Tag Archives: Chennai

Testing the Minolta SR-T-101

Awhile back, I posted about the Petri 7S,  one of two cameras my mother-in-law had passed along to me.  This post is on the other camera, a Minolta SR-T-101.  This Minolta is an SLR that first appeared on the market … Continue reading

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Final Chennai Photowalk

I’ve been out of India for over three weeks now, but wanted to finish sharing our experiences of our last few weeks in India before closing out that wonderful chapter in our lives, as documented in the TAZM Pictures blog. We … Continue reading

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The Chennai Photowalk

One of the best things about Chennai, for us, was the “photowalks.”  A photowalk is basically just walking around with a camera and seeing what you can photograph.  Often these walks are in groups.  I discovered photowalks in Chennai, though … Continue reading

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Found Film: My Very First Camera

What was your first camera?  Mine wasn’t the one pictured above, but it was close:  A Kodak Instamatic X-15 like the one pictured below. This camera was manufactured between 1970 and 1976.  I got mine toward the end of that … Continue reading

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When 2000 Giant Ganesha Idols are Immersed in the Sea

My Indian friends who grew up nearby tell me it wasn’t always like this.  They say when they were growing up, during the festival Ganesh Chaturthi, they would have a small clay statue of Lord Ganesha, one of Hinduism’s most … Continue reading

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Camera Test: The Ensign Commando

In 1945, London’s Ensign Ltd. designed a rugged, all-purpose camera for the British military that never saw much action because the war ended shortly thereafter.  It was subsequently “civilianized” but never got much traction due to supply shortages and the … Continue reading

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Pongal in Chennai / Camera Test

Often I blog about old cameras I’m testing out, often I blog about things we see and experience in India.  This post has a little of both! The Ansco Agfa Karomat 36 (known by variants of that name) is an … Continue reading

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Chennai’s Republic Day Parade

Today was a pretty special day in India – even President Obama agreed, as he spent the better part of the day with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, having been invited as Chief Guest for the annual Republic Day Parade. President … Continue reading

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Chennai by Night: Bhogi

I have some interesting photos and videos to share since I last posted in mid-December – but first, some information on the current happenings in Chennai! It’s Thai Pongal, the four-day harvest festival and one of the most important holidays … Continue reading

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Camera Test: No. 1A Folding Pocket Kodak, R.R. Lens Type

Remember the No. 1A Folding Pocket Kodak, R.R. Lens Type?  With such a distinctive name, who could forget it? Not like the cameras nowadays – all DSC-something-cybersomething-shot-pix – they all blur together.  Naming conventions were different in the early 1900s. … Continue reading

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Camera Test: Ansco Readyflash

The Ansco Readyflash – so named because it’s “ready for flash” (but I don’t have one) via two connectors on the camera – is about as simple a box camera as you could probably come up with.  It’s made of … Continue reading

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Return to the Dhobi Khana

Don’t like doing laundry?  These people earn a living doing laundry the old-fashioned way.  At various “dhobi khanas” in India, washing clothes – but more often things like sheets, towels, and occasionally uniforms – is still done by hand at … Continue reading

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Photowalk: Gritty Black and White

One of my favorite camera/film combinations is a (relatively) cheap Ricoh Kr-5 Super II – at just over 20 years old, one of my newest cameras – and Tri-X black and white film.  Lots of people go for “fine grain” … Continue reading

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Day at the Beach

Marina Beach, Chennai, India

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Impressions of Koyambedu

Koyambedu Wholesale Market Complex is one of Asia’s largest perishable goods market complexes.  Spread over an area of 295 acres, the complex consists of more than 1,000 wholesale shops and 2,000 retail shops.  The market has two blocks for vegetable shops and one … Continue reading

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Photographing Chennai’s Kids

A number of different photographer groups in Chennai regularly organize photowalks – walks through various neighborhoods in Chennai. The potential photographic subjects will vary – sometimes it’s market vendors, or stately old buildings, still life, fishing villages. In certain situations, … Continue reading

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Kasimedu Fishing Harbor

At the northern end of Chennai’s coast, just north of the Chennai port, where, at any given time, hundreds of trucks stretch in a long line waiting to load or unload goods, is Kasimedu fishing harbor – also known as … Continue reading

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Baby Olive Ridley Sea Turtles

Sea turtles have been on this earth for 110 million years, compared to humans’ 200,000.  If my math is correct, relating Earth’s 4.6 billion-year existence to a 24-hour clock would have seen sea turtles arriving at around 11:26 pm…and humans … Continue reading

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Chennai: Textures

I’ve posted before about Chennai’s endless walls and the fact that many of them get postered, painted, repainted and repostered.  This creates interesting textures; so much so, that one of my predecessors did an entire photographic exhibition on just that … Continue reading

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Chennai: Grit and Grain

In Namibia, photography was all about long lenses, tripods, “the golden hour”, and finding the right guide. Since moving to Chennai, a large city in India, the lenses have gotten much shorter, shooting is sometimes instinctive; and sweeping landscapes have … Continue reading

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“Blessed:” My Entry for the “India Is” Video Contest

All living things love their life, desire pleasure and do not like pain; they dislike any injury to themselves; everybody is desirous of life and to every being, his life is very dear.” –  from the Yogashastra (Jain Scripture), from around … Continue reading

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Chennai’s Walls: an Endless Canvas

Chennai is full of walls.  Many of them are marked “stick no bills” – and people will generally abide by that request.  But the majority end up being political advertising space. The successive layers of paint upon paint, posters upon … Continue reading

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Badrian Street and the Flower Market

Badrian Street or “Budirian Street” as it is painted on the street sign, is the site of Chennai’s old wholesale flower market. While technically, the vendors in what is commonly known as “poo-k-kadai,” sell “wholesale”, their typical clients are ladies who … Continue reading

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Vintage Camera Test: No 2 Hawkeye Model C Anniversary Edition

This week’s vintage camera test is an interesting one (yes, but aren’t they all?), despite its rather long name.  Waaaay back in the late 1880s, a small company called the Boston Camera Company introduced a model called the “Hawk-Eye” Detective … Continue reading

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At the Fair – Chennai Style

There’s a place in north-central Chennai where they set up the local “fair.” Called the “Island Grounds”, it’s the site of the 40th Tourism and Trade Fair. To be honest, we skipped most of the trade fair itself, but found … Continue reading

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