The MerLion in pale green lights and the dense blue sky in Singapore..!

The Merlion against the dense blue sky from my Nikon FM10(manualSLR)

There was pale green lights embracing the MERLION statue in Singapore in that night of the midsummer ,against the dense blue sky of the night...!The distant lights looked like the stars and the glittering lights in the bottom of the Lion resembled waves in the moonlit sea of emeralds...!The shades in the linings enhanced the symmetry of the curves and made the shape brighter and more beautiful .! ( I took it all in my manual Nikon FM10 in roll films in that night of that midsummer)

The King disguised as a slave or the sighs from the stable...!!

The King in disguise, a story performed in the classical  style

In the Vedic ( period of Vedas in India) tradition of INDIA, there is a story of a great King called NALA, means a man of quality and romance, who had met with a chance to disguise himself as a slave in another kingdom ,due to some dramatic situations caused by an interference of viciousness during his good realm as a virtuous King.During the time of disguise he served another king as a horseman and spent the nights in the stable with sighs recalling his lost kingdom and the beloved queen who had remained away from him, unknowingly about the slave like status of her husband . The image displayed here embodies the King in disguise lamenting upon his loneliness in the stables of another kingdom as a horseman under the subdued conditions of  laboriousness and in loving memory of his queen away from him...The hero ,the king appears in dark bluish costumes on the stage is called BAHUKA,the horseman ,and the sequence is from the classical dance drama form of KATHAKALI of the Southern India ( the shot was taken in roll films in my NIKON FM 10 SLR in 2003).

The Fruits in Black and White in Roll-Films

It was a decade ago that I shot these fruits in Black and White roll -films in my manual MINOLTA 7sII Camera. Now we have enough choices in the Digital Cams to transform the colors of an image at any range of tones,shades or tints using the filter-options and applications with different software. But the efforts we put in while taking images in Black and White using the roll-films in a Manual SLR Camera is quite different and difficult in terms of the outputs we get through each exposure with different speed and opening so as to get a desired result...:
So I think that these Fruits are Sweeter than the Fruits we get through the Digital Color Processing Techniques available now easily in the digital imaging!

Image from my Manual MINOLTA 7sII,a decade ago in roll Black and white film.

Fruits in the Basket,my Black and White image in roll-films

Epic in Bronze that surpasses the Time !

This is a relief work done in bronze depicting the Epic War  fought between Lord Rama and the Demon King Ravana in the  Epic RAMAYANA of the Orient.I happened to see this on the corridor walls of a Hotel in Bangkok( THAILAND) in the last years.The sculptor is unknown but the visual sense and the stylistic aspects of artistry applied in this Metal Relief is absolutely Amusing and Surpassing the dimensions of Time and Aesthetic Values of Regions that encompass the evaluation of Art by any demographic points of view ( I took the image in my Manual SLR,Nikon FM10 in roll films)  .

The Bronze Relief Depicting the Epic War in Ramayana.

The Dusk.....the Destination....!!

In the dusk of the beach on a leisurely day of May, the sea shore was less noisy and there found a man sitting alone watching the sea ahead witnessing the sunset.I shot it in my Nikon FM10 in roll-films in a mood rather seriously to have an effect of a destination in the waving away mood of the sky interfacing the sun amidst the subdued sea and the pavements in the shore behind...!!

The Traveler at dusk in my NikonFM10 in roll-films 

the hibiscus reminiscent of both the sunset and sunrise..!!

Hibiscus from Bangkok,reminiscent of the Sun
This is the flower I shot from a Bangkok hotel roof top in my DSLR.This multi -colored hibiscus simultaneously reflects the radiance of the sun both in  the sunset and the sunrise.Though the day remained a little bit cloudy, I got the genuine colors of the flower without the support of a flash.

Visual extracts from Jurong, the man-made Nature,...in roll-films..!

