Kishor Krishnamoorthi’s WebsiteKishor a.k.a Mjuboy’s Blog

I’ve removed the ‘Wishlist’ page since I decided that it was not required any more. I’ve grown up now (or at least I think so), and material wants are hardly at the top of my wishlist. A realistic wishlist would probably involve an African Photo Safari or spending quality time with family and friends. Its interesting to see how growing up and maturing changes so much of a person, for the better of course.

In place of the ‘Wishlist’ page, I have introduced a new page ‘Projects‘, which is a list of projects, both photographic and otherwise that I have completed or currently doing. It is essentially a place for people to keep updated with what I’m pursuing, what I’ve already done and a reminder for myself to continue with current projects.

Furthermore, I managed to break my Canon 50mm f/1.8, which is well known for its fragile nature but after some keen observation, I managed to snap it back together and its working fine now! The debate between digital and film has been continuing at the back of my head for all eternity and I still stand without an answer. I’ve decided that due to the cost and hassle of scanning film, I’ll leave the film to use solely on any projects I undertake and continue to use digital for my daily needs. I have a large collection of films that are waiting to be scanned and that collection seems to be increasing as I shoot more and more film. This has also inevitable led to gadget lust, namely the 5D MkII & 24-105mm lens which is absolutely fantastic to use and has stunning image quality.

Exams have begun and I had my first exam earlier this week, Econometrics, and it went on surprisingly well, much to my pleasure. The next on is on Thursday. I finish by June 4th and I am eagerly waiting to finish my undergraduate degree.

I’ve been reading a plethora of books, still continuing to read ‘Cosmos‘ as well as ‘This Matter of Culture‘ and ‘The English‘ simultaneously. All of them provide for an enjoyable read and a mixed experience as I jump from reading about the origins of the Universe to why the English hate the French.

The weather has improved considerably and is now sunny and warm, reaching temperatures of 20C. I’ve been spending time with my housemates sitting out in the backgarden revising and enjoying the warmth, while reminiscing about the past 3 years at University.

And I have finally received my passport! This obviously means I’ll be going home to Hyderabad in June, I cannot wait!

Currently Listening to – Me and You and a dog named Boo – Lobo

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Been just over a week since I’ve got home. The daily routine has mostly consisted of eat, read, watch TV, check teh interwebz with a considerable amount of sleep between these activities. Other stuff included were catching up with lots of friends which was quite nice, definitely good to see some old faces again, have some good meals at our old favourites, and the likes.

On a sadder note, the world has lost two things this week, both of which/whom I have respected. The first one is the legendary Kodak film, Kodachrome, a transparency film which has been manufactured for nearly 75 years before Kodak took the decision to stop production earlier this week. From the point of view of Kodak, it seems reasonable since it accounted for less than 1% of its sales and there is only one lab left in the world which has the capability to process this film since it is quite complex, and Dwayne’s Photo in Kansas has said that they will continue to process the film until late 2010. However, it will definitely be missed by many film enthusiasts including me, who revered the film like a god. It was the same film used to capture the world famous Afghan girl photo by Steve McCurry in 1984. And this momentous calls for Paul Simon’s classic song ‘Mama, dont take my Kodachrome away’.

The other loss was  a man, although some say otherwise, nevertheless, known as the ‘King of Pop’. I must admit his death came as quite a shock to me, I somehow took his existence for granted and regardless of all the controversies he has been in, I’m sure everyone agrees that he made some pretty damn awesome music. My playlist for today has simply been all of the King’s albums on shuffle. May his soul rest if peace.

On a more positive note, I got my exam results earlier this week and I somehow managed to scrape a 70.7% overall, which is a  1st Class and all I wanted. Next year will be tougher, with a 10,000 word dissertation and all, but it’ll be the test of my mettle to score a 1st Class next year too.

Watched Terminator: Salvation today, barely worth the visit. Just 2 hours of mindless violence and action wrapped around a weak excuse for a story. Christian Bale is a normally a good actor but he doesnt come close to Arnie as the classic Terminator, and Terminator 2 still remains my favourite of the series.

