Using Zoom in Photography

I enjoy using the zoom function in photography. It helps you take photographs of animals, birds and insects without disturbing them! This is what I got with a Nikon Coolpix L 100:

                                                                      This Pigeon is the King of the Roost. He is the bully and he frightens all the other pigeons off!

                                                     

This squirrel frequents my uncle’s watering bowl. He seemed rather confident of himself

 

This squirrel seemed to be giving me the frontal pose, being confident about himself!                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                            

                                           

The Pigeon seems to be rather ruffled by the fact that I was taking a snap!

And, this is the photograph that I got with my Nokia Mobile phone :     

The Butterfly seemed to be resting before a long journey!                                                              

                                                  

At the Dentist’s-A Poem

I went to the dentist in the evening,

Thinking there would be no one!

But, when I reached with someone,

There were many waiting!

Thought I to myself,

What, do I have to wait?

Sat I on the couch below the T.V.

Said the Doctor wait!

Root canal, filling, surgery,

Well you’ve got to pay,

And I said to her, I’ll pay!

So, sat I , I say!

The people on the other side,

Looked at me with curiosity,

Why was I there, did I need,

A root canal? No, that I did not need!

So I waited for her,

The lady opposite looked at me,

Was she flirting at me?

No, to pass time she looked at me!

Not bad, thought I, she went inside,

Doctor told her to come again,

The next day, to get a cap,

Doctor told my girl, you can have a root canal!

Ceramic, metal, metal and ceramic,

They'll cost you rupees two thousand,

Three thousand, four thousand!

Said I to her, go for four thousand!

While the operation was going on the tooth.

I tongued the cavity in my wisdom tooth.

Thought I, lucky am I that I’ve got all my teeth,

Save for one that too, my wisdom tooth!

So sat I and an old man came,

And I gave him my seat!

He said, no, I’m used to standing!

Said I to him, please sit!

So I sat, deep in my thoughts.

All the while, he was removing the

Nerve in my girl’s tooth!

Another girl came into the clinic!

She flirted with me, and I thought,

I don’t  mind waiting and watched cricket,

I waited and thought,

What do they do for what?

My girl came out,

All numb and  mumbling,

Thought I, I don’t mind waiting,

If nice girls come in, I’ll wait!

So, I decided I’ll go

With my girl the next time,

Sure, I’d like to look at the girls,

If they look at me, and watch cricket on t.v.!

Cell Phones can give you good photographs!

 

This photograph was taken with a cell phone camera, a Nokia 6303 Classic. It is amazing how handy a cell-phone can be!

Depth of Field and Blurring in photography

 


Sometimes it looks good when you take photographs in which the back ground is deliberately blurred!

A Journey through Thirteen months of Sunshine

 

Thirteen months of sunshine greeted me,

When I opened my eyes in the

Princess Tsehai Hospital in Addis.

Thereafter, it was a mystical journey,

Through a mystical land of thirteen months!

 

The echoing sound of the cuckoo greeted

Me in Adowa. the smell of the incense pervaded.

The journey to Massawa, the vast expanse of the

Red Sea, thrilled me no less. Then the journey to

Asmara,and the Christmas tree delighted me no less!

 

Mama Heewot greeted me in Adigrat,

Her living room with a show-case full of model ships.

I tasted of the fruit called Balas, a

Fruit of the cactus, its taste elusive now.

For I was only a child of three years!

 

My visit to Arbaminch, town of forty springs,

A pleasant change it was. Surrounded by nature,

I was in the land of the Gujji ,

The land of Lions, Snakes and hyenas.

Where books and nature were my friends.

 

To fish for Nile Perch in lake Chamo,

And see the huge crocodiles basking in the sun,

The Hippos too wise, was rewarding.

The evening drives into the jungle were,

A joy, for I saw  deer, baboons,and Lions on the road!

 

My final destination was Addis Abeba,

An experience different from all the others.

A metropolis, with stately buildings, Piassa, the

Fashionable stretch, Arat Kilo, Sidist Kilo

An school with lots of new friends one of whom is Hailu.

And here I am after twenty-five years,

Remembering a dream that I once had as a

Child, of the land of thirteen months of sunshine!

The haunting sound of the Kirar and the Masenko

Follow me in my dreams….

Almaz-A Poem about an Ethiopian Princess

She Visits me in a dream, sweet Almaz.

A waft of exotic incense and the flash,

Of the white gabi she is wearing.

She smiles at me with teeth white as milk!

She wafts along the ground feet,

Lightly kissing the ground, her head held high,

Hair in a Shiruba, Queen Sheeba incarnate.

She is an Ethiopian Princess oh so exotic!

She is Almaz, the Diamond and oh, so precious,

Her skin golden-brown, burnished by the golden sun,

What thirteen months of Sunshine have given her,

A sparkle in her eyes, a touch of innocent mischief!

She is my Ethiopian Princess, sweet heart

Of my childhood, for she reminds of the

Exotic land where I was born,

She is my youth, my joy, my sweet Almaz!

She is a stately figure with a proud stance,

Her conduct majestic, a princess of the Land of Judah

A sharp thrill of excitement passes through me,

She is my Ethiopian Princess, my inspiration!

She is innocence incarnate, yet so wise,

A young girl, but so old, of the ancient land

Of Abyssinia, the land of Lucy and Omo, and,

She has seen the Eons that have passed away!

She is Almaz, the girl of my dreams, my inspiration,

Who belongs to the fountain of civilisation, so old,

In her eyes are hidden the secrets of our being, will

She not reveal the secret of our being?