch of purple flowers. On a Sunday after a heavy shower in the previous night; these flowers decorated by the water drops were amazing and prompt me to take the camera out. Fortunately I had less work on that day and had enough time to spend with the flowers. tree was almost filled with flowers and i was looking for the nicely placed water drop. This is it! a lovely water drop at the end of the inflorescence.

Bird Hunting-landing and taking off

Shooting the birds while they are flying is a very thrilling experience. I captured these two birds in the pannai sea-shore about 1km from my home in the Jaffna city. I went there in the morning, there were plenty of egrets searching fish and flying here and there.. The egrets look small when they are standing in the water but I was amazed while seeing those big wings through the view finders while they are on action. Watching them very closely through the view finder is exciting. It was very difficult to get them in focus. Even though several shots of those busy egrets had gone blurred, this particular shot of the big egret I captured while it was landing in the water, actually look like dancing in the water is bit better. I love those big wings and long legs.

I left those egrets as they were busy with their breakfast; I noticed this beautiful crane with black wings and small pom-pom on the head while it is calmly standing in the water. Straightaway I focused that and was waiting for the moment for the crane to take off from the water. That didn’t happen as soon as I thought it would. My hands started to feel the pressure as I was holding the camera in focus for a long time. Finally the moment came, it was started to walk and decided to take off. I didn’t wait further, only one click when it just left the water. That’s it, I packed my camera and left the area. That was the final shot of the scene.

Fishing Port

This is another photo; I took in a fishing port called as Nawanthurai which is situated in the coastal area of the Jaffna peninsula. On that day I went along the sea-side of the city in my bike . That was a hot evening, there were no clouds to calm the sun and the hot salty wind was blazing in my face. Not a good time to wandering out there. I went until 3km along the sea-side and I saw only few people passing me. Except me there was no one in that area without any purpose.

Finally I stop my bike when I saw these rows of fishing boats at the dock. I knew that, there were few negative things at the scene. Any way I just took some shots to see the outcome. The fishing boats are looking good, but what I feel is the emptiness in the image, because of the flat sky and there are no fisher men in the nearest boats to bring little bit of interest to the image.Whenever I shot a landscape something is missing in it :p It will be better next time.

Bird Hunting – Five little Egrets

The last weekend of august i got a rare three days off from the work therefore  a chance to go to my home (Jaffna) after a 3 months of continuous work.  There, my first aim was refresh my taste buds with the  mom’s freshly cooked plates and I already had other plans for my 600D that was the bird Hunting.

I Know few  places where we can see various kinds of birds usually in the rainy season. Even though August is a very sunny and a hot season in jaffna with less water in those Ponds, I went to one of those ponds to snap some birds.

That pond called As “pullukulam” situated  behind the university hostel i stayed during my college days. during those days every morning and evening i used to watch them playing and  bathing in the water, so i went there in the evening 3pm. Sad thing is the pond is almost empty and little amount of water remaining  in it.

I was searching for a  dynamic bird shot but The birds were resting in the pond, not with the same mood i have seen them in the past. they  remained static and bit boring.

Suddenly my eyes had struck at this group of little egrets, bcoz of  their position and the  nice reflection appeared in the water. I love the arrangement of these five egrets and I made the image bit interesting by tuning the white balance a bit.

I found another cutie but unfortunately not with in the good range of 250mm. i couldn’t get closer  to have a good detail of this bird.

Thats all, I was able to post only three images i took in that pond, my first adventure of bird photography with canon 600d + 250mm. This time the season was not suitable to catch some beautiful birds. Awaiting for the rainy season.

Thank You

best-regards

Balavasakan

.

Back to bubbly

Mmm.. Finally i got the right mood to post my images in bubbly. While being a busy man, i never have withheld from my 600D and was always snapping something whenever i had a little bit of time. I was able to update my skills little bit specially in post processing by going through some websites and YouTube tutes, but still i am not perfect. specially very weak in Photoshop.

I have boost my range of clicks by purchasing a canon telephoto zoom lens EFS 50-250 But didn’t have enough opportunities take my camera out,  As i am stuck at my working place and that doesn’t allow me to travel a lot.