Also played Max Payne 2 today, such a beautiful game to play, I do hope Max Payne 3 doesnt turn out as a bad as it looks.

And thats all for now folks, more updates on life and the world soon!

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Yes, I am reasonably drunken right now so please forgive any spelling/grammatical mistakes. Perhaps my first time doing drunken blogging as far as I can recall right now.

And the funny part is we all got drunk playing the Dr.Horrible Sing Along drinking game. It was immense fun and Koppaberg Mixed Fruit is quite divine. And it is the first time in the history of our house that all four of us got simultaneously drunk.

Coming to life, exams have been going on splendidly well, I’ve finished four of them successfully, and just one remains on Monday. The other extra curricular activities have decreased slightly but not ceased completely, I went Gliding last weekend and was allowed by the instructor to do everything from launch to landing, pretty much like a solo flight but with the instructor behind me to ensure that all was good. That was brilliant fun as always. Photos are up on Flickr.

Weather has improved to a nice, warm and sunny situation but with occasional showers now and then. The sun sets at around 9PM and rises by 5AM which gives us quite a lot of sunlight during the day.

I’ve been taking more digital photos recently, primarily due to lack of funds to process film but after going over some old film photos, I once again realized that digital can simply never substitute the beauty and glory of film. Scanning a negative is simply not the same as seeing a true optical print. Each film has its specialized and unique look, all different but still wonderful, while all digital cameras, from tiny compacts to gigantic SLRs pretty much share a similar outcome without a decent bit of processing.

Nevertheless, I shall leave the reader in peace now and try and sober up for a night of photo taking.

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3 exams finished, only 1 more left and I’ve got a week till that one so I’ve got some freedom till then. My Politics exam went on well but the real kicker is the Statistics exam which was really good considering the fact that I had only one to study for it, the subject that I dislike the most.

I’ve been getting lots of things done over the past week, things that I’d wanted to get done for a long time so it was good to get all of those off my mind.

I was browsing randomly around a couple of days ago when I came across this article which talked about a man who took a Polaroid everyday for 18 years of his life right upto the day he died. After having tackled about three fourths of my 365 Day Project, I know how demanding it can be on some days to get a photo done. And this is only 257 days in for me, he took photos for 6,697 days from 1979 to 1997. It is quite a remarkable feat and I truly respect for having the determination and courage to go through it for 18 years. Thats more than my age. I have been contemplating undertaking a similar project and I’m still continuing to contemplate it, I havent really made up my mind yet. You can read the article here.

I’ve been reading about some photographers lately, the ones who really inspired me were Michael Muller and Platon. Michael Muller shoots celebrities and promo shots for high profile movies, the latest and most famous one being Iron Man. He has a very impressive portfolio and has done portraits of the some of the most famous celebrities out there.

I felt Platon is a bit more ‘legendary’ than Michael Muller since he is the one who photographed the leader of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin himself, for the cover of TIME Magazine in 2007 and also won the World Press Photo in 2008 for Portraits with that photo.

His interview about the photoshoot is very powerful and he talks about his experience, I feel every photographer should listen to this, to know how it feels to photograph one of the most powerful men on earth. You can watch it here. (Click on 2008 Interviews and then click on Putin’s photo) The interview is about 10 minutes long and definitely worth listening to.

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We had our first exam at University yesterday, Introduction to Economics, which went remarkably well. The exam procedures were more or less the same as school, the only difference being that there were about 400 students in one hall as opposed to about 125 in school. The size didn’t really make much of a difference in the exam but they took a hell a lot of time to collect all the papers at the end. Next exam is next Tuesday, gotta start studying.

I’ve been looking to get a medium format camera recently, because I want to venture out into new forms of photography. After several hours of researching online instead of studying for my exam, I came to the conclusion that for a person who is taking his first step into Medium Format, a folder camera would be ideal since it isn’t very expensive but gives good quality images and is compact when compared to the other alternatives.