Jurong Bird Park in Singapore is an eye-catching example of manly efforts in recreating the miniature of nature and its colors in the form either of a Park or an entertainment sport for all age groups.But the core influence of the Park would be on children of all age groups.
I have made an effort to catch up some of its characteristic outsets and surroundings in my manual SLRs of Nikon and Minolta, during the middle of  a midsummer.. ,
Though the scanned version of the photo has been devoid of original tones and thickness of colors,the image of the entrance to the Park is a good characteristic of the bird-habitat imitated by man in a cute form.

entrance to the Park

The flamingos spreading out in the artificial lake and its surroundings keep a powerful sense of nature and its resourcefulness..

The Flamingo-lake recreated in Jurong Bird Park, Singapore

The swan-lake in curves that encompasses the front square of the park adds a domestic charm to the natural build ups in Jurong !

The green lake that reflects the surrounding vegetation

The stork pair residing in the artificial rocks and the waterfalls recalls the viewer to a distant backdrop of wild charm and affluence that we could find only in forests quite natural and nostalgic..,

The stork-pair in Jurong

The natural colors of that midsummer  was visible in the park through its  cute designing and building ups of a bird habitat !

Waiting and Viewing the World Around and Ahead !!

People waiting for their turn to move away...

In my manual SLR cameras, I tried to capture the waiting faces of people in the bus terminal to move around the city for sightseeing.Their togetherness and loneliness reflect the human eye -expressions of wait and impatience in the waiting for a little bit of time in wait of their carriage that would bring them to the most desirable destinations..,I believe that this raw feeling and its expression are well -explored in this roll-films ! (this is an image I took in Nikon FM 10 in 2009).

Viewing below from the cable car

The view from the cable car is quite fascinating and astonishing.This is the key of Sentosa Cable Car operation in Singapore.There also viewing the world beneath is more  prominent than viewing aside!
The  sea -views and the buildings lining the seaside and the fly-overs and vehicles moving through do have an enthralling effect on each viewer regardless of the age and taste.That means lifting up a person from the ground enables one to capture the awareness that the human views often have constrains in viewing things properly unless it is properly uplifted by the mounted up cables of vision and dreaming fantasies..!

One of the most fascinating captures of my Aunt from the Sentosa-Cable Cars...

From the Birdpark, in the roll-films

This is an image shot from the Jurong Bird-park  in Singapore in 2009 that I did in my Nikon FM10 in roll-films.The interesting thing is that the nature surrounding is one that is perfectly man-made ! 

Water apples in the noon..,

These water apples were shot in roll-films in my manual SLR in a December, years back, in a noontime..! One shot was in the bright sunlight, fully exposed and the other was under a little bit of shade.That day and time in that December are found  frozen in those film-rolls through these images of the manual SLR cam.of Nikon, in a manner that can not be forgotten,...;.I think so..!

The water apples in a December noon shot in roll-films

Women Workers in the Temple Square !

These women do work in carpentry in the main temple premises of Bangkok in Thailand. They do have expertise in wood-work, especially in the cute , decorative wood paneling works of the temple structures that require more accuracy and skill. It is evident from their faces that they find joy in this work rather than it proves to be a means of earnings !

Women Carpentry Workers in Bangkok Temple Square

A Job that provides more than that of merely earnings of livelihood

(I have shot them in my NikonFM10 Manual SLR in roll-film)

Late nights on the Stage when the stars glitter in the dense dark sky above the Festival Grounds!

The late night arrived in the foregrounds of the temple courtyards of Kerala in South India, in one of the past festival days in a February, with the staging of the epic story that has been retold in the tribal tradition of the eastern mountains. There came the king of Kauravas ( a dynasty of the Vedic India) on the stage of the traditional dance drama performance of Kathakali ( the classical Indian theater of Kerala).
It was the entry of the king on the stage which had been put into the style of coming on a chariot.This entry highlights the royal hood of the character with the accompaniment of rigorous percussion and haloing decorations on each side of the character.This typical entry of this type characters just before the narration of a story is called ,'Thiranottam' which means ' a look above the front curtain raised against the audience'.
I shot the moments of this 'look above.' of the royal character in my Nikon FM10 Manual SLR around ten years back in roll films..!

