the brook

I trooped down to the Singapore Air Show this weekend. As did others - to the tune of tens of thousands. I haven’t seen a closer approximation to the Kumbh Mela in Singapore.

It was on one extreme end of the city, involving a 40 minute bus ride even after the last train stop; involved over 2 km of queues to get into the bus and into the registration gate, where everyone had to go through airport-like security with X-ray machines and metal detectors and what not. It’s amazing how many restrictions we’re willing to bear in order to have a glimpse of freedom.

Freedom from bonds that bind. To soar limitless. To choose a direction at random from the infinity of space. And to defy the one force that always keeps us down. I’ve always loved flying. I was at the airshow to feel flight, and I wasn’t disappointed.

I caught these jets in formation just as I stepped off the bus. I couldn’t see their antics because I was stuck at security.

Then it was time for the single fighters to show off. I loved this part. Having played more than enough flight simulations in my time, I know these stunts are not as easy as the pilots make them look. It was fun to watch the jet spin in a nosedive and imagine the pilots point of view - where the whole world turns in front of you. Pure power was on the menu here. There were, I think, three different jets that made the rounds, and for a while I was just up there, testing the sky’s limits with them.

Somebody should tell Airbus to fix their marketing department. Yes, you’ve designed the largest aircraft in the world and it is a marvel of engineering in many ways. But the last place you want to show it off is right after an F-16 has shown the world what it can do. It’s like after watching a Ferrari zoom past, you’re treated to the sight of an ox-cart drawn by a cow named Phulwaari on the F1 track.

Finally there were the propeller planes. If the fighter jets gave the impression that they were defying the laws of physics with raw power, these birds were the epitome of grace. Certainly not fast but they flew in beautiful formation. This particular maneuver, where they flew in a backward vertical circle and then veered off in different directions, was simply magical. It was also the only time when the audience as a whole burst into spontaneous applause.

The ground exhibits were interesting too but there were just too many people. Planes pack so much beauty, grace and power; but that gets lost if there are people crawling all over. Much like a delectable chocolate cake doesn’t look as mouth watering when surrounded by ants. Not that I didn’t enjoy seeing them up close. It would have been fun to go see them from the inside but I couldn’t muster up the resolve to get in the queues that that entailed.

So as you can see from the pictures, it wasn’t a very good day for photography. Steel gray skies and too many people to get any real good photos of the planes on exhibit. So I needed my camera fix, and I ended up taking some photographs of the people.

Some people had got kids to the airshow, which was good to see. But too few. People should get their kids to see such stuff. They are the ones who have imaginations deep enough and souls free enough to dare and dream their dreams around the wonderful things they see. They are the ones who will remember a day at the airshow a few weeks, months or even years from the day, and maybe change their lives as a result.

Visited the Greek Sculptures exhibition at the National Museum recently. Truly artistic and a wonderful experience to look through the exhibits.

What struck me most was the corner in which the busts of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle sat, seemingly mundane compared to the grandeur of the Aphrodites and Athenas (see more exhibition photos here).

Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen farther than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” These three were pretty much the original Giants - widely recognized as the founders of Western philosophy and scientific thought. Among their many contributions - the Socratic method was the precursor to the scientific method which is practiced to this day. Plato founded the first institution of higher learning in the western world, and Aristotle wrote about a mind-boggling range of subjects; including formalisms of logic that would reign till well into the 19th century. It would be hard to find a legacy greater than theirs.

I read this book about a month ago. Off the bat I can tell you that Bryan Peterson is an amazing writer, and when it comes to teaching photography technique, I’ve not read a better author (I highly recommend his other book as well, titled “Learning to see creatively”).

I wanted to wait till I’d tried out a few techniques before posting a review. Today, I can confidently tell you that this book is a winner. It has taught me some of the most important things I’ve ever learned about photography. I was slightly embarrassed after reading this book because I realized how little care or thought I put in for most of my photography.

Since I’ve always dealt with automatic cameras (even my film camera half a decade ago was an automatic), I’ve never thought much about exposure - how much light is captured by the camera and in what way - something that is determined by the triplet of aperture size, shutter speed and sensor sensitivity (ISO). Understanding Exposure offers a wealth of insight into the subject, divided by two main themes.

The first theme describes a “correct” exposure is and how to get it. This is mainly about determining the correct amount of light that’s captured in each shot. The automatic metering of a camera can often be wrong for complex scenes - especially those that involve both sky and land - which used to often result in washed out scenes that didn’t look too impressive. The biggest change this book induced in my shooting: I now mostly shoot in manual mode. Even on my compact Canon Powershot A570 IS. And I can tell the difference.

The second theme is about getting the “creatively correct” exposure - and this describes making the right choice of shutter speed and aperture size to enhance your composition. These concepts I was more or less aware of but its still very well explained, and it was good to go through it again.

Of course, the ideas are explained with the help of many photographs from the author’s portfolio. The photographs are relevant and often breathtaking. Overall, this is an inspiring book and has certainly changed the way I shoot. I’d heartily recommend it to anyone who’s getting serious about photography.

Sachin Tendulkar made his 16000th run in one-day internationals today. It just struck me that each run is worth 22 yards (the length of a cricket pitch), and that equates to 200 miles. A long run indeed.

Keep going, Little Master.

A movie that I’d describe as a true flight of fancy, flown to near-perfection.

It’s a seemingly slow-paced film, yet manages to surprise with almost every scene. The plot is rather basic - a young English girl wrongly accuses a man who loves her older sister of a crime he did not commit, changing their lives forever. The simplicity of the story only serves to accentuate the brilliant artistry of the film. The parts of the story that are actually told are unconventional not just in content and character but also in chronology, which kept me guessing, interested and imagining throughout - a rare treat in these days where movies are made for an audience to sit back and be invaded by a deluge of hyper-emotional scenes, special effects and assorted wizardry.

One of the highlights is the depiction of old England - an England that in my head was first created through the words of P. G. Wodehouse. The movie isn’t a comedy by any stretch but it recreates in its opening half my perfect idea of a mansion in the English countryside during a hot summer (dare I say Blandings Castle?), right down to the “Blue Room” reserved for special guests. In the second half, it is World War II that is in the foreground, and that’s very well done too. Perhaps deserving of even more creative credit, given the hundreds of war movies that exist.

The photography - or cinematography, as I should probably call it - throughout the movie is nothing short of stunning. I’m willing to bet that there were some avid photographers involved in its creation. The collection of landscapes, silhouettes, background contrasts, framed lighting, close-ups - I could go on - seldom fail to delight. I could forget all about the plot and the acting and enjoy the film just for the scenery.

Rarely do I walk out of a movie theater feeling so fresh. But thats twice in two months that a film has done that for me. The other one was the Darjeeling Limited, something I wanted to write about as well. Another time, perhaps.