Getting Better Pics of Yourself

 Avoid selfies, if you want really good pics. Usually they are the worst, other things being equal. Obviously, then, you have to get someone to click you and whoever is with you.

Assuming you do, get a good background, without standing at the edge of a cliff. But check around if you can find a better spot, and go for it. 

An angle and distance are the most important, and light is the most important.. that's what photography is about..

Smile, if that looks good on you. Sometimes, a non-smiley is more appropriate for the situation, or setting.

If the pic is really important, posed is better than candid. Candid ones can go either way. Silly poses too are fine, and sometimes better than serious ones. Wear a hat, if there's one. A Vietnamese conical one is best (from experience).. an Assamese one comes next. Or a detective type one, if you want to look like Sherlock Holmes.

If the background is unique, try and get it into the pic. Enhances you in the process. If it's not, close up on you is most effective.

Think about how you will use the pic- in what size, or where on social media.. of course, you can crop. Or correct some defects, but not all.

The Art of the Selfie

I am still learning, thanks to teachers who are much younger- because the selfie is an art that has developed during the generation who are Digital Natives, and not Converted Analogs like me. Here is a collection, mine and those of others-

Milind, a cousin, with my Mom and others.

Anushka Mishra tries one on the 13th Floor- it was not unlucky at all.

A friend in New Zealand with family.

Below, a random walk resulted in meeting Nagendra Shenoy, a former student.

 

The Art of the Selfie

 I was used to doing a click with a timer and cable, with the camera on a tripod in the past, when I learnt how to do this. But many years later, the art of the Selfie was something I took a long time to learn. I am still not too comfortable, but then I don't have to click all the time. Some selfies - 

A plane at Mayfair hotel, Bhubaneswar (above), and a long walk at Horton Plains Park, Sri Lanka.

Indore office, with family and with student's family.

Abha and Sheetal against a fantastic backdrop. Mumbai. 

Bangalore, KGA, with Muthu and Vasanti-below

Shraddha, above and Sirisha, below. Mumbai.

Get a Good Photographer

Yes, I know the trend these days is to take selfies, but I cannot underline enough the need for you to make friends with a good photographer. It can be the difference between you looking like ............ (fill in the blank with whoever you adore) and you looking like Dino Morea (sorry, man, nothing personal).

I have now seen, just by virtue of being on the planet long enough-it's not some special skill- many people who look like celebrities or better, just because of this special friend. In fact, many celebrities would not look like themselves without their Atul Kasbekar-like photographers. Not all of us are fortunate to have great looks which look great under the gaze of any camera at any time, but getting a good photographer friend can result in great pics for all of us...I am not kidding! (The DP award winners might just agree).

A problem with selfies is that they limit your flexibility, apart from turning your image into a mirror-image. But even if you fix that, it's hard to do a few things which a good photographer can do.

I am planning to get one (just to prove that I follow my own advice)- it's never too late! Make this your half-yearly resolution.

Hyderabad (Photographic) Diaries 2017

 Practising Selfie-taking skills. With Shobha (sister), Hari (BIL), Anjali (their daughter), Pooja (mine) and Anuradha.

 Young engineers from 1977-82. with Phani, Basudev Paul, Ramesh, Nagarjuna and Srinivasa Murthy.

 Mr. Bhave (Uncle), 85, and me and Hari at the 85th celebration.

 Young cricketers- Anjali, Akshar.

Akshar, his mom Nisha (we go back a long time), Hari, and his sister Shikha.

Federal Bank Selfie Account Opening

This is a real innovation. Federal Bank sent a mail saying to open an account with them, you can -

1. Download their App
2. Take a selfie
3. Scan your Aadhar card and PAN Card

and send them these.

Your account is open.

Why can't Passport offices do the same, instead of employing countless useless people and procedures to obstruct you from getting one? Or the RTOs for a Driver's License renewal?

That's what Digital India means to me.

The New Life Skills

We all know the old life skills we were expected to learn in India; pass exams, study, pass more exams, study, get a US visa, and then a green card (which I am told is not coloured green- a mirage/chimera), and then become a US citizen, so that you can have a legit bank account in a foreign bank without the Indian govt. accusing you of stashing black money (which could actually be green, blue, etc.) and so on. You know the story.

These days, life skills have undergone a sea change. First, you need to know your ipad from your Android smartphone, need to know your Ferrari (not literally yours) from your Harley Davidson (likewise), know how to take a selfie and post it in a flash using your teeth which are blue (which is actually a technology and has nothing to do with what your jaws contain), and you need to have a playlist of songs in digital form (one could be more advanced and have a playlist of people who you have relationships with as well), and appear cool all the time, even in a Nagpur summer reaching 48 degrees Celsius.  It helps immensely if you own a selfie-stick, and have a rich dad who can sponsor your annual foreign trips, among other things-then you can actually be cool in the summers.

Oh yes, and you have to come up with constant witticisms and ‘deep’ statements on Facebook, while watching Bollywood potboilers (they really need to rename these as wok-friers to keep up with changing times). You could even be a stand-up comedian, if you are really good at the one-liners. And forget that the US even exists. That reminds me of a joke I heard on TV from a stand-up. He said, “Bangaloreans really appreciate humour. So much so, we elected Siddaramaiah as CM”. No offence to the gentleman, as I hardly know him.