The entry of a royal character onto the stage 

The narration begins after the 'entry' of the main character depicting the royal hood

   The late night sky of that February just above the temple courtyard was full of stars that glittered as if in a dream of the past that descended upon the earth in the form of colorfulness and choreographic harmony of a performance of classicism..!

The royal hood on its way of expressions

The Pilot on the Roads..!

This is the man who has piloted my bus in Singapore for my  first travel on the roads over there.By the end of my first road-trip on a day, I requested the gentleman to pose for a snapshot by the side of the bus.He was that much polite to spent that much time for me to have a portrait of this kind in my Nikon FM 10 in roll-films.I humbly thanking that pilot on roads who had led me to the neat venues on the clean roads of Singapore !

The man who led me on the roads in Singapore for the first time on a May 

The Leaves in the Morning Light that I got in my Nikon manual SLR.

In a morning with bright sunshine, years back, I got these pretty transparent leaves in stark pink and pale green, in roll films through my Nikon FM10 (manual SLR). On magnification of the images, there would be grains in resolution but as such in its very format limits , it would be quite perfect and stunning when compared to the higher format- images we took in digital SLRs now.

Leaves in the morning light in roll films

Leaves transparent in the morning light shot in Nikon Manual SLR

Family-Trio in the Temple Courtyard

This family pose in the temple courtyard was caught up by me in my NikonFM10 (manual SLR) in roll film.It was in 2009 in Singapore. The ethnic starkness of the red wooden panels that surrounds the Singapore temple resembles both faith and belief that binds hearts in terms of relationships. So I think this image has its own way of narrating the base aspects of family and faithfulness that encompasses the  human surroundings :-

A family pose from the temple courtyard in Singapore (taken in my Nikon manual SLRin roll film)

 

The Lord of the Mountains with His Counterpart

The play was in the middle half of the night on the stage and the theme was of the bondage of love amounting amidst the peaks of the marriage life substantiated in the classical tradition of Indian Mythology in which the Lord of the Mountains engaged himself in a matter of conflict on the guiding forces of love and loyalty interfacing each other in marital life...It is foretold by the Lord that to get survived out of the true spirits of affinity makes out the substantial revelation of  attachment both in the spirits and  body of each of the counterparts who get themselves indulged in the powerful currents of  attraction and affection throughout the post marital life..;
The instance was shot in my Nikon manual SLR ,a decade ago , from the episode of a mythological play on the stage of performance of KATHAKALI, the classical dance drama of India;

The Lord of the Mountains with His beloved from a play on Indian Mythology

 

Night....,A Blackboard...;

The Malaysian Twin Towers At Day

By the end of a midsummer nights' walk around the city of Kualalumpur ,the Malaysian capital, I had stopped near my resort and watched the city in a retrospective from that corner of the lane in the vacuum of the night roads; the streets were almost plain and the roads were silent.So as to enhance the solitude of the night the slight fogs and its cold had filled in the air of midsummer...the night cover over the city was almost thick and the lights from the Petronas had been penetrating that density of air since the fall of darkness..!.The twin towers that had been held up as a manual erection of artistry and architecture in the plain brightness of the daylight had been changed into a sparkling mold of dream in the form of illumination in the background of that  midsummer night ....!
I took my Nikon FM10 (roll film- manual SLR) and tried to translate that night in film rolls in the glow of the Petronas, the twin towers in the foreground of some faded old structures of the city under dim lights aloof around the shadows of the streets !

The Capital Street That Lost In The Late Dense Night of  Summer

The Towers Brooding In  Solitude

 In the vastness of the night sky,I was able to convince the blackboard effects of night in the glowing streams of light piercing through the slots of  the man-made structures in the isolated time of darkness after finishing two three shots of the towers lost in that density...!!

The Petronas in the Foreground of the night streets of oldness

Classical Performances in Color Roll Films Taken a Decade Ago...!

