Harmony

So my mom got a few a plants from my grandmother's place and planted them. One plant in particular had loads of thorns on it but it still looked really really nice as it had quite a few colours. The thorns were reddish and the leave were obviously green.

I didn't expect it to flower so I was surprised when I noticed one flower on the plant. I didn't have the camera at that moment so I couldn't take a good picture of it. I thought it looked really pretty.

The next day (I think it was only one day) another flower appeared right next to the previous one and they looked so happy together :P

Here is the picture of the two flowers :)

Btw the first picture I uploaded yesterday went on to become a "Popular" picture on 500px. I didn't really expect that to happen. So thanks to all of you who liked, favourited and commented on that pic.

I'm A Pretty Flower

Spring brings all sorts of new colours into the world. Colours that had been missed for a very long time.

One thing that adds a massive variety of colours to the environment are flowers. Here is a picture of a flower in our garden.

Now, I'm always looking at finding new angles to photograph flowers and anything else. So here is another angle of the same flower. Let me know which one you like better.

Have you watched the movie "Rio"? I got today's title from there...well, sort of. There is a bird in that movie that keeps says "I'm a pretty bird. I'm a pretty bird." So I just modified that line into today's title :)

Update on the tutorial - I'll finish recording tomorrow I think and then the editing process begins.

UPDATE - The first picture went on to become a "Popular" picture on 500px. Thanks to you guys :)

Sun Bathing

I like dragonflies. Not that I don't like other creatures. I like all creatures but dragonflies are pretty common here and do provide great picture opportunities.

Like this little fella here just perched on a twig under the mid-day sun. So happy :)

A little tip for those of you who want to get close to these insects while photographing them. Don't make any sudden movements. Approach them slowly. I've noticed it helps when you approach them from the back or side and then move to the front. Dragonflies will stay perched for quite a while in one place so you can take your time. Even if it does fly away it will come back to the same spot so just wait for a few seconds.

That's it for now. I'll now get back to recording a tutorial so stay tuned for that. I'll let you know as soon as it is done :)

Take care.

I'm Not Here

Have you ever heard that an ostrich puts its head in the sand when a predator approaches? I'm sure you have also heard and read people use that as an example but I'm not here to do that. I'm here to share pictures ;)

It almost looks like they are kissing underwater :P

This picture reminded me of an ostrich. Of course the ducks were not trying to hide but it did remind me of ostrich-like behaviour hence the title of the post.

These ducks go for a swim every day. They have no other work anyway. All they have to do in life is eat, sleep, lay eggs and enjoy. They are not in any grave danger around these parts because no one really eats ducks here so they can let their guards down.

Here is another picture of a lone wolf...sorry duck. This one was swimming seperately for some reason. I hope the others didn't kick it out of the group. That would be just sad.

I'm working on a couple of videos so stay tuned. Editing is a difficult task specially when you have a slow computer.

Have a nice day folks :)

Pretty Flowers

First off I am really sorry for posting this late. If you read my post yesterday you'll know that I had an exam today so I got back late. By God's grace it went well. I had to walk home for half an hour because I couldn't get transport after getting off the bus in which I had been travelling for an hour. I was out the entire day because the examination center was far away so needless to say I am really tired.

Again, I apologise for the delayed upload and what better way to say "sorry" than flowers, right? So here are pictures of flowers.

These flowers grow on water kinda like a lotus. I haven't seen many of these but I was pretty excited when I saw these growing in a little pond which was an after effect of the heavy rains we had the day before I took this picture.

I wanted to get up close but there were buffaloes there and I don't know how to swim so I didn't dare go close.

Anyway that's it. Hope you have a great one :)

An Unruly Moustache

Cormorants are sometimes difficult to capture around these parts because there aren't many water bodies nearby. The only water bodies are dirty, shallow streams that are surrounded by plants so you can't really photograph anything that is in the water which can be sometimes disappointing.

Don't mind me...I'm just the one with the white moustache.

As I was cycling along this stream this cormorant jumped out of the stream and it looked like it had a weird moustache. Turns out it had caught a rather large fish. I say large because it is relatively rare to find a fish of this size in water bodies here.

Anyway it went on to thrash the fish in the air and finally swallowed it whole before jumping back into the stream and completely immersing itself in the water.

I hope it had a nice feast that day and I hope you eat well today and have a great day as well :)

Tomorrow's post might come a little late because I have an exam in the evening but I will put it up so stay tuned.
I'm also working on a tutorial where I will show you how I created my "Flypaper" picture. If you haven't seen that picture yet then scroll down to the "Blog Archive" widget towards the left of this blog and you'll find a post title "Flypaper". Check that out.

In case you missed it, I've added a new page to this blog called "Personal Favourites". You might want to visit that page as well.

Thee Little Birds

As I was returning home one day on my bicycle I was a little disappointed because I couldn't take a picture of what I wanted. There is this path in between two tea plantations that is just amazing and I wanted to take another picture of it but I couldn't because there were people there and they crowded the frame thus spoiling any picture I would take. On the way back I happened to look up and I saw this...

Three birds sitting on a wire...nothing special right? I agree that it is a pretty common scene anywhere but this just looked really perfect for a photograph because the sun was setting and it fell together in on straight line.

Those birds are black drongos. They are pitch black and have tails like a fish's but look really elegant. I like the name "drongo" too. Makes them seem like something right out of a wrestling roster - "The Black Drongo!" :P Here is a close-up of one of the birds.

My exams start on Wednesday so please forgive me if I'm not able to post on time. I'm also working a short tutorial because I feel I have neglected my Youtube Channel for far too long now.

Anyway take care :)