Peacock - India's National Bird

Peacock - India's National Bird

This is again one of my favorite pictures. If you are thinking I have taken this shot somewhere in India, that is wrong. I had not found such healthy peacocks in India under captivity. I could not visit a place where they are left to themselves. Back to the point, this photo was taken in Magnolia Gardens in Charleston, SC, USA.

Magnolia Gardens is an old plantation in Charleston where slaves used to work. It is a beautiful place where you could find flora and fauna spread over a vast area. On one side of the plantation runs the Ashley River and the other side is the Ashley River Road. I will write about my experience here in a future post as this one is about the Peacock.

Peafowl is the national bird of India. The male is called Peacock and female is called Peahen. We call both genders as peacock. In Magnolia Gardens, you can find Indian Peafowls moving freely with humans. They were so beautiful and majestic, it is difficult to keep your eyes off them. I could take some good pictures. There was also some white peacocks but they were far away to take good pictures.

This is another favorite shot. I was fortunate to have the peacock posing long enough to get a good composition. Look how beautiful she is. One of the most wonderful creatures of god. You have to see it for yourself the way they open up the feathers and stand.

This is a closeup shot of a peacock

Photo opportunities

Sky at dusk
Originally uploaded by Ramki's reflections

This is one of the best pictures I had taken during my trips in Charleston. Today I bumped upon this picture and wondered if I can get chance to take such pictures again. While in Charleston, I used to go around during weekends just to see places and take pictures. It was much easier to do so. Now in India, I don't create such opportunities often.

But I believe there are lot in India to see and I intend to explore whenever I get a chance.

July 4th Fireworks

This would be my last July 4th in US before returning to India. The fireworks as part of the Independence day in US is a marvelous occasion to be part of. This is held in all major towns and cities in US on the evening of July 4th.

I had been to this event few times in Charleston and once in Myrtle Beach, SC. We went to Mount Pleasant to witness this. I had taken my camera and tripod to capture some fireworks photos. I had never tried to capture one before and did do some homework on how to do this. There were lot of people assembled for the event. This is one of the few times you will see huge crowd in US. It is like a mela we have in India with all kind of bands, small food shops, entertainment events etc. A very colorful and entertaining event.

Sometimes I wonder, why we do not celebrate ours like this. US is independent for more than 300 years, but still you see the enthusiasm and public participation in the way July 4th is celebrated. I seldom see this in India and it is mostly a political event celebrated just as a duty than anything else.

I did take some good pictures of the fireworks and surprisingly they came out very well. So I can say I learned how to operate a camera now. Few tips and tricks. Thanks to the internet where as usual there were lot of resources on how to picture a fireworks.

See more photos here

Strawberry farm visit

Last weekend we went to Boone Hall Plantation, a Strawberry farm near Charleston. It was nice to pickup your own strawberries and blackberries. We need to search between the sea of strawberry plants to find a good and ripe one. Blackberries were more generous and cleaner. Cost was also 50% compared to grocery stores.

This is a very good way of spending time and getting some fresh and healthy fruits. There are many strawberry farms around Charleston at a radius of 5-15 miles. Once you reach there, they have a set of baskets for the fixed price of $2, $5 etc. You can choose one and fill as many fruits as you want. The one where we went also had a nice garden with different types of flowers. We took some photos there. There is also a large sunflower farm. It was good to be in the middle of so many sunflowers.

Charleston, SC - A beautiful place to live

I had been in Charleston about 4 years now. It had been a wonderful experience to live in this small and beautiful city. It has become my most preferred place after my home town and Chennai.

Being a small city, you have the liberty of spending more of personal time than commuting. My office was barely 5 min away from my apartment at Castlewood Townhouses. I come home for lunch in the afternoon which I can never think of in India. Some people may say Charleston don't have many thing to entertain, but I found it had just enough to spend your lifetime here.

Charleston's assets are beautiful beaches, the Cooper/Ashley rivers, the low traffic, the historic downtown etc.