A decade ago, during a season of classical dance drama performances on the stages at the temples in Kerala, I had exposed color roll films to shoot many of them as possible ..and the story went dramatic to a certain extent in the life of  film photography also...and many of the prints were either faded or destroyed as the time went on....! The story of my manual shooting with color film rolls could be better described as follows:-
I set out with my NIKON FM 10 loaded with ISO 200 color film rolls in many evenings of the season when the percussion filled the summer evenings , from the temple-theaters  of the classical dance drama of Kathakali in the southern part of India during the summers:
The lamps were lit and the plays begun with innumerable stories; all taken from the anecdotes of Sagas in the remote past ...a play begun with the story of love and life of a beloved pair of the royal breed ;the lady had a charming performance on the stage and the glow in her eyes and face under sparkling apparels and ornaments were caught up in my NIKON FM:

 

 

 

The Beloved Lady called 'Damayanthy'

The turn of the hero was majestic and vibrant and the stage was enlightened by his presence.It was a king of good qualities with a heart to love his counterpart till the end of the play and he was called 'Nala',a man of good qualities:

The Hero with good qualities

A character with evil qualities is inseparable in a dramatic play and here the character with evil commands appears on the stage in full red face frilled in with black and white outlays..

The Face of Evil Qualities

  The hero finally overcomes the catastrophes posed by the evilness and triumphing over all sorts of evil commands and wins his intimate with a pledge of love by the end of the night :

The Final Pledge of the Hero

An Era Fades But Never-Fading Experiences In Black & White..!!

Film Rolls In Black & White, Playing Off The Legends!An era of photography in film rolls was to end by the end of the 20th century,especially to that kind in black and white film rolls.It was at this time that I find my time (13 years back) to mingle with my old Minolta7SII which I had retrieved after a thorough service from an expert technician at my reach..and I started the operation with color film rolls at ISOs 100 and 200 in my family circles...After a few months,there came the festival season here in the south of Kerala (India) and I decided to capture some night performances on the stage in the Temple and thus planned to make captures on the performances of Kathakali (the classical dance dramma) that took place at night and which was one of my favourite items among the stage programmes during the festivals...Then I thought of experimenting the shots with black and white film rolls instead of color films so as to get the nights as such!!

My MINOLTA7SII as now, experiencing an Era of manual photography

So I bought a roll of black & white then available in the market (I think it was with an ISO range of 100-125)and went to the temple at night with my MINOLTA7SII having its compact 40mm wide angle lens loaded with that roll...the first shot was that of a combination of a male and female characters on a lyrical comversation...conceiving a shot just as per the apperture value and timing was not at all confusing as a beginner and I put my hand on the shutter release button and continued  winding up the camera several times regardless to the lights and the foreground effects...thus born several beginning shots on Kathakali at my firsthand black and white experince!!

one of my first shots in black & white

The main intention then was to take action shots of the performers live when the movements go unpredictable;I had awaited for the more vibrant moves of the dancers and it was rather convenient to capture solo performing characters in the play..;the wait was fulfilled successfully when I had the chance to get the random movements of the grand character of Bali (the wild king from the epic Ramayana). The entry of Bali in the play entitled as BALIVIJAYAM (the Triumphing Bali) is highly dramatic and visually enchanting...so I took it severally under the stage lights and under the normal flash light accessory provided in addition to that of the camera.When the negatives were washed out and the prints were made off,I felt it amusing to see the results in the well laid out lights and shades of the night, in many exposures and that were highly remarkable and as a beginner in black and whites then I could not forget the experience that made me tp pursue my Minolta7SII further for live action shooting and to subsist with manual photography for a long time and still at the high time of Digital Imaging Era...so it would be quite joyful moment to bring back my playful shots of that festival night playing a legend !!

The Vibrant Moves Of Bali At The Outset

The end of an era  of manual film photography along with 20th century was of course earmarked by the time but the efforts and enthusiasm oriented with film rolls are still  evergreen as the episodes in a  legendary  play, full of heroic antecedents !

The Thoughtful Hero In B@W

Juxtaposing the night in the dense backdrop of the night;the character of Ravana from Ramayana