The Sarod Trio

Yesterday I attended the second day of the week-long Alva’s Virasat 2011 cultural extravaganza organized in Shobhavana, Mijar by Alva’s Foundation. I witnessed splendid Sarod Trio by musical maestros Padma Bhushan Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Khan and was ably assisted on Tabla by Pandith Vijay Ghate.

Just Loving it

The concert began by brothers Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan playing duo on Sarod. Padma Bhushan Ustad Amjad Ali Khan gave a mesmerizing solo performance and thrilled the audience. The concert concluded by all three maestros giving their best in atrio performance. It was a unforgettable experience.

Amaan Ali Khan & Ayaan Ali Khan

Taught by his father and guru, the great Haafiz Ali Khan of Gwalior, Amjad Ali Khan was born to the illustrious Bangash lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School of music. Today he shoulders the sixth generation inheritance of this legendary lineage. He has ably trained his both sons to follow him on his footsteps. It was a rare opportunity to see all three on stage together.

Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan

Elder son Amaan Ali Khan and younger son Ayaan Ali Khan studied under the tutelage of their father Amjad Ali Khan. Initiated into the fine art of Sarod playing at a very tender age their tunefulness and bold and resonant strokes are all pointers to importance of tradition and continuity in Indian Classical Music.

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan

You can learn more about these 3 great Sarod Maestros at their website aptly named http://www.sarod.com.

Pandith Vijay Ghate

I used both Canon EOS 7D and Canon EOS 5D mark II to make these photographs. The lenses were Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM & Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM.

It was a challenge to photograph in a live function without disturbing the 11,000 odd audience who gathered to appreciate the music by great maestros. Huge letters in the background cluttered the aesthetically grand stage. As the background was dark I had to sometimes provide up to 2 stop exposure value correction to get proper exposure.

Meditation

The light was rapidly changing as they were constantly altering the light. There was also mixture of different hues and tones of the light due to color gel which was applied to the lights. The lighting was also not even throughout as they were using several spotlights. For example when the trio was playing they had higher illumination on Ustad Amjad Ali Khan but a lower brightness to other artists on the stage. This resulted in a uneven exposure.

Despite all these hurdles I hope in these you will be able to appreciate at least a fraction of the musical treat I tasted on that night.

Amaan Ali Khan

Ayaan Ali Khan

Just Loving it

The Lamps

Tabla Magic

The Lights

Enchanting

The Stage

Immersed in Music

Yaksha Doll

Ecstatic Performance

Watchful Guide

Supporting Maestro

Lost in Trance

Magic Fingers

2nd program that day was Odessi performance the photos of which I will publish in my next blog issue.

Male Pied Paddy Skimmer(Neurothemis tullia)

I found this Male Pied Paddy Skimmer(Neurothemis tullia) dragonfly on a late evening. I tried shooting him with my 300mm f 2.8 lens thinking that he will fly off if I approach closer. The results of 300mm were not good as light had faded and I had to resort for a shallower depth of field or higher ISO both of which are detrimental to the quality of macro. So I ran quickly to my car and picked the macro rig and came back hoping he will still be there waiting for me. He did not disappoint me.

Male Pied Paddy Skimmer(Neurothemis tullia)

The Dragonfly was still perched on grass blade. I had ample time to position myself and use my Canon EOS 5D mark II with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM fitted with Ray Flash Adapter on a Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash. I was not able to reach front of him as there was a big trench with lot of weeds. So I was not able to get frontal image. Otherwise it was a very pleasant shooting. Breeze was calm on that evening, which helped me to critically focus on the dragonfly. F/14 aperture I used gave a great depth of field which nicely highlights the hairs on the dragonfly as well as the grass.

The Pied Paddy Skimmer (Neurothemis tullia) is a species of dragonfly Distributeed throughout the Oriental region and found in south and south-east Asia. It appears in Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia), Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

Male Pied Paddy Skimmer(Neurothemis tullia)

Male has a black face. Eyes are blackish brown above, violaceous below. Thorax is black with mid-dorsal creamish white stripe. Legs are black. Basal half of wing is opaque blue black which is bordered by a milky white patch towards the tip. The wing tips are transparent with a dull brown wing spot. Abdomen is black with a broad mid-dorsal creamy white stripe on the upper side.

Female differs significantly from the male in body markings and coloration. The face is olivaceous yellow. Eyes are pale brown above, which fade to pale olivaceous towards the sides and below. Thorax is greenish yellow with a bright yellow mid dorsal stripe. This stripe is broadly bordered with blackish brown throughout. The outer surface of legs is yellow and the inner surface is black.

Base of the wings bright amber yellow. Front edge of the wing is blackish brown, broadening into a very large blackish brown spot. This spot extend to the rear edge of the wing. In hind-wings this spot is irregular or sickle shaped. Tips of all wings are broadly blackish brown. Wing spot is dull brown. Abdomen is bright yellow with a broad black band above. Underside is black.

Male Pied Paddy Skimmer(Neurothemis tullia)

It is a conspicuous species of ponds, marshes and paddy fields. Flight is slow and weak. Usually perches on twigs, aquatic weeds and other plants. This species is very common along irrigation canals in paddy fields.

Breeds in marshes and ponds. Flight season: Found throughout the year. However, peak abundance is during July-September months.

Happy New Year 2011

2010 was a great year for me and my photography. My blog Krishna Mohan Photography
has become more streamlined and I am able to write every week consistently this year. Even though the I wrote only 55 blogs this year as compared to 100 last year, the audience for my blog has grown a lot. Here is the brief statistics from my blogs log.

Monthly History 2010

There were 67167 unique visitors with 125502 visits. 488512 pages were served resulting from 2833281 hits. Total 67.23GB Bandwidth was used. This is almost twice that of year 2009. I am very grateful to all of you who have made this blog a great success All thanks goes to you who are my readers, friends and guides. It is you, who have encouraged me to blog and post almost a week. I have also been made an affiliate of B&H which is world renowned as the place to be for all your photo, video, pro audio and digital imaging needs.

On gear front has seen several drastic changes this year. I sold most of my old gear and refined my gear to suit what I shoot. I graduated from one Camera in hand to two with the purchase of Canon EOS 7D as my second camera. I also changed my gear very drastically to match with these two cameras I had. having two cameras is a boon in dusty environment where you can’t change lenses easily. Also it helps you to maintain 2 camera systems, one set for macro and other for tele all the time.

I now have a macro setup consisting of full frame Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS II USM & Canon MP-E 65 f/2.8 1-5X Macro. For the Telephoto range I use cropped sensor Canon EOS 7D with either Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM or very sharp Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM usually fitted with 1.4x tele-converter giving me the extra reach for birds.

For land scape and general low light photography which I did not concentrate much this year I have wide angle Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM as well as very fast Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM. I also purchased a Gauragear Kiboko Camera bag which is the best bag in the world for carrying these heavy gear, period.

I got new support system in the form of Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 Carbon Fiber Tripod which is fitted with my trusted Acratech Ultimate Ball Head. I purchased new lightweight Benro C45T Carbon Fiber Monopod which I added Manfrotto 496 Compact Ball Head. These two give me a great support with high agility to move around.

Encouragement I received through your comments and mail is the one which kept me getting these photos and writing these blogs. Let us hope 2011 brings more such fun and joy for all of us. I thank all of you for the great support given to me till now.

Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2011.