PHOTO-A-DAY-CHALLENGE
A Dedication to All the Wonderful Light Sources Around Me
Welcome to week 3 of my photo journal!
It’s been three weeks since I started the photo-journal practice, and now I’m struggling to keep up. There are days where I forget to take a photo throughout the day, and then just before going to bed, I’ll be like, “Oh Shit!”.
This week most of the days faced that situation, which is why this week’s theme is based on “night”.
Every week, I’m trying to keep up with a theme for the challenge, and what better to dedicate an article to the light sources around me? Perfect for some late-night photos:)
Earlier this week, I had gone to my parent's place, where the above photo was taken from the 7th floor of the building. I had to capture the lights emanating from the shopping mall right next to my house.
In India, we have a custom of taking aarti (theebaradanai in Tamil) every day to our gods. It’s a practice where we keep any food (dry fruits, fruits, rice, milk, etc.) as an offering, light camphor, and ring bells to ask the gods to have the offering.
The above photo is of the lighted camphor, of one such pooja at home. The fire looked so mystical and almost had its unique dance to it.
The above photo is of the diya (vilakku in Tamil) placed in our pooja room. Every morning and evening, we use Gingelly oil to light the place in our home temple. It brings positive vibes throughout the house.
We also usually light lamps with ghee, but that day, we did not have it since it had gotten over (time to go for grocery shopping!).
I know there are a couple of lamps in this photo essay, but I was genuinely fascinated by these beautiful traditional sources of light this week!
So, we also light a lamp outside our home in the evenings. Fire is considered a symbol of purity in Hinduism, and in every religious place or sanctum sanctorum of the houses, you’ll find lamps burning.
This practice has been practiced for generations in our houses. Growing up, I always saw my mother lighting a lamp immediately after she woke up and brushed her teeth. Until today, she starts her day by offering a glass of milk to the god.
I desperately tried and failed to capture the rain through the above photo. Yes, it was raining heavily. I could see the raindrops through the light’s rays with my naked eye, but while clicking the picture, the raindrops never got registered in my Canon EOS 1500D.
Probably it was because I was tinkering around with manual settings? I don’t know…but hey, at least I got to explain the story now!
When I mentioned that this article is a dedication to all forms of light…I literally meant ALL forms of light.
And how could I leave out my beloved macro photography from the challenge? So the above photo is a shot of a single fairy light at home. Fairy lights are tricky to capture, I feel. They have these super weird (for the camera) rays of light that they leave out, making it immensely difficult to get a good shot of them. And through the process, you also have to make sure that the pores on the walls are not seen in the photo…ugh!
You might wonder why I haven’t covered tube lights yet. But the person writing this article is obsessed with yellow lights only. So she didn’t bother to include them here. (FYI, It’s definitely weird talking to me in the third person)
Another shot from my parent's place. Friday was my grandmother’s death anniversary, for which we had pooja at home. So for the first time in ages, I saw all my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Leading me to feel good and weird at the same time (because I wasn’t used to so much social interaction, but was also craving for it).
Last but not least, how could I forget our dear sun? I had been trying to capture sunset for quite a few days, but it has not been easy since it has been raining every evening.
But finally, the sun god decided to peek through the dense clouds before settling down for the night yesterday. Thank God!
Thank you to Dennett for this excellent opportunity! It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of this community!
Erika Burkhalter/ Eileen Vorbach Collins/ Anne Bonfert/ Sasha Meyer/ Tracy Aston/ Lisa Bolin/ Juan O. Aguilera/ David Wade Chambers/ June Nguyen/ Mia Verita/ Susan Alison/ LensAfield/ Barbara Radisavljevic/ @Dianna Lotti/ Barb Dalton/ Kim Zuch/ K. Barrett/ Sandra Berrett
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