Different Perspectives

Hi everyone! How have you been?

I'm back to freelance writing since January 2012 and life's been nice and slow so far. Though the field isn't publishing as I hoped.

Anyhow today I will not continue the 3rd part of the story (about my trip to Wasgamuwa), as I hope to save it for the next time. Instead I thought of sharing some of my photographic attempts. And there's a good news too. I bought a new digital camera (as I need one for work plus for hobby as well :D) though it's nothing sophisticated. But it's quite handy and I really like its quality and the smart li'l tricks that comes along with it. The camera is a BenQ AE100 with 14MP resolution and 5x Optical zoom. So it's good enough for the time being.

So here's a few shots I took with the new cam.

1. Solitary bird

This is the tweaked version, with enhanced saturation using Paint.NET. You'll see the original below. All the photos are cropped and resized as their original size seemed bulky for uploading.

2. Hungry Hunter

This hawk or eagle that I captured on 8th of February 2012 might be the same fellow (or a cousin of it) whom I snapped an year ago during our local New Year (Avurudu) season in mid April 2011. You'll see a few more of its pics in my Birds album.

3. Fiber mishmash

Couldn't resist taking a bunch of Macro shots with the camera's 'Super Macro' option. So this messy fiber mass is none other than a portion of a coconut husk.

4. Sepalika

Another macro and this time it's a flower. Sepalika is the local name of this small flower (sadly I'm not aware of its English name) , which I've tweaked into a black and white. You'll see the original photo below.

5. Webbed Beauty

This teeny weeny fellow was spotted sometime ago in our backyard majestically sitting on its webbed throne. Sadly my good old mobile cam couldn't capture it at all. It only showed a blurry blot. And after a few rainy seasons passed I never thought it'd have survived and so when I saw it again on 12th of this month, I was able to take a good look at it with the help of my new cam.

This spider is just a bit over 1 cm in length and breadth and was wearing this amazing gem studded costume. I never would have believed it's a spider if not for the beautiful web it was weaving between two small bushes as you'll see in the one below.

That's all for today. If you want to check for more, you'll find the new updates highlighted in my Albums page. Have a wonderful weekend!

Left far behind

..is how I feel whenever I login and check the dashboard. I've only a handful of blogs in my blogroll but how come I can't seem to keep up? I'm the type who hates skipping topics and moving up fast, *curiosity kills, I know* but despite it slows me down, I still am too eager to read all topics *if possible* instead of reading the latest and being up to date. *how nice of me* =P

Well.. I've been having such an eventful month, should I say eventful life.. a one that got me catch the same old flu three times in a row in itself is eventful right? O__o Well.. putting that aside, the me who don't have so much to share usually.. now seem to be having tons of stories to share.. so being The lazybones of the era, kept postponing them over and over again. 

And funny enough cause of this procrastination habit I've also skipped something important, my photo blog's (ya, this very blog's) 1st Anniversary, that came and left without a word, on the 2nd of August 2010. *sigh* Yep, already 20 days have gone since then and now's such a nice time to talk about it, huh? -__-

So.. want to know what stories I'll be sharing in the future = in a day or 2, a week or 2, a month or 2, a year or 2? O__O um.. hope you won't have to wait that long. -__-

Anyway here's some of those key topics..

1. the ruins of Medirigiriya and what I found hidden among them, critters of all sorts and surprising discoveries (remember that hidden tunnel? that's just one of them)
2. all types of arts and perhaps architecture too, I've captured since a while within and outside Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth), I'd say the place is a treasure trove of traditional arts
3. stories of the two Hells I've been to.. yes, H-E-L-L-S, real live.. well.. realistically sculpted ones that will give you the chills and goosebumps with just one glance! (forgot already? I did mention long ago that I'm planning to visit Dambulla temple's man-made hell, but ended up visiting two different hells! after seeing too many hells, when I die will I end up in the hell as well?) -__-
4. as for the grand finale... the entire Kandy Esala Perahera (the biggest procession in Lanka), I've caught 250+ pics and 5 or so short video clips just yesterday in the biting cold weather! Hopefully they're intact.. still got to load them to the comp and sort them out.

Did anyone else go see Kandy Perahera by the way? I'll have a bigger and exciting post about it in the future. ^__^


Have a great week! ^__^

Random captures - 2

It's been a while since my last post.. and I'm still trying to catch up with my blogroll too. *hoping to cover 1 blog per day*

And there's tons of things I've resolved to do this year *tons of things = less than a half a dozen things* but.. I wonder why I can't find enough time for anything. -__-

I wonder if the earth has finally started spinning at breakneck speeds and so a day on earth has gotten seriously curtailed to a fraction of the usual 86400 seconds! O__O

*if you are wondering where that 86400 seconds teleported from, it's 60 x 60 x 24 = sec per min x min per hour x hrs per day*

So ya, we've got a crisis here.. and am one of the poor victims who can't seem to find enough time to do a thing, let alone blog or read the blogroll! *I can hear ya calling me lazybones! grrrrrrrrrrrr... sigh*

Anyway here's another bunch of random pics. *I'm sure I sound so unmotivated cause I simply am utterly bored!* =D

* As usual CTRL + click on the pics to expand them.

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Heaven's Fist


That glow on the top left of the pic shapes into a fist of a human. It looks so unnatural but this is where the sun was hiding behind the clouds. This pic was taken in September last year.. and yep, I completely forgot about it until I found it yesterday while scouring my old pic collection.


The (in)visible Eclipse


On last 15th (15.01.2010) when there was a solar eclipse around noon, my mom and I got all hyped up about it and so we kept a water filled basin outside and stared at it for hours.. well not really.. like for 10 - 15mts! Anyway we saw the eclipse perfectly. During this time the whole sky turned into a grayish blue and it suddenly got dark, almost like it was evening already.

