The Order of the Crutch

If you are aware of what Flickr is and if you are an Indian i would highly recommend you observe and learn from Indophile’s on Flickr.

Yes, that’s a name for a group, actually. A set of people who were born of a foreign origin but then fell in love with India so much that they are pretty much more Indian than most of us Indian’s are. To start with go ahead and check out these three people. I admire them to the core…

1. Claude Renault
2. Eli Shams
3. Joel Dousset

All 3 of them have a french origin. All 3 of them have a fantastic Indian photo stream. Of the trio Claude is well known for his compositions and colors and simplicity although Eli or Joel is no lesser an expert. The core to this whole wonderful Indophile’ ism is very simple.

Unlike most western journalists or tourists they have an open mind and have no predetermined agenda. They know more about Indian Culture than most Indians know of. Like an Atheist knows more of the Bible and Quran compared to any radical Muslim or fundamental Christian would know. I’m not trying to be racist but facts are facts. Most foreigners who come here (Caucasian in particular) have a preset agenda. Thanks to biased National Geographic/Discovery Channel documentaries and western media outlets showcasing the land of snake charmers/beggars/magicians/Hindu priests a.k.a "India".

Indophile’s however are different, they showcase facts without any interpolation. If I were to point out an example of unadulterated and stupendous photo journalism at its best, I would as journalists to watch the streams of people such as Eli, Claude, Joel etc.,

India is much more than the beggars and superstitions that its now renowned for, there is culture and there is civilization. Being an atheist I sometimes find myself contradicting to my beliefs because I’m sometimes a possible Hindu apologist too. Looking through the pictures of Eli’s photo stream you can get an excellent idea of Hinduism as a culture preaching peace, non violence and most of all devoid of rubbish such as killing another tribe if you cannot convert them kind of nonsense. Its all in there, you just have to look through the photo stream. Real world sadhu’s, not the ones who have air conditioned ashrams where they commute using Benz S Class limo’s.

You then have the colors of India, you have the people, their way of life, their values, their aspirations and their happiness with so little they have. Its all made available to you in a plate like hot jamuns when you run through her photo stream.
 
For 16 hours a day workaholics who live in the unfortunate city and count on a monthly paycheck for a living (or rather pay off the bills) traveling is a criminal thought and a luxury that we can afford, perhaps if we hit a lottery. People like Eli, make life easier for Indians like myself to know India better, i think that would sum it up all.

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The Invisible Children

I came across this video from a friends GMail Status. 1000′s of Children, abducted, killed, mutilated and being made to live in nothing but fear every moment of their life because some stupid woman was a witch and she died and some guy now claims to be her cousin and does witchery to overthrow the Govt. of Uganda? What the holy crap is happening here?

I have no belief that we are in the 21st century. I’m reassured by such happenings that we are mere cavemen who know nothing other than hunting and humping for survival.

Every single day they hide in the homes and every single night they walk miles to sleep in the Bus Stop Verandah and Hospital Urinals and Sewers so that the John asshole terrorist guy from the bushes does not abduct them. 9 Year olds with AK-47 guns and they kill like perfect, mentally deranged and delusioned i’m disgraced to acknowledge things such as this exist in todays world.

Surprisingly, every damn child and every damn African in there speaks marginally good English. Everyone of them have a name and its “John”, “Jacob”, “Mark” and so on. Why the heck are these people speaking English having Christian names and still having to suffer like this? I will tell you why. The English are here too, converting and preaching as they always did with every freaking place they went. Good, they speak English. We can now know whats happening there but hey, when you can find the time and money to teach them English and convert them to Christianity, i ask, why can’t you spend some of that money and buy weapons and arms for the Ugandan Govt. to suppress these rebels who kill the children?

The USA sends aids, its barely enough and it does not contain crucial things. Food, Medicines and Clothes. I don’t know what else they can send in a gunny bag printed USA in bold?! Why isn’t anyone hearing these people. The vedio has some 9000 hits on youtube. 9000? Damn it, video’s of Islamic Pricks shouting “Alla who akbar” have 1 million views! Oh did i forget to mention that these children are in the verge of their puberty and that exposes them to sex related danger because there is no sex education. Children use plastic rags as condom’s and re-use the same plastic rags from the sewer repeatedly as contraceptives.

Wonderful! I’m so filled up to my neck i cant speak more a word. If you think you can’t really do anything about it then i suggest at least you can blow Rs. 600 (US $15.00) and buy a T-shirt. Yes, i know its expensive for an Indian but hell, A Large Vodka in a Pub costs Rs. 750. A good John Players Trouser costs Rs. 1700. An Adidas T-shirt costs Rs. 779/-. All of this money goes to the bank account of some rich dude like Vijay Mallya.

Rest assured, your US$10 is going to the Children of Uganda, hopefully.

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Nothing much to say, the video says it all.

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I decided to write something about Camera Support after my friend Richard brought to the table some interesting discussions about table top tripods and Angle Finders.

I recommend reading his piece before you really proceed with mine so that you get a background as to where from we are approaching this problem. I will try and make as much as an honest and unbiased review highlighting the pro’s and cons of the equipment i purchased.

I have a Manfrotto 190B Pro tripod already but the problem with that is that its too heavy for me to carry around easily, especially when you are doing photography on the go. I was aware that for a long time i needed a good monopod that would be quite lightweight for me to carry around and at the same time be able to quickly set it up and use it unlike the tripod which takes time to setup.

Here is a quick look at the Manfrotto 682B monopod.

So what’s so really special about the Manfrotto 190B monopod that makes it stand out from the others sold out there in the market? It’s also a pseudo tripod. I used the word pseudo because it does not do the job of a good sturdy tripod but comes in place to compensate where tripods are impossible to practically use and setup, like say street photography or on the go bird photography while you drive down the beach.

The Monopod is called a “Self Standing Monopod” because like the tripod, you can take your hands off this when the legs are in place at the base and the monopod will stand on its own. I’ve tried this and its quite sturdy.

Of course you need to keep a couple of things in mind. You would not want to put the tripod in a windy place on self standing and expect it to stand and do all the dancing, i bet you would be very regret full shortly

Here is another closed-in view of the retractable legs…

As you can see, the legs are concealed in the monopod legs and you need to unscrew them out of the leg, reverse them and screw it back.

There are however a couple of drawbacks that i will list at this point of time with this monopod. Firstly if you set the retractable legs on the base of the monopod, carrying it around may be a problem since you may hurt somebody if you bump into them or even yourself seriously if you fall with it. Secondly screwing the retractable legs is a bit cumbersome a task since it requires quite a few turns.

Nevertheless, this is still great equipment, for the advantage and nice if offers over other monopods. I guess after all every piece of equipment is a compromise on something or the other as each does something best on its own.

I tested my Sigma 24-70 lens which is a very very heavy piece of glass and i managed to get good shots at F/14 and more numbers in bulb mode with the legs screwed onto it. I’m yet to test the Canon 75-300 USM III lenses, i think that will be the ultimate test, especially at focal lengths past 210MM and lesser F numbers post say F/11 and more.

On the whole i think the Manfrotto 682B is a good option to consider if you are looking for a good monopod and want something better than the traditional ones. You need not really use the retractable legs at the bottom and still this will be a good piece of equipment to own, why?

Its quite light from my personal opinion compared to my tripod. Its weights about 1.15 Kilo grams. It can take loads upto 12 Kilo grams and the maximum height is 172 centimeter. It costs less than US $ 125.00 and is quite an affordable piece of equipment for the aluminum frame and build.

I guess thats pretty much everything i could say about the monopod, i will try post sample images from using this in the near future so that we can really evaluate this better.

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