Personal music

A couple of days ago I got to hear a few local musicians play in an open mic session at a Davis Sq. Starbucks in Somerville, MA. Impromptu music sessions in local coffee shops is not a new thing for me anymore. Webster's in State College, PA, where I was a regular fixture, hosted such events quite frequently. And yet, every time I see somebody strumming away some musical composition on their guitar on a street corner, a local bookstore or even a subway station, I cannot but feel jealous of how open this society is to such displays of personal music.

Don't get me wrong, I come from a place where every hero and heroine sing and dance in every movie. Music is as much an integral part of my society as it is here. But you'll hardly ever see any self-respecting musician play on the street or in a bookstore back home. The only ones that do, are usually beggers and homeless people.

And that is what I admire most about this culture. Such venues have become a platform for people who otherwise might not have access to showcase their talents. Around here, it is just so easy to pick up your guitar (or any other musical device for that matter), go sit by the fire in a coffee shop somewhere and begin playing. You'll even get a few admirers who'll listen while sipping their coffee and cheer!

I had my camera with me that evening, so I asked one of them if I could take pictures! Didn't want to disturb everybody with the flash, do decided to take my chances and take pictures without one. The low light setting in Starbucks that evening didn't help either! Most of the pictures have come very much pixelated, but they do have a romantic feel to them. I did a little bit of work on some of them in Picasa. Here are a few...

Flower power

I was telling somebody about how I love taking pictures and mainly - macro photography. Then that person asked if I specialized in flower photography and I denied it completely (I didn't think I wanted to be typecasted as a "flower person")... But maybe I do like macro - flower - photography... Flowers are just so beautiful and friendly :-) Here in the U.S. it seems like they are more colorful than their counterparts back home, or maybe its just that I'm paying more attention now...

Anyhoo, while coming back from a meeting this morning, I saw a nice garden and couldn't resist taking some (read 134!) pictures. Here are a select few that I really love...Somebody had recently mentioned to me that they like a little bit of cloud cover while taking pictures. Today I found out why! It is awesomely warm and sunny and bright today and so I thought pictures will come out great. But seems too much brightness was undermining the color of the flowers... I'm going to have to delete a lot of the pictures because they are too bright! Oh well...

More pictures here.

Books and a cafe...

Will you believe it if I say that I was not in the mood of taking pictures for the past few weeks because my computer was on the brink of crashing due to not having enough memory! I couldn't download the pictures on my camera and so no way to take new pictures! Now that out of the way (I have about 4gb on my drive now which should give me a few more days!), I'm back to taking tons of pictures!

This afternoon I was sitting in Webster's Bookstore and Cafe working and took a few pictures. An awesome cafe and a great used bookstore makes Webster's a beloved local hangout place. Here's what I have...
I didn't want to use flash, so both pictures are a bit shaky... I should get into the habit of carrying the tripod... Oh, well, some other time :-) I really need to work on my composition - I should borrow a few books from the library and see how the pros do it!

Do we live in a crazy world or what?

Just saw something hilarious and had to write about it! This is printed on the screens on all the windows in our new apartment - I thought it was hilarious that they would write it that way :)Sometimes I wonder if this is actually for someone's safety or just to avoid lawsuits! "not intended to provide for the retention of objects or persons from the interior"!!! Could somebody actually mistake it for a strong support?

All things Montreal

I just got back from Montreal, Canada where I was attending a conference & was able to go around the city for a bit to take in the local Canadian = English + French flavor... Montreal was a pleasant surprise. In many ways it is very much like an American city (and I assume most of Canada is like the U.S.). The visa check points while entering Canada and while coming back into the U.S are the only things that show that I was entering a different country. And yet, Montreal is distinctly different with its unique French ways. Most of the people are multilingual - they speak French & English. So greeting anyone happens twice - bonjour, hi. Then they launch into French and you have to say hello to stop them & make them switch to English instead.

Other than the language mix (which is evident in everything - roads signs and all), what struck me most about Montreal was its grandiose Christian architecture (oh, and also the curious absence of touristy stuff like gift shops that would make every Montreal artifact into a profit making commodity). Anyway, huge church buildings (one of my friends remarked/wondered why religion always has to make a big statement! Hm, had never thought of it that way!) can be found around every nook and corner - each beautiful in its own ways. Here's an example - this is the Marie-Reine-Du-Monde cathedral in downtown Montreal, close to where I stayed.And this one is St. Georges, also close to where I stayed -I went inside the Marie-Reine-Du-Monde cathedral to take some pictures and it is so beautiful! Statement and what not, definitely a place one should visit if ever in Montreal.

Another interesting aspect of Montreal was the 'walking dude'... Do you see the difference between the Canadian dude and an American one? My American friends had so much fun talking about the Canadian one - he seems active and so on the go! Also saw some crazy artifacts such as these -


All in all, a fabulous experience!

Flowers behind bars

Since I was a little kid, I have been notorious for taking up projects and quickly losing interest in them! I am happy to report that my so called "passion" for photography has survived for the past few years. "Macro" is my thing... I long for the day when I will be happy enough with a picture I take to frame it and put it up on my wall. Call it high standard or low self-esteem, until now I've always found something lacking in most pictures I take. But thankfully, that has not weaned my enthusiasm for taking pictures.

When I set out for school today, the day was cloudy & I almost left my camera home! But look what I would have missed! I call this - flowers behind bars...

Digital enhancement

I have always been a little resistant to digitally enhancing a picture (although I've tried it for my first post). For example, most of the photo editing softwares enable users to change color, contrast & tuning of pictures along with giving special effects such as Sepia or soft focus or saturation among others. Looks like a lot of people make use of these features after they take pictures. But I always feel like I'd be cheating if I did that... But then, I take pictures with a digital camera anyway, isn't that cheating too? Most serious photographers too use different kinds of filters et al on their cameras. So which side should I be on?
Here's a picture that I did some "work" on. The first one is the original copy and on the second one I enhanced some shadows and increased saturation. Which one do you think is a better picture? The original but not so good looking one or the one that saw some cosmetic
enhancements?

Out of the Blue!

I took this picture in Boston a while ago and thought it was interesting! Its an art gallery in Cambridge. Couldn't go in because it was closed, but seems like a really 'out of the blue' place! Is it just a coincidence that the trash cans beside it and the building in the back on the left hand side is some shade of blue? My husband noticed it while we were in the area and brought it to my attention! I guess we can really spot interesting things around if we keep our eyes open to these things. Otherwise who has the time to take a moment and pause in this cold weather to notice such amazing things! Local flavor is always more colorful, inventive and interesting than those run of the mill chain stores! So pause and take a look...