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

The Canon 5D Mark II.

A camera that completely changed the digital SLR game.

When I first wrote about it around a year and half ago, I would’ve given up everything I owned for it. Today, I would still do the same. However, Canon decided that they would lend me the camera without me having to give up my possessions.

After my Round Table Meeting with Canon in December, I was lent the Canon 5D Mark II for 3 whole weeks, most of which would be spent at home in India. I got the camera literally 12 hours before my plane left and the moment I held it in my hands, I fell in love with it.

Every photograph looked stunning, every video looked brilliant, I could sing praises about it for hours at end. One thing is for certain, this is not going to be a technical review of the camera. If you want a technical review, head over to DPReview’s 40 page review. This is going to be a summary of a personal experience with the camera, a brief narrative of what I loved about the camera, what I didnt like and how it fit into my life.

The camera didnt handle particularly different from my 40D except for the fact that it was considerably heavier. The button layout felt very similar as did the menu. The viewfinder was absolutely fantastic, the joy of full frame is really something else. The high-res screen was a much needed upgrade and was gorgeous to look at, although it was a battery drainer. The High ISO capability was outstanding, and being able to take photos lit with nothing but a LED from a crappy phone and make it look like strobes was definitely fun. We shot plenty of videos at dusk, making full use of the sensor and the bokeh with a 50mm f/1.8.

One of my minor complaints with the camera was the autofocusing which didnt seem to have much improvement over my 40D. It proved quite annoying when trying to autofocus in the dark since ultimately it wasnt the ISO that prevented me from taking a photo but rather the focusing. Hopefully Canon are working to sort this out soon, and I’ve heard the 7D has a better autofocus system.

It wasnt only I who fell in love with the camera, it was pretty much everyone who laid their eyes on it. A couple of my friends in India were considering not letting me leave for England so that we wouldn’t have to return the camera. We made the most of it in the 3 weeks I had it and secretly hoped that Canon would let me keep it forever.

During my last day with the camera, I made a small project titled ‘A Day in my Life’ wherein I took photos of my daily activities right from the time I woke up till I went to bed over the course of 16 hours. It was great fun, especially while trying to find an artistic angle for things that would normally be deemed as boring and then attempting to use the tripod and setting the camera to the perfect position. You can see all the 30 photos here.

I got quite attached to the camera and was gutted when I had to return it. I’m back to my loyal 40D now but n eedless to say, the Canon 5D Mark II will definitely be my next investment.

Update – Canon Camera Buzz has been kind of enough to link to my project, check out their post here!

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“Lets dance ah?”, asked Ranjith as we stood on the dance floor of the Emerald Room.Without hesitation, I eagerly shouted over the din of the music “Okay mama!”.

And thus began our tirade into 2010, a fresh decade promising new opportunities to explore, new lessons to learn, new girls to befriend and old friends to reminisce with.

Our plans for New Year’s Eve were uncertain until a few hours before the start of the night. Having managed to get our hands on passes for Taj Krishna, a classy 5* hotel in the city, the night began with our sober and impatient selves waiting in line for entry into the nightclub. After what seemed like eternity, we were inside. And with wristbands for unlimited drinks, it was the beginning of a night whose madness knew no bounds.

We finished the first few drinks rather quickly in our eagerness to start partying and as the alcohol kicked in, everyone’s face was plastered with broad grins. Time flew, drinks flowed, glasses became empty and soon the countdown to 2010 began. As the clock struck 12, a roar could be heard from the dance floor as the DJ wished everyone a happy new year.

The situation in our group was a bit different to the crowd. Kalyan was laughing uncontrollably. Naveen was hugging a random white man and refused to let go of him. Upendra was doing his traditional dance and smiling away to glory. Vivek was the happiest man around since it was his birthday as well. Ranjith was ordering more drinks. Nakul was in the bathroom. Tharun was nowhere to be seen. Rama was cursing the world and her ancestors loudly. But this was only the beginning.