I did stumble upon a few Bronicas on Ebay, it was quite tempting to get one, but I had to refrain since they would be an overkill for me and were also slightly expensive. After more hours of hunting, I came across several models of folder cameras such as the Agfa Isolette which seemed to be the most popular and various different versions of the Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta.

Zeiss Ikonta by Ray Pempengco

In order to get a hands-on experience with some of these cameras before buying one, I decided to visit a secondhand camera store in London. So yesterday, right after the exam, I went to London and spent about an hour lost trying to find the store, and I finally managed to find it. I wouldn’t exactly call it a store since they are a mail-order business and don’t have a store front for customers. Its more like a office room filled with all the classic cameras you can dream of. I was initially overwhelmed by the amount of cameras they had in that space and spent a good 10 minutes just looking at the huge collection. The store owners were very friendly and allowed me to handle various cameras. After some drooling and handling of some of the best medium format cameras in the world, I decided that I would get a Zeiss Super Ikonta and if all goes right, I should probably have one with me this time next week. And if anyone is looking to get a classic camera, I suggest you look at their extensive online catalogue, but act quick since they sell like hot cakes.

Here are some links which I found very useful containing more information about the world of Medium Format Cameras -

Introduction to Medium Format Photography – Ken Rockwell

Medium Format Guide – Cameras.co.uk

Choosing a Medium Format Camera – Philip Greenspun, Photo.net

Medium Format on a Budget – Peter Williams

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Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had meetings for the various clubs and societies at University and I was duly elected President of the Gliding Club, President of the Photography Society and Vice President of the Politics Society for the next academic year. I’m quite thrilled by these posts which I have undertaken and I shall do my best to ensure that I help all the societies equally.

I successfully spent the International Shutdown Day without using the computer all the day. I had to take photos of sports for most of the day so it was bit easier to refrain from using the computer since I had something to keep myself occupied with. I did feel the urge to use it in the night after I’d finished all my work but I managed to keep myself under control. And I hadn’t really missed many happenings on the internet as I saw on the next day.

Thanks to a friend, I finally got the chance to play the most coveted game of the year, Grand Theft Auto IV. I played the game on a Xbox 360 but I didn’t really care which I console I played it on as long as I got to play it. My first impressions of the game was the highly improved graphics from the previous games and the physics. Enough cant be said about the new physics engine which is very realistic and gives a whole new feel to the game. We also played the Multiplayer for sometime which was great, we had a bit of a lag but otherwise had a new and exciting experience. I tried to do a mission and I almost completed it when I got killed at the very end. I just cant get used to the dual joystick use in consoles since I prefer PC gaming. Regardless, if you’re going to get only one game this year, make sure it is GTA IV. You can watch a very good 10 minute video review of the game here.

I’ve made some changes to my wishlist, I’ve now amended it to include items that I actually want as opposed to things that would simply be nice to own. Take a look at the updated Wishlist here.

After many months of thinking, I bought myself a Flickr PRO Account yesterday. It offers unlimited upload of photos along with several other incredible features at a very reasonable price of approximately $2 a month. I shall be embedding the Flickr Gallery into the site soon. You can take a look at my Flickr Stream here.

We’ve got exams from next Monday and honestly, I have hardly studied anything. I really hope I get things done soon.

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I went Gliding yesterday after more than a month. I’d forgotten how much fun it is to glide and had some very enjoyable flights yesterday. The weather has improved which made the whole experience more pleasurable and we had a great day out at the airfield.

GTA IV comes out in less than 2 days. I wasnt really anticipating the release of the game that much since I’m not as interested in games as I was 2 years ago when San Andreas came out. However, I did want to try out the game just once to see how it is and if there is enough improvement as has been publicised. And yesterday, I read IGN’s review of the game and they gave it a perfect score of 10 and called it ‘One of the best games ever’. I also watched the gameplay videos which are totally awesome. And some of my friends over at GTAGaming got invited for all expenses paid trip to New York by Rockstar Games to have a sneak preview of GTA IV, you can read about their exciting experience here. These events have reinstated my interest in the game and I look forward to release. You can see a countdown to the release of the game here.

