First win of 2014 :)

I have a good news to share in this week's blog post..... In my post 2 weeks ago, I had mentioned about going for a Photo walk with a group named Photowalk Dubai, a group which had members who regularly met over a venue for photo shoots. It was my first experience with photo walk... and I must say, I truly loved it...

The venue was Sharjah scrapyard... a area that lies adjacent to one of the Sharjah Industrial areas and Safeer mall, Sharjah. I happened to click many snaps there, some of them are as follows .....

On 26th December 2013, three of my pictures were published in Gulfnews

 

And then... tadaaa...little did I expect I would be receiving a call from Gulf news... that I had secured the 1st place in Gulf news reader photo competition for the month of December 2013..... Thus on January 26th, 2014 the winning entries along with the photographer's profile came published in Gulf news... And I was sooo thrilled .... my first win in photography... :)

The link - http://gulfnews.com/pictures/viewer/not-always-an-inborn-passion-1.1282038
http://gulfnews.com/pictures/viewer/featured-reader-photographers-of-december-2014-1.1281365

All thanks to my parents, my lil bro... n my friends who stood by me and supported me constantly ... :)
I was filled with wishes and congrats on my facebook wall after posting this image... and to this moment... I'm thrilled and excited ... :)

Friends shared my image....my degree mates changed the profile pic and subject in Whatsapp to congratulate me ....

So guys.... its a good start for the year :) :)
Thanks to the Almighty for the wonderful win .... :) :)

For those who haven't liked my photography page in Facebook, its "Merin Christy Photography"

Till we meet next time....

Regards,
Aleena  :)

Fruit drop :)

Yeah ... so as usual I begin experimenting with my lens one fine morning .... !!! I had no clue as to what to click... bokeh, abstract, portrait, water spash, fruit drop.. wait..wait... I was at home itself... then why not try Fruit drop once again ...

The last time I tried Fruit drop .. had to use grapes ... !!! This time I was prepared to take a better shot... !! Thus, I go in search of a transparent tank...no I couldnt find any... I decided to settle with a glass :)

Next ... what to drop into the glass of water ... !!! Na...na...apple was too big for the glass... yeah..I get to see small oranges in the fruit bowl..

And now the arrangement ... I arrange the glass ... pour in chilled water ... keep the glass on a table where there's direct sunlight ... n I keep an aluminum foil under the glass to reflect the sunlight onto the glass .... !!!! To avoid glare, I keep my lil bro's old school sweater behind the glass !!!

And the next step was setting the camera .... !!! I click..check ..click..check... side ways I keep changing and checking out with different f-stops and shutter speed ... and here's the final result ...

Its a single glass, 3 shots stitched together ... no photoshop used ...cos I still dunno how to use that stuff...

Till date, its the most liked and talked about pic in my Facebook profile as well as Merin Christy Photography (my facebook page)

Now... whats next ... I mean what do I click next ... ???? I'll keep thinking .... till I come up with any new idea... Tata for now :)

Regards,
Aleena :)

A not-so-bad 2013 !!!!

2013 was indeed a not-so-bad year for me :) ..... I enrolled for driving classes in January .... first was theory and then the practicals... Obviously....I was waiting for my practicals to start....!!! I remember the first day clearly... I arrived at the driving institute by 6 am... yeah my class was from 6:20am to 7am ...!! In short .... I was in the first batch ... early bird :)

As I saw my instructor, I started getting into the passenger seat next to the driver's. Half way through, the instructor came up to me and asked..."Have you come for a tour or something?" .... I said ,"Well, no..." ... Then she replied... "Then get into the driver seat" :) So, thats how it started..... I had no control over the steering.. well, who could possibly have on their first driving class ... !!!! End of the day, I could see almost half of the red cones down ... Yeah I crashed into them while trying to take a u-turns... So basically the first day was fully u-turns .... and driving in "8" shape :) ...

Well... I made mistake...more mistakes.... but I finally succeeded by getting the driver's license :)

Then after that it was purely job hunting.... browsing through appointments section in Gulf news ... registering in career sites ..etc etc... But I was a fresher .. so getting a job  right now.. that to after 2009's recession was a bit tough... But of course if you have hold in a company...or if any of your relative has a hold with someone in some company... then you're guaranteed of a job ... :)

Therefore, by April I guess, my MBA 4th sem results were out ... n ya... I passed out :) And that's when I decided to go to Kerala for a week ... for 2 reasons :) !!! Primarily, to apply for my mba certificate through the university... and secondly.... to meet my friends after 6 months .. :)

Thus, I planned my trip for a week.... May 28th to June 2nd ... days might differ (I actually dont remember the exact date..but I guess that dates are correct)... I landed at Cochin airport ... stayed with my uncle n family... went to the university with Savio, Anusree, Aisten n Savio's sister.... in Savio's car.. it was too good.... !!! Although the university procedures took up most of our time.. we managed to get back home by 5:30-6 pm....!!!

Then ya... I had to meet my friends right...so we planned.. nops... I planned to meet them at Lulu Mall in Cochin.. it was newly opened...n I've never been there... !! we had a great time... !!! To name everyone - Abhishek, Kiran, Savio, Jerin, Varghese, Colin, Aiswarya, Nishana, Fatima, Sharon, Meekhal n Sherynn :) We hogged at McDonalds... stuffing ourselves with fries and McFlurry .... !!Then headed to the play zone... did bowling .... then took a stroll in Lulu supermarket ... !! Finally.. it was time to say good bye  :(

Wonder how a week flies so fast .. I returned to UAE ... back to job hunting... Thankfully got a job as an HR Executive ... joined by June end ...

Therefore, I entered into work life .....  Used to take the company transport initially.. then shifted to driving .... Yeah, I had accidents 2 times in between :( .. but I was safe .. Thanks to the Almighty :)

Finally I decide to quit my job in December  due to health and personal reasons... Thus back to 24-hours-at-home-right-now mode ...

Meanwhile... I celebrated my 25th bday in August ... n in December ..it was my lil bro's 15th bday :) My parents gifted him a tab ... n I gave him a Superman Tee :)

So basically, 2013 was a not-so-bad year for me :) I had my share of ups and downs this 2013 ...

Meanwhile.. I started experimenting with photography more seriously ... and I used to send my entries constantly to Gulf news :) until it got published ... :) On December 13th, I joined a group of amatuer as well as professional shutterbugs in Dubai ... They are called "Photowalk Dubai" ... I was a member of their FB group.. hence the photowalk on Dec 13 was at Sharjah scrapyard ... the basic requirement was to use a 50 mm lens... I had one ...n so I joined them.... it was a wonderful experience with those guys... got to learn many stuffs .... So... that was a good thing I had this year apart from my driver's license, mba result n job .... :)

 Ohh ....The sad part is... I couldnt continue my blogging in the past 6 months... so I've decided to do it regularly.. to jot something or the other ... I hope it works out ... :)

By the way... Happy New Year folks .....

This has been the first time since I didnt get a single sms on my mobile for the new year... Usually my mobile was loaded with sms's exactly at 12 ... !! And, ya... I didnt forget to send sms as usual.. to many of my closest buddies :) ....  But in this era of whatsapping ... and with a forward button.. a common "HNY" msg can be forwarded to all... I have heard technology connects people... not thats not the case right now...

So guys... I have got the subject for my next blog I guess .... Now to decide..whether to write up a feature on that .... Till then.. see ya ..

Takecare .. Have a wonderful , awesum n rocking 2014 ...

Regards,
Aleena