So many things I got to say… (Pt. II)

Madhu got married. So has his sister Nita. I think it was just a little less than a month ago. As usual, I was the photographer, and Achyut was with video. There were two more people for video, brothers, but I forgot their names. They are very good, but I found one major thing I’d do differently. I know they are right, but still, I have my own techniques. They talk a lot. All three of them. They like to engage in conversation with the subject when they are shooting. I like to let them alone – get there, shoot and move out. As if you were never there. Not possible most of the time, but still… that way you get what they were doing; at least that’s what I think. Their idea should bring your subjects’ concentration to camera rather than what they were doing. Nonetheless they got much better pics than I did :(. I wish I could comment on what went on during the events, but I find that bit difficult, considering that it was more than 3 weeks ago. Ah, me and my failing memory. But I do remember I was around for less than an hour on Nita’s wedding. It was a Nepal bandh on that day, so I had to walk for half an hour to get to his home. And then, I had to get to office after the event. I have learnt one thing in office about bandh. If you live within half an hour’s walking distance from office, you had better be at the office on those bandhs, if you do not want awkward questions. If you are not seriously ill, you better be in office. And this day was particularly special. People were ready to come all the way from Thimi, walking. And I had to go.

Anyway, just about a week after their wedding, I had to go to Janakpur. It was a very short trip, just 4 days, nothing to report from there, except that I got a very close sight of the underbelly of the mighty MI17 – not to mention its powerful rotor-blast.

That’s about it I have for this post. Wait, there is one more thing. Something I saw today, just about two hours ago. It’s a portrait, but it was not what took my attention. It was the eyes, the right eye in particular. From the reflection in the cornea, I could tell two light sources, right side being the master light with fill-in from the left side, both of them above the eye as well as the camera. But I couldn’t tell how that effect came to be. I mean, if the frame did not betray it, no one would tell the spectacles. You must have seen some specs without metallic rims – Just two pieces of lens joined by metallic looking bridge and two holders. The edges of lens just merged with the skin under it. I liked that effect. I will never know if I could do that. Not without two separate light sources.

And finally, if you are still guessing what those acronyms in my first post means… HPGoF is Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire. HPOotP is, you must have guessed by now, Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix.

That’s it for this entry. I know this is not a good entry, but at least it is an entry.

So many things I got to say… (Pt. I)

I have so many things to write, I guess I don’t know where to start. So much has happened since I last posted a blog. First off, there was this huge fanfare for HPGoF. As usual, it took two sessions to fully understand what happened, and what were removed from the book. It was a bizarre experience. But it has been so long, I can’t remember the movie. I liked the part introducing Viktor Crum. Nagini was unexpectedly large. I knew the book described it as huge, but I never imagined it to be monstrous. Almost like a Boa constrictor. And to add on that, it’s had poisonous fangs. Of course there’s no such thing as poisonous fangs on the movie, but the story of HPOotP demands such fangs. So what was I disappointed about in the movie? For starters, I never imagined – may be I did not read right – that talking through floo powder would look like that, just a shape of face among red hot coal. I thought your entire head would be there, floating just above coal and looking out of fireplace, and certainly not above into chimney. Harry’s encounter with that Hungarian Horntail looks very exaggerated than the book. I’d have liked to see the Chinese firebolt being depicted in the movie. And yes, the ladies. Fleur Delacour certainly seems very graceful. And pretty too, but not as much as described in the book. May be no one in real world is as beautiful as described in the book, because Cho Chang, again a very pretty lady, comes short of what the author described in print. But again, what was that saying – beauty is in the eye of the beholder? I have to accept, the casting manager did manage to find some very pretty ladies, but why were the Patil sisters so… how to put it? Mundane? And that dress for ball? What happened to their fashion sense? It looked more like Indian casual dress than a formal one – as far as I remember it was pink Salwar-suit. Come to think of it, I think they looked more like two village girls walking around a typical Indian rural bazaar for some groceries. Then again, coming from me, it does not mean much.

So much about a movie that I watched in December. I don’t think I will do justice to the movie writing about it from what’s left in my memory. Furthermore I have few more things to write about. Now, many people have advised me to write in parts, at least post them in parts to the site. I am trying with this entry, but I am not sure whether this will work or not. Considering the fact that this post has been conceived with lots of little things in mind, I might. And I do have a bit of few more things to write about.

I have been involved in transcribing a few things. Actually it was an interaction program among commercial banks and central bank. As I had very little to do in office, I volunteered to transcribe the whole discussion. It was just over 4 hrs of recording, but … hoo boy… did it take time? At times, transcription of a 5 minute session took more than 3 hours of constant listening, typing, re-listening, retyping, and then some more re-listening and retyping. After about 2 months, first draft is over, and I still have to correct the whole thing in another couple of day’s session. So far I haven’t been able to start correction, not because of lack of time, but because of lack of enthusiasm. And if you ever get a chance to volunteer for any, and I mean any, transcription process, PLEASE DECLINE!!! It may not be pretty, but it sure is easy!