September 8th 2014 -I am back.

This post comes after a long break. I have been on my toes the past few months. A lot happened during these months. I was out of the country, visiting family and friends, which was fun, then  my kid's vacations started, which is by the way, my full time working period.  I have to keep them busy and a whole lot needs to be done during those times. When my kid's vacations ended in September, mine started. Phew... Even if you work like a dog during their school days, it's nothing compared to having school going kids at home. I think I have done enough of whining. Let's get back to business.

I have been clicking pictures, though they were more of family and friends. Just this week I clicked a few nature pictures. It's been such a nice summer. Even in September we have an extended summer month going on. Just loving the weather out here, but I am too afraid of the winter. In no case do I want an extended winter.

The dew drops have started appearing in the mornings. It's a little chilly, temperatures going down to 50 F, so what, the days a warm and cozy.

Hope these pictures would bring some freshness in your lives. Will be back with some more soon.

May 27th 2014 - Summer is here.

Summer is here finally. It's been a busy month and hence I could not post earlier this month. When you live in a place which has 6-7 months of winter, you welcome the summers even more. There are parts of the world where the summers are too hot . Here at my place the summers are mild. Even, an 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius) seems like scorching heat. Anyways, for good or for bad the summers are here and so are the flowers trees, bees and the baby birds. 
The first picture is of a Poppy flower with rain drops.
Aperture-F4
ISO- 100

The next picture is of the Tulip flowers. A few miles from my place is the city, Holland. Few Dutch settlers from the country Holland founded the city and a large percentage of people here follow Dutch traditions and culture even today. Such a cool way to preserve your culture. They even have a Tulip festival. The picture is from the Tulips gardens of Holland Michigan.

Aperture - F9.5
Shutter Speed - 1/60 secs
ISO- 100

This next picture is of the trees in my backyard which were snow capped in the winters and now every branch brimming with life. It's a refreshing site. The breeze has a melody - the melody of the summer and with every whiff of air you can smell the fragrant flowers. Lots of song birds have nests in these trees. It becomes the busiest place. The blue skies, the green rustling leaves, can bring life back into your life. With all the busy birds, I was also busy at home doing all the pending jobs which were back logged during the winters.

This summer I was in no case going to miss taking shots of the baby birds, so one day I went in search of goslings and chicks. I found a few and took lots of shots. Here is a shot of a gosling very close to me. 

Aperture - F11
Shutter speed - 1/500 sec
ISO - 2500

This is all for now from me, but I have taken lots of flower pictures which I will definitely share with you in my coming posts. Hope you all are keeping yourselves safe in the summers by keeping hydrated. Have a great week!

March 24th 2014 - Waiting for Spring.

We have had the official first day of Spring, but here in Michigan it seems that Spring is far from near. Though the piles of snow have melted  to some extent, even then we have occasional snow flurries here and there. Ugh... now  I am getting impatient. Cannot wait for the Spring break to take some time off from this daily humdrum. When you have school going kids, you feel their Spring break is like yours, though that is just an illusion, but this time I might just get a chance to go out for a long road trip. Fingers crossed. It is said that the darkest hour is just before dawn. I love to read quotes. They give you courage to fight the adverse conditions, in my case - the weather. I know.. I know.. this is nothing as compared to the misery in this world. Wish I could do something about that too. Sometimes I enjoy this roller coaster ride of weather that was this year. Still cannot wait for the daily dose of sunshine and the warmth that it brings with it. I love the mild summers of Michigan.

This is a still from the visit to Chicago in December. Loved the little puddle and the reflection. I have been looking for one to take a shot.

Shutter speed - 1/60
Aperture - F11
ISO -100

Since the weather is such, I got a bit bored of shooting the cold, grey and very rarely blue sky landscapes, city-scapes so mostly I went again to my indoor subjects.

Yet another quote comes to my mind - Necessity is the mother of invention. I discovered some new things not inventions, but new ideas. My sessions of long hours on different kinds of softwares to make Illustrations was also a part of my new discoveries. Played with them to make something interesting.  Also as I have been designing and developing websites for long, I designed a few templates.


Please click on the image to view full size. The image on the right is a collage of a few templates.


Now you know who to call when you need a website. :)  Sorry, if you think this was soliciting. ;)

Another skill I am honing is converting color images to black and white to get the right tones of greys, blacks and whites.

This is yet another cityscape of Chicago downtown.

Shutter speed - 1/45 secs
Aperture - F11
ISO - 100

Hope some of you on the other side of the globe are enjoying the onset of summers while I am still waiting for Spring. This was not sarcasm, just enjoy life whatever may come. Live in the moment. Have a nice week!

June Flowers

A visitor.

The highlight is Nature - bugs, flowers, birds and rain. With a Macro lens I cannot focus on anything else but Bugs and closeups.

Some more info-

• ISO -100
• Shutter Speed-1/500
• F number - F8

Mother bird.

 A bird has built a nest right below my deck and last week I caught the bird with worms in it's mouth. Most probably taking food for it's children. What a delight! The bird is not that pretty but that was my close encounter with a bird and a camera and I was quite happy with the outcome as I am not a wild life photographer. I have to hone that skill. I am not sure what you think.

Some more info-
ISO -160
Shutter Speed-1/160
F number - F2.8

Wild flower.

Pretty wild purple flowers are all I see where there are no other flowers. Love their sight. It rains here off and on, so love to snap them whenever I get a chance. They are delicate, colorful and lovely.

Some more info-
ISO -400
Shutter Speed-1/45
F number - F22

Waiting for other flowers to bloom in my garden.

If you love these pictures then-
My pictures can also be found at Pixoto. I love Pixoto! It’s such a fun way to see what people think of my photography. Use this link to get 250 upload credits when you signup: http://www.pixoto.com/invite/r/ikshvaku

To view my pictures on Pixoto go to http://www.pixoto.com/ikshvaku?r=ikshvaku

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Spring has sprung in my part of the world. The month of April - May symbolizes the birth of new growth in all kinds of trees.

The barren twigs have found beautiful young green leaves. The trees with all the light and sun cannot wait to give off their beautiful creations that bring so much greenery around us, makes us lively, sweeps away the dampness and coldness of winters. Life is outdoors and a photographer's life is full of subjects waiting to be clicked and kept in their memory books for ever. It symbolizes new beginnings and ideas.

Some of the trees have bloomed into beautiful flower bouquets. There are more flowers than the leaves. The white, yellow, blue and pink flowers are there to give the color to the barren land. As you pass by these flowers, you can smell the lovely fragrance and instantly you feel that you are in heaven.

Another special day is Mother's day which falls on 12 of May every year. A mother is one who is always close to her children no matter how far they are. It is rightly said that God could not be everywhere and therefore He made mothers. Let us remember our Mothers and thank them for all that they have done for us.