Thursday, February 4, 2010

January in Tamil Nadu

on the go

Delivery!

I didn't mean to take such a long break from blogging but it's hard to blog on the go. I'm back but without much crafting news to report. And while I haven't been sewing much, I've certainly had it on my mind! I saw a cart load of new sewing machines being delivered in Tanjavur, and I even bought some beautiful silk and linen fabric in Pondicherry. But not much sewing. You see, we spent most of January in Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India. I took a lot of photographs on the trip and I have yet to sort through them but here's a quick post about our trip.

Work took me to Chennai where we happened to be for Pongal, an important harvest festival in the south. We soaked in the festivities and ate some very good food.

Pongal

Revellry in Chennai.

We took an extended trip along the East Coast Road to Mahabalipuram,

Mahabalipuram

Five Rathas.

and then on to Pondicherry and Auroville.

Pondicherry

Auroville

Matrimandir

We visited tranquil Tranquebar, a former Danish colony on the coast,

Tranquebar

Fort Dansborg

before heading inland to Tanjavur where we were lucky to catch a Bharatnayam performance at the Big Temple.

Tanjavur


Tanjavur

Dancers getting ready for the performance.

From there we headed to Trichy, spent Republic Day in Bangalore and then took the overnight train to Hampi. Our visit coincided with the 500th anniversary of the coronation of King Krishnadevaraya, and the air was full of celebration.

Hampi

We returned home and had but a few days to pack and leave on another trip. Yes, I'm on the road again! And, I'm finding it hard to blog. I'm not travelling with a laptop, so I have to use an internet cafe. Any tips on how best to blog on the go? I'd appreciate your thoughts.

I managed to finsh a small sewing project before leaving on this trip but I'll save that for another post, so stay tuned.



2 comments:

  1. Such beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing them.

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  2. The photos are looking great. Next step is to get a bit closer. When working with larger sets of photos, it helps to break up the visual distance between you and your subject. So the set reads a bit like a movie, with close ups, and scene setters, and mid shots. You can do this with new exciting and expensive lenses, or you can use your 50. (That is the great thing about the 50). Just step closer and farther away than you normally. Now, I know your thinking, easier said than done, and your right. Getting closer to people can take YEARS of practice and effort. But, you can also break up the visual distance with close-ups of details. Like a photo of a hand, a photo of a fruit, etc.

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