hay framework, originally uploaded by akshath.

Hay and wooden framework acts as a skeleton for clay idol making. This was shot at Kumartuli (in Kolkata), West Bengal, This is the centre of the clay idol-makers of West Bengal. It is home and workshop to more than one hundred and fifty families of clay model-makers.

Howrah Bridge | Kolkata, originally uploaded by akshath.

Shot at Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

I am happy to share with you people that I was recently  featured on Vijaya Karnataka’s  ‘Yugadi’ special issue. ‘Vijaya Karnataka’ is a regional news paper published by TOI group in Karnataka.

Cover Page (cover image is not my picture)

Click over the image to view large

Click here to view the text zoomed in. Yes they took my permission

BPC [Bangalore Photography Club] invites you to the launch of it’s first book - Bengaluru Mandis, Hidden Hues.

Venue: Max Mueller Bhavan, CMH road, Bangalore
Date: 16 Feb 2009 Time: 6:30 pm

Bengaluru Mandis is the first coffee Table book Bangalore photography Club is publishing. It’s only a small step towards creating more art and providing a public platform for photographers.

Book will in launched and inagurated by Mr.Chiranjiv Singh - former Additional Chief Secretary of Karnataka.

Images from the book will be displayed in form of an exhibition at Max Mueller Bhavan as part of the Airtel Bengaluru Habba celebrations between the 15th & 22nd of February, 2009.

The Airtel Bengaluru Habba in association with the Times of India is proud to associate with the BPC for this exhibition. The Bengaluru Habba aims to provide valuable and aesthetic entertainment at no cost to the audiences. We hope to expose youth to the joy of live traditional performing and visual arts and crafts and to make Bengaluru a culturally vibrant place.

The Mandis of Bangalore are like threads that bind today’s modernity and way of life with that of the yesteryears’ charm. These are places seemingly untouched by time and unchanged by all that has taken place over the centuries of this city’s cultural existence.

This book has endorsed by leading Bangaloreans like Mr. MD Pai, Arundathi Nag, Prem Koshy, Prasad Bidappa, Allen J. Mendonca &  Yusuf Arakkal.

Bangalore Photography Club members were mesmerized by the colorful beauty that lies in the markets of the city, un-celebrated. We went ahead and put together the moments we captured at markets across the city, such as city market, Russell market, Madiwala, Jayanagar etc. This compilation is a humble endeavor to seize these faces, these magical expressions, these unending flavours and moods from the bazaars of Bangalore.

I am very happy to be part of this book as a contributing photographer and am very excited about this book launch. Hope to see you there.

Details about the book: The cost of the book is Rs. 1000. The book is : 11” x 11”, 72 pages, hard cover with laminated jacket. You can pre-order the book my mailing info@bangalorephotographyclub.com.

About Bangalore Photography Club: BPC
BPC started off in late 2004 with 4 people who met on a Yahoo group. By 2005, considering the enthusiasm in the group growing in number, it was envisioned that BPC could go long way in the field of photography. Group projects such as shoot-trips to nearby locations helped bring the members together as a team, rather than just online peers. 2006 saw the birth of BPC’s first group product, Calendar 2006. This team effort improved the seriousness among the members about photography and doing bigger things together.
Today, BPC is an association of more 3700 members. This is an open forum where anyone could come up with ideas aligned with the vision of the club or to promote the club itself, lead the project. ‘Frames of Mind’ is the annual photography exhibition which all members look forward to every year.

On my way back from Kabani, I visited Ambavilas Palace or Amba Vilas Palace (better known as Mysore Palace) at Mysore (Karnatak, India). This is an amazing structure and is lit up during Sundays.

Below is a large panorama image of Mysore Palace (made using 16 shots stitched together).
(thanks to gigapan.org for hosting this large image)

[If you are using RSS reader you would want to click on the title or this link to view the embedded large panorama image.]

I was planning to check out Google Maps for India.. since I did not remember the exact url for India Map.. i search it in google.. and to my surprise every page in the result had this line under the link “This site may harm your computer.”

And then I clicked on the link (http://www.google.co.in/interstitial?url=http://maps.google.co.in/) and got this page.. i don’t have words to describe this :))

guess some one or some thing got screwed badly at gogole .. Hope they find and fix this soon. Users may ignore this and continue for now..

Update: Looks like there are others also who have seen this happen .. reports are coming from all over the net..

Update: the bug is now fixed as per Google.. here is the official entry on their blog http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html

My ‘bless me’ image was selected to be on the cover for Issue 12 - Spring 2008 edition of ‘Wet Ink’ Magazine from Australia. ‘Wet Ink’ is a magazine that’s dedicated to publishing new and exciting writing.

