I have had several requests all through last year to conduct photography-centric day-trips out of Bangalore. Here is the first of a series of them to come.

You will recognize a fragrance of heritage in every corner of Melukote. The old temples, the large Kalyani that has hosted several movie shoots, the smaller Raya Gopura that also has its beauty tested in the movies, a Sanskrit Academy, two ancient temples, a Vaishnava heritage that is preserved as good as it was a few centuries ago and several houses, temples and structures that have a stamp of past all over them — a quick glimpse of Melukote for you.

See full details of the event – photography in Melukote.

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A long row of Chinese fishing nets are an iconic  landmark of Fort Kochi’s sea front. Every evening, small groups of fishermen standing on thick, long dead tree trunks of this curious contraption are seen pulling a bunch of ropes that gently lifts the half-immersed nets, bringing out a handful of fish that seem too small for the size of the net. In the winter months, when plenty of tourists trot the shore in search of amusement, the fish are sold almost as soon as they are lifted. A bunch of restaurants that shout out ‘you buy the fish, we cook it,’ make up all the market required for the little bounty secured from the nets. One summer evening, I walked into one of the very few nets that was functioning even when the tourists were away, and spent an hour taking pictures and talking to ‘P Samuel’ who was happy to show me around. Some images from the visit.

A ship moves towards Cochin Harbour on the shore opposing the Chinese fishing nets.

The nets are pushed into the water when some one walks on the mast and increases the weight on the far end of the assembly that stretches into the water. To bring the net back up, four to five people pull a bunch of ropes attached to the mast, in a way similar to drawing waters from the well using a pulley.

One of the fishermen in the group walks up the pole to push it down the water and returns after the job is done.

Pulling the booty of fish after lifting the nets. The net is usually kept immersed for a duration of ten to fifteen minutes. During the summer months when I was there, an immersion typically brought back a haul of one to two kilos of fish.

The lights of Kochi Harbour on the faraway shore come on after sunset.

Some time after the sunset, fishermen light a lantern that hangs over the water and attracts more fish. The colourful skies, the lights from the other shore and the bright lamp hung with a rope suddenly transform the atmospehere around the nets.

The colours change quickly after sunset, into a deep hue of blue on cloudy days or into deep orange colours in the clear days of winter months.

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This new year, there is a small change in the way images are displayed in India Travel Blog.

The template size on this blog restricted me from posting photos that are larger than 640 pixels wide. This created multiple problems. In these days of ‘big pictures’, 640 pixels are too small and did not do justice many images. Second, all the clutter around the images (thanks to my ancient, orange template), failed to highlight the images and did not offer an undisturbed view. A clutter-free environment is necessary to be able to appreciate a photograph. These problems are now solved, at least to some extent. The images are now uploaded at a much higher size. On clicking a photograph, you will not only see a larger sized image, it will get displayed with a neutral background. It is also now possible to navigate through all the images in a post, either as a slideshow or through ‘next’ and ‘previous’ links. I hope you like the changes. Your feedback on this would really help. Thank you.

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Here is a listing of upcoming photography tours and workshops in January. We regularly announce new destinations and bring in new photography opportunities. Join Darter Facebook Page to stay updated on upcoming workshops and photography tours. Also see a full listing of all our photography tours

January 2012

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