Photography, Gadgeteering, and Keeping a Record

How to name this blog? That was harder than I expected since I didn't want people to expect a blog dedicated to photographic technique, gadgetry, and industry gossip. I am not a photography wonk. I wouldn't want to discuss how many leaves there are on the diaphragm of a lens, what they mean for depth of field, or what to do if they get stuck. I have no interest in minutiae of that sort. 

Whatever interest I have in Photography, I make sure it is about manipulating light, framing a shot, setting the mood, contrasting images, perspective, and capturing the moment. I have a healthy disdain for people who are consumed by gadgetry. They talk nothing but zoom lenses, motor drives, tripods, and camera bags. They spend tons of money on equipment, but no time on the principles of photography. They mistake gadgeteering with photography---one reason why I have not joined a camera club.

I look at my surroundings, and I can see beauty in even the most mundane objects. Nature is beautiful and everything is Nature. Dust storms, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions are not calamities in themselves, but made so by humankind who seem to insinuate itself in Nature's path all the time. For me, a tree is not just something in my way, but an organism that has a unique purpose and inherent  beauty. And when my eye senses overt or covert beauty, I must capture it. Thus, the images become part of a visual record.

That, I decided, would be the central purpose of this blog. It will be a scrumptious mix, I pray, of my peregrinations and the beauty I encountered along the way---with some philosophical ruminations, of course.