You can order your copy online here. Thanks Simon Lownsborough for selecting my image.

On Sep 11 2008; I got a email from Photoshelter Collection informing that they are closing down.. this came to me as a very sad news..

I was on PhotoShelter from their start.. and believed they understood photographers.. I guess the business did not work out the way they wanted and was not sustainable.

I still believe they dared to do something different .. something that needs to be appreciated and commended.. thank you PhotoShelter for that.. and I wish you all the best for your future.

Here is the email I got from them..

Dear Friends,
We’re contacting you today with some unfortunate news - we will be closing The PhotoShelter Collection, effective October 10, 2008. Going forward, our team will refocus heavily on enhancing our original product, The PhotoShelter Personal Archive, which several thousand photographers use for bulletproof storage and online image sales directly to their own clients. Our financial position remains solid and we look forward to working with the photography community for years to come.

More details about timing and the implications for contributors can be found in a personal statement on our corporate blog, and this FAQ document.

Just one year ago, we started the Collection with a mission to “change the image marketplace for good.” Since then, we’ve amassed a remarkable global community. We’ve built a unique position in the industry fueled by integrity and a true passion for photography. We’ve held our commitment to fair treatment of photographers with a 70/30 split of every transaction, opened up your access to information through our School of Stock and symposium events, and gave every photographer - regardless of one’s network, location, or level of expertise - a fair shot at selling your work to the industry’s top buyers.

However, our approach was insufficient to change buyer behavior on a grand scale and generate revenues quickly enough to satisfy our goals for this product line. While image buyers worldwide appreciated our new approach, the size of our image selection and the incumbent player’s entrenched subscription relationships were a persistent challenge. As a result, we saw few strategic options for the Collection that would allow us to stay true to our commitment to a better deal for photographers and our desire to change the industry.

Despite today’s decision, we remain committed to using technology to advance both the art and business of photography. Our team’s energy and innovative resources will ensure that the Personal Archive remains the best online solution to help independent photographers write their own success stories. If you are not yet a Personal Archive subscriber, we hope you will continue your relationship with the PhotoShelter community through that product.

We want to express our deepest gratitude to our global community of contributors. We’ve enjoyed a full year of seeing your exceptional images cross our desks, developed warm relationships with many of you through PhotoShelter events, and shared in your excitement when you’ve achieved sales through our marketplace.

We’re looking forward to chatting more with you in person and demonstrating some new Personal Archive enhancements at October’s PhotoPlus International Conference.

With gratitude,

Allen Murabayashi

CEO

And here is the link for their Press Release. Another interesting read you may want to go through.

I have been a big fan of tiny/small gadgets mainly the small computer (Subnotebook).. and smaller they get more sexy they look to me.

For those who did not get what I meant by Subnotebook in the first paragraphs.. A subnotebook is a small and lightweight portable computer, with most of the features of a standard laptop computer but smaller.  Subnotebook are also known as “ultraportable” and “minilaptop”, while Intel has coined “netbook”. The term “ultra-mobile PC” (”UMPC”) is also used, although this is the name of a platform of small form-factor tablet PCs (see UMPC).

Subnotebook shot to lime light in 2007 with the launch of ASUS EEE PC; its success caught most hardware manufactures off guard. And within a shot span of time all other manufactures started releasing UMPC computing products like Acer Aspire One, HP 2133 Mini, MSI Wind PC and others being on their way out..

After much deliberation on which subnotebook to order I recently ordered my Asus EEE PC 901 Linux edition from Amazon. I also got it to India with my friend who happened to be coming back around the same time. I have been playing around with it for a week now; and I am absolutely loving it. I uninstalled the Xandros Linux that came with it and installed the Ubuntu-EEE (Ubuntu optimized for the Asus Eee PC) within two days of using it. The startup speed and battery backup is amazing. And I am getting used to the multi-touch features and the small keyboard. Shall soon post a detailed review.. till then you can view this Youtube video..

Also I just came across this nice little computer called ‘Space Cube‘ - claims to be the smallest PC in the world and it measures a mere 2.1″ x 2.1″ x 1.8″. That according to me is ultra cool ! Its hard drive is actually a 64MB SDRAM card, and it is equipped with a LAN port, USB connectivity, and a monitor connector as well. It’s an offshoot of the Space Systems Research Group of the University of Dundee.I can see amateur robotics and rocket and other engineering groups being interested in devices like this and it can open a can of possibilities for them.

If you have found any such interesting gadgets do sound off in the comments..