It didnt take long for us to get bored of Ahala (the first nightclub) so we moved to the adjacent nightclub (Emerald Room) which was bigger but also very crowded. We came across some “interesting sights” as we walked around the place and bumped into a lot of known faces, all of whom we hugged and wished happy new year.

By around 2:30AM, a select group of us were still ready to party more but a few others of our group had passed out completely. So after much deliberation, the decision was made to drive them to our friend’s house which was base camp for the night. Unfortunately, his house was on the 4th floor and the building didnt have a lift, which meant we had to lift three drunken bodies up 4 flights of stairs. Fun times.

And then came the hunger. The crazy yearning for food. So six of got into 2 cars and drove to Y2K, the only restaurant which would be open at 3 in the morning and got ourselves some Biryani, the staple food of Hyderabadis. And now that the hunger was satisfied, the thirst for thrill was next. One of our designated driver’s was convieniently sleepy, I took up the challenge of driving one car. And we were off to Novotel which was on the other end of the city, and we didnt we even know why we were going there. We sat by the pool at Novotel for 15 minutes before getting bored and back to base camp it was. It was nearly 6 in the morning and as much as we wanted to stay awake for the breakfast in Taj Krishna at 7, our bodies got the better of us and we fell asleep in the cars itself. Another glorious night of the most random things had come to an end.

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In approximately an hour, I’ll be catching a train to Agra for a week’s trip to Agra, Jaipur and Jaisalmer. While the initial objective of this trip is to show my friend from England, Josh Wall, around the country, its a convenient excuse for me to fulfill my travel addiction.

As with my trip to Europe a few months ago, this will be an exclusive film trip with one SLR  camera, two lenses, fifteen rolls of film, and tons of shutter buggery. I’ve carefully laid out the trip itinerary after a decent bit of research, perhaps more research than I do for my usual essay. Hopefully, the effort should pay off and you will see a complete record of the trip on this space in a week!

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Its been nearly 2 years since I started my 365 Day Project. It was a life changing project for me, it improved my photography skills and the difference between the first and last photo of the project was vast.

And here comes the next version of the project, the 365 Day Portrait Project.

One portrait every day for a year. A different person everyday. Three Hundred and Sixty Five Portraits.

Like the previous project, this one too was spawned from boredom and a lack of things to do. I was initially reluctant to take up this project since managing to find a new person everyday is tougher than it sounds, I really hope I dont stop it halfway through and only time will tell whether this project is destined for success. I plan to kick the project off in Delhi, where I will be spending the next week with some friends. Admittedly, I wont find a lack of people for the initial few weeks but as time goes by, I may have to start photographing my driver, his brother, his brother’s wife, his brother’s wife’s father, so on and so forth. But I wont let that stop me and I will take on this project with full enthusiasm!

UPDATE – You can the find the photos from this project in this set which is updated daily!

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I turned 19 on Wednesday. Yep, nineteen years of life have already passed by. Nineteen is  a strange age to be. Its the in-between age of youth and adult. Eighteen is always regarded as the “fun” age to be and all that jazz. Twenty is the big “no longer a teen” grown up age of responsibility and other things I dont want to talk about. And nineteen is stuck between these two biggies, not knowing what to do, and just hanging about trying to be cool and not “kewl”.

My birthday started off like every other day in the history of mankind. Dull and boring. Never did I expect for a single second that it would turn out the way it did. Lunch was good, with a surprise from two close friends, and tons of laughter. After reluctantly bidding farewell to them, it was back home to reading ‘The Economist’. The usual, the usual.

The fun kicked in after dinner. Another random surprise from some friends, with whom I ended up going on a second show movie at 11 at night, followed by some consumption of certain, lets say, beverages and then a trip to Charminar at 2 in the morning to have what is possibly the best Biryani and Chai I’ve ever had but I suspect that the beverages we consumed earlier may have enhanced the taste. And thats how my birthday ended. Riding shotgun on a Bullet on Necklace road. A very memorable birthday, something I probably will never forget and something I definitely want to do again!

