Mangalajodi is a great place for birding from the months of December to March mainly for migratory birds. I had visited this place during the month of February. It is less than two hours drive from Bhubaneshwar which is the capital city of Orissa. Mangalajodi is a village located at the Northern edge of Chilika Lake.
Photography
Thoughts on the DJI Osmo Action Camera
This is not a review on the DJI Osmo action camera or I am not going to be discussing the various settings within the action camera. There are other detailed videos on youtube. I am just going to talk about the things I like about the action camera and the things I don’t like about it. Here I had created a fun video of myself cycling at Sandwell Valley Country Park.
Testing the animal eye AF on the Canon EOS R6
Since I purchased the Canon EOS R6, I had taken a few nature photos at Sandwell Park which just a walking distance from my home in West Bromwich. The main intention was to try out how accurate the animal eye auto-focus was and I was quite happy with the way the camera would focus on the eye of the animal or bird even when moving. Here are some samples of what I had captured over the past couple of days.
Purchased the Canon EOS R6 at the Photography Show
I had recently attended the photography show at the NEC which usually is held every year at the NEC in or around March but due to covid, the event took place after a gap of two years and that too in the month of September.
It is an event catered to photographers of any kind from professionals to amateurs and the venue hosts various exhibitors displaying their products or services. One can go there and test out various equipment before making any purchase plus a lot of other activities take place during the show.
Buffalo photograhy at Jhilmil Jheel
Before arriving back in England, I had decided to do an overnight safari at Jhilmil Jheel. I was in the hope of actually photographing elephants and possibly sighting of leopard which are residents of the area but rarely seen. Anyhow after a morning and afternoon safari session, we were not even able to sight Chital or Sambar. This was a very disappointing trip in itself but even though I had decided to atleast make the most of it. We saw plenty of water buffalo which were either domesticated or feral or a mix of both. However even though they were also somewhat residents of the forest, it was great to observe them within this environment. The main difference between the domesticated and wild water buffaloes is that the wild ones have larger horns and weigh more than captive or domesticated ones.
Tiger photography at Jim Corbett National Park
I had taken a cab from Dehradun to Ramnagar to join a few friends for a one week safari at Jim Corbett national park. The first night we had stayed at the “Corbett Green View Garden and Stay” guesthouse. The trip from Dehradun took around 5 hours and on arrival met up with Maneet Pal Singh, Samyak Kaninde and Manmohan Bindra, all three with a deep interest in wildlife photography. Anyhow on arrival at the guesthouse, I met up with them in the dining area after I had checked into my room. I paid the cab driver and after that he took off.
Day trip to Chilla zone
Few days back on a Sunday morning, me and a few others had decided to visit Chilla zone of Rajaji National Park. We left around 11:30 from Dehradun and arrived just within the hour. Gates did not open until 2:30pm so we had plenty of time. On this trip, we only opted to do the afternoon jeep safari. We did all the bookings on arrival. Jeep costs are Rs.2000 plus Rs.250 for vehicle road fee and an additional entrance fee of Rs.150 per person depending on the number of people there are for the safari.
Exploring Vagator
I had gone to the state of Goa back in February of this year. This was mainly for work as I was involved in creating behind the scenes content for the production company’s social media channels on Facebook and Instagram. The prime location was however in the Vagator area and this is where all the cast and crew were staying. After filming had commenced, I had decided to stay an additional 5 days before returning back to Dehradun. I had planned out which places I would visiting in the next 5 days so how of these 5 days, 4 days were spent in Vagator itself and on my last day, I had decided to go to Dudhsagar waterfalls and Panjim. Even in the month of February, the afternoons were quite hot and humid but by evening, the weather would become pleasant.
Thoughts on the Canon EOS R
For a while I had been planning to purchase a new camera. After researching online and by watching a number of youtube video reviews, I decided to go for the Canon EOS R which is a 30.3MP mirrorless camera. This has almost the same specifications as the Canon 5D Mark IV but where the Canon 5D Mark IV is a DSLR camera, this Canon EOS R is a mirrorless camera. The camera was purchased from Canon Image Square here in Dehradun.
Landscapes of Doon Valley
Here is a showcase of landscape captures taken in and around Dehradun and Mussoorie. For these shots, I had used the Canon 5D Mark III and the Canon 17-40mm L f/4 lens.