Second in a series of three. This is the Dom from a different angle. I don’t know how much this photo works as I was shooting handheld and because of the high ISO used there is noise. But I kinda like the angle and it is one of my rare night shots.

Today, after a long time, I managed to go out and shoot something. This is the magnificent Gothic cathedral of Cologne, also the tallest Gothic structure in the world. It is one building that overpowers your senses with its sheer size. Even after being in Cologne for more than two years now I never got around to photographing the Dom (as it is called in German) properly. So I’m glad that I finally got some decent shots. This will be the first in a series of three shots. This one was shot towards late evening. I blew out the sky during PP to let the building stand out better.

The Dom has a lot of interesting history behind it. Including interruptions, it took more than 600 years for the building to be completed (1248-1880). It was even the tallest structure in the world between 1880 and 1884! It’s Sarcophagus of the Magi is thought to contain the remains of the Three Wise Men. It was hit 14 times during aerial bombing in WWII but managed not to collapse. And it also has the world’s largest free-swinging bell!

One suggestion, this photo is best viewed full screen. Press F11 to go into full screen mode (and press F11 again to exit it).

This was just an experimental shot but I like the way the composition works. I cropped it a little to make the composition even tighter.

I seem to be posting only b/w photos of late here. But I could not think of posting this in color. Instead of doing the same old thing with such shots I tried to do something new, as the title of the photo suggests. I hope you like the result.

I’m still depending on photos from about ten days ago as I haven’t shot anything in between because of the terrible weather here. This is from the same place as the one I put up yesterday. The lake had frozen and so people were having fun walking, skating and playing over it. Didn’t realize what the guy on the extreme right was doing until I came home and was reviewing the shots!

On another note, I finally decided to order the Minolta Dynax 7D as it was very attractively priced. I’m eagerly awaiting its arrival!

Quite surprisingly, this was selected as the photo of the fortnight in one of the photography forums I’m part of! Even without that this would still be one of my favorites as I’m happy with the way it came out. And oh, I think this is the first photo here with my recently acquired Minolta 17-35mm zoom lens.

As I mentioned yesterday the original idea was to post another macro of the bouquet. But I just wasn’t happy with the results I was getting after post-processing of those shots. So I decided to post this macro instead, from a different shoot. At least this came out decently.

A lab colleague was given a lovely bouquet. So I requested her to leave it behind for a day so that I could shoot it to my heart’s content! Being the nice person she is she agreed. So starting with this I’ll be posting some macro shots from that shoot. The extremely shallow dof in such shots is a pain to work with, especially without a tripod. But I liked the way this shot has come out. I hope you do too.

Finally, there is a subtle hint of change in the legal air! Gays and homosexuals who have long been fighting a lone battle for recognition in India have something to cheer about. The Supreme Court of India sent back a plea concerning the reappeal of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, originally struck down by the Delhi High Court as not being in “public interest”.

In India, homosexuality is an offence under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Gay rights organisations and human rights activists have long been fighting to abolish that section under the grounds that it is unconstitutional and discriminatory. Until now, Indian courts had refused to budge and change the law. But this might be the start of something new.

I firmly believe that homosexuals should have equal rights as everybody else. It is inhuman to deny them the very rights we take for granted. I hope this forward-looking decision by the Supreme Court will usher in a much needed change and abolish what, in my opinion, is an archaic law.

Read more here.

On the sofa
We lay lost
In our feelings
Tracing hair and
Hidden fingertips
While the fan above
Slowly revolved with
Our newly evolving love

—–

we were talking
when time flew
in through the
open window to
snuggle with our
love and tell us
shared stories
from our collective
pasts and futures

—–

We sat
Side by side
In the evening
Thinking-
About love found
About hands united

The sun
Fell below the far line
Leaving us
To trace our palms
And find
The map of Cupid’s folly

—–

Three pink pillows
you wanted yesterday,
In exchange for a
notional apology from me.
Today you think
and refuse to talk.
So I wander around the
house looking for words
you forgot to erase from
our common conversation

—–

Images come and go
Falling like wet hail
On my narrow sorrows

Watery eyes in transit
Watching the dull glow

Of

A sliver of sunshine
Quivering in a droplet
Of our distilled love