Fruggums

That's right. A trip that should take around 14 hours doubled into 28. Here's the story.

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"The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world - by far" (here's an excellent read about that). Today I got a first hand experience of that.

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It was somewhere in 2003 that I was asked by my Mom's friend to rip a couple hundred CDs to her laptop so she could put it on her iPod. Being completely business-minded since a young age I charged her per CD (at the time this was a skill not many kids my age had). I didn't know what an iPod was. Heck, nobody new. I hardly even knew Apple even did anything other than that Mac thing that so totally failed - and anyone who bought one was an idiot.

So there I was with this PC laptop and a boxed third generation iPod and a big stack of CDs to get onto it. As I un-boxed the iPod, you can't imagine the sort of immense 'wow' you get out of it. They don't package iPods like that anymore. It came in a medium-sized cube which folded out, and one was greeted with the 'Designed by Apple in California' on opening it. The type on the box was glossy silver. It came with a Firewire and USB cable, along with a dock, pouch, case and cloth.

I didn't know how to use it. It only took a few minutes to figure the thing out. The backlight to the four top buttons was red. I liked that. The hold key got me confused for a second (why isn't this darn thing working?!) but then you just click it back to white and it lights up on its own. You scroll around, you punch in the center. Hey these headphones came with it... hey this sounds pretty good! Oh shit this thing lasts 8 hours?! How many GB did you say? I don't even have that much music.... Oh wow the metal back is so shiny... and there's a silver Apple etched right in the middle of it... they muse use lasers to do that...

... Holy expletive who came up with this.

So I spent a few days transferring the music onto it and careful sneaking in a couple hours of listening time in between study breaks. Eventually, since it wasn't mine, I had to let it go but the fascination continued and I found myself on Apple.com a few times a week just reading about what they were up to with all this.

I don't remember how long it was till Mom gifted me one of these. 20 gigabytes. Carry all your music in your pocket. Before this I used to listen to music on my phone or carry around a little pocket radio (those were so popular, and when they started making them look like iPods you knew radio is dying). I was addicted to it. A little treasure. Always carried in the case. No keys in that pocket, ever.

Having an iPod in 2003 was very different from having an iPod in 2009 (wow, six years huh). I'm not talking about it being a status symbol. It wasn't just that. Sure, you had to be quite fortunate to have one, but there was more to it. iPods weren't popular at all. Especially in India. Not many people even knew what Apple was all about (me included). So this exciting new device came fresh without any background and could just stun people. If you had an iPod then, you were unique (and again, not only because your parents could afford it). There was something about it that said you knew what good design was all about. It was almost as if you knew Apple was going to take over the world at that point. And you had the first bits of it. The iPod wasn't a trend, it wasn't cool necessarily, it was what is was because of design and function. No other player could carry as much music. No other player was as thin, sleek and well thought out in doing so. As simple as that.

So there was something special in being part of the Apple culture at the time. Was it because it was so small? That's one of the reasons. Another reason is you had to be smart to have one. This is a time when (in my surrounding humanity) the knowledge on how to properly copy a CD wasn't very widespread (this also because most people didn't have CD burners). Sure the thing came with a manual, and everything you needed - but you just had to be a geek of sorts to really use it (this is how we started - with me getting the work of somebody who didn't have a clue about using it). You had to know how to obtain music (P2P was still quite new back then and CDs were expensive) then get it on the thing and then keep it there while knowing how to avoid breaking this delicate glossy godly creation. Not everyone knew it back then, and at age 13 in 2003. You were, essentially, part of the technological elite. And that was something. To this day I consider the 3rd gen iPod the best design Apple has produced for its iPod line.

Today's iPod has retained nothing of the sort. Now, I'm not saying this in a bad way. If iPods didn't become popular, Apple wouldn't have rejuvenated Mac - and the iPhone simply wouldn't exist today. So it was definitely a great thing to happen to the company. But along with this came popularity. Mass popularity. It wasn't because suddenly everyone knew how to use iPods i.e. they became geeky enough to evolve into the culture, its simply because the average-everyday-daily-Joe-Windows2000user people started buying it, and rattled their way around and somehow got it to work. Then it became cool. Then everyone had one. So it became a necessity. A requirement. Not a choice, a requirement (and how and why is another long story).

