"Muze Baksh Do!!"

As to be expected, you're bound to come across local photographers want to take pictures of visitors at the local tourist attraction. That's to be expected. I mean, a man's got to make a living, even if they swam all over you like bees to honey. And quite frankly, if you look foreign enough, well, you are the honey with an almighty "Kerching" buzzing in their ears!

But what do you do with the local photographers who are insistent in wanting to take your picture, in spite of the the obvious fact that you have dangling over your shoulder and neck 2 digital cameras, one manual camera, and a bunch of interchangeable lenses in your pouch vest. You'd think that would put them off. You'd think so, would'nt you. (HAH!)

And that's what happened outside the Taj Mahal earlier this year. There was this particular local who was determined to take a picture of me and the missus together, in spite of all the gear I had on me. This guy was not taking no for an answer. I spoke to him in broken English, sign languaged to him, and even had the missus speak to him in Tamil to explain that his services were not needed.

Suffice to say, I snapped, literally in anger (because security had given me problems earlier trying to get into the venue!), and in taking his shot, which he did not expect.




(c) (Aworan 2005)

When he finally show what my camera could do, he backed off.

Moral of the story: There isn't any! I just wanted to share the story. But, try and learn some Hindi or the local dialect. And the translation of the this title blog means "Leave me alone!"

Shri @ The Jazz Cafe (29/03/2006)

Bombay percussionist Shri performed at the Jazz Cafe yesterday night, and his performance was amazing. I mean, he has the kind of talent that you respectfully mutter under your breath, "Lousy talented person!" But what a show!
As usual, normal lighting (that means virtual poor lighting) was the norm at the venue.
Here's my favourite shot from the night.

(Setting used:Nikon D100. Iso 800. f1.8:50mm)

©Aworan

Oh- my -God!! You're Lee Ritenour!!!

I'm not the kind of guy to be fazed by celebrities and famous people. Never have, and never will. However, I do make the exception when it comes to people that I admire for their talent. One such person is Lee Ritenour. I only became familiar with his work through listening to Fourplay, and following up on Jazz guitar legend, Wes Montgomery. On hearing Lee's finger work on guitars, it just blew me away. I wanted to meet the dude who's music could chill me out.

So, when I found out that he was performing at the Jazz Cafe, I bought tickets for myself and the missus, first and foremost 3 months in advance. It was a cautionary buy, just in case I couldn't get press tickets to take pictures. I was not going to take any chances.

Now, I'm not a music reviewer, but the show was amazing. In spite of the low lighting, ( you can't use flash at most music venues) I managed to get a couple of shots from the show. I was a happy man that night. Had the shots in the can, listened to Lee's music Live (missed his London gig in '97 due to a wedding in the family), recieved a signed autograph of one of his cds, compliments of Alex Acuna. All I wanted to complete the night was to have a shot with Lee. Never thought it would happen: until the missus intervened. And here's the end result:



I can assure you all that this has been the only time that i have gone 'ga-ga' when meeting somone! With the look that 'Cap'n Fingers' is giving me, I'm sure he was seriously considering calling security!.

No bobbing...

Ok.. apart from my other blogspot, I've decided to have a section dedicated purely for about my ups and downs of being a freelance photographer. As usual, the anecdotes are from personal cxperiences and such. Enjoy!



Nikon D100. Iso 800, F2.8 70-200mm.

Here's a shot I took of Jackson Brown at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. When I went to receive the press pass at the Box Office, the instructions on the pass were,"No bobbing in the Front & the 1st 2 Songs without Flash". First 2 songs with no flash, no problem. But no 'bobbing of the head?' Kind of hard not to be able to capture an image without at least slightly moving up and down just a tad bit. I honestly appreciate that people have paid good money to see a performance, and the last thing they'd want is my big head with that of other photographers and their lenses obscuring their view. Can you imagine the scene? It's a quiet moment during the performance, and I elevate my head to take a shot, and then a voice shouts out from the stalls, "Oh! Snapper!! Down in the front!!"

Yep! That'll kill the mood....