I got a PC Sync Extension cable for my cameras flash so that I can fire both of my flash simultaneously indoors, I have taken some exciting photos with some new techniques and you can view some of these on my Flickr Stream and my 365 Day Project. I can also use my flash outdoors now, using the cable and I’ve been experimenting to get unique shots which can be seen in the links above.

I had an Economics Test a couple of days which went fairly well. My exams start on May 12th and ending on May 30th. I also got the result of my Politics Essay and I was quite happy with it as was my teacher.

In order to make my domain more ‘UK-friendly’, I have now redirected my previous derelict website and domain name – Cozmonite.com, to this site so that now anyone who visits that domain can click a link to visit this site which is my primary website.

And I have some big plans about the photo gallery which I shall try and implement soon so that it will be easier to view photos here.

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This week has been quite productive. My Economic Analysis test went on great and it was one of the several positive points of the week. I took photos of a few matches for the University newsletter for next week’s issue, and in last week’s issue, they had the photo I took of ‘The Twang’ and also gave me full credit for it. I did a presentation about France in my Politics class and I thought that it was pretty good, seeing that nobody else has bothered to make a Powerpoint except for me.

I finished reading ‘Bravo Two Zero‘ by Andy McNab, its a book about a SAS mission into Iraq to disable some Scud launchers, and how they caught before they could do anything, and the torture and pain they went through before finally getting back, minus 3 dead comrades. It’s a fast paced book, and hard to believe that its a true story. Reading it is quite an experience, and gives you the feeling of what it is like to be in a battlefield. It makes you realize what soldiers go through for our safety. A definite must read by fans of action books.

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I watched ‘Scarface’ last night. I’d say the movie was good but I personally didnt like Tony Montana too much, he is bad-ass, agreed, but probably a bit too bad-ass for my liking. It probably was also a letdown because I expected better of Montana, to be a better human being than he actually is. I took down the poster of Scarface in my room, I dont think Montana deserved the spot. The wall looks a bit empty now, but I have another poster in mind.

I’ve added the LibraryThing widget on the left side, it displays random books covers from the library of books that I’ve read. And thats it for now, I hope that the coming week will be good too.

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I got back to Essex a week ago. Classes and lectures have started off in full swing. We had our first test a few days ago, and it went quite well considering that I only studied for an hour. We have a 2500 word essay due tomorrow morning and I’ve got a 1000 words done so far, and  I think that I should be able to get it done tonight.

The weather is pretty horrible now, and its good only once or twice a week. Fortunately, last wednesday was a bright and sunny day and we took advantage of the weather by going into town. We only had a few things to get done, which we did and spent the rest of the time walking around aimlessly and munching on a bag of candy that we had bought.

Meeting university friends again was nice, got to see lots of familiar faces and exchange stories of our new year celebrations and other fun that we had done during the past one month.

The winter break was quite good, and provided a nice break from daily university life. But it probably would’ve got a but boring had it been any longer, and getting back to Uni with a fresh mind feels good. I’ve settled back into the routine University life easily, and life seems almost perfect.

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We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday, thanks to Ashley and a day early because many people had several other commitments today. And I enjoyed the dinner so much that I completely forgot about my Quantitative Economics test today. Although superficially, it only seems like basic statistics, there’s a lot more to it.

The test went on reasonably good considering that I only studied for 3 hours before it. But I cant relax too much since I have another Economics Assignment to hand in by Monday.

And on the occasion of Thanksgiving, I would like say that I’m thankful to god for giving me the perfect life, with nothing to worry about, my family for always supporting every decision I make and being there for me, my friends from school, with whom I spent some of the best years of my life, my friends at University, without whom life would be empty, and every single person who has been part of my life because without them, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I’m also thankful to Nintendo, Sony, Canon, and U2 for obvious reasons.

And I would like to end this post with LG’s slogan – Life’s good.

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