You know what was the requirement in 2003? Windows XP.

Funny, isn't it.

So Apple has become immensely popular, people flock to the 'Mac Store' (ugh, idiots), buy up their shiny new gear and profess their genius for choosing 'an Apple'. Why did they choose it? Heck they aren't entirely sure themselves. But they knew that they couldn't go PC. Isn't current requirement.

Then Apple started catering to the mass market. Oh yes, this is optional extra. So is this. Hey, new iPod! Hey look guys, time to upgrade your Macs to this one! Yeah isn't Steve Jobs your childhood hero?

And then every time Apple releases something new the whole world goes 'Oh my... honey, get the car' and dashes off to stand in line so they can get one on the very first day, use it to a quarter of its potential, and repeat the process within the very same year. Apple is my life!

Well, I'm portraying Apple as quite evil here. Far from. They still do make better computers than any other company. A better phone. Best portable music device. The people who deny it are doing it because - Apple consumers are now either a) Normal people who bought a Mac because they're ignorant or b) The ultimate fanboys. Neither of the groups give the culture a very good standing.

You know when I used to drool over new products Apple came out with? When I was sure the entire world wasn't behind me willing to stamp me down to get to it first. Now, I'm content with my Mac (and will be for years), don't plan on replacing my iPod for a long, long time (or my iPhone) and the new releases of iMacs yesterday just flew right by me.

Its impossible to get small-company Apple back. When they were generous enough to present us with the full package rather than have us buy additional bits which should've been in the box. What I'd like to see is companies bringing back that innovative charm to technology that won't have the masses swooning - because they won't understand it. Just like the first iPod.

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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Artists have to deal with it day in and day out. Well, not really 'deal' with it, but require it. Sift through a splurge of reactions to find that one person who appears to make a little bit of sense.

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This is a movie you really should watch. There's a lot to be said about the topic, but instead of me ranting about it just sign up for a Netflix trial and get it.

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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Since the time Hotmail became popular, people have been sending along chain mails, some of which remain in circulation to this day.
 
I guess at that time email was so new and fascinating that it didn't come into practical use until a year or so later, until everyone had an email address and large corporations began to formally incorporate it. So until that happened it was pretty much used for chain mails and later, spam.
 
Today - email is a primary form of communication of course. So chain mails today, are - spam.
 
Some of them can be funny, some interesting, maybe witty, inspiring, whatever (most of the time it's rubbish though) - but I don't want them in my inbox. I love email and get a lot of it during busy times so I don't like these things coming along interrupting it all.
 
So I politely ask the person to stop sending them to me. Of course sometimes I get a negative reaction which can't be helped. Forwards are almost a passive way of keeping in touch really (which is never a bad thing) - but there are better ways to go about it. The best one being Twitter of course, but explaining Twitter to people can be painful.
 
The forwards I do accept : the personal ones. The ones that come only to me, because it means that the other person knows that *I* will find it interesting (instead of taking a chafe and sending it off to the entire address book).
 
And even better - Delicious. A fantastic underutilized way of sharing that hasn't penetrated enough to make it more network-oriented and social rather than personal bookmarking.
 
So don't be offended if I respond with a 'Stop, please' to a forward. No offence, really.
 
Composed entirely on an iPhone, so ignore spelling errors.
 
Azhar Chougle | via iPhone

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I've been meaning to write this post for a while, especially since my position on it has changed in the past couple of months.

 As an amateur soon (hopefully) turned professional photographer, I deal with and observe several amateur photographers on a daily basis.

 Obviously there's a difference between a person such as me who is pursuing photography as art and career and a person for whom photography never extends beyond a hobby. There are also a certain group of people stuck in between - the 'serious' amateurs, to whom I'll devote a special paragraph later on.