But with the help of the 250mm i was able to snap these tiny things, those are very rare visitors around my boarding place.

Dragon Fly getting sun bath.??

This dragon-fly was in this position for a long time in a very hot sunny day. don’t know the reason.. why ? may be sleeping ? getting sun bath? I was able to shot  various angles as it wasnt seemed  to be disturb by me and this is the better one I think.

Black headed munia-Awaiting for the partner?[/caption]

This Bird is called Black headed Munia. A funny bird a rare visitor. On that day 3 of them were playing in the bushes situated just outside my rear door. Their sounds got my attention, i ran with my camera and aimed at the One very close to me. I saw that bird via my view finder with in the full frame, I was ready to click…. But so sad it was.. before i correct  the exposure setting, the bird was flown away. Later, I found the bird again in a nice position  but little far away. This time i didn’t miss it. Honestly this is a crop.

These photos are not perfect by any means but I was pretty happy with these experiments with my new canon 50-250mm telephoto lens. There are more bird photos to follow in coming days.

Thank you

best-regards

Balavasakan

Flourish !

Iron Ford Dam

Tanjore – Bragatheeswarar Temple

I had visited to Tamilnadu a state of India to see my friends who left this country 2yrs back and I met them after 6 yrs.  That was a short trip of nine days, and bit of emotional too. but I was able to full fill my dream of visiting this Tanjore – Bragatheeswarar Temple. The temple was built by well-known Chola emperor RajaRaja cholan in 1000 yrs ago. It was constructed completely by granite stones according to wiki this is the world first complete granite temple. the temple is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Great Living Chola Temples”.

Through the main door

Shadow of the Main gate tower

1000 yr Old painting

A day with the Elephants

I love pets and animals. I went to Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage on last vacation when i was gone for a trip to upcountry. it situated in the pinnawella town, kegalle District, Srilanka. It has now become one of the bigger orphanages and is quite well-known world-wide. That was an unforgettable day in my life and i touched and felt the elephants and fed some banana to them. first time i saw some baby elephants there between i didn’t forget to snap some photos.
for more information about the place  visit here ..
Pinnawela elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka

This poor elephant sama has lost her front right leg to a land mine..

Finally good-bye to the big guys. I was blessed by this Buddy… mixed expression yeah..!    I agree there was a little fear with that i am smiling to the camera..

NuwaraEliya – Mountains

I took these photos when I had gone to Nuwaraeliya on last vacation. This is the most beautiful town in the central province of Srilanka, situated on an altitude of 1,868 m. The journey I had was the ever beautiful in my life. The views through the bus window were amazing. I snap several shots through the bus window but especially I like this one above.
This picture was taken at Seetha Eliya, The mountain in front of seetha amman temple. The top of the mountain appeared as a man sleeping in lateral position.  

Whenever i see a mountain i used to think as can I go over there? yes i took this photo from the top of the rampoda hill. Look at the clouds seems to be very close to me.

The day my eyes never forget..

When I was gone to the Victoria flower garden, Nuweraeliya, Srilanka on last vacation is the day my eyes never forget.  Everywhere was flowers and I had no idea to which one I am going to shoot. After an hour of confusion I realized that the light was going dull on that evening and I randomly shot some flowers. I preferred to take macro with every flower but sadly some of them had gone out of focus. Any way I am happy with some flowers I have covered and sharing here for you!

Too little but so cute

Insects [close Up]

Sunset – collection of light

Lower Ramboda falls

Lower Ramboda falls, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

A small Water fall in Ramboda

A small Water fall in Ramboda, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

A RIde through the Mountains

Having a Happy Bath

Having a Happy Bath, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

Heaviness of life

Heaviness of life, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

Kettboola falls

Kettboola falls, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

Fisher man’s Boy

A kid carrying meals and water to his father is a fisherman. Photo was taken at Mandaitivu one of the small island of Srilanka.

Fisher man’s Boy, a photo by Balavasakan on Flickr.

Kissing angel

An Angel is awaiting to kiss u !

Butterfly