Pumpkinography - yet again...

Halloween weekend begins!

We had a quiet pumpkin carving session at the Cousins place and had a parade with four kids. It was quiet quite fun. Tomorrow will be the trick or treat routine (if it doesn't rain or get too cold)

This year, I was not sure of my carving abilities, what with the right hand being at 25% strength and all, but took a long time and used the "erumbu oora kallum theyum" routine (even an ant can polish a stone by repeatedly walking on it...) and managed a scarecrow and a crow in the background.

The pictures..

The idea was to carve two images and have one create a shadow. The Michael Jackson looking scarecrow on one side and a crow on the other side to get the shadow. The crow side...

The MJ scarecrow with a bird on his hand..

Looks like the standard has been set very high in the previous years. Jr., said "good, but not as good as the spider we did last year"!

(Checked and found that the spider was not last year..Previous pumpkin links from 2005, 2006-1, 2006-2, 2007-1, 2007-2, 2008)

Next year, it is going to be a web full of spiders, on all sides..

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The new find

The long quest for a unscratched lens was ended on Sunday. Realized earlier this month that my chances of getting a lens would increase 4 fold if I bought a used lens. (No three digit purchases were allowed).

Finally got a 50mm f/1.8 Canon II lens.

The hand instinctively tries to zoom and realizes that there is focus.. focus.. and fantastic sharp focus only!

Takes great shots without flash and great macro shots.

Here are the first few shots with this lens...

I am in love.. more so than ever before!

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California Tamil Academy

Jr. is learning Tamil (Tamizh) at the CTA for the last two months. She has a lot of fun. Teaching her at home (and the little one on the side) is a ton of fun for me.

This Sunday they had a Deepavali celebration in the school quadrangle after class was over and they had all the parents and kids gather for some mehendi, villu paatu, song and dance.

The Mrs. joined in for an impromptu kummi adi performance with her kummi buddies at the end of the events.

Here are some photos..

We now have the Deepavali hangover.....

In other news, the hand has passed the Doc's criteria for making it to Physiotherapy! The bone bends around the screws and the break and has formed callouses. It was amazing to watch the x-rays. The human body is an amazing thing!

Next goal, be able to eat a pizza with my right hand!

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More fun with Sparklers

Saw a photo on the school site where someone wrote I Love You with a flashlight with a dark field in the background.. It was a neat shot!

So, could not resist the idea to write I love U with sparklers in my backyard.

Here are the two tries that came out. The sparkler lasts 18 or so seconds and the shot in self timer mode starts only after a 10 second countdown. Really wish there was an option on the XTi to change timer to 2 seconds!

If you want to try this, go manual mode, try an 8 to 10 second exposure at f20 or a smaller aperture..

Spent a lot of sparklers and then realized that when I wrote I L U , it came out as U L I in the photo. So make sure you practice writing in reverse to get it right on the photograph....

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Windows - Homework assignment...

Two photos for the "windows" Photo homework assignment .. Have not decided if these are it or need to find something more..

Let me know what you think..

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