More matching dresses, courtesy of the local Target store and the kids school for making their own "tie-dye" shirts..
Goes without saying that the kids will give me one good pose and one "kurangu" (monkey) pose for every photo shoot.. Apparently that is their norm.. the photographer just found out about this today.
They make great models. Was worried that the 5D has developed a focus issue of sorts but after cleaning the lenses and mounting pins carefully, looks like there are no big issues..
We did go visit the beach once during this trip and managed to spend a little under two hours. The added bonus was the presence of the cousins.
Previous beach post from same beach here and another beach here..
This trip in pictures and video..
It was a good place to practice panning shots of the kids on the "raatnams"!
What is a beach post without a video?
We had good fun the first few days in Chennai and this beach trip was a big part of it. We were also strongly discouraged by family from going to the Marina beach. Apparently it is in bad shape compared to our last trip in 2008. We will check it out on our next trip..
Talking of trips, my MIL told the girls
"daddy is thinking of selling everything here and going to Chennai. I am going to go live in Seattle.. You girls can come visit me for summer vacation here"
Jr. : So where will we be when daddy goes to Chennai?
MIL : he will take you all with him. he is not planning to go alone
Jr. : No way! I am not going..
LO : Jumps up and runs to me and says "I WILL GO!".. then gives me a hug and says "I will go with you but first you should make sure you kill all the mosquitoes in Madras and then I will come!"
All of us laughed out loud. So my going and living in Chennai is in the hands of the Madras Corporation who are incharge of eradicating mosquitoes and the rest of Chennaivasis who have to get rid of stagnant water!
Who knows? Maybe someone will invent an eradicator and I get to convince the little one?
Top ten items that are needed to convince <10 year old girls to relocate :
1- dry bathroom floors 2- western toilets 3- toilet paper 4- central air conditioning 5- inverters that keep fan running during powercuts 6- AC cars 7- no insects (ants, flies, mosquitoes, roaches etc.) 8- clean public restrooms 9- no stench (from roadside dumps, garbage trucks stuck in traffic etc.) 10-no street dogs
There are more items on the list but this is their priority list..
Having promised photos of the improved me for the last three months, we finally had a breakthrough today..
a. We just came back from class at 10 b. It was hot outside and we were still flexible after the class c. MIL decided to help me with the photographing considering San has been against this post and idea from the get go..
Again, you have to realize that there are two ordinary people in the photos, but we looked a lot worse before starting yoga! MIL has lost 30+ lbs, I have lost 15 lbs in the last 100 days. We have both reduced a lot of weight in the tummy, thigh area and our shoulders, arms and calves have become a lot stronger!
There was a big big tummy that spread out like North America on the world map.. it has now gone. There is now a dimple(?!) in its place on either side of the stomach... Just wish it would stay here and not expand again..
This is why it was so difficult to get the pictures with a self timer. . you want good focus, with a zoom lens and sometimes.. you just miss your suject and get a nice picture of the fence!
But you get the idea!
It was not a good idea to put the mat on the grass and take pictures because we were not on firm ground, but there had to be come optimization between posing and good photos..
If my waistline improves any further or my muscle tone gets better over time, will post photos in another three months..
The real achiever here is the MIL. She has been tenacious and in her third week she still could not sit down with her knees bent and her butt on the floor between her knees... Now she just eases into it!
Photography forums usually tout an 85mm prime lens or a 100mm prime lens as "the" portrait lens to swear by, but the 70-200 f2.8 L with the extender 2x ii gives me amazing sharpness and fantastic Bokeh even in cloudy situations..
The little one posed for me a few minutes ago (originally brought the camera out to catch the backyard squirrel jumping off the trees but it proved too difficult for a hand held shot and that brought out the model) and junior joined in briefly for a shot..
This lens is so cool that I am having issues deleting shots off the hard drive to save photos! Want to keep every shot.
Tomorrow evening.. Hornets! Found a nest near the front yard and two big hornets. Will see how they pose..
The last day of our Palm Springs trip was spent visiting various canyons.
We saw the Palm canyons (no waterfalls unfortunately but a great natural oasis and a pleasant walk through a canyon that goes for 12 + miles), Andreas Canyon and Tahquitz canyon. By the time we came to Tahquitz center it was almost 3 PM and they said we have to do a 1.8 mile round trip hike and be back before 5PM when the entrance closed! So only myself, Balaji and the oldest of the four kids made it on the hike. The rest of the group said "pass". We did make it through (with photo time) in almost an hour and a half.
The canyon and the sights were amazing. You get to see Palm Springs between the mountains as you go up and the streams are on one side all along the walkway.
The Indians had figured out that there was a waterfall which fell into a flat rock and made a natural swimming pool out of this place. Truly breathtaking falls and pool. The water was 2 to 5 feet deep and ice cold but extremely refreshing. We saw little kids swimming in this pool of fresh melt ice water! They had come prepared in swimming gear with the adults.
This place is strongly recommended provided your kids can handle it. Older adults will have a tough time in this hike because you go up rock steps, some of which are almost 18 to 24 inches tall. You have to lift your knees pretty high to get on the steps one at a time. You also need to pick the right weather do to this hike as it can get pretty hot up there.
Overall, strongly recommended if you hit the palm springs area.
Thanks to Balaji for snapping a few pics with me in them! We now have at least a few pictures with me in them. It was also suggested that yours truly was camera shy before because of extended-tummy-itis and now have changed. Well, time will tell..
Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 7:27PM 
