Sunday, August 29, 2010

Beauty and ugliness


With a peak that rises more than 2010m[1] above sea level, Namunukula mountain range is one of the well-known mountain ranges in Sri Lanka. It is the one you can make out in the above picture as the farthest layer of mountains.

Around four years back, I was able to capture this view of the landscape, which poses itself the prettiest during the last few minutes of the setting sun. Those were the days that I was first trying my hands on artistic photography. If you are wondering what made me post this old picture up here all of a sudden, well, there is a special reason. Sadly, that reason is not as pretty as the focal point of this picture. Thus, I will leave that story to the end.

I had always been far keener on travelling than on studying, and I was not alone. Few of my good friends also had the same interests as I did. They say, “Encounter of similar minds is a bliss”, and rightly so. While reading for my bachelor’s degree, we had a requisite to engage in several field visits to industrial locations. Those visits were much better than studying inside class rooms. This particular industrial visit was organized to a sugar factory in Pelwatte.

My own and three other similar minds had nothing to do with this visit, as we were not taking that subject in that semester. But our enthusiasm for the subject was so great that we signed up for the ‘tour’ anyway. Once our coach arrived at the factory during the early hours of the afternoon after a five to six hours drive, four of us started our next journey. The others however, had to prepare for the energy audit due on the next day. Poor souls! I still remember their faces after their tedious preparations, when we got back the resting place that evening.

Our destination for that afternoon was Yudaganawa Lake (man made). That is the reservoir you see in the foreground of both pictures. By the time we reached the lake the sun was setting. The quartet enjoyed the nature and the aquatic games of a few local boys while taking a stroll along the lake bund. The retiring sun was creating some breathtaking views of the mountain ranges surpassing the lake and my mates wanted me to take their photos against the setting sun. After their wishes were granted, I still had few minutes left to be myself alone with the nature and extract some of its beauty to take home. And here I am sharing some of that with you now…

I am sorry; I am compelled to put this big copyright sign over my pictures hereafter as I found out today that the picture of the Namunukula range on the top has been downloaded from my Flickr photostream and used on a website by a company for profit in Sri Lanka with out my consent or permission. I have provided my photos for free to be used by not for profit organizations in USA, France and Sri Lanka on five or six previous occasions and they had all been nice enough to ask for my permission beforehand to use them. Personally for me the former was bit of a sad turn of events.

Reference;
[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namunukula

P.S. The designers of the website who used my photograph without permission complied with my request and took down the photograph after I emailed them. I appreciate their prompt action.

21 comments:

  1. Lovely! The composition is great. I like the contrasting colors on the last picture. You write really well. Keep posting :)

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those photos are amazing!! I especially love the one on the bottom. I am a sucker for leaves. :)

    That is SO LAME about that company stealing your pic. Have you tried contacting them? Are they going to remove it or reimburse you?

    As you may have noticed, all of my pics have a watermark, as well. It is for just this reason.

    Great post!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice shot. what about placing the owners sign at the bottom right corner, then we will be able to feel the beauty at it best. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Amaris. I talked with one of my photography mates, who is also a lawyer and he advised me to just email the company requesting them to remove it initially. I'm gonna do it tomorrow. :)

    And Kushan, unfortunately when we do that they just crop off the part with the watermark and use it. :) They'll stop at nothing. So please bear with me :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your pictures are beautiful. And I like your writing, too...
    I'm sorry to hear about the company stealing your picture. How very annoying! I hope your mail will be successful and make them take down the picture.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice pictures esp. the first which exudes calmness and solittude....I can keep looking at it for hours.

    I can understand why it attracted unnecessary attention ...the only thing they know about the beauty of nature is that it can make a lot of money.

    Dont get dishartened by these setbacks. Keep posting cos there are many who enjoy your work :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks so much for the compliments Frieda. Finally I'm cooling down about the whole incident now. :) I got quite upset about it when I first found out about it. But just to be on the safe side you too could use a water mark on your pics if you aren't doing it already, as you have some pretty cool shots as well.

    Thanks to you too silent moments. You are right. There is no need for me to feel demotivated just because of an incident like this. It feels good to be among e-mates like you lot :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fabulous shots. Very beautiful sunset light over the lake.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Beautiful photographs! Love the calmness of the first pic!

    Ohhh this is getting really bad now. Everyone around me starting to write so well and I’m feeling lil embarrassed … lol (just kidding mate). Keep on writing! I really enjoyed reading it.

    Yeah! Be happy about stealing your photographs. They do it just because your photographs are looking awesome. And again there are photo blogs like mine no one even bothered to steal any pics …. =D

    ReplyDelete
  10. hehe... thanks Anjana. I think your works are far more awesome. It's intriguing why no one's been after them yet :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey SAc,
    Really nice one.....pics and the writing.......
    keep it up mate....
    and i agree with Anjana.. Be happy....they stole because your pics are great... he he..

    and BTW: Glad you didn't reveal the others who joined you skipping the factory visit... :P

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks Sithara. ;)

    My dear friends just want to inform you that the designer of that website removed the photo after I politely asked him to do so. So thanks to him too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. V R PROUD OF U'R PATIENCE SON, KEEP IT GOING UP!!!! THATHTHA

    ReplyDelete
  14. When I first saw the pic I thought that it's somewhere in Australia. Silly me. I read the whole story. I must admit that the copyright mark is indeed a barrier to any viewer who likes to enjoy it to its maximum. But I do agree with your act Sach.
    The dawn and dusk of a day simply create a true heaven in front of the human naked eyes. I love both pictures.am proud that I live somewhere very close to the picturesque Namunukula.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks Nadee. Yeah the beauty of Aus and SL is two different kinds. Yet they both are beautiful countries :)

    Thanks to my father also for the comment. Its he who taught me ABCD in photography with his MINOLTA film SLR :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Both of these pictures are beautiful -- the colors are gorgeous.
    I'm glad that web-site took down your photograph, although I can understand why they wanted to use it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Spectacular! Yudaganawa Lake looks absolutely fantastic, especially with Namunukula Range as the backdrop.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It is mate. Hope you've been there too, to catch the sunset. cheers...

    ReplyDelete