 How do I feel about amateur photographers? I'm quite neutral towards them actually, and probably will be going forward. There are things I love, and things I despise about them.

 Realize two things here 1) I was once an amateur photographer, each professional at sometime was and 2) Amateur photography today has been shaped almost completely by the advent of affordable digital photography.

 Here are the things I like about having this class of people around. For one, they give my corporations a great deal of funding to keep developing their professional line. Sony is the best example here. Without their compact camera division flourishing, their advent into the professional market would have been all the more risky. Amateurs are easily conned into spending large chunks of money (XYZ Megapixels!) which means that large corporations don't have to pay much attention to the technical aspect as much as the 'cosmetic' hype (hello Nikon D5000). More of that money can go towards their pro line.

 Here are the things I dislike about amateur photographers (honestly, most of these didn't apply to people like me during my first year, but some did, which I've expanded upon). For one they buy multi-thousand dollar DSLRs they use on Auto. It's frustrating to me when someone goes ahead and buys a camera worth that much money and end up not knowing a thing about it. Even worse, some assume that they have professional cameras and then compare it to mine, which is a modest setup, but that's the thing - they will never realize that you don't need to spend thousands of dollars to get great photos. It helps, when you know how to use it, but if you don't, it's just technical jargon that you can rant about not knowing what it all means.

 Next, some amateurs can be a bit stubborn at times. I can't blame them for this one though, its perfectly normal. When they get a "great shot" by their standards they get so pumped up and excited about it to the extent that they can compare it to a professional's work (yes, it happens). They aren't very down to earth sometimes. But you can't blame them here, they aren't exposed to great photography in the first place. A large part of them follow the misconception that photography is about the camera, and I'm no greater than them unless I have a better camera. Looking at my work, the first question is usually "What camera do you use?" Guess what, both my cameras are out of production, but I'm extremely happy with them and I can still make great pictures with them. Realizing that it takes the skill of a photographer and not the circuitry of a mass-produced digicam to accomplish a great photograph is a hurdle nearly every amateur (who dares proceed further than amateur) has to overcome.

 This one applies to me too - amateurs think film is dated, old and nothing compared to modern day digital. Like most amateurs today, I started out with digital, so I thought the same "Why would anyone use film?" Right? Well, wrong. Film has dynamic range and resolution that hasn't been achieved in the digital world as of yet is your straight and honest answer. And well, it is a lot more rewarding, fun and skillful but that's another story. Also, amateurs, please - just because one is a photographer does not mean we know every single model and make of camera out there - we know what we work with and that's it, Google a review for yourself, but if you need assistance comparing cameras with tech specs or image quality examples, we'd be glad to help, just don't rattle off DSC-PZ10 and expect us to know anything, it isn't our realm.

 Right, the 'serious' amateur. They form a minority of the amateur spectrum. And I'm glad most of the amateurs I interact with fall into this class. They are the ones who have an honest love for photography. They're down to earth people who pursue it as a passion only because their day job happens to be something a bit less adventurous (they might say otherwise, and they're right sometimes). They know their cameras and value them well. They don't make art, but they can make some damn fine pictures nevertheless. Always out to learn, very few amateurs progress to this stage, and these are the people who could turn professional if they push themselves hard enough.

 So as I said - I'm neutral. Photographers wouldn't be anything without amateurs, because that's where everyone has to start, there's no trickery to evading this stage. It's just that with digital photography, everyone thinks they are a photographer now (and some of them are, and move forward) - people seem to be pushing it a bit too far sometimes.

 End of thesis.

 Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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Usually one would think that my busiest times of the year is when I'm at college.
Strangely enough I end up far more active when I'm not enrolled in an education system.
 
Possibly because during college, my personal endeavors take a back-seat because of assignments, papers, printing and all that. My personal work is far more time-intensive than college work.
 
At the moment, other than preparing for my transcontinental migration (which is work enough), most of my day is spent intensively studying Ruby, as I'm trying to teach myself Ruby on Rails this summer. Then there's also SSH. I also updated my photography portfolio site, have to do a re-design of my blog, and search for photographers to assist in the summer (much harder than you think). So I end up working pretty much the whole day.
 