Cause of our country's positioning in the tropics it's a rare sight for us, the total eclipse I mean. But this time we saw the sun turning into a crescent, where the moon's shadow covered almost 3/4th of the sun! In other words a 3/4th of a solar eclipse. *is that how you call it?*

So to capture this memorable event I took out my handy cam (cam phone of course) and aimed a few shots at the water basin. But that wasn't enough.. so I daringly turned my eyes upwards, covered the sun's glare with one hand and while looking through the lil screen of my cam phone.. took couple more shots of the sun in eclipse.

But as you see on the pic, this is all that came out. Whether it was the water basin or the direct shots, seems like my cam can't handle the extra glare of the sun. *I've a hunch that the sun was fuming at that time, for being mocked by the bossy moon who's supposed to come out only at night*

Anyway I should resort to a tinted glass next time. Hope you all saw the eclipse too. ^__^


The Flying dragon


It might not appear readily in this small scaled pic, so why not do a CTRL + Click (on the image) and see for yourself.

And if you still don't see anything even after expanding the pic.. firstly add an entry in your to-do list to get your eyesight checked right away.. and then.. focus towards the middle of the pic, especially the sky that lies immediate left of the big coconut tree. See a wavy silky line? Well that's the flying dragon!

To be exact, it's a huge kite.. shaped like a snake. (though I still prefer calling it a dragon instead) And there's plenty of them of all sizes and shapes.. soaring hither and tither in the sky these days. Yep, it's the kite season here. And they sure can send those kites so high up, cause some of them appear like minuscule specks when captured on my cam.

Random captures

The last 1.5 weeks were the most hectic days I've had for a while as I was babysitting my lil nephew (he's now 8.5 yrs old) cause my sis had to undergo a sudden surgery (a minor one though).

Taking care of him was a lil bit (= very x 100 times) exhausting.. but the only thing that stressed me out totally and left me out of breath (and out of voice too sometimes) was his daily random quizzing on Naruto. Well.. he's a genuine Naruto otaku (otaku = diehard fan). -__- What I fear the most is, his dream of becoming a scientist one day might seriously get replaced by the dream of becoming Naruto.. for real. O__O

Last time (some months ago) when I tried working while he was with mom.. every 5 mts or so he'd appear next to me or shout from wherever he is and ask.. 'puncha (aunt) when are you finishing?', 'puncha you should've finished your work by now, right?', 'puncha how much more to go?', 'punchaaaaa... you're working too slooooow...!' o__O

Well.. I gave up all hopes of working and gave him my comp. Had to resume my work hours later when he fell fast asleep. So taking that golden lesson to account.. this time I asked for leave from the company.. well in advance. lol

....
Coming back to the topic.. here's a bunch of pics I've captured in the past and recent ones too from our Colombo trip (as we went to drop my nephew).
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* As usual ctrl+click to expand the pics... ^__^

Took these bunch the last time when we went to Maligawa.


Serene and stunning Kandy Lake.
*how many monkeys can you spot in the pic?*



Glimmering like a giant mirror.
*skirting around the lake is the 'Walakulu bemma' (cloud-like-drift wall).



The solitary islet.
*it sits in the middle of Kandy Lake*
....

Next bunch were taken while passing Kadugannawa on our way to Colombo. This area has rocky hills packed with giant rocks, winding roads, sheer precipices.. all wrapped in breathtaking scenery.



Glaring lens flare of the rising sun.



Rolling blue hills.
*the almost rectangular top-hat like hill towards right side is the Bible Rock*



Life on the edge.
*right beneath this pinkish grocery/ house is the dizzying precipice*
*the tilt may remind you of leaning tower of Pissa, but this is no replica. it just turned out that way since our cab was flying at supersonic speed* -__-

...

The next set was taken en route to my sis' place.. in a suburb of Colombo.


Dusty roads and smoky clouds.



Foraging in a somewhat (= seriously) stinky canal.
*see the birdies? these are pelicans*


Enduring the pungent odor.. for a bill-full.
*more pelicans. we also saw numerous fishing boats anchored on either sides too*
*pics turned out fuzzy here cause our almost airborne cab was taking a bumpy roller coaster ride*



The perfect blue of a cloudless sky.
*yep, I know.. these trees aren't tilted or fuzzy at all. You see.. these couple of coconut (or king coconut) trees are my sis' neighbors.*



Apple Green vs Ruddy Orange
*we saw dozens of roadside stalls selling these orange colored bags. They are called baby oranges, small in size with tomato like shapes.. turned out to be juicy and delicious.



Cutting through the pitch black night.
*see the tiny droplet streaks covering the windscreen? We got caught in a torrential downpour on our return trip. It was scary especially while passing Kadugannawa where we had to keep praying until we passed it, as the road became all hazy* -__-


And now it's time for the grand finale...



The warped twilight zone
*this is my favorite pic of all but it is also a very eerie pic I must say. If you look at it closely it appears as if I've used the smudge tool in Photoshop and created a hazy pattern on the clouds, right? But I didn't!
*This is how exactly the sky looked at that time and the odd ruddy tones are thanks to a tinted shutter of the cab*

...
Somehow this last pic reminds me of those sci-fi stories where the space becomes warped and then a glowing tube of light takes people between different times or dimensions.

Anyhow I had an earful from my mom for twisting and turning 360 degrees and more to take snaps while we were still moving at that breakneck speed. I ended up with backaches, bone aches, headaches and joint aches and what not until next morning. lol