The Great Divide

Decorations on a puja pandal, many eons ago.

Nikon D200 | Nikon 18-70 mm

Experiments with HDR - Al Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain

Continuing with my experiments with HDR images, this is a HDR image of the inner courtyard of the Al Fateh Grand Mosque in Bahrain.

The picture was taken in the summer of 2009 with a Nikon D200 and an 18-55 kit zoom.

Converted to a HDR image in Luminance HDR from a single image .TIFF file.

Bahrain . . . circa 2008

Taken sometime in the end of 2008.

Bahrain shimmers in the late afternoon light. Taken from the aircraft as it lines up to land at the Bahrain International Airport at Muharraq, Bahrain. The Bahrain Airport was much more convenient for my frequent journeys home during my stay at Al-Jubail, KSA to best avoid the huge queues at the King Fahd International Airport at Dammam.

Nikon D200 | 18-55 mm @ 55mm

Zenia

Another series of pictures taken in Calcutta during late March - early April 2010 with the Nikon D200 and Tamron 70-300 mm on macro mode.

These are Zenias from our terrace garden.

Nikon D200; Tamron 70-300 mm AF Macro

Morning light . . .

Shot in the early morning during end-March to early April this year. The rising sun gives a golden hue to the Pumerias.

Shot with the Nikon D200 and Tamron 70-300 mm zoom on macro mode at 200 mm, 100 ASA, f4.8 and 1/2000 s.

Pumerias in the morning light

Nikon D200; Tamron 70-300mm zoom

Yellow!

Another of the set of pictures taken in Calcutta around the 1st week of April this year. Loved the brilliant yellow color.

Nikon D200 with a Tamron 70-300 mm zoom on macro mode, shot in the early morning light.

Nikon D200; Tamron 70-300 macro zoom.

Orchids | Nikon D200

This is a part of the series of pictures of flowers taken in Calcutta during the period of end-March to early April 2010 during my trip home. 

Taken early in the morning, the colors of the orchids change with the colors of light. Shot with my Nikon D200 and Tamron 70-300 mm zoom on macro mode.

Glowing in the pink morning light

Same shot again.. 15 minutes later

Orchids again

Orchid

Nikon D200; Tamron 70-300 zoom

Al-Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain in color

These are the remaining pictures from my earlier post.

We got to the grand mosque late afternoon when the sun was already relatively low. The light in the mosque was really amazing, deep yellow creating an amazing play of shadow and light.

The main courtyard of the mosque

Another angle

The dome peeping behind the imposing courtyard facade

The minaret (minara) framed by the arch

A window framed by the arch

The corridor to the Minaret. The reflections are amazing.

Nikon D200 ; Nikon 18-70 Zoom

Al-Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain in B&W

The Al-Fateh Mosque (also known as Al-Fateh Islamic Center & Al Fateh Grand Mosque) is one of the largest mosques in the world, capable of accommodating over 7,000 worshippers at a time.

I visited Al-Fateh Grand Mosque @ Bahrain on my way to the airport to catch the flight to Bombay and took time to take some shots in B&W.

I will post the rest of the pictures in a subsequent post.

The Grand Mosque

An entrance and a corridoor

Corridor leading up to the Minara

Another shot

Nikon D200; Nikon 18-70 f3.5-3.5

Red and White

A series of pictures taken with the D200 and the Tamron 70-300 AF on macro in the early morning and late morning. Interesting colors !!

Thanks to Ringo, who managed to wake me up quite early, the day after I reached Calcutta.

Early morning.. a sort of golden yellow light

Still early morning.. the sun is finally up.. a golden glow

Abstract... close up

Slightly different angles.. could not decide which to post.. so I am posting both

Nikon D200; Tamron 70-300 D AF

King Fahd Causeway and Bahrain

A series of pictures taken on my way home via Bahrain.

The connection to Bahrain is via the 28 km King Fahd Causeway connecting Al-Khobar in Saudi Arabia to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Wednesday afternoon... empty before the weekend rush

 

Towards the border crossing

 

Nassan Island, Bahrain

Bahrain

Bahrain again

hard selling Bahrain

Bahrain Chamber of Commerce

BWTC

Ringo : March 2010

Ringo @ 1 year and 8 months. Still has 90% of his puppy characteristics. Ringo listens to some commands when he feels like. The rest of the times, he does what he pleases and manages to drive both my mother and my wife nuts.

Pictures taken with the Nikon D200 and the Tamron 70-300mm AF zoom.

Cutie !!!

Sweet innocent face...

Whats keeping ya?

Was playing with me on the terrace.. when I stopped to take pictures of some flowers and got this expression..

Not very happy...

Falcons

Got a chance to photograph these top-birds at our ‘Open Day’ programme organized by our Company at the beach camp.

Falconery is still in practice in the Middle East and is used for hunting small game and birds. These falcons are used for hunting.

.Sitting calmly on a perch in a traditional Arab tent

Hooded.. so that they keep calm

Almost regal

Embossed hood !

Trying to listen to the conversation... almost !

This one is almost regal in appearance..

Another view

A pale colored falcon

Close up of the hood..

These birds (probably sand grouse), according to the falconeer, was captured by the falcons last weekend

Falcons in the traditional Arab tent

Nikon D200; Nikon 18-70 f3.5-4.5 @ 400 ASA