Which is why this blog post is so short.
 
Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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Today I went to see Iron Maiden's movie - Flight 666.

I'm assuming you know who they are and what they're all about. 

This was easily one of the highlights of my semester. It's difficult to type it all about, put it into words - because you'd never feel the way I did unless you were there. No amount of wordplay is going to get you to live that experience. But this isn't about you for now, I'm writing this because I really can't keep it all in, mainly because I don't know any heavy metal fans I can spill this out to (the one I do know sleeps at 10PM and isn't an Iron Maiden fan, sigh)

I was at the first show of the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour in Mumbai. Hovering around the 10th row in an absolutely sold out show of 30,000 fans crammed into a dusty smoky sweaty mess.

This was no ordinary movie. Outside the theatre, the place was dotted with Iron Maiden shirts, one guy even had a Powerslave Mask on. Once you get in, you realize that not many people are outside because well, there's already a line 40 minutes before the show. This is a movie theater, not a concert. There was 'MAIDEN MAIDEN MAIDEN!' chanting already. Theater supervisor tried to calm us down because there were other movies going on. Hah, well, he tried. It's just such a fabulously crazy group of people to be among. To anyone that thinks heavy metal fans are a bunch of rowdy a**holes, you've got it all wrong - that's all I'm going to say, because if you had that preconception, you won't believe me till you see if for yourself. Alright, and then this flood of Maiden shirt sprints into the theatre. I got a center seat so I was pretty stoked about it all. 

The movie opened with footage from the Mumbai show. During the show, you're in some other place (No, I don't drink) and really, it's the most surreal experience you can have, I hardly remember most of it - you're there, just there, going completely nuts the entire experience, arms in the air, shouting your lungs out. You don't feel much of it till it's over. To see footage of the show, to think that "Hey, I was in there" was ... heartwarming, spectacular and mind-blowing. To see what they saw, what that show was, was emotional. To be able to say - I was there, right there, is something special. 

The show was loud. I mean - LOUD. As loud as a concert. That was brilliant. To feel the concert as if you're there. Nothing compared to a plasma and a home theater. Mind-rattling bass and you can hear the crowd just enveloping you. There's really nothing like it, except, being there in real life. Even better, the entire theater was singing along with every song. To the point where we hand our hands up clapping along with Bruce - "Screeeeeam for me Mumbai!" - I still remember that one. I lost most of my voice for the rest of that night.

You might not understand all this if you aren't into heavy metal music. I'd be happy to help you out on that front. 

Iron Maiden manages to do something no other band has managed to do for me. When I was at the concert, when I was at the movie, when I'm listening to them at home, things change. All the rubbish I have to put up with sometimes just doesn't matter at all. Everything to worry about, think about, all those problems, downfalls, irritants, and anything that just keeps you from being plan and simple happy and alive,  just - gone. That's something that I tend to need quite often. And in the movie you can see how much this band means to people. No other band bothers to go to places like Colombia and Costa Rica and travel so extensively covering the entire globe to make sure they don't leave anybody out. Getting to people whose only route to Maiden is old casette tapes. There was this one scene - right after the concert, for about a minute they showed a man who managed to get hold of one of Nicko's drumsticks just crying and crying for that entire few minutes. You feel it right there. It just means so much to people. Not many bands come to India either. No band like Maiden has ever come to India. And to see these guys just giving people that experience is just, there are no words for it. And really, they're a swell bunch of guys, if you watch the movie you will realize how amazingly down to earth they are, it's unbelievable. I can't wait to get my hands on the DVD and re-live the entire thing best I can. My neighbors aren't going to like me very much that day.

I could go on, and on, and on. I just needed to vent here. If you're an Iron Maiden fan, you probably didn't need to read this. If you aren't a fan, you're probably wondering why you wasted a few minutes bothering to go through this - or, you're thinking - I want all of this right here. Go get it, you won't ever regret it.  

Up the Irons,

UP THE IRONS!

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As a photographer, I have two target audiences. 

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