I am a software professional ...

One way to ensure that a guy is in software is to check his addiction to email. This is what my 'today's fortune' on Orkut said:

Today's fortune: Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook on life

I never read this section, but when I did, I read it as:

Today's fortune: Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook file

Someone get me out of this software sh*t please!

Beauty ... love .. and me

There are many people who tirelessly say that beauty is not THE thing. It might not be, but it is hard to rule out the role of beauty in anybody's life. Eiffel tower is one such majestic beauties I have got lucky to watch. But , I am not here to write about that. When I visited Paris in December 2006, I saw another beauty in front of the Eiffel.

I have always been or tried to be a 'good guy'. But as soon as I saw this girl, I forgot all about the world wonder in front of me. I took candid means to capture a good snap of this beauty. It was like she went straight into my heart. I could hardly manage a decent picture. I cursed myself to have bought a cam with only 3X zoom. To my rescue came my senior colleague (along with whom I visited Paris). We captured a few with his camcorder. What happened to all the 'gentleman'ism inside me? Probably that is what beauty can do.

She was posing in front of another beauty, the Eiffel and what a sight! She was sitting on a wall and I blurted out, "Careful!" without my own conscience. If she wasn't there with a group of friend I might have tried, "Excuse me. You speak English? What are the chances that you are single and a stranger gets lucky?". Something I can never imagine myself doing. Is this what beauty can do?!

I mentioned about this girl to one of my best friends when I was back. She said laughingly, "she might be one of those smoking types .. ha ha". I couldn't accept that. I felt she should be a nice girl ... this hope and faith for a stranger! Is this what beauty can do?


And what do I do after a year since I saw this beautiful girl; write a blog post. Just a glimpse for you of her (deliberately blurred to follow netiquette). I know it is not good to have taken photos of her without her consent. But, did someone say All is fair in love(?) and war?! Can I be excused on that grounds? And finally, what are the chances that she sees this blog post and identifies "Hey thats me.." and sues me!

Wide angle

(Normal 35mm)

(Wide angle conversion)

Got a very very cheap deal on conversion lenses for my Panasonic dmc fz50. I got a 2X telephoto + .5X wide angle with 3 filters and little accessories.

Could not resist testing the wide angle immediately. It has its obvious advantages. You can see the difference in the snaps. Wide angle covers more ... But, I was utterly disappointed at the dark rings on the edges. These are the lens rim itself. When you are capturing a beautiful landscape you wouldnt want this. And cutting out these would only mean around .7X wide angle and .5x is no use. Also, I can zoom in a little while capturing and even that would not be .5x.

Not sure if I need to do anything special to avoid the blacked out edges. Or would it be like the camera can afford only up to .7x (the original provided by panasonic is only .7x). Or is the conversion lens defective? Some expert advise comments would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

-Vinayak

High-wycombe/Marlow the funny side

It is natural that we think, in a foreign land everything would be perfect. One instance that made me think, "Ellaam namma ooru mari dhaan". See the pic below ... the sign for library is straight pointing into railway station!














This pic is not clear. Saw a waterway nearby my office. When we got near, this is what it read (apart from those you can clearly read) "We are not responsible for loss of life or limbs"!! Aiyo, adhaan Danger nu solleeteengaley da ... idhu veraya.













First sign, I read before entering new office at marlow!!

Get the colors out, hail Picasa!

Naah ... it gets too tough handling a camera to get the true colours out. Look what Picasa has done it for me after I had taken the snap. Just amazing! Just had to know the technique ... which is nothing but click the button on Picasa!

When I tried to take a photo ...

After getting this new FZ50, I got hooked on to it. I saw a photo of a friend of mine with that moving effect of a bus on one of the London bridges. Reminded me of the photo I took during my parents visit and I had created the same effect, by chance, when I didn't know the shutter speed and all that. Now that I know and I have a cam, wanted to try creating that shot.

(From Joe's album ... See Joe's blog from the links)

Took my cam out on to the street and was experimenting. Couple of cars passed ... then I saw a car stopping by my side and the voice from inside asked "Why are you taking the picture of my vehicle?!". I was taken aback! I thought it was police and I had this apprehension already whether I can take snaps on roads and common traffic. Luckily it wasn't police. The guy who crossed turned all the way back to check what I was doing. "Dude I am just experimenting with my new cam!". He said, "It is illegal to take photo of a moving vehicle".

It just ended there. But, what nonsense! It is illegal to take picture of a moving vehicle ... ?? Is it OK to take a picture of non moving vehicle?? Anyways, I was just happy I did not get into any trouble.