Taj Mahal Complex

This shot was taken fairly early in the morning before the majority of visitors had arrived. See it in colour here.

 I prefer the black and white version as I feel the rays of sun light and the misty haze are more pronounced.

This is a part of the wall which surrounds the Taj Mahal and the gardens around it. The wall is built out of red sand stone and encloses three sides of the Taj Mahal. The fourth side faces the river Yamuna and is left open. The wall is interspersed with small buildings and domed watch towers. The garden facing inner sides of the wall is fronted by columned arcades. This is a feature of hindu temples which was later incorporated into Mughal mosques.

Although the white domed mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal is the most familiar component, the Taj Mahal consists of an integrated complex of structures. These structures included mosques, other mausoleums and guest houses.

The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jehan after the death of his third wife in 1631. Construction of the complex started in 1632. The mausoleum was complete in 1648 and the surrounding buildings and gardens were completed in 1653.

Unfortunately, due to air polution, the white marble, which was used to construct the main maausoleum, is getting discoloured.

Somersby Falls

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Somersby falls is a situated in the Brisbane waters national park, an hour and a halfs drive north of Sydney.

The falls are easily accessible from a popular picnic area which has parking facilities.  A path and off the picnic area leads you down to the creek.

Photographers can easily spend hours on end photographing the stream and the falls. I followed the creek downstream from the base of the main waterfall and came across two other smaller falls. The image above was a small section of the second one which I focused on.

I loved the way the sun was filtering through the branches overhead and tried to include the spots of light in my composition. I feel the leaves and the light work well in the foreground and give the image another layer of interest. I used a long shutter speed and ND filters to make the water look silky.

Red-vented Bulbul

Click here for another image of the Red-vented Bulbul.

The Red-vented Bulbul is the most common of the bulbuls found in Sri Lanka. It is a frequent garden visitor in viallages and even in densley populated cities. It is a resident breeder in southern asia and has been introduced and established itself in the wild in many pacific islands. Due to its ability to establish itself in new environments, it has been included  among the worlds worst invasive spiecies list.

The Red-vented bulbul is easily identified by its short crest which gives the head a squarish appearance.The body is dark brown with a scaly pattern while the head is darker or black. Sexes are similar in plumage but young birds are duller than adults.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-vented_Bulbul

Loten's Sunbird

Getting a shot of this sunbird, also known as a Long-billed sunbird, was not easy.



Click here for techs. See the larger version of the image s

The sunbird was a regular visitor to our garden in July when I was last at home. It would make an appearance almost every evenings and move amongst the bushes feeding.  I made several attempts to capture a decent shot of the bird but due to the fact that it hardly settled and the light conditions I was unsuccessful.

After two frustrating weeks the bird finally obliged. It settled on an exposed branch and I was able to capture a number of decent images. The light  wasn't the best, as it was late evening, but i did manage to use a shutter speed of 1/200 seconds.

This bird is simillar to the Purple Sunbird but is distinguished by the longer beak. The Loten's Sunburd can only be found in south India and Sri Lanka. The bird is found throughout Sri Lanka but is most common in the wet zone.

Stork-Billed Kingfisher

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Despite this kingfisher's distinctive call and the fact that it is not rare, I had not seen it in the wild for a number of years.

Therefore, I was quite surprised when I heard that it had started frequenting our garden in the heart of Colombo. As my luck would have it, I was in Sydney at the time and was not scheduled to head back to Colombo until December.

When I did finally get back to Colombo, the bird did not disappoint. It took only a couple of days before the kingfisher made an appearance. I heard it calling one afternoon and found it perched on a branch less than 10 feet from my bedroom window. The brid gave me plenty of time to get my gear and shoot twenty shots before it flew off.

This is the largest of Sri Lanka's Kingfishers. An adult is between 38-40cm.

Crested Hawk

This shot was taken at the Royal National Park in December 2008.


The creted hawk is also known as the "Pacific Baza". Click here for more information.

I visited the park with the aim of capturing images of an Azure kingfisher (see image here). While waiting for the Kingfisher to make an appearance I noticed this hawk flying along the opposite bank of the stream. Getting a clear shot of the raptor was virtually impossible as it was darting in and out of the bush. It finally settled on a tree overhead after catching a frog.

See the techs of this shot here.

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Table 31

Waiting for dinner