Are Writers victims of unadulterated education?

Originally uploaded by McGun Have we ever wondered how it is to be a bug/insect/a macro subject for tens & thousands of photographers. Well, you should ask the Robberfly. He was more than willing to show his back to me on a bright Saturday. Gear: Nikon D80+55-200mm VR

Is it Gold? Originally uploaded by McGun This was the first time I played so intensely with Picassa, never knew it would reach the Explore page. Location - Marina Beach, Chennai, TN, India Gear - Nikon D80 + 18-55mm lens

This is a very special capture, not because I took atleast 50 shots of the mating session of these " Robber Fly(s) ", but the manner in which I took it. Spotted them during my routine weekend pitstop in my garden. I had to lay down on the ground in so many postures on a stony garden you can hardly imagine. Finally settled to place the cam on the ground and snap this private ( not until I arrived on the scene ) using my Nikon D80 DSLR and 50mm f/1.8D Nikkor lens. I must admit this lens is a beauty, can capture almost anything perfectly, thats why its called a prime lens. Gives a brilliant DoF and AF too.

ISO 1600 Originally uploaded by McGun The reason why I uploaded this in B/W is because of a mistake I have never made in my small journey in photography - altering the ISO settings in P mode . Exactly what happened to me today morning when I managed to capture more than a dozen pics of this lovely butterfly. I was overjoyed, pretty damn sure this was my best butterfly shot to date. While reviewing the pics, I noticed lot of noise... OMG - ISO 1600 . How could I have made such a blunder !! I have never shot anything beyond ISO 100 in my life. The next half an hour went into pondering who might have changed the settings and then realized it was my mistake. Yesterday night, I was experimenting with low-light photography and increased the ISO to 1600+. Forgot to change the settings today morning. A sick feeling to start 07_07_07 . I HATE ISO... I HATE ISO....I HATE ISO

B for Butterfly Originally uploaded by McGun Thanks to my new Nikon D80 DSLR and 50mm f/1.8D lens, this pic reached the Top 500 Interesting photos for June 9th. Shot around 10 pics laying down on my stony garden to get this tiny 1cm butterfly. NO POST-PROCESSING DONE ON THIS, JUST A TIGHT CROP USING PICASSA. The effort was worth it. I don't care for how long it would be in the Top500, just happy I made it there after a long time. Thankyou Flickr & Mr. Butterfly.

Its been ages since I installed Opera (latest version 9.2), the last time being a year back. Reason : Firefox outclassed Opera in many features ( even though Firefox COPIED मान्य concepts from Opera like mouse gestures & more ), now ruling in the form of extensions and plug-ins. I started using Opera way back in 2000 (think it was version 6) and was a die-hard fan until Firefox released 1.0. Since then, Firefox has ruled my web-browser. But, something struck me today and felt like going back the glory days of Opera. So, decided to install Opera version 9.2 and vola one more surprise. Check this out...! This feature is called Speed Dial ....something similar to the speed dial on your mobile phone. Very, very interesting and whats more, they have restricted it only to 9 web pages. The Speed Dial window displays when you open a new tab. Opera is sure fun...just drag & drop!

Happy April Fool's Day! Originally uploaded by McGun . I was expecting something big to happen in my life on this day and wola! Flickr is giving a free ride for your entire photostream to the Explore list. Awesome, I don't mind it....I dont mind it all :)

Fantastic ad from Nike, loved it....great work JW Thompson! powered by performancing firefox

Yupe, I finally reached the Explore page....My Lilly pic was the reason! Flickr: Explore interesting photos from 24th of February 2007 powered by performancing firefox

Believe it or not, a 3-foot long baby snake entered our garden yesterday (27th Jan ' 2007) during noon when I went to pluck some hibiscus. I froze for 10 seconds not knowing what to do. I am lucky to be alive because I saw it first from its back. My instant reaction from then on was RUN............. I went back and wanted to create a commotion by informing my parents, sister, bro-in-law and the newborn nephew. Then I realized this was the best chance to become famous. Headed upstairs and took out my sister's Canon A540 and reached down very carefully without making any noise. But, by that time, everyone felt something fishy was happening. I couldn't resist and told them the news of a snake in the garden. And then BOOOOOOOOM! The 3W's and 1 H came out from everyone's mouth (Where, When, Whaaaaat, HOW). I shall describe the next events a little later....in the meanwhile take a look at the pics! http://www.flickr.com/photos/mogun23/sets/72157594504044284/detail/

Yahooo...finally one of my macros has reached the homepage of a Flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/creative_tabletop_photogra phy/ It stayed on their homepage for a week ( 17th - 24th Jan ), but no probs, I'm honored :) Finally my hard worked has paid off, but don't ask me how it reached!

Chocolate Wrappers While watching the Chennai open S/F tennis match on Saturday between the heartthrob Rafael Nadal & an unknown Malisse from Belgium, I suddenly realized that the chocolate box cognizant gave everybody had something catchy about it....uh not the choco, it was the colorful wrapping! What else do I need to start my macro-sessions! Enjoy the Macros....some did not come out well bcoz of poor-lighting and a dull white-base! Plz also visit my Flickr album http://www.flickr.com/photos/mogun23/ :)