Chasing the Milky way photograph..

It has always been a wish list item : Get a nice photograph of the Milky way..

As it so happened we were out in the woods on saturday at Sugarloaf Ridge State park in a campground. It was a new moon day! The sky was spectacular. There was minimal light pollution.

This was a trip I almost backed out of thanks to the face ache. The kids went on a strike of sorts and forced me to come. 

I did have the right lens and settings for this. 70-200L @2.8 and 30 second exposure on a good tripod.. but, was taking the shots at 11PM. Should have done it an hour after sunset to get the entire thing. 

There is always a next time. Happy with these shots for a first attempt. 

The belt was actually on the other side.. 

Think a 50mm f1.8 at 30seconds would have given me better results. That lens was in the bag. Don't know why I didn't think of it at that time. 

BB took some great shots of the campfire side with airplane trails. Next time we go camping we will not only apply the lessons on "how to prepare for camping?" but also "how to take great milky way photographs?"

On a side note, the tooth is out as of yesterday and right now going through a cocktail of antibiotics and pain killers. Do say a prayer for me so that this thing ends once the gum heals! 

When it comes to creating a "build up". . .

After a long time, decided to update the Cooking section of this website. Given that the MIL is back in Seattle, it is time my hands took a ladle or two up. . . 

Wanted to have a nice banner picture for this page and roped in the little one for a trick photo shoot. Explained the concept to her.. "Daddy will look like Shakti except with cooking utensils instead of weapons?" 

She immediately got it. After deciding which things to hold in Daddy's ten hands, we paired up the things and placed 5 sets of utensils on the floor. The camera was set up on the tripod and ready to go. 

The little one had to click, come remove things from my hand, replace them with two other utensils and go back and click... then repeat this three more times! After downloading the photos and doing an initial merge she was disappointed. "I didn't do that good a job appa.. there are some places where you moved!"

Told her that it was not her problem and that she did an outstanding job. It just needed some quality time for Daddy with Photoshop.

1 hour later.. we present to you Daddy in his Vishwaroopam pose in the kitchen..

Never before has a buildup for cooking seen this in the history of cooking or "buildup".

Pretty sure I will be diagnosed as OCD becaue most of the time was spent in getting the shadow right. 

The most important thing in all of this?

The little one is going to be one hell of a photographer and eventual photoshopper. En kula kozhundhu has been identified!

Time travel

Was browsing through old posts on the blog to see what we did for Varalakshmi Vratham week and also to check on my mother's theory that every Aavaniavittam week I have been sick.

Two things came out of that browsing..

1. My mom is right. No surprises there! Retired school teacher that she is, really no surprises there. . . 

2. We are very consistant in our way of handling mid August.

There has been a photo shoot of the kids every year since the little one was born! 

Made a collage of those photos from 2006 to 2013 

Click for a larger version.. 

One photo, so many memories!