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We went back to school today. The same good ol’ Hyderabad Public School which nurtured me for nine years of my life and was quite instrumental in making me the person I am today. It felt lovely to stroll through the campus, recalling old memories associated with each location as we walked along.

We met old teachers, current students who had grown a lot since we left school, the office bearers who still hung around, so on and so forth. We had a not-so-nice meeting with the new principal and a slight misunderstanding with the security guards but looking at the broader perspective of things, they were only minor annoyances in our otherwise joyous trip.

Coincidently, the new prefects for this academic year were being announced today just as we went there, and I can still recall the day we were announced as prefects. When I look back at the day, its funny how tense we were about something which appears relatively insignificant today. Life does move on in a strange yet graceful way.

In other news about my life, I’ve been managing to keep myself occupied, much thanks to ‘The Economist’ which is 100 pages of awesomeness around the world.

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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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I leave tomorrow for India.

And similar to last time, feelings are mixed. Thoroughly excited to go back home. Depressed to say goodbye to all the final year students whom I wont see again for a very long time. But that is how life moves on…

Last week has been reasonably relaxing, I’ve been catching up with as many people as possible to bid farewell to them. I suppose next week might involve a similar exercise of catching up with many friends, not to say goodbye, but to welcome a summer of fun.

I went down to Chelmsford a few days ago to watch Guthrie Govan play live at The Bassment and it was an absolutely amazing experience. He plays the guitar like no one else I’ve ever know and its quite a sight to watch him work his magic on the guitar. The Bassment is a lovely place as well, small, simple, cosy and just the way I like it.

I’ve ensured that I did my usual activities last week, Fish and Chips from Henleys, plenty of meals at the Bengal Spice, relaxing lunches at Sizzlers/Top Bar, and just sitting by the lake enjoying the sun.

My first lunch in India will be, as anyone who knows me can predict, Chicken Biryani at Paradise. It is something my heart has truly longed for the past six months and I’m immensely looking forward to that memorable meal. I must crack on with packing now and my next post will be from India!

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Two Years at University.

All gone by in a flash.

The two major events celebrating the end of the academic year at University, ‘The End’ and the ‘Summer Ball’ were held last friday and saturday respectively and the last term of the year is now over.

The End was immense fun. It involved about a 1000 odd students in the main squares of the University and tons and tons of alcohol. As you can expect, the outcome was definitely an experience not worth missing. The Summer Ball is pretty much the same thing, except its held in a large fancy tent and everyone is dressed in tuxedos.

Summer Ball this year was fantastically better than last year, primarily because the weather was dry. The new tent was unique, and since I got a VIP invite to the event, I also got a good free dinner. I didnt bother watching the acts, I was too busy with my friends going on the fairground rides. I ended up going on the infamous Dominator about seven times and got bored of it by the end. The general atmosphere of the night was positive and you could feel the fun all around you. I had an absolutely brilliant time and came home by 5AM after 12 hours of partying away.

Alcohol was flowing freely and excessively over the course of the 2 days, but I suppose its permissible given that it is only 2 days in a year. I know that both the days wouldnt have been half as fun had I been sober and hence the slightly generous consumption but it was well worth it and I’m going to go cold turkey for the next few months.

I’m going to miss all the final year students terribly during the next year, both these events were a huge goodbye and thanks to all of them who hung out with me over the past 2 years. Time sure has flown at an insanely fast pace and I cannot believe I am already finished with two years at Essex. It feels like it was just yesterday when I walked into good ol’ Flat 13 with my bags at midnight to meet up with my fellow flatmates. One more year, or maybe two more, but then it’ll be off into the real world which only exists as a myth within the university bubble.

I’ll be leaving for Hyderabad in a week’s time. I cannot wait to get home, its been too long since I’ve laid my taste buds upon some Paradise Biryani.

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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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